Author's Note: Hi all! I'm sorry this chapter is a little shorter than the others. The flu/cold/sinus infection bug has come to visit me and it has not been a pleasant visit. My apologies for anything that does not make sense in this chapter and any of the following until the bug decides to leave me alone.

Chapter Fourteen: Christmas Preparations

This pleasantness was about to be gone, slipping through his fingers like vapor. True to her word, Lily had sought him out to make specific plans for Christmas. They had spent the better part of two dinners in the Great Hall discussing the events of the day. Tonight was Christmas Eve and Severus was more aware of the ticking of time than he had been in the last couple of days.

"So you'll come up to Gryffindor Tower around nine, then?"

"Yes."

"And don't worry about Sirius," she gave him a devious grin. "I've already threatened to hex him into the New Year should he try anything."

Severus allowed himself a grin. "Beautiful. I was wondering one thing though."

"What's that?"

"Could I, uh," he didn't think it would it this hard to ask her. "Could I borrow Harry for a few minutes?"

She raised her eyebrows and looked down at Harry, who was happily chewing on the staff dining table. "Um, sure. For what may I ask?"

"It's a surprise. I promise, it shouldn't take too long. Just wait here, okay?"

She nodded and handed the child to him. "How about you bring him up to Gryffindor Tower in about an hour? It'll give me some time to wrap some of his gifts and decorate."

"That sounds fine." He took Harry and quickly left the Great Hall, heading down to the dungeons. He was terrified that the child would start screaming bloody murder as soon as his mother was out of sight. Thankfully, the only thing that issued out of his mouth was an intricate string of baby babble which Severus took as a good sign. When he got down to the potions classroom, he sat Harry down on the work desk and started opening the bottles of fragrance oils.

He started with the floral scents: rose, lily (ironically enough), jasmine and finally gardenia. Every single scent was met with the same nose wrinkling face. "Alright, let's try this one." Severus capped the gardenia oil and pulled out the rosemary. It took three sleepless nights to get the lotion perfect but it should work for her. With all the moisturizing herbs and plants he put in it, she should only have to use it twice a day, once in the morning and then again at night. It was the scent he wasn't sure of. He remembered Harry wrinkling his nose at the lavender and thought there was no better judge of scent than Lily's son. Apparently, none of the flower scents were Harry-approved. He uncapped the rosemary oil and held it under Harry's nose.

"What about this?"

Harry's green eyes scrunched up and he sneezed.

"That would be a no to rosemary." He recapped the rosemary oil and reached for the citrus scents but the one year old didn't seem taken with any of them either.

"Well, I didn't want to be cliché, but this is the last one I have." He pulled out the peppermint oil and unscrewed the cap. He was rewarded with an instant, albeit alarming, reaction as Harry instantly reached out for the bottle and tipped it back so he could drink it.

"I'll take that as a yes," he said, prying the amber colored bottle out of Harry's grip. He picked up Harry from the work bench and tried to imitate Lily whenever she held him with just one arm. It took a couple tries but once Harry had a firm grasp on his hair, Severus was able to drop in the proper amount of the oil and stir it into the mixture. Glancing up at the clock, he saw he still had ten minutes to spare. When the sweet smell of peppermint filled the potions classroom, he extinguished the flames and waited a few minutes till it set.

"Sev?"

He grabbed his coat and threw it over the caldron at the sound of Lily's voice. He was too afraid to charm the bottles to put themselves back, if any of them broke he wouldn't have enough money to replace them. He was hoping she would continue to search for him but Harry let out a squeal at the sound of his mother's voice and she soon appeared in the classroom doorway.

"It smells like you've been melting down candy canes, Sev."

He shrugged, not knowing what else to say. "Did, uh, did you get everything done?"

"Yes, I did." She cautiously surveyed the work table with all the scented oils and finally her eyes rested on the coat covered caldron. "What have you two been up to?"

Severus shook his head, or more correctly, tried to but Harry still had a firm hold on his hair. "He's certainly got a strong grip."

Lily levered open Harry's hand and took him from Severus. "Sirius says he's going to grow up to be a seeker. I don't know how to train him to stop doing that. I'm hoping that he'll just grow out of it."

Thankful for the change of interest, Severus jumped on the new topic. "He probably will grow out of it. I don't see many twenty year old men that pull people's hair."

Lily started to laugh but quickly her face crumbled and to Severus' horror she had started crying. It had been quite a while since he had seen her dissolve into tears and he had hoped that she was over that phase of her grief. Of course, it had only been two months since James was killed. Lily was trying to cover her face to hid her tears while Harry looked from his mother to Severus, as if begging him to intervene. He really couldn't remember feeling so useless in a potions classroom.

"I, uh, I was just kidding," he stumbled, pulling out a chair and directing her towards it. "I'm sure he'll grow out of before he's twenty."

"It's not that," she said, her voice shaky as she sat down. "I'm okay, really."

"Sure, sure." Dumbledore always had a handkerchief available, why didn't he? Taking out his wand, he transfigured the coat that was covering the caldron into a handkerchief and handed it to her. She wiped her eyes and transfigured another chair into a crib, putting Harry inside of it.

"I'm sorry, Sev." She sat back down in the chair and he followed suite.

"That's alright."

She was quiet for a few minutes, watching Harry suck his thumb. "It was just really hard, wrapping those gifts. James was so excited about staying up all night on Christmas Eve putting toys together…I never thought I would be doing it alone."

He wanted to assure her that she wasn't alone, that he would always be there for her. His dream was to spend a sleepless Christmas Eve putting together toys, wrapping gifts and whatever else transpired in a home, as long as it was with her. However, as much as he despised James, he didn't want to make light of her grief and by taking this time to confess his undying love to her would do just that. He wasn't even certain that she would welcome him touching her. He reached out his hand towards her, stopping a few inches away her, giving her the choice to accept his offer of comfort or not. Thankfully, she latched onto his hand like it was a lifeline.

"I know you never really liked James," she sniffed. "He really did feel bad about how he treated you in school."

Despite the warmth of Lily's hand in his he still bristled at the revelation. "Did he now?"

"I wish you could have meet him after he changed."

Severus gave her a noncommittal noise.

"Well," she wiped her eyes, "at least you knew him seventh year. He started changing then."

Did he? Severus never noticed. The pranks, cursing and hexing all continued. And if Lily happened to be around, Black usually did the dirty work instead of James. Then there was the invisibility cloak…that was always the worst.

"Sev?"

He looked up to see Lily with a shocked look on her tear stained face. "He did back off hexing you, didn't he?"

The Death Eater in him wanted to tell her the truth, that no, James didn't back off. But he was tired of seeing the pain on her face and in her eyes. To destroy the image of the man she loved and lost would be cruel beyond anything else he had done in his life. So he nodded and forced a smile on his face. "Yeah, he did."

"Well, well, well," a voice broke the quiet in the dungeons. "This is cozy."

Lily's hand dropped from his and he turned to see Sirius Black standing in the doorway of the classroom. "Aren't you early?" Severus sneered.

Sirius stalked into the room and picked up a grinning Harry, who seemed terribly happy to see his godfather. "Apparently I'm not early enough. Poor Lily has fallen into the idea that you're good company."

"Sirius, please." Lily tiredly rubbed her forehead. "I'm not putting up with this for Christmas."

"Why aren't you telling him to behave then?"

Lily stood up from the chair. "We're not in school anymore, Sirius. Behave like an adult." She pulled her wand and cleaned the handkerchief before transfiguring it back into Severus' coat. "Thank you, Sev."

"Whoa," Sirius exclaimed. "Looks like you really screwed up your brew here, Mr. Potions Master."

Severus spun around to see Sirius and Lily peering into the cauldron. Harry pointed to the contents and said "yum," the first intelligible word Severus had heard from the boy. Then Lily dipped her finger into the caldron and rubbed some of the substance between her fingers.

"Is this lotion?" she asked.

The surprise ruined, he nodded his head. "Yeah, it is."

Sirius burst out laughing. "Is that what you do now? Fearsome Death Eater and Dark Arts oddball, making lotion in his dungeon."

Severus had his wand half drawn before he realized Sirius was still holding Harry. Reluctantly, he lowered his wand, wanting nothing more than to wipe that smug look off Black's face.

"Sirius, why don't you go put Harry to bed. The password into the tower is 'Yule.'"

"You want me to wait for you?" Black asked.

"No, I'll be there shortly."

"Well, if you need me, just yell."

"I'm getting ready to yell now," Lily snapped.

"Alright," Sirius started for the door, "come on, Harry. Let's wipe the grease off of you."

Severus threw his wand down on the table and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Perhaps my coming to your Christmas festivities isn't such a great idea."

"Nonsense. Remus will be there too and he told me that you've been getting along just fine."

It was true. His encounters with Remus had been much more civil than any with Sirius. But Remus had always turned a blind eye to Sirius' pranks, he wondered if it would still be the case.

"Sev? Are you alright?"

"Yes, I suppose so." He motioned to caldron. "I made this for you…for Christmas."

"Aw, Sev. This must have taken you a really long time."

He shrugged. "Harry will like the scent. He tried to drink the peppermint oil. He turned his nose up to all the other scents."

"That's what you wanted him for? To pick a scent?" Lily reached down into the caldron again and rubbed the lotion on the back of her hands. "This is the best lotion I have ever used. Thank you, so much."

"It was suppose to be a surprise."

"It was."

"I'll put in the canister I have and bring it tomorrow."

Lily smiled. "So you will come tomorrow?"

Like there was any doubt. "Yes, I'll come."