7
On the seventh of December, Snape got a hiding place he liked.
Hagrid had put up the traditional Christmas trees in the Great Hall and Flitwick had decorated them with the help of some NEWT students. The main piece of decoration was a huge tree behind the Head Table which stood on a small dais of its own. It was surrounded by dozens of colourfully wrapped boxes of various sizes and puppet Snape sat between those fake presents, half hidden behind an exuberant golden bow.
It was the ideal hiding place. It was safe and warm and he could smell breakfast. Once he had been turned back, it wouldn't take him but three steps to join the meal.
He was surprised to find out that there were, indeed, a couple of students who came to the hall as soon as breakfast was served instead of going looking for him.
"They never find him right away," he heard Draco Malfoy say. "We can have breakfast and then join the hunt."
"Easy for you to say, you already had a present," said Gregory Goyle.
"And isn't it magnificent – can you hand me the strawberries, Vince – I wrote a test letter to Pansy, didn't send it of course, but I'm telling you, without even trying – words like a poet. Had she got that letter, Pansy would be throwing herself at me."
"Pansy throws herself at you all the time," Vincent Crabbe pointed out.
"Yes, Malfoy," giggled Theodore Nott, "if you want to impress us, you need Granger throwing herself at you."
"Eeewww," Malfoy said dramatically. "Who would want that?"
Nott laughed. "The only way that one would throw herself at you, is to throttle you. Santa quill or not."
"Well," the Malfoy heir snapped, "if you think that of me, I will go looking for my head of house now."
Snape got ready to be found but the boys got up from their meal and left the hall to search for him Merlin knew where.
A little while later, the Dark Lord entered the hall. "Stop following me around," he raged at somebody. Probably Bellatrix or Lucius or both. "If you steal my present, I'm going to hex you so bad, your spouses are not going to recognise you!"
"We wouldn't think of taking what is rightfully yours, my Lord," simpered Bellatrix.
Lucius agreed.
"Help me look on those Christmas trees," ordered the Dark Lord. "But don't call him!"
"This would be faster if we removed all those ornaments," Bella suggested after a while.
"And be lynched by the whole school? Are you crazy?" the Dark Lord dismissed the plan.
"As school governor, I could give you permission," Lucius mused.
"And lose the position? I need you there, Lucius," the Dark Lord pointed out. "It's influential positions like this which makes you useful for the cause. We can't jeopardise that. Continue looking. – What are you doing here?"
"We are looking at the decorations!" a very young voice said. Snape thought it was one of the Ogden twins. Although the girls were namesakes of the wizarding world's most loved alcoholic beverage, they were muggle-born. Beatrice was in Ravenclaw, while Eugenie had joined the house of the lions.
"And you expect me to believe that?" the Dark Lord raged. "You are here to steal my present!"
"What present?" the young voice asked innocently.
"You can't look at the decorations here," the Dark Lord ordered. "Look elsewhere."
"There's another tree over there," a second voice said. "Come we can look at that first and come back here when the evil man is gone."
Two minutes later, the little Ravenclaw and Gryffindor stood in front of Snape's tree. "Mister," the Gryffindor shouted to the Dark Lord. "If you are looking for presents, here are loads!"
"Snape in a Cape!" her sister cried.
"Well done, girls!" cried Snape as he got up from under the tree.
"You have stolen my prize!" roared the Dark Lord from afar.
"You were nowhere near me, my Lord. They rightfully won their present." Snape handed a small blue box to young Beatrice. "Would you like to join me for breakfast?" He had a feeling that it would be a good idea to keep an eye on the twins. The Dark Lord was frustrated and one never knew what he did when he was in one of those moods. The potions master pointed at the Head Table invitingly.
"We can sit together!" squealed the girls. "Thank you, Professor Snape!"
When the apprentice arrived a short while later, Snape and the girls were having waffles with strawberries and more whipped cream than was healthy.
"That looks good," the pink clad girl said. "Do you have some for me, too?"
Snape transferred half of his portion on a second plate and pushed it to the witch.
"What was in today's present?" asked the apprentice as she speared a strawberry on her fork.
Snape held out the jug with the chocolate sauce invitingly. "No idea, the girls haven't opened it yet."
"Sitting together for breakfast is the best present of all," cried young Eugenie.
"We'd all like to know what is in it," the headmaster pointed out. He was having strawberries dunked in chocolate sauce and had foregone the waffles.
Beatrice shrugged and opened the box. In it were two small notebooks.
For a moment, Snape thought that was the most boring present so far but then the apprentice suggested that one of the girls write in one notebook. The words appeared not only in the notebook where they were written but also in the other.
"That way you can keep in contact even if you are in your dormitories," the pink-clad witch whispered to the girls. "My best friend and I had something similar when we were children in Vienna."
The two first years cheered. They, at least, thought it was not a boring present at all.
The Dark Lord made a dismissive gesture. He wouldn't have had use for that.