"Why do you do it that way?" The voice made Harry look up.

He frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked, as he looked down at the ornament in his hand.

Severus carefully marked his place, then set his book aside. "Take them off by hand. Wrap each one in paper." He shrugged, gesturing to Harry's wand on the side table. "You could have it done in minutes, were you to remember that you're a wizard," he said mockingly.

Harry smiled as he returned to wrapping the delicate ornament in the flimsy paper. "You're an arse, you know that?" He placed the globe in the box on the floor, then reached into the tree to remove the next one. As he wrapped, he told Severus, "I like to do it by hand. It's a time…to remember." He smiled indulgently, then added, "I think about the Christmas when we got each one, remember what we were like. Take this one, for example," he paused as he held up the half-wrapped miniature sleigh. "We'd walked into the village for a few last minute things—and bought this on a whim. Nearly froze our toes off, walking back." He shook his head at the look of incredulity on Severus' face. "You don't remember, do you?" He finished wrapping the sleigh, then looked back to Severus after he'd deposited it in the box. "Do you?"

Severus pursed his lips. "I remember…vaguely. So…this manual wrapping of ornaments is a trip down memory lane?" he asked, clearly amused.

Harry nodded as he pulled a wooden nutcracker figurine from the tree. "This one, we've had it since our first year together—that's the year you wouldn't get a tree—but for some reason," he frowned as he turned the object in his hand, "you bought this." He glanced up at Severus. "God, it's ugly." He snorted as he rolled it in paper then tossed it into the box.

Pulling off another, he fingered the white-spun hair of the angel. "This one…" He looked to Severus, then suddenly flushed. "This is stupid. They're just Christmas ornaments," he muttered, ripping off a length of paper, then deftly made a neat package of it, before dropping it into the box.

He'd turned and reached to the side of the tree, groping for a moment until his hand found an ornament. When he turned back, he was startled to find Severus standing next to him, unwrapping the angel ornament he'd evidently retrieved from the box.

"If I recall correctly," Severus said dryly, studying the fragile porcelain object, "Molly presented this to us the first time we spent Christmas there." He looked up at Harry, with a hint of a smile. "The first time we managed sex in a houseful of Weasleys. No small feat, that." He rewrapped the angel, then stooped to replace it in the box. Standing again, he reached out for what Harry held in his hands. Harry hesitated, trying to read the expression on Severus' face, then smiled as he handed it to him.

"Go on, let's see what you know," Harry challenged him, watching while Severus turned the silver snowflake so that the light reflected from its multifaceted surface.

"Hmmm, let me see," Severus mused. He held it up to the light, then as he lowered it, he caught Harry's eye. "This one's from Chamonix. You remember, we were alone on the ski-lift?" His eyes flashed with merriment. "We purchased this as a memento of that occasion." He licked the tip of his finger to draw up a piece of tissue paper.

"Yeah, remember how cold it was? I was afraid my mouth would get stuck to your cock," Harry said, dead-pan, then smiled when Severus laughed softly out loud.

"Hand me the next one," Severus directed Harry, who studied him for a moment, before turning back to the tree. Untangling the golden ribbon, Harry handed it to him.

"This one," Severus paused, seeming to lose his train of thought, "oh yes, this one." He stood still, gazing at the tiny, intricately wrought holly wreath on his outstretched palm. "From the Ministry Ball. We danced, and I remember wanting…so very much..." He looked up to find Harry studying him curiously.

"Wanting very much what?" Harry asked.

"Wanting to kiss you," Severus said simply, his voice strangely husky as he began to wrap the ornament.

"Really? 'Cause that's the year I went home with you," Harry teased.

"And we didn't set foot out of bed except for the loo…for an entire day."

"Almost two," Harry corrected him, leaning over to kiss Severus lightly on the cheek.

They continued to undecorate the tree, taking turns to relate the history of each ornament, laughing softly, quibbling over details, correcting faulty memories, until there was just one ornament left.

Harry removed the tiny snow globe from the branch, held it out to Severus, who shook it once, then placed it on his palm so both of them could see inside.

"That's odd," Severus murmured, "it's empty." He shot Harry a questioning look.

"Yeah, we choose the memory we want to remember this Christmas by, and that's the one that'll be in there."

"You're serious?" Severus asked him, his head tilted to the side.

"I am. I'd forgotten about it until now. So, what do you think?" Harry asked him as he took the globe from Severus to examine it up close. "What shall it be?" His eyes widened as he watched Severus drop his trousers and kick them to the side.

"I think," Severus told him as took the ornament from him and set it aside, "that our mistletoe's been sorely underutilized." After a wave of his hand and an, "Accio mistletoe," he held it out to Harry as he said, "Tied on your cock would be best, I believe, and then let's see if we can come up with something memorable, hmmm?"