Christmas
Christmas came more quickly than Severus had ever remembered. Perhaps it was due to the fact that he was actually enjoying himself this semester, as opposed to previous years. He was loathe to admit the reason why… He was however, enjoying the company of a certain professor more and more. He couldn’t shake the feeling that she was hiding something deeper. This feeling made it difficult for Severus to really trust Sarah, so he generally kept her at arms length. He noticed that she also kept herself at a distance from the other professors, engaging in conversations and volunteering aid when needed, but never divulging any unnecessary personal information. She did not have any deep friendships with anyone on staff, however everyone loved her.
During Christmas break, Sarah and Severus had both volunteered to stay behind and keep an eye on the students who had not gone home to their families for the holidays. Severus had no family to go home to, so he preferred to continue with his brewing and prepare for the upcoming semester, but he questioned why Sarah had decided to stay back. When he had asked her, she had waved him off, stating that she preferred to help where she was needed.
They spent their days brewing together after curfew while the children were in their beds and otherwise, Severus did not see much of Sarah. She had decided to truly dive in with her role as guardian through the holidays and had planned a number of activities for the children. The children were all pleasantly surprised when invited to join in on snowball fights, christmas crafts, and Sarah even taught a handful of keen students spells to make the lights on the great hall’s Christmas tree twinkle and change colors. Severus rolled his eyes at the glee on the children’s faces, knowing he was grateful that it was Sarah and not himself having to deal with the little whelps. He noticed that there was a significant decrease in behavior issues and mischief during this break than others, and he grew to understand that it was because Sarah had ensured the students were too busy to be bored. He secretly admired her forethought, but he refused to compliment her on it.
On Christmas morning, Severus was sitting in his robe sipping on a cup of tea, when he heard a light knock on the door. When Severus waved the door open with his want, he saw Sarah on the other side. She was dressed in her casual clothing looking decidedly muggle. She had on faded jeans and dirty white converse sneakers. She wore a baggy deep blue knit sweater with a snowflake pattern throughout. Her hair was tied back in a simple low bun up off her neck and a couple of strands had come loose around her face. The effect had Severus blushing. “Merry Christmas Severus” she said softly. Severus noticed at that moment that she was holding a tin. The tin was red and adorned with little green Christmas trees. Around the edges of the lid, he could see the edges of wax paper that had been folded over the edges of the tin. “May I?” she questioned, and he nodded. She stepped into the small kitchen and laid the tin in front of Severus on the table. He opened the tin to find it filled to the brim with ginger bread cookies. They were not cut into little people, they had been cut into stars, moons, and suns. Some of the cookies were misshapen and the edges were slightly darker on some than others. He could tell that they had been made the muggle way. “Did you make these?” he asked. Sarah nodded and smiled. “The house elves let me make use of their oven reluctantly. I had to explain that baking is a Christmas tradition for me, and that it makes me happy to do so. Some even decided to try and learn the recipe” she chuckled. Severus took out a moon-shaped cookie and took a bite. The burst of cinnamon on his taste buds made him think of his childhood. While he hadn’t had the best childhood, he remembered when Lilly would appear at his door with homemade cookies that had been made by her mother. He had always loved them. He missed her desperately then but shook it off as he took another bite. “These are delicious, thank you. They’ll go perfectly with my tea” said Severus as he gestured for Sarah to join him. They sat in companionable silence while sipping their tea and munching on the homemade cookies before bracing themselves for the day with the Children.
Towards the end of break, he often noticed Sarah seated at the head table during meals with a furrowed brow when looking at the children. He finally brought himself to ask on the last morning of break what she was thinking about. “It’s nothing” she stated, while returning her eyes to her plate. Before he had a chance to dig any further, the great hall doors opened and students began to filter in. The train had arrived. Christmas was over.
Classes began again to Severus’ dismay. He always found the winter months harder. He suspected the lack of sunshine or warm weather made it more difficult for the teachers and students. That and the additional stress of preparing for examinations had students in a constant worried frenzy, especially with his Newt level students. With examinations, and the choir preparing for a concert, he saw Sarah less often for brewing. He found that he missed it.
One afternoon after Severus had finished classes, Sarah came into his office, knocking at the door in her soft way. Severus waved her in. She looked distracted as she sat down on the chair opposite Severus. Suddenly she looked up at Severus jumping in quickly as if in mid thought, “Have you noticed anything unusual about Joseph Finch?” She looked disturbed… Severus had to think. He couldn’t remember this child and after wracking his brains, he remembered a quiet second year Hufflepuff student. He was unremarkable. His grades were neither high, nor low. His potions were acceptable at best. He thought further. The boy was small for his age. He always looked a bit frightened, although Severus frightened a number of students in the school, which he enjoyed. Snapping himself back into the present, he looked at Sarah. “He’s a small unremarkable boy. Why do you ask?” Sarah sighed. “I’m worried about him. I think there might be something deeper going on with the boy. Nobody seems to think anything seems off with him though, so I feel as though my hands are tied,” she trailed off. Severus prided himself on helping students who were struggling, however this boy had escaped his notice. “What makes you think so?” Severus asked. “He flinches when he is approached too quickly. He is smaller than the rest of the children in his year, and it is clear that he is not sleeping well. He has dark shadows under his eyes. I’m not sure if he is being bullied, or if something is going on at home but I have been keeping an eye on him and I’m concerned. I was wary before the holidays however, when he stayed at the castle, it made me think deeper. He has parents, so why doesn’t he go home to them at Christmas?” She sighed looking defeated. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m reading too far into it, but I just wanted to bring it up in case you had noticed anything.” Severus sat for a moment thinking. Finally he said “I’ll keep an eye on him and see if I notice anything now that I’ve been made aware of a potential for concern.” Sarah nodded then looking deep in thought before rising from her chair and distractedly heading for the door. At the last moment, she turned and smiled sadly at Severus, thanking him softly as she left.
In the weeks following this conversation, Severus was loathe to admit that he had missed the signs. This child was definitely showing signs of abuse. He was flinching when touched by friends or when approached unawares. He often would try to mediate arguments between friends, always becoming quiet when things got too loud in a space. He did everything in his power not to be seen. He would always be sort of tucked behind classmates or friends, or even pieces of furniture. He made sure to do his work to a level that he would not be singled out in any way. Upon closer inspection, Severus even wondered if he was trying not to do well so to not be noticed either.
He mentioned his suspicions to Sarah late one night after an evening patrol. She stood in her doorway listening to his suspicions and he could see her shields slip. He could feel anger radiating off of her. “That’s it. I’ve had it. I’m speaking with Professor Dumbledor about this” she said suddenly and left her room with the door open, walking down the hallway towards the headmaster’s office. Surprised at the sudden action, Severus made sure to close her door, and followed quickly after her. He noticed as she walked up the spiral staircase to Dumbledor’s office that she had not even thought to put on shoes or socks. She had just walked the length of the school’s stone floors with bare feet. He shuddered at the pain she must have been in, however, she showed no sign of discomfort.
As the door opened, Professor Dumbledor rose to greet Sarah and Severus, but before he got a chance to speak, Sarah started in on him. “I told you! Something is not right with Joseph Finch!” she exclaimed while marching further into his office. Pointing her finger at Dumbledor she continued, “I don’t know why you refuse to act on these suspicions! In the muggle world, you are obligated by law to report if you feel that a child is in danger. I feel that he is in DANGER! Why won’t you let me DO anything about it?” she roared. Severus was impressed. He had frequently battled Dumbledor’s passiveness on the protection of children. Something inside him stirred while watching Sarah go to battle for the little boy. He was aware that Joseph’s father was a high-up ministry official, so he assumed that Dumbledor was avoiding this conflict for political reasons.
Dumbledor threw his hands up in a gesture of peace before sighing dramatically. Placatingly, he asked Sarah and Severus to sit. “I will NOT sit! Professor Snape agrees with me that something is off about the child. Something must be done. He cannot be made to live in circumstances which place him at risk!” Dumbledor spoke up then, “His father is in a position of power at the ministry. I cannot take action against him.” He sighed dramatically then. Sarah rolled her eyes. “Of course you can’t.” She stated bluntly before whirling around and leaving the room with Severus and Dumbledor staring blankly at where she had been standing. Dumbledor calmly looked at Severus. “I admire her passion,” he stated, before returning to the book he had been looking at before being so abruptly interrupted. Severus, not knowing truly what had just happened, dumbly turned and walked out of the office without a word, leaving Dumbledor behind.
He cast a “point me” spell and tracked Sarah to the Library. When he walked in, he could see her in her pajamas, her hair tangled and sweeping across her back as she looked frantically through a number of shelves before nodding in approval and pulling a book off the shelf. She turned and jumped with a start upon seeing Severus standing there. Her hand shot up to her throat, her eyes wide, as she gasped. She stepped back and Severus was worried she might trip, so he reached toward her. She jolted backwards in reaction and her back hit off of a book shelf. The shelf shook and a number of books tumbled but Severus was quicker. He waved his wand and returned the books to their rightful places. Then he stood quietly while Sarah composed herself. Severus was surprised to see her so emotional and uncoordinated. She leaned against the shelf that she had hit and took several deep breaths still staring wide eyed at Severus. She blinked and seemed to come back to herself then, whispering “I’m sorry Sev, I didn’t see you there. You gave me such a fright!” He nodded in apology and she made her way then to a table with the book she had found and sank down in the nearest chair.
Severus sat across from her, taking stock of her reaction. It wasn’t what he had anticipated. She was always so calm. This had been a very unusual reaction from her. His thoughts were interrupted abruptly when she practically jumped out of her seat, triumphantly shouting “Ah HA! Here it is!” She excitedly pointed at a specific paragraph in the book she had been looking at gesturing at Severus to have a look. He stood and walked to her side of the table bending down to look at the page. The book was a resource on magical law. He looked closely at the words and realized what he was looking at. It was a solution. The book clearly stated that if a head of house believed a child to be at risk, they could report the concern to the ministry. The ministry would launch an official investigation. It would be required. One could not bypass the investigation no matter how high up the parent investigated was. Severus looked at the page more thoroughly. It was fool proof. It had clearly been designed to protect children who were living with the sacred 28 who were experiencing abuse. Severus could not believe that he had not found such a resource sooner. He suspected a law like that had likely been hidden from the public to avoid exposing the ancient families.
Sarah looked at him then. Her eyes were shining. He could feel a sense of desperation wafting off of her as he saw the plea in her eyes. She did not have to say it out loud. The book clearly stated a head of house had to be the one to report the issue. She was not a head of house. It had to be him. “Of course I will,” he said without hesitation. She practically beamed up at him, making his heart flutter. He had never seen her look that way before. He thought sheepishly that he wouldn’t mind having her look at him that way more often. Her look darkened then. Her shoulders fell. “The Headmaster obviously does not want this report to happen. I have no doubt that he knows of this law.” Severus straightened then, grabbing the book. “Then we must go around him,” he stated confidently, surprising himself at his rebelliousness against the man who had protected him from Azkaban all those years ago.
Severus strode to the door with the book in hand as Sarah hastily scurried after him. He walked quickly to his quarters and let himself and Sarah in. He walked to the table and slammed the book down. He turned to see Sarah looking at him then with wide eyes. Her arms were hugging herself. Her hair was in disarray and he looked down to see that her toes were starting to turn blue. She was too agitated to notice. “Sit,” he said gesturing to his couch. She just stood staring at him. “But what are you planning to do about Joseph?” she said quietly, eyes lowering to stare through Severus to the book on the table. She had begun to shiver. “I will tell you once you sit you daft woman” he said sharply. She jolted out of her stupor then looking a little taken aback at his tone; wary even. Severus sighed. “Apologies. I’ve just noticed that you have no shoes and your toes are turning blue.” The adrenaline seemed to drain her body then as she glanced at her feet. She walked to the couch and sank into the cushions tiredly, pulling her feet up and hugging her knees to her chin. Severus cast a warming charm on her feet and summoned a blanket from his closet to drape over her. He went to his fireplace and sent a message to the kitchens requesting biscuits and tea. He then pulled a kitchen chair over to the couch and sat down to face her. She looked up at him expectantly. “I know the Headmaster’s schedule this week. He will be attending a Wisemgot meeting tomorrow afternoon. I can have a prefect supervise my class briefly and use that time to floo the ministry from his office. His office’s fireplace is the only floo that has an open outgoing connection,” he finished. “That’s brilliant. Thank you Sev” she said softly. She had begun to shorten his name. It reminded him of Lilly and when she used to playfully call him the nickname when they were children. As he went to reply, he noticed her eyes sliding closed. She was tired. He set her teacup aside and dimmed the lights. They could talk more once he had made his move.