Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are not mine. Pity.

Special thanks to my sis-you know who you are.
This was written for her on Feb 21 in recognition of Alan Rickman's B-day. This story is AU as of HBP.

Birthday Wishes

Chapter One

Something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. It was subtle, but he could feel it, none the less. This feeling of apprehension had started right after breakfast. He just couldn't put his finger on it. Professor Snape gazed menacingly around the room at the students in his seventh-year potions class. Most were working diligently on their potions. He noticed Lavender Brown smiling at him. He scowled at her.

"Miss Brown, get back to work. Ten points from Gryffindor." She immediately went back to work, but he could have sworn she was still smiling.

That was it! Usually, he was able to instill fear with only a glance or the sound of his voice. Sometimes only the swish of his robes was needed to turn a student into a mass of jelly. He relished those moments, but now something was wrong. His power seemed to be gone. He frowned at this and reflected back on his morning. He had yelled at many a student in the halls as well as in his classes. Although he could recall a student giggling on more than one occasion and several answering shyly to his commands, there was no quaking in fear. He decided to test his theory. But who should he pick on? Aha!

"Mister Longbottom!" Neville jumped at the sound of his voice. Professor Snape slowly walked toward him.

"You are stirring that potion incorrectly! Twenty points from Gryffindor." Neville tried to sink lower into his seat. He was shaking and visibly terrified.

The Potions master relaxed a bit. He still had it. But . . . Damn. That meant it was something else. He was pondering what it could be when a Ravenclaw student approached him. She looked at him expectantly.

"Yes?" he said, curtly.

"Professor, you look very handsome today." Snape's jaw dropped open as his class erupted in laughter.

"Silence!" he yelled. The class was instantly quiet. The girl went back to her seat, and he glared at the entire class.

Then it hit him. All the boys were looking fearful or, at the very least, nervous about what he would do next. However, the girls ... well, they were all just smiling at him. And sighing. What the hell?

"Miss Patil, bring me your potion sample."

"Yes, sir." She giggled and blushed as she brought him the vial with a dark green liquid in it. "I made it exactly right, sir. Just for you." With that, she blushed again and batted her eyes at him.

Oh, bloody hell, he thought to himself. What was going on? Someone could be playing a joke on him, but he doubted the whole school would be involved. He suspected a potion had been used, instead. He tried to remember what he'd had to eat or drink that day, but it was no use; the pain in his head that had begun at breakfast, intensified as he noticed all of the females were looking at him as if he were a scrumptious piece of chocolate.

His gaze suddenly shifted back to a certain Gryffindor female who did not seem to be at all affected. Hermione Granger stared back at him with a scowl on her face. This was interesting.

"Miss Granger." He stared at her intently. "Ten points from Gryffindor."

"What?" she exclaimed, obviously upset. "Whatever for, Professor?" She could barely hide the loathing in her expression.

He ignored her question and instead glared at her, accusingly.

"Detention! Miss Granger."

*****

Professor Snape strode purposefully toward the Great Hall. He ignored the students around him, daring them to interrupt him in his thoughts. His day had gotten considerably worse. He had been taking points away from the female students left and right for giggling, smiling, and swooning over him. Finally, he had to stop. It did no good since it was a potion, he was sure, that was making them act this way. He reserved his punishment for those brave enough, in their admiration, to actually touch him.

The final straw was when he had to take points from his own house of Slytherin because Pansy Parkinson had leaned in close to him, while holding on to his arm, and sniffed his hair. It wasn't a little sniff, either. She inhaled, deeply.

"Professor, you smell delicious."

He was going to hurt Hermione Granger for this. She had gone too far, and now she was going to pay. He walked into the Great Hall for supper and reached his seat at the teacher's table without speaking to anyone. If only Professor Dumbledore would let him eat in his quarters. But the headmaster was adamant that teachers should eat with the students, especially Snape whose natural tendency was to be by himself. He ignored his fellow professors. When dinner was over, he would go back to his room and figure all this out. His musings were interrupted by a whisper in his ear.

"My, my, Severus. You are truly looking fine tonight."

He swung around to see who would dare say such a thing to him. Professor McGonagall was looking at him with an appreciative gleam in her eyes. He blushed. Severus Snape actually blushed.

He turned back to his dinner, determined to get through this night with some dignity left. The only things sustaining him were the thoughts of what he was going to do to Miss Granger to punish her.