Love Thy Neighbour by Alexannah
Past Featured StorySummary: The Dursley family move house, and Harry is horrified to find that they are now living opposite his most hated Potions Master. Between Snape and the Dursleys, will Harry make it to the Burrow in one piece?
Categories: Healer Snape, Teacher Snape > Trusted Mentor Snape, Fic Fests > #18 Summer 2015, Teacher Snape > Professor Snape, Parental Snape > Guardian Snape Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Dumbledore, Original Character, Petunia, Vernon
Snape Flavour: Snape is Kind, Snape is Mean, Snape is Secretive, Snape is Stern
Genres: Angst, Drama, Family, General
Media Type: None
Tags: Alternate Universe, Snape-meets-Dursleys, Spying on Harry! Snape
Takes Place: 4th summer
Warnings: Abusive Dursleys, Physical Punishment Spanking, Neglect
Prompts: Neighbors, Grounded!
Challenges: Neighbors, Grounded!
Series: None
Chapters: 23 Completed: Yes Word count: 39258 Read: 274427 Published: 07 Aug 2015 Updated: 01 Sep 2015
Best Birthday Ever! by Alexannah

The chairs were arranged and Snape drew a ring on the floor around the chairs with his wand. “Nobody crosses over these while the music is playing.”

Hagrid turned the music on. Harry had never played Musical Chairs before, though he sort of knew the rules, so he took his cue from the others.

It was as chaotic as it had always sounded—sixteen people rushing to get into fifteen seats. Snape turned out to be very quick, and very good at the game. Fred and George collided spectacularly trying to get to the same chair. Ron accidentally sat on Hermione’s lap, and jumped off so fast he bashed heads with a passing Professor McGonagall.

In the second round, Harry’s chair toppled backwards as Percy, Bill and Dumbledore all failed to beat him to it and ended up in a tangled heap on top of him.

“Ow,” Harry said once the three of them had extracted themselves and seized their own seats, and he had sorted his out. “You could get very bruised doing this.”

In the fourth round, Fred launched himself at the nearest chair so enthusiastically that he soared over the back and landed upside-down, while Professor McGonagall nabbed the seat.

In the fifth round, Mrs Weasley accidentally knocked Percy over. “Oh, I’m sorry, dear!” Before either of them could take the seat, Harry nipped in, and grinned at them both. Hermione and Charlie went for the same chair, and Charlie won whilst Hermione missed, and ended up wedged in between his chair and Ginny’s next to it. It took a moment or two for her to extricate herself, by which time she’d lost the round.

By the last few rounds, it was a tough contest between Harry, Charlie, Dumbledore, Snape, and Ginny. All were very fast with excellent reflexes. Harry heard the twins making and taking bets on which one of them would win.

“… excellent use of elbows on Charlie’s part …”

“… I dunno, Ginny’s best at ducking around people …”

“… Two to one on Dumbledore; any takers?”

“Will you two stop it!” their mother said sharply.

The music stopped, and there was another mass of scuffling for seats. “Mr Potter,” Snape’s amused voice came from behind Harry, “I do believe that’s my lap.”

Harry jumped up, flushing red. “Oh!”

“You’re out, birthday boy.” Snape’s competitive streak made his eyes gleam.

“Sorry, Harry,” Dumbledore said with a grin.

Harry grinned to show he didn’t mind, and joined the crowd watching the end of the game, but his mind wasn’t completely on it. For the split second he had been sitting down, he could have sworn Snape had had a grip on his sides as if to stop him falling off—an automatic reflex, probably, but still, it had felt nice.

The next one out was Dumbledore, who had the misfortune of tripping on his robes in an attempt to beat Ginny to a chair, and fell flat on his face. Professor McGonagall was chortling particularly hard as she helped him up.

Charlie then jumped into a seat so enthusiastically he slid off sideways, in order for it to be grabbed by Snape.

It was the nail-biting final round, Snape against Ginny. The music seemed to go on forever. Harry caught Hagrid’s eye, who grinned at him.

The music switched off, and Snape and Ginny dived neck-and-neck for the chair …

“Well,” Dumbledore said in amusement. “What do we do now?”

Both of them were on the chair, half-hanging off.

“Does anyone have a measuring tape?”

“Or we could call it a draw and try again.”

Hagrid put the music back on, and after only a few seconds after Snape and Ginny had stood up, he turned it off again.

“YES!” Ginny grinned and stuck her tongue out at Snape. “I win!”

“Gloating,” he said, wiping his forehead, “is not polite, Miss Weasley.”

But Harry couldn’t really blame her. It was, after all, the most desperate ambition for half of Gryffindor to get one over on Snape. Although he was sure no-one had ever imagined it would be at Musical Chairs.

It wasn’t until now that Harry got an opportunity to speak to Snape in private. As the others were sorting out the chairs, he pulled him aside and asked, not the question that had been bugging him—why—but one whose answer he was less wary of.

“How did you know?”

“Know?” Snape said blankly.

“I never said it was my birthday.”

“Oh, I see. I’ve always known when your birthday is; half the wizarding world does,” Snape answered, to Harry’s unease. “I have a different question. Why did you not mention it?”

“I … didn’t … see any point,” Harry mumbled. “No-one’s ever celebrated my birthday before. Not like this, I mean … and it’s not like I was expecting you to get me a present or anything …”

“I realised that. Which is precisely why I did,” Snape said.

“But you’ve done so much for me already—”

“And who says there has to be a limit?”

Harry found he couldn’t answer that. Snape smiled, and turned him around. “I think we could all do with something a bit less energetic for a while. Why don’t we see what’s on that table?”

Harry blinked, slightly stunned. Where the sofa and television had once been was now a table, which he was sure had not been there a few moments ago. Whatever bulky thing it was laden with was covered up with a cloth.

Before he could ask what it was, Mrs Weasley pulled the cloth off, and Harry’s mouth dropped open again.

Presents!

The table was positively groaning with masses of brightly-wrapped parcels. Harry had never seen so many; not even on Dudley’s birthdays.

“A-are they all for m-me?” he stammered, shocked.

“No, I asked all your friends to give me presents on your birthday,” Snape said drily. There were a few sniggers. “Of course they’re all for you.”

Harry didn’t know where to start, but Snape sat him down in a chair and the twins took it upon themselves to hand him gifts one at a time. Sirius, who hadn’t been able to join in much but seemed to be amused enough watching from the sidelines, came and settled at his feet.

“This one’s from Ron … this one’s from Bill … this one’s from Professor McGonagall … This one’s from us …. So is this one …”

Harry quickly lost track of who had given what. Mrs Weasley was scribbling away on a roll of parchment, and he figured she was keeping a record for him. He unwrapped present after present.

“No idea who this is from,” Fred said with a frown as he passed one over. “Just has a muddy paw print on the card.”

Harry knew immediately, and sent Sirius a look of thanks. He gave a great doggy grin in response.

“This one’s from—hey, this one’s from Lupin!”

“Really?” Harry said in surprise.

Dumbledore spoke up. “He did want to come today, Harry, but I’m afraid it, er, wasn’t a good time for him.” Harry nodded in understanding. “He sends his best wishes and says happy birthday.”

“This one’s from—oh,” George faltered. “This one’s from, um, Professor Snape …”

For a moment Harry was frozen. Snape had got him a present as well? The party had been more than enough!

But he took the gift with trembling hands and unwrapped it. Inside was three sets of pyjamas.

Harry grinned. One of them was a summer pair, cream-coloured cotton like the ones upstairs, only with red buttons instead of blue. The others were thicker winter pairs, one patterned with lions and the other with owls.

Thank you, Professor!” he stammered slightly. Snape just nodded, his expression unreadable.

It took Harry a while to realise that he had far more than one present from each person. Everyone except Sirius had given him at least three, and there was still more to come. He couldn’t believe it. The most he had ever got in his birthday was three presents, last year, one each from Ron, Hermione and Hagrid. Now he was overflowing with them.

Lots were flying themed—Quidditch posters, broom accessories, a year’s subscription to Player’s Post. The pyjamas had not been the only clothes. Harry now owned seven t-shirts, three pairs of jeans, two jackets, a proper Muggle coat, a pair of trainers, and about a dozen pairs of socks in all different patterns, all brand new and much more his size than Dudley’s hand-me-downs. He also received a tonne of books on subjects ranging from practical jokes to mystery novels, a Wizarding Wireless, a magical camera with film and developing potions, a new blank photo album, a year’s subscription to Loony Nonby, a watch that could read the time out loud and shout at him if he was late, and a set of fancy inks: glow in the dark, invisible, colour-changing, and one which made the words you wrote peel off the parchment and float around the room. Last but not least, Hagrid had whittled him a set of Hippogriff figurines.

Harry managed to stammer out a load more thank-yous, but couldn’t formulate anything more than that. Mr and Mrs Weasley and Snape cleared away the sea of wrapping-paper while the others set up a new game.

Sirius nudged Harry pointedly, and Harry mumbled an excuse and slipped out of the room. He hurried up the stairs, and Sirius followed him into the bathroom. Once Harry had locked the door, Sirius turned back into a man.

The End.
End Notes:
"Loony Nonby" is a comic that appeared in the films. I'm not sure where exactly, I just saw it on the HP Wikia.


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