AN: I just wanted to say that Fiona is really just an expository character, I wanted someone that stirred Snape up a bit more than the others in his life. She's able to ask him questions that others don't. She will not be a serious object of dating, at least not in this story (maybe a casual date later on, but nothing serious). But I do think having a female friend (other than McGonagall) is good for Snape and will warm up some of his frozen parts.

Fiona did return the next night with a nice but unpretentious bottle of Scotch, and before Snape could wonder if this was a weird set up they'd both had a few drinks each and were discussing Christmases of their pasts.

"Mi da' always thought Christmas should be a somber occasion," Fiona explained. "He did no want us tae ken that he put up wi' such truck. But then one Christmas Hamish and I snuck out o' our rooms tae see if we could catch Father Christmas as he brought our gifts. And what we caught was our da', putting together a bicycle for our brother Charlie. We never believed he wa' that stern after that."

"Were you sad to find out there was no Father Christmas?" Snape asked, pouring her another serving of the fragrant, amber liquid.

"No," she laughed. "Because it meant that m' da was no so mean. Ye ken? He pretended tae be stern and dour b'cause that's what was expected of a Presbyterian minister in a wee village like that. But tae see the light in his eyes as he put together the bicycle that Charlie had been dreamin' o' for an age, well, I saw a new him that night."

"I see you are not easily discouraged by a dour countenance," Snape told her, nearly smiling. How many of these had he drank?

"Not one bit," she laughed. "So yer turn, which was yer favorite Christmas as a child?"

"When I was eleven," Snape answered, without hesitation. "It was the first Christmas I spent at Hogwarts."

A flash of compassion crossed her face, and she asked quietly, "That bad at home, then?"

"It was," he answered. "My parents . . . had their own problems. I was mostly left alone, and when my father went on a drunken tear I was the object of his wrath. I had never been so happy to go anywhere then when I found I could go to Hogwarts. And my first Christmas here was the first time I felt what it must be like to celebrate."

"It sounds like such a lonely childhood," Fiona told him, patting his hand in sympathy. "But you also had a friend? Lily?"

"Yes, Harry's mother," Snape told her. "From the first moment I met her, she was like magic, like air to me. Just her gentle presence in a world of such hard things - she was truly amazing. She gave me my first Christmas gift."

"What was it?"

"It was a picture her dad had taken of the two of us in the park," he told her, remembering. "She had glued seashells on the frame. It was my most precious possession until my father found it."

"She sounds like she was an amazing lass," Fiona told him. "It's hard tae lose someone so dear t' ye."

"Harder than you could imagine," Snape answered her.

"I've had a bit o' heartbreak as well," she told him. "I lost my brother Charlie in the war. They killed him in front o' Hamish, because Hamish was working for the ministry and was exposing dark wizards in the ministry. So they killed Charlie as a warning. Hamish was never the same again."

"I'm sorry," Snape told her. "I think that war scarred us all."

"It did," she confirmed, taking a drink. "It did. But we won, aye?"

"Some victory," Snape shrugged.

"You're one o' the ones that do no believe him gone, aye?" she asked. "I see why ye might."

"I think that the victory was too easy," Snape told her carefully. "The biggest menace of our time struck down because he tried to kill a child? It makes no sense."

"Then where do ye think he's been these past years?" she asked. "Do ye have no idea?"

Snape's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Are you a spy, Miss MacKenzie?" he asked her coldly.

"Me?" she asked in surprise. "Why would you say that?"

"It is an excellent ploy," he sneered. "A pretty, innocent face with a bottle of whiskey and soft words. All designed to see what I know."

"Pretty face?" she echoed, half flattered have half furious.

"Who employs you?" he demanded. "Are you trying to find out my allegiance or if I know anything?"

"How dare you accuse me?" she demanded.

"Of course! How foolish could I be?" Snape sneered. "Why would a woman like you want to actually spend time with me if she was not trying to get something out of me?"

"How could you think that?" she asked. "Are you seriously accusing me of being some sort of master spy?

"A master spy wouldn't get caught," he snapped at her. "You are obviously an incompetent spy."

"I am not a spy!" she yelled at him, stomping her foot at him. "I am leaving!"

Snape watched her stomp out of his room, and he felt an unaccustomed pang of grief in his stomach as she went. Surely he wasn't regretting suspecting her? Why else would she have wheedled her way into his quarters and be asking him all of these questions? Surely he had just saved himself from either a horrible busybody or a vicious spy. Either way, he did not need to have her in his life at all.

The next morning, Snape took a potion to banish the aftereffects of his drinking. He thought back to what he'd yelled at Miss MacKenzie yesterday, and groaned. What had he done? In the cold, sober light of morning he realized that his accusations were ridiculous, and likely an embarrassing outplaying of his own insecurity and anxiety at finding himself talking with a woman. If he could blush, he would. Groaning, he decided that he would just forget last night ever happened. Fiona should know better than to be friendly with the likes of him, and if she didn't then, she would now.

The two weeks before Christmas passed fairly quietly. Snape visited Sirius every day to check on his progress and to make sure he took the potions, but Snape's path didn't cross with the Medi-witch's on purpose. Sirius grew steadily better and stronger, and his skin lost the prison pallor. Snape still worried about his mind, but his thoughts steadily became more coherent and he seemed to be healing in that way at all.

The first day back to Spinner's End Harry could hardly believe they were back. It had been decided that Sirius and Remus would be safest with Harry and Snape for Christmas, because at Hogwarts it would be too quiet and they would be easier to discover. Snape had rolled his eyes at the suggestion of house guests, but for the most part he really did enjoy Lupin's company, and it would be easier to keep track of Black's progress at his house. As long as that prat stayed out of his way.

Harry, of course, was overjoyed to have house guests. Even though he'd had limited time with Sirius in the past few weeks, he thought he would be fun to have as well. Harry couldn't help but feel that Sirius was more like Fred and George then he was like a real grown-up.

That first night, after they'd eaten a hearty meal of roast chicken, they decided to have their first planning meeting with the four of them. They had talked here and there, but the four of them had never all sat down before, and Harry had never been included before.

"So are you sure?" Lupin asked, with a glance to Harry.

"I'm sure," Snape nodded. "We've been treating him like a baby for too long. Harry can help."

"The task is impossible!" Sirius complained. "What plan could we possibly make to find a rat missing a toe?"

"Is Peter Pettigrew missing a toe?" Harry asked, surprised.

"He would be missing a toe because the real Peter, in human form, cut off a finger to fake his own death," Snape explained.

"Percy's rat Scabbers is missing a toe," Harry said, smiling. "Do you think Percy has Peter?"

"How long has Percy had that rat?" Snape asked, forcing his voice to remain calm.

Harry shrugged. "I think it's been for a while, and Percy would rather have an owl or something. He said that he'd found the rat, and his family let him keep it because he was free."

"Does he have him right now?" Lupin asked.

"Actually, I think Scabbers is missing," Harry answered. "Ron was saying something about it a few weeks ago. I don't know if he ever found him."

Snape's eyes flashed as he looked at Lupin - this was the best lead they'd had all along. But he wanted to remain calm and not scare Harry.

"But if Percy had Peter, why wasn't I able to smell him?" Lupin asked skeptically. "I've been to their house several times, not to mention being at Hogwarts."

"Is there a spell that can block scents?" Snape asked. "He still is a wizard and can still cast charms."

"There is a spell," Sirius confirmed. "I've used it. It's sort of like an invisibility cloak but for scents."

"It could just be a coincidence," Snape told them. "But one we must follow up. And if he went missing a few weeks ago, it was right around the time that Black showed up. Could he have disappeared just to avoid running into him?"

"There's one way to find out," Lupin said grimly. "Do you have a Pensieve here, Severus?"

"I do," he replied, moving to get it.

"What good will that do?" Sirius asked. "Shouldn't we be storming over to the Weasley's?"

"I have seen Peter as a rat numerous times," Lupin explained. "I will share one of those with the Pensieve, and then Harry can tell us if he looks like Scabbers."

Harry didn't understand what was going on, but watched in fascination as his dad put down what looked like a large stone bowl. Lupin tapped his head and extracted something silvery-white from his temple with his wand, and then mixed the substance into the stone bowl. Harry watched, awestruck, as the silvery substance swirled around in the bowl.

Harry felt his dad touch his shoulder and said, "I will go in with you. All we have to do is put our face in the bowl, and we will see Lupin's memory. Here, hold my hand and we will do it together."

Harry took his dad's hand, feeling a mix of anticipation and nervousness. In just a flash he felt gratefulness at how his father would just touch him like this to make him feel safer. He really did have the best dad ever.

They put their faces in the bowl, and Harry felt himself being sucked into the memory. He saw a large black dog that looked younger than Padfoot, a large stag with antlers, a small rat on the back of the dog, and what looked like a large human-like wolf.

Snape flinched at the sight of the werewolf and instinctively put Harry behind him. "It can't hurt you, it's only a memory," Snape told him, as much to himself as to Harry. "Can you see the rat?"

Harry blinked, trying to focus. "Let me get closer," he told his dad. Snape led him closer to the animals, who were just resting in the moonlight. They didn't seem to notice Harry and Snape, and Harry went even closer.

"Yes, this is Scabbers," Harry confirmed. "He has a little more hair than he does now, but that's Scabbers."

Taking his shoulder, Snape backed out of the memory.

"It's him," Snape told the others.