15

On Sunday the 15th, Snape decided to do some shopping. Christmas was near and he didn't have a single present ready. Not that he needed many, mind you. Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick and the Dark Lord were all the people he exchanged presents with. Of course he usually got a small token for his other colleagues, too, but those were not real presents as far as Snape was concerned. He usually bought a couple of cheap knick-knacks by the dozen for the majority of the Hogwarts staff.

Anyway, in order to get to Diagon Alley in time before all the families arrived, Snape got up particularly early and entered the Great Hall moments after the house elves had sent the food up.

"Have you decided whether you want to come?" he asked Gloria who was sitting on a salt shaker and nicking bits of egg from the potions master's plate.

"Are you going to buy me a present?" the fairy asked. "I don't want to spoil my surprise."

Snape took his time buttering some toast. If he said yes, he had to buy the menace a present but that seemed a small price for a day of peace. Yes, it was a good deal. "Hm," he said, looking at his toast as if it was the most interesting thing he had ever seen. "Now that you mention it, I really was considering it."

The fairy clapped excitedly. "Then I'll stay here. Any suggestions who I should sing to in your absence?"

The deal was even better than Snape had anticipated. But who to choose? "What about Sprout?" he offered. "Or McGonagall?"

"I'd rather sing to students," mused Gloria. "They are more fun."

"Then sing for the Gryffindors," Snape suggested. "They are said to be the most fun." Severus certainly was not going to saddle his own house with the fairy.

While Snape enjoyed breakfast without students on the rare occasions he got it during the school year, today he was waiting on tenterhooks for the Hogwarts population to turn up. He wanted to get his shopping done and he could not leave before the advent calendar had been opened. He would not put it past Dumbledore to call him back from his day off just to open the thing if he left before.

"Severus, are you nervous, dear?" McGonagall asked as she sat down in her usual seat.

"Nervous would be said to much," Snape replied. "but I have plans for today and want to get started."

"Ah, the calendar," the deputy headmistress nodded in understanding. "What are your plans?" she then asked, pouring herself a cup of Earl Grey.

"Just a little shopping but I want to get to the shops before every Dick, Tom and Harry are there."

"Shopping?" asked Dumbledore who had just arrived through the small side entrance most teachers preferred since you didn't have to walk up the aisle between student tables to get to your seat. For Snape it was out of the question to use it unless he came to a meal directly from his rounds. Coming up from the dungeons it would have meant a detour the potions master was not ready to make.

"Are you going for presents?" the headmaster continued. "I'm very fond of that book you got me a couple of years back. I hear they made it a series."

Snape barely managed to not make a face. Great. So he was going to spend the day at Flourish and Blott's looking through the erotica for his superior. Great. Really Great.

"Albus," McGonagall scolded. "How can you assume that Severus is going to buy you a present. For all we know he good go shopping for things for his new roommate." She looked at Gloria pointedly. The fairy nodded and clapped her hands before she fluttered up and started to sing "Joy to the World".

When finally everybody had arrived for breakfast, Snape put on his pink Santa hat and searched for the correct envelope.

"Today's window is for Miss Luna Lovegood," Snape announced and the blond girl hurried up to him from the Ravenclaw table.

"Thank you, professor!" she cried as she took her prize from his hand. "Look!" she squealed excitedly as she took her new book back to her housemates a little later.

"Did you see what kind of book that was?" Dumbledore sounded a little worried. Usually when students gathered around a book so eagerly it meant nothing good. On the other hand, these were Ravenclaws. Gathering around books was in their blood.

"Magical creatures of the Alps," the potions master informed the older wizard.

"Really?" cried Flitwick who was clearly pleased that one of his own house had been chosen to open a window. "I must tell the children about that Lindwurm I once saw in Carinthia!" He hurried down to the Ravenclaw table to talk to his students.

"I want to hear that story!" cried Gloria who had finished her song. The fairy fluttered after the tiny head of Ravenclaw.

Severus did not lose any time by trying to find out what a Lindwurm was but took his leave from his colleagues and – after getting his wallet and his cloak – apparated to Diagon Alley.

He sighed happily when he saw that only a couple of other shoppers were around at that time of the day, and all of them were adults; no squealing or screaming children in sight.

First Severus went to the bookstore to get Dumbledore's book. He blushed to the roots of his hair when a girl he had taught only two years ago led the way to a rather hidden alcove where they now stored the naughty books.

"I never guessed you had it in you, Professor," the girl even had the impertinence to wink at him!

"I'm buying a present," Snape growled.

"Of course!" The girl winked again.

Snape ignored it and took a look at the shelf. Although there were not too many books it would take quite a while to find the right one but the potions master felt uncomfortable asking his ex-student for assistance.

With a sigh he resigned himself to spending half of his day off looking through photobooks.

"Shopping for Dumbledore?"

Snape dropped the tome he was just holding. 'Magical guys and muggle cars'. He had been so focussed on a picture of a blue-eyed wizard in a minimum of clothes sprawled on the bonnet of a Ferrari that he hadn't paid attention to his surroundings.

"Lucius," he piped. "What a surprise."

"Indeed," the blond wizard drawled. "I'm shopping for our Lord."

"I had no idea that he is into photobooks," Severus was stunned.

"No," Lucius hurried to say, "what I mean to say is that I'm doing his shopping." He showed a list in the Dark Lord's handwriting. "He wants me to get one of these books for Dumbledore."

That was why Severus Snape, potions master extraordinaire, and Lucius Malfoy, right hand man to the darkest wizards of all times, spent the next two hours going through that particular shelf together.

"I had no idea that it is even possible to bend a leg in that direction," Lucius huffed at some point.

"Not without the cruciatus curse," Snape agreed. "It looks painful."

Snape was close to giving up when he came across the book he had given Dumbledore a couple of years ago. From there it was easy. The spines of all books in the series were decorated with a similar design.

"Ha!" cried Snape. "He has the first of the series and he loves it."

He picked one of the books and handed another to Lucius.

"Thank you, Severus," the blond sighed gratefully. "I don't think I could have done this for much longer."

The ex-student smirked at Snape and his companion when they stepped up to the counter to pay for their books.

"It would do you good to use a little more discretion," Lucius said threateningly. "We are a teacher and governor of Hogwarts. Can you really afford to lose all the business with the school?"

"I have to apologize, Sir," the girl hurried to say. She even wrapped their purchases in inconspicuous brown parchment for free.

The next shop for both, Snape and Lucius Malfoy, was Scrivenshaft's quill shop.

Snape got an elegant quill for McGonagall there. The animagus often ran out of them because she liked to play with them when she was in cat form. And since he was a Slytherin and liked killing two birds with one stone, Snape also got some green ink for Sprout.

"Look at this," Lucius called from the back of the shop. He had found wells with charmed ink.

Snape grinned. If he found something for Flitwick, too, in this shop, he was done and could spend the rest of the day browsing for potions ingredients!

The charmed inks were fun. There were some that changed colour according to the mood of the writer. Others were designed to give false messages unless a code word was used, and others even wrote letters of their own accord if you spilt a spoonful on an empty parchment.

Snape decided on a bottle of the code word ink for Flitwick.

"I'm done," he informed Lucius. "Give my best regards to our Lord."

"You are done?" asked Lucius. "What did you get him?"

Snape laughed. It was a sound he was not used to but the occasion called for it. "I won't tell you that. Everybody knows you can't keep a secret!"

Lucius pouted and Snape left the shop.

Once outside, he blew a sigh of relief. He almost had forgotten to buy for the Dark Lord!

Luckily the dark wizard was easy to buy for when you knew him a little closer. Not many were aware that the Dark Lord had a sweet tooth and enjoyed marzipan.

A short trip to Honeyduke's Diagon Alley store later, Snape was really done. He had a box of fine chocolates filled with marzipan and a bag of various sweets for Gloria. The potions master had seen the fairy indulge in sweets on several occasions but he had no idea which she preferred, so he had gotten a bit of everything.

Feeling that he deserved a reward, Snape went to Fortescue's for a cup of coffee. He even bought himself a dash of Irish cream and a sinful mountain of whipped cream; and since it was lunchtime, that slice of walnut cake with buttercream was definitely a necessity. It was very unhealthy to skip meals after all.

The afternoon was spent at the apothecary's where Snape got replacements for some of his rarer ingredients. The time before Christmas was ideal for that because the shop offered a plethora of discounts on various things. If Snape managed to save the school enough money, Dumbledore might even be willing to grant him another day off during the holiday.

It was time for dinner when the potions master returned to Hogwarts. There was laughter coming from the Great Hall, so he called for Whimsy to take his cloak and purchases back to his quarters and went straight to the Great Hall.

Gloria and the Ravenclaw students were singing and the other houses were trying to sing along.

Snape was puzzled. This was not a Christmas song.

"They spent all day working on the lyrics," Flitwick informed him with a chuckle.

Snape listened closer and huffed.

The fairy and the house of the eagles had made up a song about how he – Severus Snape, our hero in the black cape – had supposedly fought all kinds of creatures.

"I love the verse how you saved a blonde witch from a dragon," whispered Flitwick. So far the children had not realised that the protagonist of their song had taken his seat at the head table.

McGonagall chuckled. "I prefer his fight against the ghoul who had kidnapped a redhead."

"Do I save a girl in every verse?" asked Snape.

"No," grinned Flitwick. "They have one in which you save twins."

The students sang on until Dumbledore pointed out that the elves wanted to wash the dishes. Snape was surprised by their cheek. The protagonist of their song was sitting right in front of them but that didn't stop them.

Only when he got up to leave the hall did our potions master feel the magic of a notice-me-not charm on his person. He reached for his wand but Flitwick stopped him.

"Don't make them feel bad," the small teacher smiled. "Leave it on until you reach the dungeons."

And Snape did.