Goldfish
Goldfish
“ Happy Birthday, Severus,” McGonagall set a bright red and gold wrapped box down before him, ignoring his distain filled lip curl in favor of sending paper banners up around the staff room that celebrated the day by spraying confetti and singing in various barbershop tones a jaunty rendition of Happy Birthday.
“ I assure you celebration is neither warranted nor desired for the day my mother unfortunately brought me into the conscious world.” Snape ignored the package and siphoned some confetti off of and out of his tea, turning back to the newspaper -which gratefully did not greet him in any special way other than shouting the usual drab headlines- and reading about a muggle woman who’d obtained an enchanted vacuum cleaner which proceeded to devour anything made of fabric including all her clothing and the taffeta slip cover for her sofa.
“ Nonsense!” she flicked her wand and the gift rose up to knock him repeatedly in his overly large nose until he grabbed a hold of and set it firmly before him, “ Everyone deserves a good birthday wish, no matter how grumpy and unappreciative they are,” she raised an eyebrow in his direction, “ You’d better open that now, I wouldn’t wait for later,”
Snape sneered at the package but silently took delight in ripping and crumpling the brash paper before banishing it from his assaulted sight entirely. Lifting the lid of the plain white box he reached inside to pull out a heavy bag of water and wriggling orange Carassius auratus.
Snape glared at it.
It glared back at Snape.
“ I figured you could do with a friend,” McGonagall sounded absolutely gleeful in her utterly insolent gift, to make him responsible for yet another living being, “ What are you going to name him?” she asked casually, ignoring the resulting look on his face as if she’d just painted his nostrils with curdled milk at the suggestion.
“ Future Felix Felicitus ingredient.”
“ Severus!”
He ignored her squawking and dumped the bag back into the box, closing the lid and gathering up his newspaper.
“ Thank you for the- gift,” he bit out before turning on his heel and leaving the staff room immediately.
§§§
In his office Snape tipped the bag into a waiting glass bowl he was originally going to use for his pickled Lamb’s Liver, which handily was the perfect size for the glinting neon swimmer.
He tossed the bag away and watched the little creature getting acquainted with his surroundings only to forget and learn it all again with each lap of his bowl.
“ You should count yourself lucky,” Snape grunted at the unhearing thing and sat down behind his desk only to pause and consider his words.
“ Lucky,” he muttered and then pulled some essays forward for marking, and inked his favorite red plumed quill with disgust still written on his face.
“ Happy Birthday, Severus,” McGonagall set a bright red and gold wrapped box down before him, ignoring his distain filled lip curl in favor of sending paper banners up around the staff room that celebrated the day by spraying confetti and singing in various barbershop tones a jaunty rendition of Happy Birthday.
“ I assure you celebration is neither warranted nor desired for the day my mother unfortunately brought me into the conscious world.” Snape ignored the package and siphoned some confetti off of and out of his tea, turning back to the newspaper -which gratefully did not greet him in any special way other than shouting the usual drab headlines- and reading about a muggle woman who’d obtained an enchanted vacuum cleaner which proceeded to devour anything made of fabric including all her clothing and the taffeta slip cover for her sofa.
“ Nonsense!” she flicked her wand and the gift rose up to knock him repeatedly in his overly large nose until he grabbed a hold of and set it firmly before him, “ Everyone deserves a good birthday wish, no matter how grumpy and unappreciative they are,” she raised an eyebrow in his direction, “ You’d better open that now, I wouldn’t wait for later,”
Snape sneered at the package but silently took delight in ripping and crumpling the brash paper before banishing it from his assaulted sight entirely. Lifting the lid of the plain white box he reached inside to pull out a heavy bag of water and wriggling orange Carassius auratus.
Snape glared at it.
It glared back at Snape.
“ I figured you could do with a friend,” McGonagall sounded absolutely gleeful in her utterly insolent gift, to make him responsible for yet another living being, “ What are you going to name him?” she asked casually, ignoring the resulting look on his face as if she’d just painted his nostrils with curdled milk at the suggestion.
“ Future Felix Felicitus ingredient.”
“ Severus!”
He ignored her squawking and dumped the bag back into the box, closing the lid and gathering up his newspaper.
“ Thank you for the- gift,” he bit out before turning on his heel and leaving the staff room immediately.
§§§
In his office Snape tipped the bag into a waiting glass bowl he was originally going to use for his pickled Lamb’s Liver, which handily was the perfect size for the glinting neon swimmer.
He tossed the bag away and watched the little creature getting acquainted with his surroundings only to forget and learn it all again with each lap of his bowl.
“ You should count yourself lucky,” Snape grunted at the unhearing thing and sat down behind his desk only to pause and consider his words.
“ Lucky,” he muttered and then pulled some essays forward for marking, and inked his favorite red plumed quill with disgust still written on his face.