A/N: I thought I'd bring this back for some Christmas-themed fun with our favorite couple :) Thanks for reading!

Feeling utterly content, Severus leaned back in his seat at the kitchen table and sipped at his morning coffee. It was nearly Christmas, and he only had one more order of Pepper Up to send to Hogwarts. Then he could enjoy some quiet reading by the fire…

Hermione was humming cheerily to herself as she prepared breakfast, and even Crookshanks was behaving himself, curled up by the windowsill. Yes, this would be a good day.

"So, you owled the presents last night, right?" Hermione asked, setting her cup of tea on the table.

Severus stared at her blankly.

"You know, for Luna and Ginny and everyone?" She skipped over to the sizzling pan of sausages. "Did you want your eggs scrambled?"

Uh oh. "Scrambled, please." He took a large gulp of coffee. "And I've no idea what you're talking about."

She paused at his admission. "What?"

He knew that look in her eye. Steeling himself with another mouthful of coffee, Severus attempted to feign nonchalance. "I was rather busy last night, you see," he stalled as he wracked his brain. What had he been doing last night? He'd fed the blasted cat, decanted his potions, then…

"Yes," said Hermione dispassionately, "I'm sure you were quite busy when you were listing all the reasons we shouldn't bother getting a Christmas tree. For three hours, if I remember correctly."

"...To be fair, one of those hours was spent sorting the pantry as well—"

"—while still complaining about a tree. The pantry does look rather nice, though."

He allowed himself a moment to preen. "Thank you. I even color-coded the spices the way you like."

Hermione smacked him with a dishcloth but was unable to hide her smile. "I saw that. Now stop smirking like that—you look like Lucius Malfoy. And stop trying to distract me."

Severus sighed. "Very well. I'll send those gifts off now then, shall I?"

"Erm, well, we don't have the owl now, you see."

"What on earth happened to the owl?" he asked in disbelief. "If your ruddy cat—"

"No! Crooks would never do that." She glared at him. "I let Harry and Ginny borrow it. You know how many presents James Sirius—"

Severus grimaced, earning himself another smack with the dish towel.

"—bought for all his friends. It would take ages for one owl to deliver them all! So I let them borrow ours."

Her beseeching smile was entirely too pretty for him to ignore. Or perhaps the warm feeling in his chest was because of the coffee he'd ingested.

"A commendable reason, I suppose," he acquiesced. "Although I suppose those presents will have to wait," he realized out loud gleefully. And he'd still have time to start his new book…

"Don't be silly!" Hermione bestowed him with another beaming smile. "Now we have an excuse to visit everyone in person!"

Merlin preserve him.

Well, now that he'd somehow survived five rounds of tea after visiting each of Hermione's friends, Severus could finally start on the Hogwarts order of Pepper Up potion.

"Severus! Severuuus! SEVERUS!"

Severus glanced up in alarm from his position at his potions workbench. "Hermione?" he questioned, hurriedly casting a Stasis charm on his brewing and rushing up the stairs to deal with the source of his wife's distress.

"Ow! Bugger, where are you, Severus?" she yelled from the living room.

Severus skidded to a halt into the living room. Wand drawn and eyes wide, he stared in disbelief at the scene before him.

"What are you doing?" he asked, not sounding particularly impressed as he surveyed the evidence of her endeavors.

Hermione beamed down at him from her precariously perched position on a step ladder. She gestured proudly towards the large Christmas tree that invaded the centre of the cozy living room.

"Setting up the tree!" she said happily. "Now—hold the end of the lights, will you? I keep pricking myself on the blasted needles trying to wrap the lights around."

He scowled. "I thought you needed help."

"Does this not constitute help?"

"I thought you were in trouble," he clarified, still scowling up at her with his arms crossed. "I put my batch of Pepper Up on stasis and you know that that batch will be less potent now—I'll have to brew a new one for Poppy. I suppose we'll keep the ruined potions for ourselves." A sly smirk spread over his face. "Or I could give them to Potter…"

Hermione cleared her throat loudly and glared pointedly at her husband.

"I'll let you give those to Harry if you help me set up the tree," she bargained, although Severus knew her well enough to recognize that tone; there would be no refusing her.

He cleared his throat in return, nodding imperiously as if that were his idea all along. "Fine. What did you need me to do?"

Hermione huffed exaggeratedly in exasperation and hopped down the step ladder. She pointed to where she'd been standing. "Hold the end of the lights up there so I can wrap them around the tree."

Severus blinked. "Shouldn't you be up there instead? I'll hit my head off the ceiling."

"I don't like heights." She waved off his confusion, then smiled brightly at him. "So go on—up you get."

Severus frowned. She had clearly been fine earlier, but he didn't argue as he stepped gingerly onto the ladder. He didn't want to ruin her mood, particularly as he'd already buggered up earlier when he'd forgotten to send off their gifts. Well, her gifts, really, but she'd insisted on signing his name as well. As if he had any idea what they were giving Ginny Potter for Christmas.

"I'll just stand here then, shall I?" he asked in a bored tone. What was the point of this again? He could be finishing the Pepper Up, or catching up on his journal articles… The newest advances in improving the Skele-Gro formula were particularly fascinating…

"What? No, you need to make sure the lights don't come off the top!"

"...Right. So I'll just stand here. You know, dear, as I was saying last night, trees are rather overrate—watch it!" he growled when she slapped his arse in admonishment, the step ladder wobbling ominously. "Where did you find this ruddy ladder? It's as stable as Trelawney!"

She snorted and continued to wrap the lights around the tree. 'Don't be ridiculous. It was on sale!"

"From Minerva's attic, most likely," he muttered under his breath, earning himself another slap—on the thigh this time as Hermione bent to decorate the lower portions of the tree. "Can you hurry this up? I've got a crick in my neck and my arm is falling asleep."

"Oh, stop whining," she laughed.

Apparently nothing would dampen her Christmas cheer. He sighed and cracked his neck.

"I'll make it up to you later," she promised.

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? Shall I earn bonus points if I place the angel on the top? Seeing as you don't like 6 foot heights," he added snidely.

Hermione glanced up at him and winked. "Oh, I can definitely make it worth your while, love."

Well, when she put it that way… He smirked. "Accio star."

"Mm, that was nice," Hermione hummed appreciatively as Severus wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. She pulled the bedsheets up over her shoulders. "Stop hogging all the blankets."

"Hermione… you have all the blankets," Severus pointed out dryly.

"Hmm? Oh, I suppose I do."

"I think the fire in the fireplace went out," he groused. "My feet are freezing."

"Just your feet?"

"Move over," he growled, and she giggled as he wormed his way under the covers.

"You know, I could've just used a Sticking Charm," she said after a few minutes of contented snuggling.

"What?"

"For the tree. I didn't actually need your help."

He sat up abruptly, pulling the blankets up with him.

"Hey! I need those!" she protested, tugging him back down.

"You had me ruin a perfectly good batch of Pepper Up for no reason?" he asked. At least the ingredients were rather cheap.

"Oh, don't sulk. Harry could use the less potent batch—the adult dose would be too strong for little Albus."

How disappointing. He'd been looking forward to seeing Potter with a perpetual cold.

"Besides, it's no fun decorating alone, and I wanted an excuse to have a good view of your arse."