A/N: I do not own Harry Potter or any character thereof. Only the story line is mine so please don't sue! I don't own anything!

Chapter 30

On Christmas Eve, Ron had fallen asleep surprisingly early. Harry, on the other hand, really wasn't all that tired. So he stayed up and wrote in his journal for a while. After he finished writing, he pulled out his half completed transfiguration essay.

He had managed to finish all of his other work over the past few days after Ron had fallen asleep and before he had gotten up. This was the only thing left.

Around 1am, he finally crawled into bed. He honestly didn't expect any presents but that was fine. He still figured that it would be the best Christmas he had ever had.

Harry and Ron both seemed to wake at exactly the same time.

"Happy Christmas, Ron!"

"Happy Christmas, Harry!"

It was then that Harry saw the small stack of presents at the end of his bed. "I have presents?!"

Ron eyed him for a minute before replying, "What did you expect? Frog spawn?"

Harry was on the edge of saying that he'd never gotten a Christmas present before but shrugged instead.

While Ron dove into his own stack, Harry opened Rons, Hermione's, and Neville's, which were all different types of candy. Hedwig was currently off delivering sweets to Neville and Hermione as it was.

There were 2 packages left. He was eyeing them, trying to figure out who they were from. As he opened one of them, he heard Ron groan.

"That's from Mom. She's made you a Weasley sweater."

Harry noticed that Ron's ears were turning pink.

"A Weasley sweater?"

"I kinda told mom that you didn't really expect to get a lot for Christmas. She makes us one each year. Mine's always maroon."

Harry grinned. "I think they're brilliant!"

Ron's entire face turned pink.

When he opened the last gift - his invisibility cloak - he wasn't sure what to feel. He was a little perturbed over the fact that it was unsigned, but at the same time he was thrilled to have something from his father.

Before Harry could put too many coherent thoughts together though, the twins burst in the room, so he quickly stuffed the cloak out of sight.

Snape watched as Potter and the Weasley clan sauntered in for breakfast. He snickered when he saw the boy-who-lived in a Weasley sweater. A glance at Dumbledore saw approval in his eyes.

Later that evening, during Christmas dinner, he watched as the boy pulled one of those annoying wizard crackers that Albus was so fond of. He saw the brat's eyes light up when his own chess set came out of one.

"Finally, maybe this set will actually listen to me!"

Dumbledore chuckled. He must have heard him too.

"Minerva, did you send an owl to his family so that they could send his Christmas presents to him?"

She looked at the headmaster warily. "Yes and I got the owl back. It looked a little roughed up. It wasn't carrying anything when it returned either, except for the unopened letter I sent them explaining how to use the owl."

Albus frowned but said nothing.

When he saw Harry and the three Weasley's head out the door, Severus watched the Headmaster sneak away.

"Mr. Potter, Mr.'s Weasley's, I trust you four are enjoying your Christmas."

Harry stared at the Headmaster in shock then he smiled at the man.

"Yes sir. This is the best Christmas I've ever had," admitted Harry honestly.

"Yes sir. We were going -"

"Out for a snowball fight if -"

"You want to join us -"

"Professor Dumbledore," both twins chorused together as they plastered matching mischievous grins on their faces.

Albus twinkled at them quite merrily. "Not this year boys. I'd hate to be shown up by 4 against 1. I don't believe my ego could handle it like it used to." He laughed at their faces. "Go on. Have fun!"

Harry couldn't believe it. "Uh, guys, do you talk to him often?"

"No. Only when we get into a lot of trouble. He's pretty cool though," said Fred.

"Actually, everyone says he's the only one you-know-who is afraid of," George said, "so I reckon he can get nasty if provoked."

Harry and Ron both nodded at the twins, and before he and Ron could even pick up a handful of snow, the twins charmed a dozen snowballs to fly at their heads.

Albus came back to the table to finish his meal. He looked at Minerva and said, "Harry has assured me that this is his best Christmas ever. Oh, and the Weasley twins challenged me to a snowball fight."

Severus nearly choked on a piece of pheasant that he had just taken a bite of. Once he regained his composure, he eyed the Headmaster. "I'm surprised you didn't take them up on the offer."

"Against the Weasley twins? I may be getting old - but I'm not becoming senile. I see that those two are going to become the biggest pranksters Hogwarts has ever seen."

Severus gave the Headmaster a look that quite plainly stated how he felt about the old man's sanity, and a quick glance at Minerva showed that she was desperately trying not to laugh.

Severus was making his late night patrols. He figured that since Potter had that damned cloak now, tonight would be the first time he would use it.

As he rounded the corner, he came upon an out of breath Filch.

"You asked me to come directly to you Professor, if anyone was wandering around at night, and somebody's been in the library - Restricted Section."

'Potter or Quirrell', thought Snape. "The Restricted Section? Well, they can't be far, we'll catch them."

As he and Filch went down the corridor, he saw the door at the end of the hallway move slightly.

'I know where they are now,' he mused.

A few minutes later, he and Filch split up so he headed back to the room in which he saw the door move.

He cast an invisibility spell on himself instead of the disillusion charm.

As he edged around the out skirts of the room, he saw Potter staring at a mirror.

Severus knew what the mirror was. He wasn't aware that Albus still had it though. Severus had to admit that he was curious as to what Potter's true heart's desire was.

Just as he was musing that it was probably power, money, and more fame, he heard Potter say, "Mom? Dad?"

Severus inhaled sharply, which luckily went unnoticed.

'He's seeing Lily,' thought Severus with a twinge in his heart.

"I've always wondered what you two looked like."

Severus narrowed his eyes. 'Surely his aunt and uncle have pictures spread around like a shrine for the boy.'

He watched Potter's expressions carefully as he eyed the mirror. He was honestly acting like he had never seen them before.

This did not set well with the Potions' Master, though he really wasn't sure why.

Near dawn, Potter walked away with a promise to return later that evening. After making sure that he really was gone, he locked and warded the room.

Removing his invisibility spell, he walked up to the mirror.

He saw Lily holding a baby - his child. His family. He stared into her green eyes and got lost in them. This is what he desired the most, more than anything in this world.

A family with Lily. And now that was impossible. He knew that he should head off to bed, but he couldn't pull himself away from the mirror just yet.

"I love you, Lily," whispered Severus before stalking off to his bed an hour later.

The second night, Severus was already waiting invisible in the corner. He planned on discipling the boy this evening.

So when the cloak fell and he saw that Potter wasn't alone, he was only partially shocked. He should have known that he would bring Weasley down to show him.

He watched as they fought over the mirror for a minute. Getting tired of the argument; he carefully withdrew his wand and had a suit of armor in the hallway rattle. He nearly laughed as they both turned white and threw the cloak over themselves.

After they left, he also headed to bed - managing to not look in the mirror again.

After breakfast, Severus stalked up to Albus' office.

"Lemon drop, Severus?"

He glared at the Headmaster and shook his head. "I thought you'd like to know that your Golden-Boy and his side-kick found the Mirror of Erised two nights ago."

"Actually, Harry found it the first night. Mr. Weasley joined him the second."

Severus paled slightly and shifted in his chair. "How did you know that?"

Albus eyed him carefully. "I overheard them both whispering yesterday afternoon in the courtyard while I was taking a stroll."

Some color returned to his face. "I managed to refrain from taking points and giving detentions but I believe you should talk to them tonight, otherwise I might not be so nice ..."

"You looked in the mirror didn't you?"

Severus nodded.

Albus thought for a minute then leaned forward and said, "So, tell me, what did they see when they looked into the mirror?"

That night, Severus just disillusioned himself while the Headmaster used the invisibility spell.

When Potter pulled off the cloak, Severus really wasn't surprised to see him alone. He too would want to spend as much time with Lily as he possibly could.

Albus let the boy sit for a few minutes before he approached him.

Severus listened to what the Headmaster said to Potter, knowing that some of his words were also meant for him.

He felt his eyebrows raise when he heard the Headmaster say, "If you ever do run across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that."

Severus watched as Harry picked up the cloak. Before he put it on, Harry looked straight at him again.

This was frustrating to Severus.

About 20 minutes later, they were both sitting comfortably in Albus' office.

"You do realize that he knew someone was disillusioned where you were sitting right?" asked Albus with a bright twinkle in his eye.

Severus scowled. "I don't know how, but that's not the first time he's looked straight at me while I was disillusioned. It's a little unnerving to be honest. How does he know that I'm there?"

Albus just twinkled at him in response, no doubt coming up with about 10 different theories but not planning on sharing any. When Severus realized that, he sighed and instead asked a question that had been plaguing him for a few minutes.

"Albus, what did you mean when you told the boy that he would know what to do if he ever ran across the mirror again?"

Albus appeared to consider his response for a moment then grinned. "At the moment, Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, and Mr. Weasley are under the impression that you are trying to steal the Sorcerer's Stone."

Severus' eyes widened in shock.

"They don't know what it is yet, but they are aware of Fluffy and that he's guarding something. In all honesty, from what I've observed of them so far, I imagine that they will try to keep you from it by going after it themselves."

Seeing that Severus was about to interrupt, Albus rushed on to say, "Of course, I'm hoping that they don't. I'm hoping that they think to tell another professor about their suspicions but to be on the safe side, I decided to let him know how it worked. I've actually planned on adding it to the protections for some time now, as the final step, especially with Professor Quirrell lurking about."

Severus opened and closed his mouth several times in an effort to yell at the man but nothing ever came out. He eventually found his voice. "And what will you do should they actually go after it themselves as opposed to telling someone? If by some chance they actually figure out how to get past that three-headed mongrel, do you really think they'll live past the Devil's Snare or even my portion of the obstacle should they actually get that far?"

Albus frowned at his Potion's Master. "Everything will be fine Severus. You're worrying to much. If I see that they're about to dive in recklessly to get it first, I do plan on stopping them."

Taking a deep breath and exhaling it slowly, Severus met Albus' eyes. "I'm sorry for my tirade Albus, but I know quite a few seventh years who couldn't get past the obstacles down there. To even begin to imagine that a first year could just took me by surprise."

"No need to apologize. You know that. I think it's good that you care for Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, and Mr. Weasley's well being."

Severus scowled. "They're students under my protection. I have the need to keep them out of trouble, whether they like it or not. I think the word care is going too far though," he offered dryly.

Albus' just twinkled at him. "Whatever you say Severus."

The potion's master just glared as he picked up his now luke warm tea to take a drink.

A/N: You get two chapters tonight! I have the next one typed and written, I just gotta make a few changes to it first, so it should be up in a day or two.