Ok, believe it or not I really am sorry about this massive delay, but with lack of motivation and time I think this is pretty good. Don't worry, I'll never abandon this story, take a long time to update maybe but abandoning it is not in my plan.
On the other hand, writing about Christmas in the middle of the year is a bit weird, considering that I originally planned to upload this chapter back in December. *cringe* Look at the time now, this just proves that my life is a mess. Christmas in July perhaps? It is winter for me now. :D
Anyway I hope you forgive me and enjoy :)
I own nothing.
Harry Potter belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling and 'Santa Clause is coming to town' belongs to somebody, I'm not sure who, but definitely not me since I'm clearly not a millionaire.
Chapter 7 Christmas Chaos
"Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas to you as well."
As Holly walked down the stairs, she saw as well as heard all the activity and celebration that would be expected on the morning of the 25th December. Christmas decorations had been hung up on every corner of the room. Even the portraits of the ancestors had the occasional bauble hanging off the edge of the frame, although the scowls on their faces delivered the opposite message to the festive season.
Music was playing and the bells were charmed to make beautiful tinkling sounds that worked beautifully with the tune, which to her surprise, was a muggle song.
'You better watch out'
'You better not cry'
'Better not pout'
'I'm telling you why'
'Santa Clause is coming to town'
The song was catchy and remained one of her favourite Christmas carols, because she always saw the irony in with the song when it came to Dudley. Who would cry and pout the most two occasions a year, both being times when large amounts of presents were expected.
Everyone was gathered in the next room, so she decided to take a moment and appreciate the scene. It was obviously Sirius' idea, to put up muggle decorations in the most anti-muggle place in London. She smiled. Her godfather must be under a lot of stress right now with their unexpected but not unwelcome guests. The more the merrier, right? She decided to make an effort to be of more help, it didn't mean that she would follow his every word, but the effort surely counts for something.
Remus came out of the next room and his stress-lined face softened when he saw her, still dressed in the Gryffindor coloured pyjamas Sirius had bought her for her 16th birthday. "Holly, come and open your presents."
"Just a moment." Humming the tune, she walked with Remus and was stunned when she set her eyes on the Christmas tree.
It was magnificent, almost on par with the Christmas trees at Hogwarts which were Hagrid's pride and joy. It was at least twice Ron's height and the diameter at the bottom was surely the same size as King Arthur's round table. Needless to say, it almost took up the entire room.
"Well Bambi, what do you think?" Sirius stood beside it, looking very proud of himself.
"You made it?"
"Yes, well no. Not exactly. We wanted to give you a special Christmas so we went to one of those muggle shopping centaurs-'"
"Shopping centres"
"Yes those, and we bought a tree, but it was so small and all the spells Remus learnt in Herbology didn't work."
"Spells?"
"Well yes, we wanted it to grow a bit bigger than the size it was, as big as the ones in Hogwarts. You like those don't you?"
"I do, but Sirius,' Holly took a closer look at the tree 'this is fake, muggles make fake Christmas trees."
"Yes we realised that… This morning. So I threw an engorgio at it and this happened!" Here he waved dramatically at the giant tree with great enthusiasm. Holly thought that if he was in his animagus form right now then his tail would be wagging like crazy.
She couldn't help herself, she laughed, and her laughter was infectious, soon Sirius joined in with his deep rumble and it didn't take long for the others to join in.
Padfoot, who hadn't spoken a word to Holly yet, not since their argument last night, couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was when she laughed.
The laughter was genuine and came from deep within her, and shook her whole body. If he couldn't hear her then he would've thought that she was crying, thank Merlin he wasn't and double that because hearing her laughter was divine. He mentally slapped himself for those sappy thoughts. Her eyes were closed and every time she opened them to look at Sirius she would burst into uncontrollable mirth all over again, was it really that funny?
'Yes, it is.' She stopped laughing to speak to him. Oh dear lord did he actually say that out loud?
'Alright, let's get the presents over with so we can prepare to go to Hogwarts!' James was excited to leave, but Padfoot thought that this was the perfect moment.
Holly's lips twitched but she turned to the presents, and soon the room was filled with the sound of paper ripping and delighted laughter. A scene which Padfoot would treasure for all eternity.
Snape slammed the door behind him as he left. The nerve of that old man, to do something so stupid. There were ten thousand variables that could go wrong within the first hour alone based on one of the individuals he was currently thinking about angrily. Add Miss Potter to anything and it's sure to be a code red disaster and her years at Hogwarts only proved that.
Severus strode through the halls, carefully avoiding the mistletoes that were still untouched, his moody aura kept all the ghosts from wishing him season's greetings, of which he was very glad. He was in no mood to be merry.
Draco would be here as well. That could cause problems. Hopefully the boy knew what was best for them both and stayed away from the girl whom his master wanted dead. Knowing his luck so far, that wouldn't happen. Cursing under his breath, he quickened his stride to his office.
Sirius fiddled with the portkey, it was some old muggle trinket, no doubt a donation given to Dumbledore by Arthur Weasley, who was obsessed with all things muggle. He looked up at the sound of footsteps to see Remus and Holly. She was wearing her new hand-knitted sweater with a large golden snitch worked on to the front, made by the perfect Molly Weasley of course, the woman who was very disgruntled last night when she learned that Sirius had changed his Christmas plans.
'Are the boys ready?'
He was answered by thumps coming down the stairs. Mercifully, the old hag's portrait continued to snore.
When he looked at their polyjuiced forms, he sent a silent thanks to Dumbledore for his selection.
One of them had short blond that seemed to shine every time he moved, he must've used the brush of the angels. Sirius thought that the cornflower blue eyes and dazzling white smile that went along with the pretty face would've seduced any girl he wanted. Next to him was a boy with curly brown hair and dark eyes. His physique suggested that the owner of the hair was an excellent athlete.
'What do you think Prongslette?' Sirius blinked at the blond guy. What nerve! To give his little goddaughter a marauder nickname before he did. 'Obviously I look hot with blond and black hair. Perhaps I should make my hair permanently blond.'
The athlete snorted. 'Not unless you wanna be a Malfoy.'
Padfoot scrunched up his nose, an action which still appeared quite handsome. 'I'll kiss and hug my mother before I become a Malfoy.'
Thoughts of being so kind to Walburga Black made everyone shudder.
Holly eyed the portkey in Sirius' hand. She remained wary of portkeys ever since the Tri-wizard tournament but she trusted that Dumbledore and her dearest godfather would never deliver her to Voldemort as a Christmas present. 'When can we leave?'
'Now if you want, its code activated.' Holly nodded her agreement. 'Great, gather round everyone. Next stop, Hogwarts!'
Everyone made sure they were either holding or touching the old muggle necklace which Dumbledore had chosen as the portkey for this historical occasion, Sirius murmured the password and Holly tried not to be sick as the sensations began.
James and Padfoot were so excited when they arrived, they completely ignored the headmaster's welcome and safety precautions and instantly began memorising Hogwarts 20 years into the future. The headmaster's office honestly wasn't that different, the amount of trinkets seemed to increase and the layer of dust on some ancient tome in the corner seemed to be a bit thicker as well. But other than that, nothing truly noteworthy.
They went down the spiral stairs and walked the familiar path to the great hall, which had thankfully been cleared of mistletoes (much to Padfoot's dismay).
The Christmas feast at Hogwarts never failed to disappoint. The Great hall was covered in decorations. Christmas trees (just a bit bigger than the one they had at Grimmauld Place) were placed in every corner. The tinsel on the wall was charmed to turn into different shapes, and the tinsel shapes occasionally turned into humans and would play with the wreaths that had been placed just above them. When one of the shapes turned into an arrow, it directed Holly's attention to the table, and the sight never failed to knock her breath away.
Roast turkeys, boiled potatoes, platters of fat chipolatas, tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce covered every feet of the table. Not to mention the wizard crackers that had been squeezed between the dishes.
She eagerly grabbed one and turned to Padfoot, who flashed her a dazzling smile before pulling and got covered in red and gold sparkles. He took the little gift and gave it to Holly, who gave a laugh of delight and put on the red and gold witch hat.
After another Christmas message from Dumbledore, the guests, several Hogwarts students who stayed behind for the holidays and staff membered tucked into the Christmas feast of 1996. If Holly had known at that time that it would be the last Christmas she would celebrate as a student, she might've taken a longer look around the room.
Draco was angry, frustrated and annoyed, but most of all he was exhausted, and very hungry. A quick time check told him that the feast would've started now, and not even that muggle-loving Dumbledore could turn a death eater away from his table if the death eater in question was his student.
Having made up his mind to fill his belly for once, he made the long way down. As we entered the room and scanned the faces, he felt two emotions that he hadn't felt in quite a while.
Surprise and lust.
Simply, he was quite surprised to see Potter there. Considering the fact that he saw her leave with the blood traitor and mudblood.. Unless the order was in trouble and Dumbledore wanted to keep a closer eye on her? That was reasonable.
Secondly, Draco was a teenager, and definitely a virile one. Potter was truly growing into her body each time he looked at her and he only had the normal reaction any teenager would have. Even that ugly old sweater, no doubt made by Mrs Weasley, could completely hide what lay beneath.
He smirked, maybe this Christmas wouldn't be as boring as he had thought it would be. "Hello Potter, was your dogfather's place not good enough for you or did you become intimidated by the wards of ancient purebloods." She scowled and as per usual ignored him, which only flamed his irrationality. He looked at the two boys next to her, and was once again surprised when he realised that he had never met them before. They were definitely around his age, and to be here at Hogwarts, they must be wizards, but he was certain they didn't go here, he knew everyone in his year level, regardless of whether he liked them or not. There was something very suspicious about those two. But before he couldn't open his mouth again to lash out another taunt, his once-favourite professor came storming in.
Padfoot wanted to strangle Lucius Malfoy's kid. He wondered if anyone had ever taught him the word 'manners', and then another guy who probably needed some manners himself arrived. All bat-like and grumpy.
Padfoot thought that Snape had aged rather well and must've used the same aging plan as himself. Remus and his future self looked at least twice their age and their faces always had that expression of… fatigue, to put it lightly. As if the antics of the young people were a thing of the past, they were only 36!
He didn't think Snape looked any better than them, but he looked the way you would expect Snape to look. Big nose, greasy hair, skinny frame and that disgusting cloud of potions fumes around the man. When was his last shower? Forget about manners, Severus Snape clearly needed a lesson in hygiene! Oh, and look at that, the bat was going to scream at Malfoy. This ought to be a good show.
"Malfoy!" The two syllables were pushed out with barely controlled anger. "What are you doing here?"
Malfoy simply lifted an eyebrow. Being yelled at by teachers must be routine by now. If the blond ferret wasn't the spawn of Lucius Malfoy and one of the most Slytherin person on earth then James would've inducted him into the marauders on the spot.
"Professor, I came here to enjoy the feast, which is part of my privileges as a student of this school." Cue signature Malfoy smirk.
"Severus, let the boy enjoy the feast. It is Christmas after all." The headmaster had spoken. Draco shot everyone a victorious glance and took a seat directly across from Holly, the scowl she sent him only added the metaphorical cherry on top.
Despite the unexpected guest, it still turned out to be a pleasant meal for everyone as Draco occupied himself with filling his empty stomach and staying out of conversations. A few moments after all the dessert disappeared, Draco wiped his mouth with a Malfoy crested serviette that appeared out of his pocket and left, but not without a last remark to Holly which had her scowling again.
Padfoot couldn't ignore this weird exchange between the two and nudged her "What did he say?"
She only shook her head as a response and returned to her pudding.
Severus watched this entire interaction with a scowl that had been permanently carved onto his face the moment those idiotic Gryffindors arrived. He always knew Potter and Black were troublemakers and at times had no qualms about endangering lives for their stupid fun. But this? This was beyond childish stupidity and teenage troubles. If something happened to either one of them in the future that would render them unable to return, who knows how that might change history as they know it. No wonder time travel was such a forbidden topic in magic research.
His dark eyes followed their movements as the three teenagers, one from the present and two from the past, left the table not long after devouring their dessert. Needless to say, he followed them at a safe distance, just to be cautious. Since he had learned long ago that where Gryffindors go, trouble follows.
TBC
I hope you enjoyed this, I admit that I really enjoyed writing Snape's parts. It's fun to add some anger.
Draco has joined the story. One of the major reasons I love writing HP fan fiction is that there is such a big variety of cannon characters to choose from before introducing an OC.
Anyway, hopefully I can update again soon, fingers crossed.
Until next time, bye! :)
