Two

JKR's, not mine.

Many thanks to pyjamapants for the beta.

From her seat at the breakfast table, Hermione watched the snowflakes outside drifting gently downwards, joining the several feet of snow already on the ground. 'This is completely ridiculous. It's been snowing for a week now. We don't get that much snow. Especially not for Christmas.' She brandished her Guardian towards the window. 'The roads are blocked, the trains stopped running, and the whole country has come to a standstill.'

Lucius looked up briefly and shrugged before he continued to read his own paper.

'Did Severus say when he'd be here?' Hermione asked, still looking at the snow.

'No,' came the muffled reply from behind the society pages of the Daily Prophet.

'But he is coming, right?'

Lucius lowered his paper. 'I was rather adamant about requiring his assistance.'

'What's he still doing at Hogwarts anyway? Term ended yesterday.'

'He said something about an important potions experiment that needed his attention.'

'Uh-huh. I suspect...'

Whatever Hermione had been about to say was interrupted by the dining room Floo. A moment later, a flustered Snape stepped out of it, his hair in disarray, looking even paler than usual.

'Good morning, Severus. Glad you could join us,' Lucius drawled.

'I fail to see what is good about this morning. I've been up since five.'

Hermione quickly quelled her grin. Severus wasn't a morning person. 'Coffee?'

'Hmph.'

She took that as a "yes" and levitated the coffee pot, a cup and saucer over to him.

He poured himself a cup and relaxed visibly after he'd taken a sip.

'Whatever made you get up at five?' Lucius asked.

Severus levelled a glare in his direction. 'Have you looked outside recently?'

Lucius obviously thought it prudent not to reply but to look concerned instead.

'Oh, dear.'

Both men turned to look at Hermione.

'If there are no trains, that means the Hogwarts Express...'

'...isn't running either. Too much sodding snow on the sodding tracks,' Severus finished for her.

'But shouldn't the students have gone home yesterday?' Hermione asked.

'Minerva thought the tracks might be clear today.' Severus's sour expression clearly indicated what he thought of the Headmistress's optimism.

'I take it they weren't,' Lucius ventured.

Hermione quickly asked, 'How did you get the students home?'

'Flooed them from our offices. Either directly home or to the Leaky Cauldron. Do you have any idea how long it takes to Floo an entire school out through four fireplaces?' Severus rubbed his eyes and visibly stifled a yawn before he took another sip of his coffee and pulled Lucius's abandoned Daily Prophet towards him.

Two cups of coffee later, he asked, 'What was it you wanted, Lucius?'

'Actually, it was Hermione who needed help with something.'

'Yes?' Severus looked at Hermione.

She glared in Lucius's direction whilst she decided on how best to approach the matter.

'We thought...'

'Well?'

'Wethoughtwecouldpickourchristmastreethismorning,' she mumbled.

'Sorry?'

'I thought we could go and pick our Christmas tree this morning. I took the day off.'

Severus's eyes narrowed. 'I came here after merely four hours of sleep, so that we can go traipsing through the grounds? In this weather? To select a tree?'

'A Christmas tree. Our Christmas tree.' Lucius had apparently decided that it was safe to join the conversation.

'There are warming charms,' Hermione added.

Severus leant back in his chair and crossed his arms in front of him. 'Christmas trees are humbug. As is Christmas or Yule or whatever you want to call it.'

'We could pick up some hellebore along the way. I know a few spots where you'd find them under the snow. Don't you always say they're so hard to come by?' Lucius suggested.

'Very subtle, Lucius. You two are not going to give in until I say yes, are you?' Despite his words, Severus looked slightly mollified. 'Let's get on with it, then.'

*****

Lucius led them through the Malfoy grounds, clearing their way through the thick layer of snow with his wand. They stopped a few times, so that Severus could extract some Hellebore leaves from beneath the snow.

After half an hour, they reached a small grove of Silver firs. 'What do you think of this one?' Lucius indicated a tall tree right in the middle.

Hermione squinted up the tree. 'Looks all right to me.' She turned to Severus.

He, too, looked the tree up and down. 'It's thinning out at the top.'

'How about this one?' Hermione pointed to the tree next to it.

'Too small,' Lucius objected.

Several trees were dismissed because they were too small, too big or thinning out in the middle, the bottom or the top. Eventually, only a single row of trees was left.

'That one, then.' With a wave of his hand, Lucius indicated a middle-sized tree at the back of the grove.

'Let's have a closer look.' Without waiting to see if the other two followed him, Severus stomped over to the tree.

He peered at it. 'It's a bit scrawny, but it might do.'

Hermione slipped her arm through his and Lucius's. 'I think it's perfect.'

She and Severus pointed their wands at the ground, and the tree obediently extracted its roots from the frozen earth until it hovered a few inches over the ground. All three of them took turns levitating the tree back to the house and into the former drawing room, now redecorated and usually referred to as "living room". At first, Lucius had winced at the plebeian designation, but none of the three cared for the associations that came with the room's former function.

The house-elves had already provided a silver-coloured pot, decorated with a red bow, and filled it with earth. Lucius carefully levelled the tree into it. With a few flicks of his wand, the roots were covered and the fir stood stable.

After all three of them had taken off their cloaks, it turned out that, despite warming and drying charms, the lower parts of their robes were soaked. Hermione waved her wand in a complex pattern, producing a stream of hot air from the tip. Steam rose from her robes as she dried them out. Severus followed suit.

'We could always get rid of those,' Lucius said, looking pointedly at Hermione's and Severus's robes.

'We could,' Hermione agreed, ignoring the delicious little lurch in her stomach Lucius's suggestion had produced. 'But then we'll never get the tree decorated this afternoon.'

'Besides, I have to be back at Hogwarts at six,' Severus pointed out.

Hermione quickly looked at Lucius. His face didn't betray any reaction to what Severus had just said.

'Well, lunch then it is.' At Lucius's words, a tray materialised on the table, filled with various sandwiches, a bowl of crisps, fresh fruit, a plate of hobnobs, a jug of water, and a pot of black coffee for Severus.

*****

After they'd eaten their fill, the tray vanished. Only the coffee pot was left, plus two cups of tea for Lucius and Hermione that materialised in the very spot where the tray had been. The delicate scent of fresh fir filled the whole room, and the eyes of all three turned now and again to the tree in the corner. On the sideboard next to the door, the little witch and the white dragon had taken up residence with the motionless nutcracker.

Finally, Hermione put down her empty cup. 'Where did we put the boxes with the decorations we selected, again?'

'In my study,' Lucius replied.

'Severus, would you help me levitate them over?'

With a long-suffering sigh, Severus rose and followed Hermione.

Soon, they were again surrounded by boxes filled with glittering baubles (wizarding and Muggle) in various colours, fairy lights, and tinsel.

Lucius picked up the string of fairy lights. 'Severus, would you help me?'

Severus murmured something that sounded suspiciously like "humbug", but he took out his wand and helped Lucius to place the fairy lights on the tree.

'Do we want to stick to specific colours?' Hermione asked, rifling through the boxes.

'What do you think?' Lucius turned to Severus who had begun to look through the boxes as well.

'No, let's just choose the things we like.' Severus had taken out a silver glass bauble and was carefully levitating it to a branch of the tree.

'Fine with me,' Lucius said and Hermione nodded her assent.

*****

It had grown dark outside by the time they had finished decorating the tree as each bauble, each little figure, each string of tinsel had to be inspected closely, its position on the tree discussed and the result admired. The only thing that remained was the silver and gold star for the top.

'Severus will you do the honours?' Lucius asked.

Severus nodded. During the course of the afternoon, a soft pink had spread over his usually pale features, and his expression had softened considerably. Now his eyes were shining as he directed the star up to the top of the tree.

'It's beautiful.' Hermione gave Severus a kiss.

Lucius did the same before he said, 'Let's have a glass of mulled wine whilst we decide what we want for supper.'

Severus's expression froze, his posture went rigid. 'I have to get back to Hogwarts. I'll see you on Boxing day.' Without waiting for an answer, he took a pinch of Floo powder from the mantelpiece, threw it into the flames and was gone.

Hermione and Lucius stared after him, then they looked at each other. Hermione felt like a ball of lead had dropped to the bottom of her stomach. 'It won't be the same without him,' she said, 'I hope plan B works.'

Lucius nodded. 'It's a good plan. Let's continue with our preparations.'

As Hermione went upstairs, she noticed that the elves had put up wreaths of holly throughout the manor and wound strings of fairy lights round the banister. The sheer beauty of it made her feel warm and festive, despite the niggling worry about Severus.

After she had changed into fresh robes, she went downstairs again. Lucius, too, had put on different robes, and he smelled very nice, Hermione thought as she snuggled up to his side on the sofa, a glass of mulled wine in her hand.

'Are you hungry?' he murmured into her ear.

'I...'

At that moment the flames in the fireplace turned green.