January 9th, 1976
Severus woke every day at exactly six thirty in the morning. Which, in his own theory, gave him plenty of time to stretch and roll himself awake before anyone else in his dorm had a chance to clamor about as the chaotic blokes he shared a living space with tended to do.
Only this morning, he meagerly sat up in his green sheets to find every other bed devoid of life. His nose scrunched up. Mulciber, he could picture rising early, cramming studies last minute before breakfast or something. Wilkes, yeah, might’ve embarked on a four a.m. quest to interrogate the Gryffindor Portrait Lady and never came back. Evan kept people on their toes, a break in his routine wasn’t special. But Avery? Not a chance. Something was up.
Normally he might’ve procrastinated life in his comforter for a bit, but the morning’s silence bothered Severus. Even the soft sounds of snores in other beds kept his brain stable (which he’d never admit to them). Without it the world was tipped off its axis.
He let out a shudder as his warm feet hit the cold stone tiles, but Severus didn’t break his momentum for a moment as he snatched his uniform from the bedside dresser and sloppily threw it on.
Raven hair sticking out in every which direction, Severus emerged into the Slytherin common room and was violently struck with a cacophony of arguing voices… all gone into a hush the moment they spotted his dark eyes surveying the room. There were more faces present than he’d been expecting.
Aurora Sinistra and Charity Burbage, the honorary Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff members of the friend group, were lounging comfortably on the green bathed couch while the boys sat on the floor around a coffee table.
”Morning, everyone…” Severus muttered, pushing some stray curls from his face. He tried to push down the stab of jealousy that rose in his throat like a bile. He’d never really seen the entire group meet up like this… without him. What had they been talking about that was so secretive they had to shut their traps the moment Severus walked in?
”Mooorning Russ!~” Wilkes greeted in a sing-songy voice, expression entirely suspicious. Severus narrowed his eyes. Avery clapped a hand over Will’s mouth. “Dude, enough,” Severus heard him murmur.
At the very least, Severus shot a hopeful look Mulciber’s way. Bruce’s only response was a tight smile, offering no explanation.
Alright, fine… if that’s how it was going to be.
He sighed to himself, rubbing his eyes with one pale hand. “I’m gonna go get breakfast, anyone else coming?”
”Nope, not me,” Evan chimed, scribbling something down with a frayed quill on parchment that looked like it had been wrinkled several times over.
Nobody else responded, but there were unanimous nods of agreement.
Severus sucked in his belly as if to make himself smaller and weaved through the common room, exiting without another word.
———
The rest of the day went off just about the same. In every class, Severus was thankful enough his friends acknowledged him more— however, frequently passing each other notes when they didn’t think he was looking. He had been, in fact, looking.
Worst part? Severus really wasn’t sure why it upset him. It wasn’t like he had a right to know everything his friends did, or needed to be a part of every scheme. But it did sting that the people he’d found to be so inviting simply weren’t putting in the same effort to include him.
Or maybe it was him. Maybe Severus didn’t put in enough effort, and they’d finally grown tired of investing in someone that didn’t requite their friendship as strongly.
Their potions lesson was easy enough that Severus didn’t have to think about it, which was a dangerous opportunity for him to overthink everything else. He absently thumbed his stirring stick, watching the cauldron’s contents change colors several times over, mind rummaging through the different memories of his past week. Had he dropped the ball? Upset anyone in the group?
Just when he thought he’d found some ornate little detail, some shortcoming on his part, Avery or Bruce would pass him a smile from across the room. Several times, Wilhelm bounced over to his table with the intention of telling a particularly funny story or relaying a joke Evan told.
Halfheartedly, Severus listened, but his mind still drifted. Were they all putting up some sort of front, acting like all was well but resenting him in the shadows?
It was right after his last class of the day that Severus finally lost his wits. Normally the group would leave together, chattering or making plans to snag sandwhiches and go eat outside, but the moment McGonagall dismissed them from Transfiguration, the Slytherin seats were abandoned. Severus stood and threw his bag over his shoulder, disdain covering every inch of his pale face. They’d all just… run off without him?
His dark hair curtained his face the entire walk back to the common room. Severus refused to meet any passerby in the eyes, and though he appeared rather angry, just felt an aching disappointment in himself. He was so used to failing at human relationships, had he been wrong to assume his newly found friends would be any different?
That… Bruce would be any different?
Snape’s palm brushed against the common room door as he dragged his feet on the way inside, wondering how on earth he would live with himself if he’d found they were all jovially assembled without him again-
And while that was the case, it most certainly wasn’t at the same time.
”HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RUSS!!”
Severus jolted so hard his school bag dropped in the doorway, head snapping up and hair wild in his face. He ran a hand through the dark locks to place them somewhere else, eyes widened in bewilderment.
Apparently his shock earned a few laughs, Mulciber stepping forward to thrust a dark green wrapped box with a black bow in Severus’ unsuspecting hands- in addition to a quick little peck on the cheek.
But when Severus’ confused expression failed to subside, the excited grins of his friends died into subtle looks of concern.
”I’m… sorry,” Severus murmured, eyes now trained on the gift in his arms. “But what is this?”
Bruce snorted half heartedly, looking Snape up and down. “It’s your birthday present, Russ.. or at least, the one from me. Everyone pitched something in.”
Severus’ eyes very slowly lifted from the green box, coming to search Bruce’s face. He couldn’t quite comprehend what he was hearing.
“Sheesh, Russ, you look really surprised,” Wilkes jeered, amused. He didn’t know the half of it.
“It’s a surprise party, Will.” Avery rolled his eyes.
Sure, he knew what a birthday was. He’d seen them celebrated plenty of times. He remembered, at a young age, being invited to the Evans household to eat cake and watch Lily open presents. And yes, common sense had told Severus that surely he had a birthday as well. But he’d never learned to celebrate it and couldn’t miss anything he’d never had. Nor did he remember his birthday was… what was the date, January ninth? Had he ever known that?
“Mine is… today?” Severus asked, voice so quiet it might have been a whisper.
”Severus,” Charity giggled, although there was a veil of uncertainty in her tone, “you didn’t forget your birthday, did you?”
Severus gave no response, but looked at the Hufflepuff girl through his messy curls.
He didn’t have to see it to know it was happening— Bruce’s heart sunk. His posture seemed to slacken, overcome with… not pity, Mulciber wouldn’t do that to him. Perhaps sadness. Sev didn’t like the idea of a feeling like that blooming so prominently in Bruce’s soul, but it occurred to him at once that it was on his behalf, whatever it was.
“Merlin!” Rory softly exclaimed under her breath, killing those last moments of dead silence. Aurora marched forward in an instant and planted an almost violently motherly kiss on Severus’ forehead, wrapping him in a gentle hug.
“We’re going to make this your best birthday ever, Russ. Promise. You’re going to get so spoiled.”
When she pulled away, she turned to give the rest of the group a passively scathing look. “Well?” She demanded. “What are you all doing, standing around? Let’s get this party started!”
The forlorn faces of his friends seemed to melt back into pearly smiles as they grouped up and allowed Rory to drag Severus deeper into the common room.
As she led him to the couch, Severus noticed the place was much more spruced up than normal. A banner levitated over the center coffee table that read, ‘Happy Birthday, Russ!’ with a bunch of painted snakes and little 16s dotting the paper.
He was practically thrown at the couch, and landed in a sitting position with wider eyes than when he’d been surprised with all of this.
Before Severus could open his mouth to get a word out, the rest of the group had brought all their various gifts and contributions to the coffee table and splayed them out in a pile of presents, a mouth watering blancmange (courtesy of Charity’s baking) taking center stage.
Mulciber spread out on the couch beside Severus, Charity at his other side, Rory on the floor next to her legs, and the rest of the boys peppered around the coffee table.
They sat in silence for a good handful of awkward seconds before Rory turned to Severus with a cross look. “Well?” She asked, not unkindly. “What’re you waiting for?? They’re for you, open up.”