Prompt: No one could understand Harry that year when he insisted on putting this ornament (one indicated in the picture) on the Christmas tree in the burrow. But the Weasleys all eventually accepted it. Little did they know that thanks to the muggle camera Arthur gave as a gift to Fred and George, the picture of this would somehow end up in the potions master's hands...

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"Harry what are you doing?" asked Hermione as she came up next to Harry as he appeared to hang a small ornament on the tree. The Weasleys had invited Harry and Hermione to both spend the holidays with them. Overwhelmed with joy, Harry gladly accepts and Hermione couldn't say no. They had already spent three days at the burrow and in two days it would be Christmas Eve. Hermione was on her way to the kitchen when she spotted her green-eyed best friend near the tree.

"Oh, h-hey Hermione," Harry responded as he spun on the spot and faced his friend. He gave a small smile and nervously scratched the back of his neck.

"What did you hang on the tree?" she asked as she reared her neck to get a look at what he hung. Before Harry could make a move and block it from her view, she spotted it. A small ornament that was tan in colour and it was of a face. The face of their potions master. "Harry, why did you hang that up?" she asked as she stepped closer and examined it.

"Uh... it's a little hard to explain," he said as he glued his line of sight to his shoes. Hermione looked at her best friend and saw how fidgety he was. She simply shrugged and walked off, feeling Harry would take to her about it in his own time. She found the harder she pushed her friend the more he drew into himself and the harder it was to draw answers from him. Harry took one last look at the ornament he hung on a spot on the tree that was near the back, so if someone looked they wouldn't spot it unless you really looked closely. Unknown to him the Weasley twins were watching from the hallway. After Harry left they moved over to the tree trying to find what Harry was trying to hide.

"Hey, I think I found something," Fred said as he spotted an unusual ornament near the back of the tree.

"What did you find?" George asked as he stood next to his brother and looked.

"Why would he hang this up?" Fred questioned as they looked at it.

"I don't know. But you know what would be funny?"

"Sending a picture of this to the dungeon bat himself," George replied finishing his brothers thought.

"Do you have the camera?" he asked and saw his brother pull a small camera out of his pocket. As an early Christmas gift, Arthur gifted the two of them with a muggle camera. Said to go have some fun with it so he could see how the pictures would develop. Lining up the shot, Fred zoomed in just enough to snap a perfect shot of it. Going over to the printer that Hermione brought with her - said something about how she could develop photos - and within less than ten minutes the two of them had printed out a picture of the ornament. Grabbing an envelope and shoving the picture inside, they also wrote a small note saying "Merry Christmas" on it. To make matters even more strange, they decided to borrow Hedwig. Climbing the stairs they found the room Harry was sharing with Ron.

"Hey, Harry,"

"Could we possibly borrow,"

"Hedwig to send a letter to someone,"

"If we send ours they would know we sent it,"

"And we want it to be a surprise," they said going back and forth in their usual fashion.

"Sure?" Harry said with a little bit of question in his voice. Smiling the two of them made their way over the snowy white owl's cage and tied the envelope to her leg. Giving her a treat they sent her off to her destination.

"Thanks, Harry!" the two of them said at the same time and immediately left the room almost knocking into Ron.

"What did they want?" he asked as he sat down on his bed. Harry gave a shrug of his shoulders and said they wanted to borrow his owl.

Severus was at his home at Spinners End enjoying a nice quiet holiday alone. Here, he had no annoying headmaster bugging him about joining staff Christmas parties, or an equally annoying head of house who always seemed to nag him about never doing anything festive on the holidays. Here, he could be alone, get some grading done and enjoy some nice liquor. He was about to pour himself another cup of the ambered coloured liquid when he heard a tap. At first, he wasn't positive he heard it but then he heard it again, this time louder. Sighing he stood and in a few quick steps reached the window. Throwing it open he was met with the white feathers of an owl. Potters owl to be exact. He was about to slam the window shut when the owl took it upon itself and flew into his living room. Letting another sigh escape his lips he made his way over to the owl and snatched the note from its leg.

"I don't have any treats for you," he said as he ripped open the envelope. The first thing he pulled out was the note saying "Happy Christmas". Sneering at it he put it aside planning to throw it into the fire later when he pulled out the picture. His body movements stopped, including his breathing as he stared at it. He was looking at a picture of an ornament of himself hanging on a tree. Confusion raced through his body as he studied the photo. 

Beyond confused the potions master stared back at the owl. Potters to be exact. Why had the boy sent him this? He knew the boy was spending the holidays with the Weasleys because all he heard the last few days before break was about Potter and Granger were spending the holidays at the Burrow. Frowning and deciding to get to the bottom of this he decided to make a trip to the burrow tomorrow night. Shoeing the owl out of his window he sat back down and instead of an amber coloured liquid he grabbed something a little stronger. He was not doing anymore grading tonight.

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The next morning was when Ron spotted the ornament, then Ginny noticed it when Ron asked her about it, then the parents found it after the two of them asked about it. Hermione and the twins kept their mouths shut about who hung it. Though by process of elimination they found out who hung it, they kept their mouths shut about it. Soon when their eyes drifted to it on the tree they let a small smile creep onto their faces, especially Molly. She knew the potions master while growing up, he was quite an interesting character and she always held a special spot in her heart for the spy.

Harry spent that day with his friends helping Molly make Christmas sweets and explaining muggle Christmas traditions. He got an ear full of the twins completely butchering the song Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer. They were all having a wonderful time until they heard a knock at the door. Getting up, Molly made her way to the door. At first, they didn't hear anything until...

"Severus I will hear none of it. You are staying for dinner or Merlin help you I will bound you to the chair. You are thin enough as it is. Show up on my door and I'll shove a good meal down your throat," Molly Weasley said as she dragged a sour looking potions master behind her and sitting him down in the seat next to Harry.

"Severus? What are you doing here?" Arthur asked as he smiled at the man.

"Apparently I'm staying for dinner...," he growled out until he heard a throat clear.

"For Christmas. I know you try and spend it alone but for once you're gonna spend it with people around you," she said. Severus went to object until he saw Molly raise a spatula in his direction. He quickly closed his mouth and looked at Arthur.

"Seems I'm spending the night," he said his voice low. "Though I originally came to talk to Mr. Potter," he said as he turned his head and stared at the young man.

"Me? W-what for?" he asked as he panicked a little.

"Speak to me after dinner," was all he responded with. Dinner was an intense affair that was until Molly argued with Severus over about him staying for Christmas dinner.

"Severus you need to spend the holidays with people and not held up in that little office of yours," she said pointing her knife at him.

"I'll have you know I went home this year thank you very much. And I don't think any of your kids would appreciate having their potions professor spend the holidays with them," he replied keeping his eyes on the knife. When Molly Weasley got into something who knows what could happen. He still very clearly remembers being hit with a frying pan when he argued once with Molly over how to properly cook something.

"What were you planning on doing? Grading?" she mocked him. The twins let out a small laugh and got a glare from their professor.

"Teach as many classes as I do and you'll soon find all you do is grade," he responded.

"Is that your excuse of not taking care of yourself too?" she asked.

"What?"

"As I said, you are far to thin," she told him. Severus merely rolled his eyes at the woman. He was about to respond when suddenly he was hit by a forkful of potatoes. It didn't come from any of the kids. No, it came from Molly herself. His mask broke and a look of pure shock came over his features. The red-haired woman sat there with a smug look on her face.

"What in the name of Merlin was that for?" he questioned as he wiped his face.

"My gift to you this year. Food. You're going to gain some pounds by the time you leave me, young man," she said. Severus merely let out a bark of a laugh.

"Young, you're losing your eyesight," he said as he returned to his meal. Molly merely laughed at him and those at the table could have sworn they saw a small smile grace the dungeon bats face before it vanished as quick as it came. Dinner from there seemed to be more relaxed, except for Harry. He was still shaking in his seat trying to figure out what the potions master came all the way here to talk about.

When dinner was over Severus went into the living room followed by Harry. He glanced at the tree and right away his eyes landed on the small little ornament. Walking over to it he picked it off of the tree and dangled it in front of the young man.

"Mr. Potter, care to explain what this is?" He asked.

"H-how do you know about that?" Was all he could manage as a reply. Severus took the note and photograph out of his pocket and handed it it the young man.

"Your owl delivered this to me," he said. Harry stared at the picture. The muggle picture.

"Those mother-"

"Language Potter,"

"Forgive me sir, but I'm not the one who sent this," he said as he put the picture down.

"Well, who sent it?"

"Let's just say when I confirm it, the Weasley family tree will be missing two branches," he said. All Severus did in reply is raise an eyebrow.

"That still does not answer my question now does it," he said taking a step closer to the boy, "why do you have this,"

Being this close to the potions master Harry took in his sent. Potions and their different ingredients and also a small hint of lavender. The sent flooded his brain and without thinking he grabbed the front of the potions masters robes and kissed him. When he pulled away he was looking at the face of a shocked potions master.

"I-I like you sir. A lot. Have for a few years now and when I heard of a shop that made costume decorations and so I got one of you. No one was supposed to figure out. I know what you think of me and I know you'll never give me a chance but know, I love you. Severus," he said and before he could reply took off towards his room.

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Christmas morning at the Weasleys' was a chaotic sight. Presents and wrapping paper were flying around. Everyone was laughing and having fun in the living room. Even Severus, mostly because Molly wouldn't let him retreat to the kitchen. Surprisingly Molly quickly threw together a small goody bag for the potions master filled with different sweets and treats. He kindly thanked her and sat on the couch waiting for the headache to set in from all the noise. He excused himself to get a cup of coffee and retreated to the solitude of the kitchen. That was until he heard a pair of feet shuffle into the kitchen with him.

"Potter," he said when he turned around and faced him. Harry was holding a small box wrapped in green paper.

"I can tell this is from you. I recognize your handwriting after so many years," he said.

"And yet you did not open it?" He asked not completely surprised.

"I wanted to give you yours first," he said and stepped forward handing him a small package wrapped in red. Severus looked at it for a short while before gently tearing back the wrapping paper to reveal a small black velvet box. Lifting the lid, he was met with a silver chain. On the end of that silver chain was a key. 

"What is this?" he asked as he lifted the key from the box and watched it gleam in the light.

"That's to your second present. Which is back in the living room. I didn't know if you would except the first gift or not. If you didn't I would have had to change the second gift a little bit," Harry said. Severus stared at the key before placing it in his pocket, showing he accepts it. Harry let a smile spread across his face before he tore into his own gift. He too was met with a black velvet box. Lifting the lid instead of finding a key, he found a silver chain and attached to that chain was a small little emerald green stone coiled around in silver wire. Gently taking it out of the box he watched as it sparkled. He looked to the man in front of him and found him to be looking everywhere in the kitchen but him. Daring as always Harry took a step forward and planted his lips on his. He was about to pull away before he felt an arm snake around his waist and pull him closer. He, in turn, wrapped his own arms around the mans neck. They remained in this position for a while before pulling away, but not to much. Harry just laid his head on the mans shoulder. After a while Harry looked up to him and with another kiss whispered, "Happy Christmas Severus,"

In return Severus plated his own kiss on the boys lips and replied, "Happy Christmas Harry," Unknown to them a pair of red-haired twins took another photo, and this would be gifted to the two once one of them maned up and put a ring on the other ones finger. 

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Sorry this is a little late after Christmas, holidays got crazy for me. This was for my friend