Another Dark Star

A/N: Sorry it’s a short one, but I’ve been struggling to write at all, and hope that this festive special will help tempt the muse home, despite the snowy weather! Yuletide greetings to all, and a special Frohe Weinachten to Coffeeonthepatio for giving me the arsekicking to move this story along!

Chapter 65


Sadira Snape stretched her arm above her head as she stirred and immediately regretted it, pulling the chilled appendage back under the comfort and warmth of the eiderdown. The brief cold disturbed her enough to make her wake more fully and she tried to turn over, smiling when she found herself incapable of moving due to her husband’s firm grip. Instead she satisfied herself with pressing closer into his spooning embrace and entwining her fingers with those on the hand he pressed against her abdomen. As she snuggled into her happy cocoon, she felt as though she could happily stay there all day. It was not to be however.

“MUUU-MMYYY!” a joyful, and small, voice called from down the hall.

A chuckle sounded in her ear, warm breath tickling her ear.

“You’d better attend to that.” Severus said amusedly. Sadie huffed with mock irritation and reached for her worn but warm blue dressing gown; just tying it round her waist as their bedroom door was flung open and a human cannonball launched itself onto the bed, and her husband who still lay there. She hid a giggle as her son collided with his father’s ribs with a painful ‘oof!’

“Daddy, Daddy, Santa came! Presents!” Hadrian squeaked excitedly.

Black eyes glared at Sadira for having managed to escape the small and pointy projectile but she just raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow back at him.

“You were the one who couldn’t be bothered getting out of the nice warm bed.” She said with a smile in her tone. Severus ruffled his son’s hair affectionately.

“Come along hen, and you may open your gifts.” He sighed, abandoning all hope of an enjoyable lie in with his wife in peace.

“Don’t you two start without Izzy!” Sadie warned, turning to the children’s bedroom to collect her daughter. Now Isabella had turned one, the whole house managed to get some sleep, as she had finally settled into a normal routine, and Sadie had deemed it time for her to share a room with her brother.

Winky had done an excellent job with the Yuletide decorations. Traditional greenery had been artfully placed on the mantel, and tasteful garlands adorned the walls and ceiling, along with a large and wonderfully scented pine in the corner. The first Christmas as a family in Spinner’s End. The aroma of Christmas dinner was already beginning to waft from the kitchen, and breakfast had not even been served yet.

Christmas cards from neighbours and new friends were perched on bookshelves where space could be found, and those from family were tucked away on a small table; the sentiments still painful. Sadie had, after much internal debate, returned the courtesy. She had not communicated with the family since before the final battle and had decided, after discussing with Severus, that it may soon be time to make amends. They had not yet agreed to reveal his survival to even the most trusted of their former associates, and so the cards had been signed ‘from the Snape family’ with ambiguity. It had been difficult sending them to the Weasleys, knowing there was one less seated around the great feast this Christmas, and it had been very odd to reply to the card signed ‘Aberforth and Minerva Dumbledore’, but it was a beginning.


After managing to get the children to eat half a slice of toast each to appease Winky, they all sat on the Oriental rug by the fire to open their gifts. In mere minutes, the floor was a mass of scrunched wrapping paper and a vast array of toys, magical ad Muggle, sat before the children’s wonder-filled eyes. Sadira had rolled her eyes and hid a smirk when Hadrian discovered that ‘Santa’ had brought him a play Potions kit, complete with collapsible lightweight cauldron and blunt knife ‘with a patented no-harm charm.’ She had almost asked how Severus had managed to purchase it without being discovered, but decided that would be a stupid question to the greatest Wizarding spy of the twentieth century.

For each other, the couple had purchased the usual mum-and-dad type gifts; warm clothing, scent, socks for Severus and slippers for Sadira. No romance had been lost, but after almost 3 years of marriage, they had gotten to the comfort stage of their relationship. From the children, however, Sadira had surprised Severus by having a portrait of his son and daughter taken by the photographers in the Muggle shopping centre. The image of his little treasures/horrors in their best clothes, sat smiling and not pulling each other’s hair put a soft smile on his face.

While the toddlers tested the durability of their new playthings, Severus and Sadira curled up together on the sofa with a glass of mulled wine and one of Winky’s criminally delicious mince pies. Sadira half-heartedly vowed to make her new year’s resolution a diet, as she was beginning to struggle with her weight again, with Winky taking such good care of them. She noted with a smile that Severus looked better than he had in years; the stress of the war, and Hogwarts in general, was falling away. He was no longer as painfully thin as he had been, and the lies on his face looked less severe. There was a hint of a smile pulling at his lips and the air of nervous tension was gone. Obsidian eyes glittered as they met hers.

“What are you thinking, my love?” he asked softly, his voice as rich and delicious as dark chocolate.

“I’m thinking what a happy Christmas this is.” She replied with a contented sigh. He pulled her closer to him and pressed a soft but insistent kiss to her lips, cherishing their closeness and solitude.

“Yes, a very happy Christmas.” He concurred, assisting Izzy in her climb to her parents’ perch. ‘The happiest I’ve ever known.’ His mind added.