Christmas Quiz 2009 answers
Did you enjoy spending Christmas with Severus and Hermione? Here are the answers. Stay tuned to see who wins our SSHG Christmas prezzie!
EDIT: And the winner of our SSHG Christmas prezzie is...irishredlass69!
1. Christmas Pudding by juno_magic
2. Send Not to Know by subvers
3. Ave Maria by kizzy7
4. The Witches of Gilford: Yule Edition by pyjamapants
5. The Windup Kiss by warded_portal and shiv5468
6. Silver Bells by somigliana
7. Playing Santa by beaweasley2
8. The Twelve Days of Snape’s Christmas by debjunk
9. Let Nothing You Dismay by bluestocking79
10. Yuletide Revelation by southernwitch69
1. Will you read them to me?"
She uses every opportunity to get him to read to her. She simply loves his voice, silk and steel, and, since Nagini's attack, smoky like good single malt whisky. Severus smirks, but he humours her. It is the day before Christmas, after all.
"Puddings and pastry," he begins, "familiar as they may be, and unimportant as they may be held in the estimation of some, are yet intimately connected with the development of Christmas culture and Christmas Charms, both in the Muggle and in the wizarding world…"
Hermione curls up against her husband. In his basket on the stack of firewood, Crookshanks curls into an even rounder ball of ginger fluff and twitches with an ear. He likes Severus' voice, too.
Soon Hermione's mouth begins to water, as Severus reaches the lists of ingredients: sultanas, raisins, currants, candied peel and almonds, brandy, brown sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon, or even figs and brazil nuts!
Then Severus turns over a page and they gape at a beautiful colour print with a dozen puddings arrayed in all their splendour. And the page has been Charmed-the scent of vanilla and spices, of warm cake and sweet berries drifts up from the book.
"Ohhh…" Hermione sighs reverently. Then she tilts her head and flutters her lashes at her husband.
Severus raises his eyebrows. "Are you serious?"
She bites her lip and ducks her head, hiding heated cheeks under brown curls. "I love pudding. And your voice. That way I get both without getting fat."
Christmas Pudding by juno_magic
2. Hermione closed her eyes and tilted her head, pressing her cheek into his palm. “And now?”
Again, his voice insinuated itself into her consciousness, coating her senses like chocolate caramel. “Why do you think I’m here, silly girl?”
Hermione opened her eyes and looked at him. He was regarding her with slightly narrowed eyes, his nostrils flared, a faint sneer pulling at his thin lips. She was confused, for he looked both disdainful and intense - which part of that was for her? “Whyare you here, Severus?”
His hand released her cheek, his eyes were cast down at his mug, and he took another sip of tea. “The Wizengamot cleared me, and the Ministry threw me out. I thought I might be able to get a cup of tea if I came to see you.”
Hermione smiled. “Well, last time you had a letter from Dumbledore to get your foot in the door.”
He seemed to look about the sitting room for the first time. “Is that … is that supposed to be a tree?” he asked, indicating the Grangers’ artificial Christmas tree.
Hermione nodded, and Snape sniffed. “The one I procured for you was much nicer,” he announced.
“But you haven’t been here to denude the local parks,” she pointed out, her heart lifting.
Send Not to Know by subvers
3. Severus had not come home last night, and he had owled her in the morning with a vague excuse and ambiguous promises of his eventual return. It was as if he wasn’t even trying to hide his unfaithfulness anymore. As if he had discarded her like a used pair of Quidditch gloves.
Hermione blinked rapidly and sighed.
I should just leave, she thought viciously. Pack up my bags and leave before he even gets back.
The bells above the door to the Three Broomsticks tinkled, announcing the arrival of another lonely Christmas patron.
Hermione shivered at the incoming gust of air and slid down lower in her seat. Her eyes darted quickly towards the door.
Her heart literally skipped. She gasped, wondering if she was having a heart attack.
She watched her husband guide a young, redheaded woman into an adjoining booth. He said something, and she laughed. Hermione noticed her eyes-her beautiful, emerald-green eyes-sparkled when she looked at him. Severus. Her husband.
Lily. In the end, she was thrown off for some shallow Lily imposter. How ironic.
Ave Maria by kizzy7
4. Fucking hell! Why do you insist on using Muggle lights?"
"They remind me of my childhood," she said a bit more innocently than was necessary.
"It is completely unlike you to keep them a tangled mess," Severus growled in exasperation.
Hermione couldn't help but giggle. He looked adorable, scowling like a petulant child as he sat in the middle of a tangle of lights.
His eyes narrowed. "You did this on purpose."
Hermione nodded and waved her wand. The lights hovered above his head, untangled, and settled on the tree.
"Show-off."
With a mischievous look in her eyes, Hermione said, "Oh, look. We're done decorating. Whatever shall we do with our afternoon?"
"You deserve to be tied to the bed with those bloody lights and left to contemplate how naughty you were."
Hermione squealed and ran down the hallway to her bedroom. Severus gave chase, leaving Crookshanks to sniff the tree in peace.
The Witches of Gilford: Yule Edition by pyjamapants
5. It started with a bright red box bound up in a golden ribbon sitting on his desk. The card said Happy Christmas, nothing more. The biscuits were home made, but delicious nonetheless. And in the bottom, there was a tiny figure wrapped in green tissue with a silver ribbon. It was a clockwork toy. A duellist in all black with a wee tiny dark wand and a wee tiny cloak, who upon winding, would lunge and parry across the desk, spitting little clouds of sparks and streaks of coloured light as it duelled some invisible opponent.
He was entranced. It was a silly little thing but he'd spent so much of his life being serious that he welcomed something whose role purpose was to entertain. The little figure looked so serious as it battled with invisible foes. Mrs. Norris had poked her nose into his room to see what the noise was about and had sparks shot across her nose.
The cat yowled, and fled, trailing wisps of smoke from her whiskers, leaving the door to his office open a crack. He saw a flicker of cobalt blue light dancing off the rack of beakers, and heard a tiny crack echo over the flagstones.
From the DADA classroom, he heard a tinny mechanical voice, female perhaps, issued an "En garde!" and the toy on his desk pivoted towards the sound.
The figure tilted its head, then turned to look at Severus.
The Windup Kiss by warded_portal and shiv5468
6. Later that morning, after the sun has risen to squat, shivering, in the sky and their morning coffee has long gone cold and grey, Hermione stretches lazily in Severus’ arms. “Merry Christmas, Severus.”
Severus half opens his eyes and stifles a yawn. “Merry Christmas.” He smirks at her. “I think I’ve had my gift today already.”
Hermione hmmm’s softly. “We should really get up,” she murmurs, yawning hugely against his chest.
Severus’ arms tighten slightly, making her abort her attempt to wriggle into a sitting position.
Hermione sighs. “Severus.” Her voice carries an edge of warning.
“But who gets married on Christmas Day, for Merlin’s sake? Christmas is a day for-”
“Family and love,” Hermione finishes for him, giving him a very pointed look. “Talking about family… Did you excuse me from the Council meeting last night?” One of the reasons she’d been so annoyed at the call-out (aside from the fact that it was Christmas Eve) was that she’d had to miss the Hogwarts Aquatic High Council meeting and a chance to swim beneath the Divide with Severus.
Silver Bells by somigliana
7. . Severus rolled over and heard a soft thump of something that had fallen off his bed. He shifted his feet and still felt the weight of the two books. Now curious, he rolled back and sat up. There were four packages on his bed, not two. He leaned over and saw two more on the floor. Six? What the…?
Grabbing his wand from the bedside table, Severus checked the four oddly shaped and brightly wrapped packages. Nothing. No magic, no curses, hexes, or jinxes detected. Presents. For me? Ignoring the obviously book-shaped packages, Severus opened the first odd present. A sock. One sock? Is this some kind of joke? The wool was a soft Bouclé blend and felt really nice in his hand. It was black with touches of green. Nevertheless, one sock was hardly anything to get excited about, not that he’d get excited about socks anyway. He set it aside and opened the next. A tam. In the same wool. I don’t wear tam ‘o shanters, he thought tossing it aside. The truth was his old cap was really worn and he didn’t wear it anymore. But his mum had given it to him. It had been her last Christmas present to him before she’d died, so he still had it safely tucked away in his wardrobe. Severus set the cap down and picked up the two packages off the floor. The third package turned out to be the mate of the first sock. Severus scoffed at the ridiculous imbecile who’d wrap socks individually. He opened the last package revealing a wide a scarf, also in the soft Bouclé wool. Picking up the cap while still holding the scarf, Severus noticed that there was a small tag on each.
‘May this make you happy. Wishing you well, Miss Hermione Granger.’
Playing Santa by beaweasley2
8. Severus groaned as Hermione approached him in the hallway.
“Professor Snape, a word, please?”
Groaning again, he turned to her. She placed a box in his hand.
“Merry Christmas!” she said cheerfully.
Severus groaned as he accepted the gift, groaned when he heard students snickering as they passed by, and groaned again when he lifted the mug out of the box. Gazing at it, he read the inscription and gave Hermione a withering look.
I like my coffee black, just like my mood was inscribed in green letters on the black mug.
“Very funny,” he glowered.
“I thought you’d like it,” Hermione said as she turned and bounced away.
The Twelve Days of Snape’s Christmas by debjunk
9. A sad sprig of charmed mistletoe hovers mockingly over his head-Flitwick's idea of an amusing joke, no doubt-and as Hermione approaches the table, Snape spares a tired, bleary-eyed glare-first for the sprig, then for her. "Not a word," he says darkly, his speech impressively crisp given the amount he's already drunk.
"Wouldn't dream of it," Hermione murmurs. His eyes are no less fascinating up close, and Hermione watches his gaze cycle through despair, annoyance, interest and attraction before settling down to some breathtaking combination of melancholy and wistfulness-all of it focussed on her.
"I suppose," Snape says suddenly, "that you've come to have a laugh as well."
"Of course not! I'd never-"
"Of course you wouldn't," he mutters, a sharp spike of bitterness in his voice. "You've come to wish the pitiful old man Happy Christmas. How charitable. How very Dickensian of you. But on the whole, I think I'd rather have the mockery, Professor Granger. At least it's honest."
"So am I," Hermione says with great dignity, refusing to play this game. It's true that at one time in her life, the idea of Professor Snape at the mercy of mistletoe would have been greatly amusing to her, and at another time in her life, his plight would have aroused her pity and sense of fair play. But times have changed, and so has she.
Now… no, it isn't pity she feels at the sight of Severus Snape beneath the mistletoe, and it isn't amusement, either. It's something that warms her and chills her and terrifies and elates her, something that gives her the boldness to say, "I came to tell you that I can help you with that. If you'll let me. If you trust me."
In his eyes there is confusion, followed by the briefest flicker of fear-and is that interest? "You know of a counter-curse?"
"Of a sort," Hermione says, summoning all her Gryffindor courage.
Let Nothing You Dismay by bluestocking79
10. Unable to stop herself, she moved closer and heard the man praising Snape. “Bless you, sir. I can get my little one’s potion now. The great fat witch wouldn’t give it to me until payday, she wouldn’t.”
“It’s nothing,” Snape said casually. He pointed his wand at the man’s legs and then extended a hand to help him up. “You really shouldn’t venture about without your wand. You could have easily fixed the jinx she put on you.”
“I ‘ad to sell it for a few presents and food for me family.”
Snape reached into his pocket and gave the man a few more Galleons. “Go on.”
The man nodded and hurried into the small Apothecary to make his purchase. Hermione felt ashamed. She hadn’t even given the man a moment of her time to listen to his tale of woe, simply thinking him to be a liar. It was interesting that a bastard like Snape would stop to help someone in need when someone such as herself, a self-proclaimed champion of the lesser, would not even bother.
Her eyes clashed with Snape’s hard gaze. She smiled to show her approval, but he simply looked away. The expression upon his face as he did so gripped at her heart. He seemed wistful. Who would he spend Christmas with? Did he have family? She couldn’t remember ever seeing anyone in support of him at the trial and hadn’t read anything about there being someone in his life. Only Lucius Malfoy seemed to speak with him during the brief breaks that the Wizengamot took. Malfoy had been reformed supposedly, as he’d given information that helped Harry and the Ministry find Voldemort’s last location, asking only that his son be spared any charges for his part in Dumbledore’s demise. It seemed that Narcissa Malfoy’s demise caused Scrimgeour to pity him, pardoning both father and son. Hermione imagined a heavy purse also encouraged that decision.
A loud Crack broke into her thoughts. Snape had Disapparated away. She quickly cast a charm to trace him, wanting to invite him to Christmas dinner. Nobody should be alone on such a day. Not even Snape.
Yuletide Revelation by southernwitch69
EDIT: And the winner of our SSHG Christmas prezzie is...irishredlass69!
1. Christmas Pudding by juno_magic
2. Send Not to Know by subvers
3. Ave Maria by kizzy7
4. The Witches of Gilford: Yule Edition by pyjamapants
5. The Windup Kiss by warded_portal and shiv5468
6. Silver Bells by somigliana
7. Playing Santa by beaweasley2
8. The Twelve Days of Snape’s Christmas by debjunk
9. Let Nothing You Dismay by bluestocking79
10. Yuletide Revelation by southernwitch69
1. Will you read them to me?"
She uses every opportunity to get him to read to her. She simply loves his voice, silk and steel, and, since Nagini's attack, smoky like good single malt whisky. Severus smirks, but he humours her. It is the day before Christmas, after all.
"Puddings and pastry," he begins, "familiar as they may be, and unimportant as they may be held in the estimation of some, are yet intimately connected with the development of Christmas culture and Christmas Charms, both in the Muggle and in the wizarding world…"
Hermione curls up against her husband. In his basket on the stack of firewood, Crookshanks curls into an even rounder ball of ginger fluff and twitches with an ear. He likes Severus' voice, too.
Soon Hermione's mouth begins to water, as Severus reaches the lists of ingredients: sultanas, raisins, currants, candied peel and almonds, brandy, brown sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon, or even figs and brazil nuts!
Then Severus turns over a page and they gape at a beautiful colour print with a dozen puddings arrayed in all their splendour. And the page has been Charmed-the scent of vanilla and spices, of warm cake and sweet berries drifts up from the book.
"Ohhh…" Hermione sighs reverently. Then she tilts her head and flutters her lashes at her husband.
Severus raises his eyebrows. "Are you serious?"
She bites her lip and ducks her head, hiding heated cheeks under brown curls. "I love pudding. And your voice. That way I get both without getting fat."
Christmas Pudding by juno_magic
2. Hermione closed her eyes and tilted her head, pressing her cheek into his palm. “And now?”
Again, his voice insinuated itself into her consciousness, coating her senses like chocolate caramel. “Why do you think I’m here, silly girl?”
Hermione opened her eyes and looked at him. He was regarding her with slightly narrowed eyes, his nostrils flared, a faint sneer pulling at his thin lips. She was confused, for he looked both disdainful and intense - which part of that was for her? “Whyare you here, Severus?”
His hand released her cheek, his eyes were cast down at his mug, and he took another sip of tea. “The Wizengamot cleared me, and the Ministry threw me out. I thought I might be able to get a cup of tea if I came to see you.”
Hermione smiled. “Well, last time you had a letter from Dumbledore to get your foot in the door.”
He seemed to look about the sitting room for the first time. “Is that … is that supposed to be a tree?” he asked, indicating the Grangers’ artificial Christmas tree.
Hermione nodded, and Snape sniffed. “The one I procured for you was much nicer,” he announced.
“But you haven’t been here to denude the local parks,” she pointed out, her heart lifting.
Send Not to Know by subvers
3. Severus had not come home last night, and he had owled her in the morning with a vague excuse and ambiguous promises of his eventual return. It was as if he wasn’t even trying to hide his unfaithfulness anymore. As if he had discarded her like a used pair of Quidditch gloves.
Hermione blinked rapidly and sighed.
I should just leave, she thought viciously. Pack up my bags and leave before he even gets back.
The bells above the door to the Three Broomsticks tinkled, announcing the arrival of another lonely Christmas patron.
Hermione shivered at the incoming gust of air and slid down lower in her seat. Her eyes darted quickly towards the door.
Her heart literally skipped. She gasped, wondering if she was having a heart attack.
She watched her husband guide a young, redheaded woman into an adjoining booth. He said something, and she laughed. Hermione noticed her eyes-her beautiful, emerald-green eyes-sparkled when she looked at him. Severus. Her husband.
Lily. In the end, she was thrown off for some shallow Lily imposter. How ironic.
Ave Maria by kizzy7
4. Fucking hell! Why do you insist on using Muggle lights?"
"They remind me of my childhood," she said a bit more innocently than was necessary.
"It is completely unlike you to keep them a tangled mess," Severus growled in exasperation.
Hermione couldn't help but giggle. He looked adorable, scowling like a petulant child as he sat in the middle of a tangle of lights.
His eyes narrowed. "You did this on purpose."
Hermione nodded and waved her wand. The lights hovered above his head, untangled, and settled on the tree.
"Show-off."
With a mischievous look in her eyes, Hermione said, "Oh, look. We're done decorating. Whatever shall we do with our afternoon?"
"You deserve to be tied to the bed with those bloody lights and left to contemplate how naughty you were."
Hermione squealed and ran down the hallway to her bedroom. Severus gave chase, leaving Crookshanks to sniff the tree in peace.
The Witches of Gilford: Yule Edition by pyjamapants
5. It started with a bright red box bound up in a golden ribbon sitting on his desk. The card said Happy Christmas, nothing more. The biscuits were home made, but delicious nonetheless. And in the bottom, there was a tiny figure wrapped in green tissue with a silver ribbon. It was a clockwork toy. A duellist in all black with a wee tiny dark wand and a wee tiny cloak, who upon winding, would lunge and parry across the desk, spitting little clouds of sparks and streaks of coloured light as it duelled some invisible opponent.
He was entranced. It was a silly little thing but he'd spent so much of his life being serious that he welcomed something whose role purpose was to entertain. The little figure looked so serious as it battled with invisible foes. Mrs. Norris had poked her nose into his room to see what the noise was about and had sparks shot across her nose.
The cat yowled, and fled, trailing wisps of smoke from her whiskers, leaving the door to his office open a crack. He saw a flicker of cobalt blue light dancing off the rack of beakers, and heard a tiny crack echo over the flagstones.
From the DADA classroom, he heard a tinny mechanical voice, female perhaps, issued an "En garde!" and the toy on his desk pivoted towards the sound.
The figure tilted its head, then turned to look at Severus.
The Windup Kiss by warded_portal and shiv5468
6. Later that morning, after the sun has risen to squat, shivering, in the sky and their morning coffee has long gone cold and grey, Hermione stretches lazily in Severus’ arms. “Merry Christmas, Severus.”
Severus half opens his eyes and stifles a yawn. “Merry Christmas.” He smirks at her. “I think I’ve had my gift today already.”
Hermione hmmm’s softly. “We should really get up,” she murmurs, yawning hugely against his chest.
Severus’ arms tighten slightly, making her abort her attempt to wriggle into a sitting position.
Hermione sighs. “Severus.” Her voice carries an edge of warning.
“But who gets married on Christmas Day, for Merlin’s sake? Christmas is a day for-”
“Family and love,” Hermione finishes for him, giving him a very pointed look. “Talking about family… Did you excuse me from the Council meeting last night?” One of the reasons she’d been so annoyed at the call-out (aside from the fact that it was Christmas Eve) was that she’d had to miss the Hogwarts Aquatic High Council meeting and a chance to swim beneath the Divide with Severus.
Silver Bells by somigliana
7. . Severus rolled over and heard a soft thump of something that had fallen off his bed. He shifted his feet and still felt the weight of the two books. Now curious, he rolled back and sat up. There were four packages on his bed, not two. He leaned over and saw two more on the floor. Six? What the…?
Grabbing his wand from the bedside table, Severus checked the four oddly shaped and brightly wrapped packages. Nothing. No magic, no curses, hexes, or jinxes detected. Presents. For me? Ignoring the obviously book-shaped packages, Severus opened the first odd present. A sock. One sock? Is this some kind of joke? The wool was a soft Bouclé blend and felt really nice in his hand. It was black with touches of green. Nevertheless, one sock was hardly anything to get excited about, not that he’d get excited about socks anyway. He set it aside and opened the next. A tam. In the same wool. I don’t wear tam ‘o shanters, he thought tossing it aside. The truth was his old cap was really worn and he didn’t wear it anymore. But his mum had given it to him. It had been her last Christmas present to him before she’d died, so he still had it safely tucked away in his wardrobe. Severus set the cap down and picked up the two packages off the floor. The third package turned out to be the mate of the first sock. Severus scoffed at the ridiculous imbecile who’d wrap socks individually. He opened the last package revealing a wide a scarf, also in the soft Bouclé wool. Picking up the cap while still holding the scarf, Severus noticed that there was a small tag on each.
‘May this make you happy. Wishing you well, Miss Hermione Granger.’
Playing Santa by beaweasley2
8. Severus groaned as Hermione approached him in the hallway.
“Professor Snape, a word, please?”
Groaning again, he turned to her. She placed a box in his hand.
“Merry Christmas!” she said cheerfully.
Severus groaned as he accepted the gift, groaned when he heard students snickering as they passed by, and groaned again when he lifted the mug out of the box. Gazing at it, he read the inscription and gave Hermione a withering look.
I like my coffee black, just like my mood was inscribed in green letters on the black mug.
“Very funny,” he glowered.
“I thought you’d like it,” Hermione said as she turned and bounced away.
The Twelve Days of Snape’s Christmas by debjunk
9. A sad sprig of charmed mistletoe hovers mockingly over his head-Flitwick's idea of an amusing joke, no doubt-and as Hermione approaches the table, Snape spares a tired, bleary-eyed glare-first for the sprig, then for her. "Not a word," he says darkly, his speech impressively crisp given the amount he's already drunk.
"Wouldn't dream of it," Hermione murmurs. His eyes are no less fascinating up close, and Hermione watches his gaze cycle through despair, annoyance, interest and attraction before settling down to some breathtaking combination of melancholy and wistfulness-all of it focussed on her.
"I suppose," Snape says suddenly, "that you've come to have a laugh as well."
"Of course not! I'd never-"
"Of course you wouldn't," he mutters, a sharp spike of bitterness in his voice. "You've come to wish the pitiful old man Happy Christmas. How charitable. How very Dickensian of you. But on the whole, I think I'd rather have the mockery, Professor Granger. At least it's honest."
"So am I," Hermione says with great dignity, refusing to play this game. It's true that at one time in her life, the idea of Professor Snape at the mercy of mistletoe would have been greatly amusing to her, and at another time in her life, his plight would have aroused her pity and sense of fair play. But times have changed, and so has she.
Now… no, it isn't pity she feels at the sight of Severus Snape beneath the mistletoe, and it isn't amusement, either. It's something that warms her and chills her and terrifies and elates her, something that gives her the boldness to say, "I came to tell you that I can help you with that. If you'll let me. If you trust me."
In his eyes there is confusion, followed by the briefest flicker of fear-and is that interest? "You know of a counter-curse?"
"Of a sort," Hermione says, summoning all her Gryffindor courage.
Let Nothing You Dismay by bluestocking79
10. Unable to stop herself, she moved closer and heard the man praising Snape. “Bless you, sir. I can get my little one’s potion now. The great fat witch wouldn’t give it to me until payday, she wouldn’t.”
“It’s nothing,” Snape said casually. He pointed his wand at the man’s legs and then extended a hand to help him up. “You really shouldn’t venture about without your wand. You could have easily fixed the jinx she put on you.”
“I ‘ad to sell it for a few presents and food for me family.”
Snape reached into his pocket and gave the man a few more Galleons. “Go on.”
The man nodded and hurried into the small Apothecary to make his purchase. Hermione felt ashamed. She hadn’t even given the man a moment of her time to listen to his tale of woe, simply thinking him to be a liar. It was interesting that a bastard like Snape would stop to help someone in need when someone such as herself, a self-proclaimed champion of the lesser, would not even bother.
Her eyes clashed with Snape’s hard gaze. She smiled to show her approval, but he simply looked away. The expression upon his face as he did so gripped at her heart. He seemed wistful. Who would he spend Christmas with? Did he have family? She couldn’t remember ever seeing anyone in support of him at the trial and hadn’t read anything about there being someone in his life. Only Lucius Malfoy seemed to speak with him during the brief breaks that the Wizengamot took. Malfoy had been reformed supposedly, as he’d given information that helped Harry and the Ministry find Voldemort’s last location, asking only that his son be spared any charges for his part in Dumbledore’s demise. It seemed that Narcissa Malfoy’s demise caused Scrimgeour to pity him, pardoning both father and son. Hermione imagined a heavy purse also encouraged that decision.
A loud Crack broke into her thoughts. Snape had Disapparated away. She quickly cast a charm to trace him, wanting to invite him to Christmas dinner. Nobody should be alone on such a day. Not even Snape.
Yuletide Revelation by southernwitch69