Title: Head Problem
Ah, the untraceable owl. It came every year. There was never any clue as to the sender, and Severus had yet to discover how it always managed to get through despite his 'precautions'. Every time it brought a version of the same gift—the same insult. One year the 'gift' might be strawberry scented (Severus hated strawberries), another it might be bile green, but always, right from his first year as a student, through the years he'd spent as a teacher, it came.
He'd long since ceased to be properly offended by the actual thing. What most maddened him now was his inability to solve the puzzles surrounding it. Was it the same person every year? Or was it a tradition passed on, Gryffindor prankster to Gryffindor prankster? He was sure that it was one of that lot.
Reluctantly he pulled the ribbon from the parcel and looked at the contents. This year, he noted with some disgust, it was a Muggle version. Tilting the bottle he read the label. 'Herbal Essences,' he sighed.
What Snape never got for his birthday: Herbal Essences.