Hi guys!

Les Varioufs just sent me the English translation of chapter 14 and I stopped everything I was doing to immediately publish it!

I hope everything goes well for you, that the arrival of winter does not bother you and that you love this chapter!

Have a nice week end!

Harry poured himself a large mug of hot chocolate and buttered a piece of toast, happily sinking his teeth into it seconds later. A shadow fell on the table in front of him and he jumped when he heard Snape's low voice.

"Have you seen your sister this morning, by any chance?"

Harry took enough time to swallow his mouthful and wash it down with a gulp of pumpkin juice before he replied. "No, Father."

Snape looked at him suspiciously, but without animosity. Harry stared wide eyed back at him, becoming the very picture of innocence in the blink of an eye.

"You won't say anything?"

"I don't know anything," Harry protested with a total lack of sincerity.

Snape studied him for a few seconds and then turned sharply on his heel to go and get his own meal.

"Why's he looking for her?" Ron asked.

"Dunno…"

"But you know where she is," Hermione pressed him.

"That I know, yeah. She's gone to take some things to Snuffles."

"Why didn't you tell Snape?" Ron asked.

"Because she's much scarier than he is," he said, smiling. "And because she's going to try to convince Snape to let me stay at Grimmauld Place for Christmas."

"Oh brilliant!" Ron said enthusiastically. "We'll all be there too!"

"Well done, Ron," Hermione sighed, annoyed.

"What?"

"Well if Professor Snape says no, Harry will be more upset now!"

"Why would he say no?"

"You never know!"

Harry rolled his eyes but managed not to get involved in his friends' latest argument.

"Do you really think he'll risk saying no to Demi and Mum?" Ron asked.

"You never know," Hermione repeated stubbornly.

Ron shook his head but gave up and just gave Harry a look instead. Harry smirked at him but said nothing. He agreed with Ron; there was no reason why Snape wouldn't let him stay with Sirius, especially since he was the one who had said that the holidays would be a chance for Harry to get away from Hogwarts – and Umbridge – for a bit. And since the professor didn't leave the castle during the Christmas holidays, the only solution he could see would be to let him join his friends.

An hour later, Harry went with Ron and Hermione to the train station in Hogsmeade. Ron whispered "See you soon" while Hermione watched him suspiciously. She promised to write to Harry if he didn't arrive soon for Christmas.

Harry returned to the castle and found it deserted; Umbridge's presence had made those who normally stayed for the holidays flee.

Speaking of the old shrew, Harry thought, look who just turned up.

The witch was heading straight for Harry, her eyebrows drawn into a disapproving expression.

"What are you doing here, Mr Potter?"

"Nothing, Professor," he replied, forcing himself to be polite. "I've just got back from taking my friends to the station."

"The station?" hissed Umbridge. "So, you left the castle without permission?"

A cold voice intervened before Harry could reply. "Harry had my permission, Dolores."

"Severus," she simpered, "since Mr Potter is staying at the castle during the holidays, he must follow the rules. Showing him favouritism because he's a professor's son wouldn't be very fair, would it?"

"I can assure you that Harry gets no benefit from his status," Snape replied in an icy tone. "However, I do agree with you about the principle."

The witch sent an evil smile in Harry's direction, who had frozen when he heard his father's words.

"However, Harry isn't spending the holidays here. His departure is a bit different from the others, certainly, but he's not on the list of students who are staying behind. In fact, I don't believe that any students are staying at the castle this year. I still have to finish marking and preparing a few things, and then Harry and I will be leaving the castle for the holidays."

"Oh," Umbridge replied, clearly unable to think of anything else.

She was eager to punish Harry but had no valid reason to do so. That wouldn't normally stop her, but punishing the boy in front of his own father when he had obviously not done anything was beyond her. Instead, she played on the Potions Master's strictness, hoping it would ruin the boy's holiday.

"Before you leave, Severus, I need to talk to you," she simpered. She shot Harry a loaded look.

"Very well. I have time now, let's go to the staff room. Harry, go to my office," he ordered. "I'll join you there."

Harry shook all over as he headed towards Snape's office. So, he was going back to the manor for the holidays, and since Demi was going to spend her time off with Sirius, he would be alone with his father. Knowing Umbridge, she would make him furious with Harry and… Harry sadly closed his eyes, folded his arms on the desk and laid his head on them.

Twenty minutes later, the sound of the door quickly opening made Harry jump. He looked worriedly at his father, who stood in front of him and stared at him wordlessly.

"It would seem," Snape finally said after several minutes of silence, "that you are insolent, disrespectful, and a definite bad influence on this school. Dolores suggested that I use the holidays to put you back on the correct path using – how did she put it? Yes – brute force."

Harry said nothing, simply lowered his eyes and swallowed.

"I'm not stupid, you know," his father continued in a lighter tone.

Harry's head snapped up and he caught the gaze of the somewhat amused man in front of him.

"I know that you're insolent. But I have never really heard you disrespect your professors. Even if you did, there wouldn't be enough left after Minerva was finished with you for me to even 'put back on the correct path'."

Harry couldn't help but smile.

"As for being a bad influence on the school, I must say that this is somewhat exaggerated. Especially compared with the walking curse that is the Weasley twins."

Harry stopped himself from laughing with difficulty.

"Right," Snape continued, "now that you know that I'm not angry, let's talk about the holidays."

Harry sat up straighter in his armchair.

"In two days, we will go back to the manor and, officially, we won't leave. Since the manor is protected, I would prefer for the Ministry to think you are locked away there. Demi will drive you to your godfather's. I don't know what Mrs Weasley threatened him with but I am, shall we say, invited for Christmas Eve dinner. You, on the other hand, will spend all of your time off there and won't come back until the day before school starts. I'm counting on Lupin to keep you out of trouble while I'm not there. Don't do anything that I wouldn't approve of and remember that nothing stays secret forever."

Harry agreed eagerly: the threat was clear, but he was ecstatic. He was going to spend the holidays with his godfather and his friends. Even Snape being there on Christmas Eve didn't dampen his good mood.

"During the next two days, I would like you to make my office a second home and do your homework. That way you won't have anything to worry about for the rest of the holidays and you will stay out of Umbridge's way."

"Can't I go to the library? I'll need books."

"The library is closed for the holidays since no students are staying at Hogwarts, and I don't want you to be somewhere Umbridge can find you. If it's me you're worried about, you can work in my rooms."

"No, not at all… I-"

"Harry," Snape interrupted with a small smile, "believe me, I wouldn't be offended. I don't like being watched while I'm working either."

Harry raised a sceptical eyebrow – students didn't exactly watch the professor during a class.

Understanding what he meant, Snape clarified. "I mean while I'm preparing potions, doing research or marking. I'm not talking about the teaching aspect of my job, obviously."

Harry nodded and went to the dormitory to pick up his books and notes, before heading straight back to the dungeons.

"Mr Potter!"

He sighed and turned to face Professor Umbridge. "Yes, Professor?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to do my homework."

"Return to your dormitory immediately."

"My father asked me to do it in his rooms."

"Stop telling insolent lies!"

"I'm not lying," he replied through gritted teeth.

He saw Umbridge narrow her eyes and thought he was about to get another detention. He heard a noise behind him and sighed in relief when he recognised Snape's footsteps. He had never been so happy to see him.

Snape frowned when he saw him with Umbridge. "Why aren't you working yet?" he asked sharply.

"But Professor Umbridge…" Harry began, but stopped when he saw his father's severe expression.

"Go on," he hissed. "And don't think you've got away with it – I'm coming."

Harry didn't need to be told twice – he took off at a run. Out of breath, he said the password to the portrait, who looked at him suspiciously before deciding to open. Heart thumping wildly, he put his things on the table and jumped when a door slammed behind him.

"Hi," Dementia chirped. She looked at Harry and sighed. "What now?"

Before Harry could reply, the door opened again and Severus walked through. Dementia narrowed her eyes when she noticed her brother backing away, but before she could think of telling him off, her father spoke.

"Harry?"

"Why did you shout at me like that? It was her – she stopped me while I was coming here!"

"Harry," Snape sighed, "I only wanted her to think that what she had said had worked and that she had managed to make me angry with you. I thought you'd understood."

Harry nodded carefully, trying to calm down his racing heart. It was an act; he should have realised that.

Dementia decided she had to lighten the mood quickly. "Ok, we're going to Hogsmeade."

"What?" Snape asked.

"That's right. We're going to Hogsmeade. I need to finish my shopping. Harry needs to do his Christmas shopping and you have some shopping to do too, unless I'm wrong. So, we're going to Hogsmeade, we'll split up for two hours for our shopping and then we'll drink a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks."

"You haven't-" Snape began.

"Don't even try to get out of it," Demi hissed, "it's Christmas, so we're going to have a family outing! You can spend one hour with your children without getting ill, can't you?"

"Very well," Snape conceded. He hated it when Demi got shrill. "Let's go!"

Thrilled, Harry ran up to Gryffindor tower to find the money that his sister had given him at the beginning of the year and to get changed. He pulled on a pair of jeans, a jumper, and grabbed his Hogwarts cloak. He went back down quickly to find his sister and father waiting for him in the Entrance Hall.

"You took your time," Demi complained.

"You didn't have to get to the other end of the castle," Harry retorted.

"Here," Snape interrupted, handing him some money. "I went to Gringotts last weekend to get some money out of your account for you. I suspected you wouldn't have time to go yourself and would need some money for your Christmas shopping."

"Let's go!" Dementia said happily.

They went their separate ways once they got to the village. Harry went to the bookshop first, as he had owl ordered a book for Hermione. He looked around him and decided he could always have a look in here to try to find a present for his father.

"Do you need something else?" the man behind the desk asked.

"I'd like to get my father a book, but I don't know what to get him."

"What type of books does he like?"

Harry noticed that the bookseller was only a few years older than he was. "He's Professor Snape."

"Oh," the man replied, smiling, "maybe I can help you then. Professor Snape normally asks me to put aside any new books on Potions and Defence – obviously, I do that straight away. I've got a book on each. They won't be for sale until after Christmas, but I can make an exception for the son of my old Head of House…"

"You were in Slytherin?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Gryffindor."

The man started laughing. "Professor Snape must love that."

Harry just sighed, making the bookseller laugh harder. He invited Harry into the shop's back room to look at the books; one was a thick potions tome called The Properties of Forgotten Ingredients, and the other was an equally thick Defence book called Advanced Counter-Spells and Protective Enchantments Against Dark Magic.

"Ok I'll take both," Harry decided. "If my father comes in you can tell him about the Defence book – I'm buying it for someone else – but don't mention the Potions book."

"That shouldn't be a problem – I'm the only one who knows about these books anyway. I'm sure he'll really like them. So that's 75 Galleons for those two and the book you ordered."

Harry thanked the man and paid, then walked out of the shop. He went to the Quidditch shop to buy Ron a book about the history of the Chudley Cannons and their most famous matches. Then he went to the girls' shop, as Ron called it, to get a necklace for Demi and a collection of hair grips in a variety of colours for Ginny (Hermione had told him that Ginny considered it as important as the make-up set that she planned to give her). Next, he headed to the joke shop to buy a new arsenal for the Weasley twins and then dropped by Honeydukes to get some sweets for himself and Ron.

Finally, he looked at his watch. He had twenty minutes left to find something for Mrs Weasley to thank her for being so nice to him and Sirius. As for Mr Weasley, he planned to take him around London to buy him some Muggle tools.

He walked around Hogsmeade again and came across a small shop that he had never noticed before called the Household Haven. He decided to go in to see if he could find something for Mrs Weasley. He homed in on a set of cooking dishes that stopped cooking by themselves once the meal was cooked. He remembered Ginny telling Ron that their mother would have loved that but it was too expensive for them to buy, so they had bought cookery books instead. The set, which included 2 cake tins, a baking dish, a casserole dish and two frying pans, was 20 Galleons. Harry didn't hesitate for a second – Mrs Weasley was the closest thing he had to a mother.

"Right, now Sirius," Harry sighed, and walked around the village again.

He was just looking at all the shops again for the second time and was about to resign himself to just sticking a giant red bow to Dementia's forehead when he came across his father, who had apparently finished his shopping and was heading for the Three Broomsticks.

"You look like you're having fun," Snape said mockingly.

"I can't find anything for Sirius."

Thankfully, Snape restrained himself from making an insulting comment about the ex-prisoner. This wasn't the right time – Harry would explode if he did that.

"Well, I believe that Black knows a lot about liqueur and whisky. There's a shop behind the Hog's Head that sells some sets of liqueurs."

"I saw it but people under 17 aren't allowed in."

"Since you're with me I doubt there'll be a problem. Since your sister is always late, I think we have time to go there now."

Harry smiled, relieved to have found an idea for his godfather's present. They walked into the shop and Snape started talking to the owner.

"Hello, this young man would like to buy a set of liqueurs for his uncle. Could you help him? I'll wait here," he added, turning to Harry.

"Ok, thank you Father."

The man showed him different sets and explained that all of the drinks in the shop could be sold together. Harry was amazed to find a set with a bottle and two tumblers with a stag engraved on them – it looked amazing. Harry asked his father if he thought cream whisky liqueur would be a good idea and Snape nodded. He'd spent enough time at HQ listening to Sirius complaining about not being able to go to a good whisky shop and knew that the former prisoner had always loved cream whisky liqueur and apple liqueur. Harry grimaced at the price – 27 Galleons – but refrained from commenting.

Harry happily thanked Snape for his help and followed him back to the Three Broomsticks. They were nearly 10 minutes late, but Dementia still wasn't there and only arrived a few minutes after them.

"Did you get everything?" she asked Harry.

"Yes, Father sorted it all out just now."

"So I won't have a chance to take a look then," she muttered, pretending to sulk.

"Nope!"

Dementia burst out laughing and attracted the attention of the waitress that Madame Rosmerta had hired a few weeks before.

"Actually, Father, why did you say I wanted a present for my uncle?"

"Because after he escaped everyone knows that Sirius Black is your uncle. I didn't want to risk it."

Harry nodded – he hadn't thought of that. He was lucky that he hadn't corrected his father in the shop.

The waitress walked up to them to take their order. When she noticed Snape, she froze and started stammering. "What… er… w-what can I get… y… er… you?"

"A coffee for me," Snape replied, "a lemon tea?" he asked his daughter, who nodded. "A lemon tea and a butterbeer," he finished, already knowing what Harry would like.

The young woman nodded nervously, hurried away and bumped into the chair at the table next to them.

"She's not normally so clumsy," Dementia murmured, thoughtful. "And she normally talks more too."

A few minutes later, the young woman returned and hurriedly put their drinks on the table. She nearly spilled the boiling hot tea all over Demi's silk shirt when she saw that Severus had taken his outer robes off. Then she flushed and avoided eye contact with Snape when she gave him his coffee.

"Thank you."

At that, she turned crimson.

Snape watched her discreetly as she walked away, a small smile appearing on his lips. He must not have been as subtle as he'd thought, because Demi and Harry exchanged incredulous looks and then burst out laughing. Snape glared at them and drank his coffee. Dementia and Harry exchanged wicked glances that he pretended not to notice.

When they finally left the building, Dementia had stifled so many bursts of laughter that she was nearly hyperventilating. On the way back, she started singing a very out of tune rendition of Invitation to the blues by Tom Waits, much to Harry's amusement and Snape's annoyance.

"Well she's up against the bar with an apron and a spatula,

Yesterday's deliveries, tickets for the bachelors

She's a moving violation from her conk down to her shoes,

Well, it's just an invitation to the blues!"

"Are you finished?" Snape asked. "Stop making a fool of yourself. And it's 'up against the register'."

"I was improvising."

"And she didn't have a spatula," Snape muttered.

"Ooo, you noticed, did you?" Demi cooed, making Harry laugh.

"No, I didn't. What was in your tea?"

"Oh? But she was looking at you so much she nearly dropped my drink!"

"It was nothing!"

"Come on, admit you like her!"

"That's enough, Dementia," Snape snapped.

Demi lifted her hands in surrender, still smiling. When they arrived at the castle, she headed towards Hagrid's cabin to ask him to take a look at her owl, who seemed unusually tired.

Before she left, she had something to say; "Well, I happen to know she's called Evaeliane and she's about 29 or 30. She's single and she works every day at the Three Broomsticks from 11 till 5."

She ran off before her father could even reply. Snape turned to glare at Harry, his raised eyebrow just daring him to make a comment.

Harry smiled innocently and said, as neutrally as a he could, "Did you find anything interesting in Hogsmeade?"

Snape sighed and smirked. "Go away, you're no better than your sister!"

Harry laughed and ran after his sister, leaving his father with the shopping. Snape rolled his eyes and summoned a house elf to take the many bags back to his rooms.

Twenty minutes later, Demi and Harry were walking back up to the castle. Harry gulped when he saw Umbridge heading towards them, but when she didn't even look at them Harry wondered if Dementia's presence had put her off picking on Harry.

Not wanting to climb the seven floors up to Gryffindor tower again, Harry asked Dobby to get his bag for him. He was quiet when he got to Snape's rooms, and the latter was surprised at his sudden change in mood until Dementia explained that they had run into Dolores Umbridge. Even though she hadn't said anything, it had been enough to dampen Harry's mood.

"Very well," Snape sighed. "You could both leave today instead, but I'm going back tomorrow. Harry, it's not a problem if you want to go to Black's today – or if you prefer, you could finish your homework at home and go there tomorrow evening like we planned."

"I think I'll do my homework first – Hermione won't shut up otherwise," Harry said, smiling.

"Very well. Is that ok with you, Demi?"

"Yeah," Demi said, smiling. "I really want to get out of here to be honest. Dolores is unbearable, and Madame Pince thinks I'm spending the holidays here helping her with her inventory – but I just want to get out while I still can!"

Snape smirked and agreed that they could leave immediately. Demi took the bags with all of her shopping in, as well as Harry's; Snape point blank refused to let her look after his. He walked them to the gate to Hogwarts, where they once again ran into Professor Umbridge, who glared at Harry. Harry instinctively moved closer to his sister and held her arm. Demi put her arm around him and, clutching their suitcase firmly in the other hand, she apparated them in front of the gates to Snape Manor.

"Go and get settled," she ordered Harry. "I'm going to tell Kookie that we're back and then phone Sirius to let him know we're coming tomorrow."

Harry smiled and went to his room. For the first time in his life, he was relieved to leave Hogwarts, and the added incentive of seeing his godfather the next day helped him to find the motivation he needed to make quick work of the mountain of homework that the professors had given him.

Harry spent the rest of his afternoon doing his transfiguration, charms and astronomy homework. After they ate, Dementia let him stay up and helped him with his herbology, history of magic and care of magical creatures homework. All he had left was his potions and defence against the dark arts homework, which he would do the next day with his father's help. After that he would have two whole weeks of pure freedom, since all his divination homework involved was keeping a dream diary.