CHAPTER TWELVE:

Christmas Past & Christmas Present

(AUTHORS NOTES:OMG.. THANKS TO CHEMICAL77, Nadia141491 and DoveIsTheWord for your reviews, they mean so much to me! It's really an inspration to keep working towards a finish for this story after all this time and I'm so glad you all like it!)

(slight OOC warning here.. !SlightlyNiceSnape, !FatherlySnape, make their first actual appearance.. Seeing as how this story is largely about my oc, her interactions and time at Hogwarts, and seeing as how I've made her Snape and Lily's daughter, they have to have some form of father/daughter bondng.. No flames, please?)

She sat up in bed, at first blinking, the absolute quiet a shock to her nervous system. Normally, at the old house, on the base, with those imposters who told her they were her parents, there were any infinte number of disturbing noises to be heard throughout the day, from fighting at loud volumes, to the occasional sharp stinging echo of a fist or hand to bare skin.

She rubbed her eyes and looked around, and it sank in. That place wasn't her home anymore, those people weren't her parents. This wasn't some delusion her mind created to escape the hell that used to be her life. Now, this was her life.

The box sat on her nightstand, a small white bow on it, neatly, a folded place card that said simply, "Open me".

She smiled a little as she pulled out a newer wand, that didn't actually shatter windows when she aimed it at something and muttered the incantation to make the lights come on in the room. From the doorway, Snape said quietly, "It's either that or I replace lightbulbs regularly." with a hint of a hidden smirk. Another of those hugs she'd given him the day before came as she thanked him repeatedly.. Until now, she'd been using a lost wand that she'd found lying on the lawns about her second year, when her own wand had broken maybe a week earlier.

"Have you eaten, sir?" she asked as he shook his head and then said simply, "Thought I'd wait for you to wake up. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to wake, actually." as he eyed her in concern.. Did she always sleep this late?

His eyes caught on the second of her Muggle 'tattoos' and he groaned inwardly. "How in the bloody name of Merlin did you manage getting a tattoo?"

"Neville asked me the same thing.. The man who lived in the apartment above ours.. He did them, was learning how. I was a practice dummy I suppose." Charmaine said as she pulled on one of her fuzzy cashmere cardigans, tying it.

"And a whole small travel box just for your.. Makeup?" Snape guessed as he looked at the box on the top of the white wooden dresser with mild disdain. He didn't understand why she wore the makeup, really, she took after her mum and Lily had never had a need for makeup.

She shrugged quietly as she said "Just like it better than my own face, I suppose. You hear how ugly you are as often as I did, sir.. You tend to start believing it."

"Well you're clearly not and those.. incompetent morons.. They had no business saying that." Snape said as he looked at her, trying to figure out just how to deal with the obvious issues his teenage daughter had with herself.

"So people still listen to them." Snape gestured to an old Led Zepplin tapestry hanging on her wall near her closet which was stuffed nearly with all of her things. Apparently, his daughter was quite an avid shoe collecter.

Charmaine nodded and dug into one of her boxes, producing a stack of small discs. "They're all of Led Zepplins cds.. They used to help me sleep..." she admitted as he raised a brow for a moment, but looked through the stack of music, grimacing as he came across a black disc that had a coiled snake on it. "And this?"

"That's Metallica, sir."

"Taking it they're anything but pleasant." Snape said to himself mostly as she shrugged and then asked, "So.. What did you want me to do today?"

"I thought we could go find a tree.." he admitted, though a trek through the snowy woods was anything but appealing to the man, truth be told.. But he could hear Lily urging him to at least try and give her one decent holiday.

And he agreed, wholly. She hadn't ever really had a stable home, a normal life. And he didn't know how much time they'd have as a family before Merlin forbid he might have to send her into hiding for her own safety. Voldemort could just as easily discover his double agent status any day now. He wanted to enjoy having his daughter where she belonged, until that time came. He wasn't a fool, clearly, he knew that sooner or later, he would be found out.

"I thought, Charmaine.. You could go to the Burrows and visit your brother while you're on holiday.." he added, distaste about this evident also. But he did want his daughter, their daughter to have SOMEONE left after this war was over, if Merlin forbid, he die. He wanted to know her brother would watch over her.. For that to happen, they'd need to bond.

"Not sure, sir.. I mean I couldn't impose.. And Granger and I.. We don't get on so well."

Snape hid an amused chuckle, but not too well as she said this. Oh how he knew the two didn't get on well.. And he'd heard about their 'duelling' incident while they'd been having their Dumbledore Army's meetings.

One of the students that'd admitted to there being such a thing had talked about it while under the influence of VeritaSerum.

"I've heard."

"If she weren't such a bloody know it all, sir, I'd have no problem with her." Charmaine admitted as they entered the small kitchen in the small house, and she dug around in the cabinets looking for something to eat. She found pancake batter, chocolate chips and turned to him, quirking a brow. "You eat these too?"

"A little, yes." he admitted.

"I'll make them then." she asked as he took the batter, the chips and shaking his head said simply, "Sit down and drink your orange juice."

"But.."

"No buts." he said as she nodded, sat down, drinking her juice, looking around the small house she'd be calling home from here on out. She tried to picture them here together a few years down the road, the thought had her smiling to herself. Maybe this was good for both of them. And it was much quieter here, much more peaceful here.

The owl swooped through the open window, beak full with a slim box.

"What the?"

She grabbed for the box, opened it and turned crimson as she saw some sort of amulet, a pretty jade green stone. And a note from Neville. She read it, smiling softly to herself.

Next came Puffskeins and taffy, a bright pink and black scarf from Harry and the Weasley twins. Snape tried not to smile to himself as he asked, "Your friends?"

"Mhmm. Me and the girls exchanged presents before we left school. Josie got me some fuzzy cat eared ski cap and Mary Beth got me a boxing glove, Rosa got me chocolate covered strawberries.."

Snape nodded and then said casually, " A boxing glove?"

"Because I kinda swing at people when they wake me up early.. And Mary Beth's always saying she's gonna find something to soften the blow a little because I have bony knuckles." Charmaine admitted as Snape raised a brow and said "I see."

"Luna gave me radish earrings. I made her a woven bracelet." Charmaine said as she took another sip of the orange juice, then remembered what she'd gotten for her father while at Hogsmeade the last weekend they'd went for school.

"Stay right here.. I ermm.. I got you something.." she said as she lept up, jogging down the hallway, digging through her things, pulling out the heavy book of potions, and a book about the Dark Arts, proper defenses used against, and then the smaller box with the silver cuff links.

He raised a brow as she held out the pale blue wrapped packages. Opening them, he smiled as he asked, "Any reason you got me a defense book? I teach potions."

"I know, sir.. But we all know you should have gotten the Defense teaching position when it opened again." she admitted as she added, "And that potions book is the newest version of the one you have already.. Not sure how they're different, but I thought you might like them.. Open the last one, sir.."

He opened the last box, looking at the silver S shaped cufflinks. "These.. How in the name of Merlin did you pay for these?"

"I'm good at poker." she admitted with a giggle as she fastened them onto the cuffs of his button down shirt.

He smiled to himself as he found himself wishing Lily were here to see this, see their daughter again as an older young woman. "When you say good at poker.."

"It means I'm good at poker.. I'm good at bluffing and reading a bluff. Besides, I was playing Finnigan, he's fidgety."

Snape nodded and then smiling stood asked, "Off to find that tree now?"

"Yes sir. Let me go grab my jacket."

"And thicker clothes, for the love of Merlin.. can't have you catching cold." he called out, smiling to himself while nobody was around to see it. The gesture felt foreign to him, but he was getting a little used to it. And looking at the books on the table, the box that'd held the cuff links, he found himself wishing he'd have found her sooner.. What would their past Christmases have been like, if he had?

He couldn't help but wish he had a way to turn back time now.. Maybe he'd change everything.. Even if Lily still turned to James.. So many lives could be so very different right now, including his own.

And the life of his daughter, her half brother.. And who knows.. Maybe he'd have eventually gotten past Lily's choosing James Potter...