i feel like I should put out a disclaimer that I know they are all technically reindeers and not stags, but if you tell me that's not a stag prancing on my christmas tree, covering the whole house in green glitter, i will fight you.


πŸŽ„ πŸŽ„ πŸŽ„ Stags πŸŽ„ πŸŽ„ πŸŽ„

o.O.o

His hatred for stags must be obvious to anyone. James Potter's Animagus form had tormented him during half their time here at Hogwarts and he despised the animal ever since. He always thought his hatred would dissipate over time, and during the rest of the year it had indeed. He had no problem with the beautiful animals as they bravely emerged from the forest to seek out fresh food on the Castle Grounds. Does he was rather found of even, obviously. His own Patronus had been unchanged throughout the years, its significance not lost on Severus.

During Christmas, however, it all changed. It wasn't because of any James-related memory, purely out of the sheer number of stags and reindeers everywhere. Real stags grazed the grounds looking for fresh twigs or some grass, and that would be fine, but their bothers and sisters made out of snow were there too. Inside the castle, reindeer statues made of ice and shining like crystal guarded doors and decorated hallways. Small golden and silver stags hung from all the twelve Christmas trees in the Great Hall, but the other trees scattered across the Castle weren't without the animal ornaments either.

It was as if along the years Christmas somehow become the celebration of reindeers, and as their image resembled stags just a tad too much, Severus saw those everywhere instead. Children running around in knitted sweaters seemed to all have a deer motive on it, next to snowflakes and Santas. Deer was on the wrapping paper he covered Sinistra's gift, deer was on the garland and wreath over the mantel in his room.

Even in the teacher's room, as the professors were getting ready to sort out all the gifts Potter and he had bought, there was a stag, this one a living and breathing specimen, with a ridiculous, glowing red nose.

Deer was everywhere, and Severus hated it.

He stood in the back, watching as his colleagues were dropping boxes into an endless big red bag.

Flitwick was already wearing an elf costume. He had pointy ears and long black shoes. Green cap topped his head and long red and white striped stockings covered his legs and he wore a green coat to make it perfect. He did not feel embarrassed at all, given the children in the Infirmary were mostly from his house, he would have done probably anything to make their time better.

McGonagall, wearing red robes and a Christmas hat was putting the harness on the stag. Tiny bells rang as the deer shook its head to make sure that the reins fit well, its charmed nose just glowed merrily. It was unbothered by the professors around it, watched them for a while, then looked outside.

Potter's plan to surprise the children was coming along well, yet the man was nowhere to be seen. Christmas Eve was only a couple of hours away, how the man could take off now was beyond Severus.

"Where's Potter?" He asked Minerva.

The stag snorted at him and Severus took a step back edgily.

"There was a last-minute problem with the reindeer," Minerva explained, caressing the animal in a soothing manner. "He managed to resolve the issue, but it rendered him unable to join us in person." She patted the stag's neck. "But at least we got Bolt here."

Another snort came from the animal, but Minerva was not scared. She just went on petting its neck lightly. "It does put us however in a rather uncomfortable situation." She said looking with expectant eyes at Severus. "Well, not us, you, to be precise."

"Me? I have no business with all this," Severus said motioning at the jolly scene around them. "I allowed it, and that is all."

"I understand, Severus, but you see, we need a Santa. Potter was supposed to ride the animal, but as you can see, that will not happen now."

"What about Hannigan?" Severus asked thinking of the old Arithmancy professor. "He even has the beard."

"He went home. His children and grandchildren are coming, and they need their Santa Claus as well." Minerva answered.

"Slughorn then." Suggested Severus, though he suspected the answer to that even before Minerva opened her mouth again.

"You know he's on a holiday far away from all this snow and coldness. Filius was kind enough to be the elf, and honestly, do you expect me to make Pomona sit up there? Or myself?" She asked. "If Potter manages to come back in time, he will take your place, Severus, but if not, I beg of you, dress up. The children deserve some happiness. You know how bad Dragonpox can be."

"Come now, Severus," Filius said stepping next to him. "You won't have to do anything, just sit on the animal. I'll sort out the presents."

It took them some convincing and the mention of Minerva taking over some tedious tasks from Severus, but in the end, he acquiesced. The dressing up part wasn't that bad, he was spared of wearing the usual Santa outfit, instead he received robes, not unlike his own. The colour was a deep burgundy red, the pants almost black, the shoes leather with a golden buckle. The scarlet cloak was long enough to be draped over the stag's back as well, the velvet heavy on Severus' shoulders. His hair was turned white and one of Minerva's spell grew him a quite nice-looking goatee.

He approached the deer anxiously, who snorted and scraped the marble ground with its hooves. Its great antlers were pointed threateningly at Severus who looked at Minerva with a raised eyebrow as he commented, "Is it tame?"

"As much as it needs to," Minerva murmured quietly, then handed Severus the reins. "It just needs a firm hand." She told Severus with confidence.

There was nothing on the animal's back, no saddle, not even a blanket. He was supposed to ride it bareback, but Severus didn't even know yet how to get on it. Staying up on the deer was another unresolved issue in his mind, but he judged it would be alright to think about it when he was finally on top of the stag.

As if the animal would understand Severus' challenging situation, it suddenly went down to its knees to make it easier for Severus to climb on. Taking a deep breath, he did so, putting a leg over the wide back. Once he was comfortable and in place with his velvet cloak spread on the deer's backside, Severus tapped the animal's neck and it stood up right away.

The animal was all sinuous muscles, he could feel them move right under him. With every step different groups of flesh tensed and released, creating a comfortable rhythm as they walked towards the Infirmary. Flitwick followed on foot with the bag of presents while the other professors trailed along too, curious to see the children's reaction.

It was all lost on Severus though. He only cared about the animal between his legs. It was admittedly beautiful. Its skin radiated a wild heat and Severus couldn't help but caress its smooth, brown fur. It looked back at him, the muscles tensing, spasming underneath Severus' palm. How he once could have despised these magnificent creatures was beyond him.

The deer shook its head as they entered the Infirmary, careful that the sharp ends of its great antlers would not hurt Severus. The bells around its neck jingled merrily and several heads rose from the beds. Children, covered with scaly, green scabs sat up and watched with surprise and mirth the approaching professors.

"Merry Christmas everyone!" Flitwick announced and started giving out the presents.

True to his words, Flitwick did most of the job, while McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey helped him with the gifts. Once every box was sorted and presents all opened the children started mingling, showing each other what they got. The pox struck mostly the lower years, but some fifth-, sixth- and seventh-year students were there as well. They received chess-sets, card games and mostly books, while the younger ones got plushies, Quidditch balls, wizarding puzzles and such.

When a first-year student, Carol Montgomery, walked up to Severus and the deer, holding out a small hand to carefully touch it, the stag leaned down its great head and pressed its soft, glowing nose to the palm of the little girl. She giggled gleefully.

Miss Montgomery wasn't the only one curious about the deer and soon there was a larger crowd around them. The stag handled it very nice, it didn't seem edgy at all, though Severus kept calmingly caressing it, just to be sure.

It was all over within half an hour. The small event was a success, the children had fun and seemed happy, yet Severus was disappointed. Potter never showed up and he just couldn't understand, how the young man could have missed this when he spent so much time organizing it. Even the children noticed his absence, asked after him and it made Severus feel irate.

Once the children went back to their beds, boardgames more important now than any animal, Severus directed the stag towards the door with a small nudge of his hips. A part of him didn't want to get off, instead he wanted to take the animal outside and see how fast it could run. He longed to ride the deer outside in the fresh white snow, but Minerva took the reins and led them back to a room, where Severus had to slide off the wide back.

Holding on to the harness, he said goodbye to the animal, scratching the deer's chin and stroking its firm neck. He gave a small kiss on the soft forehead as a final farewell, then went away to change back to his usual teaching robes.

Later that night, at Christmas Eve, he still couldn't get the animal out of his head. It was the whole experience of riding it, as much as the fact it was a stag, an animal, he usually despised. His musings, however, were interrupted when someone knocked on his door.

Potter stood at his threshold, leaning casually against the frame. He looked slightly flushed as if he had just come in from the cold.

"The prodigal son returns," Severus commented coldly as he saw the man.

"Hi," Potter smiled. "Can I come in?"

"If you must…" said Severus stepping away but leaving the door open for the man.

"So, I heard you took my place today. Did you have fun?" Asked Potter as he walked inside.

"Hardly," Severus answered, untruthful. "What kept you away?" He asked sternly.

Potter laughed at that, shaking his head. "You don't get it, do you?"

"No, Potter," Severus admitted heatedly, sneering, "I do not get you at all. You organize all this, practically bribe me to allow it. You spend hours finding the perfect gifts, days to make all the arrangements necessary, you even produce a damn deer, and then you don't show up. No, I don't understand this at all. What could have been more important to you than this?"

"As long as the children were happy, it's all good." Potter said with a shrug. "It doesn't matter to me that they didn't see me."

"It matters to them!" said Severus. "These children look up to you, though I cannot fathom why." There was cold disappointment in Severus voice, but it didn't seem to affect Potter at all. He just kept on smiling. Furious, Severus marched up to him wanting to slap him or do something else, equally inappropriate that would get the smile off his face,. "It should have been you on that stag, Potter, not me."

"Now that would have been impossible." Potter laughed turning away from Severus.

"And why is that?" Severus asked, his voice dangerously quiet.

He waited for the answer silently for a few minutes, while Potter stared blindly at the fire. Severus suspected there was something more to this and was ready to press the young professor on the subject, but then Potter spoke up, talking to the flames.

"I don't want the attention." He said quietly. "I didn't want them saying I got a gift from Harry Potter, I wanted them to believe it was from Hogwarts, from all of us." As he turned back, he looked Severus in the eyes. "All I wanted was to see them happy."

"But you didn't, did you?" Severus asked. "You didn't bother to show up in the end.

"I was there, Snape." Potter said quietly. "I saw Flitwick the elf, I saw the bright gleam in their eyes when they opened the gifts, I felt the excitement, saw little Miss Montgomery. I even heard their very wicked comments regarding you."

"What comments?" Severus demanded.

"Snape, you looked-" Potter stopped himself, shaking his head for a moment then the infuriating smile was back on his face. "Let's just say, sitting in Santa's lap has never been so appealing to girls and boys wild with hormones."

Severus stared at Potter feeling a blush creeping up his face. He straightened his features. "So you hid under your cloak just so some teenage girls wouldn't fawn over you? Is that it? I'm surprised your ego fits this castle, Potter." Severus remarked.

He walked to the door, opening it. "Leave now, I'm busy."

Hands in his pockets, Potter watched the ground for a moment, then intense eyes were on Severus. "Really? A cloak? That's your best guess?" He said. "I thought you were cleverer than that."

He pointed his want to the ceiling and the candle lights dimmed bringing the room into almost full darkness.

Potter wasn't flushed, his nose wasn't red from the cold. It was still slightly glowing and in the dark, Severus saw it clearly. The moment he understood, his face turned crimson red right away.

"The stag… you… the stag…" He stuttered staring wide eyed at the man.

"I learned Animagic a year ago," Potter told him walking towards the door. He stepped right next to Severus, and there was something almost shy about the way the young man looked at him, but with his smile and careless stance, his hands still pocketed, he seemed more mischievous than anything.

"I rather you kept this a secret, Severus" said Potter quietly, looking ahead and not at him anymore. "It's more than enough to hear Minerva's teasing comments, but to have the whole school gossiping about Severus Snape riding Harry Potter… I don't think we'd want that." He winked, then disappeared on the dark corridor.


πŸŽ„ πŸŽ„ πŸŽ„ To be Continued πŸŽ„ πŸŽ„ πŸŽ„