"Gods, it's early," Sheridan mumbled as she bumbled about the bathroom. She had to be completely prepared to go to Hogsmeade after breakfast and she had a meeting with Snape before breakfast.
It wasn't so much a meeting as the only free moment he had to finally give her a birthday gift.
She had no idea what it was going to be but so far her birthday gifts had been more than satisfactory. From Aemelia and Jasmine she'd received a beautiful silver pendant in the shape of an 'S', studded with tiny green emeralds and peridots. THe Quidditch boys had given her a beautiful silver bangle - which had the suspicious nature of matching the pendant. Jas and 'Lia were never exactly subtle. Neil and Cordy had bought her the auto-biography of Niniane - a tome she had been seraching for the past two years. Each of them had also handed her some form of alcohol -a traditional Slytherin gift of which the girls received wine and the boys other forms of harder liquor. Aemelia had given her a bottle of strawberry wine, Jasmine a black cherry liqueur she had said was called kirsch, a ridiculously expensive bottle of red from Ed's family's vineyards in Italy. Miles' present had been a bottle of vintage champagne from the year of their birth and Adrian's bottle had been a very nice sweet sherry she would have to keep away from her mother. Cordelia had handed her a bottle of dandelion one, alike to the one they had first gotten tipsy off of in third year and Neil a bottle of Sheraton's favourite rose.
All in all, not too shabby, she'd be well into the alcohol for the next few months, although she would make sure to share. Her party was now a haze in her memory, of glasses and shots pressed into her hand again and again as the Quidditch boys toasted her - one for every year, it had lasted into the wee hours of the night. She remembered laughing, her head thrown back, as Julian danced her around the carpet of the house crest which dominated the common room - their clasped hands pressed in between their chests. She remembered Jasmine giving her a kiss on the cheek and wishing her a throaty "Happy birthday dearest," before Pucey swept her off into a dark corner. She remembered, and made sure he did as well - Miles' impromptu jig atop one of the low tables in front of the fire place. He had danced toward her and had succeeded in undoing three buttons before suddenly stopping and crumpling to a heap. He had still been there in the morning. The morning she had awoken in her own bed, Julian snoring in the chair just a few feet away from her head - his own head now thrown back and dead to the world. She had smiled, drinking the hangover potion of his own making that had been upon her bedside table.
Still a bit damp from her shower, moisturizer still in the process of absorbing, Sheraton caught sighed of Julian's gift. Her heart contracted a bit as she picked up the bottle of perfume and smelled it. It was beautiful, truly. A wonderful mix of lilacs and green tea - just like her. It was mildly disturbing that Julian knew exactly what she should smell like. Paired with the adorable fact that he had made the scent himself. She sprayed it on her pulse points and walked into her room to get dressed.
Anyways, today she'd receive her gifts from her mother and uncle, then the girls would be taking her shopping in Hogsmeade. She glanced at her watch and gave a small yelp when she saw it was already five to - she'd have to run now.
Severus Snape cursed the never ending pile of making under which he was sure he had a desk. Somewhere. It had been Sheraton's seventeenth birthday this past week and only now did he have a chance to see her privately. This 'chance' was for the hour between seven and eight a.m., before breakfast.
His life was in shambles all around him, between teaching, the Order, being a Death Eater, being a spy, playing Russian roulette with his own life, and his family obligations he had no time to sleep and barely any time for personal hygiene. He cringed as he ran a hand through his greasy hair - Sheraton was going to be furious with him.
He caught a glimpse of the gift Sheraton's mother had sent him to pass on to her daughter. It really was exquisite and she was going to love it. He couldn't hold onto his sour mood for long - nothing delighted him more than seeing Sheraton happy. She was the bright spot in his life - the reason he allowed that insufferable woman to take-over his house with her bloody tea parties. June had been a shining young woman in her youth, and had been drawn to his handsome, charming brother upon their first meeting. Janus' sudden death in Russia had been a great shock to her, a nineteen year old mother to be - suddenly a widow. Severus had taken up the familial responsibility and had installed her in his home. She had since acted as hostess for him - far more often than he would have preferred actually. The abrupt removal of her innocence had left her a woman who was charming and lovely, but not the most clear headed. She was prone to faints and illnesses - Sheraton had learned to fetch her mother's smelling salts from a very young age. Sheraton couldn't be more different from her mother - strong, ambitious, not one to define herself by her husband. Sheraton could go places with the right support, an achievement for a woman in the patriarchal Wizarding world. But she had certainly inherited her mother's expensive taste.
Severus thanked all the gods he could think of that he didn't have to support the two women solely on his Hogwart's salary - he would be bankrupted in a month. It still baffled him how exactly Janus would have planned to support them. But of course his younger brother had gone and gotten himself killed even before his daughter had been born. Damn boy always knew how to escape responsibility, and as usual it was left to Severus to pick up the pieces.
Sheraton's sunny voice interrupted his melancholic thoughts. Damn the girl - she was always barging when he was just getting into a good session of self-pity. He snarled to himself before forcing the thoughts away and focusing his attention upon her.
She rapped perfunctorily on the door before stepping inside. "Morning, Uncle," she greeted him with a smile, walking forward and bending across the desk to brush a kiss against his cheek.
He looked her up and down - she was wearing a black turtleneck dress that exposed most of her legs, down to pale nude pumps, her robe draped over her arm. "Pull down your skirt," he grumbled.
Sheraton rolled her eyes but obediently tugged at the hem as she sat down in one of the arm chairs in front of his fire. "You look tired."
"Always the polite one - sometimes I swear your mother raised you like a Weasley," he replied, moving to sit across from her, lifting her present to place it on the low table between them.
"Mother didn't raise me, Uncle - you did," she spoke softly but the emotion in her eyes was clear.
"Yes well..." he placed the present in front of her and bent at the waist to brush a kiss against her temple. "Happy Birthday, my dear. This is from your mother."
She smiled and lifted the box cover up and gasped. It was a tea set - silver and engraved with twisting vines and leaves. It shone in the firelight, she picked up the cream pitcher to run her finger along the engraved lines. "It's lovely."
"I believe it is from your mother's family, and she wished for you to have it. I think she has some sort of idea you have tea parties with your friends on Saturday nights."
Sheraton gave him a knowing look, "An idea you wouldn't discourage would you Uncle? You know how fragile my mother's health is and if she had any idea her only child wasn't an innocent, it might just kill her."
"I've kept your secrets for years child, you think I'm going to stop now?" he grumbled as she smiled at him.
"Since you're receiving something from your mother's line - I thought you might appreciate an heirloom of the Snapes." Severus fished the box out of the pocket of his robe and handed it to her. "These were your grandmother's -a redoubtable woman, much like you."
Sheraton opened the box with a quiet sigh, seeing the yellow diamonds glow in the dim light. The platinum setting was more elaborate than she usually wore but still classic. The stones themselves were huge - even bigger than those her mother owned. "Thank you so very much, Uncle." She rose to hug him, pressing her cheek against his shoulder. Her voice was muffled, Severus pretended it was from her speaking against his robes. "For everything."
The Three Broomsticks was bustling with activity and so full most people couldn't get a table, standing at the bar or in groups anywhere there was a spare square foot of space. The boys weren't 'most people' and all Edward and Julian had to do was stare at the third year occupants of a table and voila, it was suddenly empty. It was a large booth in the back corner, close enough to the hearth so that the October Chill was chased away, but far enough away from the crowd that they could retreat into the privacy of the shadows.
They all had previously agreed that no matter how hard they tried (which, admittedly wasn't very hard), they would never understand the female ability to shop. Continuously. No matter where they were. Hogsmeade not being a very large town, the boys had wandered through it in about a half-hour. Once that was finished they amused themselves by frightening third and fourth years out of Honeyduke's. That source of fun was put to a stop when the shop keeper, with a good hundred pounds on Pucey - the largest of them all, had chased them out, threatening to tell Dumbledore. Or even worse - Snape. Even Sheraton wouldn't have been able to talk them out of that kind of mess with their Head of House.
So they had contented themselves by flirting with some of the more daring 5th year Hufflepuffs girls, Bletchley even managing to get a kiss from a pretty blonde with a most amazing bust, her name may have been Hannah but he wasn't sure. They would be bothering him about that one for the next three months. Edward had somehow managed to make the one with gorgeous black curls burst into tears. No one was quite sure of why but when they had run into the girls moments later Sheraton and Jasmine hadn't been able to contain their laughter - Aemelia and Cordelia had practically carried them away to Madame Puddifoots'.
Now they were happily ensconced in the the booth, drinking butter beer and ribbing each other. Julian could actually be described as pink at the moment, though also quite defensive, as they were taking turns telling him how lovely Sheraton smelled. He was gallantly trying to turn their attention away from the pretty raven-haired Prefect by sparking a discussion on his newest Poitions experiment - the fire whiskey recipe currently brewing in his room
"So when'll it be ready?" Adrian asked eagerly, taking another swig from his bottle. Both Ed and Miles were watching his intake carefully. Neil was watching Chris upon Miles' request.
"Oh - well, I started it the first day back so I'm really hoping it'll be ready before the 31st." He frowned, his eyes glazing over in deep thought.
"Way to go Pucey, now he's gone for the rest of the afternoon," Chris kicked him under the table.
"It's not my fault he can't stay in the land of the living for more than 5 hours!" Adrian shot back angrily.
"I've not gone anywhere," Julian replied lazily. "I was just thinking about how we should go about choosing the lucky bastard to test it. I'm not entirely sure what proof this brew will end up. I myself can't test it because then no one would be able to reverse the effects on the off chance that anything does go wrong."
"Well that's easy," Montague drawled. "We'll do it properly, like men: poker, five card stud."
After about three rounds of betting on the side, Julian called the hands. The boys went around the table, showing their hands - all with straight faces as they saw what had occurred. Montague laid down a flush, Pucey a pair, Warrington two pair, Baddock three of a kind and Bletchley a straight. Adrian's jaw dropped then closed with an audible click as he scowled.
"So Pucey's testing," Julian announced un-necessarily.
"Bloody - hell! My Ace was high and I was sure Chris had a rotten hand," Pucey barked, flattening his palms on the table.
"Sorry to disappoint you mate," Chris clapped his fellow chaser on the back.
"You owe me 50 galleons, Ed," Miles said smugly, rubbing his hands together.
"Right, right," Montague just glared at the Keeper. He didn't know why he played against him anymore - he had gotten far too good at poker in the last year or two - but then changed the subject. "Baddock, when did you tell your bloody girlfriend to round up the bints so we can go home?" He had never been a very good loser and today and not been his day.
"I gave her a 5:30 curfew - which Jasmine will no doubt extend until 6," Neil rolled his eyes as he finished off his butterbeer.
"Not everything is Jasmine's fault you know," Pucey scowled at the others in front of him. "The other girls are equal party to any tardiness."
Edward rolled his eyes, "Are you so desperate for a shag, Pucey, that you feel the need to defend her? Is your hold on her really so precarious or are you just that bad?" The barb was biting and hung in the air between those assembled, until a crystal clear voice rang out from behind them.
"Really Montague, if you're so desperate for a shag don't take it out upon those who are more fortunate than you. Just go and find yourself a Hufflepuff to plow - oh wait, you've tried and failed at that already." Jasmine came to stand at the end of the booth, her eyes stormy.
Behind her, Sheraton sighed - and her birthday had started off so well.
None of the girls needed an excuse to go shopping, but it was far more fun when they had one. Sheraton's birthday was the perfect explanation for the both exuberant and exorbitant amounts of money they were spending today.
It was only just past noon and Jasmine had already spent over 30 galleons. Sheraton and Aemelia weren't far behind with 25 and 23 galleons gone respectively, and Cordelia just simply could not fathom the way the girls burned through money. They never even bothered to look at price tags on desired items, it simply wasn't an issue. They never saw an actual total - they simply pointed their wand at the receipt and the scrawl of Jasmine and Aemelia's fathers appeared upon it, Snape's nearly unreadable signature appearing upon Sheraton's receipts, it would come out of their accounts, not those of their daughters or wards'. It didn't matter that Sheraton owned three different styles of nude dragon-hide pumps, there was a new pair in the cobbler and she simply had to have it.
Cordelia fumed as she followed them along the street, the three girls chattering. Her fingers rubbed over her cufflinks on her shirt - the silver disks with a snake engraved around the circumference that each Slytherin received in their seventh year. It sometimes seemed to be the only symbol of her inclusivity - Neil always had and always would be their friend. She was the unwanted but unavoidable part of the package. She grit her teeth as they entered the next shop.
"Misses Parkinson, Snape, Flint! How lovely to see you girls again," the elderly man crowed from behind the counter. Cordelia tried to maintain a pleasant expression as he merely nodded to her. Of course he was happy to see them - they were collectively responsible for a good tenth of his profits each year. "Ah but alas you are no longer girls - I am nearly overcome with the beauties all you young ladies have become." He winked at them as he came to kiss all of their hands and Jasmine kissed his cheek.
"You really are too much, Mr. Hyde," Jas's voice was a husky purr as she continued to shamelessly flirt with the man who could easily be her great-grandfather, an entire possibility for the rumours that still circulated about her great-grandmother's forward ways, riding a bicycle through Hogsmeade in her own seventh year.
"I speak only the truth, Miss Parkinson," he held his hand over his heart, a solemn look on his wizened face. "Now what can I do for you lovely ladies?"
It was 45 minutes later when the girls left the shop, laden with many more packages than they had carried before. Cordelia estimated that between them - over 85 galleons had been dropped, on shoes alone. Their packages transfigured or shrunk, they all made their way towards Madame Puddifoots, the birthday girl having announced it was tea-time!
"So what do you plan on wearing for Halloween?" Aemelia asked as the excited giggles died down.
The other two girls frowned a bit in thought. Halloween did pose a bit of a problem. The dungeons were normally freezing, even when the huge hearth was lit in the common room. That normally meant the girls compulsively wore cashmere, angora and fur-lined robes and warm clothes underneath. But on Halloween the common room was packed with the students from fifth through seventh year and the alcohol flowed freely. The combination of alcohol, sexual tensions and constant movement raised the temperature substantially - an entire new approach to clothing was necessary for this occasion.
"As little as possible, I'm sure," Cordelia chirped with a smile that earned her a dark glare from Jasmine. It was then they bumped into their boys, and learned of Montague's unfortunate luck with the Hufflepuffs and Miles' surprising score.
Tea had consisted of exquisite butter scones topped with fresh preserves and Devonshire cream, along with 2 full pots of the most expensive tea on the list. Sheraton had frowned when she noticed Aemelia had only nibbled at her scone, and there wasn't even any cream on it. She and Cordelia had each gorged on two liberally creamed scones and tea with cream and sugar. Jasmine had been more careful, only a single, albeit fully dressed scone and clear tea. 'Each to their own,' she mused as Jasmine insisted on covering the tab herself - well, as proxy for her father covering the tab, really.
Their next step was the jewelry shop, where they all pored over elaborate engagement rings. None had any illusions of actually receiving newly purchased and crafted rings - no, their rings would have belonged to someone's dead great-grandmother. It was still nice to dream. Sheraton would never say so, but knew her mother's friends all poo-pooed the woman with rings who hadn't seen at least a centennial, and as such would never want a new ring.
"We've to meet up the with boys at the Three Broomsticks now," Cordelia announced at about quarter after five. They had hit every shop in the village and were quite ready to go home.
"Thank the gods for Julian and his promise to carry my packages home to the castle," Sheraton sighed. Aemelia, Jasmine and Cordelia shared a smirk. Julian was arse over elbows for their friend, even a blind man could see it, but if mentioned to Sheraton she became more frightening than her uncle in her denial.
"Well, aren't you a lucky one," Jasmine drawled.
"I wish iI had a big, strong, handsome boy - whoops, I mean, best friend at my beck and call like you do, Sher," Aemelia sighed dramatically.
"We're just friends," Sheraton ground out, her cheeks flushing a deep crimson against her ivory skin.
"Right," the other three snorted in unison, then looked around - more than slightly horrified by the action. As such, they walked the last hundred meters in silence.
Upon entering the Pub the malice coming from the boys' corner was palpable. Attempting to conceal their concern, the four moved quickly toward the obviously feuding males. Knowing instinctively the ring-leaders would be most likely Edward and Adrian, Jasmine and Aemelia pulled ahead. Jasmine came within ear shot first, in time to her Edward's voice ring out in the tense silence: " Is your hold on her really so precarious or are you just that bad?"
"Really Montague, if you're so desperate for a shag don't take it out upon those who are more fortunate than you. Just go and find yourself a Hufflepuff to plow - oh wait, you've tried and failed at that already." She stood at the end of the table and actually looked ready to do violence upon the Quidditch Captain. Her voice had been silky smooth and by all outward appearances she was calm - it was her eyes which were frightening. More than frightening though, she was bloody gorgeous - not one of the seventeen year old males at the table would have turned her down for a shag at that moment. Which was saying a lot, as Montague and Bletchley had less than amicable feelings for her and that Baddock was practically married.
Aemelia took in the faces of the boys along with that of her friend and decided to step in, no matter how entertaining a full-out row between Jas and Ed would be.
"We're all here now so let's just go," Aemelia said calmly, taking Jasmine by the arm and staring at Ed intently, trying to convey the message of 'Move your bloody ass, you git' through her eyes.
"Yes, let's!" Julian stood so quickly he nearly toppled his chair back, a smile plastered onto his face for appearances sake as he moved towards Sheraton.
The group fractured into pairs and trios, Julian and Sheraton leading with Warrington between Pucey and Parksinson, followed by Cordelia and Neil. Miles, Edward and Aemelia took up the rear. Warrington was telling some rambling and utterly pointless tale from his summer to Pucey in an attempt to cheer and distract his friend. "It was a Wednesday - did I mention it was that Wednesday in June? Anyways, I'm flying around on my broom with, ahem - a girl I knew and I look over and she's fumbling around with her chest - she'd lost her bra somewhere over Bristol! So this hot Wednesday in June, I'm nearly falling off my broom laughing at this, she was really so angry..."
Neither Adrian nor Jasmine seemed to be hearing a word he said as they glared at both no one and everyone. Aemelia and Miles were trying to soothe Edward and keep him from ripping the pretty seventh year limb from limb - although Miles thought privately he would be just as likely to shag her senseless as commit violence. Cordelia and Neil were acting as a silent wall between the more volataile members of the group.
"Well, that was just a lovely way to end my birthday," Sheraton said dryly, crossing her arms as the sun began to set and the cold was settling over the path back to school.
"It's not yet over, love," Julian soothed softly. "I have something planned for you yet," He winked impishly towards her.
Her resentment melted away at Julian's words as she nearly choked. "You what?"
He laughed, "It's a surprise, and I'm sure you'll love it. So how was your day, excluding the past 15 minutes?" He changed the topic smoothly. Sheraton sighed at him, still curious but knowing better than even to attempt at prying - he'd show her eventually.
"I'm sure I will too. It was quite all right actually..." and she launched into a description of her packages, happily ignoring everyone but the man beside her.
Authors' Notes: Next chapter, all about those unrequited lovers you all know and love. And the above rambling stories is one of Sam's which she has actually told alike to that - to the amusement of all, especially Anna.