Christmas was coming soon and the warm, joyous feeling of the holiday was already upon them. The grounds of Hogwarts school were covered in several feet of snow and the windows of the building displayed frost. The lake was frozen solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban.

No one could wait for the holidays to start. The Slytherins were especially excited to return from the freezing dungeons and the chilly classrooms to their warm beds at home.

Harry felt sorry for himself when he signed his name on the sheet for students who would be staying at Hogwarts during the holidays. He was the only Slytherin, besides two upper year students, staying to study for NEWTS, who wouldn't be returning home. Draco had offered him to stay at his family's manor during the break, saying his father would be honored to allow him into their home, but Harry turned down the offer, insisting that it was too much of a hassle to get his guardians' permission in order to come with them. Hermione and Neville would also be returning home so he wouldn't be able to look forward to study group during the break.

When they left the dungeons at the end of Potions, they found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that Hagrid was behind it.

"Uh, that's a nice tree you got there, Hagrid," Harry said, gesturing at the tree.

"Thanks, Harry. Picked it myself down in the forest. Some o' the branches fell off on the way here, but it's still a beauty," Hagrid said, looking proud of himself.

"Yeah, uh, it's spectacular, now come on Harry," Draco said, pulling Harry in the direction towards the library.

Ever since Hagrid had blurted out some suspicious information regarding Nicolas Flamel the night they last visited, Harry and Draco had been curiously seeking out information about the man. Draco swore that the name sounded far too familiar and was getting frustrated that he couldn't think of where he'd heard it before. When Harry last saw Hermione, surrounded by a mountain of books and notes, she suggested that they search the library for any books that could give them the answers they need.

Draco and Harry entered the library and Draco dragged him through each aisle, muttering to himself and shaking his head while he scanned the shelves of books. They had already looked through a good majority of the books on famous wizards and books on great developmental discovery in Wizardry, but they found no answers to the nagging question of who the man was. Harry suggested that they'd have Hermione help them look, but Draco refused to be with her saying she was too bossy and nagging. Fortunately, Draco didn't catch Harry mumbling under his breath of who else that sounded like.

They came out of the library fourty-five minutes later with no information regarding who Nicolas Flamel was, but they did learn some interesting facts about Newt Scamander and the evolution of Transfiguration. Draco told Harry that he'd search for books in his home library, bragging about how large it is and how many more books it held compared to the school's library. Harry just rolled his eyes and chuckled, suggesting they head to lunch and discuss more there.

~le time skip~

The day came for the students of Hogwarts to go back home and spend their holidays with family if they weren't staying behind. Harry was disappointed when he woke up and saw all his dorm mates packing their things. He hadn't realized how happy he was with his new friends and was just getting hit with the realization that he'd have to fall back into the pit of loneliness during the break. He hadn't realized how attached he'd become to the feeling of being wanted and liked. He would miss them greatly.

Before he knew it, Harry was walking with Draco and Daphne down to the station. He snuggled up into his oversized coat and frowned down at his shoes. He purposely walked slow so he didn't have be alone any quicker than he would like. When they finally reached the train, Harry helped Draco and Daphne load their trunks on. Daphne smiled brightly at him.

"I wanted to say Happy Christmas! I really do hope you like the present I got you," she told him, walking back onto the train.

Harry blushed bashfully and was very surprised to hear that he would be receiving a gift. He made a mental note to use one of the old shop catalogues he had sitting by his bed and order his friends gifts through owl post.

Draco hopped back down and grinned at Harry. He offered a hand and Harry shook it, also grinning.

"Enjoy the holiday, Harry. Do write to me during the break and make sure you research about, well, you know, in the library as I'll be doing the same back at the manor. I'll bring any books that I find information in to Hogwarts when I return. Well, until then," Draco said, walking back onto the train.

"Until then."

Both Daphne and Draco gave a final wave to Harry and went off the find a compartment as the train's whistle went off. A puff of smoke filtered throughout the air and the train took off down the tracks. Harry waved at the train until he could no longer see the shape of it and he stood at the edge of the platform, immediately feeling lonely. He was ushered back towards Hogwarts by Hagrid and he snuggled deeper into his coat, already counting down the days until break ended.

~le we don't need time skip notices but I'm doing them anyway because I'm a walnut~

During the official start of the holiday break, Harry decided to start being more productive. He ordered a bunch of random things from the catalogues and sincerely hoped that it would be good enough for his friends and year mates. He got Hermione a book on famous female witches of the twentieth century, Draco a large tin of hair gel, all of the Slytherin first year girls a bag of lollies, and the rest of his dorm mates a box of chocolate frogs. He even splurged on getting all of his professors a personalized stationary kit and Hagrid a large box of assorted candies.

He started a work schedule for himself to study and complete homework during the break. He was very proud of it and was sure that Hermione would be proud of his efforts as well. He tried his best to make a trip to the library after breakfast every morning to search for information, but he was afraid of Madam Pince becoming suspicious of him constantly visiting the library and leaving empty handed, so he start checking out random books to avoid any suspicion. He was glad he started doing this as he found a lot of the books he was checking out were actually interesting. He hoped to be randomly questioned on the anatomy of a Hippogriff or famous Hufflepuffs so he could supply the questioner with his bit of knowledge. He wondered if Hermione felt as satisfied with learning new things as he was.

Harry spent a majority of his day in the Slytherin common room sitting by the fire and reading. He had continuesly exchanged letters with his friends and didn't feel as lonely as he thought he would feel. He tried his best not to leave the dormitory as to avoid crossing paths with Weasley, who was staying for the holidays as well. He only left to go to breakfast, sometimes the library, and dinner, opting out going to lunch in order to create more study time. After the first three days of skipping lunch, a tray of food would appear next to him while he was studying in the common room. He wondered who even bothered to do that for him. Madam Pomfrey? Maybe, he thought.

On Christmas Eve, Harry fell asleep on an armchair by the fire. He was very excited for his first Christmas away from Privet Drive. He was anxious in anticipation of the promised gift from Daphne. When he woke up, he noticed a blanket thrown over him and wondered who put it on him. He immediately lost interest in that thought when he saw the pile of presents stacked next to the chair. He tore through each one, smiling happily as he examined the contents of each package.

Although he mostly received little chocolates, he was extremely grateful and joyful over the presents. Hermione got him a broom care kit and a book on flying technique. He smiled and flipped through the pages quickly, promising himself to read it later that night. Draco had gotten him a thick green sweater. Harry immediately put it on over his clothes and hugged himself. Daphne had given him a basket of preserved flowers with supplied items to make flower crowns with. Harry smiled and picked up the basket, being amazed by the scent of fresh flowers it gave off. He had also received a roughly cut wooden flute from Hagrid which sounded a bit like an owl when he tried playing it.

When Harry had thought he went through all of his gifts, he noticed a wrapped parcel at the bottom of all the torn wrappings. He picked it up and examined the parcel, looking for a note from who sent it. He didn't find one and shrugged, opening the gift to see what it contained.

Something fluid and silvery grey went slithering to the floor where it lay in gleaming folds. Harry gasped and picked the shining, silvery cloth off the floor. It was strange to touch, like water woven into material. He went and placed it on his lap and jumped when he saw his legs vanish.

"Woah," he said in fascination.

He got up and dashed to the nearest mirror, pulling the cloak around him and over his head, watching as he vanishes as the cloth covers him. He played around with the cloak before going back to his spot by the fire and folding it up and placing it back in its box. Harry only then noticed a note on the floor that must've fallen out when he picked up the cloak. In loopy handwriting that he had never seen before were the following words:

Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well.

A Very Merry Christmas to you

There was no signature and Harry stared at the note for a few seconds more before putting it back in the light box it came in with the cloak. He decided to leave it be until Draco and Hermione came back, and then he'd start worrying about where and whom it came from

He sat there and just stared at his gifts with a happy smile plastered on his face. Although he was still thinking about the mysterious cloak, he couldn't help but continuing to gaze at all the gifts he received.

~

The Potions master sighed to himself as he trudged from the infirmary to the dungeons; Madam Pomfrey had insisted that he deliver Potter his morning nutrient potion. She said something about Muggle raised children getting terrified from their first encounter with House Elves and suggested that since he was already on his way to the dungeons, that he hand deliver the Potter boy his potion.

Severus didn't hate the boy per se, but he did hate the fact that the boy inherited his father's trouble making skills and the same messy look his father had too. He's pretty sure the only reason he hasn't tried to chuck the child was the fact that he's Lily's son too. Although he's the carbon copy of his imbecile of a father, he had the same bright green eyes his mother had. Would Severus say he's still obsessed with the deceased woman? No, he had stopped thinking about Lily ages ago. He even gave the Potter brat his only photo of her! He still wondered if he made the right decision on doing that. He felt relief with letting go from his past feelings and felt slightly content that the child was beyond happy over finally receiving a photo of his mother, so he decided that he probably made the right choice.

As he stepped into the common room of his House, Severus saw a figure sitting by the fireplace surrounded by a bunch of items. Getting closer, he discovered that it was the Potter boy. Last night when he came in to do his nightly inspection of the common room, he noticed the Potter boy curled into a ball asleep on one of the armchairs. He didn't know why, but he found himself throwing a blanket over the child. He told himself he did it so he wouldn't have to deal with one of his snakes sick over the break. He left it at that and he was slightly amused to see the child wrapped in the same blanket.

When he stepped closer to the boy, he noticed that he was smiling from ear to ear staring down at the assortment of gifts. Severus cocked up an eyebrow and cleared his throat, announcing his presence. The boy whipped his head towards him quickly and tilted his head in question.

"Don't think that just because it's a holiday you get to skip out on your daily nutritional supplement, Potter. I'd rather not have to carry you up to the infirmary if you were to pass out from malnutrition," he stated, placing the vial down on the chair's side table.

"You will also drink your second potion at the feast this afternoon, of which you will attend," he addressed, giving Harry a stern look before turning on his heel and walking swiftly out of the room. He wondered why the boy was staring at the presents as if they were priceless artifacts. If he didn't know any better, he'd have thought the boy had never received a present before.

~

Harry had never had Christmas dinner before. The Dursleys would have him prepare a good majority of their feast without letting him dine with them. He was allowed to have any of the burnt pieces of food or any dry pieces of turkey, but he wasn't allowed much more than that. At Hogwarts, however, he was allowed as much of whatever food he wanted that was being presented at the feast. Mountains of mash potatoes and green beans, dozens of fat roast turkeys, and silver boats of rich thick gravy and cranberry sauce were just some of the huge assortment of food displayed.

Harry sat down next to a brown-haired sixth year Slytherin named Emmer and across from a blonde seventh year Slytherin named Meredith. Harry noticed that the three of them didn't know anything about each other besides names, and the air quickly became tense. Emmer was able to relieve the tension by offering both Meredith and Harry to pull a cracker with him. Harry won and scored a blue witches hat, which he shrugged and put on, causing Meredith to choke on her mouthful of steamed carrots. Harry quickly chugged his supplement when it arrived, and almost lost everything in his stomach from the foul taste and smell of the potion.

Following the feast were puddings and Harry thought he was going to explode if he dared to eat anymore than one slice. He mostly spent that time chatting with Emmer and Meredith about random things and thoroughly enjoying himself.

After dinner, Harry, Emmer, and Meredith decided to hang out in the common room by the fireplace and chat. Emmer was a little defensive and got offended very easily and Meredith had a bit of a cocky attitude, but Harry still found himself getting along fine with them. They stayed in the common room chatting for the rest of the day. Emmer even went down to the kitchens and brought them up some crumpets and hot chocolate drinks to enjoy later on in the evening.

Finally, they all parted ways and went to their respective dorms. As soon as Harry sat on his bed, getting ready to sleep, he found himself restless. The little nagging voice in the back of his head told him to put on the cloak and put some use to it. Although a good majority of his mind told him that it was a bad idea to be wandering the school at night, Harry gave in to the little part of his mind encouraging him to do it.

Fastening the cloak around himself, he set out of the dungeons and up towards the main floor. He contemplated going to the library, but he mentally smacked himself and called himself a nerd for wanting to use his invisibility advantage to go look at books. He instead, decided to wander around the castle and sneak inside any rooms he'd never been in before.

He kept wandering around when he found himself in front of what looked like an unused classroom. He had never been on this side of the castle before and curiously walked into the room. Desks and chairs were piled against the walls and there was an upturned wastepaper basket- but propped against the wall facing him was something that didn't look as if it belonged there, something that looked as if someone had just put it there to keep it out of the way.

It was a mirror as high as the ceiling with an ornate good frame. There was an inscription carved around the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.

Harry stepped in front of the mirror and lowered his hood and had to clap his hand to his mouth to keep himself from screaming. He whirled around, his heart pounding furiously and his face white with fear. Not only did he see himself in the mirror, but he saw a whole crowd of people standing behind him as well.

The room around him was empty. He flickered his eyes between the mirror and the room around him, hoping for something to make sense to him. Slowly, he settled his eyes back on the mirror. Reflected on the mirror was, not only a scared looking him, but at least ten other people. Harry looked over his shoulder once more and then back at the mirror.

A woman standing right behind his reflection was smiling and waving at him. He recognized the woman as his mother and reached his hand behind him as if to touch her- but still, there was no one there. A tall, thin, black-haired man stood next to her and put his arm around her. He wore glasses, and his hair was very untidy. It stuck up at the back, just as Harry's did.

Harry was so close to the mirror now that his nose was nearly touching his reflection.

"Mum?" he whispered. "Dad?"

They just looked at him, smiling. And slowly, Harry looked into the faces of the other people on the mirror, and saw other pairs of green eyes like his, other noses like his- Harry was looking at his family for the first time in his life.

A tear trickled down his face when he felt someone grab his shoulder and spin him around. Facing him, was a very tired looking Snape.

"Just because it's Christmas doesn't give you the right to have free roam over the castle," he said gruffly.

Harry mumbled an apology and tried to sneak a glance back over his shoulder at the mirror. Snape followed his gaze and tensed up. He shook his head and sighed very loudly, almost sounding aggravated or annoyed.

"Of course Albus would place that thing here, where a student could easily find it.." He mumbled, shaking his head at the mirror.

He looked down at Harry and furrowed his brows. He touched the silky cloth of the cloak with his hand and looked down at Harry.

"Where did you get this?" He asked.

"I got it this morning for Christmas. It didn't have a signature and all it said was that it was from my dad," Harry replied.

Snape removed his hand from Harry's shoulder and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I'm not going to even question you on that, but I would like to know your thoughts on the mirror behind you. I assume you see your family within the mirrors contents?" He more of stated.

Harry awkwardly nodded his head and shifted on his feet.

Snape nodded and gestured at the mirror.

"This is the Mirror of Erised. It shows one's deepest, most desperate desire. Many people have wasted their life away before it, hoping that whatever they see within the mirror turns into reality. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way, and is something I will be having the Headmaster move to another location tomorrow morning," Snape informed, sounding tired.

Harry's eyes widened and he started to panic. He whipped his head towards his family and felt a few tears fall. He didn't want to give them up after just seeing them for the first time.

Snape sighed and took Harry's shoulder, guiding him away from the mirror. Harry stared longingly at the mirror, before turning away from it.

"I shall escort you back to your dormitory and insist that you not use that cloak to cause trouble. And please, take it off as I return you to the dungeons. I can't stand to see a floating head bobbing next to me the entire trip down," Snape said.

Harry took of the cloak and balled it up, stuffing it in one of his pants pockets. He walked with Snape down to the dungeons and kept his head down as he walked. He randomly blurted out a question and wanted to immediately hit himself in the head as soon as he asked.

"Professor, what did you see in the mirror?"

Snape stiffened slightly and closed his eyes briefly.

"I saw myself not having to teach a bunch of dunderheads in my classroom as I do everyday, " he replied.

Harry laughed and went back into his dorm, putting his cloak under his bed and his glasses on the nightstand. He wondered if Snape was being truthful in his answer. Although it was a very personal thing for Harry to ask, he genuinely wanted to know what the Potions Professor could want most.

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Heyo! Thank you for reading another chapter of this book! Snape is starting to become more of a mentor as I planned for him to be and it's exciting to see that everything is running smoothly so far with my writing. I hope you enjoyed reading. Have a happy whatever. Love ya.

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