Christmas:
That night, Lucy couldn't sleep. She was nervous for the holiday. Nervous, but excited. Her father had once said the holidays were for those who wanted to pretend their life was something it wasn't. Was that what Lucy was doing? Had the last two months been a holiday away from her real life?
Maybe.
Severus wasn't nice, but he was kind sometimes. She could tell he was uncomfortable around her sometimes, but she wasn't offended. She was uncomfortable around him, too, sometimes. So far, he hadn't hurt her. She didn't tell him what happened in the woods because she thought he would kill Argus or Dumbledore if she did. Maybe both of them. Maybe I should tell him.
She agonized over the secrets she kept from the man who took her in. He didn't seem the parental type, yet he took care of her. He needs me to trust him first.
Suddenly, the fire wasn't enough to keep her warm. She pulled the comforter closer to her face, tucking her chin. She squeezed her eyes tight and inhaled deeply, holding it until she couldn't think of anything except the discomfort she felt without air. Gasping, she hugged herself.
xXx
For hours, Lucy laid there, trying to sleep. Eventually, she heard Severus getting up. She accepted her defeat and started to get dressed. She chose a soft lilac sweater and white pants. She held her waves back with a headband and made her way to the living room. Severus was sitting in his chair, reading the Daily Prophet. He noticed her over the rim of his coffee mug as he paused for a sip of caffeine.
"Can I give you your gift now?" Lucy tried to give it to him after the feast last night, but he informed her that gifts were usually opened on Christmas morning.
At first, he didn't respond. After finishing the passage he'd been reading, he folded the paper and set it aside. "Very well,"
She smiled perhaps the biggest smile Severus had seen her don. She ran back into her room to retrieve the gift and Severus decided his first gift for her would be ignoring the running. Lucy came back out with a package similar to that which one might package a wand in.
She handed it to him, eager for him to open it. He held it in one hand, waving another to summer her gift. As the package floated to his hand, Lucy saw it was significantly larger than the one she gave him. She worried for a moment, but the excitement won her over quickly when he handed it to her.
Severus gently opened his gift as he watched Lucy tear into the wrapping of hers. As Lucy took the cover off her gift, Severus paused for her reaction. He watched as she ran her hand over the dark green fleece. She studied the silver embroidery, tracing her fingers over the letters.
"It says Lucy."
"Yes." Severus inhaled nervously, waiting for her to say something else. Instead, he watched as a tear fell from the child's face. He set his present on the table beside him and moved to the edge of his chair. "It makes you sad?"
Lucy shook her head, looking up at the man she spent the better part of the night questioning.
Severus let her have a moment as he picked up his present. Settling back into his chair, he opened the box. The unicorn horn was not a cheap potion ingredient. He only ever had a few on hand unless a lesson called for them, but they were useful for those who found themself afflicted by common poisons.
He looked up, finding brown eyes staring into his own, expectantly.
"This is very useful." He dipped his head in thanks, getting up to put the horn in his personal stores.
By the time he returned to the living room, he found the girl wrapped in the blanket. He sat back in his chair, picking up the newspaper to continue his morning routine.
The pair sat in comfortable silence late into the morning until they went for breakfast in the Great Hall.
xXx
That afternoon, Lucy was playing in the snow. She was experimenting with how the snow compacted and turned to ice from the pressure of her hands when she heard footsteps behind her. She whirled around, dropping the ice ball to the ground.
Dumbledore stood before her in brilliant white robes with silver embroidery. The man looked over the scene before him, chuckling to himself.
"Some students make snow people by stacking the snow into balls of descending size and decorating them with sticks and rocks."
Lucy stared at the Headmaster, not understanding exactly what he meant by that.
"I've been meaning to make my way around the grounds. Our paths haven't crossed as of late, I'm afraid."
On purpose. Lucy didn't dare try to come up with an excuse.
Dumbledore continued, "Ah well, I don't take it personally. You're been rather busy preparing for school now that you've been guided down the right path." Lucy tucked her cold hands into her pant pockets, trying to determine who let this man run a school with children. He smiled, giving her a strange look. "I trust you've found your walk in the woods to be enlightening?"
"Yes."
He nodded. "Know that Hogwarts is a safe haven for young witches and wizards such as yourself. Sooner rather than later, you will surely find family here."
With that, he turned back to the castle and left the girl to her discovery of rolling snowballs.
xXx
Severus watched Lucy roll snow all over the grounds, not quite grasping the idea of stacking them. Even when she crushed them or dropped them, she continued. Due to amusement or stubbornness, he wasn't sure.
He closed his eyes, remembering two old friends who taught him how to make snowmen in his youth. From a distance, he might've thought he watched one of them now. Lucy really did carry the Evans genes that somehow missed her eldest aunt. He opened his eyes, not sure if he was observing the past or present more.
If Albus knew what caring for the girl did to him, would he have asked him to do it? Severus scoffed to himself. He turned away from the window, deciding he had enough self pity for the holiday. He made his way to the dungeons, intending to catch up on brewing before the new term.
xXx
After dinner, Lucy made her way to Severus's quarters with a little pep in her step. She could have a home here. She still didn't know what to think of Dumbledore, but Severus seemed to trust him. She needed to learn to trust people too.
She faltered in her steps as she remembered how Filch had welcomed her to Hogwarts. Some people.
Sometimes, the portraits moving on the walls unsettled Lucy. Some of them moved as if acting out the scenes in the picture. Others seemed to watch her as she moved in the castle. A few tried to talk to her. Whenever that happened, she found herself walking quicker through the halls. Something about them unnerved her.
Though they only wished her a Happy Christmas, she still found it creepy. She made it to the dungeons in near record time.
Severus wasn't sitting in his chair. She turned back from their quarters and went down the hall. She knew he was in his office before she opened the door. She heard the quiet footsteps as he paced between desks with simmering cauldrons.
She watched him pace for a few minutes before she knocked on the door frame to alert him.
At her knock, he froze. His eyes were distant as he looked to her for a reason for interrupting his brewing session.
"Are you okay?" She asked, suddenly second guessing her choice to seek him out.
He nodded, walking over to a cauldron to stir the contents. "Fine." At her look of doubt, he cleared his throat. "Are you all right?"
She nodded, though she still felt uneasy about her earlier conversation with Dumbledore.
He chose to let her avoid explaining if she continued to allow him the same decency.
"Do you trust Headmaster Dumbledore?"
Severus paused briefly, turning to peer into another cauldron. After a second, he turned back to the girl. "With my life."
"Why?"
"In time, you'll see that he is more than a Headmaster." He rubbed his face as he cast a stasis spell on the cauldrons ready for bottling after their required simmering.
Lucy watched him, wondering if now was the time to tell him about exactly how she discovered her magic. She watched him watch her, a sudden thought derailing her previous train of thought.
"Why do you look at me like that?"
He blinked. "Like what?"
"You look at me like you're sad."
He exhaled, casting a final stasis spell. "Come,"
She followed him to their quarters, where he sat in the living room. She took her usual spot, wrapping her new blanket around her shoulders as she waited for him to explain.
Eventually, he sighed. "You are a copy of your mother."
She touched her locket. "My mother?" He nodded. "You knew her?"
Again, he nodded.
"Did she make you sad?"
He closed his eyes for so long Lucy thought he might've fallen asleep. Eventually, he spoke so quietly his voice competed with the soft crackling of the fire.
"Daisy and I were friends for a long time until I broke her trust. After school, we went different paths. Parallel paths, but different." Lucy hugged the blanket closer as he continued. "She and I only saw each other one other time, shortly after she finished her time at Hogwarts."
"Why did you stop being friends?"
His expression darkened as he stared ahead.
Lucy couldn't believe he knew her mother. Daisy. Whenever she tried to remember her mother, she could only remember flashes. Her picture in the locket was the clearest picture she had of her mother. It didn't look like she remembered her. The mother she remembered was tired and defeated. The woman in the locket was happy and hopeful.
It was clear her questioning bothered him. She didn't want to make him sad on a holiday, so she decided to try another angle.
"How did you meet?"
Severus' eyes were still closed as he answered. "We grew up in the same neighborhood."
It was clear he didn't want to talk about it, as curious as she was. Someday, she was going to have the full story. Tonight, learning her mother's name would be enough.