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Severus Snape woke up with a jolt and the sun in his eyes, coming in from the window in his bedroom suite. He sat up and stared at the familiar setting as if it had been a year or more since he had seen it. He tossed the blankets aside and stood up, reaching for his bathrobe until he realized he still had his day robes on, then ran out into the study and popped open the doors, completely startling Minerva who had just reached the top of the stairs.

"What day is it?" Severus asked frantically. "Don't just stand there staring at me as if I'm a ghost," he said, then looked at his hand to make sure he couldn't see through it. "What day is it?"

"It's Monday, Severus," Minerva said warily.

"Christmas?" Severus asked, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Yes, Severus, but you cancelled that…"

"What time is it?" Severus interrupted, grabbing the watch around her neck despite her protest and staring at her. "There's still time! Come, Minerva, we have a lot to do! Come on, up to my observatory, hurry!"

"Severus, let go of me! Have you gone utterly mad?" Minerva protested as he dragged her in.

"Yes! Now shut up and do as you are told! I want you to send your best Patronus to the Weasley residence immediately and tell them to leave at once, they are in very grave danger! They must fly now, do you understand?"

"Yes, but why?"

"Because if I do it, it will jeopardize everything! Just do it, Minerva! Tell them to go!"

"Where?"

"I don't care! No, tell them to come here!" Severus said, opening the observatory window. "Yes, they're safer here, the whole lot of them…and tell them to grab that stupid clock of theirs and anything else they don't want him to get a hold of!"

"All right, all right!" Minerva said, gathering her thoughts and trying to calm down. "Expecto Patronum!"

As a lioness of light burst out of her wand and went charging out over the sky, Severus suddenly felt a bit lightheaded, allowing himself a quick instant to exhale in relief before turning back to Minerva who was looking at him questioningly.

"I have to go take care of something," Severus said. "I suppose I should probably change first, but I must move quickly. On your way down to give Potter that silly basket of yours, tell him to hurry it up on the Great Hall for we need to set it up for guests…and make sure the kitchens make something season appropriate!"

"Season appropriate?" Minerva said, then caught herself. "What basket?"

"Do you deny the fact you were plotting to intervene on my punishment of Potter and Weasley?" Severus challenged her expressionlessly.

"Ah…well, no…"

"Then proceed, but make sure that room is finished. And make all those decorations and that tree you made invisible are turned visible again! As if I would have bought that sort of spell for an instant!" Severus said, stomping down the stairs. Minerva stared after him until he disappeared from view, paused to feel her own forehead and check her pulse, then hurried off to make the intended contraband with a smile of disbelief on her face.

A minute later, Severus came out in his newer dress robes and a long black overcoat, a bundle under his arm. But he did pause in the study for a single moment to uncover the picture of Dumbledore he had so quickly been willing to cover it the day before. The painting of Dumbledore stirred in his sleep and opened an eye, a faint smile on his face.

"Sorry about that," Severus murmured. "Won't happen again." Despite the fact the painting wasn't quite sure he believed it would happen again, he nodded politely with a broader, enigmatic smile as the man hurried out of the castle and across the grounds, then Apparated to the ruins of Haven's Bluff.

After Harry and Ron got back to work after their heavy snack and finally polished the last chair in the Great Hall, Minerva came bustling back in with Professor Flitwick right behind her.

"Well done, if I do say so myself. Even Headmaster Snape won't be able to complain about that job…well, not much, at any rate," she amended. "Now, I'll ask you to step up here out of the way. I need to put some tables together to accommodate our guests."

"Guests? There are guests coming?" Harry asked.

"Yes, quite a number. Headmaster Snape invited them," Minerva said distractedly.

"Do you know who they are?" Harry asked with alarm, dreading who Snape might be letting into the castle.

"Of course, Mr. Potter. I trust you won't be disappointed," she said, levitating the tables into place in the center of the room. "Come, now, since you're still lingering, you can help me with the chairs." Harry and Ron looked at one another in bewilderment, and that feeling grew when bright candlelight burst into life in behind them, and the Christmas tree that had been 'taken down' the day before reappeared, Flitwick nodding to himself in satisfaction.

"I think we need more holly and ivy wreathes, don't you?" Flitwick asked Minerva.

"Dazzle away, Filius! I dare that man to change his mind again!" Minerva said with exasperation, and then looked out the main doors. "Excuse me, here come some of our guests now. Hurry and finish those tables, you two!"

But when Ron looked up, the chairs he was moving with his wand stopped dead in the floor, for it was the entire Weasley clan. Immediately the entire room turned chaotic as everyone began greeting and hugging, ending, of course, when Fred and George began hugging each other and carrying on like they hadn't seen each other in months. Seeing that many of the chairs still strewn about, Percy and Bill chipped in to try and get them all into place, although it was slowed down by Charlie's kids jumping onto chairs yet to be moved so that they could get a free ride to the table, only to run back in attempt to catch the next set.

Harry noticed that Minerva had quickly pulled Arthur and Molly aside, but he became distracted when Ginny came over to greet them, hugging Ron and then looking timidly at Harry, who then gave her a friendly hug as well.

"What are you all doing here?" Ron asked.

"We got evacuated! Father ran in and told us we all had to get out and brought us here," Ginny explained.

"What?"

"That's all I know!" Ginny said, and Harry pushed past them and walked straight over to where Minerva and their parents were.

"I want to know what is going on, and the truth, if you don't mind," Harry demanded, and Arthur and Minerva exchanged a look.

"Now, Harry, what matters is that everyone's here safe and sound," Molly said reasonably. "And it'll make for a lovely Christmas! I was able to gather up all the Christmas gifts at our house, so we can make a real party of it. Where's yours, Harry?"

"I don't have any," Harry snapped. "Who evacuated the Burrow and why?"

"I did, Mr. Potter," Minerva said. "And as soon as we find out why, we'll tell you. Now, please ask Hermione to go gather the other students, please?"

"As soon as they find out why?" Harry murmured to himself in confusion as he walked back over to his friends, who were looking at him questioningly.

But what he was about to say died on his lips, for Severus Snape walked in, and he was not alone. Not only was he not alone, but he was acting in a way that Harry never seen before, for he had a comforting arm around two younger light-haired children which had both been bundled up in black Hogwarts cloaks. The surprise traveled through the entire group as one by one they looked up to see what he was staring at. Severus ignored them all, leading them straight over to Arthur.

"Who do you suppose they are?" Hermione whispered. "Does Snape still have living relatives?"

"If he does, they got the good side of the gene pool," Ron said.

Suddenly Arthur and Molly hugged the two children. Severus and Minerva backed away to have a private conversation of their own, when Minerva noticed they were being stared at.

"Hermione, please, fetch the other students? And tell them they can bring down their holiday things if they like. Oh, and go get yours too, Potter, Weasley."

"What things?" Harry demanded, making Severus look at him speculatively.

"Try under the tree in your common room, Potter."

"Well, we don't really have time to open them, do we, what with the chairs and all…" Ron said.

"I think you can finish that task some other day, Weasley…"

"And the points?"

"Don't push your luck, Potter," Severus said dangerously. "I am still out of a chair, as you'll recall."

"As to that, I have a surprise for you, Headmaster," Minerva said enigmatically, nodding to Flitwick. Flitwick, who had been patiently waiting near the tree the entire time suddenly move the entire thing over to reveal the Headmaster's dining chair, recently mended with a large red bow on it. "It took a trip to the mountains and a great deal of haggling and well, a carefully transfigured leaky boat that Hagrid was done with, but it all worked out in the end."

"Thank you, Minerva," Severus said. "But they're still not getting any points back. Now, if you don't mind, I still have a lot to do today…"

"You're not staying for dinner?" Minerva asked.

"I will be back later, there are arrangements to be made to make sure the attempted attack on the Weasleys doesn't happen again and also to pick up some things for the Willowby children and help get them settled, and I'm thinking about inviting one more guest, if she can manage the trip…Potter, are you still here? I thought you were told to get your things?" Severus scowled at him.

"Right," Harry said, grabbing Ron's arm and leading him out of the Great Hall. Turning his head around, he saw Snape looking after them, shaking his head at them before exiting the room from the back.

"What is with Snape today? I've never seen him act like that. Think someone's taken his place or something?" Ron asked. "Or has he just gone mental?"

"Either he has or I have," Harry said. "Did you hear what he said? There was going to be some sort of attack on your family today…could he have been the one who told McGonagall to send that warning? But no, why would he, when he means to destroy us? And did you see how he was treating those kids?"

"Well, I doubt it's because he suddenly got the Christmas Spirit, Harry," Ron said.

Even as I look back on that strange Christmas, I find myself amazed at the change that came over him during that single day. Many speculated later that finding the Willowby children had something to do with it…others agreed with Ron's theory that he had either been taken by an unseen force or had a generosity potion slipped in his drink. Of course, whatever the reason, I did still hate him, and was undeniably wary of him. But I did find that I wasn't quite as motivated to kill him…and later I was glad I didn't. But that, as I said, is another story, best left for others to tell. – Harry.

The End

And to all my friends, Happy Holidays, and Merry Christmas. -JCWriter.