ART & FIC: Holiday Swearters (PG-13)
Title: Holiday Swearters
Type: Art & Fic
Age-Range Category: Five
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Severus Snape, Hermione Granger, Tobias Snape, OC
Artist & Author: celticreeder
Rating: PG-13
Click to View [Warning(s)]Language.
Summary: Severus never thought he'd be included in a family. But as he finds himself surrounded by those he loves one Christmas day, he realizes that being included can have rewarding, albeit exasperating, circumstances.
Severus watched, content, as his family opened their Christmas presents. It had been a rather long year, what with Ichabod starting his first year at Hogwarts. The house had felt so quiet and empty without his son's laughter.
Now, his son tore through his large pile of presents, eagerly exclaiming over what he hoped each present was. Some, like the new Thunderbolt 6000 was enthused over to the point of extreme. Others, like the new pair of thick warm socks had been tossed to the side with a 'Gee thanks Mum'.
"Not like the Christmases we used to have, eh Sev?"
Severus tried not to wince at the nickname. He absolutely hated having his name shortened, though he was quite partial to his wife's cry of 'Sev'rus' during sex. Somehow that dropped syllable just encouraged his libido all the more. But, shortening his name to 'Sev' or 'Rus' or the dreaded 'Sevvie' just sent chills up his spine. He could remember telling Lily to not call him 'Sev' on numerous occasions only to have her laugh and do it anyway. Granted, 'Sev' was a whole lot better than 'Snivillus' but not much.
However, while he hated having his name shortened, the man speaking was the only one he was willing to let slide.
"No, Da, it's not," he said quietly.
Tobias Snape gave a sad smile and Severus knew his father was remembering all the Christmases of Severus' childhood that had barely qualified for the term. Hell, even the Cratchit family had had better Christmases than the Snapes. When his wife had announced she was pregnant 12 years ago, he'd vowed to never let his own child, or children Merlin willing, have a Christmas like his had been.
Severus had been lucky if he'd received any sort of present while growing up. His father had worked hard to bring in enough money for his small family and more often than not, that money went towards food and clothes or household needs like electricity and water rather than frivolous accouterments like toys or books. But, Tobias Snape had always tried to set something aside in order to buy a present for his son. Usually the present had to act as both a Christmas and birthday present, what with Severus' birthday coming in January, but he'd tried.
As a child growing up, Severus hadn't appreciated this. He'd seen other kids with new bikes and games. Robbie Smythe, two doors down from the Snapes' had gotten a new James Bond Aston Martin spy car one year. In a fit of uncontrolled magic due to jealousy, Severus had caused the car to melt. Robbie's mother had punished her son for leaving his new things out in the sun, never mind the fact that it was the middle of winter and the sun wasn't warm enough to cause that sort of damage, but Severus had felt mildly better about it.
He could still remember, though, the one year his father managed to save enough to purchase him a Johnny Astro Launching Station play set when Severus was seven. While Severus hadn't really been interested in space and astronauts at the time, he had been impressed with the toy. While it no longer worked, he did still have it packed in a box in the attic. But that had been the only time Severus had ever received something that nice for Christmas.
After that, he'd started Hogwarts and Christmas became an excuse to escape his Gryffindor tormenters until he eventually joined Voldemort and the Death Eaters. His father supported him throughout the years, even when he admitted to being a Death Eater but Christmas was no longer a happy time for either of them until the first and, then second death, of Voldemort.
It was during the winter of 2002 that his life changed for the better in every way. He ran into Hermione Granger at a Potions Convention. She was working on an apprenticeship for healing potions, particularly for curse scars. He'd been asked to speak during one of the symposiums. The five years since the Final Battle had been kind to Hermione. She'd grown as a young woman and her calm maturity had drawn him to her despite their rather rocky past. He'd been surprised to learn that she was not engaged, or even married, to the youngest Weasley boy, though she was still very good friends with him and Harry Potter.
"I could never see myself married to him," she told him when he asked out of sheer curiosity. "He's a great friend but too much like a brother. And I want someone with whom I can have a conversation and not always have to explain every other word. Not that he's stupid, mind you, I just have a much larger and diverse vocabulary than he and Harry and I want to be able to actually utilize those words."
Severus found himself intrigued by the adult Know-it-all. She wasn't as desperate for approval and explained her work in such a way that it no longer sounded like she was bragging, or reading it straight from a textbook.
"I did read your comments, Professor, despite what you may think," she chastised him with a teasing grin when he reminded her of her penchant for quoting textbooks word for word rather than provide her own thoughts and ideas.
He then invited her to join him for lunch and then to sit in on his lecture on the recently discovered (by his truely) uses for Caladrius feathers and blood in healing potions. It was, after all, a topic of much importance to her current field of study.
Lunch saw them discussing anything and everything related to healing potions versus healing spells. While Hermione found it easier to use a healing spell or charm, Severus pointed out that potions did not require the use of wand when consumed. She laughed and asked if that was because there was no "foolish wand waving" in potions and therefore charms and spells were unacceptable?
"No, it's because I don't have time to wave my wand and recite a spell when someone needs to be healed immediately."
"What about when a person is allergic to an ingredient in the potion?"
"There are always alternative versions of potions, Miss Granger, you know that. In fact, you are making it your life's work to find these alternatives, am I correct?"
"You are, sir, but that still doesn't tell me why that's better than a spell."
"Impertinent baggage," he muttered, fondly. She gave him a cheeky grin that was the start of him developing feelings for her.
"After that, they'd met for lunches almost once a week. Then, he nervously asked her to dinner. Dinner lead to dinners twice a week and then actual dates.
That Christmas had been spent at her apartment together and had been the first time they'd had sex.
Severus introduced Hermione to his father on Severus' birthday.
"I thought you hated your father," she said, nervously following him up the front steps to his father's house.
"My father has been my one and only supporter my entire life," he told her softly, his throat tight with emotion. "He was always there for me when I struggled with my actions as a Death Eater. He worked hard to provide me and my mum with a decent home and he was there to help me with my schoolwork even though he couldn't do any of the spells."
Hermione gave him a hug and then rose upon her toes to kiss him. "Then I'm sure he's a wonderful man and I hope he likes me."
Tobias Snape did, indeed, like Hermione. He told Severus, when she stepped out of the room to use the bathroom, that he had never seen Severus so happy and carefree. Well, as carefree as Severus Snape could ever be.
"Keep her, Sev, she'll make you happy all your life."
When Severus officially fell in love, (or at least was willing to admit it to himself) he'd immediately sought his father for advice. Lily had been a childhood crush and one-sided at that. But, now he was in love and knew the young woman had feelings for him. Tobias had laughed and told Severus that what advice he could offer wouldn't fit in a thimble. But, he'd assured Severus that if they felt the same about each other, then they should just let nature take its course. They would know what felt right.
A month later, (six months from their initial meeting) Severus was standing in front of a church marrying Hermione Granger while his father stood by his side. Tobias had never let Severus forget how quickly he'd married his wife and Severus would just raise a brow and inform his father that it was all his fault for telling him to follow his instincts.
Now, as Severus looked at his father, a man who was far better looking than Severus could ever hope to be, he felt a swell of love warm his heart. Tobias Snape lifted his own brow questioningly.
Severus just shook his head with a rueful smile.
"Dad, hey Dad, look what Grandpa gave me!"
Severus turned his attention to his son. Ichabod held up a full Quidditch uniform.
"Really Tobias, that's a bit much!" Hermione laughed.
Tobias shrugged. "He said he wanted a uniform. I got him a uniform."
"He can't even play on the teams at Hogwarts yet, Da," Severus pointed out, though he admired the robes along with his son all the same.
"They'll grow with him. Besides, he'll be chosen next year. The boy's a natural."
"Can't imagine where he got the talent," Hermione muttered as Severus joined her on the sofa.
"What are you talking about? Severus is a natural!" Tobias said.
Severus could feel his wife's gaze. "I was the Slytherin Keeper for my fourth and fifth years," he admitted.
"Really? Well, I do admire you on a broom when you volunteer to referee the games. Maybe you can show me some of your skills," Hermione purred in his ear. "Show me how well you can 'keep' me."
Severus laughed nervously, his ears and cheeks turning red. Tobias gave him a knowing look while Ichabod made a face of disgust.
"Gross, Mum!"
"Just wait until you get a crush on a girl. Then you tell me how gross it is," Hermione laughed, Ichabod's ears turning just as red as his father's.
Severus smiled as his son turned back to his presents. The pile of unopened ones had grown significantly smaller. Hermione's, Tobias', and his own held only a couple left and one in each pile he already knew about.
"What exactly is this?"
Severus looked up from the new set of cauldron stirrers Hermione had given him and saw his father holding up something soft and distinctly familiar.
"Oh, that's a Weasley jumper," Hermione explained, setting aside another book about Magical Creature regulations (a topic she was still very much interested in).
"A what? Is that a famous Wizard line of clothing or somethin'?"
"No, Grandpa, it's a jumper made by Mrs. Weasely. She makes one for all of her family members," Ichabod said. He dug through his pile of presents until he found his own from Mrs. Weasely. "See, this one's mine. Though, I really don't need a new one. Last year's still fits."
"Ichabod, manners," Hermione admonished.
Ichabod held up his own jumper. It was a dark blue with a light gray 'I' knit in the center.
"But I'm not family," Tobias pointed out. He cast a questioning look towards Severus.
"Hermione is considered an adoptive daughter, what with her being best friends with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley," Severus said. "Therefore, by proxy, I, Ichabod, and now you, are considered family. Ergo, a Weasley jumper of your very own."
"Oh." Tobias held the jumper up, admiring it. It was a light blue with a dark blue 'T' in the center. "It's very soft."
"Only the best for Molly's family," Hermione laughed.
Severus pulled out his own present from Molly and opened it. He held up a dark green jumper with a silver 'S' in the center. He hid a sigh from Hermione. The jumper was the same as just about every single year. Granted, he never really cared about the colours since he was quite partial to silver and green, but what was wrong with letting a little time go by between new ones? The one from last year was still practically new, for Merlin's sake!
However, Severus sometimes still found himself overwhelmed with the fact that he was now considered family and worthy of a Weasley jumper. He and Hermione had been married just over two years when Mrs. Weasley gifted him a jumper.
"What's this?" he asked as Hermione set a soft, lumpy package in his lap.
"You'll just have to open it to find out, silly," his wife said, her round stomach pressing against his side. She was due in late January with their first child and Severus always felt overwhelmed with the idea of him being a father.
Giving Hermione a sidelong glance, he ripped the shiny gold and blue wrapping paper off. His breath caught. The wool was a dark green nearly black and very soft to the touch. Severus almost wondered if it was actually angora, it was so soft. Gently, he lifted it out of the wrapping and held it up. A large capital 'S' in silver yarn greeted him.
"A Weasley jumper," he breathed, his voice tight in his throat.
"Mmhmm. Molly asked me what colours would suit you and I almost told her black on black but, when I realized what exactly she was asking for, I told her green and silver. Though, I think you'd look delectable in a Prussian blue, too."
Hermione rested her head on his shoulder and gently ran her fingers over the jumper. "I've-I've never gotten a Weasley jumper before," he admitted.
"I know. And when I told Molly, she looked ashamed about it."
Something white fell out of the fold of the jumper when Severus lifted it higher. He bent down and picked it up. In Molly's rather rushed penmanship, she'd written him a brief letter
Severus,
It has come to my attention that I have been severely lax in providing you with proof of your place in our family. Your dear wife has been kind enough to remind me that you are now related to us though marriage to her, albeit as an honorary son-in-law, but still family. Never think that you are unloved, Severus. I know we have had our differences in the past, and certainly our fair share of angry words towards each other, but I have always respected you and cared about you. And so, I present to you, your very own, but certainly not the last, Weasley jumper. I hope it fits and that the colours are to your liking. Though, I do hope you'll accept something with more colour, next year, dear.
Love,
Molly
Severus had to blink several times to keep the tears from falling. He pulled Hermione tighter against his side and took a deep, cleansing breath. The warm vanilla and cinnamon scent of his wife filled his nose and he allowed his happiness to spill over.
"I must thank her," he rumbled against Hermione's ear.
"I know you've always wanted to feel included, Severus. I'm really happy that now others are doing so."
Severus shook his head. "I have you and Da and soon our son. I don't really need anyone else, but I'm still very happy to be included."
Hermione laughed and kissed him deeply. He wore the jumper all day that day, much to Molly's delight (and Ron's horror) when they'd gone to the Weasley's for Christmas dinner.
Now as the memory settled back into the back of his mind, Severus breathed in the warm vanilla and cinnamon scent of his wife again before pressing a loving kiss to her neck. She laughed and squeezed his thigh.
He glanced over as Hermione opened her own jumper. It was a dark gold with a maroon 'H' in the center.
"Different colours for you this year, love," he commented softly.
"Yeah, I told her I was partial to this gold colour when we were out shopping one day."
"It's a good color for you," he said. He leaned over and gave her a soft kiss.
Hermione flushed but her smile was bright and her eyes were warm and loving. She held up her jumper for a moment and then turned back to him.
"We should take a picture to thank Molly."
Severus' brows rose. "What's wrong with the thank you card we always send?"
"This year she gifted one to Tobias. I think a picture will really make a better thank you than any old card."
Severus hesitated. He hated having his picture taken. Too often pictures of himself had been used for bad publicity. He wasn't photogenic but Hermione seemed to feel that pictures were needed for just about any special (and sometimes not so special) events. Memories in a Pensieve were all well and good, she said, but they couldn't be displayed for anyone else to see. They now had an entire room in their cottage dedicated just to photos. Thankfully the room had been spelled to expand on the inside without causing the cottage to grow on the outside. Tobias had jokingly called it the Tardis Room.
"Right, let's all put on our jumpers and take a picture!" Hermione called out. She rose and grabbed her magical Polaroid camera from the side table where she'd been taking pictures throughout the present opening. Arthur Weasley loved getting the Muggle versions of photos but Hermione loved the fact that wizarding photos moved, so Severus had found a way to alter a Polaroid camera so that it took pictures that moved but still presented the Muggle look of the photo.
"Aww, Mum, do we have to?" Ichabod whined.
"Yes, Mrs. Weasley spent a lot of time knitting that for you. You don't have to wear it all the time if you don't want to, but for the photo you do."
Everyone in the Snape household knew not to argue with Hermione when she used that tone of voice. So, the three Snape men quickly donned their jumpers and rose to their feet.
Hermione lined them up in front of the Christmas tree and set the camera on its tripod. She turned on the timer and hurried over to stand between Severus and Ichabod. Tobias stood at the end next to Ichabod. Everyone smiled while Hermione counted down. With a click and small pouf of smoke, the camera flashed.
"Right, I'll get the thank you note written later today and send it off with the photo to Molly."
~~~SSHG~~~
Severus was sitting on the sofa with his father, reminiscing about previous Christmases in more detail when a cry of annoyance sounded from Hermione's study. Exchanging a glance with Tobias, Severus rose and went to find his wife.
"Something wrong, Hermione?" he asked through the door. He could hear her making noises of dismay.
"We can't send this photo to Molly!" Hermione said from inside the room.
"Why, what's wrong with it?"
"Did I blink?" Tobias asked from next to Severus.
Severus told his father that that wouldn't matter since Hermione had used the magical camera.
"Give me a minute," Hermione called, frustration clearly tingeing her voice.
Severus and Tobias stepped back and waited. A moment later, Hermione stepped out of the room with a frown. She handed the photo to Severus.
He glanced down and felt his lips twitch. Tobias peered over his arm and had no qualms about bursting into loud laughter. All four of them stood in front of the Christmas tree smiling. Severus' wasn't wide, but his gaze was fixed upon Hermione and his smile was clearly one of love. Hermione grinned and was shooting a teasing glance up at Severus. Ichabod was over exaggerating his smile and Tobias wore a smile of pride. It was a lovely photo actually.
If one ignored the fact that their jumpers spelled out the word 'SHIT'.
"I don't think you can convince Ichabod to wear the jumper again today, love," Severus said softly, forcing his urge to laugh like his father aside. "Though I'm sure his sentiments about it are written clearly across our chests."
That sent Tobias off again and sent Hermione off for a completely different reason. Her hair crackled and rose with the force of her anger and magic.
"This is unacceptable!" she seethed. "I refuse to send Molly a photo like this. She'll think we were making fun of her and will never send us another jumper."
Severus could hear the hurt in Hermione's voice. He could vaguely remember the times when she was a student and at odds with Harry or Ron or both and had been ignored by the Weasley Matriarch because of some slight she thought Hermione had done to her son. Granted, he'd been receiving Weasley jumpers for nearly ten years now and was pretty sure he wasn't going to think he was no longer included in the family if he didn't receive one for one year, but he kept his thoughts to himself.
"Hermione, it's easily fixed. Look, alright, everyone, change spots," he ordered the people in the photo. The image of Snape sneered, Hermione elbowed him with a laugh, Ichabod stuck out his tongue and Tobias just shook his head. But they all shifted until the curse word was gone. "See, all fixed."
He moved to hand it back to Hermione but the people in the photo suddenly moved again and put themselves back into their original positions. Severus' image gave him the bird.
Sighing, he looked at his wife. "We'll just have to make Ichabod wear his jumper again. We'll tell him the photo solution was bad and messed up the image."
"I knew I should have looked at it sooner. Maybe we should do it again with the non magical camera," Hermione suggested with a sigh.
"That might be best. Come on, I'll get Ichabod."
As he knew his son would, Ichabod complained about having to put the jumper back on for a second photo. He'd given his father a knowing look when Severus told him that the magical developing solution had messed up the first one, but Ichabod had kept his thoughts to himself.
The second photo was taken, and a third, just to be safe, and this time Ichabod stood between his parents while Tobias stood on Severus's other side.
Nobody moved in the photos.
Crisis averted.
Hermione looked at the photo for a moment and then a soft smile touched her lips. "Perfect."
The photo was sent off to the Weasley family, along with the thank you note. Severus insisted on keeping the original photo for themselves and he always grinned when 'SHIT' greeted him from the frame.
Of course, it wasn't until little Evinrude was born the following year that the 'SHITE' really hit the fan and the Snapes were sans Weasely jumpers for two years. Hermione swore off magical cameras for Christmas. Ichabod told his father it was well worth it, in his opinion. Severus just looked at the large collection of unworn jumpers in his closet and silently agreed.
