Thank you to everyone who has been reading, and especially to everyone who has reviewed.

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Severus' trunk came to rest on the ground lightly, and Alastor took a few more cautious steps towards the door. At which point it was suddenly covered in red and green and white stripes that began to flash and swirl, ending up in one of the most garish patterns that Severus had ever seen.

Alastor made a disgusted sound. "Stay here."

"What? Why?" Alastor frowned, and Severus hurriedly continued. "I mean, if that was an attack, it was the most idiotic attack I've ever heard of."

"Vigilance, lad; just because something looks harmless doesn't mean that it is." His frown lessened and he relented slightly. "Although in this case I want you to stay here because I'm going to murder my partner—and possibly his brother and his partner—and I don't want any witnesses."

Severus grinned, leaning down to grab the handle of his trunk and dragging it towards the door after Alastor. He wouldn't stupid enough to get in front of Alastor, but if Gideon and Fabian had done that to their door, he really wanted to see what they'd done inside.

The couch—previously a nice grey-green—was now a frighteningly neon green, Alastor's chair was an equally frightening red, and the walls were flashing various holiday messages almost too rapidly to read. He was pretty sure that he caught 'Welcome home, Severus' among the rest, but it was hard to say.

Gideon was sprawled out across Alastor's chair, his hair clashing horribly with the newly-colored fabric, but instead of Fabian, a woman leaned against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest, obviously trying not to laugh at the look on Alastor's face.

"Damn it, Gideon, did you have to corrupt the rest of the Ministry?" Alastor complained, flicking his wand to return the furniture to its appropriate colors. "And you nearly gave me heart failure as well." He flicked his wand again, this time directed at one of the walls, and then frowned as the messages showed no sign of slowing down.

"Ah, a little adrenaline is good for you." Gideon rolled to his feet, grinning and saluting Severus. "So what do you think of our redecorating?"

"It's certainly…colorful."

"See, he appreciates us," Gideon declared.

Alastor rolled his eyes and turned to address Severus, leaving off his attempt to fix the walls for a moment. "Severus, you know that lunatic, but this is Marlene McKinnon. Marlene, Severus Snape."

"It's nice to meet you, ma'am."

"Marlene," the woman said, taking a step forward and offering her hand. "And it's nice to finally meet you as well."

She was older than Gideon, with brown hair going to grey at her temples—at a guess Severus put her somewhere around Alastor's age—and he remembered Alastor saying last summer that a friend of his since school named Marlene had been hurt in an attack. If this was her, she seemed to have recovered fairly well. Her hand was smaller than his, but she had a strong grip, and her gaze was steady.

"Why don't you put your things in your room, and I'll fix that," Alastor gestured at the still-flashing walls, "and then figure out what our uninvited guests want."

Severus was opening his mouth to agree when Gideon interrupted.

"It's fairly simple, as far as ulterior motives go—we're hungry. Fabian and Caradoc are holding a table for us at Rolling Rock, but you two are late, and we want food." He waved a hand. "See, we figured that if we left the two of you to your own devices, you'd probably both spend the evening lying around reading, or something like that, and that's absolutely no way to celebrate your first day out of school," he nodded to Severus, "or our first day in weeks out of the office."

Alastor raised an eyebrow, and Severus nodded in quick agreement. He didn't really need to unpack anything except Aberdeen right now; his clothing and books could stay in his trunk as long as necessary. Since he was inside and Alastor's wards were in place, he levitated the trunk and hurried down the hall to his room. He hadn't thought about it before, but he'd pretended to sleep through arrival of the sweet cart woman on the train, and he was hungry too.

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Severus yawned and sat up slowly, taking a moment to orient himself. Alastor's. Later in the morning that he usually slept, judging by the amount of light coming in through the window. Too much light; it made his eyes hurt. He reached up and pulled down the shade, realizing that his head felt weirdly fuzzy as well. And his stomach was doing unpleasant things…was he getting sick? He didn't want to be sick for the holiday. With another yawn, he forced himself to climb out of bed, changing into one of his school robes out of habit, and then headed out into the sitting room.

"Hello, lad," Alastor greeted, and then chuckled as Severus squinted at him, trying not to look at the lit lamp beside his chair. "Aye, I was afraid that might be the case. Come along."

Severus trailed him into the kitchen, taking the glass he was handed without thinking and drinking the contents quickly. The liquid was thick—like syrup, almost—and it didn't taste particularly good. For a few long, unpleasant moments he thought that his stomach was going to reject it entirely, but after the wave of nausea passed his stomach settled down and his head began to clear. He refilled the glass with water, using it to wash the taste out of his mouth, and tried to figure out what had happened.

Dinner last night had started with he and Alastor and the Prewetts and Caradoc and Marlene at one of the restaurant's round tables, but then one of the Auror trainees who'd just become a full Auror had come in—one of the reasons Alastor and Gideon had been so busy recently was that they'd been helping him finish his requirements before the holidays—and had ended up dragging over a second table so he could join them with his family. And then a couple friends of his had joined the group, and then a few others from the Ministry had happened by, and…well, before long it had turned into a regular party. A party that had run decidedly late and had taken over the back room of the restaurant, from what Severus could remember.

He'd only vaguely recognized Frank Longbottom—the man who'd just become a full Auror—from Hogwarts, since Frank had finished school in Severus' first or second year…if he hadn't been a Prefect, Severus didn't think that he'd have remembered him at all. Some of Frank's friends, however, had only left within the last year or two and they'd been willing enough to include Severus in the festivities. Fortunately none of them remembered much about his feud with the Marauders, the rivalries of younger students not having been of any great interest.

He took another sip of water, frowning. He remembered dinner clearly, and then Alastor refusing to let him have any firewhiskey when Frank had offered it. That had been a little annoying—he was fifteen, not five—but he hadn't been willing to contradict Alastor. He had been annoyed enough to move from his seat by Alastor over to where a group of Frank's friends were discussing the new Wizard Weekly cursebreaking competition, though, and during their discussion he'd had several glasses of the brightly colored punch that had been sitting in a pitcher on the table. At which point things started to get a little fuzzy. His frown deepened. He was starting to get a sneaking suspicion that maybe he should have paid a little closer attention to what had been in that punch. He didn't remember tasting any alcohol, but then again, he'd never really had anything besides butterbeer or the occasional glass of wine before either. "I was drunk, wasn't I?" he asked cautiously.

"More than a bit tipsy," Alastor agreed.

Severus gave him a quick glance. "You're not angry?"

Alastor shook his head. "No. Especially since it's as much my fault as yours. I should have thought to warn you off that punch, especially with what I know a couple of Frank's friends brought in with them to spice it up. They're good lads—not the sort who'd set out to get you drunk on purpose—but everyone was in pretty high spirits and I doubt they thought a thing about it. Unfortunately, by the time it occurred to me that you probably didn't know what they were up to, it was already a little late to tell you to stick with what the waitstaff gave you."

Another thought occurred to Severus, and he flushed, dropping his eyes to stare at the floor tiles. "I didn't do anything…stupid…did I?" He'd seen people drunk before—his father for one; some of the older students at Hogwarts who occasionally snuck flasks back into school after holidays for another—and if he'd ended up on top of any tables singing like a couple of his housemates had done after they'd finished their NEWTs last year, he was going to have to kill himself.

Alastor chuckled and shook his head again. "No, lad. If anything you got a bit quieter, which is probably why no one else thought to stop you either." He reached out and hooked a knuckle under Severus' chin, lifting his head. "Mind, when I said I wasn't angry, I meant about a simple accident. I'd best not hear about you going about getting yourself drunk on purpose. For one, you're more than a bit young to be drinking anyway, and for another it's just foolish." He shook his head. "It does happen, and you'll find yourself dealing with an aching head and upset stomach on your own, understand?"

Severus nodded in quick agreement. The taste of the punch had been all right, but he didn't like the way his head—or his stomach—had felt when he'd woken up, and the fuzziness of his memories of last night wasn't very pleasant either. Besides which, he only had to think of his father to know that he didn't want to spend his life drunk.

Alastor pushed himself to his feet. "Good lad. And as long as you're feeling better now, there's no harm done, I suppose. We'll both know for next time." He nodded towards the preserver. "There's some porridge, if you're hungry."

Severus shook his head quickly. His head felt much better, and he wasn't anywhere near as queasy as he'd been when he'd woken up, but he didn't really want to test it. He'd eat later. "Are you off work today?"

"Today and tomorrow. Finally getting in a few days of rest after hauling Frank all over the country these past few weeks." He shook his head and went to the preserver, pouring himself a glass of juice and offering the container to Severus before sitting down at the table. "Figure we can go into London today for some last minute shopping, if you feel well enough for it. I don't know about you, but there are still a few things that I need to pick up."

Severus poured himself some juice as well—he was pretty sure his stomach could handle that much—and then joined Alastor at the table. "That sounds good." He'd managed to find a gift for Alastor that he was at least marginally pleased with, but he wouldn't mind a chance to look around a few more shops. "Are we going to be staying here for the holidays, or visiting anyone, or…?"

"Well, I suppose that's one thing I ought to talk to you about. Figure we'll go over to the Weasleys for the New Years—that's what I usually do, anyway, and Fabian and Gideon and a couple of Arthur's relatives will be there as well—but Christmas is about the only time that I normally put up with my family's nonsense so we've got an invitation to my eldest brother's to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas with them. Now, I don't know if there's anyone that you'll want to visit for the holidays…?"

He trailed off, and Severus shook his head quickly. "I said Happy Christmas to everybody I needed to back at school." All four of them or so, and only Lily had really mattered. "But who's 'them'? Is it just your brother, or…?" He trailed off as a more pressing question occurred to him. "And are you sure 'we' includes me?" It would be awkward in the extreme to turn up with Alastor only to find that no one had expected him. He'd rather be with Alastor for the holiday, but Alastor should be able to spend some time with his family too. He could always stay behind and finish his schoolwork or something.

"It most certainly includes you," Alastor said firmly. "I'd not be considering it if it didn't. And 'them' are my brothers Alexander and Adam, and their wives, Veronica and Rose. Alexander's children will be there too—Eric, Ellen, and Matthew—and then Eric's wife Anna and their daughter Irene." He frowned slightly. "Actually, I'd say Matthew is about your age, give or take a year or so. I don't know him that well, but that would give you someone to talk to while I try not to fight with my brothers." He waved a hand. "I'm not usually very successful, which is why we only get together once a year."

"I don't think I know anyone named Matthew Moody," Severus said after a moment of thought. Granted that he didn't know the name of everyone at Hogwarts, especially those in the other houses, but he certainly knew everyone in his own year and most of those in the years closest to his as well. "What house is he in?"

"Oh, he's not at Hogwarts. Goes to Durmstrag, same as his siblings and Adam did." Alastor's lips twitched slightly. "Alexander says he enrolled them there because of 'concerns' about the qualifications of the teaching staff at Hogwarts, but all that really means is that he and Minerva McGonagall—she was O'Leary, then—got into a row in their fifth year, she kicked his arse royally, and he's never forgiven the insult. He always has been one to hold a grudge."

"Professor McGonagall? Really?" Severus couldn't imagine his Transfiguration teacher getting into a fight with anyone, especially after some of the lectures—and associated detentions—she'd given him and the Brainless Bunch. Of course, he couldn't really imagine her being a student, either, so….

"Well, I wasn't there to see it, but Adrian—another brother, two years younger than Alexander and six years older than myself—was. Used to tell the story every time Alexander started getting a bit too full of himself." He snorted slightly. "I heard it a lot, growing up."

Severus' lips twitched as well, and he remembered that Adrian had been the name of the person who'd given Alastor the first book that Alastor had sent him at Hogwarts. "Is he not going to be there? Adrian, I mean?"

Alastor shook his head. "He died a long time ago, during the war with Grindlewald. Wasn't even involved in the war, really, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Oh. I'm sorry." It figured that he'd end up asking a stupid question.

Alastor waved a hand. "It's fine; you didn't know. Anyway, Alexander and Adam are rather…." He shook his head. "Not quite sure how to put it, but I told you a bit about how I was raised, and Alexander raised and is raising his younglings the same way. And he raised Adam for a good while too—he's only two or three years older than Eric, and my parents both passed away before his first year of Wizarding school—so I'm afraid his attitudes are pretty similar as well." He must have seen some of Severus' growing worry, because he shook his head. "They'll not lay a hand on you, you needn't be concerned about that, but they're a bit…stiff-necked, that's the term I was looking for. All tied up with appropriate manners and behavior and that sort of thing—it might not be the most relaxing holiday that you've ever had. I have to put in an appearance, if only to keep them off my back for the rest of the year, but you needn't subject yourself to that if you don't want to. Fabian and Gideon would be more than happy to have you for a visit. And Molly and Arthur as well, I'm sure."

Severus opened his mouth and then shut it again. This was the most he'd heard about Alastor's family ever, and while part of him was still a little worried about what might happen if he met them—they were Alastor's relatives, after all, and somehow he doubted that any of them were overly pleased about him taking in some random teenager—he was curious as well. Besides, it couldn't be any worse than any of the formal dinners his grandparents had put him through. "Could we just go for one day? Maybe for Christmas, and not…?"

"Maybe have Christmas Eve just you, and I and then we can go over on Christmas? Aye, I suppose we could do that." Alastor smiled slightly. "Make it a bit easier to give you your presents here, anyway."

Severus nodded in agreement. "Okay. Oh, can you take something to Gideon and Fabian? For Christmas, I mean, in case I don't see them before then?" He probably should have given their boxes to them last night, but he hadn't really been thinking about it.

"Of course, although I expect that they'll be stopping by for dinner sometime before then." He frowned slightly. "I think they've got something for you too, but they've been hinting that they're planning to send it to you at school so I don't take it away, which worries me a bit." He shook his head and rose to put his glass in the sink. "So how are your classes going? Didn't get much of a chance to talk to you last night."

"Pretty good." Severus finished his juice and went to rinse his cup as well. "I'm glad I'm not taking Divination anymore; with OWLs coming up all of the professors are heaping on extra work."

Alastor nodded. "Potions is still your favorite?"

"Yeah. Well, class is kind of dull, but Lily and I have permission to use the classroom laboratory in our free time, and we always come up with interesting experiments to try."

"Without supervision?" Alastor demanded.

"We're careful! And Professor Slughorn always makes us show him what we're going to do before we're allowed to do it if it's something that's not coming directly out of a book." He noted that that seemed to relax Alastor a bit and shook his head. As though he or Lily would do something stupid like mix dragon venom and Venomous Tarantagulla root without someone telling them not to.

"What about your other classes?"

"Okay, I guess. Arithmancy is probably my second favorite, and Defense is better this year than usual. See, we always have a different professor each year, and…." He waved a hand. "At least this one remembers what she's teaching day-to-day."

Alastor snorted. "Suppose that explains a lot about some of our incoming Auror trainees. You've been keeping yourself out of mischief, despite the…assistance…of my partner and his brother?"