Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter, not me.

Author's Note: Again, I'd like to extend a wonderful thank you to Rosai for editing my stuff and making sure that I'm not writing a bunch of rubbish. I hope you all enjoy this next chapter! I'm sorry it took me so long to gain inspiration for creating it. Enjoy!

Chapter 7 – A Birthday To Remember

Christmas Day went smoothly without much incident. The two lovebirds ended up staying in Severus's private rooms the whole day playing some muggle board games, card games and few rounds of wizard's chess. In the morning they both opened the few presents that they had received from the different staff members and from each other. New Years also went rather uneventful. All that they did was drink a few glasses of champagne and play wizard's chess in front of the fire. Several more days went by until it was the 8th of January.

The morning started off rather normal up until Severus began giving off that air of being angered by something. When Hermione had asked what was bothering him, he would either respond with a shrug or he'd grumble and say, "Nothing, don't worry about it." Around noontime, Hermione was going to try to get Severus to talk about what was bothering him when a house elf popped into the living room and tugged on Hermione's robes and squeaked, "The Headmistress would like to see you, Ms."

Sighing, Hermione quickly gave Severus a peck on the cheek before leaving the private quarters with a quick, "I'll be right back."

The moment that Hermione entered Minerva's office, she was greeted with a smiling Minerva, "Good morning, Hermione."

Hermione smiled in response, "Good morning, Headmistress."

Minerva motioned for Hermione to sit in the chair in front of Minerva's desk and she did. The Headmistress handed the ex-student an official looking sheet of paper written in emerald green ink. The older woman spoke softly, "I would have owled you but it seems that you're currently living with Severus so I figured I could just give this to you in person."

After reading it through, Hermione looked up, a shocked look on her face, "You wish for me to take an apprenticeship here under Severus?"

Nodding, Minerva's face became serious, "Yes, I do, Hermione. Of all the students who have recently graduated from Hogwarts, you are the one that I think would be best suited for potion making."

Hermione crinkled her nose, "But I love charms far more than I love potions."

Minerva waved her hand, "If you'd like, you can take an apprenticeship with both Professor Flitwick and with Severus."

The younger woman raised an eyebrow in suspicion, "Why do you want me to become proficient in potions so badly?"

The older woman put a hand to her forehead and sighed, "You are the most talented witch that I've seen in a long time. You have wonderful potential and potion making is extremely difficult and rigorous. Think about it, Hermione: in your second year at Hogwarts you brewed a perfect polyjuice potion."

Hermione held up her hand, "If you remember, I made a huge mistake with the cat hair-"

"Yes," Minerva had a strange Dumbledore-like twinkle in her eyes, "but if you recall, aside from that, you made the potion perfectly. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley made a perfect transformation with your potion. You could even be called a child prodigy with potions."

Hermione blushed, "Professor, you're still not telling me why you want me to learn potions so badly."

Minerva answered very matter-of-factly, "In the entire Wizarding World, Severus Snape is the best potions master. He knows more about potions than anyone else. He also has refused to take on any apprentices. However, he knows you, likes you and may even love you from what I understand," she looked at Hermione over her square spectacles, "If Severus is going to pick anyone to be his apprentice, that person would be you."

Nodding in understanding, Hermione looked back down at the paper and seemed deep in thought. It was about five minutes before Hermione looked back up to Minerva, "I'll do it but only if Severus wants to allow me to be his apprentice. I'll speak with him and I'll let you know by this evening."

Hermione stood up and was about to leave before she paused then looked back at Minerva, "Professor McGonagall?"

"Yes, Hermione?"

"Would you have any idea why Severus has been in such a foul mood today? He wont talk to me about it."

Minerva gave a sad but knowing look, "Tomorrow is his birthday."

Confusion took over Hermione's features, "Why would he be so upset over his birthday?"

"Well," Minerva sighed, "No one really knows except him. All we know is that he'll get very angry if anyone gives him birthday presents or birthday wishes," Minerva paused, "Wait a second…you two have been together for a little while now. How come you're just now realizing when his birthday is?"

Hermione blushed, "Actually, Severus still doesn't know when my birthday is. We never really saw it as an important topic, I suppose."

Shaking her head, Minerva waved Hermione out of her office. The younger woman bowed a little before leaving. Minerva called out to her, "Good luck, Hermione."

Upon entering back into Severus's private quarters, Hermione found Severus sitting in front of the fire looking rather upset. Smiling warmly, she came up behind Severus, knelt down behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck, "You know that I love you, right?"

"Of course I do," he had his hands gently on Hermione's arms, his cheek lightly resting on one of her arms, "I'm sorry I'm being so down today."

Hermione nuzzled the back of Severus's head with her nose, "Don't worry about it. If you want to talk to me about, please do. You know I wont judge."

The smallest of smiles rose onto Severus's lips, "I know you wont," he paused before going on with a silky whisper with a hint of great dislike, "Tomorrow is my forty-forth birthday."

"Why are you so glum about that? Shouldn't something like that be a day for celebration?" she pressed.

"Well, as it is," he said with a voice heavily laced with loathing, "no one has ever celebrated my birthday with anything but regret."

Hermione gave Severus a small squeeze, "Severus…" her voice sounded sad.

Severus took one of Hermione's hands and kissed it, "Please don't sound like that. No one has ever celebrated my birth in the last forty-three years so why should I start now?"

"Because," she moved so that she was sitting in front of Severus and looking into his eyes, "we're going to be starting a new life together soon. I think that's plenty of reason for trying to celebrate your birthday," there was determination in her eyes.

Upon seeing this determination, Severus smiled and gave in, "Alright," he leaned in and gave her a light but passionate kiss, "we can do something tomorrow. But please don't over do it, alright?"

Hermione nodded, a very happy smile plastered on her face, "Alright."

She got up and was about to go prepare them some lunch when she remembered, "Oh!" she turned around to look at Severus, "I almost forgot: Minerva wants me to be your apprentice for Potion Making."

For several seconds, Severus just stared at her. Finally, he found his voice, "Really? What do you think about it?"

Brown eyes looked down at the floor, "Well, I told her that I would think about it. I'd be alright with doing it but only if you're alright with it as well."

Severus looked at her with a strange kind of satisfied glee, "Of course I would! Why would I say no?"

Hermione looked up and made eye contact with Severus, "Minerva told me that every time she's tried to find you an apprentice you always turn them down."

"Well," he scoffed, "that's simply because every single person that she's sent my way has proven themselves to be absolute dunderheads," he smiled, "But you, Hermione," he stood up, took a few steps and took Hermione's hands in his own and kissed them, "you're brilliant. When in my classes you were at the top of the class. No one in any house could rival your potion making abilities."

Hermione's eyebrows knitted together in slight frustration, "Then why did you see fit to torment me so often, then?"

Severus gave a small slightly guilty smile, "Well, let's face it, you were a know-it-all. You always raised your hand, didn't give anyone else a chance and you were a young student and to be completely honest? I hate dealing with know-it-all students, no matter how bright and brilliant they may be."

Rolling her eyes, Hermione brought Severus into a hug, "I know, but you really did hurt my feelings a lot."

Returning the hug, Severus buried his face in her bushy hair, "I know, and I'm very sorry about that but," he pulled away and looked her in the eyes, "my attitude towards you ended up getting you to work harder for approval, didn't it?"

Her mouth dropped, "You…you did that on purpose for that kind of result, didn't you!"

Laughing, Severus let her go and headed towards his small kitchen with Hermione walking after him, grumbling about how tricky he was.

The next morning, Severus woke up to find that he was alone in the bed. After struggling with getting out of the nice warm sheets, he made his way into the living room area and found a nice big breakfast for him on the table. Once he sat down, Hermione came in and sat down across from him, placing her own breakfast down in front of her. Severus smiled sleepily at her, "Good morning, love."

Hermione beamed back at him, "Good morning, Sev," she leaned over the small table and kissed him on the cheek and whispered, "Happy birthday."

Severus's face fell a little bit but he reminded himself that this birthday was going to be better than his birthdays in the past. He had to remember that Hermione was a part of his life now and just knowing that already made his birthday the best birthday of his entire life. A small smile formed on Severus's lips, "Thank you, Hermione," he whispered in response.

They ate in a very comfortable silence. After Hermione finished, she got up, grabbed her dishes and left for the kitchen. When Severus finished, she immediately came back and took his plates as well. Right before she disappeared into the kitchen area again, she looked over her shoulder and smiled sweetly, "I'm going to be busy for the next few hours. If you need anything, I'll be in the kitchen," and with that, she disappeared into the kitchen.

Severus spent the next short while lying down on his couch in front of his fire with a muggle book entitled Sherlock Holmes. It wasn't until he was about a third of the way through before Hermione came in, waved her hand and the lights dimmed. Confused, Severus got up from the couch and headed towards where Hermione was bringing in…a cake.

In the dim light, Severus could make out that the cake was rather small, about the size of a small dinner plate. It looked like it was a white cake with white frosting topped with chocolate frosting that looked like it was dripping down the sides in a very playful but artsy kind of way. The top had five small strawberries placed strategically around the perimeter of the cake with white candles in between the strawberries. In white frosting on top of the dark frosting were the words "Happy Birthday, Severus".

Tears began to well up in those obsidian eyes as the reality hit Severus in the face – someone was honestly celebrating his birthday. Sitting down in his usual chair at the small table, Hermione placed the cake in the center of the table. Her bushy hair was tied up in a red ribbon at the back of her head and she wore a rather flattering ivory dress that hugged her in all the right places with a skirt that flowed out like a flower. Severus was shocked into silence.

Hermione smiled warmly at Severus, leaned over and gave him a kiss on the nose, then she waved her hand over the cake and the candles lit themselves. She began to sing in a small and happy voice, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Severus, happy birthday to you," she continued to look at him with a warm and loving gaze.

Severus opened and closed his mouth several times a fish before he finally found his voice, "Hermione," it came out in a shaky and emotional whisper, "You didn't have to…I mean, I'm not…" Sighing heavily from the frustration of not being able to figure out the right words to say, he got up and hugged Hermione tightly, whispering into her ear, "Thank you."

Returning his hug, she whispered back, "No need to thank me. Everyone deserves to have their birthday celebrated."

Severus pulled away and sat back down, followed by Hermione who sat down across from him. They sat there for a moment before she stated, "You've never done this before, have you?"

Shaking his head 'no' Hermione smiled warmly in response, "You think to yourself about a wish that you have and then you blow out the candles."

Nodding, and not questioning the silliness of such a tradition, Severus closed his eyes to think of a wish but of course because he had been so emotional earlier, happy tears fell down his face. After a short moment, Severus opened his eyes and blew the candles out. Smiling, Hermione waved her hand and the lights all came back and the fireplace went back to its roaring glory. The next half hour was spent with them eating cake and looking lovingly at each other.