Four

Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are not mine. Pity.

Professor Snape tossed and turned all night. He could not sleep.

According to Miss Granger, she had lost the book. He had no idea why she was being so secretive and so stubborn.

He was also worried about the last component of the potion. He almost wished it would just happen so he could get it over with.

Therefore, he was already in a foul mood when he went down to breakfast the next morning. The students all looked at him with concern. He had a furious look on his face, but was humming a happy tune. He also noticed that the females were still enamored of him. Professor McGonagall actually leered at him with lust in her eyes.

Oh, bloody hell!

"Happy Birthday, Professor Snape," Hagrid said happily.

Snape gave him an annoyed look.

"It is not my birthday."

That was just the beginning. Several people wished him a happy birthday.

Has everyone gone mad? he wondered.

Then the owls came with the mail, and he was surprised to get a package. He opened the note and read:

Severus,

Your Secret Admirer.

As he tentatively opened the present, he thought to himself: how was he supposed to think of this person when he wore this present if they didn't tell him who they were? Then the sight of the garment inside the package shocked him into speechlessness.

They were silk boxer shorts. They were green and black and had little cartoon characters on them.

Professor Dumbledore seemed to be delighted.

"Marvin the Martian!" he exclaimed.

"Excuse me?" Professor Snape said, dryly.

Dumbledore clarified his statement. "The character on your boxers is Marvin the Martian. He is one of my favorites."

"Then you can have them." Snape tried to hand the offending garment to the headmaster.

"Oh, no, Severus. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to make your birthday a happy one, and I would not want to take that away from you."

"It is not my birthday." He tried again to explain this to them all.

"But of course it is," the headmaster responded with a smile.

Snape tried to eat his breakfast in peace and ignore everyone around him, but he soon realized that was not going to happen.

"You know the Muggles have a tradition, Severus," Professor McGonagall whispered in his ear. "It is called the birthday spanking."

"I have to go." He hurriedly left the Great Hall for the protection of his office.

All the while, he was humming merrily.

*****

Throughout the day, he contemplated what he was going to do.

He realized the birthday wishes were the last of the three components of the potion. Soon it would be all over. Now, there were only two things he was interested in.

One was to find out who gave him the potion. He spent a great deal of time and energy on how he was going to deal with that person when he found out who it was.

The second thing he was concerned with was what Miss Granger was hiding. He wasn't sure why he needed to know so badly, only that he was determined to find out her secret.

He came up with a plan. He needed to see her alone. So, for the third day in a row, he assigned her detention. This time she did not seem fazed, as if she had been expecting it.

"Happy Birthday, Professor." She smiled at him as she walked in to serve her undeserved detention.

"Miss Granger, it is not my birthday."

She seemed confused at his statement.

"Are you sure, Professor?"

Instead of answering her question, he asked a question of his own.

"Have you ever known when my birthday was, Miss Granger?"

She thought about this. She actually had never known before when his birthday was. Not because she wasn't interested, but because he was a very private person. This further confused her.

"It seems, Miss Granger," he continued, "that you are not immune to the effects of this potion after all."

To his surprise, she blushed.

"Well, since it is somewhat of a festive occasion, why don't we have a drink?" He retrieved two glasses with pumpkin juice in them.

She hesitated. Something wasn't quite right.

"Surely, Miss Granger, you would have a drink with me on my birthday," he said, smoothly.

Something in what he was saying was not making sense, but she could not put her finger on what it was. It was his birthday, after all. It would be rude not to drink with him.

"Of course, Professor," she said breathlessly.

They toasted to his birthday, and he watched as she finished her pumpkin juice.

"Miss Granger?" Something in his voice increased her apprehension.

"Yes, sir?" She watched him warily.

"Do you still have the Potions book?"

"Yes, sir," she responded truthfully.

Suddenly, the warnings in her head became clear. He had given her Veritaserum, a truth potion.

"I thought so," he said smugly. "Did you make the potion in question?"

"No, sir." She was worried where this line of questioning was going.

"Do you know who did?" He pressed her further.

"No, sir. I do not." So far, they were on safe ground.

But not for long.

"Why, Miss Granger, were you not affected by the potion?'

"I was affected, sir."

He smiled smugly at her answer. He was getting closer.

"Why, Miss Granger, did you seem not to be affected by the part of the potion that made all females fall in love with me?"

She knew it was all over, and she couldn't stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth.

"Because I am already in love with you."

He had not expected it.

She could tell he was in shock. She decided she had nothing to lose.

She walked up to him and whispered close to his ear, "I love you truly, madly, deeply, Severus."

And with that, she kissed him gently on the lips and then strode purposefully out of the room.

He was in shock. He could not think. He was even having a little trouble breathing.

A knock on the door interrupted his disconcerted thoughts.

"What?" he barked.

A first-year student opened the door.

"Professor Snape, sir. Professor Dumbledore needs you to come to the Great Hall, sir. He says it is an emergency."

What now?

However, for a change Snape was glad to have a diversion. Anything to keep him from thinking about what had just happened.

He walked into the Great Hall expecting to find something amiss. Instead, he was greeted with many roars of "Happy Birthday!"

The Great Hall was decorated for a party. Thousands of balloons floated in the air. Just as many candles floated alongside them. There was a continuous sound of popping, as the balloons floated too close to the candles and popped. Then, immediately, another balloon took its place. The effect was a kind of popping song.

Everyone seemed to be there in the Great Hall for his birthday.

He made his way to the front of the room where the headmaster stood ready to greet him.

"Happy Birthday, Severus," he said warmly.

"Thank you, Headmaster," he responded, forgetting to contradict him about his birthday.

There was a large cake done in Slytherin colors that said HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEVERUS SNAPE across the top of it.

It was actually a very nice cake, he thought as he hummed to himself.

Professor Dumbledore continued, "Now you need to blow out the candles on the cake." At that point, many tiny, lit candles appeared on the top of the confection. Professor Snape looked at him questioningly.

"It is a Muggle tradition, Severus. You blow out the candles on the cake while making a wish. If you blow out all the candles, then your wish will come true." Then he cautioned him. "But do not tell your wish, or it will not come true."

Dumbledore seemed to be enjoying this immensely.

Severus Snape looked out at the crowd gathered in the room to celebrate his birthday. His eyes searched out one student in particular. He found her where she normally was with all her Gryffindor friends.

He closed his eyes. As he took a deep breath, he knew it didn't matter if he blew out all the candles or not. For even though he knew nothing could come of it while she was still his student, he still smiled inwardly at one thought.

A wish he hadn't even realized he'd had until that moment had already come true.

She loved him.

He opened his eyes and blew out all the candles on his birthday cake. He was no longer protesting that it was not his birthday.

In a far corner of the room, another Gryffindor watched the scene with satisfaction.

Professor Snape had not only been embarrassed but utterly humiliated over the last few days.

He had planned this for a long time, and he knew no one would ever suspect him.

Neville Longbottom smiled.

This was his best birthday ever!

A/N: I do realize that Neville's B-day is in actually in July and over summer break. This was revealed in OotP. That is one reason this story is AU.