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LILY WASN'T EXACTLY allowed to celebrate her 6th birthday as punishment for pulling that stunt on umbridge.

despite the woman's short stature, she held a grudge for a long time.

however, that did not stop the little girl from throwing a birthday surprise for her most beloved father.

"come on harry! don't be such a sore thumb", hermione whispered.

"hermione, you know I don't like professor snape and he hates me too. the feeling's mutual!", harry replied.

"yes but think about lily! are you just going to make her wait for you to show up but you actually don't?! even fred and george had agreed to help her, and they don't just agree to do things for anyone's benefit", hermione said.

ron, who was listening to all of this, was stuffing his face with mashed potatoes. he decided to not get in the middle of this until one side had perhaps backed off a bit.

harry rolled his eyes. "don't you have o.w.l.s. to study for or something?", harry asked.

"I've decided for the benefit of helping boost a child's happiness, I'm willing to sacrifice a day of studying to dedicate it to helping her plan her father's birthday surprise", hermione smiled, proud that she had convinced herself that she was doing the right thing.

harry gave it a moment's thought as he looked at hermione dead in the eye.

hermione kept eye contact as harry sighed.

"fine. I suppose...one day wouldn't kill me...".

"that's the spirit! and what about you, ron?"

"h-huh? oh yeah, I'll help too", ron replied as he quickly slurped his orange juice.

hermione shook her head in disdain as she had to once again remind herself that she's surrounded by idiots.

"well see you two friday then. the party's sunday", hermione reminded.

"but that's right after quidditc—"

"nope nope nope!! you agreed and that's that. I'll be expecting you two bright and early!"

harry slumped deeper into his seat as his head smashed against the table.

"I pulled this one on myself".

//❁//

to make matters even worse, harry, fred, and george were now banned from quidditch by umbridge. harry was now totally spacing out and not in the mood to help with the party.

"oh harry!! I'm so glad you showed up! I heard about what happened, would you like some honeydukes best chocolate?", lily offered, stretching her arm out to the boy who had bags under his eyes.

"thanks lily. what do you need me to do now?", harry solemnly asked as he tossed the chocolate in his mouth.

"w-well....", the girl awkward shifted her weight from her toes to her heels.

"yes?"

"well...you see. the theme of the party is wildlife", lily mumbled, to which harry had actually taken a good look around snape's classroom.

indeed, neville had done a splendid job covering nearly all the crevices with bunches of grape vines and blooming flowers everywhere.

hermione had made sure everything was running smoothly meanwhile ron was in charge of the menu since he had great taste.

fred and george had stacked all the tables and chairs in the corners of the room meanwhile somehow making a small pond appear in the middle of the room.

little fireflies were roaming around with the help of luna. how the girl managed to capture the bugs and lead them towards the chilling room will be a story lily will ask another time.

"well what is it that you need?", harry asked, still not getting an answer out the girl.

"papa's patronus is a doe. and I heard that yours is a stag. I just thought that if maybe you casted your patronus, papa would be happy you know?", the girl meekly answered, not sure how harry would react.

"I—"

"quick!! professor snape's coming", george whispered, making everyone skeet to their designated hiding spot.

luna—who wore her lion head in support of gryffindor's quidditch game against the slytherins—didn't exactly need to hide as she was like an animal in its natural habitat.

"what seems to be of the—oh my", snape tried to enthusiastically say as him and draco entered the classroom.

though snape had certainly appreciated the effort, he had tried his hardest not to seem too sarcastic. lily wasn't exactly the best at keeping secrets, as every time the little girl was the near the man, she would smile more than usual.

"SURPRISE!!", lily shouted as she quickly ran over to hug the man, only reaching his legs.

"this is wonderful. did you do all this?", snape praised, patting the girl's head.

"mhm! well, actually I had a lot of help from my friends!!", lily grinned, looking back at all the students who just shuffled together awkwardly.

snape immediately frowned upon seeing the gryffindors, especially harry.

"I see...."

"mhm!! come look at the cake that cedric and I baked!", lily exclaimed as she pulled snape towards the rectangular table that was filled with ron's choice.

cedric slightly chuckled as he honestly didn't do much. it was all lily's doing with him just making sure she didn't add weird ingredients in or accidentally burn herself.

though the cake was a bit lopsided, there was a piece of art made of icing that extremely confused snape.

"is that a..."

"a doe! doesn't it look like one?", lily smiled, making ron hold in his snort.

snape glared at the male, immediately shutting him up.

"yes, yes it does. you're a very talented individual", snape complimented, making nearly everyone in the room surprised.

no one, not even draco, had received a compliment from snape personally. unless you counted calling hermione a know-it-all, but in that case, it was meant as an insult.

"anyways, when neville, luna, and I went on an adventure—"

"is that why umbridge came to ask me for compensation?", snape questioned, raising a brow.

lily smiled even wider as she just pretended she didn't hear that.

"when we were on our adventure, I found this wondrous present for you!", lily continued as she pulled out a black box from her pocket.

snape begrudgingly held it as lily glanced at harry, who just sighed.

"expecto patronum!!", harry casted, forcing snape to be caught off guard, only to relax once he saw a stag elegantly leap from one corner of the room to another.

everyone watched in amazement except for snape.

"papa, do yours, do yours!!", lily urged, to which snape hesitantly complied.

with a wave of his wand, a bright doe had appeared, matching its pace with the stag. together, the both truly looked wonderful and charming.

snape watched as they had quickly dispersed into thin air, making the man feel a slight bit of envy and regret.

"open it!", lily exclaimed, tugging on snape's robes.

snape gently opened the box, revealing a pin. the man's rough fingers ran over the smooth carvings of the silver doe with a small diamond as its nose.

"do you like it??"

"indeed. it's a very pleasant present phoebe. you've certainly outdone yourself this time", snape said, giving the girl a ghost of a smile before returning back to his neutral face.

lily giggled as she then hauled snape towards the end of the table, while everyone else took seats on either side of the man.

though harry sat the furthest away, he couldn't help but feel slightly better as he had helped lily create a father-daughter moment there.

the lot dug in as ron had happily introduced all the dishes by heart.

"if only he'd spend all that time on potions", snape muttered, making draco snort and lily smile.

fred and george discussed with cedric about their future plans meanwhile luna and hermione talked about the new lipgloss that had recently came out in hogsmeade.

"I hope you enjoyed your birthday papa", lily mumbled, giving the man her biggest smile while forcing snape to wear a flower in his hair, though it did not happen.

"thank you...phoebe. it was much appreciated".

"mhm! glad I could make your day special. after all, this only happens once a year", lily responded as she put down her utensils to grab the chicken leg.

for once, snape didn't have to celebrate his birthday in poverty or alone for that matter. though most years, he had simply overlooked such a day, since after all, it was just another year.

but lily made it special. and hence was the start that snape would start celebrating his birthday if it meant keeping the little girl happy.

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