LFAM38
Disclaimer- I make no money from this, and own nothing!
Chapter 38
Christmas day arrived, and Harry opened his numerous gifts – scattering the wrapping paper everywhere to Irish's delight. Severus began to think they could have just gotten the paper, and skipped the presents. He had gotten several sets of sleep clothing with Hogwarts animals on them, hoping to get the 'closet Lion' T-shirt away from Harry. But it was a giant stuffed Granian that would walk around with Harry on his back and flap his wings that was the favorite new toy.
Severus had raided Malfoys library – copying several curse-breaking books Lily didn't have, trading a few more obscure plants for the copies. A quick firecall to her Healer friends yielded the names of more books that she needed, and he obtained those as well for presents.
Narcissa had watched all this with amusement, then dragged him to a jewelers who was thrilled at their patronage, "Really, Severus, I know Lily adores books, but all women expect some sparkle under the tree, as well."
A diamond and emerald bracelet was decided on by the sweating Severus – an entire crowd of 'helpful' witches had gathered around to add their advice to picking out the 'perfect' gift 'for his lucky wife'. All the cooing and admiration from total strangers had rather unnerved him.
It had been worth it though, Severus thought, on Christmas morning when Lily's eyes lit up, and she attacked him with a barrage of kisses.
Lily had also been on a book hunt for Severus, and had found several that he had been looking for to gift him with. She had also found an elegant watch – that, of course had many extras. It had extra hands on it to tell him if family was in danger, it was infused with numerous protective charms, and it could help time tricky potions. The seller had been thrilled to hear whom the watch was going to, and had sent a list of charms that could be added, if Severus wished.
Cybele got a lot of noisy rattles and other toys. The Malfoy twins had also received their share of brightly colored noisemakers.
Draco was now the proud owner of a much smaller kneazle than Irish. Draco was one of Irish's biggest admirers, so, in spite of the run on Kneazle kits, the Malfoys managed to find one for Christmas for Draco. To Lucius' resigned dismay it was a ginger-colored tabby.
"Do you think we should call him Weasley?" Lucius muttered at the giggling Narcissa.
"I'm sure that Draco will think of something appropriate, Luc." Narcissa answered, controlling her laughter.
The Weasleys in question, also had a much more generous Christmas than usual. The children were thrilled with the purchases. An awestruck Bill was presented with an owl, and an admonition to share it with Charlie at school. Charlie was given a broom, and was ecstatic, although he could not try out for Quidditch until his 2nd year at Hogwarts. The toys the others received were met with equal enthusiasm.
The Potter household was also having a Merry Christmas, Sirius and Remus were there to share the festivities. Remus had finally caved and met James' overtures to renew their friendship with more warmth. Working together to help Sirius had mended a lot of fences, and Remus reasoned that Lily was happy, now, and Harry was well loved by Severus. So the three Marauders were cheerfully toasting the season with spiked eggnog.
Aurora Sinistra had accompanied Remus, and fended off the other Marauders 'witty jokes' about the two of them, reminding herself that she would have Remus to herself, later. She had mostly ignored her hostess, as much as was possible – Sylvia wasn't interested in cultivating the acquaintance of a teacher, anyway. Rosemerta had turned down the invitation, citing her duties as owner of the Three Broomsticks, and, after all it was her busiest time.
Sylvia was feeling quite merry, she had gotten a fair number of the Potter family jewels for Christmas, and a number of invitations to parties at the homes of prominent purebloods during this season. This little party with James' friends was a bit dull, but it was the price she paid to be James' wife, so she put on a smile and pretended their jokes were amusing. She had her latest plans to think about to keep her mind busy, anyway.
The furor over 'the Boy who Lived's' safety in the paper, and something that Rita Skeeter had said to her had awakened an idea in her mind. It had suddenly occurred to her that under different circumstances she would have been raising Harry, and been in the public eye as his 'Mum'. Not that she wanted Harry to displace her son as the Potter heir. But even if custody of the disowned Harry was shared – she could parade him around as quite a trophy. She resolved to find out what could be done about this. Lily and that horrid Snape fellow had robbed her of a chance for acclaim from the wizarding world and she wouldn't stand for that.
Sylvia looked over at the three carousing Marauders – Sirius and Remus were fond of Harry, and surely they would help return Harry to James' (and her) control.
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Christmas Day was not particularly pleasant at the MLE holding cells. Rita was nauseous from listening to Bellatrix's tales of torture and mayhem, and her constantly laughing over them. Somehow she had never realized how truly horrible these people were. Hearing Bellatrix boast about torturing Alice Longbottom to death and casting curses on her baby had made Rita glad she hadn't eaten.
There were few women in the holding cells, so they were all together in a side hallway. Most were here for minor things until family could bring bail money. Rita suspected Bellatrix was still here to punish wrongdoers with her very presence. There were only 2 other witches left there by Christmas morning with Rita and Bellatrix. One was sniffling in terror awaiting bail money, her family had promised to get her today, but she was sure they would not be able to make it. The other was a half-mad old hag who had apparently tired of her husband hogging the entire bowl of wassail, and had drowned him in it Christmas Eve - Bellatrix had howled with laughter over that.
To everyone's relief the sobbing witch had left at lunch, and Bellatrix concentrated on her food, so silence reigned for a brief time. Then Rita received an unexpected visitor. Dolores Umbridge was no longer really in charge of anything. She had been shunted over to the Department of Magical Games and Sports, and Hamish McFarlan was keeping a beady eye on her. She felt that helping organize Quidditch matches was so very far beneath her, and she was quite resentful.
She had been interested to hear of Ms Skeeter's dislike of the Snapes and Malfoys – Dolores was quite angry with them, as well. Snape's new and improved Wolfsbane had made the werewolf legislation Lucius had pushed possible. Now they would never be rid of the werewolf pests in their midst. Hearing that Rita was incarcerated over the holidays had seemed fated, so, armed with a tasty Christmas meal and some parchment and quills as a present, Dolores had gone to visit the animagus.
"Rita, dear, how are you holding up?" Dolores chirped at her, managing to look quite concerned. "Such a shame, being locked up at the holidays – I wonder that those horrid Wizengamot members are able to look in the mirror."
Rita looked suspicious, trying to remember what she knew about this ministry worker. If she remembered correctly she was in disgrace because she opposed having werewolves back in society. "My roomies are a bit much at times, but mostly it's just boring." Bellatrix cackled in the next cell, and then continued eating.
Dolores handed over the much better meal, and the writing tools. "I thought you might like to write of your experiences while you're waiting to leave, and when you're out, perhaps we need to meet. I believe we have common interests and enemies." Dolores smiled a bit chillingly.
Rita grabbed the parchment and quills eagerly, and nodded hesitantly at Ms. Umbridge. She wasn't eager to get back on the Ministry's bad side once she was free of here, but it wouldn't hurt to hear what she had to say. "Thank you for these – I have missed writing. Owl me when you wish to meet."
Dolores nodded, wished her Happy Holidays and left, satisfied.
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The day after Christmas Albus, Minerva, Moody and Severus met at Malfoy Manor. Minerva wanted to visit her godson, and went off to the Nursery with a giggling Narcissa. Moody had gruffly proffered a fluffy stuffed pink kneazle that purred to Narcissa "for little Lilith", before leaving hastily with the men to go to Lucius' study. Narcissa had found it charming that the Auror had remembered to get a gift for his goddaughter, many would have just sent a check for her school account, or some other generic gift.
"I've had my head house elf keep an eye on Dobby closely since I've been trying to trap him into telling me about Abraxas' business with the Dark Lord. He says Dobby hasn't shown any particular interest in any objects, or moved anything from where it had been. Dobby seems to have a lot of extra layers of spells on him – some are expected for a personal elf, but his are extreme." Lucius sat back with a cup of juice. He had needed a large dose of hangover potion this morning, so he was starting with something innocuous today. He smiled a bit to himself; Narcissa had been very enthusiastic about the flower designed silk robe that had been encrusted with jewels and gold thread from India. He had avoided being dragged onto the dining room table for her thank you – they didn't want any more children as yet.
Moody offered some advice. "Send some of your strongest elves – at least four of them; Abraxas most likely picked an elf with very strong magic. They will be able to hold him, so he can't leave; and often house-elves know best how to bring pressure on another elf." Lucius nodded and gave his Head House elf Rizzy these orders.
Soon a frantic Dobby was standing in front of them, with other elves attached to each limb. The four wizards faced the house elves. Lucius looked at Dobby sternly, "I need to know what my father Abraxas was holding for the Dark Lord, Dobby. I'm directly ordering you to tell us."
Dobby howled and banged his head on the floor, to their aggravation. Lucius turned to Rizzy. "I need your help – if there is anything that can get him to talk, do it." Rizzy nodded, determinedly.
"Dobby, Master Lucius is being your master, now – you can tell him anything. You must tell him what the bad wizard was having Master Abraxas hide here." Rizzy glared at Dobby harshly.
Dobby stopped banging his head, but shook it frantically, instead. "I cannot say!! I don't know what it was, I may have known before – but he was taking the memory away. Master Abraxas not saying many secrets to house-elves, even me, and he takes memory when we not need to know any more." Dobby groaned and smacked his head one more time.
Rizzy was relentless, though. "It is being your duty to help guard the Malfoy Manor, and all within it. If you is knowing anything harmful, you best be telling it!"
"No, no, no." Dobby chanted a hysterically. "I is knowing nothing."
Rizzy looked at Lucius uncertainly. "He is not lying, Master Lucius, I remember that elves be missing memories sometimes, when Master Abraxas still being Master."
Lucius nodded and looked at the others, "Anyone have any other questions?"
Severus stepped forward, closer to the house-elf. Dobby cringed away from Severus. He had not been there when Master Abraxas had died, but his magic knew that this wizard had been responsible. He knew Master Abraxas had not been a kind master or father, but it was not the house elves place to judge that, and his magic simply knew his master was gone because of Severus Snape.
Severus looked into his eyes and asked, "Dobby, do you consider Lucius to be your master, now?"
Dobby choked uncertainly, then answered, "Yes."
Rizzy almost screamed in anger, "You is lying! I know when you is lying to the Master!"
Severus concurred, "I can see the lie in his mind, but it is the spells that are making him say it, it seems. I can see his interactions with Abraxas, and there are a lot of holes in them. I don't see that he knows what we're looking for. But I would not trust him, as he does not consider you his master." Dobby cringed further from him, whimpering in dread.
Lucius cleared his throat, uncertain as to what to do, precisely with a disloyal house-elf. Freeing him would just make him able to cause harm, and he wasn't ready to kill him – it would alarm the other elves, even if they understood it. Lucius turned to Rizzy. "I know I still have some bored house elves sitting around." Rizzy nodded vigorously. "Do we have some house elves as strong magically as Dobby who could watch over him? We could bind him to stay with them, and they could make sure he got up to no mischief."
Rizzy nodded and the elves in question were summoned, and Dobby bound to them, so he had to stay with one of them at all times. Satisfied that this would handle the danger that a disloyal elf represented, at least until he could think of something else. The elves were dismissed, still muttering at Dobby about his disloyalty.
The four sat back down and broke out the firewhiskey, "Well that wasn't very helpful." Lucius snarled.
"I did get one thing from Dobby's manic little mind." Severus said. "He does not know what the Horcrux is, but he is certain, from the fragments he remembers, or at least partially remembers – it is here at Malfoy Manor."
They all sat back, "I hate it that that thing is here where my family is." Lucius muttered irritably.
"We'll need to do more research in how to identify Horcruxes. The Hufflepuff cup practically radiated dark magic, it must be that some do not, or we would have found it by now." Albus mused thoughtfully.
The four toasted each other and went their separate ways.
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The New Year was celebrated with great fervor by the wizarding world, as the first anniversary of Lord Voldemort's defeat. There were numerous parties, and the Snapes were invited to many of them. Justine Macmillan threw one of the few that both the Malfoys and Snapes went to. Justine was still quite anxious to stay in Lily and Narcissa's good graces. She still wished that Severus Snape had indeed been fair game to pursue – his heroic rescue of her and Ernest still occupied her favorite daydreams, but he was definitely Lily's and off limits.
Luckily for her, Lily had decided to invite several single friends to accompany them. Lily and Narcissa were quite aware of Justine's wish to find a 'strong, heroic husband', and though they appreciated Justine's assistance in finding sources of information for their book, they would be relieved when she had a man of her own. So Alastor Moody, Frank Longbottom, and Kingsley Shacklebolt found themselves at a very posh party with an extremely pretty hostess. The pretty hostess became quite attentive when she found out they were all 'very heroic Aurors'.
They were a bit surprised to find that Moody had Justine on his arm later that week, when he came to Severus' birthday party on the ninth. Justine had 'found another interesting plant for dear Severus' and he had thanked her with a smile, but evaded her 'birthday kiss'. The widely grinning Moody presented his gift to the uneasy Severus – he still hadn't gotten the 'closet lion' T-shirt back from Harry. Sure enough – a T-shirt was in the box, this one was a bright gold color and had all four of the Hogwarts animals cheerfully chasing each other around the shirt.
Harry spotted it immediately and came over to confiscate it; he was soon zooming around the guests showing it off. Draco saw it and straight away shouted "ME TOO!!" The genial Moody cast a duplication charm on a napkin and gave the exact copy to a beaming Draco. The two boys trailed the shirts around quite happily, so that the much-admired Irish could give chase. Lucius and Severus quietly hoped the kneazle would put his claws to good use on the shirts.
The party ended a bit early – most people had attended several parties, that week, so Lily and Severus saw their guests off, and put Harry and Cybele to bed. Lily soon had Severus at her mercy, intending to put all other society hostesses completely out of his head.
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The year started well, Severus and Lily were working together on a potion to help alleviate symptoms of prolonged exposure to the Cruciatus. Severus had to admit that he still had occasional problems from the doubled curse he had taken at the apothecary raid by Voldemort. Certainly Frank's boy, Neville still had difficulties, as well as many other victims.
They were soon immersed in their work, and the month flew by. Lily's birthday on the 30th had a quiet celebration, and Severus was quite proud that he had gone to the jewelers and obtained earrings to match the bracelet without any prompting from Narcissa.
Rita was released and met with a scheming Dolores; they did a lot of wishful thinking, but were finding actual ideas to harm the Malfoys and Snapes difficult to think of. They met frequently anyway to drink tea and sneer at their common enemies.
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Sylvia was less than pleased, when she saw the lawyer, that with James' disownment and Severus' prompt acceptance, the Potters had no legal claim on Harry. Tearful pleas didn't change his assertion. The only way to get Harry back would be to have Severus relinquish Harry and have Lily given up her rights. Sylvia went home and thought; wouldn't Snape want his own child to inherit the now considerable fortune Lily had? Perhaps he could be made to see reason.
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The year wore on quietly, and summer soon started. Gregori was nearing the end of his apprenticeship, and a gleeful Lucius presented him with 2 house-elves who specialized in fixing things. Lucius was adamant that he was "not giving Gregori anything"; he had a house near Hogsmeade needing fixing so he could sell it, and Gregori could have the elves as payment.
Gregori found it difficult to say no, the offer was generous, and the elves would make his work easier. He would be able to take on bigger work, immediately.
Gaspare was much better, with the 'Prince joint potion' working its magic, and the attention of the house elves, so he was wandering around the house and grounds quite happily. Gregori felt much better about his plans to work as a magical residence restorer. He would likely be away a lot, and he had been worried for his father, but with his mobility restored, he worried much less.
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The summer passed smoothly, and even Rita Skeeter found it hard to think of bad things to write about. She was relegated to a small gossip column, heavily watched by the editor, himself. This was aggravating, but at least she still had work. The fines and restitution Rita had had to pay had depleted her savings, so she really needed the job, now.
The Ministry had indeed met about the press, although, after perusing the laws, they felt they just needed to actually enforce that ones on the books, after updating the language. They had passed a few additions – editors and journalists would be expected to stand behind their statements, and provide evidence if called on the carpet for what they had written. Stiff fines and jail time could be expected for lies told in the papers.
Cornelius was quite happy with the scare he had thrown the press. He had known there was little he could add to the laws regarding the newspapers, but it was good to see them printing actual truth – at least for a time.
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Draco and then Harry celebrated their 2nd birthdays. And the Malfoy twins turned 1 yr old. Lilith was soon helping Draco throw unwanted peas at daddy. Shadow remained a sweet child, and was usually found with Lucius.
Bill and Charlie prepared for Hogwarts, with a pouting Percy miserably aware that he could not start for 4 more years. Molly consoled him that while they were gone to school, he would be the oldest at home. This cheered him considerably. School things were bought, and although books were handed down to Charlie, there were plenty of new things for both.
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Albus was quite proud of his apprentice's achievement. Gregori had received his mastery, and a permit to begin his business. Albus was even considering taking on another apprentice.
He did wish he could pin Sirius down; he needed to get into Grimmauld Place and talk to the house elf. However Sirius was equally adamant about not going near the place, and all talk of Regulus sent Sirius into hysterics and a relapse.
The school, at least, was going splendidly. Slytherin was occasionally viewed with suspicion – usually when a particularly cunning prank had been played. Mostly the school had settled in quickly to the idea that bullies were not tolerated, and that what house you were in would not save you from a detention.
The new clubs started by Slughorn had been a success, and were overseen by him quite happily. Many of the clubs introduced muggle things to the wizard-born, and visa-versa. Dumbledore had demanded that the Muggle Studies teacher update her class, and asked several muggleborns to assist her in this. He had also asked Narcissa and Lily for advice on a Wizard Culture Class. He was uncomfortably aware of how few muggleborns stayed in the wizarding world these days. Most went back to the muggle world and maintained only tenuous ties to the wizarding world. They simply didn't see the Wizarding World as theirs. They needed a way to integrate them better, or the wizarding world would eventually die out.
They all agreed this would take a lot of thought.
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A/N Happy Birthday Severus!!!!!!!!!!! Thank You to all the reviewers (you keep me going)