An Evening with Professor Snape

The Birthday Present |Chapter 4

The sun was beating especially brightly the next morning, which awoke Pippa, who is not a morning person, at 7am.

"What is the bloody point of those blinds! They do Jack all." She mumbled to herself.

Due to the bright sun, Pippa was now able to get a good look at her living quarters. Stone cold. Grey, with a 4 post bed and velvet red sheets. In one corner there was a slightly tarnished cream lamp and wooden dresser in front of her bed. Over to the far window was her belongings, which she had not noticed until this moment. She ran over to them, hugging them. Her guitar which she had purposely left at home, was now staring her blankly in the face.

A small smirk crept upon Pippa's face " I knew  you could never stay put!" she remarked.

Her guitar case opened with excitement, begging to be played.

"Not now, I have to get ready!" Pippa sighed.

She headed into the bathroom to take a quick shower. How the hot water soothed her first night in a new bed aches. She put on a similar robe as to yesterday's disaster and silently vowed the next weekend to get some more, presentable ones. She combed her wet hair into a tight bun, applied a light coat of mascara and headed down to the great hall for breakfast.

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"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Pippa, Happy Birthday to you!"

"Blow out the candles sweetie, make a wish"

"Sweet sixteen, my little, baby girl is growing up!"

"Aw Mum...stop"

"Oh I can't help it you know me....Edgar? Edgar! Go get the present!"

"Where is it?"

"It's behind the.... oh never mind, I'll do it myself"

Pippa glanced into the kitchen to see her parents pull out a rather large box with a pink ribbon.

"Surprise!" they both shouted.

Pippa eagerly ripped open the wrapping. A dark mahogany guitar with little flower etchings along the neck resided inside.

She gasped in awe.

"There's an inscription on the bottom, go on read it! Her mum said persistently.

Our Daughter,

We give this to you, our little dove,

A gift that shows you our unconditional love.

So that on days when you are feeling sad and blue,

You can clutch it tight, and know, that we are always with you.

"It's....it's perfect. Thank you so much" Pippa wiped away her tears of joy and embraced her parents.

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Later that night Pippa's Father knocked on her bedroom door.

"Can I come in birthday girl?"

"Sure dad" Pippa giggled.

"Did you have a good day sweetheart? I know that your friends couldn't make it, but..."

"They're not my friends dad, they feel sorry for me. How could someone like me have friends?" Pippa felt her hands getting sweaty

" You" Her Father said, now sitting beside her on her bed and holding up her chin, "You are different, people like them and even your mother will never understand what it's like, to be what we are, to try and live a life hiding ourselves from the world, I know you never asked to be this way, but my darling, it does get easier, and most importantly, we have each other. Your mother and I love you so very much and we both want the best for you"

"Why couldn't I just have gone to Hogwarts!" Pippa was getting agitated.

"Why do we have to hide Dad? When there is a whole world out there with people just like us!"

Pippa's Father sighed heavily and looked over to Pippa's bookcase. A five year old letter in faded yellow parchment sat loud and proud gathering a thin layer of dust. He picked it up and smiled with tears in his eyes.

"Pippa, one day, one day you will understand why we had to do this, we didn't want to hurt you, we wanted you to lead a normal life"

"Correction, Mum wanted me to lead a normal life, you just let her take over."

Her Father sighed longer than before and pulled out a long stick with tiny intricate details at one end.

"Is that, a wand, Dad?" Pippa said slowly.

He waved it around her new guitar and a flash of green and purple smoke shot out the end of it.

"This is your present from me, I know that this is hard on you, I can't even imagine growing up with magical abilities and not being able to use them, to control them" He walked up to Pippa and kissed her on the head "Happy Birthday Pip" he walked to the door  "Don't tell your mother" He said with a wink and shut the door behind him.

Pippa looked over to the guitar and swore she saw it breathe.

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I felt it was time we got to know Pippa a little better. I really want this story to have layers and to not just completely be a love story. So I hope you are enjoying it! I'm going to post another chapter in the next day or so to make up for last week. But I'm thinking of posting once a week on average .

And as always,

Thanks for reading xxx

B