The Christmas Imp
Previously:
The imp seemed to consider this for a moment. "Make ya a deal, answer me riddle and no more spittle!"
Severus looked at it, his eyebrow twitched. "Fine."
The imp flashed a grin. "Okay! Here we go! There is a room that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than forces of nature."
"That is no riddle!"
"ER! Wrong answer!"
The room blacked out.
Chapter 2
"Open your presents." A soft voice said. There was no answer to the motherly comment but Severus could hear paper carefully being taken apart.
He opened his eyes. "Why must these memories focus around Christmas?" he grumbled.
He looked over and took in the sight of his mother. Her face black around the eye and her shoulders guarded. In front of her sat a scrawny kid with black hair and a scowl.
The boy, Severus when he was about seven, was opening his measly few gifts. The paper was neatly folder after removal and each present was regarded closely before being lined up in a compulsively straight line. His mother, who had no presents of her own, watched, making no comment on his actions or lack of thanks.
When each present was open and lined up, a neat stack of paper beside them, young Severus turned to his mother and nodded. His only regard to the gifts.
He mother gave a strained smile in return, then rose and left the room. Older Severus turned back to his gifts and regarded each one again.
There were four total. The first a book, Magical Drafts and Potions, which would, by the time he reached Hogwarts, be so dog-eared was mistaken for a second hand book. The second, a pair of shoes a size and a half too big. Next was a small bottle of dreamless sleep, just enough for one night. Then finally, a card spelled to count down the days until his attendance at Hogwarts.
Intellect, body, peace of mind, and hope.
That was really all he could have asked for.
"But there was something missing," the imp commented, "something small and something great, something filled and doomed to break."
"Please not your riddles."
"Answer, answer, answer!"
"Enough of this. Take me back to Harry."
The imp cocked its head. "Okay!"
When the room next came into focus, he was in a house he had never seen before. It was tidy with modest decorations, a large tree being the main focal point.
"Christmas again. We need to break you of this obsession."
"Good cheer, good laughs, good spirit, good times."
"If you insist."
A large pudgy boy of around eight rambled down the stairs, each step resounding throughout the house. He trotted into the living room and shifted through the presents, creating three messy stacks of boxes. One was considerably larger than the other two.
"I fail to see where this is going."
"Harry you asked for, Harry you get."
"I don't see Harry."
The imp didn't reply.
The fat boy completed his stacks and then began to tear into the paper covering the boxes of the largest stack. When he was about half way through and various unidentifiable objects were strewn about the room, two adults joined him. One just as large as what could only be his son, and another skinny and drawn.
They sat at the couch and watched the boy tear through the rest of the presents before they begin to open their own. They were slower about the process and the boy was obviously getting antsy.
"Well?" The boy near screeched.
"Give it a moment darling, it needs time to finish cooking." The mother answered.
"I don't care! I am hungry now!"
"Boy!" The man yelled over his shoulder.
A small boy walked to the doorway, not entering. "Yes, Uncle Vernon?"
Severus staggered, recognizing the voice but not the face.
The child was a tiny little creature with one cheek swollen and pulling his young face out of proportion. The split lip and blackened eye only created shadows on his small face that darkened the green of his one visible eye. The side that was not swollen was sunken as if the boy had not eaten for some time.
"Where is our coffee? Get it in here now! You have had enough time in there!"
"Yes, Uncle Vernon." The boy murmured and left the doorway.
Severus followed what could only be Harry. The boy entered into a tidy kitchen and climbed up onto a chair in front of the stove. He turned the bacon and pancakes before he hopped down and retrieved the coffee. Than he carried two cups out to the living room.
The boy hesitated in the doorway, taking a deep breath before he entered and relieved himself of the cups. Not a word was spoken.
Harry rushed back into the kitchen and dealt with the food before it could burn. When he had three plates ready, he carried them back into the living room, once again remaining silent as he gave them to each of his family members. After one more trip to deliver a tall glass of milk to his cousin, Harry returned to the kitchen and began cleaning up. The food was placed in the oven to keep it warm, the pots and pans washed. Every once and a while he would pull the food back out and deliver another round to his family.
When he was done, he went into the now empty living room and cleaned up the paper and boxes, carefully stacking presents into neat sections and clearing away plates and mugs.
Just as he finished the last of the dishes his family walked down the stairs, dressed and grabbing their jackets. The woman moved to the side, took up the last remains of breakfast, a slightly burnt pancake, and put it into Harry's hand.
"You should be thankful for what you have." She ground out.
"Thank you Aunt Petunia." Harry murmured.
With a sneer, the woman pushed the small boy into a cupboard under the stairs and left with her family.
When at last Severus was returned to his room, he was speechless.
"So sad, so sad." The imp said.
Severus looked at the grown Harry that still lay in their bed. He swallowed, looking at the slight form of his lover.
Harry was by no means tall, he was still painfully thin and given to bouts of self-imposed starvation when he was upset or nervous. Many a time had he become weak with malnutrition and Severus had been forced to monitor his consumption.
They had both hated those times.
For now, Severus crawled into the bed behind his lover, wrapped his arms around his thin frame, and fell asleep.
***
The morning, when Harry's sleep addled mind was just beginning to awaken and he could clearly smell and taste the skin against his body and feel the arms around him, was his favorite part of the day.
He lay there, his face nestled into Severus's neck and each of his limbs wrapped around the lean body next to him. Nothing else warmed his heart more.
Until the imp decided to start dancing on his bare shoulder.
Harry jumped, his movement sent the small creature tumbling and woke Severus.
"Harry?"
Harry rubbed his burned shoulder and frowned at the imp laying on the coverlet. "Nothing, just startled."
Severus settled back into the bed and looked at him.
It always made Harry nervous whenever Severus looked at him with such a penetrating gaze. He never doubted the love in their relationship but he was still aware of the lack of communication. They both had dark pasts that they had no desire to share and Harry was more than happy to keep their lives in the present. So whenever Severus took it upon himself to look at Harry with such awareness and depth, he always felt as if his soul was bared and Severus could see just how battered and broken it had become. It wasn't something he wanted Severus to know.
Thankfully the moment was shattered.
Unfortunately it was shattered by the warbling of Christmas carols.
"OH COME ALL MY FAITHFUL,
COME ROUND ANNND WORSHIP,
MEEEEeeeeEEEE"
At least Harry assumed it was suppose to be a Christmas carol.
"Everybody!
OH COME YE OH COME YE,
TO MY MY DOMAIN!"
"Er. . . how about breakfast?" Harry asked, ever the diplomat.
"BREAKFAST!"
"I'll take that as a yes. Severus?" Harry looked over at his lover, or what he could see of him from under the pillow that was mashed over his head.
Harry stifled a chuckle and attempted to pry the pillow away. Upon failing that, he announced, "why don't you take a shower and I will see what I can come up with for our little guest, hm?"
Take the incomprehensible mumbling as an affirmative, Harry climbed out of bed, wrapped his robe around himself, and made for the little kitchenette in the far corner of their living space.
The couple usually took their meals in the great hall with all the other teachers but every once and a while it was nice to not feel tied down by the culinary fancy of the house elves. That, however, did not mean that they kept their little kitchen area well stocked.
Harry pulled a face as he threw away the moldy something or other. That face turned to embarrassment as he pulled more something or others out of the cabinet only for them to meet their fate in the trash can. He was almost afraid to look in the crisper cabinet, especially since Severus was known to store various experiments in there along with the cold foods.
The imp, who had perched in Harry's shoulder, clicked its tongue.
"I know, I know. I really should clean this out more often." He gave a tired sigh, "how about breakfast in the great hall? Do you like bangers and eggs?"
The imp blew a raspberry.
"You're being awful quiet all of a sudden."
"How many buckets of shampoo do you think it would take to get the grease out of his hair?" The imp asked.
"Er. . ."
"That's what I thought!"
Just then, a cry rang out through the rooms that was a mix between shock and anger.
"What did you do?" Harry said as he ran toward the bathroom.
"Heeheehee." Was the unfortunate reply.
Bubbles were rolling out from under the door, popping and releasing their sweet scent. Harry pulled the door open and was instantly run over with bubbles. They pored out of the room like a wave, crashing into the bedroom and settling on the floor like a flowery, girly rug.
Harry dug through the bubbles, feeling like the hero from some kiddy comedy.
The shower was still running, each drop sending up more bubbles to accompany the first. At the center, covered in pink iridescent, stood Severus.
Harry's face turned red with the effort not to laugh. He reached beside his lover and shut the shower off.
The imp unfortunately did not have Harry's tact and was laughing so hard he fell off Harry's shoulder only to be lost among the bubbles.
"You know," Harry said as he carefully moved bubbles out of his lover's face, "I think he might have over done it with the shampoo."
"Indeed," Severus glowered.
"You, my love, look like a drowned rat."
Severus's eyebrow quirked, "and you, impudent brat, do not look much better."
Harry's eyes drifted up to the bubbles that had collected on his head. "huh, how about that. . ."
He had just enough time to notice the mischievous smirk on Severus's face before he pounced.