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Not Myself by Saerry Snape
Chapter 146 – Christmas is Here
Weeks passed quickly at Hogwarts and then the Christmas holidays were upon the school in all their snow-drenched glory. Mika had spent his first time as a werewolf stalking the confines of the Shrieking Shack with Remus, who had stayed long enough to keep him company for his first change. Severus had not said one thing remotely negative to the werewolf since he'd begun helping the teenager.
"NO WAY IN HELL!"
"Eh?" said Harry, lifting his head. He'd fallen asleep on top of his just finished Charms paper and now had the piece of parchment stuck to his forehead. Scowling, he pulled it away and rubbed at the ink imprinted on his forehead as he frowned at the newspaper that hid Mika. "Wha's wrong?"
The newspaper fell and Mika's scowling face came into the other boy's view.
"The full moon starts on Christmas Eve."
"Tha sucks."
"Your telling me," sighed Mika, folding the paper and dropping it onto the table with a sigh. He ran his hands back through his hair, shaking slightly when his left hand touched the scars that remained on his shoulder from Amadeus. "Its not fair."
"I know," said Harry softly, looking away guiltily. "If I'd…"
Mika looked up suddenly, his dark eyes lit with anger.
"Don't you dare say it. It wasn't your fault that Amadeus bit me, Harry. It was those damn Death Eater and you know it!"
"Yeh," said Harry slowly.
There was an uneasy silence between the two of them before Mika laughed lightly.
"Well…I know a perfect Christmas gift for me now."
Harry arched an eyebrow and asked, "Wha'?"
"A chew toy."
Harry stared at him for a moment before he began to laugh, softly at first then rising to increasing levels. Mika laughed with him and they got continually louder until both of them were brushing tears from their eyes.
"I'll remember tha," said Harry breathlessly after a moment.
Mika just nodded and continued to chuckled mirthlessly.
* * * *
"This isn't fair," grumbled Ginny as Mika downed the contents of the slightly smoking goblet Severus handed him. The white-haired boy gagged slightly then turned towards her, his eyes slightly lighter than normal.
"Life isn't fair, Gin."
"Less fair than usual."
Harry just smiled slightly from where he sat on the edge of his father's desk. He leaned towards the girl and said, "It'll be alrigh', Gin."
"Yes," said Mika, smiling at the redhead. "All will be well."
"But it won't be Christmas without you!" cried Ginny, clutching at Mika's arm.
"Be calm, Virginia," said Severus in a soothing tone as he sealed up a phial of Wolfsbane Potion to send to Remus. "Everything will work out."
Ginny scowled at being told to stop worrying three different times then giggled as Mika dug his fingers into her sides, causing her to squirm away from him.
"Stop that!"
The white-haired boy grinned then kissed her lightly on the cheek before he left the room, heading towards the Shrieking Shack to wait for moonrise. Ginny stared longingly after him and sagged against Harry as he walked over and put an arm about her shoulders.
"C'mon, Gin," he said gently. "Le's go see wha mischief Ni has gotten 'erself into."
Ginny nodded and Harry steered her out of the Potions classroom, leaving Severus to his own devices.
* * * *
"Hareeeeeeeeeeeeeeey!!!"
Harry opened one eye and turned his head to the side to glare at the hyperactive girl crouching on his back.
"Good mornin', ye crazy dame," he growled as he rolled over, tipping her off his back. She landed with a squeal beside him and he ruthlessly attacked her in her ticklish spots.
"Harry – AH! - Harry, stop – hahahaha – please – HARRY! – heeheeha!"
"Surrender!" said Harry loudly, laughing despite his best attempts not to.
Niamh tried to squirm away from him, giggling madly as she shouted, "Never!"
The tickling fit went on for a few more minutes before Niamh managed to squirm away from Harry's nimble fingers and leapt on him with a happy screech that probably woke up the Slytherins that remained in Arx Serpens. Harry fell back onto his pillow with a laugh, Niamh clinging to his shirt.
Grinning evilly, Harry rolled over, trapping the girl underneath him. Cheeks flushed pink, Niamh laughed merrily and tried to squirm away again.
"Oh no ye don't," said Harry teasingly. "I've got ye now, dear Lady."
"Mmm," purred Niamh. "And what shall the Lord do with the Lady now that he has her?"
Harry thought about that for a moment then he smiled, leaning down so their faces were only centimeters apart.
"The Lord wou' kiss the Lady if she wou' allow…"
"She would," whispered Niamh, feeling her heart pounding against her ribs.
Harry bent his head lower then jerked up with a furious snarl. He scrabbled at his right ankle and dug Hedwig's fangs out of his flesh.
"Hed," he hissed in Parseltongue.
"Sorry," said the snake, flicking her tongue out. "I thought you were that hateful girl."
"Use yer senses, silly," admonished Harry, tapping the rounded nose lightly.
"I believe too much time with the Fox has taken leave of my senses."
"Indeed," said Harry with a bland expression on his face. Niamh giggled slightly at how much he looked like his father with that exact expression and his long hair free about his face.
"And wha' are ye gigglin' at?" asked Harry as he put Hedwig down on the bedside table. The snake crawled into the space beneath a crookedly stacked book and hissed a goodnight as Niamh grinned widely.
She replied, "I just noticed how much you look like Professor Snape with that bland expression of yours."
"Mmm," said Harry. He then cocked his head sideways at her and wanted to ask if he could finish that kiss… But the moment felt as though it was gone, so he declined from doing as such.
When Niamh saw that he wasn't going to continue, she slid off the bed and went to get something to bind his bleeding ankle with. Returning with a strip of cloth torn from Blaise's bedsheet, she bound it tightly about his ankle after using her wand to clean the blood away. As she pulled away, her fingers toughed a particularly brutal looking scar that looked like it might have once cut his entire foot open.
Harry caught the subject of her transfixion and said, "Glass. When I was abou' four."
"It must have hurt," whispered Niamh, touching the scar gently.
"I' did," said Harry. "But woun's heal. Now c'mon. Da's goh a surprise fer Gin and I want ter see 'er face."
Niamh's face lit up at the word 'surprise' and Harry grinned at her. He slid off his bed and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of his dorm.
* * * *
When Ginny found her way to Severus' rooms a half-hour later (Severus had invited all of them to spend Christmas in his rooms again), she nearly leapt out of her skin when she saw a huge, white wolf lying on the floor beside the newly set-up tree and its stash of presents. The wolf lifted its great head and its dark, amber eyes lit up at the sight of her. With a whimper, it got to its feet and wagged its tail.
The redhead looked nervously over at where Severus was sitting by the fire. Harry and Niamh were seated on the couch across from him and they were both smiling at her.
"Go on," said Severus softly. "I believe you know who our furry friend is."
Ginny blinked and turned wide eyes on the wolf.
"M-Mika?"
The wolf gave a soft 'woof' of affirmation and was suddenly enveloped in a hug as Ginny rushed across the distance between them. She buried her face in the silky fur then reached up to stroke the wonderfully furry ears that stood erect atop the shaggy head.
"I never knew…" she began and trailed off, unable to continue.
"Never knew a werewolf could be so wonderful?" asked Severus, smiling warmly at her.
Ginny just nodded and hugged the wolf's neck again. The beast's tail wagged wildly as it laid its head on her shoulder.
Harry and Niamh couldn't help but smile. Mostly because the empath was feeding off the happy emotions that rolled like an avalanche off the younger girl and the wolf – and was in turn sending them through the link made by their clasped hands to Harry.
It was just the right beginning for a good day.
* * * *
After lunch, Severus stared down onto the grounds from the Headmaster's office. Harry, Niamh, and Hermione had dug a depression behind a snow drift and were firing snowballs rapidly towards the drift that Ron and Thomas were crouched behind. From the trio's right, Amanda and Neville barraged the duo with colored snowballs, leaving the snow drift in varying shades of color and the top of Ron's hair bright pink.
Ginny and the wolf were attempting to sneak up behind Harry but the once street rat heard them coming and turned, hurling a snowball at them. The redhead ducked behind the wolf and it effectively blocked the snowball from hitting her.
"Such merry-making for such dark times," said a voice from behind the Potions Master suddenly.
Severus lifted his eyes and saw Dumbledore reflection in the window glass. "Times are not yet completely dark, Albus."
"They are close," said Dumbledore solemnly. "So very close." He looked over the younger wizard's shoulder at the snowball war and smiled. "And not so far away from these very walls."
"Are you referring to recent events?" asked Severus. "Or do you refer to events that have been happening since Harry entered these walls?"
"Both. And it is not only Harry of which I speak."
"Mika," said Severus with a nod.
"Yes. I do not doubt that this is what Voldemort meant to happen. But I believe that one half of his plan went wrong."
"Don't be cryptic, old man," spat Severus, losing his patience for a half-second.
Dumbledore looked at him for a moment then said, "Voldemort no doubt meant for Mister Davids to be abandoned by his friends. As we see, this had not happened. Not has his family abandoned him."
"Alastor may be sketchy as to where I am concerned," hissed Severus, "but he would never abandon his own children. I remember well enough when Mika was born. The man took every moment he had to be with that boy."
"Indeed he did. Speaking of Alastor, what news do we have of young Mischa?"
"Calissa wrote me a few days ago asking for a few potions. As far as I know, she is recovering well and will return after Christmas holidays."
"And our culprit?"
"If it were in my hands, I've have locked him in a cell for endangering a fellow student," growled Severus. "I expelled him instead. Didn't you read the letter I sent you?"
Dumbledore smiled slightly and replied, "My mind is not as well as it used to be. I do recall hearing something from his father about him being beaten up."
Severus scowled, remembering finding Augustine Cade lying battered and bruised just outside the entrance hall. The seventh year had evidence of being cursed on his body and they were curses that were only located in one book. There were also boot prints on his back that could only belong to one set of boots.
But Severus hadn't said anything to Harry and Niamh about the incident and they hadn't mentioned it either. He had surreptitiously let on a few days later in class that he knew and when he looked at the pair, he was met by defiant gazes of sapphire and emerald.
They'd gone against his orders and had injured Cade, a task that Severus had wanted to do and could not. He was fiercely protective of the students under his wing (his son the most protected of all) and had sworn years ago to protect them because no one else would. But for one of his own to harm another…that broke down the protective wall about them and made them fair game.
He was angry at the pair for beating up the older student but also proud that they defended each and every one of their friends with the same fervor as they did each other.
"Yes," said Severus, bringing his train of thought back onto its tracks. "I have no idea who injured him in such a way."
Dumbledore chuckled and Severus knew that the old wizard had a very good idea of who had beaten up Cade. It didn't take much to figure it out, after all…
Sighing, the Potions Master looked back down at the snowball fight and chuckled as he saw Niamh stuff a snowball down the back of Harry's shirt. The long-haired Slytherin shouted and began to run around in circles, trying vainly to get the snow out of his shirt. When he did get it out, he turned on Niamh with a shout and began to chase her around a laughing Ginny. The white wolf bounded after them before it jumped on Harry and wrestled him to the ground.
Severus just smiled and watched the teenagers as they played in the snow.
Author's Note
Saerry: Almost a kiss! But not quite!
Atra: You are torturing them again, aren't you?
Saerry: Why, of course, my dear muse.
Bryv: What else would she do to them?
Saerwy: Torture them some more?
Mel: *grumbles something about the romance being completely ruined and stalks off*