1
It was the first of December and Severus Snape was making his way up to the Great Hall deep in thought. For the last seven years, December had been a month of joy. Well, mostly, he had to admit. Every year he had had an advent calendar, not only for himself but for the entire school. The first had come from Santa himself, and the population of Hogwarts had liked it so much that from then on, every year somebody had thought up an advent calendar. It had been a lot of fun, mostly, but for a couple of windows that had gone wrong.
This year, Severus could not imagine who would give him another calendar. Creating an advent calendar was a lot of work, nobody in their right mind would make one twice. Of course Severus had not yet made one himself but he was more the type who enjoyed opening the windows than trying to think up what to put into the windows.
Therefore, the potions master was resigned to the fact that there was not going to be another calendar and that made him sad.
"Good morning, my boy," Albus Dumbledore greeted his youngest teacher jovially. "We were starting to think you had gone missing." He looked at the young man expectantly.
"Good morning," Severus returned the greeting and reached for the coffee pot.
"Oh no, you don't," McGonagall brought her hand down on the pot so that Severus could not lift it. "We have been waiting long enough. Where is it?"
"Where is what?" Severus asked, puzzled.
The witch rolled her eyes. "The calendar!"
"Oh!" Snape blushed. Of course he was not the only one who had enjoyed his calendars. Maybe he should have made one after all. "I'm sorry, but this year there won't be a calendar."
"Honestly?" McGonagall asked. "How disappointing!" She let go of the coffee pot and shook her head at the Gryffindor table. The students hung their shoulders and some sniffles were heard.
Snape helped himself to some toast and scrambled eggs but the food tasted like cardboard to him, especially when the air of disappointment spread from the Gryffindors to the other house tables.
He was halfway through his plate of eggs when the post owls arrived. Draco Malfoy got the usual care package from his mother, many of the older students got their copies of the Daily Prophet, and Severus Snape got a howler. A pink one.
It took the potions master all of two seconds to realise who had written him that letter. Therefore, he was not surprised, when the howler started to talk in voice of a young woman.
"Seveeerus," the letter aspirated, "I wish you a very happy first of December! It was so good to be back at Hogwarts last year, I simply had to do something for you and all those delightful people there! Please use an enlargement charm on the remains of this letter." That said, the letter threw the potions master a kiss and then exploded into a rain of pink confetti, which – strangely enough – first rained down on the potions master and then gathered on a small plate that had not been there a moment before.
Snape obeyed immediately and pointed his wand at the confetti. It was amazing how a simple "Engorgio!" made the plate change into an ornate golden goblet and the confetti into small pink envelopes that bore numbers.
"What a splendid piece of magic!" Albus Dumbledore clapped his hands, "I always thought your apprentice was a gifted young witch but sometimes she surprises even me."
"It takes a lot of determination and concentration to charm an object into reacting differently than intended to a spell," the resident charms master informed the Great Hall at large. "I think I shall try and teach the seventh years how to do this during their afternoon lesson."
"May the sixth years try, too?" Ginny Weasley asked from the Gryffindor table. "Please?"
"I'm afraid it will be too advanced," mused Flitwick, "but why not? Trying can't hurt."
"Well," McGonagall rubbed her hands with glee, "we do have an advent calendar now. Open it!"
Snape rummaged through the content of the goblet until he found the envelope bearing the number one. As soon as he touched it, the words "this is to be opened by Severus Snape" appeared beneath the golden number.
The potions master obeyed and opened the envelope. A gush of pink sparks exploded out of it, gathered in a whirlwind that moved over the head table twice and finally moved onto the head of one Severus Snape where the sparks manifested in a bright pink Santa hat.
"There, you grouch!" giggled the voice of Snape's apprentice. "Take this token of Christmassy merriment until I come to bring some Christmas joy in person. I have to finish a project here but I promise I will be there before Christmas."
There was another small explosion and the potions master, Dumbledore and McGonagall were showered in more pink confetti. A small roll of parchment appeared on McGonagall's plate. The witch opened it and after a quick look read it out for the whole student body to hear.
"Dear everybody,
I wish you a delightful Advent and hope my little calendar will bring you some joy. To open a window, Severus must touch it on the correct day and he has to wear his new hat or the magic will not work.
I will see everybody soon! Love, Snape's Apprentice"
The students cheered and the rest of the meal was mixed with laughter and guesses what the advent calendar held in store.
"Whatever it is," Draco Malfoy pointed out to his fellow Slytherins, "it's probably pink." The snakes nodded. Since the maker of the calendar had lived with her master – their head of house – for a couple of years, they knew her better than most other students.
"That hat suits him," Pansy Parkinson agreed. "I hope I get one like that, too."
"Wouldn't that be boring if everybody got a hat?" Vincent Goyle mused.
"I'm glad we have another calendar," Albus Dumbledore meanwhile informed his staff at the Head Table. "In the years we had one, the students were much better behaved than usual during the month of December."
The other teachers agreed. Nobody wanted to risk being banned from the window opening.
"I'd say, a month of well-behaved students is the greatest gift the calendar brings," the Head of Hufflepuff pointed out. Again everybody agreed.
Snape drained his cup of coffee and got up. "You'll excuse me, I have a lesson to prepare and a hat to leave in my office."
"Why don't you wear it? I'm sure it's intended for that," asked McGonagall.
"And risk it being damaged and the calendar not working?" Snape sneered. "I think not!"
That said, he gathered his robes around his frame in a dramatic gesture and set off to Slytherin territory.
McGonagall sighed. "I always expect him to turn into a bat and fly away when he does that."
"Don't let him hear that," Dumbledore advised but he, too, giggled. All in all, the mood in the hall had improved dramatically since the arrival of the calendar. And if anybody had bothered to follow Snape to the dungeons, they would have heard the potions master whistle a Christmas song.