Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Of course, I do not own Harry Potter. As far as I know, I have not copied anyone else's story. The phone number in the invitation is the real number for The British Museum.
Lily's 9th Birthday
From that moment on Severus found himself spending every weekend at the Evans' house and before he knew it, it was March. Looking at the class birthday board Severus noticed Lily's birthday was at the end of March and sure enough Severus observed Lily handing out invitations to all of their classmates.
You Are Invited!
Dear_ Sev _
When: Saturday 22nd March 1969
Where: 10 River Street Cokeworth
Time: 2pm to 4pm
Rsvp: 15th March to Mrs Hyacinth Evans 020 7323 8000
Severus sat there stunned, Lily had just handed him an invitation to her birthday party! Severus suddenly felt panic, what on earth do you get a girl for her birthday? He had never been invited to a party before and had no idea what one did, apart from getting the birthday person a mandatory present.
Of course, he knew what he would have liked, but the only birthday presents he received from his parents were practical items from his mother like clothes and books, and from his father he received things like his switchblade or a fist.
So deciding to go with the parent less likely to hit him he chose to ask his mother for help, perhaps she could find something in Diagon Alley after she had finished selling her potions.
'Mother?' Severus asked at breakfast the morning after he had received the invitation. 'Do you have any ideas about what could be a good present for a nine-year-old girl?'
His mother turned around and gave him an amused look, staring into her eyes, Severus had the sudden suspicion that she knew every secret he had tried to keep hidden, especially the one about his crush on Lily.
'Well, when I was a young girl around nine or ten years old my parents gave me a beautiful silver-coloured magical diary so that I could write about my time at Hogwarts. Would your friend like something like that?' His mother's face grew soft as she reminisced about her childhood.
'That would be great! Could you collect a diary for each of the four girls so you don't have to get one when the others have their birthdays?'
Well that would certainly save time, very well Severus could you write down the girls' names and what colour they would each prefer?' his mother asked
Using some scrap paper and a pen Severus wrote a quick note with a list of the girls' names and the colours they had mentioned they liked the first time he had gone to their house.
Diaries for the girls:
Petunia Evans: Pink
Lily Evans: Emerald Green
Rose Evans: Yellow
Tansy Evans: Purple
In years to come Severus would never quite remember how he survived the first party he had ever been invited to, it would be one he would never forget. It started with screaming, shrill happy screaming, Severus arrived early, eager to get out of his house with the present his mother had collected for Lily, having hidden the other three diaries away from his father's prying eyes.
Knocking on the door he was greeted by three girls happily jumping and squealing at him, with Petunia standing behind them pursing her lips. Luckily the gift he was carrying wasn't breakable as he was suddenly engulfed in a group hug. Being roughly pulled into the house by Lily he saw the sitting room decorated with balloons and streamers, the coffee table now had a bowl of fruit punch and snacks sitting on it, and a fold-away table had been positioned underneath a Happy Birthday! banner, with a few presents placed on top of it.
'Good you're early' Petunia expressed, actually sounding like he had managed to somehow impress her. 'I couldn't imagine you as one of those rude people who are always late, but you never know.'
'I also find late arrivals vexing' Severus said, smirking slightly in agreement
'You can place your present on the table with the others.' Petunia said
Severus walked over and placed his present on the table and spent time with the girls before the party started.
Severus had underestimated the amount of noise a room full of children could produce. When all the other children arrived it was utter chaos screaming and yelling and running. Feeling overwhelmed, Severus retreated to the furthest corner from them. He watched in amusement as Petunia followed around some of the messier children, berating them for their untidiness.
'Come along children it's time to play pass the parcel' Mrs Evans called across the room. Suddenly Lily appeared in front of Severus, bouncing with joy, grabbing his hand and dragging him to the middle of the room, so that Severus found himself sitting on the floor cross-legged, suffering through the game. He was at least thankful that Tansy had seated herself on his other side so that he wasn't forced to sit next to some other child. Half paying attention to the game, Severus watched the other children happily interacting with each other as they passed the parcel along to the child next to them. He had to resist the urge to sneer at one snivelling child who was content to wipe his nose all over his arm, gingerly touching the parcel when it was his turn, Severus hoped he wouldn't catch some disease.
When the music stopped it took Severus a second to notice that the parcel had landed on him, unwrapping the paper Severus realised that he had won the major prize, a model rocket set. The rocket would be perfect to take home to show his father that his friends were indeed muggles.
'Well done Sev!' Lily cried joyfully, flinging her arm around him. Severus shook his head in disbelief, blushing madly. Looking through the curtain of hair that had fallen over his eyes, Severus saw that her sisters Rose, Tansy and even Petunia were clapping and looking happy that he had received the prize, while all the other children were frowning and pouting at him in jealousy.
'That's not FAIR!' the boy sitting next to Tansy complained 'I want that! He held onto the parcel for too long. If he passed it when he was supposed to, it would have made it to me when the music stopped.'
'He didn't hold on to it that long, it would have stopped on me,' Tansy piped up angrily
'You're just a stupid girl, girls don't like rockets!' the nasty little boy commented
Severus was on the brink of throttling the doltish pillock when a booming voice called out.
'Alright settle down!'
Severus jumped a little at the new voice and looked to see a large man standing in the doorway. It must have been Mr Evans because the man had blond hair like Petunia and green eyes exactly like Lily's.
'Severus won the prize fair and square. I was watching the game to make sure nobody cheated.' Mr Evans' deep voice rumbled. 'How about I look after your rocket for you, Severus?'
'Yes please, Mr Evans, ' Severus answered, walking over to the man and handing him the rocket.
'Wonderful that's settled. Time for party food!' Mrs Evans called
Severus, who was still a little surprised that the prize hadn't been given to the other child, stood back a little as the children swarmed onto the snacks, which included cups of strawberry and cream trifle, homemade jam drop biscuits and bowls of crisps.
'You might want to grab something while you still can.' Mr Evans suggested
Not wanting to miss out on the delicious-looking food Severus scampered forward collecting a bowl of crisps, a cup of trifle and a biscuit. Seating himself on the floor with the girls, Severus happily munched on his food.
'Time for the cake' Mrs Evans called across the room after everyone had eaten some snacks. Mr Evans left the room after handing Mrs Evans Severus' rocket and presumably went to the kitchen to receive the cake while Mrs Evans turned off the lights.
The cake looked magnificent in the glow of candlelight as it was brought into the sitting room by Mr Evans, it was a red cake with white cream filling and an elaborate whipped cream frosting decorating the top, with nine candles flickering amidst the decoration. It was the most elaborate cake Severus had ever seen.
'Thank you, Daddy' Lily called out, 'my favourite, red velvet cake!'
Mr Evans smiled indulgently at Lily, while the children sang Happy Birthday loudly with Severus joining in softly and a little out of time since he hadn't known the words before today.
'Go on and make a wish, Lily bug,'' Mr Evans said after everyone had finished singing.
Lily closed her eyes and blew out all the candles in one go.
During the round of applause she received, Mr Evans cut the cake into slices and handed them out for everyone to enjoy. Finishing off his cake, Severus watched as Lily bounded over to her presents and grabbed the nearest parcel, ripping off the wrapping with glee, as she thanked every person for their gifts as she lovingly placed them to one side so they didn't get damaged.
Her presents consisted of a lovely necklace from her parents, the emerald green diary that Severus had brought her, and a very warm-looking blanket with unicorns in a meadow from her sisters. The seven children from their class who had managed to make it to the party had given Lily, a board game, a doll, a make-it-yourself jewellery kit, a knitting set, and a bath bomb. One child had even gotten Lily some obnoxious orange box, it had a picture of a huge blue ball with a stupid grinning face on it and some child situated on top of it, the words Space Hopper were written above the picture and the snobbiest, richest-looking kid there had gotten Lily a stack of eight books that included Cinderella, Corduroy and a total of six books in a series called Madeline. Severus had no idea what the rich kid was doing at Lily's party but even he could appreciate books as a gift.
As Petunia explained the rules of the next game, Severus smiled at the thought of finally finding a game that could keep the other children quiet. Hide and seek sounded just like his type of game.
When Lily, who was playing the seeker, started counting to twenty Severus and the other children scattered throughout the house, the only rule being that you couldn't go upstairs.
Secluded in the linen cupboard under the stairs, hidden at the very bottom Severus revelled in the silence that had been achieved, it was bliss.
Severus could hear Lily padding around the house yelling 'FOUND YOU!' every time she uncovered a child's hiding place.
It took a little while for the game to end since Lily never thought of looking inside the cupboard, so not wanting to make it too easy, Severus moved to hide behind the curtains in the sitting room making sure his feet were peeking out. Sure enough, less than a minute later the curtains were roughly thrown to one side and Lily's grinning face came into view.
'FOUND YOU SEV!' Lily said giggling and pulling him out of his hiding place. 'You're the last one found! How you managed to hide in here while I was counting I'll never know.'
Not wanting Lily to think she was an inadequate seeker, Severus never mentioned anything about him moving his hiding place.
'Here you go Severus' Mrs Evans said, handing him back his model rocket. 'The party is pretty much over and I didn't want you to forget to take your rocket home.
'Thank you, Mr and Mrs Evans.' Severus muttered
'What for dear?' Mrs Evans asked looking concerned
'For holding on to my rocket and for welcoming me into your home' Severus said to Lily's parents.
'Aww aren't you a sweetheart,' Mrs Evans cooed, gathering him into her arms. Severus could feel himself blushing bright red nestled into Mrs Evans' warm embrace.
'MOTHER! Sev is MY friend!' Lily whinged
'Lily bug -' Mr Evans started to say only to be interrupted by a knock at the front door.
'That will be the parents of the other children.' Mrs Evans said releasing Severus from her embrace and going to answer the door.
It was indeed an eclectic mix of adults who had arrived to collect the children, one by one the children were sent off with party bags leaving with their parents or in the case of the rich child his valet, who upon arriving announced.
'I am here to escort Master Montgomery back to Morley Manor.'
As each of the children left the house, Severus was happy to see that they each thanked Lily for inviting them over to her party.
As the last child walked out the door with their parent, Lily turned to Severus with a sweet innocent look in her eye, 'I really do love the diary you bought for me Sev'
'I'm glad that you love the diary, you can write anything that you want inside of it without any concern of anyone opening it up to try and read it. My mother told me that the man who sold her the diary placed a specialised charm upon it so that it will only open for you.' Severus saw Lily's beaming face just before he was engulfed in an exuberant hug.
'I must be getting home as my father wanted to see how my first party had gone.' Severus muttered reluctantly, extracting himself from Lily's arms 'and I'm sure he'll be happy to see this wonderful model rocket that I won. Thank you again for inviting me.'
'Will you come over next weekend for our usual magic lessons? Lily asked, her bright green eyes practically begging for him to capitulate.
'Of course, I will. Although I'm pretty sure that you and your sisters will soon know as much as I do about magic.'
As Severus left Lily giggling in the doorway and made his way home he had mixed feelings about parties. He had enjoyed playing hide and seek and could see himself participating in board games or cards, but games of tag and musical chairs would possibly be too much for Severus to enjoy.
On arriving home Severus was surprised to see his father relatively sober and waiting for him in his armchair, situated in front of the fireplace
''Ow'd yer party go?' His father asked as soon as Severus shut the door, It was 'eaps of fun, I won this rocket
'Good lad. They've been sellin' those rockets by the bucket load since them yanks said they was gunna land a bloke on the moon. Daft buggers.
'Ow, 'bout we start putin' that rocket togever? then we can set it off' His father asked sounding eager
'Yea tha'll be 'eaps of fun, 'ow 'igh do yer fink it'll go?' Severus almost couldn't believe how friendly his father was suddenly being. He would still tread carefully around his father but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
'I fink it'll go as 'igh as our 'ouse. if those nancy boys in the bloody factory made it proper.' His father grinned in delight, displaying his uneven, yellow-stained teeth.
Opening up the box and putting together the rocket with his father was a new experience for Severus, even though the packaging said the rocket could be ready for launch in less than thirty minutes it took Severus and his father closer to an hour to finish it.
His father was meticulous double and even triple checking the work they did with each of the steps, not to mention the inappropriate swear words his father taught him, and the slight theft they had to pull off in order to obtain a 6-volt lantern battery.
But finally, it was ready, trekking out to the field surrounding the abandoned mill, Severus and his father cleared out an area to set off their rocket considering Severus didn't want to accidentally set anything on fire.
Placing the launch pad down Severus removed the safety key from the launch panel. Severus then took off the rod safety cap and slid the rocket launch lug over the end of the launch rod and lowered the rocket to the stand-off making sure it slid freely.
After cleaning the micro clips Severus attached them one at a time to each lead of igniter making sure they didn't cross or touch each other.
After double checking the area around them was clear Severus re-inserted the safety key into the launch panel and they started their countdown
'5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 … LIFTOFF!' Severus pressed the launch button and hoped to god it would work.
Fire shot out of the bottom and sent the rocket shooting off into the sky. Severus released the launch button as his father whooped and hollered at their successful launch. When the Rocket reached its apogee it seemed to hang there for a moment before the parachute unfurled and opened up.
'Look at that beauty, Go!' His father exclaimed in wonder and even Severus, who had expected it to blow up on the launch pad, could admit the rocket looked majestic as it drifted down in the slight wind to land not too far away from them.
After collecting the rocket and the launch pad Severus and his father walked amicably back to Spinner's End and even amazingly enough, eating dinner with the man. Severus had an abundance of emotion flood him, unsure of how he should feel even now after the evening proceedings with his father.
He couldn't for the life of him remember the last time he had sat down and had a meal with his father. It must have been when he was extremely young and not showing too many signs of magic, it was definitely a surreal event.
Finishing off his meal Severus gathered up both his and his father's empty bowls and spoons and gave them a quick wash in the sink while his father collected a beer from the fridge.
Not wanting to push his luck Severus bolted to his bedroom with his rocket clutched to his chest, locking the door behind him, Severus reverently placed the rocket in pride of place right in the middle at the top of his bookshelf.
Looking at his rocket with pride Severus changed into his P.J's and slid into his bed gazing at the rocket until he fell asleep.