Happy Birthday, Severus Snape! Quiz
If you are living in JKR's world, our dearly departed hero would have turned 50 this weekend.
However, if you are living in our world then it's...
Happy 50th birthday, Severus Snape!
To help celebrate the occasion, we've collected a dozen special birthday stories for your enjoyment. So put on your party hat, grab some cake and ice cream and let's get this party started!
This is a Special Occasion quiz. That means this week's winner gets a special Snape's Birthday Prezzie! Play the quiz at any time over the weekend by commenting with your answers. Just comment before the answer sheet goes up on Monday morning, Eastern Standard Time. If you have the correct answers, your name will be entered in our weekly drawing. The winner will be given their very own Snape prezzie!
Match the quotes to the story titles without biting on our featured red herring titles:
Tiny Bubbles by lulabelle72
Charisma Amour by scatteredlogic
Happy, Happy Birthday by kittylefish (SS/HG/LM)
For the Birthday Boy by ms_figg
Happy Birthday, Professor Snape by AlwaySS
Check Out by alliean
An Argument for Selfishness by bluestocking79
Wrapping and Content by Faris Eirin
Happy Birthday, Severus by keladry_lupin
Take This Longing by machshefa
Assuaging Insecurity by ayerf
Passion and Potions by savine_snape
1. She trailed off as Severus finally looked up from the lopsided cake, his eyes curiously bright and his expression free from disdain. He cleared his throat twice before speaking. "This is a Chocolate Guinness Cake."
"Yes." It was very unlike Severus to state the obvious, she thought.
"And you made this. By yourself. Without assistance."
"Yes," Hermione confirmed, frowning with mingled hurt and irritation. "I just told you so. You don't have to rub my face in my mistake like I'm still one of your students-"
"You made this for me," Severus emphasised. His gaze settled on her, dark and warm and wondering, and for a moment Hermione felt quite breathless.
2. It was another two hours before Hermione returned, by which time Severus was somewhere between tipsy and seriously annoyed with her.
“Severus, I didn’t expect to find you waiting for me.”
“Nurgh!”
“What on earth is the matter?”
“What are you hiding from me, woman?”
“Hiding?”
“Yes, what are you hiding from me? Or should I be asking who is he?”
“How much have you had to drink, Severus?”
“I believe that I posed a question.”
Hermione groaned inwardly. She wasn’t intentionally hiding anything from him. With his birthday approaching, she had hoped to have everything in place, but she should have remembered that old habits died hard. She had thought that she had covered her tracks adequately, but she realised how wrong she had been.
3. ‘You’re expected at dinner, of course, and you’ll probably have to suffer through felicitations then, but I wanted to give you your present now. It’s cold outside, after all, and I thought it might warm you up ... make you more comfortable.’
Apparently, she had not completely ditched her habit of rambling when she was ill at ease. He raised a sarcastic eyebrow, and she cleared her throat, cheeks colouring slightly.
Gesturing to a basket on his desk, she repeated, ‘Happy birthday.’
He was taken aback by her warm lips on his cheek. She was gone before he remembered to breathe.
4. It took him another five minutes to locate Hermione, who had moved back to the bakery aisle and was defiantly clutching at the chocolate cake she had salivated over earlier. He pushed the trolley with enough force to send it towards her on its own and she dumped the contents of her basket unceremoniously into it. He looked pointedly between the cake and her.
“No,” he said.
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes. Think of it as a birthday cake.”
“I don’t want to think of it as a birthday cake.”
“It’s your birthday in one day. And I want chocolate cake. So you’re having a birthday cake.”
“How thoughtful of you.”
She placed it reverently on top of the other items in the trolley. He took it out and shoved it onto the shelf. She yanked it back, tossed it back in the trolley and leaned forward over the top, crossing her arms across the cake, and raising her head from an incredibly awkward angle to glare at him, her hair flopping over half of her face and covering one eye, though the effect of the glare wasn’t halved for him. The effect was just changed.
“If you don’t let me keep it, I’m going to Floo Harry and Ron and tell them to bring all the Weasleys, all their girlfriends and boyfriend, and every single one of your ex-colleagues at Hogwarts to your skanky house for a birthday party.”
He paled slightly. He knew she would do that. She really would.
5. Looking around her bedroom, Hermione smiled. The bed was laid with soft cotton sheets and luxurious feather blankets just begging to be warmed by more than the crackling fire. The lights were dim, firelight casting long shadows on the stone walls and warming the room slightly. To one side of the room was a tray piled with fresh fruit, juice and biscuits. A wave of her wand was followed by strains of soft music flooding the room. She was ready. It was his birthday today and Severus would never know what hit him.
Hours later, curled on the couch together, sipping wine and enjoying a comfortable lull in their animated conversation, Hermione saw her opening.
“Severus?”
“Hmm?” He turned towards her, his dark gaze intense.
“I haven’t forgotten your birthday. I have something for you, something that I’ve wanted to share with you for some time now…”
His gaze sharpened. “Indeed?”
“Yes,” she rose fluidly from the couch and reached for his hand to draw him along with her. “Come, and I’ll show you.”
6. She'd been exhausted when she'd completed the brewing, but the crystal phial now in her pocket contained a beautiful, shimmering potion.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Severus swept past and took his seat with a scowl.
"Bad day?" Hermione asked.
He hissed through his teeth. "One of the second years melted his cauldron and the table underneath. I'm uncertain which combination of ingredients the dunderhead used that turned a simple Swelling Solution into an acid with the consistency of glue, but it took longer than I anticipated to clean and repair the classroom."
"I'm sorry you've had a trying day," Hermione said. She slipped her hand into her robes pocket to touch the phial, her determination wavering. Perhaps this wasn't the best time to give him the potion.
No. She mentally squared her shoulders. If she waited, she'd lose her nerve, and then it would be back to trying to figure out how to tell Severus how she felt.
Hermione took a deep breath. "I have a gift for you." She quickly pulled the phial from her pocket and placed it on the table in front of Severus. She smiled. "Happy birthday."
7. "I do not drink champagne on my birthday," Severus announced, and then, slurring only slightly, he added pompously, "or ever. Ever."
"Then it's a good thing that it's not your birthday anymore," replied Hermione smoothly as she refilled his glass.
Severus frowned, confused. "But I said... Did I not say 'ever'?"
"Why, no, Headmaster, you did not. A toast!"
"No more toasts." The wave of his hand was extremely derelict and nearly the cause of a waste of good champagne. "I am sick to death of toasts."
"Only because we've toasted you all night. Let's toast me!"
"Toast... you?" Severus was incredulous.
8. Today was Severus’s birthday, and so far he was not happy. Well, technically, it wasn’t his birthday; that day had passed with a minimum of fuss. For some reason, Hermione had insisted that they postpone his “real celebration” for the weekend. When he’d asked her why, she had merely smirked at him and blathered some nonsense about how he’d find out soon enough. It was extremely irksome; he did not ask again.
So here it was Saturday, and the situation was no less vexing. She had banned him from the kitchen immediately after breakfast whilst she got up to who knows what in there. And now, she had banned him from the bedroom whilst she got up to similarly mysterious matters.
Not only that, but this morning when he had snuggled up to her back, put his arms around her, and kissed her neck, instead of snuggling back and letting matters take their usual pleasurable course, she had merely given him a quick kiss and then bounded out of bed. “Not now. Let’s save it for later, all right?” she had said cheerfully - cheerfully! - whilst leaving him alone in bed with only … himself for company.
If this was how she envisioned “celebrating,” he was not sure he wanted any part of it. Why his birthday should result in so many strictures on his mobility and behavior, he could not comprehend. He was working himself up into a fine snit. She, meanwhile, had taken no notice whatsoever of that fact beyond her smug smirk.
9. “I’ll bring your presents, too. No opening them without me, okay?”
“Spoilsport,” he muttered. “As you wish.”
She turned to waggle the spatula at him. “I’ve met you before, dear.”
Ever since Hermione had come into his life, presents had been worth eagerly anticipating. Rare books, finest quality potions ingredients and equipment, Belgian chocolates, and there was the memorable birthday a month into their courtship when the most they had indulged in was a session of heavy petting… Hermione tied to his bed by ribbons and wearing nothing but a smile was something that had yet to be topped.
Last year, he hadn’t been able to restrain himself from hunting down his presents and opening them. As his restraint failed on the eighth of January, Hermione was not pleased. Particularly when he tried to cover up his crime by rewrapping them, and she caught him in the act.
This year, he thought he’d done quite well to wait another day until the actual day. But to wait any longer? Frankly, Hermione would have to Petrify or Stun him. Severus knew he was acting a little like a child on Christmas Day, but he figured that he had some catching up to do, thanks to his abysmal childhood.
“I’ll be in bed. With my presents.”
Hermione smirked at him. “You’ll have to find them first.”
“They’re under your side of the bed.”
Her smirk widened. “Decoys.”
10. As Snape headed down the dark dungeon corridor, he thought he would not mind her company for a little while. Today was his birthday, and once again he was spending it alone. Normally, he didn’t mind, he thought, but a little company might be nice for once. But as usual, no one cared he had come into the world on this day forty-eight years ago.
Letting himself into his office and moving to the bookcase, he pulled out the book that opened his private quarters. He billowed through-and stopped, his black eyes widening.
“What the hell-” he hissed.
Sitting in the middle of his darkened study was a huge, tiered birthday cake, complete with flickering candles. It was covered with silver frosting topped with green trimmings--his house colors. It was a real cake, too; he could smell the butter cream frosting from across the room.
Snape slowly walked up to it, reading the message neatly written in icing on the top.
“Happy 48th Birthday, Severus Snape!”
There were little green hearts around it.
Snape studied the huge confection. Who did this? He ran a finger through the icing, lifted it to his nose, and smelled it for any possible poisons. Not detecting any, he tasted it. Hm. Pretty good. Well, he’d have enough cake to last for a while.
After you've finished playing the quiz, you can keep on celebrating Sev's birthday throughout the weekend! There's plenty of fun to be had at severus_shorts and severusbigbang starting January 9th! There are bound to be some juicy new SSHG fics. Then again, for this special weekend, anyone that makes Severus happy works for us!
Artwork by jin_fenghuang. Click on the birthday cake to check out Severus' Shorts @ LJ: A brief celebration of Severus' birthdays!
Artwork by camillo1978.
Click on the kitty to check out the Severus Big Bang Birthday Bash!
However, if you are living in our world then it's...
Happy 50th birthday, Severus Snape!
To help celebrate the occasion, we've collected a dozen special birthday stories for your enjoyment. So put on your party hat, grab some cake and ice cream and let's get this party started!
This is a Special Occasion quiz. That means this week's winner gets a special Snape's Birthday Prezzie! Play the quiz at any time over the weekend by commenting with your answers. Just comment before the answer sheet goes up on Monday morning, Eastern Standard Time. If you have the correct answers, your name will be entered in our weekly drawing. The winner will be given their very own Snape prezzie!
Match the quotes to the story titles without biting on our featured red herring titles:
Tiny Bubbles by lulabelle72
Charisma Amour by scatteredlogic
Happy, Happy Birthday by kittylefish (SS/HG/LM)
For the Birthday Boy by ms_figg
Happy Birthday, Professor Snape by AlwaySS
Check Out by alliean
An Argument for Selfishness by bluestocking79
Wrapping and Content by Faris Eirin
Happy Birthday, Severus by keladry_lupin
Take This Longing by machshefa
Assuaging Insecurity by ayerf
Passion and Potions by savine_snape
1. She trailed off as Severus finally looked up from the lopsided cake, his eyes curiously bright and his expression free from disdain. He cleared his throat twice before speaking. "This is a Chocolate Guinness Cake."
"Yes." It was very unlike Severus to state the obvious, she thought.
"And you made this. By yourself. Without assistance."
"Yes," Hermione confirmed, frowning with mingled hurt and irritation. "I just told you so. You don't have to rub my face in my mistake like I'm still one of your students-"
"You made this for me," Severus emphasised. His gaze settled on her, dark and warm and wondering, and for a moment Hermione felt quite breathless.
2. It was another two hours before Hermione returned, by which time Severus was somewhere between tipsy and seriously annoyed with her.
“Severus, I didn’t expect to find you waiting for me.”
“Nurgh!”
“What on earth is the matter?”
“What are you hiding from me, woman?”
“Hiding?”
“Yes, what are you hiding from me? Or should I be asking who is he?”
“How much have you had to drink, Severus?”
“I believe that I posed a question.”
Hermione groaned inwardly. She wasn’t intentionally hiding anything from him. With his birthday approaching, she had hoped to have everything in place, but she should have remembered that old habits died hard. She had thought that she had covered her tracks adequately, but she realised how wrong she had been.
3. ‘You’re expected at dinner, of course, and you’ll probably have to suffer through felicitations then, but I wanted to give you your present now. It’s cold outside, after all, and I thought it might warm you up ... make you more comfortable.’
Apparently, she had not completely ditched her habit of rambling when she was ill at ease. He raised a sarcastic eyebrow, and she cleared her throat, cheeks colouring slightly.
Gesturing to a basket on his desk, she repeated, ‘Happy birthday.’
He was taken aback by her warm lips on his cheek. She was gone before he remembered to breathe.
4. It took him another five minutes to locate Hermione, who had moved back to the bakery aisle and was defiantly clutching at the chocolate cake she had salivated over earlier. He pushed the trolley with enough force to send it towards her on its own and she dumped the contents of her basket unceremoniously into it. He looked pointedly between the cake and her.
“No,” he said.
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes. Think of it as a birthday cake.”
“I don’t want to think of it as a birthday cake.”
“It’s your birthday in one day. And I want chocolate cake. So you’re having a birthday cake.”
“How thoughtful of you.”
She placed it reverently on top of the other items in the trolley. He took it out and shoved it onto the shelf. She yanked it back, tossed it back in the trolley and leaned forward over the top, crossing her arms across the cake, and raising her head from an incredibly awkward angle to glare at him, her hair flopping over half of her face and covering one eye, though the effect of the glare wasn’t halved for him. The effect was just changed.
“If you don’t let me keep it, I’m going to Floo Harry and Ron and tell them to bring all the Weasleys, all their girlfriends and boyfriend, and every single one of your ex-colleagues at Hogwarts to your skanky house for a birthday party.”
He paled slightly. He knew she would do that. She really would.
5. Looking around her bedroom, Hermione smiled. The bed was laid with soft cotton sheets and luxurious feather blankets just begging to be warmed by more than the crackling fire. The lights were dim, firelight casting long shadows on the stone walls and warming the room slightly. To one side of the room was a tray piled with fresh fruit, juice and biscuits. A wave of her wand was followed by strains of soft music flooding the room. She was ready. It was his birthday today and Severus would never know what hit him.
Hours later, curled on the couch together, sipping wine and enjoying a comfortable lull in their animated conversation, Hermione saw her opening.
“Severus?”
“Hmm?” He turned towards her, his dark gaze intense.
“I haven’t forgotten your birthday. I have something for you, something that I’ve wanted to share with you for some time now…”
His gaze sharpened. “Indeed?”
“Yes,” she rose fluidly from the couch and reached for his hand to draw him along with her. “Come, and I’ll show you.”
6. She'd been exhausted when she'd completed the brewing, but the crystal phial now in her pocket contained a beautiful, shimmering potion.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Severus swept past and took his seat with a scowl.
"Bad day?" Hermione asked.
He hissed through his teeth. "One of the second years melted his cauldron and the table underneath. I'm uncertain which combination of ingredients the dunderhead used that turned a simple Swelling Solution into an acid with the consistency of glue, but it took longer than I anticipated to clean and repair the classroom."
"I'm sorry you've had a trying day," Hermione said. She slipped her hand into her robes pocket to touch the phial, her determination wavering. Perhaps this wasn't the best time to give him the potion.
No. She mentally squared her shoulders. If she waited, she'd lose her nerve, and then it would be back to trying to figure out how to tell Severus how she felt.
Hermione took a deep breath. "I have a gift for you." She quickly pulled the phial from her pocket and placed it on the table in front of Severus. She smiled. "Happy birthday."
7. "I do not drink champagne on my birthday," Severus announced, and then, slurring only slightly, he added pompously, "or ever. Ever."
"Then it's a good thing that it's not your birthday anymore," replied Hermione smoothly as she refilled his glass.
Severus frowned, confused. "But I said... Did I not say 'ever'?"
"Why, no, Headmaster, you did not. A toast!"
"No more toasts." The wave of his hand was extremely derelict and nearly the cause of a waste of good champagne. "I am sick to death of toasts."
"Only because we've toasted you all night. Let's toast me!"
"Toast... you?" Severus was incredulous.
8. Today was Severus’s birthday, and so far he was not happy. Well, technically, it wasn’t his birthday; that day had passed with a minimum of fuss. For some reason, Hermione had insisted that they postpone his “real celebration” for the weekend. When he’d asked her why, she had merely smirked at him and blathered some nonsense about how he’d find out soon enough. It was extremely irksome; he did not ask again.
So here it was Saturday, and the situation was no less vexing. She had banned him from the kitchen immediately after breakfast whilst she got up to who knows what in there. And now, she had banned him from the bedroom whilst she got up to similarly mysterious matters.
Not only that, but this morning when he had snuggled up to her back, put his arms around her, and kissed her neck, instead of snuggling back and letting matters take their usual pleasurable course, she had merely given him a quick kiss and then bounded out of bed. “Not now. Let’s save it for later, all right?” she had said cheerfully - cheerfully! - whilst leaving him alone in bed with only … himself for company.
If this was how she envisioned “celebrating,” he was not sure he wanted any part of it. Why his birthday should result in so many strictures on his mobility and behavior, he could not comprehend. He was working himself up into a fine snit. She, meanwhile, had taken no notice whatsoever of that fact beyond her smug smirk.
9. “I’ll bring your presents, too. No opening them without me, okay?”
“Spoilsport,” he muttered. “As you wish.”
She turned to waggle the spatula at him. “I’ve met you before, dear.”
Ever since Hermione had come into his life, presents had been worth eagerly anticipating. Rare books, finest quality potions ingredients and equipment, Belgian chocolates, and there was the memorable birthday a month into their courtship when the most they had indulged in was a session of heavy petting… Hermione tied to his bed by ribbons and wearing nothing but a smile was something that had yet to be topped.
Last year, he hadn’t been able to restrain himself from hunting down his presents and opening them. As his restraint failed on the eighth of January, Hermione was not pleased. Particularly when he tried to cover up his crime by rewrapping them, and she caught him in the act.
This year, he thought he’d done quite well to wait another day until the actual day. But to wait any longer? Frankly, Hermione would have to Petrify or Stun him. Severus knew he was acting a little like a child on Christmas Day, but he figured that he had some catching up to do, thanks to his abysmal childhood.
“I’ll be in bed. With my presents.”
Hermione smirked at him. “You’ll have to find them first.”
“They’re under your side of the bed.”
Her smirk widened. “Decoys.”
10. As Snape headed down the dark dungeon corridor, he thought he would not mind her company for a little while. Today was his birthday, and once again he was spending it alone. Normally, he didn’t mind, he thought, but a little company might be nice for once. But as usual, no one cared he had come into the world on this day forty-eight years ago.
Letting himself into his office and moving to the bookcase, he pulled out the book that opened his private quarters. He billowed through-and stopped, his black eyes widening.
“What the hell-” he hissed.
Sitting in the middle of his darkened study was a huge, tiered birthday cake, complete with flickering candles. It was covered with silver frosting topped with green trimmings--his house colors. It was a real cake, too; he could smell the butter cream frosting from across the room.
Snape slowly walked up to it, reading the message neatly written in icing on the top.
“Happy 48th Birthday, Severus Snape!”
There were little green hearts around it.
Snape studied the huge confection. Who did this? He ran a finger through the icing, lifted it to his nose, and smelled it for any possible poisons. Not detecting any, he tasted it. Hm. Pretty good. Well, he’d have enough cake to last for a while.
After you've finished playing the quiz, you can keep on celebrating Sev's birthday throughout the weekend! There's plenty of fun to be had at severus_shorts and severusbigbang starting January 9th! There are bound to be some juicy new SSHG fics. Then again, for this special weekend, anyone that makes Severus happy works for us!
Artwork by jin_fenghuang. Click on the birthday cake to check out Severus' Shorts @ LJ: A brief celebration of Severus' birthdays!
Artwork by camillo1978.
Click on the kitty to check out the Severus Big Bang Birthday Bash!