Christmas Miracle

Christmas Miracle

*

"What would you want for Christmas, Harry?"

The little boy looked up from where he'd been drawing with his wizarding

markers. "Anything I want?"

"Well, not anything," chuckled Remus, crouching down to pet the boy's hair.

"But almost. Anything that Santa can bring and your Father doesn't

disapprove of."

"Can I get a little sister or brother?"

For a moment, Remus was too stunned to reply. Then he let out a nervous

laugh. "Where'd you get that thought, little one?" he asked, trying to

remain his usual calmness.

"Ron has a lot of sisters and brothers," Harry said calmly. "And he has one

little sister, too. I'd like one. Babies can be really fun, you know."

"Yeah... I'm sure they can," replied the werewolf, still feeling a bit

dazed. "But I'm not sure if Santa can bring babies."

"Well, maybe he can ask the storks!" exclaimed Harry happily. "Don't they

live near Santa? With the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny and all those?"

"Maybe," said a calm voice from the doorway, "but you must understand,

Harry, that both Santa and the storks are really busy around Christmas.

Little babies have to be ordered a long time ahead for them to arrive in

time."

"Father!" shouted Harry happily, bouncing to his feet. "I didn't know you

were coming!"

"Well, the Headmaster let me take a weekend off," laughed Severus as he got

an enthusiastic seven-year-old bouncing against him. "I purposefully didn't

give any detentions for the whole week so I could surely come."

"My, that must have been painful," said Remus with a smirk, then came over

to hug his husband. Then he turned towards Harry. "Now, you see? Even your

Father says that you maybe can't have a sister or a brother. They are really

tricky things to get."

"But I still want one," the boy pouted. However, he was a child, and had a

child's attention span. It didn't take long from him to seemingly forget the

topic and return to his markers.

*

A few days later, however, Remus noticed that Harry had all but forgotten.

He'd asked Harry to write a letter to Santa Claus. When he went to check on

the boy, Harry had only written a couple of lines.

"Dear Santa,

I've been really nice this year. Please, bring me a little sister or

brother. Dad and Father said that you cannot, but I know that you can do

anything.

Harry Snape"

"Maybe you should put some other wishes also, just in case that Santa cannot

find a baby anywhere," Remus said carefully, not wanting to spoil the

child's waiting.

"But he will," replied Harry trustfully. Then, however, he nodded. "I want

some other things also," he said happily. "I'll write them to the list,

too!"

As Remus watched him happily write down more wishes for gifts, he felt

almost like crying.

*

It was the Christmas morning. Like every year, Harry had dragged his parents

awake at an ungodly hour and was now leading their way downstairs.

The huge Christmas tree was sparkling with candles and decorations, and

beneath it they saw a huge pile of presents.

However, the most important thing seemed to be missing.

"I don't see a baby anywhere," Harry said disappointedly.

Remus shook his head, praying for a miracle. At the moment he didn't know

whether to laugh or cry, but he had to admit that neither was far away.

"Harry, don't be so disappointed," he sighed. "Remember what we told you?

That babies have to be ordered a long time ahead?"

"Yes," said the child sadly, "but I thought that Santa could tell the

storks..." Just as it seemed as if he'd start crying at any moment, there

was a knock on the door. "Maybe it's Santa!" he exclaimed. "He just wanted

to bring the baby later when we are awake!"

Severus and Remus exchanged confused glances and shook their heads. No,

neither of them was expecting any guests at six am on the Christmas morning.

Wanting to know what was going on, they hurried towards the door after

Harry.

The child opened the door. His eyes, as well as those of his fathers', flew

wide in surprise as they saw what was on the other side.

"It's a stork!" exclaimed Harry, who was the first one to get over his

shock. "I knew it! I knew that Santa would bring me a sister or a brother!"

And truly, it was a stork. A big, white stork, looking really out of place

in the middle of the Snapes' snowy front lawn. There was a large, bright red

bow around its neck, and in its beak it held a little bundle of clothes.

Very carefully, Remus walked past Harry to take the bundle. As he took it on

his arms, a little pair of eyes glanced sleepily at him from the folds of

the cloth. There was a card tucked to one fold of the cloth. The werewolf

snatched it and read it aloud to the others.

"Dear Harry,

I'm really disappointed to hear that your fathers don't believe in my

powers. Therefore, I'm indeed bringing you a little sister. I wish Merry

Christmas to you all.

Santa Claus"

"Let's get her inside!" Harry said eagerly. "She must be very cold!"

The stork nodded a bit, looking satisfied, then flew away. Remus glanced at

Severus, the baby still on his arms. Then his senses came back to him, and

he hurried inside after the little boy, his husband right on his heels.

They named the baby Noelle. An emergency call to Molly Weasley provided them

with some necessary accessories until they got shopping. When they later

carefully asked around, nobody was missing a baby. Nobody could provide them

with an explanation of how it had happened, either.

At last, they had to explain her as a miracle of Christmas.

It was to be noted, however, that as Noelle grew up, she had Severus's black

waves of hair and Remus's warm amber eyes. She had her Father's cunning wit

and her Dad's kindness. In every aspect, she was a child of her parents.

Also, after that Christmas, neither Remus nor Severus ever doubted the

existence of Santa Claus. Even so much that when Severus heard one of his

older Slytherins telling first-year Hufflepuffs - who were just about to

start crying - that Santa didn't exist, he stepped in.

"You are wrong, Mister Green," he said coolly to the Slytherin. "Santa Claus

indeed exists. That's ten points from Slytherin for lying to younger

students."

The Slytherin was left dumbly staring after his Head of House, who'd never

taken as much as one point from his own House. The Hufflepuffs, however,

spread the word around - and that Christmas, the Snape house was filled with

Christmas cards from grateful younger students. Severus just snorted and

shoved them aside, but Remus didn't miss the fact that he didn't destroy

even one of them.

And again, the Snapes had a very happy Christmas.