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Chapter 35: Christmas Wishes.
The hot chocolate had been served and the boys had been given one gift to open early. They had managed to get the rowdy crowd off to their beds. Severus had been watching Hermione through the service and when they returned. He could see that she had been putting on a brave front and it wouldn't be long before the waterworks would start.
However, the young witch was very good at hiding her emotions and acting strong for others so many of the household guests had not realised that there was anything wrong. She had sent many of them up to their beds and now it was just the two elves, the Headmaster and the witch sitting in the open plan family room.
Hermione and Kreacher were going over their action orders for Christmas day to make sure that everything was lined up prepared correctly and there was nothing that could go wrong. It was like a finally crafted battle plan that Severus was listening to from the odd pair.
"Right Kreacher, you toddle off now. Tinky can you do a last tidy up of these mugs so there is no extra work tomorrow. Then you can toddle off to as I will turn the lights off when I leave I am just going to read here for a while so I don't disturb the rest of the guests in my apartment.
After watching Tinky tootle off to do the dishes, Severus pour himself a fire whiskey from the well stocked bar. "So Miss Mia are you going to tell me the truth. There is nothing wrong about crying it helps release endorphins. You can't keep bottling it up. Why don't you tell me a little more about your mother?"
The witch breathed out deeply and appeared to be doing breathing control exercises to control her emotions he could see the moisture being barely held back by her lashes. It made her chocolate flecked with gold and cinnamon eyes glisten. Finally there was a drip of a tear onto her right cheek. It was a solitary glistening diamond on her cheekbone. She did not acknowledge it. It was like she had not felt the dampness of the tear on her cheek while she was fighting the emotional pain that she held back from flooding out of her.
"I loved my mother even though she couldn't always protect me from by abusive drunk father. When I was little she would tell me wonderful stories and it was her that started my love of potions. She would take me ingredient collecting and it was always a wonderful adventure. She would answer my questions show me the hidden secrets of the natural world and basically make a chore a marvellous mother and child bonding moment" explained the dark dour man who very rarely ever spoke about his childhood and his family.
"Thank you Headmaster you are most kind to share that with me" said the witch before lapsing back into silence.
"What sort of things would she brew with ingredients she collected?" inquired the witch after a while. The tear was sill sitting glistening on her cheekbone.
"We are off duty now I have told you to call me Severus time and time again" he implored her with some light hearted frustration.
Hermione looked at her watch before she quietly said " Merry Christmas Severus. Yesterday was my Mother's birthday we were never allowed to give combined presents just because it was the day before Christmas. I probably get my love of reading from her. She noticed that I had taught myself to read about the age of three and strongly encouraged my reading habit.
I probably get my curiosity from both of them. Dad was always tinkering. He would always patiently answer my Whys." At hearing this Severus chuckled. The witch continued on stating, "He would do academic projects just for the fun of it. While we mainly watched or really listened to informative TV programs such as the Time Team program because we were also all multitasking by doing another activity at the same time such as reading a book or something. Yet the informative program selection habit was balanced with everyone's love of cartoons. We really did not watch much TV each night when compared to other families but we did read. When we had holidays we would have a family storybook. I think I was about 6 when Dad read the Hobbit as our Christmas storybook that year.
Mum was a knitter. She could knit, read and watch TV all at the same time. I have attempted to teach myself to knit as I wanted to help the house elves but I did not want do poorly at something she did so well. I find knitting so relaxing thanks to the repetitive movements that I think Mrs Weasley is cheating for using magic. I never said it to Ron but Mrs Weasley's knitting is not all that great. It could be that she is too busy churning items out to keep the family warm but she cannot fit a pattern to someone's physical dimensions for peanuts. Did your Mum knit?" she asked the quiet man hopping that she was not too intrusive.
"You have to remember I grew up in the 1970s. Cheap Mass produced clothing was something relatively new. My Mum was what you call a post World War II baby boomer and so of course she could knit thanks to shortage of money in her household. They were forced to live with Muggle economies such as rationing and that since they were that poor family of a wizarding family. My Maternal Grandfather was the youngest son of the cadet branch of the family. So Mum applied her thrifty, make do and mend skills for me.
She would go and by a good adult woollen jumper at the local opportunity shop and then unwind it to get wool which she would then work up for me. She tried to keep me in natural fibre clothes. She was strictly anti synthetic fibres with me. That may have been due to my accidental magic and my father. When she had her mini herbals business in the neighbourhood for pin money she would keep a percentage saved up for the key dates of the year. She knew all the dates for the seasonal jumble sales at the rich people's church halls.
When the mill shut down and my father lost his job he fell further into the bottle. He put the kibosh on her herbal business cause no wife of Tobias Snape was going to show him up" explained the wizard who was getting the most help from this conversation him or her. It certainly had been cathartic for him to speak about the past.
"I am sorry about your father and making you speak about it," advised the quiet witch. She really did not have anything to complain about she was thinking. My parents loved me and encouraged me.
"It is good to talk about it. I have learnt that it is not a good idea to bottle feelings" explained Severus. He had finished his drink and now he was watching the flames in the fire.
"Severus can I get a hand please with things. Come over here and see if you can spot anything missing" bossed the witch. When he moved to sit on the same couch as her she suddenly turned to grip him in a strong hug. "Thank you for being my friend tonight Severus" she advised him before she released him. The Gryffindor witch gave a surprisingly strong hug.
"Now it is time for bed for both us as we have to be up and fresh like daisies in the morning" she advised him before quickly transferring back into her wheel chair and pulling her wand out to bank the fire. "Ready" she asked after he applied a lumus to his wand before waving her own wand to activate the light switch. With a lumus of her own she then wheeled herself back into her apartment and tucked herself into her bed.
Laying there in the dark she cried for lost family, for Severus childhood and for what she called her lost future. She had wanted to experience the grand romance, marriage and then children. Crying in the bed Hermione wished she could have a future like her lost dreams.
Before long Hermione's alarm clock rang and it was time to get up. It felt like a remarkable short amount of time since she had turned in from the evening before. She really did not feel refreshed. Reminding herself that she only just had to take it one step at the time. Hermione could survive the day and the rest of her life by just working on moving one foot forward at a time. If she looked at the whole picture she would be overwhelmed by the daunting reality that she had ahead of her. So by taking it in small chunks to get her from one hour to the next she hoped that she would be able to cope with the trials and tribulations.
After a quick shower using the bath chair Hermione Granger dressed in her Santa's elf outfit. The witch had a peaked cap with bells on the tip, which had mock trim of fur round the brim. On top of her long sleeved red T-shirt she pulled on a sage green jacket that had slashes in the sleeves and the front panels so the red of her shirt could be seen peaking through. The jacket was made out of a woollen felt that had also been used for her hat. There were bells sown into the jacket sleeves so she jingled when she moved. Hermione even had elfin slippers on her feet that had curved toes and bells on the points. The Muggle born witch was wearing her costume but she wasn't sure if the rest household would participate in this form of seasonal silliness.
Leaving her apartment she met up with the three house elves in the main kitchen. Together they had already started on the preparation of the main meal for the day. The goose according to Kreacher was already stuffed and in the oven. The vegetables prepped and the trays ready for when they should be placed in the oven. The pudding was plopping along nicely on the stove in the double boiler steamer. The ham was glazed.
Breakfast was started and the guests would soon be waking to the smell of a fully traditional English cooked breakfast. There was black and white pudding, two types of sausages Cumberland and boiled Saveloys. Fried tomato, onions, chops. Mushrooms in butter. Three types of Eggs: fried, poached and scrambled were in separate trays. They had a large range of sauces in the house to cater for the different regional favourites. So there bottles of red, HP Brown, Lea and Perrons Worcestershire, BBQ, chilli and Tabasco sauces lined up for the guests. It is not a good idea to eat this type of meal every day of the year but for a special occasion there was certainly no reason why you could not have it as a treat. Hermione stayed with Kreacher in the Kitchen who was loading up the Bain maire trays while the two elfesses went and dug the lazy bones out for their breakfast.
The elves had gotten into the Christmas spirit as well and they were all wearing red Santa hats so Hermione was not the only one in a Christmas costume. Remus, Tonks and Teddy were the first down from upstairs and all three of them were wearing reindeer antlers. There was a warm welcome between the four of them. Teddy reached out for Hermione with his arms demanding that she held him. Next they heard a small herd of elephants so it must be the boys running on the stairs. It turned out to be three boys. Hermione had included Harry in this use of the term, as he was right there running with them full of excitement followed by Luna who was wearing her radish earrings and sedately walking down the stairs. It did not take long for the rest of the guests to arrive from either her apartment or the third floor as the two Elfesses seemed to be tag teaming the sleepy heads to get them out of their beds and down to breakfast.
When people arrived downstairs it was just a case of directing them to the warmed plates, Bain maire trays and the cutlery holders. Hermione placed a serving spoon of mushrooms, one savaloy sausage and two poached eggs on her plate for her breakfast when she realised that she needed to work out a way of wheeling herself one handed while holding cutlery, a warm plate of food and a mug of Irish breakfast tea. Umm. Suddenly a hand took the plate from her and the other picked up her mug along with another. "Good morning Hermione why don't you head over and claim a spot for us. I will follow you". It was Severus. He had two plates in one hand and the two mugs in the other.
Tonks just looked at the Professor's dexterity with a wishful look on her face. She did not have to speak to ask her question of "how can you do that?"
"I would work in the local pub as the glassie waiter cum dishwasher during my summers holidays. It was one of the many jobs that I would do to have some money in the house. I would work their tick down to a reasonable level at the local corner store. So you can put it down to part of my misspent youth," explained the Professor.
For the adults this Christmas breakfast was a nice repast while for the children and the adults who were child like in their behaviour it was a painful wait in the way of the main event. Hermione had to rebuke Harry for scarfing his food. "You are not Ronald Weasley you have better table manners than that you are leading the two boys astray".
Draco laughed at her tone that got him a dig in his ribs with an elbow from Pansy, a look from Narcissa and a raised eyebrow from his godfather Severus. Hermione glanced over to him before returning to eating her meal. It was a precise order of precedence that she had for the consumption of her selection that intrigued Severus. She ate her eggs first, then the sausage and finally the mushrooms. He had never seen her purposely do the individual focus before so there must story behind it.
When the boys couldn't seemed sit still any longer in their seats Hermione asked them to take all the empty plates into the kitchen. Once they had cleared all the dishes she sent them upstairs with Harry who had orders to supervise the choppers detail. Severus was confused by her use of the term choppers and he was not the only one. Minerva finally had to ask, "What is Choppers detail?"
"Post breakfast wash up where it is expected that you brush your teeth for the requisite two and half minutes using the correct technique as recommended by the British Dental Association. Mouthwash and flossing are mandatory. Remember, my parents were dentists. I have always encouraged good oral hygiene habits in the Gryffindor dorms when I was a prefect" explained the witch.
"Kreacher why don't you go and do a last minute check of todays lounge area. Winky you have the job of supervising Remus, Severus and Filius who are on dish and pot detail. Supervise not do it. Those men need to get their hands dirty so no magic. Ladies I would ask you to collect any items you deem need to and then can you join me on the next floor down in the ballroom so we can get situated for the traditional gift exchange. Tinky will be on call to help anyone who needs assistance with the moving any parcels. Well this Santa's helper is off to do her own choppers detail," advised the young witch before she wheeled herself back to her own apartment to do her own abolitions. Tonks took Teddy upstairs to deal with his nappy. It really wasn't very long before everyone had gathered round the Christmas tree in the ballroom sitting the comfortable couches.
"Right now lets get down to the order of business. Ryan and Duncan you are here by deputised to be Santa's helpers today. Can you make sure that everyone gets one present to unwrap we will then do a quick show and tell before going for the next round of goodies. Got it, good! Get to it," advised Hermione.