The next day on Christmas Eve, Lily and I are sitting in her room, talking. Lady is upstairs with us, lying against Lily's leg. I am rubbing Lady's belly while Lily rubs her ears and jowls. Petunia recently painted Lady's nails red and green. Lady is having the time of her life.
"My dad was sober for a few months," I say, not looking at Lily.
"Was?"
"Yeah. He was s'posed to get promoted and didn't, so he came home from the bar real mad."
"Why?"
"I dunno. It don't matter," I say as I shift my position to avoid stretching the welts on my back left by my father's belt, "He said I distracted him too much, and then him and my mum had a big fight."
"Oh, Sev, I'm so sorry. I know you were really looking forward to him getting that promotion," Lily says and embraces me. I squirm away from her hands on my back, "What's wrong? Do you not like it when I hug you anymore?"
"It's not that, it's just that he whooped me last night," I mumble.
"What do you mean? Like you got spanked?"
"No," I murmur, "he used his belt."
"To hit you? That's terrible!"
"Yeah. Must be nice to be a girl— my mum says you don't whoop girls."
"My dad's never hit me with his belt, so I guess so!"
"He only makes me take my shirt off when he's drunk, though, and he hits harder when he's drunk, too."
"Does that happen a lot?"
I shrug.
"Gosh, Sev, that's awful!"
"It could be worse. He wasn't as bad as usual last night, but I'm still pretty bruised up. I only got a couple cuts this time, though."
"You want me to clean them off for you?" Lily asks.
"I guess. If you want," I mumble, petting Lady.
Lily stands up, grabs some rubbing alcohol and a washcloth from the bathroom, closes her bedroom door, and I take my shirt off. Lily gasps when she sees my back, and says, "Sev, it looks terrible! How could he do this to you?"
I shrug, and say, "He says whooping's the only way to get kids to behave, and he said I was bad, so he whooped me. He said I distracted him, that's why he didn't get promoted."
"That doesn't make sense," Lily shakes her head, and begins rubbing my back, "how could you distract him? You don't go to work with him!"
"Ow, Lily! Don't rub like that!" I yelp as she rubs one of the welts on my back.
"Sorry! What do you want me to do then?"
"You gotta be gentle! If you rub, it'll make it even worse," I whisper.
Suddenly, we hear a knock on her bedroom door.
"What are you two doing in there?" Petunia calls out from the hallway.
"Keep your voice down, Tuney!" Lily calls out, "I'm just helping Sev clean off a couple of cuts!"
"If you don't open this door, I'm gonna tell mum and dad!" Petunia says through the door. I throw my shirt back on as Lily, red-faced and teeming with anger, stands up and throws open the door.
"What's your problem?!" Lily whisper-yells at Petunia, "Sev has a few cuts, and I was helping clean them off! What's so wrong about that?! Here! You can even see the rubbing alcohol and the washcloth!"
"And you needed to close the door to do that?" Petunia sneers.
"You close your door all the time when you have friends over!" Lily's voice is rising.
"Lily," I mutter, "keep your voice down!"
Petunia laughs, "Yeah, you freak! That's because none of them are boys!"
"Shut up," Lily growls.
Suddenly realizing what Petunia is insinuating, I laugh, and say, "Me and Lily are just friends, Petunia! It's not like we're in here kissing, and if that's what you think, then you should get your mind out of the gutter!"
This time it's Petunia's turn to be flush, "You are the most obnoxious, exasperating, nastiest excuse for a human being I've ever met in my life!" she yells, and stomps off down the stairs.
Lily and I exchange glances as we hear the muffled noises of Petunia's conversation with Lily's mum downstairs, then footsteps that stop at the foot of the stairs.
"Girls, we don't need to be fighting right before Christmas! Lily, Severus, come downstairs, please!" Lily's mum yells up the stairs. Lily and I embarrassedly traipse back down the stairs, and I sit on the stairs as Lily's mum hugs her, saying, "Petunia's right, sweetheart, even if you two are just friends, there's no reason for your door to be closed."
"I promise we weren't doing anything, mum!" Lily whines, "Sev just had some cuts that I was cleaning for him!"
"Oh, you're hurt, Severus? I can help you with that! You should have asked me!" Lily's mum exclaims, turning to me.
"No!" I exclaim, then in a lower voice, I say, "No, ma'am, I'm fine. Lily took care of it. It's fine. I promise!" When Lily opens her mouth to speak, I glare covertly at her, and she shuts her mouth.
"If you're sure, then that's fine. Why don't you two come spend some time down here by the fire and make some crafts or help me with the cooking? Petunia's going to bake some almond cookies, right Petunia? Perhaps you'd like to help her!" Mrs. Evans says.
I look at Lily. She's glaring at Petunia, and Petunia is glaring back, so I say, "It don't matter to me. I'm happy to help."
With everybody calm, Mrs. Evans heads back to the kitchen, still holding Lily's hand and pulling her along.
"I don't need your help, you freak!" Petunia whispers to me as I follow Lily.
I just sneer at her. I don't need to waste my time with some ugly, nasty muggle anyway.

For the rest of the day, we sit by the fire, pet Lady, read our books, craft things to give as gifts, and help Lily's mum bake and prepare food for Christmas Eve. I make Lily an angel ornament for her tree and write her a letter. I draw Lucius a picture of him, Narcissa, and me, and I write him a card. Then I write my mum and dad cards, cut out and decorate a big letter "E" for my mum to put on her bedside cabinet, and draw a picture of my dad and me fishing for my dad.

Dear Mum,
I love you and I wish you were arownd mor but I now you gotta work real hard. Please stay safe wile Im at Lilys and Lucius houses. I hope youre hedakes get beter. I dekorated you this leter so you kin put it on youre bedside kabnet and it will remind you of how good of a mum you are. If you ever get sad you kin play with my strang rok colection if you want. Its by my matres. Merry Christmas.
Love,
Severus

Dear Dad,
I hope someday you git you're promoshin. I know you work real hard to help suport me and mum. I hope that durin sumer break you kin take me fishin like you use to. It was real fun. I'm sorry I aint good all the time and that I made you mad. I tried real hard to be good tho I promis! I had a good time playin cards with you over brake and I hope we kin do that agin next time. Thank you for buyin me mcdonalds.
Love,
Rus

Lily promises to walk with me to my house tomorrow on Christmas Eve so that I can run in and put the presents and the letters on my mum and dad's bedside cabinets. I told my mum that I would leave them there so that she would know where to look. She told me she would leave my card and presents on my mattress. During supper, the Evans' talk a lot. Even Petunia seems happy for once. I think it is the Christmas spirit. I tell them that my family went to church last Sunday for the first time in a couple of years. They seem to know I am proud, and tell me that that's wonderful, and that they wish they could go to their old church more often, but it's so far away they don't usually have time to get there before the service starts. I tell them that they could go to my old church if they want to. They say that that's a great idea, even though I know they don't want to go there. Lady begs under the table. Occasionally Lily and I throw her scraps of chicken. When Mrs. Evans catches us, she scolds us, saying that Lady is already getting too chubby and that we need to stop feeding her so many treats. Petunia seems happy to see us getting in trouble. I give her a dirty look when nobody's looking.

The next day, Lily comes to my house with me. I give her a tour because I am proud of all the hard work I did trying to make the house look decent. She tells me I did a good job, says it looks real nice, and, careful not to touch my back, gives me a hug. We go upstairs to my bedroom, and I find the cards my parents have written, a pair of green gloves with a matching hat, a new pack of cards, and an old pair of kid's leather boots that look to be about my size!

Dear Severus,
Thank you for tidying up the house so nicely this last week. I'm sorry that I never got to see your good grades, but I'm sure you're doing well. I hope you like the hat and gloves I got you! Stay safe at school. Don't get in any fights. Make sure all of your professors like you and that you do everything Lucius asks of you with a smile on your face! I know that you'll have a wonderful life when you grow up if you have the right connections in school. Keep getting good grades.
- Mum

Rus,
It was good seeing you this week. Your getting pretty good at cards! Maybe this summer Ill take you fishing again and well play some more cards. Hopefully now that your gone Ill have time to focus on work and to get that promoshin. It's hard for me when your here cause I get real distrakted and tired. I rekon I might have been a little hard on you last night, so how bout I take you to McDonalds to make up for it next time your here? I got you a new pack of cards and I found them boots at the donation center. Your mum said you needed some new shoes. I hope they fit you okay.
Merry Christmas,
Dad

Eyes a little wet, I carefully tuck the Christmas cards, my new pack of cards, and my gloves into the pockets of my coat, then I put on my hat and try on my new boots. The laces are pretty worn down, soles are worn a little thin, and they smell funny. They're a little big, but not too bad. They feel like heaven compared to how tiny and worn down my old shoes were! After that, we go to my parents' bedroom to put their gifts on their bedside cabinets. On the walk home, we are both silent. I know Lily read the letters my mum and dad left over my shoulder. I know she pities me for my house and my situation. I just want to disappear.
Before I go to bed, I write Lily and Mr. and Mrs. Evans cards and place them under the tree.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Evans,
Thank you for inviting me to your house for Christmas and for winter brake. I love your house and Lady. It was real fun helping dekorat your big tree. I've never done a big tree before and it was real kool. Thank you for giving me food and leting me stay here. I wish I coud do more to pay you back but maybe I can when I'm older.
Sinseerlee,
Severus

Dear Lily,
Thank you for being my best frend. It was real fun dekoratin the tree with you yesterday because I never dekorated a tree that big before. I've never had a frend like you and I hope we stay best frends forever. I know that sometimes I do stuff that makes you mad and I know that you don't like my other friends in Slytherin but someday you'll see that its alrite. I wish I could have goten you a present but I coud only make you this card and ornament when we were krafting the other day.
Love,
Sev

When I wake up the next morning, I find that Lady has been sleeping on my bed with me. I cuddle close to her and fall back to sleep for a little while before Lily comes running down the stairs to wake me up. When we get to the living room, I gasp. I've never seen so many wrapped boxes in my life! It looks like a scene from the picture book my mum used to let me read while she shopped at the donation center. There are presents for everybody, even Lady! Since I didn't make a card or anything for Petunia, I wish her a merry Christmas and shake her hand. She doesn't make eye contact with me, and she lets go of my hand as quickly as she can. I feel anger boiling inside of me, but firmly push it back down. Someday I think I'm going to explode from all the pent up anger inside of me. Lily really likes the angel ornament I made her while we were crafting, and even pretends to be surprised. Mr. and Mrs. Evans also like the ornament I made for them. When they all read their cards, they hug me and tell me thank you. Lily says she's gonna keep her card forever.

When it is time for me to go home, I put on my boots, hat, and gloves, and pack the new white button-down shirt the Evans' gave me in one of the present boxes. I hug and kiss Lady goodbye, shake Petunia's hand, and hug Mrs. Evans. She hugs me tight, and the last thing I smell before walking out the door with Mr. Evans is her wonderful perfume. Someday I'm going to buy that perfume for my mum.