AN: Thank you for all of the great reviews! I'm so encouraged by them! There's a lot of questions that people have that will be answered over the next few chapters, but if there's anything you're wondering let me know. There's not too much conflict yet, but it is coming. :)
Harry located a non-descript department store with promises of selling everything, and ushered the sulky child into the door. Harry at the momentary satisfaction of seeing the boy completely overwhelmed for a moment before his surprise was shuddered behind firm Occlumency, and Harry smiled at him.
"What sort of clothes do you like?" he asked casually.
"I can't afford this store," Severus snapped at his young guardian. "Did you bring me here to taunt me?"
"So, part of being your guardian is buying you clothes," Harry told him casually. "Obviously the robes you used to wear will no longer fit you, and you won't need robes as much until you go to Hogwarts. We can get you a dress set later if you want, but for right now let's just get you enough clothes that you're decently covered."
Severus looked down at the clothes he was wearing, adjusted and mish-matched castoffs, and couldn't bring himself to explain that these were the best he'd ever worn. Nobody was looking at him like he was a freak, he looked like a normal boy wearing play clothes.
"It's disconcerting to have you talk about me like that," Severus told him, some of the sarcasm gone from his voice. "It's like he's a different person and people keep saying it's me. I don't know what to think."
"We'll call your older self Professor Snape, then," Harry told him, understanding. "I never once called him Severus, so that will be easy for me. I went from calling him Professor into, well, into calling him Dad."
Severus nodded, looking more vulnerable than Harry had seen him yet.
"When I was living with my relatives before you – I mean Professor Snape adopted me, I only wore my cousin's cast-off clothes," Harry explained casually, trying to normalize what the child was feeling and get them back to the task at hand. Thinking about his Dad was going to make it too hard to keep it together, so he occluded those memories to help himself. "He was much bigger than me, so clothes never fit properly and were always pretty worn out when I got them. I had never purchased new clothing until Professor Snape took me shortly after he took custody of me, and I found it overwhelming at first. But now it's pretty normal, and I don't even think twice about it."
Severus looked down, as much of an admission as Harry was going to get from him.
"I like jeans," Harry told him, trying to take some of the pressure off. "It's early spring now and it won't be warm for a while, so why don't we get you some warmer clothes now and we'll get you some cooler clothes closer to the summer."
"If I'm still with you," Severus spat, though Harry heard a bit of fear in his comment as well.
"Of course, a cure could be found by then," Harry nodded. "And I would not like Professor Snape to take me to task for failing to properly look after you in your child state, so let's see about some clothes, shall we?"
"Alright," Severus consented. "I think I might like jeans too."
"I think they're over here," Harry told him. "I've never bought a child clothes, before, so maybe we can find a clerk to help us."
They did find a helpful clerk, a young ginger-haired teenager whose nametag read Krissi, and soon they were loaded up on jeans, t-shirts, a few button-down shirts, sweatshirts, and even pajamas. It had taken a brief explanation of Severus not having any clothes but the clothes on his back, and she took instant pity on them. Figuring Harry was a bit young to be a foster father but enamored with the ability to help the poor, awkward child he had in tow, she set to work with a passion. Snape tried on a few items to get sizes, and then she happily gave them a selection of his size in each item he needed.
"You will need to cuff the jeans a bit at first," she told them. "But if he's growing like my brother did at that age, it pays to have them a bit big to start. And even though we got him the slims, you might need to cinch the waist a bit in with this elastic in the waistband, see? You just put it on this button and you can change sizes as he grows."
"Thanks," Harry told her gratefully. "You've been a big help."
"Now don't forget pants," she told him. "The boys' boxers and briefs are over there," she pointed. "Socks too. You'll have to go up to the next floor for shoes, though."
"You sell trainers?" Harry asked hopefully.
"Of course," she answered. "And maybe grab him a jacket while you're up there too? It's good for the rain."
Their cart burdened with clothes, including several plastic-wrapped packages of underpants which made Severus blush and stammer when Harry selected them. How was he supposed to know if he preferred boxers or briefs? Harry got a few of each, not wanting to engage in this conversation with him either. His adult self had actually preferred silky black boxers, but he wasn't about to buy those for a nine-year-old.
"Let's get some shoes and call it good for now," Harry told him with determination. "You'll probably need more eventually, but maybe Ginny can take you out for some of that shopping."
"Who's Ginny?" Severus asked suspiciously.
"She's my fiancé," Harry explained, keeping his voice casual. "Her name is Ginny Weasley. She's going to be at our house for supper, you'll meet her then."
"She's not going to like me," Severus told Harry with certainty.
"What's not to like?" Harry smiled at him. "Here are the shoes. Do you like these?"
Harry reached out his hand to pick up the trainer on a shelf near Snape's head, and Snape flinched, ducked, and hunched over in alarm, protecting his head. Harry, shocked by the reaction, withdrew his hand quickly.
"Are you alright, Severus?" he asked quietly.
Severus didn't answer, and Harry was disconcerted to see his shoulders shaking slightly in fear, or as if he were about to cry.
"It's okay, Severus," Harry reassured him, realizing Severus had thought that Harry had been about to strike him. "You're fine. It's okay. I was just reaching for a shoe. You just had a reaction, it's okay." Harry wished he could put his hand on the boy's shoulder to comfort him, but he new instinctively that such a gesture wouldn't bring comfort to the boy, but frighten him further.
Severus, with as much dignity as he could muster, forced himself to lower his arms and to straighten up his body. Shame stained the pale skin of his cheeks, and he couldn't look at Harry at all. His stiff body waited for the reprimand.
"I like these orange ones," Harry continued, reaching for a shoe nowhere near Severus. "Do you like these? Although I guess you don't have a lot of orange to go with them. Maybe we should get the ones with green on them."
"I like the green," Snape told him, trying to sound calm though his heart still raced.
"The white with green are really striking," Harry told him. "But the black ones with green are probably more practical as they won't get as dirty. I try to buy black ones because of that, what do you think?"
"I like the black," Severus answered, barely looking.
"You look about like a two," Harry guessed. "Here, try these on and we can go from there. Good thing the Headmistress found socks for you, but it's too bad they didn't match better."
"Thank you, Mr. Potter," Severus managed to say as he was pushing on the slightly too small shoe, his voice fragile.
"You're welcome, Severus," Harry answered, not even pretending to not understand what he meant. "If anybody gets it, it's me. Now obviously you're a three, so let's get those off of you and try on the threes, just to make sure."
"I'm not a coward," Severus said as Harry put the new trainers back in their box to put in the cart.
"Of course you're not," Harry agreed. "But your body was just trying to keep yourself safe. It reacted to a perceived threat before your brain even really processed what was happening. Those instincts saved Professor Snape's life on countless occasions."
"I didn't really think you were going to hit me," Severus said sullenly.
"I'm gratified to hear that," Harry answered. "It's good that you trust me at least a little bit."
"I just didn't think you'd hit me in public," Severus insisted with a touch of sarcasm, not looking Harry in the face.
"Well, at least that's a little trust," Harry laughed, disarming Severus' insult. "You haven't been with me in private, so it's smart you're skeptical."
"You are a strange man, Mr. Potter," Severus told him, though Harry could see his body start to relax a little bit.
"Thank you very much," Harry told him with a grin, happy that he was able to occlude his sadness for now. He had also had many years of practice sparring with Severus' older self, and he found himself at ease more with the insults than he was when Severus sounded vulnerable. Would he be able to get this abused, scared, snarky and sarcastic child home before one of them blew? Because Harry knew it was coming.
"It wasn't meant as a compliment," Severus growled.
"I know," Harry agreed affably. "I think that with all of this hard work, we deserve a snack. Have you had much experience with muggle sweets? I think we should both pick something out in the checkout line."
"I didn't think adults ate candy," Severus commented, shock of being offered a treat momentarily disarming his sarcasm. "Do you like chocolate?"
"I love chocolate," Harry confirmed with a laugh. "When I take you to Diagon Alley I'll get you some wizarding sweets, those are wonderful! My favorite are still chocolate frogs. But that's not for today, so we'll have to make due with muggle sweets. I find the Aero bars to be quite good."
"Could I have a Flake?" Severus asked, his voice soft. He had often seen other children eating sweets, but was not ever given any of his own. His mother never bought them, having the task of just having any food in her house almost insurmountable, and it didn't occur to her that her son might want them. Several times he had tried to work up the courage to pinch one, but the fear of being brought back home having done that had so far kept him from committing theft. But he had seen other boys eating candy at parks and in the neighborhood, and he remembered the bright yellow wrapper of that particular candy. A few times he had been able to scrounge leftovers from garbage cans of things like cake and fizzy drinks left over from childrens' birthday parties, but he had never been able to scrounge a candy bar.
"Of course," Harry smiled at him. "Whatever you want."
Harry allowed the small boy to choose his candy as he piled the clothes up to be rung up, and Severus took the task very solemnly. He ended up going with his original desire, and placed the candy bar carefully beside the mint Aero that Harry had picked out for himself.
"Good choice, I like those too," Harry commented. "Let's eat it before we get home, though, so Ron won't be mad we didn't get him one."
"Who's Ron?" Severus asked, confused.
"Ron is my best mate," Harry explained. "I live in a house with Ron and Hermione Weasley, my two best friends from school. They just got married last summer, but they'll probably keep living with us at least for the time being."
"Does Ginny live with you?" Severus asked, eyeing the items that they had picked out being rung up and placed in bags.
"Ginny's family is very . . . traditional," Harry tried to explain. "And so was Professor Snape. We wanted to avoid any speculation of impropriety, so she is living with her parents until we get married."
"But it's okay for Ron and Hermione?" Severus asked, wondering.
"They are married," Harry laughed. "That makes it okay. But, in all honesty, I think part of it is that Ginny is the only girl and that makes them more protective of her. I don't mind too much; she visits a lot."
"Oh," Severus answered, not knowing what this meant. What would it be like to live in a house with this many young adults?
"Can we keep those out of the bag?" Harry asked the clerk, gesturing to the chocolate bars. "We need a bit of chocolate before we head out."
"Sure, love," the woman winked and handed the chocolate to Harry. "Just don't tell his mum you're ruining his supper."
"I won't," Harry promised with a smile, handing the yellow wrapped bar to his young charge.
Severus held the chocolate, a little in awe as he saw the total ring up at the cash register. Surely his new guardian wouldn't spend that much money on just getting some clothes for him! This is where he would back out, or at least make him give his chocolate back. He watched his guardian with careful eyes.
"Great," Harry commented, seeing the total and pulling his card from his wallet. "That looks good. I think we got everything."
After paying and with a few more pleasantries to the clerk, Harry handed one of the smaller bags to Severus to carry while taking the two larger ones himself. "Let's get to a quiet place where we can eat our treats and then apparate home," Harry told his young charge, leading him out of the store and onto a bench. "Here, I think over here might work."
"Thank you, Mr. Potter," Severus told him as they placed their bags down.
"No problem," Harry told him. "Here, do you need help opening that? They can be tricky."
Severus allowed Harry to help, and soon he found himself with a mouthful of crumbly, soft and amazing goodness. He had never tasted anything like it! He closed his eyes with pleasure.
"You didn't go to school, did you?" Harry asked casually.
"My mum taught me at home," Severus answered, enjoying the chocolate.
"I hear that's how a lot of wizards do it," Harry nodded. "Before Professor Snape took me in, the only chocolate I'd ever had was the occasional treat at school."
Severus didn't answer, not feeling as if he had to. Harry looked away, the quiet and the memory of Snape giving him his first chocolate frog misting his eyes a bit. Professor Snape had suspected how deprived his life had been, and had introduced things to him in a matter of fact way that helped with Harry not feeling ashamed to have been so neglected. He wanted to do that for his charge as well, especially when he realized by his enraptured look that this was likely the first time the child had tasted chocolate. He suddenly had the feeling that he was completely unprepared for the task of raising such a neglected child.
"We need to head home," Harry told him, finishing his own bar and seeing the child was nearly done with his. "And don't tell anyone I spoiled your appetite for supper."
"I won't," Severus solemnly promised, popping the last bite into his mouth reverently. "I promise."