His Greatest Wish, by AndromedaMarine
December Comes
On Friday the tenth of December, Professor McGonagall finished teaching ten minutes before the bell was to ring. "Christmas holidays begin in one week," she said, observing the first years' excited faces. "If you elect to remain here at Hogwarts for the duration of these holidays, you may come forward and sign the roster. The Hogwarts Express will leave Hogsmeade at ten o'clock on the eighteenth, and you will return for spring term on Sunday, the second of January. Please do not let your excitement interfere with your studies, as I am sure most of your classes have exams in the coming week. I expect you all to do well on mine." She looked over her students. "You are dismissed," she said finally, and Lily strode purposefully towards McGonagall's desk to sign up, Sev right behind her.
"Professor," Lily acknowledged politely as she finished signing the roster. She handed the quill to Severus and waited for him, but she noticed the curious look McGonagall was giving her: full of interest. Perhaps Sev had been right. Sev dropped the quill on the desk and hitched his bag more securely over his shoulder, and the two of them left for Herbology, wrapping scarves and pulling on mittens as they walked, as they would have to trudge through a couple feet of snow to reach the greenhouses.
He and Lily took the tray across from Sirius and James, and it was a testament to his changed life that Sev didn't notice this until the rest of the class showed up. "Couldn't help but notice you two were the first to sign McGonagall's list," James said airily, and Sev had to force himself not to glare. Oh, I hope he doesn't start bragging about his pureblood connections—"My father has invited the Minister for Magic to our annual Christmas Day dinner, you know."
Sirius bit back a smirk and tried to focus his attention on the Flitterblooms they were repotting.
Severus glanced up, pulling off a spectacular act of appearing bored. "Am I supposed to think that special, Potter?"
James averted his gaze back to his Flitterbloom, but didn't say anything.
"He's just showing off," Sirius commented dryly, having extracted his plant from its first pot and shoved it into a new one. He seized a fistful of dragon dung and flung it into the pot, glanced over at James, and caught his eye. "It's not as though you actually need to boast, James. Your ego is big enough as it is."
Lily snorted and her cheeks turned red, but she didn't lift her eyes to observe James Potter or Sirius Black.
"Oh? And how many of you have personally met the Minister?"
"You haven't, yet," Lily pointed out. "Besides, it would probably only be worth it if you and he shared the same values, right? I wouldn't want to meet someone whose ideals didn't resemble mine."
"Being smart now?" James asked rudely. No excuse existed for his behavior.
Severus wanted dearly to say something acid to Potter, but thought it would be worth the entertainment to see Lily do some verbal thrashing. "For your information, Potter, I have always been smart—but being smarter than you isn't something hard to achieve." Sev watched as James bulged. "Your Potions nearly always congeal because you're fooling around with Sirius, but at least he pays half-attention. You're worse in Transfiguration and Charms than Cordon Diggory in Hufflepuff, and everyone knows his spells are all troll. You can't cast a proper Disarming spell in Defense, and everyone else has practically mastered it. And apparently you haven't quite gotten the hang of Herbology, because you're strangling your Flitterbloom."
Sev couldn't hold it in any longer. He began laughing so hard his sides ached, he gripped the edge of the large wooden table for support, and his eyes streamed from mirth, and he didn't even notice when Pomona Sprout came over to admonish James for half-killing his plant. Lily helped Sev straighten up and they both occasionally let out spurts of laughter as they continued to repot the Flitterblooms.
James, for the rest of the lesson, remained uncharacteristically silent and Sirius smiled in spite of himself, thoroughly amused by the thrashing Lily had given James.
"Merlin, Lily! I don't think I'll ever forget that...Potter strangling his Flitterbloom!"
Lily blushed as Sev crowed his praise on the way back inside, ahead of James and the rest, as they headed to their last class of the day: History of Magic. An hour and a half later, thoroughly bored out of their minds, the troupe burst from the dreary atmosphere of Binns' classroom on the first floor.
"Finally the weekend," Remus said with a sigh of relief.
"Homework and studying it is, I suppose, since we do have some exams next week—"
"Oh, stop being boring, Frank!" Lily exclaimed, whacking him on the arm. He gave her an incredibly convincing look of affront. She glanced over at Sev and lifted her eyebrow, hoping he could, for that one instant, read her mind. "Don't we, oh, you know, have something to show them?" she muttered, earning curious looks from the three other boys and Alice, who had been trying to edge around the group, which happened to be blocking the corridor.
"Hi Lily," Alice said with a smile.
"Alice!" Lily exclaimed enthusiastically, seized her by the arm, and pulled her next to her into the circle. "Let's all make like we're going towards the tower," she said in a quiet voice.
She really is brilliant, Sev mused. Showing them the Room of Requirement while everyone else is outside having enchanted snowball fights... He smiled widely, unable to keep it off his face. James and Sirius had already sprinted up to the dormitories and changed into weather-appropriate cloaks and gloves, and passed Sev and Lily's group as they began mounting the fifth floor staircase.
"Coming outside?" Sirius asked, slowing down his pace. He stopped on the step below Severus. "Gideon and Fabian Prewett have organized a Gryffindor snowball match and are each heading a team."
"Maybe later," Lily said with a plastered-on smile.
Sirius stared at her unsurely, but when James yelled up the stairs for him (Potter hadn't bothered stopping) he shrugged. "He deserved that, you know," Sirius said, referring to Lily's puncturing of James's ego. "He's too dim to actually ask why you aren't going home for Christmas." He stepped down and shrugged again. "See you later, then." He disappeared down the steps leading to the fourth floor.
So far it seemed as though Sirius would turn out to be the decent one keeping James in line instead of Remus (How unlikely, Sev thought), but now, to ever think James could change appeared pointless. Don't count your Ashwinders until they've hatched, Sev thought warily. Appropriate analogy, considering the intense flammability of Ashwinder eggs... He always ended up thinking about the properties of Potions ingredients. He shook his head, dark hair swinging. Well, he turned to a positive note, Mum's hair products seem to be doing their jobs.
Lily stopped walking when they reached the moving tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. She closed her eyes and focused her thoughts, ignoring Frank when he asked what they were doing in the middle of a deserted corridor.
It was Alice who gasped, seeing the door begin to appear. Lily smiled satisfactorily and observed her fellow first years. "Well, let's go in!"
Sev opened the door and waited for them all to enter, and did so himself after checking to see that the corridor was still deserted.
"What is it?" Peter asked squeakily.
"It's the Room of Requirement," Severus answered. "It becomes a place to fit the needs of the seeker." Way to reiterate yourself verbatim and sound like Hermione Granger.
"A truly private place," Lily said to Remus.
Remus grinned. Severus wondered if the werewolf was thinking about the room's properties and usefulness in relation to his lycanthropy, and then whether or not he would tell his secret to his friends. "It's perfect," Remus said. "Avoiding the Slytherins will be a piece of cake now."
Severus's stomach twisted, but only for a moment. Stop feeling guilty, he chided himself. Remus is my friend and I'm not in Slytherin.
Much to Frank's delight, they ended up finishing all their homework in the Room of Requirement before dinner. Secretly, Sev felt satisfied that they had avoided being involved in the snowball fight, and when they met James and Sirius at the Gryffindor Table that evening, their soaked clothes and wind-burned faces solidified that satisfaction.
By the time exams were over and students mostly packed for the holidays, Sev was pinching himself at least twice every hour to make sure he wasn't just dreaming that Lily had actually decided to spend break at the castle. It worked out that Lily and Severus were the only two first years staying, two of three Gryffindors total who had opted to remain at school. The third was someone Sev knew through the Order of the Phoenix: fourteen year old Sturgis Podmore, with his less-square face and thicker blonde hair than he'd had in the nineties. It didn't take long for the entirety of Sev's year to deduce that Sirius would accompany James back to Potter Manor, and meet the Minister.
Lily and Severus were sitting at the Gryffindor Table, mostly alone in the Great Hall, when Alice came towards them with her trunk in tow. "Well, the carriages are starting to leave for Hogsmeade," she said. "I'm grabbing one with Frank, Remus, and Peter." Lily stood up and hugged the other girl.
"Have a happy Christmas, Alice," she said with a smile, "and a wonderful New Years!"
Alice returned the sentiment, and then faced Sev. "Happy Christmas," she said to him with a small smile. She extended her hand and Sev shook it, a tad bewildered by the young woman. "See you on the second."
"You too," he replied sincerely. They watched Alice roll her trunk towards the open double doors and disappear into the Entrance Hall. Sev turned to Lily. "You know, I think the station is visible from the Astronomy Tower, if you want to watch when it leaves."
"Oh, I would!" Thankfully it was a bright, clear day, light reflecting off the snow that had blanketed the grounds for the past month, and Hogsmeade station would be clearly visible despite the width of the lake. They finished their breakfasts and started to wander up the stairs, stopping every once in a while for Lily to examine a tapestry, statue, or moving painting.
Severus couldn't help but watch her excitedly absorb the wonders of Hogwarts castle. "Can you believe it's almost four months since we left home?" he asked quietly as they approached the base of the Astronomy Tower.
Lily turned to gaze at him, surprised. "Not really," she answered. "Things seem to have gone by so quickly. It seems like yesterday I received my letter from Professor McGonagall telling me I was invited to come here!"
"You've adjusted well to the Wizarding world," he commented, stopping at the archway and gesturing for her to go ahead of him up the stairs. "You know a lot more than some of the kids who grew up in Wizarding families."
"I read, that's all," she countered. "Sometimes I wonder why people have such difficulty with Defense or Transfiguration, when the magical theory is described in the books, and Hardgrave and McGonagall go to all that trouble to repeat the proper wand movements about fifty times for each spell." Sev knew she meant Potter's inability to master Expelliarmus, even though in his first lifetime the spell had been his trademark.
They had reached the open top of the tower, and he leaned over the battlements, breathing in the crisp, clean winter air. "Hogwarts is such a beautiful place," he said, half to himself. He looked over at Lily and smiled, pointing out across the lake to the collection of houses and buildings that seemed so tiny in the distance. "Hogsmeade. And look, the train is already there at the station." In the distance the Hogwarts Express resembled a tiny scarlet snake that would soon start to wind its lengthy way back to London.
Up high on the Astronomy Tower, Severus allowed himself to do something he hadn't in all his life: he stopped thinking, and felt. He breathed. The invigorating air made him feel more alive than he had in ages, and despite the cold, the sun began to warm his face. He closed his eyes, becoming aware of every nuance of the wind, the sounds, the smells... He didn't know it, but Lily began to study him, taking the advantage of his guard being down to scrutinize his relaxed features. She rarely saw him open up completely, and when he laughed or smiled he seemed...handsomer than before? She blushed and looked away, even though Sev hadn't seen her taking liberties.
The faint sound of the train whistle echoed across the lake and Sev opened his eyes, watching with Lily as the Hogwarts Express chugged and began to glide away, across the white, pristine landscape, until it disappeared behind the Forbidden Forest in the general direction of London.
"I wonder how many students stayed behind, like us."
"We'll find out at the Christmas Day dinner, unless Dumbledore tries to organize something beforehand," Sev replied, still looking out over the grounds. The sun shone dazzling off the six Quidditch hoops.
Lily drew her cloak more securely around her and silently they turned, descending the spiral staircase to begin their two weeks of exploration of the castle. During that time, Sev followed her and sometimes guided her as they found the kitchens, the view from the West Tower, the more obscure sections of the library, Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and tried to get the Room of Requirement to change into the Room of Hidden Things. They ventured into the dungeons, where they didn't have to worry about Slytherins because most had gone home for the holidays. They had tea and biscuits with Hagrid almost every day (although they fed the biscuits to Fang when Hagrid wasn't looking) and watched in fascination as Professor Flitwick conjured live fairies to decorate the Great Hall.
Before they knew it, Christmas Eve had arrived.
The whole castle smelled like Christmas. The twelve traditional trees Hagrid dragged in the week before infused the Great Hall with the fresh scent of pine, something Sev had always loved but never let on. A notice appeared on the Gryffindor board that morning about the dinner; they were expected in the Great Hall at quarter of six. Sev privately grumbled about this. There must be a small number of students at Hogwarts if Dumbledore wanted a Christmas Eve dinner as well as the one on Christmas day.
Sev pulled on his robes, knowing his Muggle clothing looked quite atrocious, and descended into the common room. Lily was beside the roaring fire, in a conversation with Sturgis that had something to do with the Ministry's policy regarding werewolves, and whether or not Dolores Umbridge happened to be a badly transfigured toad. Sev stopped right behind Lily's armchair and she looked directly up at him, smiling.
"Sturgis was just telling me about some awful woman at the Ministry who's been drafting anti-werewolf legislation," she said, straightening her neck and standing.
"I've heard of her," Sev said darkly. Oh, he'd done more than heard of her. He'd actively disobeyed her when she imposed her tyrannical regime upon the school in Harry's fifth year. That was a woman he'd love to off...that is, if he wouldn't be imprisoned by Magical Law Enforcement for offing a high-standing Ministry official. "Dragon fodder, if you ask me."
The Great Hall ceiling had been enchanted to snow, and it reminded Sev of the distinctly frosted look of the Yule Ball. He and Lily sat at Dumbledore's side after he earnestly invited them over...after all, who could refuse the Headmaster? Minerva McGonagall sat on Dumbledore's other side, Flitwick next to her, Hagrid on one end, and a Ravenclaw sixth year named Adhara Kaus on the other, and another Ravenclaw (second year, Cadar Opus) to Sev's other side. There were three Hufflepuffs and a Slytherin too, which rounded the number of people at the table to thirteen. Sev suppressed a snort when he remembered Sybil Trelawney fretting about the unlucky properties of that particular number.
In front of each person lay a decent-sized pile of Wizard Crackers, which he had to demonstrate for Lily. Inside his first was an excellent glass Wizard's Chess set, one that would easily have Potter envious. Lily pulled hers open and her head disappeared inside a cloud of smoke. When it cleared, she was wearing a vulture hat, so akin to Augusta Longbottom's that he couldn't stop himself from chuckling. Since she didn't seem entirely pleased with it, Dumbledore kindly offered to swap with her for the copy of Hogwarts, A History that he'd gained from his own Cracker. Lily was all too happy to oblige. Between them, they ended up with three scarves, the chess set, the book, an ostentatious muffler that flashed gold and red so quickly it induced a headache, a handy wand holster for the forearm that Sev was excited to receive, a penknife resembling the one Sirius had given Harry a long time ago, and something that Severus knew he would never let Black or Potter lay their hands on: two-way mirrors. A good haul, considering it was from Wizard Crackers, and only Christmas Eve.
Beside him, Dumbledore said cheerily, "Since only you nine students chose to remain here for the holidays, there will be Wizard Crackers at the dinner tomorrow as well!" The nine students burst into grins at this.
Much later, back in the common room, Lily yawned which prompted Severus to do the same. He glanced at his watch, his eyes widening when he saw it was already past midnight. "Wow, Lily, it's already Christmas!"
She yawned again. "Really?"
"Yeah. I suppose we'd better get to bed then, since I want to be well rested for that snowball fight you wanted to have." He grinned at her as she tottered towards the girls' staircase. She stopped and turned, looking as if she'd forgotten something. She went over and hugged him.
"Happy Christmas, Sev," she whispered into his ear before squeezing and letting go. He'd barely had enough time to reciprocate, but he did.
"Happy Christmas."
He fell asleep with a smile on his face, dreaming about Lily.