Surprise! Merry Christmas, dear readers!
Severus endured Christmas at Hogwarts more easily this year than he had the year before, knowing what to expect as a staff member. It helped that the war was over, so the vast majority of students had actually gone home, now that their parents were comfortable letting them leave the fortress. He could focus all his energies on the delicacies of socializing, rather than policing corridors filled with idle-handed and stir-crazy teenagers.
Severus had never particularly enjoyed Christmas. His family had always been poor, and the holidays therefore a stressful expense filled with more arguments than cheer. He had never exchanged presents with anyone besides his parents and Lily prior to last year, but as he had learned to his embarrassment, it was customary for the Hogwarts staff to exchange some small gifts between them. Not to be caught flat-footed this time, he brewed a batch of Pepperup potion on Christmas Eve and decanted individual doses for each of the Hogwarts staff, as well as three doses which he owled to his mother. He had modified the recipe to increase its shelf life, and to cause the potion to turn from red to black when it expired. The remainder of the cauldron he brought up to the hospital wing to supplement the Hogwarts mediwitch Poppy's usual supplies; no doubt the students would be bringing all sorts of annoying viruses back from their younger siblings at home.
On Christmas Day, he dutifully opened the gifts the house elves had arranged at the foot of his bed overnight so he could thank the other staff appropriately later. Albus' package was on top, containing thick woolen socks and an obviously hand-knitted jumper; these were same gifts as last year except for the color. An odd custom of the Headmaster and Supreme Mugwump. From Minerva, he received a tin of biscuits, from Filius Honeydukes chocolate, from Rolanda and Nicolaus several chocolate frogs. David and Bathsheda both sent assorted teas, although David's were clearly from a muggle shop rather than the tea room in Hogsmeade, so they were probably either much better or much worse. More practically, there were three venomous tentacula leaves from Pomona and a jar each of murtlap tentacles from Silvanus and Poppy, all of which would be useful additions to his own potions supplies. He was not entirely sure what was in the small box from Rubeus and resolved to ask at dinner if he was unable to sufficiently analyze it himself. Irma had provided an updated master reference list of the library's potions section, wrapped around a single candy cane. The unwrapped tin of Lautley's All-Purpose Buffer Solution was definitely from Argus even though it lacked so much as a note, and it would be useful for neutralizing the rare potions spills that could not simply be vanished. Petrus' gift of a latest edition of Anaxagoras' Astronomical Implications in Essences and Alchemies was unsurprisingly the most valuable, as the Parkinson family was quite rich and had weathered the war surprisingly well. And from his mother... more socks. That was normal from a mother, he thought. Albus was the strange one. The only person missing was Luna, the current Defense Professor, which he thought was perfectly understandable since she was both new and probably more focused on fortifying her office, revising her will, and job-hunting for the next year, in that order. And Sybill, but he was fairly sure she disliked him ever since their first inauspicious encounter at the Hogs Head.
In sum, most of the gifts except Petrus' were simple and similar to what he had unexpectedly received the year prior. Severus found that reassuring; it meant he could probably brew some Pepperup or other harmless and mildly useful potion every year rather than come up with something more creative or individualized.
At Christmas dinner, he sat far away from Albus and so was not forced to pull any Christmas crackers. Instead, Luna was the one who ended up with a terrible hat. The worst thing to happen was when Sybill came downstairs and distributed her Christmas cards, which she explained all contained personalized Tarot readings in lieu of some other gift. Severus' read "Someone near to you is in mortal peril. Happy Christmas, Sybill." He surreptitiously read Petrus' card as well, "The dark substance of your mind will never return. You will never smell roses again. Happy Christmas, Sybill." He wondered if she hated all Slytherins, or if all her readings were like this. He vaguely recalled getting a card last year with a similarly dire and cryptic message, yet that had remained ultimately unfulfilled as far as he could tell. These readings seemed to carry neither the same weight nor specificity as the genuine great and terrible prophesy he had overheard almost three years ago, so he decided to ignore the warning. By the end of the day, nothing caught fire, no one had started shouting in his vicinity, and Poppy at least thanked him for the Pepperup. So far as Severus was concerned, the day was a success.
When he returned to his quarters, he wrote in the Protean journal, Happy Christmas -S
Happy Christmas, Severus. -P
A quiet and boring week later, Happy New Year -S
Happy New Year -P
Severus wrote nothing for Valentine's Day, of course. The next holiday was not one he celebrated, but he wrote all the same, Happy Easter -S
Happy Easter -P
By then, Severus was going slightly mad checking the Protean journal every evening, with nothing ever written in it. No questions, no random updates. Nothing since Christmas. Had the visit gone that terribly badly? He hadn't thought so at the time. Perhaps it should not be this important to him, but there was simply so little else in his life that was particularly interesting since the end of the war. There was just work, the endless drudgery of vanishing poorly-executed potions and reading poorly-written essays. Even the spectacle of Professor Luna Ticklet's slow descent into madness and paranoia had now reached its anticlimactic conclusion; she had submitted her two weeks notice on Monday along with impressive, book-based, individualized self-study plans for all of her students and suddenly taken up meditation. Work felt so... meaningless, when the majority of students did not understand his subject and worse, did not want to. Severus had never really developed other hobbies, and his mild obsession with Lily's son was the only other distraction he had presently.
The weekend after Easter he paid a visit to Spinner's End for his mother's birthday, which it seemed his mother was even less interested in celebrating than he was. She had invited no one else, and technically had not even invited him. Lacking other ideas to ease her lonely melancholy, Severus retrieved some muggle currency from the stash he kept in his old room and picked out a small, cheap cheesecake at a local muggle supermarket. While he was there, he perused their calendars for sale, idly looking for other muggle holidays. He unenthusiastically played a round of gobstones with his mother before heading back to Hogwarts that evening.
Two weeks later, he wrote in the journal, Happy Mother's Day, Petunia. I haven't heard from you in awhile. How are you, and how are the boys? -S
Two hours later, she wrote back. Thank you, Severus. It has been a good year so far. The boys are growing. Harry seems much happier this year than last year. They do squabble a lot, but I suppose that's to be expected at this age. We set up the football set you gave us for Christmas a few weeks ago, and the boys have loved it so far. It was such a good idea to teach them a game that requires more than one person to play. Harry especially is getting surprisingly good at it. He's gotten to be very nimble on his feet. Dudley used to always win at first because he was bigger and could run faster, but Harry gets around him more and more. -P
Severus found himself sneering slightly and forced his face smooth again as he replied, reminding himself Harry wasn't Potter senior. I shouldn't be surprised. His father was quite the athlete in school. -S
Interesting. I didn't know that. What sport? -P
Quidditch. It's one of ours played on broomsticks in the air, and there's really no muggle game I can compare it to. -S
Hmm. Is it a ball game at least? -P
Yes. -S
I might tell Harry that. Vernon was a boxer and still follows all the tournaments on telly, so Dudley naturally wants to be a boxer too when he's old enough. I don't think I want both of them competing for the same thing all the time, though. -P
That's probably wise, judging from what I've seen of sibling pairs here at Hogwarts. -S
Birthdays are coming up for both of them. I don't think we should invite you for Dudley's party, but there's really no one else for Harry. If Vernon agrees, I think it would be good for you to come to tea that day. -P
Severus found himself grinning like a maniac. Fortunate he was alone in his quarters. I would be delighted. -S
I don't want to impose, but since Dudley also thinks you are his uncle, would it be possible to send something for him as well? It wouldn't need to be anything big. He's getting plenty from us and Vernon's family. If not, I could probably pick out something we already purchased and label it as coming from you. -P
Severus pursed his lips, thinking about it. He did not really want the obligation of buying presents for a muggle child he was not particularly invested in, but then again, doing so wasn't really about Dudley, it was more of a favor to Petunia and Vernon. And he was almost out of debt again after a potion commission from the Malfoys back in March. It helped that he had few reasons to buy anything besides specialty potions ingredients, and those he could even include as part of the price of his commissions. That was the one business tactic of a potioneer old Horace Slughorn had taught most adamantly, along with currying the favor of the wealthy.
Well, Severus was interested in keeping within Petunia's good graces. I can do that. There's a very good candy store in the village here. I'll get him some chocolate. -S He did not feel like expending any more mental effort on the gift than necessary, and he already knew from Christmas Dudley liked chocolate. A regular bar of one of Honeydukes' plainer selections was affordable and would definitely suffice for a three-year-old.
Thank you, Severus. His birthday is June 23rd. -P
You're welcome. How do you want it delivered? -S
How did you send the journal? Chocolate should be small enough to send the same way. -P
Owl post. I can time it to arrive at night this time so no one will notice. -S
That's perfect. While I'm thinking about it, when is your birthday, Severus? I should add it to the calendar. -P
Severus' heart skipped a beat. She was only being polite, he knew, but the question still felt significant. January 9th. And yours and Vernon's? -S
September 3rd for me. September 11th for Vernon. -P
Thank you. Any thoughts on what would be good gifts for Harry? -S
Well, if nothing else, he could use some more of his own clothes. He's growing fast right now, and he's just not the same build as Dudley. -P
Send me his sizes in June, and I'll see what I can do. -S He would look for something more personal as well, even if just more Honeydukes candies, but he was acutely aware from his own childhood how it felt to wear only ill-fitting, old, and worn clothing. That was not something Harry needed.
Author's Note: Here's your surprise bonus Christmas chapter, which I couldn't resist since it has actual Christmas in it!
I had a lot of fun with the Hogwarts staff Christmas gifts, particularly Trelawney and Dumbledore (he does love knitting patterns after all). Almost all the staff are the same as in the books, but I'll list them here for reference since Severus thinks of them in first names:
Albus Dumbledore (headmaster etc)
Minerva McGonagall (deputy headmistress, transfigurations, head of Gryffindor)
Filius Flitwick (charms, head of Ravenclaw)
Pomona Sprout (herbology, head of Hufflepuff)
Petrus Parkinson (OC astronomy, head of Slytherin)
David Ashe (OC muggle studies)
Luna Ticklet (OC defense against the dark arts)
Nicolaus Bell (OC arithmancy)
Bathsheda Babbling (ancient runes)
Silvanus Kettleburn (care of magical creatures)
Sybill Trelawney (divination)
Argus Filch (caretaker)
Rubeus Hagrid (groundskeeper)
Irma Pince (librarian)
Poppy Pomphrey (nurse)
Rolanda Hooch (flying)
The four OCs replace Professor Sinistra and Professor Vector, fill the Muggle Studies position (Quirrel is too young; I checked), and of course the annual DADA slot. There has to be some turnover by the time Harry's ready to actually start school, right?