With just two weeks until the Christmas holidays, Hogwarts was taking on a festive glow and even the Golden Trio were becoming caught up in the Christmas cheer. Holly wreaths and garlands hung on every portrait and Christmas trees stood 12 feet tall in every hallway, decorated with glass baubles and enchanted ornaments. Roaring fires warmed the castle and, outside, pupils wrapped thick winter cloaks tightly around themselves as they trudged through deep snow.

While their peers were out reliving their younger days by engaging in an ultimate snowball fight, Harry, Ron and Hermione took advantage of the quiet 8th year rooms to relax in the cosy seating around the fire.

"Mum wants to know when you're arriving for Christmas?" Ron said to Harry.

The dark-haired wizard smiled hearing the assumption that he would be joining the Weasley family for the seasonal festivities.

"Figured I'd come straight back to the Burrow with you from the train." Harry offered. "And stay with you guys until after boxing day, if that's alright?"

"'Course." Ron agreed easily. "That'll work quite well actually 'cause I'll be going to Hermione's then."

Hermione nodded. "I'll spend Christmas with Mum and Dad, then Ron will join me for a couple of days, and we can all meet back up at Headquarters for New Year's."

"You sure you're gonna be alright there yourself, mate?"

"Yeah, 'course I will." Harry assured. "I'll probably try and see Teddy at some point and get on cleaning out some more of the rooms at Grimmauld Place. Maybe we could have a bit of a get-together on New Year's Eve; invite some of the others."

"Hey, you should have a big party, invite everyone, the whole Order." Ron suggested enthusiastically.

Harry laughed, "The whole Order? So that would include your mum and dad and Professor McGonagall."

"Eurgh. Maybe not then." The red-head scrunched up his nose distastefully.

The other Gryffindors smirked. "Hey, 'Mione, if I gave Dudley your home address could you send any letters on to me?"

Hermione frowned, answering uncertainly, "Sure, I can do that, but I didn't realise you were in contact with the Dursleys."

"Just Dudley." Harry clarified. "Hence why I can't really send him an owl."

"What are you in contact with that prick for?" Ron grumbled having heard for years about Dudley Dursley's poor treatment of his oldest friend.

Harry shrugged. "He grew up a bit. Seems like less of a prick now."

Ron didn't seem convinced, but he let the matter drop, content to enjoy the free afternoon with his friends.

Their solitude was interrupted by the opening of the portrait door. Watching the entrance cautiously for anything untoward, the three young adults relaxed when they saw the Hogwarts headmistress.

"Ah, hello you three." The old witch greeted. "Is it just you here?"

"Yes, Professor." Hermione answered. "Would you like us to pass on a message?"

"It's actually you I came to see."

"Oh?"

"Arthur has organised the next Order meeting. He asked me to let you know." The 8th years nodded. "It's here next Tuesday; we'll use the Room of Requirement again."

"Right, thanks Professor." Hermione said as their un-elected spokesperson.

"If you would be so kind as to inform our newest members?"

"Of course." They readily agreed and the Headmistress bid them good day.

The Order meeting came around quickly and the three young heroes entered the Room of Requirement once more, this time with a nervous-looking Neville and a nervous, but better at hiding it, Ginny in tow.

George approached them when they entered, and Harry was pleased to see that there was more life behind his eyes than when he had seen him last. The elder Weasley threw an arm around Ginny's shoulders in greeting.

"Alright, Sis? I see you're joining the big leagues."

Ginny shoved him off good-naturedly. "Yeah, well I thought it was about time I lent you guys a hand. Still haven't caught those Death Eaters, have you?"

The Weasley prankster grinned. "Glad to have you on board, Little Sis. And Harry," He pulled an envelope from his robes. "This is for you."

Harry took it with confusion. "Er – thanks. What is it?"

"Dividends."

"Dividends?"

"From your investment in the shop."

"What, no!" Harry tried to give the envelope back. "It was a gift, I don't want this."

"It was an investment." George countered firmly. "So you take a share of the profit."

"George, really."

"No, Harry, it's yours." George insisted. "It's what Fred would have wanted. And yes, I am willing to play the dead twin card. Besides, accepting my money is the least you could do after defiling my sister."

"What – I – but, I haven't – " Harry spluttered out in response and George backed quickly away as Ginny began extracting her wand.

"Later kids!" George laughed as he departed.

As the Order began gathering around the table, Harry stuffed the envelope into his pocket and closed down his mental shields around the mixture of guilt and grief-ridden thoughts that had arisen. He took the same seat as he had at their last meeting, though with Ginny now on his right, and nodded a greeting to Snape who sat across from him.

"Evening, evening," Arthur began, quieting down the last conversations. "Thank you all for being here and a warm welcome to our newest members, Neville and Ginevra." He smiled kindly at each of them, easing their nerves considerably.

"Let's get started, shall we?" Arthur opened up the meeting, asking Bill for updates from the goblins.

Harry listened closely, absorbing the information and carefully considering its impact. Bill had been trying to get answers from the goblins on the whereabouts of the Death Eaters' secret funds and undisclosed investments.

"They know." Bill said, "It's just a case of finding something they want enough to exchange for the information."

Arthur moved on to Ministry news, calling on Rodger Stillman, the Ministry official Harry had met before, to update the whole group on the goings on of those in the Ministry who had favoured the Ministry takeover.

"As I said at our last meeting, there are a number of dark-favouring families, now trying to save face and establish themselves a place within the new Ministry. The ones I mentioned before; Greengrass,"

"Sorry," Harry interrupted, frowning softly. "You said that you mentioned this at the last meeting, but I don't remember anything about this being said." He looked down the table at Hermione for confirmation and found her nodding along with him as confused as he was.

"Er, well," Stillman stuttered. "Not the last time we were here…"

The eyes of the older Order members avoided Harry's gaze.

"I'm confused." Ron contributed bluntly.

Harry glanced again around the table, making eye contact with Snape who seemed neither ashamed nor apologetic.

Kingsley broke first, "You see, it's not necessary for all Order members to be at every meeting."

"That's fine." Hermione said, "But then why keep it from us? Why was it such as secret?"

They looked away awkwardly, embarrassed. Finally, Molly answered in her usual motherly tone. "You kids are still at school, your education has suffered enough, we don't want to disrupt it any more than it has to be."

Harry could feel old anger resurfacing. He pushed it down, remembering that Molly had always cared for him as one of her own, that her actions always came out of fear for her children, and he recalled all that she had been through. Still, it was like he was in 5th year again and being excluded from information he'd desperately needed. Bringing up his occlumency shields, he kept himself outwardly calm.

"I appreciate that, but it's our choice." Harry said seriously.

Severus observed Harry closely from the other side of the table. He hadn't missed the flash of anger on the boy's face, nor the way he composed himself behind secure mental walls.

Minerva spoke up next, "You have all sacrificed so much already. We were just trying to protect you; to shield you from more worry."

"It's not your job to protect us. We're adults now and you don't get to make that decision for us anymore." Harry spoke adamantly into the silence of the room, his fellow students nodding along, before adding on more quietly, "A bit late to be shielding us from it now anyway."

Severus considered how different this conversation would have gone two years ago, how Harry's explosive anger would have led to shouting and arguing. It said much about Harry's maturity and control of his own emotions that he was handling this situation so calmly.

"I agree with Harry." George inserted. "Godric knows, those three have earnt more right to be a part of this than anyone here."

"Plus," Hermione began and then glanced sideways at Harry before continuing. "There might be things we know that you don't." She said cautiously. "We won't know what's important to share with you if we're not privy to everything that is going on."

Severus sat a little straighter in his chair, wondering to what exactly Granger was referring.

"You're right." Arthur agreed. "We shall keep you informed of all Order gatherings from here on. Rodger, if you would continue?"

The Weasley patriarch passed back to Stillman and, having won his argument, Potter seemed to relax back into his seat. The young Gryffindor looked up then and caught Severus' eye, holding his gaze instead of looking away. Severus wasn't sure what Potter was looking for, but he gave him a nod which he hoped conveyed his approval of how Harry was conducting himself. Harry looked away and the conversation moved on, now to Kingsley who reported on the latest trials.

The mention of Umbridge had Severus looking sharply back at Potter. He waited for a reaction and noted the tensing of the boy's shoulders and the clenching of his fist.

"The Justice Department will be calling witnesses from the Hogwarts staff in the New Year." Kingsley added. "Harry, Madam Bones tells me that you will be asked to testify as well."

"I have to go to court?" Harry said stiffly.

"If you're willing." Kingsley replied. "Your voice would bring a lot of weight to the evidence against Delores."

Harry nodded sharply. "Okay."

"Good, good. Amelia will be questioning on behalf of the Ministry. She'll keep it to the facts. And Umbridge will have someone to speak in her defense, of course, who will have time to question you as well. But you know how all this goes, you've done enough trials."

"Sure." Harry agreed, tired with the whole discussion.

The meeting ended too quickly, in Harry's opinion, but there was nothing else to say. It was frustrating, how little they knew about the Death Eater whereabouts, that there was nothing they could do until they had more information. Harry wasn't good at waiting. He liked to be proactive in these situations, to work towards a solution. The stalemate they seemed to have arrived at made Harry itchy.

"Thank you everyone for your time. We'll leave things there." Arthur concluded. "I hope you all have an excellent and peaceful Christmas. Oh, and Molly and I are extending an invitation of Christmas drinks and homemade mince pies to anyone who wishes to join us at the Burrow on Christmas Eve." He offered warmly. "We'll meet again in the New Year."

"On that note," Harry stopped the meeting's attendees from rising to leave. "I'm having a New Year's Eve party at the old Headquarters and you're all welcome to come."

Positive murmurings went around the table and people started to get up to leave, thanking Harry and the Weasleys and extending Christmas wishes and promises of their attendance.

Severus tried to slip away quietly but was thwarted by the Order's many meddlesome women.

"Severus," Molly called out to him from her conversation with Minerva. "We'll see you on Christmas Eve, won't we, dear? You too, Altheta." She said to the Healer as she was walking past.

"Oh, Molly, I'd love to," Altheta said regretfully. "But I'm working Christmas Eve. Someone's got to man the fort at St Mungo's I'm afraid. I'm sure Severus will be free though." She smirked mischievously at the Professor who glared back at her as he quickly formulated an excuse.

"I don't think that will be possible, a teacher is required to remain at Hogwarts..."

"Not to worry, Severus." Minerva interrupted with an air of authority. "There's only a handful of students staying for Christmas and Professor Sprout has already offered to stay over Christmas so she can go away for New Year. So, you are completely free on Christmas Eve." She finished smugly.

"…I don't think…"

"Nonsense, Severus, you can't stay holed up in that dungeon of yours for the entirety of Christmas." The Headmistress scolded.

"That settles it then. We'll see you at 7 on the 24th, Severus." Said Molly gleefully, practically skipping away.

Severus scowled at Minerva. "You are becoming just as meddlesome as your predecessor."

The Gryffindor witch only smirked. "You always seem to forget, Severus," she said unapologetically. "You were my predecessor."

Harry was back in Snape's office, trying to remember where he had reached in his story the last time. He sipped at his Moroccan mint tea thoughtfully.

"So you broke into the Ministry…" Professor Snape prompted.

"To steal the locket, right." Harry nodded. "We got it, but we had quite a dramatic exit. Ron was splinched when we apparated and we had to leave headquarters.

"We were hiding out in Ron's dad's tent and trying to workout what to do next. We needed to find the other horcruxes and find a way of destroying them, but we didn't have a clue what we were doing to be honest." He chuckled dryly.

"By Christmas we had decided to go to Godrics Hollow. We thought we might find the Sword of Gryffindor there and we'd worked out that it would destroy the horcrux because it was imbibed with basilisk venom." Harry carefully omitted his argument with Ron and his friend's subsequent departure. No one was responsible for their moods when they were wearing that horrendous locket.

"I'd never been to Godric's Hollow. I'd never seen…" Harry stopped, unsure what he could say. "Anyway, we were there to see Bathilda Bagshot. We wondered if Dumbledore had entrusted the sword to her."

"But she didn't have it."

"No." Harry sighed. "And we ended up I danger once again. I was stupid really. The signs were all there, something was massively off, but I was so desperate for answers."

Snape frowned. "What did you want to ask her about?"

Harry hesitated. He didn't want to talk about Dumbledore; the misgivings he's had, still had, about the old wizard's true motives. "I thought maybe Dumbledore might have told her things; that she might have information about Riddle and where the horcruxes could be."

"You spoke to Bathilda?" Severus prompted, ignoring whatever it was that Harry wasn't telling him.

"She was already dead." The Gryffindor swallowed grimly. "Nagini was possessing her body – her skin."

Severus stared, momentarily stunned. He tried not to imagine what that must have looked like. Clearing his throat, he said quietly, "And yet you escaped again."

Potter's face was grayer now, his hands shaking slightly. His head jerked in a nod. "God bless Hermione." He laughed humourlessly. "It was a close call, and my wand broke, but we got out alive."

"What happened next?"

Harry cast his mind back and then smiled gently. "You tell me."

Severus frowned, confused. "Excuse me?"

"I was doing the night watch while Hermione slept when I saw the Patronus of a doe."

"Ah." Severus made a noise of understanding.

"I thought it was my mum." Harry said, somewhat wistfully, and for a moment Severus found it hard to breathe. His chest ached the way it always did when he thought of Lily.

"But it was you." Harry continued. "Dumbledore told you to give us the Sword of Gryffindor and Phineas Nigellus told you where we were. Did you see what happened next?"

"I thought I was going to have to step in myself until Weasley turned up. Bloody Gryffindors." He muttered bitterly. "Dumbledore insisted that you couldn't just find the sword; you had to earn it, to demonstrate your courage in some way."

"'Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who deserve it.'" Harry quoted and Professor Snape gave him a strange look.

"I left once you were out of the water."

"Then you missed us destroying the locket. Three horcruxes down, four to go."

It was getting late, but Severus was addicted to the story. He wanted to know everything that had happened. He wanted to hear everything that might explain this enigma of a young man before him.

"Keep going." Severus refilled their mugs.

Harry took time to recollect and organise his thoughts before diving in again.

"As well as horcrux hunting, there also seemed to be a side puzzle we were trying to work out. Dumbledore had left each of us things in his will, but they didn't seem to make much sense. Then there were other things; signs we kept seeing along the way." Harry explained, his voice beginning to tire. He hesitated. This other side to their story they had kept secret from everyone, the Ministry, the Order. No one should be Master of Death and no one should be tempted by the power of such objects. It was the same reason Harry had divulged so little about the Horcruxes, lest he create a new 'Dark Lord.'

But Severus Snape could be trusted, Harry reminded himself. Dumbledore had trusted him, though that was no great endorsement. Still, Snape was always on his side. Harry was sure of that much. Whatever else had happened, whatever else he had done, Severus Snape had fought for Harry Potter. Maybe through his memories or by the past they shared, Harry could see into the darkest parts of Snape. Whatever darkness had taken place there, did not diminish the light of his soul. That much Harry knew, though there may be oceans between them in the other regards, Severus Snape was ultimately good.

"Have you heard of the Deathly Hallows?"

Severus racked his brains. "It's some magical folklore story, is it not?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded. "There's three hallows, supposedly given to three brothers by Death."

He fished into his robes for a scrap piece of parchment and a quill, sketching out the symbol of the Hallows as he talked, just as Mr Lovegood had for them nearly a year ago.

"There was a wand, capable of defeating any witch or wizard, a resurrection stone, to bring back people from the dead, and a cloak of invisibility." Severus nodded, vaguely recalling the story. He'd heard it somewhere before, though Merlin knows his mother was never one for reading him bedtime stories.

"I won't recite you the story, but that's what Dumbledore had left for Hermione and we kept seeing this symbol," he jabbed his quill at the hastily drawn sketch. "The symbol of the Deathly Hallows everywhere.

"Not that we knew then what it was or meant. We'd seen the symbol at Bill and Fleur's wedding, worn by Xenophilius Lovegood. So, we went and asked him. He explained the symbols and how some people believed that if you were to own all three items you would become the 'Master of Death.'

"Of course, what we hadn't realised was that Luna had been kidnapped by the Death Eaters and Mr Lovegood had told them we were there to try and get her back."

Severus rubbed a hand down his face wearily. "Why is it that every story you tell ends with you almost dying?"

Harry shrugged. "Bad timing?"

"And how did you escape this time, Mr Potter?"

"Well we figured it out and Xenophilius came clean. We would have left straight away, but if the Death Eaters thought Lovegood had called them out there for nothing they'd have killed him or something. So we had to wait long enough for them to see us and then apparate the hell out of there."

"Sorry." Severus stopped him, rubbing his closed eye lids. "Did I hear you correctly? You stayed until the Death Eaters arrived to protect the man who had given you up to the Death Eaters in the first place."

"Right." Harry confirmed.

"I- I can't even..." He raised his eyes up to the ceiling above, muttering. "There's not enough scotch in the world."

"Sir?" Harry asked, somewhat amused.

"I believe we've talked about the 'hero-complex' before."

"Sir?"

"Your persistent need to self-sacrifice?" The Professor elaborated.

"I wasn't self-sacrificing." Harry defended. "We had every intention of getting away, and we did."

This time Snape spoke slowly, enunciating each syllable the way Uncle Vernon would when he was speaking to someone he didn't think could speak English. "You stayed in a place that you knew Death Eaters would be coming to, to save the life of a man who had told the Death Eaters where you were."

Harry shrugged. "You can't really blame him."

"I can." Snape interrupted belligerently.

"He was trying to save his daughter's life. And what if the Death Eaters had decided to punish him a different way? What if they had done something to Luna instead?"

Severus shook his head. They would never agree on this; their minds were simply computed in different ways. Harry was programmed to always see the best in people, while Severus was innately suspicious of every intention.

"We'll leave the story-telling there for now. You can tell me the rest in the new year."

"Alright." Harry agreed amicably.

"I noticed that you're not staying in the castle for Christmas, can I assume you'll be staying with the Weasleys?"

"Yeah, I'll be at the Burrow until Boxing Day or the day after." Harry confirmed.

"And then?"

"Home." Harry shrugged.

"Grimmauld Place?"

"It's become a home of sorts."

Severus' finger rubbed along his bottom lip as he narrowed his eyes at the Gryffindor. "Assure me that you will not spend too much time alone over the holidays."

Potter responded with another one of his infernal shrugs. "Kreacher will be there, and I'll be seeing Andromeda and Teddy at some point. And then Ron and Hermione will be back before New Year's. Besides, I've invited the whole Order round for New Year's Eve, so I'm hardly going to be alone then, am I?"

"Very well." Severus relented, somewhat satisfied.

"What are your plans for Christmas, Professor?"

"I will remain here at the castle as usual. No doubt the Headmistress will force me to endure Christmas dinner and some other necessary yuletide festivities, but then I should be free to enjoy my break in peaceful, dunderhead-free solitude."

Harry narrowed his eyes in a frightfully good impression of the Slytherin professor as he repeated the man's own words back to him. "Assure me that you will not spend too much time alone over the holidays."

Caught out as the hypocrite he was, Severus floundered. "If only! I highly doubt Professor McGonagall would allow me to do so, just as you shouldn't. It looks as though I'll be attending Molly's damned Christmas Eve drinks for one thing."

"Oh, I'll see you there then, Sir. And you should come to the New Year's Eve party too."

"Potter," Severus said seriously. "I really don't think you would wish for your sour old Professor to attend your party."

Harry just shrugged. "Hagrid's going to be there, and Charlie. Even Professor McGonagall said she'll try and pop over for a bit if there's enough cover at Hogwarts."

"Why is this party so important to you, Potter?"

Another one of the insufferable shrugs and Severus promised himself he would break Harry of the habit. "Seems like the right way to end the year. Everyone's suffered so much, I just want to say thank you to everyone who backed me all the way."

"Very well, Mr Potter."

"So, you'll come?" Harry asked hopefully.

"We'll see. For now, it is time we both retired to our beds."

"Sure." Now he thought about it he couldn't stop yawning. "Night, Professor." He said as he reached the door.

"Good night, Mr Potter."