The next morning Susan and I spent a majority of the morning in the Ravenclaw Commons working on assignments. It felt as though we were always doing homework lately. The Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test was certainly living up to its name even though it was only nearing the start of February and there were five more months before exams.

After lunch we decided upon a change of pace and went to study in the library. I was engrossed in my work. I looked away from my parchment to stretch my neck out and caught a glimpse of a clock. I blinked my eyes a few times to make sure I was seeing the time correctly.

"Is it really 4:30?" I asked Susan.

She lifted her head and glanced at the clock. "Wow, the day just sort of got away from us, I suppose."

"I have to go." I said grabbing the parchment in front of me. "Now."

"Where?" Susan asked. "It's almost supper time."

"I have…defense club." I said shoving a book on top of the parchment in my bag.

"Really?" She questioned. "You never mentioned anything."

"Are you sure?" I said doing a check of the area to make certain I had everything. "I could have sworn I told you. Maybe you weren't listening. We're having a dinner too so that's why I'm leaving so early. You're sure I never mentioned it?"

"I'm fairly certain you haven't said anything." Susan said.

I glanced at the clock again. 4:33.

"It doesn't really matter I suppose because I still have to go or I'll be late." I waved a goodbye and ran from the library.

I ran up the stairs to the common room and sped past the chairs full of students up to my room. I quickly changed into a powder blue long sleeve knee length dress I'd had in my trunk since fifth year and flung my robes over the top of it. I didn't have much time so I twisted my hair into what I hoped would somewhat resemble a bun before I fled Ravenclaw tower and headed for the kitchens to make sure the elves remembered my request.

Upon ending my meeting with the elves, who assured me that everything would be ready at the time I specified, I realized I had forgotten the books. I took a deep breath and raced up the stairs. There was no way I was going to beat Severus to our meeting spot.

After running through the common room again and receiving odd looks at my speedy return I found myself again in my room. I grabbed the books and groaned at myself for not having already wrapped them. I dug through my trunk and found a copy of the Daily Prophet on the bottom of my trunk from my first year. There really wasn't anything that interesting on it and the only reason I think I kept it was because of the moving pictures which now seemed commonplace to me.

I quickly cast a spell which wrapped each book, albeit very messily because of my hurry, before grabbing a few other things I remembered I set aside for tonight and ran through the school to the grounds.

I ran full speed for the Whomping Willow and forgot that it got its name because it tried to hit people until a swinging limb narrowly missed me. I couldn't exactly crawl on my belly with my arms full of preparations and gifts so I tried to run a little faster. As soon as I was able I slid feet first into tunnel under the tree taking a large portion of snow up my robes. I shivered from the melting snow running down the back of my legs.

A piece of parchment began slipping from my arms. I carefully shifted everything to reach for my wand. I charmed the parchment to hover just above the entrance to the tunnel and enchanted it to say enter.

I didn't have much time to spare to really check upon the state of my new sign and made my way as quickly as I could through the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack. It was a relief when the passage opened up into the overly dark house. I sent a spell from the opening to the lone candle on the coffee table and left the objects in my arms on the floor before looking for another table and any other candles I might come across. I was in too much of a hurry to be afraid of being alone.

I found a dining table in the room just off the sitting room and dragged it from its place to where it barely fell into the light of the candle. I ran back to where I found the table and found a candelabra resting on the edge of a cabinet containing what once must have been fine china but was now covered in cracks and cobwebs. I raced to place the candles on the table and muttered the spell to light them. The room was dimly lit and I was now able to see just how disheveled the room truly was; torn wallpaper, a door across the room partially ripped from its hinges, and some clothes ripped and abandoned in the corners.

At this point I had really wished I hadn't lost track of time so I would have had time to clean up a bit but as it were I was unsure if I had minutes or seconds before Severus arrived. I tapped the dining table three times and muttered a series of words as the elves had instructed. As soon as I had done so several small plates of food appeared along with a cake.

I hadn't time to be impressed with the magic and set to work hanging a yet blank banner in the air above the table. I could hear shuffling in the tunnel and I quickly finished the banner with twinkling letters of various colors.

Pieces of fallen hair clung to the light sweat upon my cheeks from my rushing and exertions. I slipped my robe from my shoulders and threw it across the room where it landed on the sofa. I smoothed out the sleeves on my dress and tugged nervously on the hem.

I saw the small stack of books still sitting on the floor near the entry. I rushed to my robe and fished through the pockets for my wand. I clasped my fingers around it and removed it.

"Accio books." I said just as Severus' head rose from the entry.

I cringed as I heard three distinct twacks as each book hit the back of his head. I took a quick step aside and the books fell on the sofa beside me.

"Surprise." I said weakly bringing my hands to my face in embarrassment.

He emerged rubbing his head. "I thought this note might mean to come here."

"Well it said enter." I said picking up each of the books. "What else could it have meant?"

"I do believe it says 'Centaur' which, while it is certainly a word, is complete nonsense in this circumstance." He flashed the piece of paper which did say centaur.

I walked to the table holding the food to place the books upon. His eyes followed me.

"Ah," Severus said. "No Centaur note would be complete without a banner saying 'Harpy Birdday, Severed Russ'."

I looked up to see the banner flashing with the horribly misspelled greeting. I quickly reached up and ripped it from the air where I magically hung it.

I gave a short laugh. "Banners are dumb anyways."

"I agree." He said nodding his head.

The banner floated from my hand down to the floor. "This is not how I planned any of this to go. I'm sorry."

He dropped the note in his hand on the floor and walked over to the table. "Don't apologize. This could have gone much worse and it still would have been the best birthday party I've had."

"Oh, well that's nice." I said. "Ruby, your party throwing skills are rubbish but I don't know the difference."

"Stop that." He said. "At least the food looks good."

"It's just sausage rolls, cucumber sandwiches, scotch eggs, and cake." I shrugged. "It's not really even a meal, just my favorite bits of party foods from when I was little."

"I like it." He said taking additional steps towards me. "Did you get presents too? Books, I think, from the hollow thuds they made upon impact."

He placed his hand on the back of his head and rubbed.

"See," I said. "It's not even a surprise. I'm horrible at party planning."

"I could have figured out they were books anyways." He said. "I spend enough time with them that I can just tell, also the corner of that one is open and I can see pages."

I looked down and noticed that indeed the wrappings were folded back revealing a corner of the black cover belonging to the Advance Occlumency book.

"Might as well just open them now." He said reaching his hand for the news covered book.

I pushed his hand away. "Cake before presents."

"Why is that?" He asked.

"It's been tradition in my family since my brother, Louis', fourth birthday." I explained. "Before that my mother always let us choose if we wanted cake or presents first. Of course we always chose the presents since those are far more exciting than cake. One of Louis' friends had given him a large assortment of sweets that year and Louis ate half of them before anyone had even noticed and instead of blowing out the candles on his cake he vomited all over it. Hence the new rule of cake before presents."

"Well then let's have cake." Severus said.

"We can't." I said smirking. "We haven't even played a game yet."

"A game?" He asked.

"Yes." I nodded. "We have to play a party game now that everyone is here."

"What sort of game?" He wondered."

"Truth or Dare or Spin the Bottle are fairly good, I've heard." I said. "However, this is your first party and those are pretty advanced so I borrowed Pin the Horn on the Unicorn from a first year who has been trying to get everyone to play all year."

I walked over to the couch and picked up a rolled up, slightly bent tube of paper. I unwrapped it to reveal a poster with a picture of a unicorn nodding his head happily. I cast a spell to levitate the poster in the air in between the flowered chair and the food table. I removed the horn and the unicorn snorted angrily.

I held the horn out to Severus who took it apprehensively. You have to put the horn back on the Unicorn. He furrowed his brow and took a step towards the picture.

"No," I said placing my hands on his shoulders. "Clearly it's not that easy."

I went to the couch and pulled a scarf from a pocket before running back to Severus.

"I have to blindfold you." I said lifting the scarf level with his eyes.

I stood on my tippy toes and placed the fabric over his eyes. My arms wrapped around his neck as I tied a knot behind his head. I made a few faces at him to make sure he couldn't see me and I planted a light kiss on his nose. He smiled.

He took a step forward and I grabbed his arm. "Still not that easy. I have to spin you. The way we always did it for Pin the Tail on the Donkey was one spin per year of your life. How old are you?"

"Twenty-two." He said.

"Alright, so I'm going to spin you twenty-two times and then you have to try to put the horn on the unicorn while dizzy and blind." I said. "Sounds fun, huh?"

"Not exactly the word I was looking for." He said.

"Oh, shut up." I said pushing his shoulder a bit and a smile crept onto his lips. "I'm going to spin you now."

I spun him counting from one to twenty-two spinning him faster the higher I counted. As soon as I hit twenty-two I stopped him and faced him towards the picture. When my hands left his arms he swayed slightly to the left. I reached to steady him and he laughed a bit.

"This is quite disorienting, isn't it?" He said and carefully took a step forward.

He made his way wobbly to the picture of the unicorn who looked very ready to have his horn back. Severus held his hands out in front of himself and felt his way through the air until they made contact with the poster. He groped his hands over the now disgruntled unicorn until he was sure he had it right.

I laughed as soon as Severus lifted the blindfold to see the disgruntled unicorn with a horn perched on the tip of his nose.

"If you're so good at it then you do it." Severus said ripping the horn from the poster and putting it in my hand.

"I have to warn you, I am the champion of this game…well the muggle form." I said with a smile.

My stomach seized at his closeness when he tied the scarf over my eyes. I felt his fingers brush against my cheeks before they slid down to my shoulders to begin spinning me. He didn't count out loud and before long I became too disoriented to keep track. Eventually he did stop me with his hands still on my shoulders. I heard his footsteps as he walked away and I took my own dizzy first steps. I lifted my hands out in front and felt the air on my fingers. My hip hit a piece of furniture. I assumed it was the chair and corrected my path slightly to the right.

I knew I had to be getting close to the picture. With each new step I expected to feel the glossy paper against my fingers. I inhaled sharply when my hands made contact with fabric. I ran my hand not holding the unicorn horn upward over buttons and fabric creases. My fingers came to a rest on jawbone and cheek.

"Severus, you can't stand in front of the poster." I said. "That's cheating."

I gave his cheek a quick tap and tried to move him aside but his arms wrapped around my waist. I let out a surprised laugh which was quickly suppressed when Severus pressed his lips on mine. I wasn't sure if the dizziness I was feeling was coming from the spinning or the kissing but I couldn't say I really cared. I lifted my arms around his neck and pressed my lips harder against his. I was very aware of his hands moving from my waist and traveling up my back.

"You're trying to distract me." I moaned against his kiss.

I felt him smile. "Perhaps."

"It won't work." I said reaching my hand behind him and placing the horn on the poster.

I took a step back from him breaking the kiss. Severus stepped aside and even to my surprise the unicorn stood happily with his horn back upon his forehead. I excitedly pumped my fists above my head and gave a gleeful shout.

"And how did you do that?" Severus asked eyeing me suspiciously.

"I told you I was a champion." I said with faked nonchalance. "But honestly I'm just as surprised as you."

He still looked at me with suspicion.

"So, do you want cake?" I asked changing the subject.

"We haven't even eaten the other food." He said.

"I know, but I really want to give you your presents." I said excitedly.

"Can't we break tradition?" He asked. "Just this once?"

I feigned a horrified expression. "Absolutely not, Severus. I can't believe you would even suggest such a thing."

He smiled and followed me to the food spread.

"Shoot!" I exclaimed as I reached the table. "I forgot candles. Well, just pretend to blow them out after the song, alright?"

He smirked at me. "I'm not pretend blowing out candles. Just sing your song and be done with it."

"Fine." I said. "This is Louis and Sean's favorite version. Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you. You look like a monkey and you smell like one too."

He looked at me for a moment before saying, "Charming."

I smiled at him and cut into the cake. The top was covered with frosting flowers and I though added more floral than was needed for a man's birthday. The inside was the darkest chocolate I had seen. I handed Severus a plate with a healthy slice of cake upon it.

I took a small bite of cake and it was delicious.

"Is it good?" I asked.

"I'm honestly not one for sweets." Severus said.

"Oh." I said disappointed. "I'm sorry."

"No, don't be." He said putting the plate down on the table with two bites taken out of it. "I'm still flattered that you did all of this for me."

"I, er…" I began. "I like you, Severus. I wanted to do this for you. I'll basically do anything to get you to smile."

He looked at me with a small smirk and I felt myself blush. I put down my own cake and picked up the three books. I carried them over to the couch, sat down, and placed them on the coffee table. I pulled my robes on over my dress. The cold in the house was seeping into my skin.

"Before I open those," Severus said as he sat next to me. "I have something for you."

"You got me a present for your birthday?" I asked smirking at him. "You're odd."

"No, I didn't get you anything for my birthday." He said. "I've had it for a while and I was finally able to get it right. Close your eyes and give me your hand."

I felt no apprehension to follow his orders and held out my hand to him with my eyes shut. I felt the weight of something small in my palm and I opened my eyes. Sitting in my hand was the small snow globe containing a silver unicorn.

"I'd forgotten about this." I said watching the unicorn prance around his small water-filled world. "I'm sorry I reacted that way…when I found out that you were...well, you know."

"I've been working on it since it broke." He informed me. "I've just now been able to get rid of his limp. His legs were shattered and he hasn't walked right since."

"I'm so sorry." I said to both Severus and the unicorn.

Severus clasped his hand over mine sandwiching the snow globe between our palms. "I suppose it's time for me to open my presents."

He reached for the partially opened present. I grabbed his sleeve quickly.

"Don't open that one first." I said.

"I could just open them all at once." He said reaching for his wand.

"No!" I said rather loudly. "What is it with wizards and using their wands for everything? You miss out on so many tactile pleasures. Have you ever ripped open a present?"

"I can't say that I have." He said.

"You're missing out." I told him.

He picked up one of the other two books and tore the paper away revealing the cover.

"Occlumency?" He asked.

"You have so many secrets in that head of yours, Severus." I said. "It would be a shame if someone were to be able to access them."

He withdrew his wand and opened the other two presents at the same time.

"Now, I don't want you to use any of those to control people." I said. "I'm giving them to you to protect the things you know and to use Legilimency sparingly. I don't want you stealing memories from people because you feel like it, got it?"

"Are you lecturing me?" He asked.

"No…well…I just don't want you to misuse it because then whatever happens because of it is my fault." I said. "Understand?"

Severus leaned over and planted a kiss on the side of my neck. His lips sent a wave of lightning down my spine. I wrapped my arms around him while his lips traveled from my neck to my jaw to my cheek to my nose to my forehead and finally to my lips.

I always liked kissing Severus. As our lips danced around and over each other I began wondering if I would like doing more than kissing. The thought was still a bit odd so I pushed it out of my mind almost as soon as it had entered it.

His lips slid down to my throat and he buried his head in the crook of my neck. I felt his hand on my knee. It felt pleasantly warm against my cold skin. He began to slide his hand down the outside of my thigh. My cheeks blossomed with warmth and the thoughts of more than kissing tore through my mind again, this time they seemed much more desirable and less odd. I allowed his hand to move slowly over my leg.

My hands started pulling at his robes trying to remove them from his shoulders. I had them partially pushed down when there was a loud crack from somewhere upstairs. All of the wanting flushed out of my veins as the icy feeling of dread filled them. I pushed Severus off and we both sat up listening for any sounds.

After a few moments of silence my heartbeat slowed but the lust from before was lost. I placed my head on Severus' shoulder in relief.