The Spirit of Christmas
By Phoenix Angel
A.N. Yay! School's finally finished! It's summer! Okay, sry, I'll stop now. This is the last chappie for this fic. It's finally Christmas! I hope you enjoy it! Btw, is anyone else having trouble w/ ff.net? I'm just wondering…
Part Nine
Harry woke up bright and early Christmas morning. He lay in bed for a while, wondering why he had woken up so early. Then he remembered what day it was. He leaped out of bed, scrambled into some clothes, and bounced out of the room. Once in the hallway, he calmed down a bit.
"Izzue?" he called out, hoping the elf would hear. Izzue appeared immediately in front of him.
"Yes, Master Harry?" she asked, bowing.
"Can you show me where Severus' bedroom is?" Harry asked.
Izzue's eyes widened. "But, Master Harry! Master Snape will surely be upset if you disturb his sleep!"
Harry shook his head. "I asked him yesterday. He said I could wake him up. Please?"
Izzue squeaked, "If Master Snape says it's okay, I guess I could lead you there…"
Harry jumped up and down. "Great! Let's go!" He started off down the hall, but stopped when Izzue squeaked again.
"Um, Master Harry… Master Snape's bedroom is the other way…"
Harry giggled. "Right! To forever and beyond!"
Standing outside Severus' room, Harry took a deep breathe, and hoped that what he was about to do would turn out okay. He silently opened the door, and crept across the room towards the bed. Mentally, he counted down from ten. After one, he leaped onto the bed and onto Severus. "Rise and shine, Sevvie!"
Severus leaped up in surprise. "Harry! What are you doing?!?"
Harry beamed down at Severus. "You said I could wake you up in the morning, remember? It's Christmas!"
Severus rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "When I said you could wake me up, I didn't mean at…" he glanced at the clock on the bedside table. "Six o'clock! Are you crazy?!?"
Harry pouted. "But everyone gets to do it at least once in their lifetime. I wanted to do it too…"
Severus sighed, turning away from the puppy eyes that looked up at him, begging for forgiveness. "Just this once, Potter, just this once…"
Harry's cheerfulness returned full blast. He started bouncing up and down on the bed. "Great! So, what are we doing today, Sev?"
Severus rubbed his head. "First, you are going to stop jumping on my bed. Then you are going to go to the living room and wait for me there."
Harry pouted again. "But Sev… you take too long. Hurry up and get dressed!"
"Fine!" Severus snarled. He stomped over to the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind him.
Several minutes later, Severus emerged from the bathroom to find Harry jumping on his bed again. He sighed in exasperation. "Harry!"
Harry stared innocently back at him. "Yes, Severus?" he said in a sugary voice.
Severus gave up. He charged over to the bed and began tickling Harry. "You should know better, Harry! You need to be punished."
Harry was rolling around on the bed, trying to escape Severus' tickling hands. "I'm sorry," he gasped out. "Please stop! I won't do it again…" his tone turned pleading, and he put his puppy eyes on again.
"Fine, I'll stop this time, but next time, no mercy! Come on; let's go to the living room now." Severus released Harry and headed out the door.
Harry lay on the bed for a little while, catching his breathe, before leaping up and charging after Severus. "Hey! Wait for me!" he wailed.
Severus kept up the same pace, his robes fluttering behind him. He ignored Harry's calls and proceeded to the living room. When Harry finally arrived, Severus was seated on the couch, with piles of food on a small table in front of him.
"Severus!" Harry whined. "You didn't wait for me!"
"Sit down and have some breakfast, Harry. After breakfast, you can open your presents." He nodded towards the pile of presents under the Christmas tree.
Harry gawked. "When did those get there? I didn't even notice them!"
Severus raised his eyebrows, wondering how Harry could miss such brightly-wrapped packages. "They arrived for you last night. The house elves put them under the tree this morning."
Harry uttered a quiet "oh" before taking a seat and tucking into the food. He soon finished his meal, and patiently waited until Severus finished his meal before bouncing up again. He walked over to the tree and grabbed present wrapped in green paper with a silver ribbon. He walked back to Severus and gave him the package. "Happy Christmas, (that's what British ppl say, right? At least, I think it's what they say…) Severus!"
Severus stared at the package in surprise. He hadn't expected Harry to get him a present… In slowly unwrapped the package, and opened the box beneath the wrapping. He gasped in shock as he saw what Harry had gotten him. His eyes flew to Harry's face. "Harry! How in the world?!? Do you know what this is?"
Harry nodded, unsure if Severus liked the present or not. "It's a power stone. It stores magic for future use."
"Harry… power stones are very rare… especially opal power stones. Opal is very powerful. (I'm just making this up as I go along :p) It can store up to three times more magic than a normal power stone. Only the richest people can afford one of these. Even Lucius Malfoy can't afford one. So, you would understand my surprise," Severus explained.
Harry was stunned. "Well, um, I bought that for five galleons… The lady at the store said that she thought I would use it properly and sold it to me cheap… I had no idea it was worth that much."
Severus gaped. It was a rather cute, once-in-a-lifetime sight. Harry shrugged sheepishly. "I didn't know…"
"Well… okay then. Thank you, Harry. It's the best Christmas present I've ever received." Harry let out a beaming smile. "Here, Harry. Happy Christmas." Severus handed Harry a large package.
Harry was surprised. He definitely didn't expect a present in return. He carefully unwrapped the present, and, under the wrapping paper, found wooden box. He looked questioningly at Severus, who gestured for him to open it. He did so gently, and stared wide-eyed at its contents.
Severus had given him sketches – of his parents, of the marauders, of Harry and his friends, of Hogwarts. Drawing, apparently, was a hidden talent of the potions master. Harry lifted a sketch out of the box and studied it closely. It was a picture of his parents. They were seated by the lake watching a sunset. The picture was drawn with such skill that they almost seemed alive. Harry watched them longingly for a couple of seconds before carefully returning the sketch to the box and throwing himself at Severus.
"Thank you so much!" he said, hugging Severus tightly. "I have very few memories of my parents. What I do have, I cherish greatly. I didn't know you liked to draw," he asked questioningly.
Severus smiled down at him. "Drawing relaxes me. Whenever I'm really stressed out, I go somewhere quiet and draw the scene in front of me. I knew you didn't know much about your parents, so I thought they would help."
Harry beamed up at him. "I don't. Thank you very much. I love it! Did you know my mother?"
"Of course! Everyone knew your mother. She was known for being the only Gryffindor who was friendly with Slytherins. She was kind and caring, even to those who picked on her. Though, she never would allow anyone to take advantage of her…"
Severus continued to tell Harry stories about Lily Potter for the rest of the morning. The presents under the tree lay forgotten.
After lunch, Harry managed to convince Severus to play Quidditch again. This time, though, Harry was ready. (I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about the Quidditch game… I think it'll be too boring for both me and you) He managed to gain an early advantage, in which Severus never caught up to. He won the game 100-90; it was very close.
Severus and Harry trampled in near supper time. Both were tired from the day's activities, and were ready for some rest. So, after supper, they retreated to the living room again to sit in front of the fire.
"Harry, you never did finish opening your presents," Severus stated, nodding to the pile waiting under the tree.
Harry shrugged. "I guess I'll open them now." He sat down by the tree and grabbed the top present. It was from Hermione.
"I can already guess what it's going to be. A book," Harry said. He unwrapped the present. It was indeed a book, but not just any book. It was a book of defensive spells, by… "Godric Gryffindor! How in the world did Hermione manage to get this?!? There were so few copies printed."
Severus leaned forward, looking interestedly at the book. "By Godric Gryffindor? It should be helpful then. How did you know that there were only a few copies printed?"
Harry shrugged. "I read about it in Hogwarts, a History. Hermione finally convinced me to read it during the summer." He carefully placed the book down and picked up the next present. It was from Sirius.
"Oh wow!" Harry exclaimed, digging through the tissue paper to unveil a snow globe. Inside was a model of Hogwarts, with all its glowing lights. Harry shook it gently, and snow started falling over Hogwarts. "Cool!" He placed the globe beside the book from Hermione, and continued through his pile of presents.
He received a pile of candy from Ron, the usual jumper and homemade goodies from Mrs. Weasley, and a new watch from Remus, as his old one had been damaged during the second task. All his presents were thoughtful and kind, but the best one by far was the sketches from Severus.
Once he had finished unwrapping his presents, he moved back to the couch to sit beside Severus. He placed his head on Severus' shoulder, and stared at the Christmas tree contentedly. He wrapped his arms around Severus and looked up to Severus' black eyes.
"Thank you, Severus, for making this the best Christmas I've ever had," Harry spoke, gratitude filling his eyes.
"And thank you, Harry, for making me remember that Christmas is a time for happiness, family and friends. Thank you for bringing the spirit of Christmas back to me."
Harry and Severus remained in the embrace for the rest of the evening, cherishing the happiness they felt for the first time in a long time.
The End
A.N. Okay, so a bit rushed. I wanted to finish the fic before the fifth book came out. Well, I really hope you enjoyed this fic. I'm not sure if I'm going to write a sequel or not. Do you want a sequel? I dunno… ne wayz, I hope the ending was okay. Bubiz for now!
~Phoenix Angel