LEGEND:

"Normal Talk"
'Thoughts or Emphasis'
(...Parseltongue...)

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Chapter Eight

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Year 1 – Part four of… "Boxing Day" and more

The morning after the day of Harry's Winter Blessing, Severus walked into the kitchen in time to see a second door appear. He watched in fascination as the roof rose up in the section where the planned nook was going to be.

He then heard another door open, followed be scents from the outdoors and he listened as Harry said, "I think we'll need a washing room in here for the winter. We can wash off the dirt easy enough in the summer with a bucket of water outside, but we need to have something in place for the winter. We can't be traipsing around the house after just having mucked out the stable."

He heard Hagrid's reply, "Buckets o' water 'ill do fer now. Yer washin' room is a good idea, bu' mayhap ye should be thinkin' of a changing room with a shower stall. Tha' way ye can keep changes o' clothes down 'ere fer muddy days."

"We'll have to go through the plans and see where we can adjust them," Harry said walking into the kitchen. He used his magic to call forth a few pans, mixing bowls and a kettle. He made the kettle go under the water tap to fill up and then he sent it to a burner at the back of the stove.

"What do you want for breakfast, Hagrid?" He asked and then said, "Good morning Professor, is there anything that you'd like for breakfast."

"Me standard, if'n tha's all right," Hagrid said.

"Flapjacks, eggs and bacon coming up," Harry said. Hagrid agreed and watched how Severus was too busy watching him to make a decision. Harry glanced at the man and grinned when he noticed that the man was stunned. He just nodded his head and said, "I'll make us the same, all right, Professor?"

He looked back and saw that the man didn't even say a word, but was nodding only by reflex. He turned his attention back to the ingredients and the pans. He called for the largest pan and flash heated it. He added a large dollop of homemade butter and kept an eye out on it making sure that it coated the entire bottom of the pan.

Meanwhile another part of his attention was on a mixing bowl where the ingredients for the flapjacks were mixing and coming together to make a light fluffy batter. He turned quickly back to the pan and saw that the butter had fully melted and was turning a golden brown. He levitated twelve eggs over it, cracked them using magic and let the contents drop into the hot pan. Using magic to crack eggs was similar to being a chief that can do it with one hand, ensuring that no part of a shell ever fell into his recipe and the yolk remained whole.

He turned the heat down low, added various ground peppers to all of the egg, but only added some bits of sun-dried tomatoes on four of the eggs in the pan. He turned his attention back to the mixing bowl and called forth the flapjack pan. He made a fairly large stack in a short amount of time because he was using magic to flip them and quickly cook them.

He transferred everything when they had finished cooking onto warm plates that preserves the heat of the food until he finished cooking the bacon in the pan that had the eggs. He had added large zucchini slices to that same pan and once everything was in the plates, he set the timer on the back burner to begin the boil of the water after fifteen minutes had passed.

He levitated the plates and led the men to the room that they were currently using for their meals. Hagrid shook the Professor's shoulder in order to bring him out of the daze that he had been in and watched as the man walked into the room where his breakfast was waiting for him.

Severus looked down at the plate in front of him and saw that it had two eggs topped with sun-dried tomatoes, six strips of bacon, three small flapjacks and four large zucchini slices with pepper. He had never had such a breakfast. He looked up from his plate and noticed that Hagrid had a large stack of twelve flapjacks, eight eggs, twenty-four strips of bacon and six large zucchini slices.

'It makes a strange sort of sense that he would need more food, but I don't think that I had ever noticed just how much more he needed,' he thought.

He took a small bite of the eggs and another of the zucchini. Soon he was devouring the food like he had never done before. He ate like a civilized man, cutting everything and chewing to taste the flavour, but for some reason the combinations of the spices or something actually made him want to eat this meal.

He never had a problem eating before, but for some reason the food was excellent. That's when he noticed that it wasn't as bland as he was used to having. 'Now that's a question of what on Merlin's green earth happened?' He wondered. 'Spice… I'm a Potions Master, I know about spices and such, but…'

Severus then recalled the several times that he had observed the Boy-Who-Lived adding something to his meals in the Great Hall of the school. "Mr. Potter…" he began, but was interrupted.

"Sir," Harry said. "You're my guest here and I'm kind of hoping that you'd call me by my first name. I'm not in school now and I don't really want to be reminded of it until I have to go back."

"I'll consider it," the man said. "However I would like to know why you've been adding spices to your meals at the school?"

"Well I find some of them to be kind of bland," Harry told him honestly. "I'm so used to cooking that I tend to add flavours in everything that I make, but I'm careful with Hagrid's because some spices don't metabolize well with his system. I'm hoping to find out more about that."

"Ye'll be able ta read tha' book when I'm done with it," Hagrid told him. He then turned to the Professor and said, "I canna' eat much salty stuff 'n since 'Arry took a look at some o' me recipes 'e asked if 'e could try 'em out hisself. Made a few with changes tha' I liked, bu' some jus' couldna' be changed."

"Well they couldn't be changed with the spices I used, but that is not the limit to spices," Harry said. "There are other ingredients that can be changed in order to change the flavour. It's just that I haven't looked into that part yet." He looked at the professor and answered his question. "The food is made pretty bland or neutral tasting at the school. It's something that I can understand because there's no way to be able to cater to everyone's whims and a school shouldn't have to. It's not cost effective in the long run."

"I'll admit that I have not noticed it," Severus told them. "I might have, but I'm so used to eating the food at the school that sometimes I'm surprised that some things seem to have a bit too much flavour."

"Tha's because the house-elves don' have many taste buds," Hagrid informed the man. "They's been forced ta cook a certain way fer a long time tha' they's never thought ta change. Bu' I be thinkin' tha' 'Arry is showin' 'em somethin' differen'. Am I right?"

"Yep," Harry said. "I didn't want my elves to be limited and so we're beginning with little things. They let me cook breakfast and watch to see what I add and where. They can eat the same or else find another way, but this summer I cooked five different kinds of eggs with only one different spice in each and I asked them to cook the a plate of eggs the way they normally do. We taste tested them all and that's how we figured out that they can't taste certain spices, like garlic because it's too strong like pepper for them. They could barely taste salty stuff, but for some reason vinegar type flavours they enjoyed. Sugar was too sweet for them period. Different flavours of chocolate just confused them."

"Why would you even consider doing something like that?" His professor asked. 'No one that I know of in the Wizarding World ever think to have any house-elf taste test something.'

"That's how I learned to cook," Harry said. "If you want good food, you have to taste as you go, but if your taste buds are affected by something, like a cold for example, you wouldn't taste things like you normally do. Besides the various muggle races and cultures have their own tastes or flavours and most time prefer foods that are 'home cooked' to the interpretation of another who change the flavouring because they didn't like it. Truthfully it was a fluke when I found out about it. I wanted them to taste the food before serving because they had added too much salt to a soup that they had made for me. They couldn't tell that they had done so. At least they could eat the soup without a problem and we're slowly finding out what they can cook without making a mess of it."

"Some house-elves are specifically employed in the kitchens, but how could they not know?" Severus wondered.

"They 'ad years o' learnin' 'n trainin' fer it," Hagrid told him. "The ones in the kitchens 'ave bin followin' recipes without changin' 'em fer years. Feasts 'n such are special, but they still work from verra specific recipes. Nothin' 'as changed fer 'em. If'n ye knows about a 'ouse-elf tha' can cook differin' foods, ye must look inta the 'istory of tha' elf. Because they be learnin' generationally passin' the good 'n the bad."

"That's what they told me," Harry said. "Most of my house-elves are workers due to the fact that many of the properties were farms or basically working properties. The ones that work out of doors know how to care for the livestock and others know how to process things, but cooking and baking takes specialty elves that need to be taught from their youth and that can be the only thing that they are ever taught. However they still can't be relied on to taste test to foods because they are that different from us."

"How are you going to solve that?" The man was curious and so was Hagrid.

"I told them not to spice or flavor the foods," Harry said. "I taught them how to cook the basic foods, like meat, potatoes, toast, eggs and such without adding any extra spices. They could add different vegetables and fruits to a certain degree, but not the spices. If I needed fancier foods, I'd either make them myself or else teach one elf what spices go where and when in that recipe. Not all elves like to cook either, but for now this is the more acceptable solution, until I can train up one for the kitchen work. They weren't offended by it."

"Onny' ye'd be worried about offendin' a 'ouse-elf," Hagrid observed. "Never change tha' about ye."

Severus looked at the boy with a thoughtful expression and knew that he had learned something that maybe only the privileged knew. 'Somehow I highly doubt that,' he thought. 'There's no way that Lucius or any other had ever thought about elves in that manner. I wonder what they do about the cooking issue, if they happen to kill one of those elves.'

He sighed and then moved the conversation on to a topic he was not comfortable with. "Harry," he started. "Must I really dress, casual in order to go into London?"

"It would help you to be able to walk or run if you were in pants and not robes," Harry said. "If you're really not that comfortable then… Umm…I gotta tell ya that only priests of a certain religious faith can get away with wearing robes out in the muggle public. If you wanted to use that disguise, it could cause a few problems, but that's about the only other option that I can see you using."

Severus blanched at that thought. There was no way that he would dress up in the faith of his muggle father. "No," he said. "Absolutely not… I will never dress in a faith that I don't respect, let alone believe in."

"Then you must at least try to wear some pants and a shirt like normal muggles," Harry said.

"'E can have some o' my old school clothes," Hagrid suggested. "They can be shrunk ta fit 'im. It'd take me only a moment ta go 'n get 'em 'n it'll give me a chance ta look in one Berta."

Harry nodded and handed him an exploding pouch of Auto-Floo. "Take your time," he said. "Hagrid?"

"Yes," the large answered.

"You know that cloak that you made me wear when we visited Diagon Alley," Harry asked. "I'm wondering if I could buy it from you."

"Arry," Hagrid said. "Ya don' need ta be buyin' it from me. Ye can 'ave it. It was one o' me old cloaks from me school days."

"Yeah, I know, but if I buy it from you then I won't feel guilty about cutting it up and changing it," Harry explained.

Hagrid looked at Harry's earnest face and relented, "All righ', but no more 'n two galleons."

"Thank you Hagrid," the boy said happy to get the cloak. He had plans for it and it was going to become his best friend once it was changed. "You take your time and make sure that Berta is all right. I'm going to be playing with my Ooey-Goey Gummy Kit, while we're waiting for you to return."

Hagrid nodded and made sure that the exploding Floo pouch was in his pocket and he went into the kitchen in order to use the general Floo in order to get to Mme. Rosmerta's Tavern in Hogsmeade. He would walk the rest of the way, but again for someone his size it wouldn't take long.

In the meantime Harry retrieved his box with the toy and returned to the room that they had eaten in. It was the one place that he was comfortable using for such things. The table and chairs supported his needs and it wasn't like he needed to that room in order to study. He opened the box and dumped the stuff out in order to have a look at it and read some of the instructions.

"Oh," he whined. "This will take too long to set up and begin."

"Perhaps," Severus said looking over a copy of the instructions in french and then he suggested. "Why not use magic to process some of this?"

"Because I don't know how this stuff will react to magic," Harry said. "Some stuff can work like pens and stuff, but these are made with chemicals that could react and I don't know what would happen when magic is used around it."

"Well, why don't begin with one thing at a time and test it out," Severus told him. "I'm curious to see how this would react. Do you mind if I help you out?"

"Okay," the boy said. "But I don't want to be blamed if it explodes and changes the colour of your hair."

"Do you honestly think that something like that would happen?"

"No," Harry replied. "I just really don't know what would happen. However most of this is calling for ice water, hot water and a few bowls to mix the stuff. I think that I will go change into something that I don't mind getting messed up. If you're going to be helping, maybe you should do the same."

"I have nothing like that," Severus confessed.

Harry was looking at the man and then he said, "Well if you don't mind wearing a bit of colour I have some materials that I can use to make you something."

The Potions Master blinked at that and then said, "What? What are you talking about?"

"I have an Arca Doctrina too," the boy said. "I learned how to sew and tailor materials. I can follow some patterns and stuff. So I could make you some pants, but like I said they are coloured. Come on," he said. "I'll show what I mean."

Harry led the Potions Master upstairs and into a room that could only be described as a sewing room. It had everything that Madam Malkins' store, plus quite a bit more.

"See," he said pointing to a bolt of jean like material. Unfortunately, Harry was quite correct. It was a colour that Severus had never worn in his life, pale yellow. "I can make you a pair of pants with that material and it wouldn't matter what happened to them. I'd make you a loose button down shirt to match. It can be made in the same colour or with this."

He showed the man another bolt of the same material, but this time it was a dark blue. "Why can't you make the pants out of that material?" Severus asked.

"Not long enough," Harry said. "Here let me show you how I can make to look like patched affairs that are only good for crafts or for making a mess."

It wasn't too bad, but Severus would never be caught dead wearing it in public and he said so. "That's all right, Professor," Harry said. "You can leave it here for the next time you come to visit."

"Very well, go ahead," he told the boy. Harry pulled out his walking stick and his primary learning wand.

"Please stand on the stool," he instructed to his professor. Once Severus was up there, he watched the boy use both wands with expert ease. He called forth the tape measure and had another pen record the lengths of arms, legs, torso, inseam, outer seam, and a few other things until the tape didn't have to measure anything else. Because the magic was still animating it, it was whizzing around the room and measuring things, until Harry called out, "That will be enough."

His magic was marking the fabric, adding few extra inches in order to have an 'oops' line, cutting the fabric and then sewing it together just like it was supposed. The pants were pale yellow with blue patches at the knees and back pockets with the same colour. The shirt was a button down because it was easier for removing when they made messes. It had two pale yellow breast pockets, a two tone collar with the upper part in the dark blue and pale yellow elbow patches.

It looked like a pair pajamas, but with the material that was used to make them, it was clearly an outfit that could be worn in public. 'Never,' thought Snape. 'I can't wait to stain this with some other colour.'

Harry had the man put on the outfit in order for the boy to be able to adjust the seams and front zipper. He was able to finish the entire thing in less then fifteen minutes. "I know what you're thinking," Harry said.

"I doubt that," the man replied.

"You're thinking that you can't wait to stain the outfit with another colour," Harry said. "You don't need to justify to anyone the reason why you're wearing that particular outfit. I'm going to put on mine and then we can go play with muggle toys and magic."

"Hurry up, then," Severus said. He walked out of the room and watched as Harry ran to his bedroom to change his clothing. It didn't take long, but when Harry returned he was wearing an outfit that matched his Professor's, but the colours were reversed.

Harry had dark pants with pale yellow patches and a pale yellow shirt with dark blue patches. Severus frowned, but listened as the boy told him that he had already made his outfit and proved to the man that his had been in used because there were brown stains on it.

"It's from the stains that we used this summer to re-finish some furniture," the boy explained. "I had purchased the bolts of cloth from the muggle world because when I was looking for something strong, but comfortable for working in, the Wizarding World could only offer up leather. I'm not ready to begin working with that so I got what I could. These were on sale. If you want we can look for more in other colours, so that you can have several outfits ready for use when you visit."

It wasn't long before the two of them were settled at the table. They went over the instructions and used their magic cautiously to work the muggle products. Severus soon was lost in the making of gummy spiders, while Harry was concentrating on making gummy worms. The man did notice that his movements were not restricted by any flowing robe.

"Uh, oh," Harry said as the gelatin was expanding beyond the plastic mold in a large bubble. It was reacting to the magic that he used to cool it down and suddenly it popped oozing slime. However the pop caused it to spray into the boy's face and his professor hair.

"Uh, oh," Severus said. It was like the magic set off a chain reaction and the gummy solution he was working on was doing the same thing that Harry's did only it was a lot bigger. Both their eyes widened.

Severus stopped the flow of magic into the process, but it was too late. Harry being the boy that he is: poked it with the stir stick, just as his professor said, "No don't…"

POW… Schloop… drip… drip... drip… FLASH… Whir… drip… drip... drip…

They were in shock that such a thing would explode. Most of it went up into the air and stuck to the ceiling, but soon it fell back onto the table. Bits of the stuff was dripping down from the ceiling, from their faces, hair, the table onto the floor. It was a mess.

Severus pursed his lips trying to stop the laughter that was about to escape at the boy's shocked expression. A snort made it past his mouth and the boy's on lips were twitching. One more look, both sets of twinkling eyes, sparked the other and they were off laughing.

Bing had gotten the camera at the first pop and had managed to get the whole thing in images. Those two were too busy laughing that they barely registered the other laughter in the room. Elly, Bing and Bong were twittering and giggling.

That's what Hagrid in on and he was shocked into laughter. "Ye used magic, didn' ye," he commented.

Severus and Harry tried to look guilty, but it didn't work. It just set out another round of laughter.

A little while later the house-elves were able to clean up the mess, the professor and Harry were able to clean the stuff out, but there was a consequence.

Harry's little pop contained green slime and when it landed in his hair it was still reacting to the magic, so now he had a completely dark green fringe (bangs) with a starburst pattern flowing towards the top of his head (i). Severus was lucky in that he was working with a black coloured gummy, but the lesson was well learned.

"Next time we do this in a controlled environment," Severus said.

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "That way we can get a bigger bang."

"Brat," the man said not meaning any harm from it.

Harry was very much aware of that. Hagrid had returned with his old school clothes and among them there were a couple of suitable pants and shirts, but Harry was able to tailor them to his professor. Unfortunately the pants were dark brown leather pants (ii). The bonus was that they were well worn.

"Don't worry professor, I'll fix these up for you," he said. "You'll be fine with these in the Muggle World and they won't be noticeable in the Wizarding World."

Severus just sighed and said, "Get on with it."

Once again he was on the stool, but this time he had to put the clothes on inside out and soon tailor pins were flying at him. He held his breath and watched as Harry used the two wands again. It looked like the boy was dancing with his hands. The pins were set and soon scissors were moving at him to cut off the excess and after several more motion the clothes were sown up again. The shirt was still kind of loose, but Harry explained that it was better that way for that type of shirt.

He had his professor turn them back so that they were the proper side out. He had the man tie everything up. Soon there were more pins and sewing needles whipping about the air adjusting the length of the pants and adding a tuck or two on the back of the shirt to pull it a bit tighter.

Harry opened his eyes and whistled. "Wow," he said. "That really suits you."

His professor blushed until he called up a couple of mirrors. He was surprised. The pants fit him just fine and the shirt a little large, but it could still pass. All he needed was a winter jumper and a coat to match his pants, but that didn't matter.

"All you have to do is line your trench coat with a sheepskin liner and you'll be fine," Harry said. Severus called that coat to him and soon it looked thicker with a sheepskin liner. The buckles were adjusted at the wrists and Harry made sure that the liner went onto the collar of the coat. That was so his professor could pull it up if he needed to.

"I think that it's time to go," he told the boy.

Harry nodded and they went to say good bye to Hagrid. The large man didn't want to go with them, but he did remind Harry that he had to go to Gringotts first. Severus didn't want the other man to see him, but when he did he whistled too. "Lookin' good there, Sev'rus," he said. "Those never looked tha' good on me. Are they all right? Ye're not too uncomfortable are ye?"

"Not at all," Severus said. He blushed a bit at the compliment and didn't want to offend the man that often sent him items from the Forbidden Forest. "Thank you for them. I believe that they will be of use."

"Good then," Hagrid said taking another sweeping look. He coughed and said, "They two of ye have fun 'n don' forget ta bring explodin' pouches ta come home."

Harry went to get them and make sure that he had the list of places they needed to. (…Master…) Lux hissed.

Harry found her on a chair in front of the kitchen fire. (…Yes…) he replied.

(…Are you going to tell that dark haired man about me? Will we be able talk around him?...)

(…I'd tell him about you, but I don't know how he'd react. I don't really want to tell him that I can talk to snakes. Not just yet because I don't really want anyone knowing about that. Do you understand?...)

(…All right…) she hissed back. (…We'll respect your wishes. But let us know when we can talk to you again…)

(…You can always talk to me…) Harry said. (…It's just that I won't be able to answer you until we are alone in a secure place…)

(…Ok…) She said. (…Get us some more mice and we just might be able to forgive you…)

Harry laughed and said (…Of course, anything for you…)

He quickly returned to the men in the other room and said, "We can either take the General Floo into the Alley or take the Knightbus. This is your choice Professor."

The man just huffed and said, "We will be apparating Mr. Potter."

"Apparating?" He asked, looking at Hagrid.

"Ye need a license fer it," the large man explained. "Ye canna' apparate until yer seventeen or until yer a full adult in our worl', plus ye need ta take a tes' in order ta get a license."

"Oh, Okay," he said. He turned to the other man and asked, "What do we do?"

Severus motioned the boy to stand at his side. He placed his hand on Harry's should and said, "Just breathe."

Pop and away they went.

-----

Going to Gringotts was not fun for Severus and he wondered just how long Potter was going to take. He didn't want to encounter anyone that he knew there, but the boy just pulled him into the office of an estate managing goblin.

Severus just watched a few notes exchanged and he was surprised to see another goblin walk in with several straps of leather. "Mr. Potter, what are you doing? These were supposed to grow with you not lose their abilities or magics."

"I'm sorry, Risuslux," Harry said contritely. "But I have to take them off when I'm going for the Seasons Blessings. I'm not wearing them, but when I come back from the grove they just don't want to cooperate anymore."

"Crasgrasp," the older goblin chided. "You should have mentioned that the boy would be doing the ritual."

"Why?" The estate manager asked. "Nothing like this has ever happened before."

"It has when the ritual is honest," Risuslux said as if that explained anything. "This boy is sincere and honest about it. When have you ever felt, any other go through that and actually be honest in their petitions during that ritual. You should be feeling it through this boy."

"I've felt something, but I…" he paused. "You're right. None of the others had ever felt like this. How was I… Never mind. You're right I should have realized."

Risuslux turned to Harry and asked, "How far are you into this ritual?"

"Autumn and Winter," Harry said honestly. "May I ask why?"

The older goblin looked at the boy and said, "I cannot let you wear the camouflage ones until the ritual is complete. You'll have to go back to wearing the other types for the time being. I'll just go and get them."

"Oh," the boy said then he shrugged. He didn't care if the students knew about them or not. "Okay. I'm sorry, if I had known I would have exchanged them the first time or even before the beginning of the Ritual."

"That's all right, boy," Risuslux said. "You didn't know."

It didn't take long to change them and Harry still was able to carry everything that he normally did, but the pouches were back to their twenty galleon limit. Harry didn't mind because they were now linked to his income vault and he could pull out what he needed in the muggle world. "I won't have to come back after the Spring one will I?" He asked.

"No you should be fine," Crasgrasp said. "We found another book, but this time it's in Knockturn Alley at Borgin and Burkes. All you have to do is show this voucher and pick it up."

"I have the Professor with me and if not then I'll get Hagrid to pick it up for me," he said. "What do you say Professor? Feel up to taking the Boy-Who-Lived down a known Dark Alley?"

"Are you out of your mind Potter?" The man asked. "What could you possibly need down there?"

"A book I was looking for," the boy answered honestly. "Very well, then. How about taking, Jack Matthews?"

"Who?"

Harry pulled out the large cloak that was familiar to the goblins because Harry had been there to visit them in it. He then took out a salve and rubbed it into his scar. He pulled out three small vials and drank one after the other. The three in the office watched as the eyes changed from green to dark blue, he grew up about a foot and his hair changed to an orange red, growing down about a foot. He tied back and pulled a final salve and rubbed it on his throat.

"Gentlemen," he said with a cracking voice that obviously belonged to someone that had reached puberty. "Meet Jack Matthews." He bowed to all of them and then said to his shocked professor, "Now would you take me there?"

The man paused and said, "Do you have anything to change my voice and eye colour?"

"Yep," Harry said pulling six vials. "This will raise your voice an octave. This will lower it one that you'd sound like Hagrid and this one will keep it bland. These are green, grey and blue."

Severus was never one to use a potion that he hadn't made, but for Harry he would make the exception. He already knew that the boy could brew higher level potions, but he had to remain dumb in the subject. 'Again with the fronts,' he thought swallowing the potion to change his eyes to a dark grey colour. 'That boy should really be in Slytherin House.'

"You rub that into you skin," Harry told him when he handed the man the potion that would drop his voice down an octave.

"How long will this last?" He asked his voice booming just like Hagrid's.

"Usually about half an hour," the boy told him. "You'll feel it itch for a bit and then it's over."

"All right then we'd better go," he said. "Will the voucher still work?"

The goblins told him that it would and that if they were to have any problems that Harry was to handle it his way. They grinned at the boy, who just grinned back and took out one knife. He began to flip it and Severus knew that they wouldn't be bothered in the Dark Alley because the boy looked at ease.

"Very well," he said bowing to the goblins.

Harry did the same and said, "Until next time."

Mr. Borgin had never met a scarier kid then this Matthews fellow. He wasn't afraid of the objects on display and the kid barely batted an eye at his implication that he had been expecting someone else. "Surely such assumptions can lead to disaster, Mr. Borgin," the kid said. "It'll hardly be my fault for damages do to a body if I don't get the item listed on this voucher."

"Are you threatening me young man?" The Dark shop owner asked.

"Didn't sound like a threat to me," Severus said. "That sounded more like it was going to be fact."

Harry turned his dark blue eyes to the man and stared at him without blinking for the longest time. His lips twitched into an evil grin and that decided the shop owner right then. "I've it right here," he said.

Harry opened the package, looked at the title, passed his hand over the book and opened it. He took his knife and pierced his thumb on it and ran it along the edges of the book. The book absorbed the blood.

Harry said one word, "Meus." (mine) He exhaled a breath onto the pages and whispered the word again. "Meus," he said. He petted the cover and spine, saying one last time. "Meus liber." (my book)

He grinned at the shop owner. "Thank you for your services," he said tucking the book into a hidden pocket and walked out. His professor had watched all of that and followed him out.

"You are full of surprises young man," he said. He received a cheeky 'Thank you', in a voice that cracked. He snorted and said, "Can we leave this alley now?"

"Yes, of course," Harry said.

-----

In London they had fun pushing and shoving other shoppers out of the way in order to get the things that they wanted. Harry wanted to replace his 'Gummy Kit' and Severus wanted one of his own. He did convince the boy to get more bolts of the cloth in dark, dark blue and black colours. Harry didn't mind, he was even able to pick up some dark, blood red jean-like material too.

Harry showed the man the street vendors and the pieces that he had made. Severus thought that they were good, but wondered why the boy didn't open up a shop to sell them. It was then that he explained that he wouldn't be able to keep up with the demands. Too many people wanted them and he had to be careful. He had two people that he trusted to pass the goods on, but that was going to stop soon too because it was getting a bit dangerous in that section of town.

"What do you mean?" Severus asked.

Harry looked around and then pointed out three fairly large looking youths. "Do you see the boys with the red bandanas at the end of the block?"

"Yes," the Potions Master said. "What about them?"

"Come on," Harry said, tugging at the man to leave the area. When they were walking away, Harry explained that they were known members of a gang. "Territorial wars occur on the streets," he said. "My vendors are neutral, but they did say that they were feeling the pressure on this corner. I told to let me know when they move. They had already moved several times in order to avoid being pressured to enter a gang."

"But… I don't understand," Severus told him.

"It does matter," Harry said. "I can't let the gangs know that I'm here or else they'd want the maker of those pieces under their thumbs. I've been lucky so far, but I'm not going to push it. Let's just get on with the rest of our list."

Severus nodded, but declared that he wanted to know more. Harry told him that they could take the time to go through some of the periodicals for that information and they put off that conversation for later.

In the toy store Severus went nuts. He purchased three of every wind up toy and two slinkys of his own. "I want to test them," he said when Harry looked at him. The walked down the aisles and when they arrived at the puzzles and games, Harry picked up the same ones that he had purchased for the Gryffindor common room.

"I want to have my own set at home," Harry said when his professor asked him why he wanted to get more since he obviously had the same at the school. He even picked up tons of puzzles, a couple of puzzle savers and special puzzle glue. There were some that he thought he might want to preserve. He chose plenty of 100 and 500 piece puzzles. He then carefully selected four puzzles that had over 1000 pieces just because he liked the pictures.

"Will you do some of these while I'm still around?" Severus asked.

"Of course," Harry said. "Now let's get the paints and lastly the perfumed oils."

Walking into the hardware store and pulling a cart was not something that Severus was used to, but Harry told him to make sure that the cart had sturdy wheels. They were fine. Once they were down the paint Severus was overwhelmed by the colours available. The ranges were impressive.

"Do you mean that these are not the only possible ones?" He asked the boy.

"Yep," Harry said. "See this one says limited time only, which actually means that the bases for these colours are only available for a limited time. You could another base, but the result would not be the same."

He looked down the aisle and then began to pile can upon can in the cart. Ten cans of one particular base and twenty of another. He then walked up to the paint counter where the man was bored. 'Who wants to re-paint their home during the holidays,' he was thinking.

He would soon regret it because Harry went to select three swatches of the 'new' colours and demanded that they be mixed. The ten cans were separated into two different colours, five cans each. The twenty other cans were equally separated into five cans of the same colour. The poor clerk had to use four machines to mix the paint. He made sure that they were all mixed to the same colour. He placed the formula on the top of the can with a dab of the colour on the top.

As soon as he was done that he quit his job, it was only a part time thing for the winter, but he knew that these two would be back for more. He never wanted to see another can of paint in his life.

Severus obligingly shrank the cart and all the cans of paint. "Now," he asked.

"A moment," Harry said going into the grocers to by a small can of ground coffee. When he came out he said, "Now."

He watched with amusement, as Severus hailed a cab, by putting two fingers in his mouth and whistling. He laughed and got in next to the excited man. Harry gave the cabbie the first address and then asked if the man wanted to make some extra money today.

Of course the cabbie did. "Keep the meter running. We have two other locations to go to," Harry said. "You'll be well rewarded."

In the first store Severus was inundated by the smells. It was a perfumery. There were a lot of brands and different versions like 'eau de toilette' versus true 'perfume'. However he went to the ones that interested him and then he took all of the ones that were interesting.

Harry had agreed to pay for everything again, but this time his professor was going to pay him back by helping the boy to advance his learning in the field of potions. He was going to let the boy move onto the second year syllabus without telling any of the other teachers. He was already sworn to secrecy anyway, this was just one more that he would keep to himself.

Quickly they paid for everything and put the bags in the trunk of the cab. It was a repeat of everything from the first shop, except the second shop claimed to sell only natural products. In the third one Severus was in heaven because they sold a plain base that could have other scents added to it to change it into another product. He bought several of the bases and bought quite a few of their pure oils.

Since the shop was not doing so well they allowed the sale of the bases without mixing and they went into their back rooms and storage room in order to seek out the pure unmixed oils. They were the ones that didn't sell so well and seeing how much the dark hair babe in leather pants wanted them. They agreed to a price and Harry paid cash for the whole deal.

"This is perfect," the dark hair man said. They were back at the cab and had him drive to the block with the Leaky Cauldron. Harry paid the man his fare plus two hundred to ignore them after the trunk of his cab was closed.

The man shrugged and didn't think there was anything wrong with that request. He pointedly ignored them. He made sure that his eyes were never focused on them. That was re-enforced with a little forget me charm that Severus sent through the cab after he shrank he purchases and placed them in his pockets.

They walked into the Leaky Cauldron, where Harry called out to Tom the barkeep. "Just the Floo today," he said tossing two silver sickles onto the counter.

"Have a good day now," Tom told them as he pocketed the sickles.

They didn't have to pay because they had their Auto-Powder, but it was still a connected Floo, so basically they just tipped the man for the use of it.

-----

Hagrid had spent most of his time in his Arca that day and was happy to see them return safe and sound. "'Arry, Sev'rus," he said happy that they were back. "'Ow did it go. Were ye able ta fin' everrathin' tha' ye wanted?"

"More than that, Hagrid," Severus told the man. "Lot's more than what we wanted."

"It's true," Harry said. "I'm just to put some of the stuff away right now."

"Me too," Severus said. He walked out of the kitchen, but caught a reflection on the bottom of a copper pot, of the gamekeeper watching him walk away. He blushed at that, but didn't hurry his steps in the least.

'They're just clothes,' he thought. 'Clothes can NOT make that much of a difference. It's just not possible. Maybe I should change my clothes, but after walking in these all day, they feel like they belong to me now.' He didn't know what to do about it.

"Professor," Harry said. "Is there something wrong?"

"Can clothing change a person?" He asked completely serious about it.

Harry blinked and felt that this might be an adult kind of conversation, but the man was looking for honesty from him. "Yes," he said with certainty.

"How?" The man asked confused.

Harry really looked his Professor and noticed that his cheeks were pinky. 'He must be embarrassed, but I know how to show him,' he thought. 'Luckily I still a few of Dudley's old things.'

"Come with me," he said. He led the man up to his bedroom and pulled out the clothing that his Aunt and Uncle had forced him to wear. "Sit down. I'll try and explain. First take a good look at me and my clothes. What do you see?"

"The Boy-Who-Lived," Severus said without hesitation.

Harry huffed and said, "Ignore that. Pretend for a moment that I'm not the Boy-Who-Lived. Look at my clothes. Look at my hair," Severus did which caused him to snort because the green was still there. "I know, but look at it from a stranger's perspective. My clothes are sturdy, but they are not new. My trainers are well used and my hair is a mess."

"Very well," the Potions Master said. He truly looked at the boy and then thought that upon first impression. "You look well fed and care for, even if you look a little like you're on the skinny side. Your forearms are covered with protective gear, which could be a look thing. Even with those glasses you don't look very intelligence."

Harry raised an eyebrow, but allowed the man to continue looking at him. When he was done looking, the boy told him to wait a moment. He grabbed the change of clothes, went into the loo and put on some of Dudley's old stuff. He walked back out, but this time his head was down and he was shuffling his feet.

Severus looked at the boy and saw someone completely different. This was the Harry Potter that came to the school and gave everyone there the impression that he was a little waif of a child. He looked pitiful and weak. "You still don't look like you have any intelligence," he said.

Harry just stuck out his tongue at the man. Then he said, "Now tell me what you see."

"An underfed boy," the man began. "Your clothes don't fit and they make you look smaller. You don't look like you have much confidence and it looks like you're afraid that someone is going to hurt you."

Harry nodded and once the man was done, he took a last set of clothing into the loo. When he came back out Severus was shocked at the changed look. The other two times the boy look unassuming, but now he looked dangerous. Harry was wearing black leather pants with a black shirt that fit. His bracers stood out on his arms, but even more so were the ones on his legs. They were visible to see.

"Now what do you see," Harry said asking the man to find the truth.

Severus was honest. "You look dangerous, even though you're just a boy. There is a difference in the way that you move in each different set of clothing. Why?"

"That's just how it is," Harry said. "In my regular, mended looking clothing, I'm like a regular boy who can be embarrassed some of the time. In my cousin's stuff, which was what I had to wear for a long before I met Hagrid, I was the underfed boy. The one that had to be careful of how I talked and what did. In these, these are just for fun at the moment. I'm just testing them, but imagine a Harry Potter who came to school wearing these from very beginning. Would I have had friends or maybe I would have been watched more?"

Severus sighed. It did explain a lot, but it did not clear his dilemma. Harry had left the room to change back into his everyday stuff. "Sir," Harry said getting the man's attention.

"Could we go to your room now?"

The Potions Master frowned wondering what the boy was up to. He nodded because he was curious to see what the boy would do.

Harry conjured up a large mirror and had his professor face it. Then he said, "Close your eyes for a moment. Now think about this. There is a man in front of you that you have never seen before. You don't know a thing about him, but just looking at him he impresses himself upon you and you must say the very first things that come out of your mouth. No thinking. Do it now."

Severus opened his eyes and the first thing that he said was, "He looks good in leather. He doesn't seem at ease, like he's nervous, but there's something about him that calls to the eye. He could be good or bad and you wouldn't it to look at him."

He looked at Harry who nodded. The boy also had to add something that made him uncomfortable, but coming from Harry he felt the truth. "To some people this person is sexy, good-looking and what did that lady say in the last store we were in?"

"She said something?" The man asked because he had been to busy with the oils and scents to care about whoever else was there at the time.

Harry gave a small laugh and then he imitated the women. He looked to a standing lamp and said fanning himself in an exaggerated manner. "What I wouldn't do to get me a piece of that dark voiced god." He turned to another angle and said, "Oh honey, you know that a man like that has got have someone looking out for those bun-cakes." He turned back to his original position and said, "A girl can dream can she…Oh, yummm…"

Harry raised his eyebrows to the man and watched as the man's cheeks turned scarlet. He didn't say a word and he didn't laugh. It wasn't a laughing matter and he could see that his professor was not comfortable with the whole situation.

"Why don't you go and put on what you normally do for school?" Harry told him. "We'll do the exercise again." That interval would allow the man some time to compose himself.

Harry covered the mirror and watch as his Professor Snape strode back into the room with confidence and ire. He waited a moment before walking the man through the steps with his eyes closed. He pulled the cloth away from the mirror and listened to the Professor say, "This man is dangerous, he has confidence and there is a no nonsense attitude. You don't want to cross this man."

"Vampire of the dungeons," Harry quipped, which earned him a glare, but he just pointed to the mirror.

Severus noticed the look that he had just sent the boy and wondered, what happened and when. He blinked he saw mild confusion and it looked like he was lost. Harry took his hand and pulled him to one of the chairs. He made sure that the mirror was covered because he had a feeling that the man had just witnessed something he had never seen before.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Professor Snape made an appearance," Harry said.

A voice boomed up the stairs calling out, "Arry… Sev'rus… It's time fer supper."

Harry went to the doorway and shouted, "We'll be down soon."

"Righ' ye are," Hagrid said.

Severus looked at the boy and stated, "You like Professor Snape." Harry nodded. "Why?"

"What do you mean why?" Harry asked. "I just do. Do I really need to list reasons?"

"No, of course not, but now I don't know what to do," the man confessed.

"Just be yourself," Harry said. "You're a strong man, who takes no non-sense from anyone. You're clothing does not make you who you are. It could change the way that you act, but only if you let it. I'm not the just the Boy-Who-Lived, I'm Harry Potter. A boy whose parents died because a madman believed something... You are a man that has choices and it doesn't matter what you wear, I still like you." Harry's stomach rumbled and that made him look down and say, "Quiet you, I'm having a very serious discussion with my Professor."

Severus smiled at the boy's antics and that's when he realized that the boy has been constantly calling him sir or professor. He did notice that the few times that he was called Snape was when the boy was in school with his friends and he was only aping them. In all other respects, Harry still called him Professor or Sir, no matter what he wore.

"I think that we had better go downstairs before Hagrid comes up to fetch us," he said to the boy.

Harry look at his professor, grinned and said, "Too late. He's listening at the door. Right Hagrid."

"No." A reply was heard from just outside the door. "Umm…" They heard the heavy steps walking away and muttering of, "I shouldna' said tha'… I shouldna' said tha'…"

Harry smiled at that and looked at his professor. "He meant no harm, sir. He's was just worried. Why don't we go down and tell him that everything's all right?"

Severus wondered if he should change, but the boy never said anything about putting on the other clothing and truthfully he was comforted by his regular apparel. "Very well," Severus said. "Let's go."

-----

Down in the kitchen where the nook had been completed that day the meal was set up. Hagrid was sitting comfortably for the first time since he's been in this house. He hoped that they weren't going to have to move.

He didn't. Elly went to Harry and Severus to inform them that the nook was ready and that they were having a meal there in order to christen the new eating spot.

"Really," Harry said excitedly. Receiving the confirmation, he ran down the rest of the stairs and told his professor to hurry up and that it was going to be so cool to sit at a Hagrid sized table with Hagrid sized chairs.

Curious, Severus hurried along and found that the large man was seated in a chair made just for him. He looked at the size of the table and noted that the chairs for the humans had steps in order to be able to sit at the table comfortably. His only comment was, "This is different."

Hagrid had cooked the meal and he had prepared it just like the house-elves do with barely any flavour, but he knew that Harry would share with them the spices that he was fond of.

-----

For the rest of Professor Snape's visit they spent some time playing with Harry's toys, some time in the Library just reading companionably and some time in Harry's potions lab trying to find a good set up that can be altered, as he grew.

They did go into the muggle town of Potter's Bar and there Harry introduced his professor as his friend. The planetarium thing fell through because they only had so much time and Harry knew that his professor was currently more interested in the muggle library then he was in going someplace new. He just felt that their outing on Boxing Day was enough for his professor to want to go back to his dungeons and just brew potions for a while.

Harry showed his professor how to access the 'questionable' books in his library. He had them behind a secret door and in a hidden study. "I wouldn't be surprised if some of the older families with huge manors had rooms like this," Harry told him. He called the book with the multiple Treatises in it. "Just remember, this thing is really awful, but I just had to know where human bezoar came from."

He left Severus in the little study and told Elly to keep an eye out on the man. In the mean time, Harry went down to his lab in order to replenish the changes potions had he had used in the Alley. Hagrid had left them just the day before. It seems that Berta was having a difficult time, but Harry knew that the half-giant would be all right.

------

Soon it was time for Severus to return to the school and most of his adult duties. "I had a fun time here Mr. Potter," he said shaking the boy's hand.

"I'm glad that you came," the boy replied. "You have an open invitation for the Easter week. I know that a couple us on this land will be expecting you."

The Potions Master smiled at the boy and said, "You have a deal. I left a few of my clothes behind. I hope that you don't mind."

"Not at all," Harry said. "They'll stay in your rooms until you return and can learn to be at ease wearing them."

"Imp," the man said. He stepped into the fireplace, dropped the general Floo and called out, "Madam Rosmerta's Tavern, Hogmeade."

Harry watched the flames die down. His house-elves gathered near him and Tertia slithered up his body in order to wrap herself around his shoulders. They were watching and he told, "This was the first time in my life that I had a great Yule holiday and I can't tell anyone about it."

----------------------

TBC...

(i) Think Hiei from Yu-Yu Hakusho

(ii) From the books I have always had the impression that the students did NOT wear uniforms because of book one page 83. On the train to Hogwarts they only put black robes over their regular everyday clothes because Ron has trainers on his feet. Plus there is no mention of uniforms in the Hogwarts letters, just three plain work robes (black). I think that the video games support that theory too, but I'd have to play them again (later).