Observance of Birthdays is a Ridiculous Tradition
Date: Friday, 10 March
Time: Early Morning
Place: Spinner's End
Characters Involved: Severus Snape, trying to be anonymous. Lupin if he wants. Any other of the circus of individuals now parading through Spinner's End.
Rating: Triple X--because seeing Snape do something remotely 'fluffy' is truly obscene.
The werewolf's "friends" had made a grand spectacle of the date every year in school, though. Moreover, in spite of his protests to the contrary, Lupin seemed to enjoy the fuss and noise.
Albus and Minerva had always presented him with a new book of some sort or another on his own birthday, which Severus had accepted with as much grace as he could muster, but otherwise the day had passed uneventfully through out his life.
He knew enough to know that gift-giving was part of the etiquette. He was unwilling to be seen as neglecting his house-guests. There was no help for it. Something must be done.
It was impossible to 'sneak about' in a house full of werewolves, especially as the full moon approached. However, they seemed to be making an effort to afford him some measure of personal space, and generally avoided his company early in the morning.
Severus was especially not-pleasant in the mornings. For those people who had the opportunity to know him well enough to be able to tell the difference.
It was only a matter of an hour to prepare the confection and wrap the small item in brown paper. Before the sun was fully up, Severus had left the items on the kitchen table for the intended to find on his own, and disappeared down the stairs into his Potions Cellar, and to work.
On the table was an ordinary rectangular sheet-cake, chocolate, of course. He had used magic to put Lupin's name on it. He couldn't quite force himself to write 'Happy Birthday', so it merely said, "LUPIN". Next to it was a small package containing a bar of Honeyduke's best, and a copy of one of the many photos Lily had sent him over the few years out of school before her death.
This one was from her wedding, and she stood radiant in her gown, with Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew around her, each with various expressions of mischief on their faces. Lily had told him, in her letter, that this was taken moments before they deluged her with some manner of obnoxious confetti which she told him had clung to her hair for weeks afterward.
There was no card, only a note with the photo.
"Tell Potter where you got this, and you can forget the Wolfsbane this month."
The cellar door and the door to his work lab were both firmly closed.
Time: Early Morning
Place: Spinner's End
Characters Involved: Severus Snape, trying to be anonymous. Lupin if he wants. Any other of the circus of individuals now parading through Spinner's End.
Rating: Triple X--because seeing Snape do something remotely 'fluffy' is truly obscene.
The werewolf's "friends" had made a grand spectacle of the date every year in school, though. Moreover, in spite of his protests to the contrary, Lupin seemed to enjoy the fuss and noise.
Albus and Minerva had always presented him with a new book of some sort or another on his own birthday, which Severus had accepted with as much grace as he could muster, but otherwise the day had passed uneventfully through out his life.
He knew enough to know that gift-giving was part of the etiquette. He was unwilling to be seen as neglecting his house-guests. There was no help for it. Something must be done.
It was impossible to 'sneak about' in a house full of werewolves, especially as the full moon approached. However, they seemed to be making an effort to afford him some measure of personal space, and generally avoided his company early in the morning.
Severus was especially not-pleasant in the mornings. For those people who had the opportunity to know him well enough to be able to tell the difference.
It was only a matter of an hour to prepare the confection and wrap the small item in brown paper. Before the sun was fully up, Severus had left the items on the kitchen table for the intended to find on his own, and disappeared down the stairs into his Potions Cellar, and to work.
On the table was an ordinary rectangular sheet-cake, chocolate, of course. He had used magic to put Lupin's name on it. He couldn't quite force himself to write 'Happy Birthday', so it merely said, "LUPIN". Next to it was a small package containing a bar of Honeyduke's best, and a copy of one of the many photos Lily had sent him over the few years out of school before her death.
This one was from her wedding, and she stood radiant in her gown, with Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew around her, each with various expressions of mischief on their faces. Lily had told him, in her letter, that this was taken moments before they deluged her with some manner of obnoxious confetti which she told him had clung to her hair for weeks afterward.
There was no card, only a note with the photo.
"Tell Potter where you got this, and you can forget the Wolfsbane this month."
The cellar door and the door to his work lab were both firmly closed.