Between Dusk and Dawn

Disclaimer: Same as before.

To my reviewers:

Barbara: There are lots of things in store for poor Severus. (poor, poor, poor Severus.) We'll just have to wait and see if Harry will be there for him.

The w00t Girl: Your welcome! And, no, nothing is ever easy for Harry.

vyator: Thanks!!

Lady Lynn: *grins* I hated giving away what was going on right at the beginning, but we're just starting to get to all of the bad stuff. The story has just now only started. I appreciate your review soooooooooo much and can't wait for the many more in the coming chapters.

Sophia: It's going to get interesting and... something else. (Don't want to give it away!!) When I wrote the part about Draco painting his nails, I laughed the whole way through it. I giggled almost constantly, envisioning Lucius' face when he was reprimanded by the Dark Lord. Oh the humiliation!! hee

jerhanner: That's what I was hoping for! Yay! I'm surprised that when the sixth book came out, there weren't more stories similar to this.

firewall: Thanks so much for giving this story a look! I'm glad you like it! It makes me feel all warm inside to know that your first foray into this area brought you to my story.


Now, just to let everyone know, this is the last of the pre-written chapters. I lost about 30 pages to this story and all of another (along with several fics that never saw the light of day) a couple of weeks ago. The other fic I was able to retrieve, but this one, sadly, died. I have done everything I know to do with the retrieval program I used and it will not pull BDaD or the 12 page scene I wrote up. I cried my heart out, but I've begun to rewrite it. To my surprise, the story is taking a different turn that I originally had written. *blinks in surprise* Anyway, Thanks for reading everyone!!

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He knew he was in trouble with Tom visiting Malfoy. The bastard was up to something. Harry was quite afraid that it had something to do with him no longer inhabiting his body. It was a frightening thought, that. Little did he know that he was not the only person Tom was now plotting against.

Since the sun had begun to rise, Harry decided to surprise Severus with a large Christmas breakfast. It was, after all, the least he could do after forcing the man into his rooms at only six o’clock the evening before.

Exhaustion fogged Harry’s mind and slowed his body, but he was still in rather good spirits as he hummed a tuneless song while cooking. Had anyone who knew Harry been alive to see it, they would have assumed that he was cooking for the whole Weasley clan with the amount of bacon, eggs, porridge, toast, and sausage that he fixed.

Of course, he did so on purpose to ensure that Snape kept gaining weight. Harry simply would not make the man think that he could not have his fill of food.

When he poured the two cups of coffee and set the plates on the table, Harry started toward the door to go wake Severus. He was greeted by a rather comical sight, though. Severus was standing in the door to the green sitting room looking at the small tree and the pile of gifts under it. He wore only his silk robe and a pair of black, green, and white flannel sleep pants. Harry smiled. “Would you like to open presents before or after breakfast?”

Snape was unsure what to think of the large pile of gifts under the tree. His Christmases growing up had been horrible, at best, and since becoming an adult, the only people who had ever given him anything had been Albus and Minerva. He was certain that the gifts were for Harry.

He turned and looked at the smiling young man. “Breakfast is what brought me out of my rooms. I believe we should eat first.” He then swept past his host and sat gracefully at the table.

Breakfast began quietly, and was then interrupted by an over exuberant house elf named Dobby. “Oh Mister Harry Potter, sir, you did not need to cook Christmas breakfast. You should have told Dobby and he would have come. Wizards great as you should not be cooking on holidays!”

Throughout his admonishment to Harry, the little creature began flitting around the kitchen and pouring more coffee for the wizards. He even magic-ed a red Santa hat on both men’s heads. “Dobby, what time is Min going to be here this evening?”

“Headmistress McGonagall is being here around two Mister Harry Potter, sir.”

“Thank you, Dobby,” the young wizard answered as his plate was cleaned away.

He smiled at Severus. “Ready to open your gifts, Sir?”

Severus snorted at the thought that someone other than Minerva would gift him with anything. “I suppose so, Potter.”

In the green room, Harry sat in the floor and beckoned Severus into what was customarily ‘Harry’s chair’. Handing Snape the first gift, Harry grinned. Severus simply looked at it as Harry piled more gifts around his feet. When he was finished piling the gifts up, Snape had still not opened his first gift. “Sir? Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry, Potter,” Severus said, still dazed that he could get so many gifts when he purposely went out of his way to make people dislike him. “You only have two gifts? The rest of these are mine?”

Before Snape could continue, Harry frowned and held his hand up to silence him. “I got my gifts from Dobby and Min, exactly who is still alive to gift me with things at Christmas. Now,” the warm smile was back, “open your gifts and see who they are from.”

Slowly, Severus pulled the card from the colorfully wrapped package and opened it. Inside all it said was, “Happy Christmas, Sir. Harry.”

He meticulously opened the wrapping, making a disgusted face at its cheerfulness and discovered a sturdy black box. When he opened the top, he found six vials of violently purple potion. He lifted one and held it up to the light, swishing it a bit and then looked at Harry. “Thank you for the hair re-growth potion Potter. From the color and consistency, it appears that it is among some of the best I’ve ever seen brewed.”

“Thank you for the compliment, sir,” Harry said with a blush. “I brewed it for you two evenings ago. I’ve noticed the face you make when you run your hands through your hair. It’s obvious that you want it long again. Here, now open this.”

Taking the second package, Severus was stunned. Not only had Harry noticed his expressions, but he’d read them right. Severus did miss his long hair. The next package was wrapped in much more tame wrappings. It had to be from Minerva. She’s the only person who would give him something wrapped in Gryffindor red paper and tied with a gold ribbon. The card read:

Severus,

It is good to know that you are now being taken care of. I hope this package finds you well and healed from your ordeal. I will see you myself on Christmas.

Minerva

Inside the package were two new potions books and a subscription to a potions research magazine. Severus was deeply touched. Minerva wanted him to stay on the cutting edge of his profession even though he still wasn’t really physically capable of what he had been during the war.

Harry was still sitting in the floor with his two gifts unopened in his lap, grinning and holding another present for Snape. “Are you not going to open your gifts, Potter?”

“I know what I’ve got: a bauble from Min and a pair of mis-matched socks from Dobby. Besides, it’s more fun to watch you.”

Taking the gift, Severus simply raised an eyebrow. The next one was another book from Filius, and most of the rest of the small mountain of gifts from former colleagues and students were books. Then, the smallest box was all he had to open. He carefully pealed the shiny green wrapper off and opened the box. There was no card. There was a small white gold chain with a pendant. There were four stones in the pendant: hematite, jade, sapphire, and serpentine.

Severus understood what the stones represented. Each stone represented healing or protection. Severus could feel the charms on it, also. “Potter?”

Uncertainty colored Harry’s features. He’d taken a huge risk having the jewelry crafted. He had never seen the Potions Master wear jewelry of any kind so he wasn’t really sure if the man would even like it. He nodded his head in response to the unasked question. “I was compelled to have it made, sir. It just seemed the right thing to do.”

Gently, Severus pulled the chain from its velvet bed. Thankfully, it was long enough to tuck into his shirt. He pulled it over his head and it fell nearly half-way down the front of his closed robes. “Thank you, Potter.”

“You’re welcome, Sir,” Harry replied. “Now, do you want to do anything special today? It is Christmas, after all.”

“I would not be opposed to investigating your potions lab more,” Severus replied with a smirk.

Harry laughed. “Potion hunting it is, then! Why don’t you dress and I’ll see where Dobby has gotten to.”

While Severus went back to his rooms to bathe and dress, Harry found Dobby still in the kitchen. The crazy house elf was basting a turkey and singing Christmas carols off key. “Dobby, what are you doing?”

Dobby jumped and turned around. “Oh! Mister Harry Potter, sir! You is scaring Dobby! I is starting on lunch for you. Headmistress McGonagall wanted me to come and make sure you and Master Professor Snape is getting enough to eat and to cook for you today.”

Harry sat at the table and shook his head. “Dobby, it’s Christmas, you should be enjoying the holiday, too.”

The house elf smiled widely. “I is. House elves live for the holidays. We like cooking and decorating for our wizards. It is even more better when the wizards is as great as you, Mr. Harry Potter, sir!”

Severus stepped into the kitchen and barked a laugh. “Oh yes, the great and mighty Harry Potter.”

Blushing Harry replied, “Dobby looks up to me.”

The eager house elf nodded toward Severus as the tall man strode toward the door to the potions lab.

He and Harry spent the rest of the morning brewing potions. Mostly, it was something for them to do to pass the time. The extensive list of ingredients Harry had, including some of the rare and more expensive ones, impressed Severus. He’d dreamed of having a lab of his own as a child and always imagined it to be like this one of Harry’s.

The silence was finally broken when, in a break in the process, Severus asked, “I know this is your lab, but why did you not remove the manacles from the wall? They look very out of place here.”

Harry looked at the manacles. “I removed most of them,” he replied. “For some reason, though, these would not come down and they will not transfigure into anything. I figured that I would just leave them where they are. I mean, they aren’t hurting anything over on the far wall.”

“They aren’t,” Severus acquiesced, “but they give this otherwise comforting lab a rather eerie feeling.”

Harry agreed wholeheartedly. He saw movement at the door of the lab and looked up to find Dobby bouncing excitedly. “Master Harry Potter, sir, lunch is being almost finished and Mistress Minerva is arriving any time. Would you and Master Professor Snape please like to come from the lab?”

The men agreed, though Severus was reluctant. He really missed brewing and found himself feeling even better after the few quiet hours he’d just spent in the lab. He washed his hands and followed Harry into the blue sitting room to await Minerva McGonagall’s arrival.

The two men sat quietly on the couch facing the hearth. It was not long before the flames changed to green and she stepped through. Her normally harsh features softened as she looked upon two of her favorite former students. Harry smiled rather sheepishly and rose to hug her.

After letting him go, she pulled Severus from his seat on the couch and wrapped him a motherly embrace before holding him at arms length and looking him over. “You have been taking very good care of him Harry,” she said with a smile.

Severus opened his mouth to say something, the look on his face clearly indignant, but Harry cut him off. “After the first few days, Severus has done all of the work. I cook for him in the early evenings, but he is usually up before me in the mornings and has breakfast cooked and eaten before I come down stairs.”

“But he looks even better now than he did at Hogwarts!” she replied.

Shaking from her grasp, Severus crossed his arms and scowled. “That is probably because we were at war then and between my classes of idiot children blowing up cauldrons, I had to run and fetch for Albus and I spent most nights doing the same for the Dark Lord. I did not sleep, and barely had time to eat, so yes, I looked horrible and was entirely too skinny and…”

He stopped his rant. He realized what he had said about Dumbledore. He was also one of the few people who knew that Minerva and Albus had loved one another deeply for many, many years, though they never married. “My apologies, Minerva,” he said, regret coloring his tone.

She hugged him again and looked him in the eye. “You of all people have a right to say that, Severus. I told him throughout the whole war that he pushed you too hard, but he wouldn’t listen to me.”

Minerva stepped back and took a deep breath. “So,” she asked, “what has Dobby made for lunch?”

Harry laughed. “I am not sure, but he’s been working on it since this morning.”

Through the meal, the conversation was easy. Harry and Minerva did most of the talking while she watched Severus eat his fill and then some. She caught the two isolated men up on the goings on in the wizarding community, gossip, and she begged both of them to consider teaching at Hogwarts in the fall. Harry outright refused, but Severus declared that he would think about it if his name had been cleared.

Afterward, they went into the green sitting room and Harry handed her two gifts. The first was his. She opened it to find a magical snow globe. Inside it was a witch in tartan robes and a wizard in loud purple ones walking hand in hand through a snow covered rose garden. She laughed as tears welled up in her eyes. “I didn’t realize that anyone saw us that night,” she said.

“Many people saw you Min. Everyone found it undeniably sweet. You were always the sane reasoning behind his insane ideas. You were the counter balance he needed.”

She sniffed daintily and watched the two wander through the garden and stop near a small fountain and kiss. “Thank you,” she whispered as she wiped a tear.

The second gift wasn’t as personal, but she treasured it just the same. Inside the matte gold wrapping sat a plain black box. Minerva opened the box to reveal a golden-hued brooch. It was a lioness lying down, ears pointed straight up, watching. The eyes were made of small rubies. “I know you are no longer head of Gryffindor House, Minerva, but even as Headmistress, you are like a lioness keeping an eye out on her cubs,” Severus said. “It is just in your nature.”

She smiled and took his hand. “Thank you, Severus. It is beautiful.”

Minerva pinned the brooch to her robe with a smile. They sat for another hour talking, but the day was getting late, and she had to get back to the school to relieve Remus, her deputy. Harry sent his love to the wolf and a promise that he would spend more time with him in the coming weeks. She took the message, her gifts, and Dobby back to Hogwarts after hugging both men.

TBC...

Oh, and I need reviews like zombies need brains.