Diagon Alley:
"What is a Galleon?" Lucy was perplexed. Severus had just said that he would have to pick up a 'Galleon' or two for the trip with a smirk on his face. Lucy wasn't sure whether he was joking or not, but she hoped that was why he was smirking.
He shot Lucy a calculating look, as if she were dumb, before sighing. "A Galleon is one of the three coins used as currency-"
"What's 'currency'?" He didn't look pleased that the girl had interrupted him.
"Currency is another word for money. It is basically something a group uses for trading or exchange, which is more of less the same thing. Do you understand?" Lucy nodded. "Now, as I was saying, A Galleon is one of the three coins used as currency in the wizarding world. The three coins are Galleons, which are the most valuable; Sickles, which are the next valuable; and Knuts, which are the least valuable. There are 17 Sickles to a Galleon and 29 Knuts to a Sickle. Also, if you want to get technical, there are 493 Knuts to a Galleon."
"How did you do that math?" The new witch asked, amazed.
He looked awkward. "I . . . didn't, I was reading an article about the latest currency statistics in the world, and it mentioned the amounts of each coin and how they compare to the currency in the main countries of the world."
Lucy looked down, what would she say to that kind of answer anyway? "Oh . . . I didn't know there were currencies in each country."
He tried to hide his amusement, but Lucy could see it. "What did you think that everybody used the same type of currency?" When Severus saw her awkward face, he snorted. "Figures,"
Lucy chose to ignore that comment, and tried to remember where he said they were going next. They'd already gone to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and now they were headed to a place unknown to Lucy. "Severus, where are we going now?"
"I've told you twice already; we are going to Flourish and Blotts to look at books for you to read." At this, Lucy perked right up. "And then we will go to Magical Menagerie, which is a pet shop."
"We're going to a pet shop?" The girl asked a bit too excited. Snape nodded. "So . . . are you allowing me to get a pet?" Lucy was honestly careful not to get too hopeful, because he might not have said yes. It would be wonderful if he did, but she couldn't expect the man to let her have a pet in their home.
"Yes, I figured you would need a companion when I am unavailable or Tonks is busy with her studies or other friends." Lucy was excited, though she wondered what kinds of pets there were to get.
"Wait, I thought we needed Galleons." She reminded Severus.
He nodded. "Yes, we are going there now. We are going to Gringots before we go anywhere else, as your robes cost more than I thought they would for two lousy sets of robes."
The pair walked a little farther, and finally, Lucy saw a big, white building. In front of it seemed to have been a little man. "Hey, I didn't know there were little people in Diagon Alley . . ." Lucy couldn't help but think out loud.
"There aren't. Those are goblins." The girl's eyes grew bigger, and she stopped walking, struggling to catch her breath. "Breathe, Lucy, there is nothing to fret about." She nodded, but she still couldn't breathe. Severus dug into his pocket and pulled out a little corked bottle with a liquid familiar to Lucy inside. "Here, drink this, it's a Calming Drought." Lucy took the bottle and gulped the liquid down. She started to hand him the bottle, but she hesitated when she saw his worried expression.
"What is it?" The witch couldn't help but worry. She hoped she hadn't just taken poison accidentally.
Severus shook his head. "I can't be certain, but I think – as that was a strong drought intended for me – that you took more than you should have. I don't know what it might do to you. A few theories I have is that you could become tired easier, extremely calm, or I very well may have just poisoned you."
At least she took that potion, or else she would have been hyperventilating right now. "I don't want to go near the Goblins." Lucy muttered, half to herself.
"We will do it together." Her guardian suggested, to which she nodded.
They entered the building, which Lucy thought was called a 'bunk', where a Goblin led them to a cart on a railroad, and took them to Severus's vault. After the goblin opened the vault and Severus went in to collect some money, the goblin turned to look at Lucy. Its beady little eyes looked as if they were looking through her, and his face crinkled in disgust when she squeaked in fear. Severus hadn't even looked back until after he had grabbed some of the golden and silver coins from his full vault.
The Goblin shut the door and motioned for the two magical folk to get back in the cart. Lucy was shaking a little, and all she could think about was the Goblin's creepy eyes. Once they stopped, she jumped out of the cart, landing on her face. She slowly sat up, rubbed her sore head, and then stood up shakily.
"See, that wasn't so bad." Snape assured her. But she only shrugged her shoulders. Lucy was still frightened so much she had almost wet herself. Speaking of which, she needed to use the bathroom.
"Severus, I need a toilet."
"We will just go to Flourish and Blotts and ask for a restroom." Lucy sighed in relief. The man eyed her as if she was crazy, but she really needed to go. They finally got to the shop, and when they got in, Severus asked the man at the desk if there was a public restroom. Luckily, the guy said yes, so Lucy went where the man pointed; the back of the store.
After she got back, she found Snape looking at some children's stories. He seemed to have been interested in one in particular; it didn't have a pretty cover in Lucy's opinion. She saw another copy on the shelf, and read that the book was called "Matilda's Magical Meadow". She picked the copy up and looked closer, and discovered it was written by Annalixe Moorght.
"Are you interested in it?" Severus asked out of nowhere. Lucy looked over at him and nodded with a smile on her face. He set the copy he was holding back on the shelf and motioned for his new responsibility to lead the way to the counter.
After Severus paid for the book, he led the way to Magical Menagerie. Lucy was most excited for this shop only because she really wanted a pet. At the front door, she saw that there were many different types of pets.
Before they went in, she stopped Snape. "I don't know any of the names to these animals." He looked shocked for a moment, but then got over it and thought for a minute.
"Very well, if I should see an animal you would like to have, I will explain to you what it is." Lucy beamed and almost gave him a hug. Almost. They were in public, after all, and she wouldn't want to endanger his reputation. There were only a few people out due to the holiday, but there were still people around.
Inside, the witch looked at every animal before deciding which one she wanted. Once they had seen every animal, she turned to Severus.
"Well, have you decided on an animal?" Lucy nodded. Snape looked as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "All right, which is it?" The girl spun on her heel and led the way to a little pen near the back of the store. Inside were cute little furry animals of all different colors.
"You want a cat?" He asked in a flat voice. Lucy tilted her head to the side. "These are kittens; they will grow up to be cats." He explained.
"Okay, then, yes. Yes, I want a kitten." Severus sighed.
"Which one has caught your eye?" Lucy pointed to the black one with white paws and blue-grey eyes. "At least it isn't orange." She looked at him with confused eyes.
"How do we get this kitten?"
Instead of answering her question, he walked away from her. A few minutes later, he returned with an old man. The shop owner smiled at them and asked which kitten they would like. Severus told and the older man gave Lucy permission to see if the kitten liked her.
When she approached him, he rubbed his head against her arm. The man said that the cat liked Lucy, so she could take him.
"Are you ready to go?" Severus asked after buying both the cat and its necessary needs, including a book about taking care of cats. Lucy looked up at him and shook her head. "What is left to do here?"
Lucy looked at her new kitten. "I haven't named him yet." The girl's eyebrow furrowed as she thought of the perfect name.
"Would Maximus suffice?" He proposed the name, hoping to soon get home where warm fires and dry socks awaited them. Lucy shook her head. As much as she liked the name, it wasn't the one for my kitten. "Well, then what about Neros?" The witch scrunched her face up in disgust. "Okay, then, how about Apollos?" Lucy considered it, but she eventually decided against it. "What sort of name works then, Thor?" Lucy looked down at her kitten. Yes, Thor, that would be his name.
"I like Thor." She smiled and cooed at Thor. "How do you like your new name, Thor?"
Severus rolled his eyes and shook his head. He pulled something small out of his pocket and said, "Engorgio," The item then grew and Lucy saw that it was a cat carrier.
"Does he have to go in there, or can I hold him for just a little bit longer?" Severus sighed and debated upon whether or not she could. When the girl expertly jutted out her bottom lip and scrunched her eyebrows and nose, however, he caved.
"Fine, you may hold Thor until we have to apparate." Lucy smiled and thanked him.
They started walking when a sudden thought came to the girl. She stopped again, almost hyperventilating, but Thor brushed his head against her hand, calming her down. "Wait!" She called to Severus. He turned around expectantly. "I haven't gotten you or Tonks anything!" She started to look around the stores. "What do you like? What would Tonks like? How am I going to pay for it? I have no money! I can't accept these gifts!"
"Calm down, I will give you money. You can think of it as a late Birthday gift." Lucy hesitated but agreed in the end. He handed her 25 Galleons and 13 Sickles.
"Thanks, Severus! I'll go find you both something!" He nodded tiredly as she ran off.
Severus turned and walked into The Leaky Cauldron, where he sat at the bar and ordered a Brandy. He was just about to take a drink, when he realized he had forgotten to tell Lucy where to meet him after she was done with her shopping. Cursing his utter stupidity, he stomped off to the back of The Leaky Cauldron and tapped the brick.
As soon as the door was opened, he rushed into the depths of Diagon Alley. He entered Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop first, as he knew Lucy probably shopped for Tonks there. Unluckily, she had been shopping for nearly twenty minutes, so she could have gone anywhere.
As Snape saw that she wasn't there, he quickly exited and went to Sugarplum's Sweet Shop. There was a woman at the counter, to whom he rushed.
"Hello, sir, is there anything in particular you are looking for?" She said in an overly chirpy voice, which only brought more aggravation to Severus.
"Yes, there is; I am looking for a young girl. She has dark red hair, brown eyes, is about this tall," He gestured with his hand as to how tall she would be. "Has a black kitten with white paws, and is wearing a dark purple winter coat." By the end of him describing her, she seemed to have understood.
"Oh right, she came in earlier and spent a few Sickles on candy, she even requested for me to wrap it all. She must have bought it as a present. Quite a bit late for that, though, wouldn't you say?" The woman laughed heartily.
Severus Snape, however, was not a man that took things lightly, and he stopped the insufferable woman's chortling with a lethal glare. "You said she was here, correct?" The now serious woman nodded. "Have you any idea where she went next?" The cashier shook her head. Severus heard her asking if he would like anything, but he was already out the door.
Snape thought long and hard about where the girl would shop for him. Surely she wouldn't know how to shop for a grown man? As if the answer struck him, he flinched. Obviously she would get him something potion related. Whether it was an actual potion, a few ingredients, or a book, he didn't know, but he knew where to continue his search. He started on his way to Slug and Jiggers Apothecary.
"What would someone who likes potions need?" Lucy asked the man who ran the apothecary.
He looked at her with great disinterest before sighing and putting his feather down. "That depends."
It didn't seem like he was about to tell the girl anything else, so she tried again. "What would it depend on?" He didn't answer. "I'm trying to get him a Christmas Present!" Lucy, now frustrated, practically shouted.
"Isn't it a bit late to do that, seeing as it is Christmas Day?" He continued to write with his – in Lucy's eyes – stupid feather. She could feel her resolve slipping, and suddenly the feather had burst into flames. The man quickly put the fire out before turning to Lucy with sudden rage.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!" She looked over at the barrels. She scooped some little black things and put them in a bag. After that, she picked up a delicate-looking unicorn horn and said, "Here, I'll just buy this and be on my way."
"Very well, if you promise to leave without setting my shop on fire, I will let you buy the beetle eyes and silver unicorn horn." Lucy nodded in agreement. "That will be 21 Galleons and 5 Knuts." She handed him the Galleons and a Sickle. "Your change is 24 Knuts." She took the money, along with the horn and the jar of beetle eyes, and put them in her coat pocket.
"Have a nice day," Lucy called as she walked out of the store. Now that she was done with her shopping, with 4 Galleons, 5 Sickles, and 24 Knuts in her pocket, she was finally ready to go home. All she had to do was find Severus so they could. Thor was still sleeping in her arm, occasionally brushing his soft fur on her bare hand.
The girl quickly became cold, so she tried to find him as quickly as she could, but she slipped on a patch of ice, knocking the breath out of her. Unfortunately, this sudden movement woke up Thor, who looked around with tired eyes. Lucy stumbled to her feet and winced as she felt the bruise that would appear on her back end within a few days. She carefully looked over Thor, but he seemed fine. She sighed in relief and continued walking, wincing as each step hurt her newly forming bruise.
Her stomach growled and she remembered that she had thrown up all of her stomach contents, so now she had nothing in her stomach. She turned the corner when she got to it only to find a much darker looking Alley. She attempted to decipher the sign, but it was an unrecognizable word that she couldn't pronounce. She continued walking into the dark place, when she heard her name being called.
She spun around to see an angry man stomping towards her. She gulped. "What the devil do you think you're doing in Knockturn Alley? Do you know how dangerous it is to be in here? There are dark wizards in this part of the wizarding world." Lucy looked down in shame. "Well, do you have anything to say for yourself?"
"I was looking for you. I got you a present. I'm done shopping." The girl continued to stare at the ground, keeping a tight hold on Thor so her trembling hands due to the cold and Severus's tone wouldn't be noticed by the fuming man towering over her small body.
There was a moment of silence before he spoke again, this time much more calmly. "Look at me." Lucy did and saw that he looked relieved. "I was looking for you as well. Now, I only want you to be safe. I had forgotten to tell you to meet me at The Leaky Cauldron."
"So you're not angry?" The redhead asked cautiously, aware that the towering figure was still Severus Snape, and he tended to have many mood swings.
"I'm not angry at you." This response didn't fully answer her question, but it went unnoticed to Lucy. "Now, let's go to The Leaky Cauldron." Severus took her free hand, and they walked to the inn together, not caring about the few people staring at them in disbelief.