Filius slept almost until noon on Christmas morning. Six months had passed since the end of the war, and he hadn’t patrolled the halls in over a week. However, having indulged in some late night conversation and spirits with several of his fellow professors the evening before, he was in no hurry to abandon the delightful warmth of his bed. Then curiosity got the better of him.
I wonder if….
Pulling back the bed curtains, he was happy to see that the elves had already been through to leave his gifts and let in the morning sun. He slid from his bed and padded over to the window to look out on the grounds, admiring the new fallen snow sparkling under a clear blue sky. He grinned when he spotted several students attacking one another with snow balls.
It’s such a relief to see things back to normal this year, he thought.
Finally he pulled himself away from the gorgeous sight and turned to the large stack of presents at the foot of his bed. Usually he and the other professors exchanged gifts in the evening after dinner”sometimes drawing names to determine which of their peers they would buy for”so Filius blinked in surprise at the number of packages; he hadn’t received so many Christmas gifts since he was a child!
He knew that the war, especially the last dark year, had brought people closer together, but the generosity of his friends touched him. As he looked at the names that decorated the tags, names of students he had protected and others who had stood with him in the front lines as the battle raged around the castle last summer, he nodded in understanding.
“Ah, yes,” he smiled, “here’s one from Fred and George Weasley. Perhaps I’ll set that aside for later when I’m feeling a bit more quick witted.”
Placing said package carefully away from anything flammable or breakable, he noticed an especially beautiful package wrapped in royal blue paper and bronze colored ribbons. He realized a moment later that it had no card attached. Opening it carefully (Fred and George’s names had made him cautious), he discovered that his secret admirer had struck again.
When Filius had received his first gift of the season, he felt quite sure that it came from his former pupil, Miss Hermione Granger; every year since her first at Hogwarts, she had made it a point to acknowledge her professors with some token or other during the Holidays. That she’d forgotten a card this time did not greatly surprise Filius: only a few short months, after all, had passed since the war had ended, and things had surely been hectic for “one of the saviors of the wizarding world,” as the Daily Prophet called her.
Glancing down the breakfast table, however, he noticed that his was the only package this morning. Hmmm…perhaps not Miss Granger, after all. It was unlikely that she would single him out or send his gift before the others. That just wasn’t her way. Suddenly a voice intruded on his thoughts.
“Secret admirer?”
The little wizard blushed. “Pardon?”
“Oh, Filius, I’m just teasing,” smiled Pomona, seeing his reaction. “I noticed you couldn’t find a card.”
“Well, no. Just an oversight, I’m sure.”
As his old friend returned to her breakfast, Filius stole a glance at her.
Surely not… no, of course not.
Pushing aside his speculation, he looked at his gift. He lifted the tiny blue and gold butterfly from the white paper and saw that it was a cloak pin. The Charms professor smiled as he fastened it to his robe.
The second offering found him in his classroom. Surrounded as he was by the chaos of first years attempting levitation on variously sized objects”which unhappily, though predictably, included the little teacher himself”it took a full five minutes for the owl to get his attention. Finally, after his feet had once again found the floor and he’d smoothed down his disheveled robes, he noticed the poor bird tapping impatiently on the window.
Rewarding the messenger with a biscuit, Filius took the small package and tucked it safely in his desk until class ended, at which point he collapsed in his chair, overcome with exhaustion. “I’m getting too old for this,” he sighed.
He rested for a few minutes before he remembered the delivery. Opening it at last, he discovered a pair of fine leather gloves. Again, there was no card. He examined them carefully, but they showed no indication of dark magic or jinxes of any kind.
“Well, how very strange. Apparently I really do have a secret admirer.”
Filius smiled: he suddenly felt years younger.
The next evening, as Filius left his rooms to head down to dinner, he encountered Vivian Vector, who seemed to have come specifically to meet him.
“Oh. Good evening, Filius.”
“Good evening, Vivian. What can I do for you?”
“A few of us are going out for drinks tonight. Would you like to join us?”
“Not tonight, I’m afraid. I’ve promised to help Argus come up with a way to keep Peeves out of the trees this year.”
“Do you need some help with that?”
“No, no, you go on. It shouldn’t take much to come up with a temporary anti-poltergeist Charm that won’t run off the fairies as well.”
As Professor Vector walked away, Filius wondered if that had been disappointment he’d seen on her face when he’d refused her. Could she be the one? It seemed unlikely, for last he knew she’d been dating one of the wizards down in the village, but one never knew. On the other hand, she was obviously far too young for him. An attractive witch, but obviously not. Filius couldn’t feel too disappointed; this mystery intrigued him.
Sliding into his seat at the head of the Great Hall, Filius found another package waiting beside his plate. He felt several pairs of eyes on him as picked it up. When he glanced around, though, everyone was looking carefully at their plates, trying to suppress their grins. Apparently the news of his secret admirer had gotten around. That’s what I get for mentioning the gloves to Minerva. Looking at the culprit herself, he saw her blush under his gaze, but, when she returned his look with a smile, she twinkled as much as Albus ever had done. Filius couldn’t help but smile back.
Come to think of it, we’ve always been close friends, and I’m sure she’s been lonely since Albus…well; anyway, I know she’s been lonely. But no. She’s not the mysterious type, nor has she ever seemed interested in that way. It couldn’t be her.
Filius’ thoughts returned to his newest discovery. Pulling away the brown paper wrapping and opening the box within, he found three small, beautifully decorated volumes of an ancient Charms treatise he admired. His own copies had become terribly worn and were now almost impossible to mend. When he’d taken them to Hogwarts’ librarian for rebinding, Irma had bowed her head in sorrow. The parchment itself wouldn’t survive the process, she’d said with tears in her eyes.
Irma. Now that’s a thought. She knows about the books, of course. And she and Argus seem to have fallen out recently over something. She’s not really a bad looking woman when she’s not yelling at the students....
Filius shuddered at the sudden memory of Irma Pince screeching at him over an alleged book theft by one of his first year Ravenclaws, and he could only feel relief an hour or so later when he came upon Irma and Argus enjoying a tête-à-tête outside the library.
The fourth gift arrived the next morning even before Filius left his rooms for breakfast. The House Elf who delivered it looked as if she would burst when he asked her who his benefactor was, but she bit her tongue to keep from speaking as the tears started from her eyes. Seeing her distress, Filius quickly reassured her that he quite enjoyed a mystery and then sent her away to recover.
To his surprise, he realized that he hadn’t lied: he really was enjoying this mystery. Walking toward his classroom after breakfast, he practically bounced through the halls in the new boots and socks proudly gracing his feet. He knew that the rest of the faculty were snickering at his gaiety and its cause, but he couldn’t contain his delight. He felt like a young man experiencing the first delights of love. Neither his peers nor his students had ever seen him more cheerful. Poor Severus Snape almost ended up on the receiving end of this frightening enthusiasm when he and Maeve invited the little man to join them for a private dinner that evening to celebrate the end of the semester, only just barely avoiding Filius’ hug of gratitude when Severus’ quick thinking wife stepped in front of him to accept it in the DADA teacher’s stead.
The next morning, as the students headed for the train, Filius stood in the Great Hall helping Argus shoo Peeves from the trees once more. He was just wondering how Albus had ever managed to keep the irritating poltergeist in check when the fifth package arrived. Seeing the old caretaker leering at him, Filius gave the owl a bit of cheese he’d saved from breakfast (for this very reason) and excused himself.
In the main entryway, he ran into Rolanda, who immediately spotted the small package in his hand.
“I see you’ve got another something from your admirer. Well, open it and let’s have a look,” she demanded.
Filius hesitated for just an instant before he shrugged and complied. Inside he found an old fashioned pocket watch attached to a long gold chain. The cover was engraved with a golden eagle, and inside he found an inscription: To Filius, with love. Filius blushed all the way to his toes as Rolanda bent down to read it. Straightening, she merely observed, “Looks like your lady’s abandoned ‘the twelve days of Christmas’ theme, doesn’t it?”
The color in his face remained long after Rolanda walked away and he had tucked his new treasure into his pocket. Forgetting Argus and Peeves, he wandered out onto the snow covered lawn to breath in the crisp winter air. Elation threatened to overwhelm him as he gazed out at the frozen lake. Even the dark clouds above him couldn’t put a damper on his mood.
So it had continued over the next week leading up to Christmas. Some days his admirer returned to “the twelve days of Christmas” theme; others she surprised him with something uniquely beautiful. She also kept him guessing as to the moment his package would arrive. By the time Filius received his final gift, he’d suspected at some time or another every witch in the castle, single or married, gay or straight, young or old.
He’d been particularly suspicious of Sibyll Trelawney when she complimented his new blue robes after meeting him in a first floor corridor on the way to breakfast two days before Christmas, but then he saw her eyes light up at the sight of Firenze walking up and realized the real reason she’d been spending so much time on the first floor.
In any case, Filius had expected that the final gift”the gift he received on Christmas day”would reveal his admirer, and he was not mistaken. When he looked down at the item he found on that fine Christmas morning, therefore, he smiled. There was no card attached, but he knew who he had to thank. Dressing swiftly, he headed to the Christmas feast.
As he made his way through the main entrance hall, the door opened to admit two very familiar faces. Hermione Granger swept toward him with a smile the moment she saw him and bent to give him a hug. Harry, who had followed her, squeezed his hand warmly.
Filius looked up at the two of them with a smile. “Ah, Minerva said you’d be joining us. How delightful it is to see you both! And where’s Ron? Oh there you are. Welcome, welcome!” He shook the redhead’s hand enthusiastically.
“Yes,” said Hermione, “Harry wanted to come home for Christmas, so here we are. We’ve missed you all so much!”
“The feeling’s mutual. You’ll always be welcome here.”
Stomping the snow from their boots and hanging up their cloaks, the children followed their much loved former professor into the adjacent hall, where they were greeted with cries of welcome.
Filius’ eyes scanned the table as they joined the others, but the person he was hoping to see had not yet arrived. The room, however, rang with such lively conversation and laughter that he couldn’t feel too put out at having to wait just a little longer.
When Stella Sinistra walked in moments later, he practically bolted from his seat before he realized who it was. So it was every time the door to the Great Hall opened to admit someone new. Filius barely heard Argus belting out “Good King Wenceslas” or”after a bit too much sherry”the visiting heroes giggling hysterically at Minerva’s memory of the year Albus gave her a tartan cat collar with a bell for Christmas. He couldn’t even be distracted from his surveillance by Severus’ irritated growl at seeing yet again (it seemed to have become a yearly tradition) a witch’s hat with a very familiar vulture pop out of the Cracker in his hand.
Then, just as he’d about decided he’d have to go and hunt her down himself, she entered the room. Her eyes immediately sought him out and he stood to meet her. He didn’t even notice the room fall silent as they walked toward one another; all he could see were the beautiful roses in her lovely cheeks and the love shining in her fine bright eyes.
In her hands, Pomona Sprout held eleven yellow daffodils, each one of which perfectly matched the twelfth that he’d carefully pinned to the front of his robe before he’d left his room earlier that day. Placing them in Filius’ arms, she leaned down and kissed him on the cheek.
For a moment, he felt flustered once again. “I forgot…in my room…I don’t have anything for you.”
Smiling peacefully, she murmured, “I think you do, love. I think you do.”
A/N: I wrote this story for my friend Jan as her Secret Spew gift.
Disclaimer: The characters and Hogwarts aren't mine. Would that they were! *Mutters, "Lucky JKR..."*