(A Lot Of) Owl Post
February 14th, 09:27
Snape’s POV:
Severus strolled towards the Great Hall, the Firewhiskey making his chest feel warm. Whenever he had drunk alcohol and had to leave his chambers, he always walked slower than usual. This ensured Severus had more time to think about where to place his feet, reducing the likelihood of his staggering. He also talked less so the students wouldn’t hear the slight slurring of his speech that occurred.
However, this was the first time he had gone to the Great Hall for a meal after drinking. Unfortunately, he couldn’t skip Breakfast today. He’d missed too many, and the meddling Headmaster had interrupted his third year Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff class. Dumbledore told him (with that infernal twinkle in his eye) that he might send something… of a romantic nature to him during one of his classes if he didn’t turn up.
As he opened the Staff door and walked to his seat, he threw a quick glance around the Hall to get an idea of the students’ mood. This usually gave him an indication of how many points he would be taking.
If the students were overly happy, sad, angry, stressed or fearful, he had a field day with deducting points. However, if the students had no general mood or were ambivalent, Severus barely deducted any.
Looking around, seeing a lot of happy, angry and sad students, he knew he’d be deducting a lot of points.
Glancing over at the Gryffindor table (some hatreds didn’t die quickly, after all), Severus instinctively looked for the “Golden Trio”, as the other students had taken to calling them. He sneered at the thought, as in his opinion, there was absolutely nothing “golden” about any of them, except maybe Ms Granger’s results.
He focused back on the table and could only see Mr Weasley glaring over at the Slytherin table. Severus glared at him, to no effect, and looked to see who Mr Weasley was glaring at. To his surprise, he saw Mr Potter and Draco, sitting… close together.
In fact, Severus reflected, if they wanted to sit any closer, Mr Potter would have to sit in Draco’s lap.
He shuddered at the thought, almost gagging. Minerva looked over in concern, but he waved her off, sneering at her. She shrugged and looked away.
For once, he was in total agreement with Mr Weasley, although he would deny to his grave that he had ever agreed with him should anyone ask. At least he knew that Ms Parkinson had been telling the truth about Mr Potter and Draco. He’d considered that Ms Parkinson could have been lying, potentially as part of a dare. Still, the evidence to the contrary was right in front of him.
A mixture of cheering and booing drew his attention back to the present. He saw Mr Potter and Draco… kissing. Passionately. Severus almost vomited from a mix of disgust and the Firewhiskey. Minerva leaned over to him.
“It’s good to see the 8th years making a fine example for everyone else of … inter-house unity”, she said, a slight smile on her face. Severus looked horrified. He really shouldn’t imbibe alcohol before Breakfast, he thought to himself as he went to reply. It made his emotions too easy to read.
“I disagree with you”, said Severus, “and I disagree with their… methods”. Minerva glared at him.
“Don’t tell me you’re homophobic”, she said tenslely. It took Severus a few seconds to understand the thinly-veiled threat behind her words.
“I AM NOT HOMOPHOBIC!” he said, a bit too loudly. The other Professors looked over at him, and there was a slight laugh from the students. One glare was sufficient to silence them, but when he turned back to Minerva, he saw that she was smiling. He continued, making sure to keep his voice to an average volume.
“It would impact their performance on the Quidditch pitch, especially since they are on opposing teams which are playing against each other today. I also disagree with them being… affectionate. In public”, Severus said, mentally kicking himself for letting his emotions get the better of him. Minerva smirked. It looked like a cat baring its teeth.
“You mean you disagree with PDAs? Even on Valentine’s day?” she asked. He sneered.
“Especially on Valentine’s Day”, he said with a smirk.
He noticed that the owls were flying in, many of them with (looks like I was right about the Headmaster’s festivities, he thought) heart-shaped letters. Severus ignored them, instead looking around. He’d managed to locate two of the trio: Mr Potter was sitting with Draco, and Mr Weasley was (still) glaring at them.
However, he hadn’t seen Ms Granger. She was usually the first one there, with her nose buried in a textbook or badgering Mr Weasley and Mr Potter to complete their homework. Where was she?
He was interrupted from his thoughts by the screeching of an owl that was being ignored beside him. Thinking it was the owl delivering his morning Daily Prophet, he was instead horrified to see an owl with a letter addressed to Severus Snape. He slowly took the heart-shaped letter, hoping that this was a nightmare.
The abrupt silence from the students informed him that it wasn’t. He slowly opened the letter.
Instantly, rose petals flew out of the letter and landed in his hair. As everyone looked on, the letter floated above his head and began to say
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Your House is snarky,
And so are you.
Orchards are white,
Ghost ones are rare,
Cheeseburgers are greasy,
And so is your hair.
Sunflowers reach,
Up to the skies,
Your hair is black,
And so are your eyes
For Severus Snape, my love
True as your pulse, deprive
Always we will be
Connected as one
I give you my passion
Your eyes, a pulse through darkness
My pulse, my Severus Snape.
The Great Hall was deathly silent. Everyone looked at him with either disgust, amusement or a combination of the two. Severus stared at the letter floating above him, which vanished with another expulsion of rose petals. Most of them landed on his hair.
It took him a minute to realise that his jaw was hanging open like a gormless Gryffindor. As he belatedly shut his mouth, there was a ripple of laughter from the students. Most were turning to their neighbours, no doubt to comment on what had just occurred.
Severus was about to do… something, when Dumbledore, who was sitting on his other side, leaned over to speak with him.
“Well, Severus,” said Dumbledore, with that infernal in his eye, “looks like you have a secret admirer. Or, maybe you have a secret partner that you never told anyone about, hmmm?” Severus realised that his jaw had dropped again. He closed it with an inaudible clop. If I don’t stop doing that, I’ll start catching flies, he thought to himself, before his face darkened in anger.
“Firstly, I highly doubt that I have a secret admirer. I’m more likely to be the victim of a prank by a student. If I find the person responsible, I’ll make them regret ever setting foot in Hogwarts,” he said, raising his voice for that last part to make sure the students heard him. They all peered at him, looking unconvinced that someone would have the stupidity to prank him.
“Secondly, for the last eighteen years of my life, *{}* I have been a Death Eater and a spy. On top of all that, I had to deal with teaching students, along with detentions and supervising trips to Hogsmeade. Now tell me this because I’d love to hear your answer,” Severus said, sneering.
“At what stage during all this would I have found the time to date and fall in love with someone, to the extent that they would willingly send me a Valentines’ letter?” he asked sarcastically.
Dumbledore seemed to consider that before his eyes focused back on Severus. Or, to be more precise, on the table behind him.
“Obviously, you’ve had more time than you realised,” Dumbledore said, amusement clear in his voice.
With a sinking feeling and mental promises to himself to never drink again unless it was a weekend, Severus turned around.
The look of horror on his face at the sight of twenty owls, all carrying heart-shaped letters, was enough to send the entire Hall (along with most of the Professors) into fits of hysterics.
As the letters all opened with bursts of flower petals and began reciting different love poems, Severus realised something: he didn’t hate Valentine’s Day.
No.
Severus Snape loathed Valentine’s Day.
Harry’s POV:
“Is he looking over?” asked Draco as they sat together.
Harry glanced over to the Gryffindor table. He caught Ron’s eye as he glared over at them. Ron inclined his head slightly towards the High Table, and a barely noticeable smile crossed his face, all the while still giving the pair a furious-looking glare. Harry raised his right eyebrow slightly and quickly glanced up at the High Table. Snape was looking over at them, with surprise, anger and disgust rapidly crossing his face. The emotions were barely noticeable, as was the shudder that ran across his body.
On anyone else, it could be presumed that the person had smelled something slightly off and was a bit cold. On Snape, it was the same as someone yelling their emotions.
“He is,” replied Harry, “and he’s not looking too happy”. Draco smirked and waggled his eyebrows at him. Harry laughed and leaned forwards until there was only an inch of space between them.
“I must say that I’m looking forward to today’s meals,” whispered Draco, while making it look like he was looking intently into his eyes.
“So am I,” allowed Harry with a smirk, raising his chin slightly while giving Draco a sultry look.
“How very Slytherin of you,” drawled Draco. He smirked.
“I know,” replied Harry as he leaned in to kiss Draco. A few seconds pause, then the students burst out in a mixture of cheering and booing. Harry noted with amusement that the encouragement was coming from the other 8th years, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and a few Gryffindors. The booing was coming from the rest of the Gryffindors and Slytherins. The Professors were smiling, looking shocked or (in Snape’s case) looking like he had been propositioned by Filch, Umbridge and Sirius all at once.
Harry ended the kiss and snuggled into Draco’s shoulder, noticing McGonagall had pulled Snape into a conversation.
“He couldn’t have looked more disgusted if he’d come across us shagging on his bed,” noted Harry. Draco, who had been drinking Pumpkin Juice, swallowed it quickly and broke into a coughing/laughing fit. Harry slapped him on the back a few times. Draco had just managed to calm down when they heard a roar of “I AM NOT HOMOPHOBIC!” from the High Table, setting Draco, Harry, and most of the students off. Snape was trying to shut them up by glaring at the students, but the damage was done.
Once Draco had (for the second time) managed to calm down, his only comment, setting Harry off again, was “No prizes for guessing what that was all about”. Draco continued in a lowered voice, changing the topic slightly.
“That was a good idea you had last night”.
“I’m sorry,” remarked Harry with a smirk. “I seem to have gone temporarily deaf. Could you repeat that?”
“Haha,” responded Draco, elbowing Harry in the side. “Harry Potter has a sense of humour. Alert the Daily Prophet”.
Harry smirked.
“It makes sense that some people would try to squirm out of doing their dare. If it has to be done in public, then we all know if they don’t do it. However, if they are alone when they are supposed to do their dare, we only have their word for it. Taking their memory and viewing it in the Black family Pensieve * ensures that everyone is completely truthful. If they try lying, the lie is found out quite quickly,” commented Harry.
“Still,” noted Draco, “it was a good idea”.
“I think I’m the one who needs to alert the Daily Prophet that Draco Malfoy complimented me,” deadpanned Harry. Draco went to elbow Harry again, but Harry stopped him, motioning towards the owls arriving with the post. Draco looked gleeful, and Harry was surprised he wasn’t rubbing his hands together.
They watched as Snape turned around after hearing the owl screech. The look on Snape’s face as he saw the heart-shaped envelope was priceless (Harry and Draco cast Silencio on themselves and burst out laughing). They gleefully watched the rose petals fall on him and listened to the love poem being read aloud, as did the rest of the Great Hall, who had no idea this was going to occur. The students laughed when the poem finished with another shower of petals and turned to their friends to discuss it.
Harry and Draco were getting some odd looks from a few Slytherins who had noticed their lack of surprise and glee when the owls had arrived. Draco sneered at them, raising his eyebrow, and they quickly looked away. Harry promptly glanced over at Ron who noticed that Harry was looking at him and gave a mock salute. Harry grinned at him before a nudge in his ribs brought his attention back to Snape. Dumbledore was talking to him, and (so far) Snape hadn’t noticed the gathering number of owls behind him, but he appeared to be making a point. His voice was rising as he said with a glare, “I’m more likely to be the victim of a prank by a student. If I find the person responsible, I’ll make them regret ever setting foot in Hogwarts”.
Harry and Draco just grinned at each other. A minute later, they saw Dumbledore look over Snape’s shoulder and vocalise something. Snape stiffened before slowly turning to look at the crowd of around twenty owls on the table behind him. This time, they didn’t manage to cast Silencio on themselves in time and burst out laughing. Their laughter was covered by the sound of the other students, who only laughed louder as the letters sprayed various petals over Snape and began to read their poems aloud.
The look of shock and horror on Snape’s face was worth it, Harry thought. Turning to Draco, he smirked.
“See you in Potions,” he stated. Draco snorted.
“You mean you’ll see me sitting in the Quidditch Stands,” he retorted.
“I know,” remarked Harry before walking out of the Great Hall in the direction of the Quidditch Pitch.
Next: Everyone knows that Quidditch teams have reserve players if a team member is injured or can’t play. So does Severus. However, he is surprised at who isn’t playing, and who the team chose to replace them *cackle* *Severus isn’t the only one wondering what’s going on, is he?* *winks*