I own nothing. Obviously.

Happy 52nd birthday, Professor Snape.

Just for the record, this story takes place today – 9th January 2012.

-

Severus Snape woke up, opened his eyes, and frowned. Another year older. And as if that wasn't depressing enough, this year his birthday coincided with the first day of term, too. He never saw his birthday as much cause for celebration, but this made it markedly worse. Then again, his disapproval had never changed anything even in case of things that were fundamentally changeable, so he could hardly expect the calendar to conform to it. Thus concluding, he got out of bed.

There were some presents on his bedside table. Unwrapping them, he discovered books from Minerva, Filius, Pomona and Poppy, some potions ingredients from Hagrid, a couple of wine bottles from some of his old Order comrades, and birthday cards from the rest of his colleagues. He'd though that after Dumbledore died – ha! after he'd killed him – the new teachers at least wouldn't know when to bother him with birthday wishes, but for some reason, Minerva hadn't wasted her time in informing them. The woman was mostly reasonable, but sometimes she could be so absurd he couldn't understand it. Because she probably genuinely believed it would secretly please him, which was complete nonsense.

Not that he was that much of a sociopath to hate birthday wishes on principle – he didn't see any reason to celebrate, true, but he knew others disagreed and in that case, he supposed it was...nice of them to try and make him feel the day was somehow special. The books from his colleagues were all well chosen, far enough from his field of study that he didn't already own them, but close enough that he was interested. What he hated were the generic birthday wishes, like the ones from Babbling, Sinistra, Towler, Clearwater and Roberts that were to be found on his bedside table right now. These people hardly knew him and had no idea what to give to him; they probably didn't like him. So they should have simply ignored the date – like Trelawney did, and thank Merlin for that.

Vanishing the offensive cards, Severus headed for the bathroom.

After arriving at breakfast, he thanked everyone he thought deserved thanking and sat down to eat. Before he managed one bite, however, Minerva turned to him.

"I had a request from Hermione, Severus. She would like to meet with you this evening, if possible."

He raised one eyebrow. "Why?"

"She said it concerned Victoire Weasley."

"As far as I know, Victoire is a child of William and Fleur. We have a couple of years left still till we are blessed with the presence of Granger-Weasleys at this school."

"Well, yes, but she said that Victoire's parents are in France with the rest of their children at the moment and that she believed it was a matter of some urgency. She is Victoire's godmother. Will you see her?"

He nodded. "If I must."

"Thank you. I'll Floo her to let her know."

Severus turned to his breakfast, wondering. He didn't see why William or Fleur Weasley couldn't come back from France to see him if it really was that urgent. It wasn't like they were restricted to Muggle means of travel. And Victoire Weasley was actually a rather good student, for a Gryffindor anyway. So he didn't know about any problems that should be discussed. She seemed in too good spirits to be a victim of bullying or anything of the sort, so...he was almost curious.

And perhaps he was a little curious about Hermione Weasley, too. He saw her once a year on Victory Day, but saw her described the situation quite accurately. He never talked to her – there was no reason – and never came in any other kind of contact with her during the year. The last time he actually talked to her was probably some time during her sixth year at Hogwarts. Even though he hadn't been able to admit it at the time, she had been one of the most promising students he had had. At first he had been disappointed when he heard she went to work in law, but in the end he'd realized that she didn't really have what it took to be an academic. She was very clever, but in the intellectual sphere she always followed the established rules. She wouldn't have done well in research. It was interesting, since she certainly didn't have any problems with breaking the established rules of society...but that was human character for you, he supposed. She was well suited for law.

Even more surprising was her marriage. Not the fact that she married Weasley per se – everybody had seen that one coming from miles away. But Severus never expected it to last. They were too different, in his opinion, and the only thing they had in common were experiences from school, which surely couldn't be enough to build a marriage on. Not that Severus was an expert in the area – he wasn't, which was confirmed by the fact that he had been wrong. The youngest Weasleys had been married for about ten years now, as far as he knew, and he was sure that if there had been any problems, the Prophet would have found out and reported. But still, it was a mystery. As little as he knew her, he was following her career in the papers and she was one of the few people he respected, actually, and Ronald Weasley most emphatically did not belong in that select group.

Classes that day were as depressing as usual. The students weren't any cleverer in the new term than they had been in the last one; not that he'd expected otherwise. Ted Lupin almost managed to get killed after tripping during a duel in the morning class, which was entirely to be expected, of course. Severus dreaded the day Longbottom's children would be starting school.

The meeting with Hermione Weasley was arranged for 7 pm, so he got through his dinner fairly quickly and spent the remaining time correcting homework from the break. She came on time, just as he'd expected.

He opened the door and took in her visage. She was wearing quality robes of navy blue, and she looked like seriousness itself. He nodded in greeting: "Mrs. Weasley."

"Professor Snape."

"Please, do come in," he stepped aside and directed her to the chair in front of his desk, sitting down himself. "Take a seat. What can I do for you?"

"Thank you. As I'm sure Minerva told you, I'm here because of Victoire. I'm afraid my request is a rather unusual one. You are surely aware that she doesn't have any problems with grades, so that cannot be my reason."

"I'm sorry to interrupt you," he said politely, "but I need to know whether I actually have the right to tell you anything, since you're not a parent."

"Well, I am a godmother; and I won't be really asking you anything, more telling you. You see, the real reason why I'm here instead of Victoire's parents is that she sometimes tells me things she doesn't tell them. We're very close, and she spent the last two days of the break with me, and we talked. Do you remember that she was a Hatstall during her Sorting?"

"Yes, I do."

Mrs. Weasley nodded. "What you naturally cannot know is what house the hat considered. Well, it was Slytherin." Severus raised an eyebrow. "Exactly," she continued. "She panicked completely. The Hat was almost sure it wanted to send her there. She told me she spent the five minutes or how long she was there by begging it to reconsider and put her in Gryffindor. He granted her her wish at last, admitting that she wasn't precisely a coward so it wasn't impossible, but insisted she would have done much better in Slytherin. And it's been eating her from inside ever since." She paused. "Now, I don't know how much you know Bill, but you should know he's one of the least prejudiced Weasleys. He never said she had to be in Gryffindor. But neither he nor his wife are particularly good at dealing with emotional insecurities, and so they never took time to explain that it truly didn't matter in which house she ended up. And the rest of the Weasleys was pretty clear on their wishes. It wouldn't have been so bad if she wasn't the first of the new generation, and if she didn't by her name and date of birth symbolize the victory over Voldemort, but as it is...well. And now she's in Gryffindor. She doesn't precisely have a problem with her House mates, but she hasn't managed to really connect to any of them. She has acquaintances she can have fun with, but she doesn't have friends. And this is a boarding school...it doesn't bode well for the next seven years. She needs some friends. And she is still wondering whether she is evil, or why is it that the Hat wanted to put her in Slytherin. The situation is not very good for her."

Severus admitted he was confused. If it wasn't Hermione Weasley he was dealing with, he would think it was some misguided attempt to cry at his shoulder, but this woman usually knew what she was doing, from what he knew about her. "Even though I agree that it is not ideal, I confess I do not see what you want me to do."

She sighed. "Well...the main thing, I believe, is try and explain to her that Slytherin isn't evil. I used you heavily as an example of a good Slytherin, naturally, but she seemed to think that you were sorted there by some sort of mistake, and that you really belonged in Gryffindor." Severus shuddered, and Mrs. Weasley smiled. "I tried to explain how wrong she was, but naturally, my credibility is limited by the fact that I am not you, and she doesn't have to believe me when I described to her your Slytherin traits, and how good they can be. So, if you could do this for her, I'd be very grateful. And...well, it would be very good if she actually managed to meet someone from Slytherin. But I know I might well be asking too much of you here, just...if there was an option such as pairing her with someone from Slytherin in some extra-curricular activity or...something, anything, really." She shook her head. "I know I'm really overstepping the boundaries of what I can ask of you here, but I just want to help her so much..."

Severus watched Mrs. Weasley silently for a moment, thinking of his own Hogwarts years, and then said: "I'll do what I can."

She smiled brightly at him. "Oh, thank you! You see...I know what it was like not to fit in at Hogwarts, and I don't want her to go through that."

Severus nodded. He was curious, though, and couldn't resist. "You said you described my Slytherin traits, and what advantages they presented. If I may ask what you said, so that I know what to work with..."

Still smiling, she replied: "Oh, certainly. Mainly I talked about how good it is to be able to think before you act, because you're less likely to unwillingly," she stressed the word slightly, "hurt someone else's feelings or get yourself in trouble, and if you need to punish someone for something, you're more able to be calm about it and plan it well, and thus actually be successful...while at the same time you're not a Ravenclaw, who might be clever, but usually not very socially and emotionally clever...I said that being Slytherin usually meant uniting all kinds of intelligence, and that even though you were forced by your role in the war to use it mainly to create a negative image of yourself, it still served you well...I also said it was good to be able to hide your emotions, so that people who didn't like you couldn't use them to hurt you...and of course I talked about how important ambitions were, and how you could have never invented all those potions and spells if you weren't ambitious, since it was hardly a matter of immediate inspiration and no hard work behind them... That's about it, I think."

Severus was astonished. "You didn't mention that it enabled me to be a spy?" He'd expected it to be the main thing she would mention. Hell, it would be the main think he would mention! Even though he had admittedly never been good at '10 good things about yourself', he certainly didn't expect ex-Gryffindor Muggleborns with past history with him to be able to say anything good about him, apart from his being a spy.

"Well, it rather falls under the more general heading of 'people who don't like you can't use your emotions to hurt you'...I confess I didn't want to mention it specifically because, well, it was useful, certainly, but being a spy wasn't particularly good for you, was it? And I don't imagine Victoire would be thinking of that career."

"I should hope not." He was still staring.

"What is it?" She asked, a bit self-consciously.

"I'm simply surprised that any member of the Golden Trio can see some upsides to their most hated House."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not Harry or Ron, and I'm no longer sixteen either. Even Harry did grow up in this respect, so I almost find it insulting you'd think I wouldn't."

He simply couldn't help it. He had to ask. "And you husband?" He said, the eyebrow raised again.

Mrs. Weasley laughed. "Well, he is a bit difficult in this respect, but I hope I can circumvent his influence on the children."

Severus did manage to swallow the next question. It would have been outright rude. However, she must have gotten good at reading people in her job, and admittedly, he wasn't trying that hard in a talk with a concerned godparent. She was no Voldemort, after all, and the worst that could happen was that she'd get offended, which was no tragedy in a person he never talked to anyway. But whatever the reason, something must have registered with her, because she remarked: "Just ask whatever you want to, I don't mind."

"It isn't my place, Mrs. Weasley."

"I just asked you for something that was way beyond duties of a teacher, and you agreed. I really don't care about your place at the moment."

"Well, then...I was wondering whether such a character trait in your husband doesn't bother you." He could see in her eyes that she knew he was actually asking about much more than a simple dislike of Slytherin.

She sighed. "It's complicated. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to get out of telling you, but are you sure you really want to hear it? It won't be short. Are you that interested in my personal life?"

Severus considered. At the face of it, no, of course he wasn't. But he had nothing better to do, and listening to Mrs. Weasley talk was actually rather pleasant. She was reasonable. It might be interesting not to be alone for his birthday for once, and if she stayed long enough, they might get to other, more interesting topics. And he was curious.

"Oddly enough, I am. But since we're not in a parent-teacher situation anymore, would you accept an invitation for a glass of wine in a bit more comfortable surroundings?"

She hesitated, then nodded. "Yes, why not. Let me just send Patronus to Ron." The silver mist flew away, and he opened the door to his private quarters to her, and chose one of the bottles he got for his birthday.

He poured two glasses, and after they raised them and drank to their fallen comrades, she smiled at him and said: "And since we're not in a parent-teacher situation anymore, would you consent to calling me Hermione?"

He thought about it, and then inclined his head. "Severus."

Her smile brightened. "And now back to Ron," she said. "I get that question quite a lot, or rather the question you actually wanted to ask. Funnily enough, often from people who are no cleverer or more intellectual than he is, just more pretentious. From you, it at least makes sense." She paused and took a sip of her wine. "I think there are simply two different approaches to relationship. Either you're mostly looking for someone like you, or for someone different. Of course there have to be some similarities, but some prefer more, some less. I cannot actually say what I prefer. You have to realize there was never really a question of going for similarities, not for me. Because the main similarity I needed was that it had to be someone who was involved in the war. As you very well know, it changes people and I simply couldn't as much as date, let alone marry, someone who was still...well, innocent. And there just wasn't anyone...well, let's say it plainly. There wasn't anyone as clever as I was in the Order or the DA, or at least, not anyone remotely close to me in age. And I genuinely love Ron. I tend to take myself and life too seriously, and he helps me with that. He reminds me to play sometimes. If I had children with someone like me, I'd have to pity them, really. So, Ron is good for me in many ways. I have simply accepted that he is not as clever as I am. He is not dumb, you know – I couldn't deal with that. Just lazy to think and not interested in intellectual things, and yes, a bit less intelligent. But there are pros to these cons, as I've said. I considered this for a very long time before I agreed to marry him, and I decided that it was worth it. He doesn't understand many things I love, but you don't necessarily have to have that in a relationship. You can go elsewhere for that companionship."

There was a subtle change in her tone when she said the last sentence, and Severus asked: "And do you?"

She smiled sadly. "You caught me out. No, I don't. People at work are very clever, but none of them are intellectual. I cannot talk to them about books or art or science. Sometimes, I talk to Minerva, but she is very busy in her job, naturally; and there is a huge age gap that makes it more complicated. So, no, I admit I didn't count on not finding anyone to share this side of my life with when I was deciding whether to marry Ron. I do get rather lonely sometimes, in this respect. But I still don't think I made a mistake."

They were silent for a moment, than Severus said: "You spoke very candidly about the difference between you. Does your husband realize all this?"

"Oh yes, he is perfectly aware of it. It used to bother him, but it doesn't anymore. He got to know me more intimately – on the psychological level," she emphasized, "- and realized how insecure and faulted I really am, and that helped him deal with his own inferiority complex, I think."

There was another silence, and then it was Hermione's turn to ask a question: "You're being very polite this evening. Without meaning any offense, I just wanted to ask whether you are in a particularly good mood, or whether you changed so much since the war."

Severus appreciated her honesty. She saw his good character traits – even more of them than he did, really – but at the same time didn't pretend he wasn't a bitter, unpleasant man. "I think," he said, "that rather, what changed is our relationship. You're no longer a student, and I don't see you next to Mr. Potter. And you changed, too."

She smiled. "I should hope so. I'd hate to be seventeen forever."

He nodded emphatically.

She continued: "I suppose it is easier to take me seriously now, isn't it?"

He nodded again. "Even though I do wonder why you have been so open with me," he added. "That doesn't seem in accord with your sensible nature, although I'm not complaining – it was interesting talking to you."

"I like answering this question whenever someone asks it. I detest the idea that people believe I live frustrated in an unhappy marriage or that I'm stupid and don't realize the differences. And I must say you've been more understanding than most people."

"Well, most people are idiots."

"True."

Another silence, then Severus again: "How come you're Victoire Weasley's godmother? I didn't know you were particularly close with either William or Fleur Weasley."

She shook her head. "I'm not. It's because of the victory symbolism again. If it had been a boy, it would have been Harry, and since I'm the most prominent female figure from the war, it ended up being me. I'm really glad, though. Victoria and I have a lot in common. I think I'm actually hoping I'll raise her to be the intellectual companion I miss so much."

"That will take quite a bit of time."

"Yes. Even though I think she'd be inclined to squee if she saw this," she gestured to his library, "already at her tender age of eleven."

He smiled a very small smile. "Do you want to take a look?"

She stood up immediately, and he made the light shine brighter, so that it was easier to read the backs of the books. She was very excited by some pieces in his collection, and they ended up taking out an ancient text about the use of Arithmancy in Potions and discussing it for some time.

When the discussion finally concluded, she sighed happily. "God, I missed this!" She hesitated, then turned to him. "I don't want to presume too much, but...would you consider accepting an invitation to our house in turn some time?

It was his turn to hesitate, and she immediately guessed the reason. "Don't worry, when I tell Ron who's coming, he will gladly take the children and go to some of his relations for the evening. I want to talk about academics, I wouldn't make him sit through that."

"In that case...I'd be glad to accept."

He was rewarded by another of her bright smiles.

A short while later, she realized it was almost midnight, and bid him goodbye. The clock started to chime just as he closed the door behind her.

He went to bed in a very thoughtful state of mind that night. It just seemed that he got another, unexpected birthday present this year, and it might actually be the best one he ever received.

A different ending occurred to me, but I didn't want to use it because I wanted poor Severus to have a really nice birthday without anything to spoil it. I might post it later as a second chapter, as happening later in their friendship.