Muse

AN (okay when I said he’d be going shopping on christmas day I spazed out I didn’t know if there would actually be stores open to do any kind of good shopping so I went and searched it out and I found out that “Woolworths” is open on christmas day yay so as soon as I had figured that out I was able to write on this one. Well I hope you all like this chapter and I’ve already got the next one getting worked on yay… well on with the reading here it is….)

Beta: vampchic

Muse


Chapter 4 –of Christmas shopping –


December 25th-


Slowly, Harry awoke to the gentle brush against his cheek. Sighing, he moved further into the touch.


"Come on Harry, its time to get up," Severus breathed softly into his ear.


Shivering slightly at the heated breath, he pushed his body even closer to the man. "Mhmm," Harry murmured and sighed.


"Come on brat, if you want me to go to Christmas breakfast with you then there must first be a breakfast to eat," Severus chided. "And if you want a present, then you need to let me up."


"You're getting me a gift?" Harry said, sitting up suddenly, looking down at the man.


"That sure got you up in a hurry. I'll have to remember that," Severus chuckled.


"You don't have to get me anything - I haven't a present for you," Harry said, biting his lip and looking down at his lap.


Bringing his hand up, Severus lifted Harry's chin so that their eye's met. "Are you cooking for me?" Harry nodded. "Did you invite me over?" another nod. "Did you kiss me?" At the confused look on Harry's face, he leaned in and pressed his lips to Harry's. At the gasp, he started to move away only to be pulled back down against a suddenly hungry mouth.


Pulling away finally, they took deep breaths.


"I guess I kissed you," Harry agreed, smiling brightly at the man despite his stuffy nose. "You do know that you might have just gotten sick as well." Harry said, biting his lip again, only in amusement now.


"Brat, that just means you'd have to take care of me, then," Severus said in amusement.


"You know I would, Sev," Harry said, a pink blush blossoming on his cheeks.


"We need to get up, I'm sure Remus has already gotten up and put his bed away." Severus said as he got up from the bed, finding some clothes to slip on.


Climbing from the bed, Harry went about straightening his clothes. After the two were suitably dressed they left the bedroom together. Meeting Remus in the living room they quickly gathered their things and left the house, climbing into Severus's car and heading for Remus and Harry's apartment.

++++

After they had returned to their apartment, Harry set about preparing breakfast for three. Remus just stood back, lending a hand here and there when he was asked. At moments Remus would find himself lost in thought, thinking back to when Harry was little and tinkering about in the kitchen.

-fb-


"Harry, what are you doing?" Remus asked, eyeing the concoction on the stove. It looked to be some form of pancake but he wasn't sure.


"Making breakfast, Remus," Harry said, as if that made complete sense.


"I see, and what is breakfast?" he asked the 11 year old.


"Pineapple pancakes, and that's cheesy potato eggs with bacon and then there's orange juice," Harry said, very proud of himself.


"It looks lovely," Remus said, sitting down at the table.


-fb end-


"Remus, where's the pineapple? I thought you bought some the other day?" Harry asked, sticking his head back out of the pantry.


"I thought I did!" Remus said, coming over to look in the pantry as well. Looking up on the top shelf he saw the wayward can of pineapple. "I did, here it is," Remus said, pulling said can down and handing it to Harry.


"Why did you stick it all the way up there? You know I only stick our snack foods up there - I can't reach that high up," Harry grumbled, taking the can from Remus as he moved back to his cooking.


"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking when I put them away," Remus snapped, suddenly frustrated.


"I'm sorry, Remmy, I just want to make a good breakfast today and it wasn't where I wanted it so I took it out on you."


"Don't worry about it, Harry." He paused for a moment, looking indecisive before coming to a decision and continuing. "Can I ask you something, Harry?"


"Of course you can, Remus."


"I don't want to pry, but you're my son, yeah?" He got a nod before he continued. "How far have you gone with Severus?"

At hearing this, Harry's eyes went wide and he spluttered in surprise. "Rem- Remus?" He ducked his head slightly and turned back to his cooking, flipping a pancake over before answering. "We've kissed a few times," he said, ending the conversation at that.


++++++

"Severus," Remus greeted as he opened the door for the man.


"Remus," Severus replied with a short nod of his head. "Here, not sure where you want them," Severus said, handing the man a large bag holding a few gifts.


"You know you didn't have to," Remus said, taking the proffered bag.


"Where's Harry?" Severus asked as they walked through the living room.


"Shower - he was running around all morning making breakfast. I finally got him to go take one so he would be ready when you got here."


The two sat in silence for a while, just listening to the sound of the shower going. Finally after some time, Harry stepped out of the bathroom, steam trailing him as he moved away from the room.


"You're here," Harry said happily.


"So it would seem," Severus agreed with a slight nod.


"Are you hungry? I've...we've, made a ton of food," Harry said, blushing slightly.


"That is why I am here, is it not?" Severus said with a slight raise of his eyebrow.


The three went into the dinning area where Harry told Severus to sit while he brought all the food to the table. Severus just couldn't believe his eyes as he watched as platter after platter arrived at the table.


"Harry, how many people are you feeding?"


"I went over board, I know. Its just us three, and well, I was nervous and…"


"It looks goo,." Severus said quickly to stop Harry's rambling. "Is this all?" Getting a nod he smiled slightly, or, as close to a smile as you could get with out actually smiling. "Sit. You're still sick and shouldn't be up. I'm
shocked Remus has let you move about as you are."


"There's no stopping him when he wants to do something. He yelled at me several times for not having something where he wanted it," Remus said, smirking at the teen.


"I only yelled at you once, liar. And that was because you put something on the top shelf where you know I can't reach it," Harry pouted.


After that the three fell into light conversation as they ate their extremely large breakfast. An hour later, after nothing important had been talked abou, Harry could sit there no longer - he was just too excited about the gifts under the tree.


"That's it, we'll clear the table later," Harry stated, standing suddenly.


"What are you on about, Harry?" Remus said, amused knowing he just couldn't stand that there were presents under the tree and no one was opening them.


"Come on. You know I don't have the patience to wait on Christmas," Harry all but pouted.


"Alright," Remus said, getting up from the table, quickly followed by Severus.

+++++

Harry sat beaming up at the older two as he looked around at all the gifts he had given Remus and the one he had managed to get for Severus. He hated not being able to give a gift to someone who had given him one.


"Well, open them," Harry demanded, looking between the two.


Sighing, the two did as they were told. Remus lifted his gift from Harry up onto his lap, slowly pulling the tape up to unwrap the gift.


"Harry...?" Remus said, looking up from the antique album that had been in the Lupin family for longer than both Harry and Remus had been alive.


"I found it and I knew you'd love to have it."


"Where? When?" Remus said, gob smacked.


"When we visited the old house. I saw it covered in dust in a box in the attic, and well, I snagged it. I know I wasn't supposed to be up there, but… do you like it?"


"Harry, I've been looking for this for years, of course I love it. Thank you, love," Remus said, hugging Harry close.


"The others aren't as cool, but I knew you wouldn't get it for yourself..." Harry said, trailing off as he looked away from the man he looked to as his father.


Opening the others he found a sweater, new gloves and a new journal for the year. He wrote in one almost every night and kept them on a shelf, one for every year he's had Harry in his life.


"Thank you, Harry," Remus said, smiling at the teen on the couch.


Looking over at Severus, Harry smiled as the man looked down at his own gift, curious as to what he could have received from Harry.


"It's not a science project, Sev. Just open it. It won't bite, I promise," Harry said, laughing softly as he watched Severus begin to open the gift.


Lifting the box lid he looked in to see a similar shaped object. Lifting it out of the box he inspected it, feeling the texture, then the pages inside it. It had to be one of the nicest journals he'd seen in a very long time.


"Thank you, Harry," Severus said, petting his new journal.


"There's another under the tree," Harry said, pointing to the small box.


Retrieving the other gift, Severus set about opening it. Opening the box he found two things inside. One, another box and the other, some sort of hair band.


Lifting it out, he held it up for Harry to see a question clearly formed on his face.


"It's a hair thong, Sev; it's to keep your hair out of your face while you're writing or whatever. The other is self explanatory," Harry said as Severus opened the final part to his gift.


"A pen - to go with my journal?" Severus said, smiling slightly at Harry's happy nod. "Thank you," he said. He couldn't believe he'd thanked someone so much in one week.


"Well Harry, what about you? You haven't opened your presents yet," Remus said, as if reminding Harry they were there.


"Oh, sorry," Harry said, blushing as he looked down to his pile of gifts.


Lifting the first package, Harry slowly lifted the tape and wrapping until the contents was revealed. It was the newest final fantasy movie he'd been wanting. After that, he found a few sweaters, a new winter coat Remus felt he needed, and pajama pants since his others where getting ratty. Once he had gotten through all of the gifts he had gotten from Remus, he found he still had four gifts sitting at his feet.


"I thought I told you, you didn't need to get me anything, Severus," Harry said as he bent to pick them up.


"Just open them, brat," Severus said with a smirk.


Opening them, he found slippers. Lifting his head, he eyed Severus, wondering where slippers came from.


"What? Your feet are always cold."


"Huh?" Harry said, real intelligent there.

"You walk around in those thin socks and then sit on them constantly to get them warm, I thought you might like something to keep your feet warm while you're in the house…" Severus said, explaining himself. "Open the others," he said, sighing.


So Harry did. He found a wool winter hat that had a soft lining so it wouldn't itch against his head, a box of chocolates of all kinds, and a new satchel. It was a cool gray that had a reinforced strap and many inside pockets.


"Thank you, Severus. I love them all, and you're right, my feet are always cold. Why did you get me a new messenger bag, though?"


"The one you are currently using is falling apart at the seams. I figured that you either didn't want to get a new one, or this one was special in some way. But I'm afraid it won't last a month back at school when you're carrying your school books around."


"Thank you. Your right, it does mean something to me. It was the first one Remus got me when we found out I'd be going to Hogwarts. He's tried to buy me a new one every year and I kept telling him that I don't need one, that the one he bought me was good enough to use another year. I'm sure he's very happy that you snuck this in under my shopping radar, as he calls it."


"What is your shopping radar?"


"Its where you try to buy him something while he's there and he tells you he doesn't need it and to put it back, to stop trying to waste your money on him. That's why everyone likes Christmas, they can slip stuff under his radar and he has to accept it," Remus said, smiling at his 'son'.


"Good to know," Severus said, looking straight at Harry.


"Anyways, when will you be leaving for your families? How long will you be gone?" Harry asked, changing the subject while he blushed brightly.


"I leave in about two-to-three hours. I'll be gone till the twenty-seventh, so I'm afraid I won't be seeing you again until almost New Years," Severus said, looking away as he saw sadness creep over Harry's features.


"Oh, well, have fun with them," Harry said, looking down at his lap.


"One can only hope that this time will be better than the time before. But I doubt that it will. I shall call you when I'm back in town so that we may resume our daily schedule," Severus said, standing up suddenly. "Have a wonderful Christmas ,Harry, Remus. Thank you for inviting me to partake in your family traditions," he said with a nod of his head.


"Wait, your not leaving right now, are you?" Harry asked, standing quickly, finding that a bad idea as he became dizzy in the process and fell back down.


"You okay there, Harry?" Remus asked, standing and walking quickly over to Harry's side.


"I'm fine, I just stood too quickly," Harry said, waving the man off. "I'll walk you to the door, then." he said, standing back up slowly this time as he watched Severus collect his things.


Once at the door, Harry began biting his lower lip. A nervous habit Severus was starting to notice. Lifting his hand, he gently pried his teeth away from his half bitten lip and caressed his cheek.


Leaning into the touch, Harry sighed, not wanting the man to go away for so long when he'd just gotten in the process of knowing him.


"I'll only be gone a few days, and I'll call just to make sure you're completely better, alright?" Severus said, brushing his lips across Harry's brow. "See you later, brat," Severus said by way of parting as he walked out the door.


Sighing sadly, Harry closed the door behind him and walked back into the living room where Remus had stayed.


"Harry, why don't you rest for a bit? I'll clean up breakfast, okay," Remus said as he watched Harry nod his head as he pulled the slippers on his socked feet.


"Okay, Remus," Harry agreed, collecting what he got for Christmas and heading to his room. Rest was starting to sound good to his tired and sick body.


(tbc)


Thank you all my reviewers I love all your comments, please remember to review this one it will get the next chapter out all the sooner…

Happy reading

As always

~lost in a thought~