A/N: SPOV
A/N #2: A special thanks goes out to Mu-Nition, your reviews have worked as a catalyst and new chapters are being formulated even now.
Albus had woken Severus up through his floo, and Severus had thrown his pillow at the Headmaster only to have it charmed to reverse course and pelt him in the head.
"Morning, Headmaster. Notice the missing 'good' in that statement." Severus turned his head towards the fireplace and saw Dumbledore in a Father Christmas costume.
"Severus, you should embrace the Christmas spirit! Here, wear this." Albus took his hat off, duplicated it, and tossed it onto the bed.
"Must I?" Severus asked, making himself a coffee.
Albus took on a mournful tone. "I believe I must insist. Please make it for lunch today; there are presents to be exchanged under the trees."
Severus groaned, but agreed. Albus left through the floo, and Severus showered, dressed, and decided to humour Albus by putting the hat on.
It was a simple hat, and the red and white didn't look too bad, considering it was just for today. As Snape left his quarters and made his way up to the Great Hall, sipping his coffee, he saw a House Elf dressed up in green and white robes remniscent of what muggles thought that the holiday elves would wear.
"Dobby?" Severus asked, not surprised at all.
"Mas... Professor Snape! Did Albus also give you holiday clothes?" He asked cheerfully.
"It would appear that he did." Severus replied, attempting to take the hat off. It didn't come off.
"Permanent Sticking Charm on it, Sir." Dobby said, thinking he was being helpful.
"Thank you, Dobby." Severus dismissed.
As Severus took the hallway towards the Great Hall, he heard Dobby call out to him.
"You should quack, Sir."
Severus stopped and turned towards Dobby, confused at his words. Three small snowballs hit him through a vanished window, and he saw an identifiable streak of pink hair running away.
Vanishing the snow off of himself, he corrected Dobby's statement.
"The verb you were looking for is 'duck', Dobby."
Severus took his time to aim and flicked a stinging hex upon her bum, causing her to trip and fall into a nearby snow bank. Smirking, he made his way into the Great Hall and sat at the sole table where the other professors were as well. No students had opted to stay over the holidays, a first in many years.
"Ah, Severus, I'm glad you made it." Albus smiled as he welcomed the Potions Master genially, "and wearing such a festive hat."
Minerva and Poppy snickered, having to pass a few sickles over to Albus. Of course, it was for a bet.
"I'm glad that I've brought merriment to this luncheon, at my own expense."
Nymphadora barged into the Great Hall, laughing as she rubbed her bum and covered in snow. She pulled up an open seat next to Severus, smirking at his Father Christmas hat.
"Nice hat, Sev." She joked, winking.
"Albus tricked me into putting it on with a permanent sticking charm. I am quite certain that it was for a wager." He said flatly, conveying mild annoyance.
Filius flicked his wand, cleaning her off of the remaining snow that was beginning to melt. "Took a tumble in the snow, Auror Tonks?" He asked cheerfully.
Dobby was serving drinks and delivering presents from under the tree, and couldn't stop himself from trying to be helpful.
"Professor Snape hexed her after she snowballed him in the hallway. I saw it coming but wasn't sure how I would be allowed to stop it."
Horace Slughorn had burst into raucous laughter, while Flitwick and Hooch were biting their lips in an attempt to restrain themselves. McGonagall and Trelawney exchanged an 'I don't get it' look, while Albus had an uncharacteristically sour face.
"Severus, a word in the trophy room, if you please." Dumbledore was already leaving the table and Severus knew that this wasn't an idle request.
"Severus, is there something that you need to tell me concerning yourself and Auror Tonks? For if I'm not mistaken, Remus is courting her." Albus looked over his half-moon spectacles and peered at Severus.
Albus' mind did a type of lunge and Severus parried automatically, surprised at the hasty attempt of Legilimency.
"Stay out of my mind, old man! I get enough of that from The Dark Lord. Haven't I proven my loyalty to you after all these years?" Severus spat, angry at the sparse words of comfort he received after the last Dark Revel.
"I must ask, Severus. Your Patronus, please." Albus asked gently.
"I've promised to keep the boy safe. You know that I've sworn to you my loyalty in her name. I'm even under an Unbreakable Vow to... do the only thing I'm capable of anymore." Severus said, his voice wavering.
"Severus, please." Albus asked, and the Death Eater himself had wondered if his Patronus had changed since meeting her.
Severus raised his wand, and embraced the memory of sitting by the lake with Lily.
"Expecto Patronum."
A silvery Doe came out of his wand, trotting a circle around the pair. Albus smiled sadly, looking relieved. But Severus noticed a difference in the Patronus' gait.
"I'm sorry for having doubted you, son."
The doe staggered and wobbled in a zig-zag pattern, stumbling into a trophy case and backing away unnaturally.
Severus lifted his wand and added more of his magic, wondering if the spell had been mis-aligned as he cast it.
It wasn't.
"Lily..." Severus gasped, watching his Patronus force itself to stay balanced on its four hooves, staggering with each leg every few seconds. It looked like it was rabid, and attempted to run with a burst of speed.
The Doe staggered up the stairs and back into the Great Hall, attracting the attention of all of the professors there as it took a few awkward steps and fell dead before the table, its last spasms as the Doe fought to remain alive for just another second.
Tonks knew that something was wrong when Albus had taken Snape to the trophy room for a private talk.
Minerva had frowned at the unexpected exchange, and stood to address the rest of the faculty. "Let us adjourn to our lounge; I believe they will be in there for quite a while."
As the Professors stood up and made their way to exit the Great Hall, Tonks was stopped when she saw Severus' patronus running up from the Trophy Room, staggering like she had seen in muggle nature shows after an animal received a mortal wound.
But it had been on the telly, not something as realistic as a staggering animal that dropped dead at her feet. As she saw it in its final death throes, the significance struck her as she remembered how her own patronus had changed.
Severus and Albus were at the doorway at the back of the Great Hall, eyes fixed on the dying doe.
"I'll see everyone in a bit. Severus, go with them. Auror Tonks, with me." Albus was already heading back down to the Trophy Room without waiting for her response.
Severus knelt by his dying patronus, unsure on what to do since the spell had been magnified by his magic and wasn't about to dissipate. Do I mourn my patronus, or the reason for it?
He reached out to stroke the gossamer doe, only to find it completely still. He wondered if he had lost the ability to cast the patronus at all as he watched the doe die a slow and painful death. It had withered.
"Tonks, how are things going with Remus?" Albus asked kindly.
"They aren't. He's too sure that I should find someone better than him. That he's too dark, too tainted." She had nearly spat that last part out; wanting to snap at Albus for his meddling that has made Snape the man he is now.
"I'm sure he'll come around; you're a beautiful young woman who loves him. And he's a good man for you."
"Actually, Headmaster, I'm getting tired of hearing people tell me what's 'good for me'. I'd rather have some choice for myself in such a personal matter."
"Do you really believe that there can be any future between yourself and Severus? You're an Auror for the Ministry. He's an avowed Death Eater who had his sentence commuted and is, even now, returning to spy on Voldemort for The Order."
"Actually, I consider Severus a good man for putting up with your orders. I remember how he was after he had been summoned, and I recall reading about what happened at the Dark Revels. That you're sending him back to that world as your own pawn is disgusting."
"My business with Snape is none of your concern. He is assisting the Order."
"You've twisted his love for Lily into a self-destructive mission of vengeance!" She snapped, pointing her hand at him accusingly. Albus' eyes rested on her silver bracelet, and realized that it was new.
"He told you about Lily? Then you know he's not one to ever fall in love again. Do you honestly think that having this fling with him will be any more beneficial? You'll distract him and risk his position along with his life under Voldemort. If you truly care for him, leave him be." Nymphadora tried to think of a rebuttal, but was too incensed and thought that Albus may have had a point.
"I expect both you and Severus to fulfill your duties to the Order without reservation. Can I still depend on you to do that, for the betterment of the Wizarding World and the downfall of Voldemort?" Albus had grasped her left arm, his fingers dangerously close to her bracelet.
"You-Know-Who demands loyalty while you prey on our sense of duty. Right now, it's not so much of a battle between Light and Dark as it is siding with the lesser evil." Nymphadora stubbornly yanked her arm out of his grip and stormed out of the trophy room, passing up the special commendation to Tom Marvolo Riddle.
Severus had thought it was an illusion. The shiny silvery fog that was his doe had re-condensed and was shaking as it formed something new. Usually a patronus came out as an animal or as just vapor, and the change would be wholly instantaneous between castings.
Wings jutted out of the fog as well as a head, and once it leaped up it flew upward and out through a window of the Great Hall.
Severus was worried at first that his Patronus had become the bat-like joke that was his life. But the tail was too long, the wingspan too majestic, and the silvery breath it had was not that of a bat. Not when the breath that came of it like a fireball proved itself to be a dragon.
"Bugger."