Chapter Eleven: Christmas Holidays
Harry had been on holiday for a week and a half now. His godfather seemed to have missed him a lot after the amount of time they'd spent together over the summer, getting to really know each other, and he seemed to have regretted the time he'd spent away. Meeting Harry at the end of term, Sirius said he'd told Dumbledore only to call in emergencies. So he was free to spend the whole holiday with Harry, and he'd arranged a week long trip to France for them.
They left from Hogsmeade on the first day of the holidays, taking a Portkey to London, and then travelling on the Muggle Eurostar to Paris, where they were to meet Remus. Magic provided them with the required documents to travel as Muggles, and no one seemed to connect the 'extremely dangerous' escaped convict of three years ago with the prosperous British man and his nephew travelling together to France for a pre-Christmas holiday. For Harry, who had barely left the Dursleys' house before going to Hogwarts, it was a wonderful experience. He enjoyed every minute of the trip, and the knowledge that he would be going back to Sirius' house for another two weeks afterwards only made it better.
At Sirius' advice he had left much of his Christmas shopping to be done in Paris, in both the Muggle and Wizarding quarters. Paris had several equivalents to Diagon Alley, including a massive wizarding market. Even with the handy translation spell Sirius taught him, it was virtually impossible to understand the stall-holders over the general hubbub, and Harry had an immense amount of fun trying. Shopping didn't exclude sightseeing, though, and they did plenty of that too. At the end of the week they boarded the train home loaded down with a pleasant combination of bags and memories.
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They reached Sirius' house five days before Christmas, and vanished into a flurry of wrapping paper and preparations. To celebrate Harry's first Christmas there, Sirius had decided to entertain, and only Harry's insistence that he wouldn't enjoy it kept it from being a full-scale party. He considered himself lucky that he'd managed to reduce the guest list to merely Ron, Hermione, their families, and Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall. He'd have liked to invite Severus too, but he was well aware of what Sirius' reaction to that suggestion would have been. Instead, he contented himself with sending a card through Hedwig and thinking about giving Severus his present when he returned to school.
He was rather surprised by the fact that he missed Severus over the holiday. Despite their new friendship, Harry hadn't thought he would be able to miss Severus with Sirius and Remus around. In Paris, though he'd wished that he were there, knowing that with his knowledge he would appreciate the buildings and museums much more than Harry, and would have enjoyed explaining the various things of interest. He also wished that they could spend Christmas together, now that he was almost as much a friend as Ron and Hermione, although in a rather different way.
Even more surprising, Harry found that he missed the closeness of the bond. Distance seemed to buffer the accidental transfer of thoughts and they had agreed to keep their shields up over the holidays anyway. Harry needed the practice and Severus claimed that he could use it too. Once or twice, Harry thought he caught a whisper of thought but Severus had made no overt attempts to communicate, and Harry refused to be the first to try.
On the morning of Christmas Eve, Hedwig returned from delivering Severus' card with one for Harry in return. Harry gaped and was rather glad that he was alone in his room. He didn't need to try to explain to Sirius why Professor Snape was sending him a card. Even if the card in question said nothing more than 'Harry. Happy Christmas. Severus Snape.' Harry told himself that he wasn't disgruntled at all, even considering that he'd written a virtual essay about his time in Paris. At least he hadn't confessed that he'd missed the man.
He propped the card up on his desk and went to see what Sirius and Remus were doing without looking back at it.
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The guests arrived in the afternoon. The house, not too big in the ordinary course of things, was positively overflowing with seven Weasleys, four Grangers, Dumbledore and McGonagall. Not to mention Sirius, Remus and Harry himself. Only the judicious application of a barely legal short-term expanding spell allowed them all to fit around the table in the dining room, or even to fit into the room itself.
Sirius had outdone himself with dinner. Harry could still remember his surprise on first discovering that his godfather not only enjoyed but positively loved to cook. He was astonishingly good at it too. Remus on the other hand – well, it was safest just to not let him near the kitchen.
It was well into Christmas Day by the time everyone left, leaving a litter of wrapping paper and boxes behind them. Thankfully a flick of a wand was all the effort required to clear it up. Sirius removed the expanding spell and the house was back to normal, or at least usual.
"So, what did you think, Harry?"
"Best Christmas ever," he smiled from his seat, and meant every word. "Thanks so much, Sirius."
"You're very welcome. I'm just sorry I couldn't do this for you sooner." He looked rather wistful at that.
"It was more than worth the wait, I promise." Harry replied, walking over to stand beside his godfather.
Sirius smiled and hugged him, and Harry went off to bed, yawning widely. He stuck his tongue out at Severus' card as he tucked himself in. I had a great Christmas, thank you very much. Take that, 'Severus Snape'.