Chapter 4 – Home for the Holidays

Sirius Black's jaw nearly hit the top of the Potions lab table he shared with Remus Lupin.

"Oh, please tell me you're joking, Prongs!" he cried, hyperventilating.

"No," returned James Potter. "I'm not joking. Stop ranking me out because Sev's spending break at my house!"

"But PRONGS!" Sirius nearly screeched. "It's SNIVELLY! It's SLIMEBALL! By all that's holy, it's the CROWN PRINCE OF DORKVILLE!"

Severus surreptitiously waved his wand, super-gluing Black's posterior to the seat of his chair.

"Prongs, stop the madness!" the Gryffindor continued. "Get a grip on reality! It's MISTER SLICK! It's DROOPY-DRAWERS! Are you MAD?"

James shrugged, basking in the calm gaze of approval heading his way from the lovely green eyes of Lily Evans. She and Snape sat directly in front of him, working on their cheerfulness potion. Potter then turned to Peter Pettigrew, his own lab partner, and asked whether their potion – which resembled toxic sludge – was boiling yet. Wormtail looked into the cauldron and shrugged noncommittally.

"So – you decided to take James up on his invitation, then?" said Lily.

"I did," Severus replied.

"What are you planning on doing?"

"Relaxing."

"You're a man of a thousand words," she laughed, amused by his terse answers.

"I don't need words," Severus replied with a touch of a smirk on his face.

Still agitated by his best friend's apparent descent into lunacy, Sirius now looked down into his own cauldron only to see it packed full of fish heads.

"Damned greasy git," he hissed. Enraged, he leapt to his feet, whacking his lab stool against the table behind him and spilling hot potion all over his own bum.

Sirius Black's next pejorative was unprintable.

Severus thought of inquiring whether the Gryffindor's ass end now felt cheerful, but thought he might like to keep his teeth for the holidays.

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The last bite of the last dinner in the Great Hall had been eaten, and bags and trunks loaded up for home visits had been flooed home or loaded onto the Hogwarts Express. The Marauders bade one another farewell until next term ("Make sure you get your mum plenty of grease cleaner for her carpets," Sirius had gravely counseled James).

Severus had left two pounds of lemon creams and his term Potions lab report (marked "Best I've Read in Years. Superlative!" by Professor Sartoris) with Albus Dumbledore as a Yule gift. The headmaster had been instrumental in keeping the boy in school; for a full three weeks after he'd rescued Severus from his depression-induced isolation in Slytherin Tower, Dumbledore had reported to his door promptly at 7 every morning to ensure he ate breakfast, then had casually (or not) dropped by the boy's first class to make sure he was in attendance.

As the two boys were leaving for holiday, Sirius Black had asked Severus whether he was getting new underwear for Christmas; Severus promptly webbed Sirius' toes and laughed aloud when he stumbled.

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It had only seemed the gentlemanly thing to do for James and Severus to see Lily safely flooed to her home. As had befitted a lady, she had invited the boys in; as had befitted gentlemen, they had graciously accepted her offer, then emptied the family refrigerator.

Lily's older sister Petunia had been most upset when she found that the Christmas cake she had baked for her beau (who was in attendance and sorely vexed) had mysteriously vanished, and had made a nasty comment to that effect to Severus. Severus had responded that he didn't think whales could get cake through baleen anyway.

Vernon Dursley then offered to fight Snape.

"Sorry," Severus replied. "I'm more passive than aggressive, it seems."

It hadn't been until midnight of the following day that Petunia's closet had detonated.

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The Potter parents, who did their best to reduce his self-conscious unease, had warmly welcomed Severus back. It helped that the family had been aware that his mother was far away and his abusive father was in jail. Indeed, throughout his stay, James' parents couldn't have been kinder to him.

The first night home, both boys slept around 14 hours. Once awake, they lay about the house stupefied for the rest of Christmas Eve, decimating platters of turkey and ham sandwiches. Later that evening, Sev had actually taken part in the family's Yule festivities, a new experience since his father forbade the celebration of holidays.

The Potters had given Severus a fine new red sweater. He had ducked his head and hid behind his hair so they would not see the tears in his eyes. The Slytherin boy hadn't expected them to treat him like a member of their family and their goodness made his heart ache.

Late on Christmas night, Sev had transfigured a clear plastic measuring cup into a miniature Hogwarts castle as an impromptu present to the Potters. He had then placed it on top of a mirror and illuminated it with tiny dots of light. It had made a lovely gift.

Nobody other than Britomartis Vox had known that the Slytherin was an artist.

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