And so here Harry was, standing in the shop hopelessly, watching as the shop girl and his father chattered on about skin tones and cool or warm colors, feeling way out of his depth.
Harry felt his eyes glaze over after over 10 minutes of this, not noticing Julian smirking at him in amusement from where he leaned against the shop wall. He snapped out of his daze when the girl gave a loud "AHA!" throwing another shirt onto an ever-growing pile.
Harry groaned loudly, bringing Crowley's attention to him. Crowley smirked, grabbing a bunch of clothes from the pile before shoving them in Harry's arms and pushing him towards the dressing room.
"Go on, start trying these on, love."
Harry glared at his father, as he stumbled due to the huge pile placed in his arms, craning his head to see so he didn't fall over. He cautiously made his way into the large dressing room, letting out a sigh of relief as he dropped the clothes onto a padded bench.
He sighed in defeat as he gazed morosely down at the clothes, before sighing in resignation. He might as well go along with his fathers' wishes, the sooner he finishes the sooner they can leave.
He tried on the first pair of clothes, a navy button-down shirt, and a pair of black slacks. Harry couldn't help but finger the soft fabric, gazing into the mirror and marveling at how good he looked with proper-fitting clothes. As his eyes traveled over his outfit, they caught on the price tag, which he lifted up curiously.
"Holy shit!" Harry barged out of the dressing room, ready to give his father a piece of his mind when he abruptly stopped at the look on Crowley and the shop girl's face. "What?" he asked self-consciously, fidgeting with the cuff of his shirt.
Crowley cleared his throat, stepping up to him and batting his hands away from his shirt, "Nothing. You look great. We are definitely getting this one." He smoothed Harry's shirt out, untucking it from his pants and unbuttoning the first two buttons on his collar. He stepped back and gazed at him, as the shop girl stepped up beside Crowley.
She was smiling widely at Harry, unnerving him. However, as she did nothing but smile and direct him in her heavily accented English, he slowly relaxed "Uncuff the sleeves, and roll them up above your elbows."
"Merci." She thanked him as he did as he was instructed, a second later her eyes widening, breathing "Cher Dieu."
Crowley laughed loudly, cutting off Harry's instinctive huh? "Alright, alright that's enough. You look very dapper Harry. Go back into the fitting room and sort through the clothes. Keep any you like." Crowley smiled gently at the overwhelmed look on his son's face, brushing a few errant curls from his face "Go on now, and don't worry about the price, alright?"
"Oh! And choose something to wear out today!" He called after him.
Harry nodded, breathing out slowly before he made his way back to the dressing room. Shopping was a new experience for him since the Dursleys well… and although getting noticed certainly wasn't novel, getting attention for his fashionable looks instead of his Boy-Who-Lived fame certainly was.
Harry tried on the clothes, passing the ones he liked to his father. He was surprised at the number of clothes he actually liked, it seems like he and his father had the same taste. He selected clothes for probably every possible occasion imaginable, from wizarding wear, work-out wear, clothes for fancy events, underwear, and clothes he had no idea when he'd wear them.
Harry resolutely did not listen as the shop girl rang up their many, many purchases and calculated the total price. And he resolutely ignored Julian who was smirking at his discomfort as Crowley paid for them.
Harry eyed the many bags that the clothes were placed in, wondering how they were going to carry them all. Crowley paid him no mind, looking to the door just as three nondescript men walked in. They grabbed the bags, nodding to Crowley as they walked back out the shop door a second later.
Not explaining, Crowley placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, smiling gently at him "Come on Harry, let's go get lunch, eh? Then we'll head back."
Harry smiled at Crowley gratefully "That sounds brilliant actually, thanks."
"Great! Oh, and about shoes…"
Harry tensed in dread as his father spoke again "Some of my underlings will get them, along with jackets and accessories."
Harry relaxed and Crowley chuckled "No prince of mine is going to walk around in anything less than the best." He ruffled Harry's soft curls, laughing loudly when Harry batted his hand away with a scowl.
"Alright kiddo, let's get going." He turned towards the door, Harry following, surprised to see Julian who he honestly forgot was still there.
He held the door open for both of them, Harry thanking him as he walked passed. Julian trailed after both of them as Harry and Crowley walked in compatible silence, both ignoring the interested looks passerby's gave them.
The duo stepped into a bistro a moment later, Julian staying outside. As they sat down at the small table and picked up the menu, Harry felt like an idiot as he stared at the French words. Crowley paid him no mind as he read his own menu. Harry squinted at it, as if that would magically help him understand the words.
Harry looked up from the menu, about to explain his plight to his father, but decided not to interrupt the man who was now speaking to a waitress in rapid French.
He looked back down at the café menu, hoping that he would be able to understand at least a few words from his ability to understand Latin and English. He felt frustrated, here his father was treating like a prince, as he says, buying him expensive clothes and food, yet Harry couldn't even read a simple menu.
He glared at the menu, about to give up just as something snapped into place in his mind. "Oh!" The sensation was weird, but not painful, and it vanished in a short moment.
Crowley looked towards him at his exclamation, worried "Is something wrong? Are you feeling okay?"
"Tout n'est pas—" Harry stopped, alarmed, before he started talking rapidly "Quoi, comment puis-je parler français? Qu'est-il arrivé? Quelque chose ne va pas. Père—"
Crowley cut off his panicked rambling "Okay, okay calm down. I'm guessing that you usually don't speak fluent French?"
Harry nodded, wide-eyed, not daring to say a thing.
"Well, I figured this would happen sooner or later. I didn't expect it to be this soon… but then again—"
"Père!" Harry cut him off, eager to get answers.
"Okay, sorry." Crowley chuckled, ecstatic for some reason Harry couldn't understand until he spoke his next words.
"I'm guessing that you've just unlocked your powers. After Dumbles sealed away the Cambion inside of you I was a bit worried— but Gringotts was able to reverse it. Then you just needed to unlock your powers, usually, it's under high stress—"
Crowley chuckled again "You know I ordered for the both of us, don't you? There's no reason for you to have been worried."
"Oh. Bien merci. Mais suis-je coincé comme ça? Je peux encore comprendre l'anglais mais je n'arrive pas à le dire."
Crowley smiled at him "Cambions are powerful. Harry, you're powerful. Just, will yourself to speak English again."
Harry closed his eyes, his face scrunching up as he concentrated "l'a fait work? Wait. I'm speaking English, right? It worked!" Harry opened his eyes, smiling widely.
"Oh good." Crowley sighed, relieved "I wasn't actually sure that would work." He took a bite of the French pastry the waitress placed in front of him, smiling at her politely as she placed a dish in front of Harry as well before taking her leave.
Harry stared at his father in disbelief, speechless. "S-so you didn't really know if I could reverse it? What if I was stuck like that forever?"
Crowley shrugged, unconcerned "Peux-tu encore comprendre le français?"
Harry nodded before he closed his eyes again "And—" he opened his eyes again as he spoke to his father "Si je me concentre, je peux encore le parler."
Crowley smiled at him gently, something soft in his eyes. "You are more powerful then you know Harry. You can do anything you put your mind to, literally."
Harry smiled back at him "Thank you, father. I really appreciate everything that you've done for me."
"Of course, love. I'd go to hell and back for you." Crowley said to him seriously.
Harry also stared at him seriously, playing along "I'd do the same for you."
They gazed at each other with hard eyes.
After a minute, Harry's lips twitched. Another second passed, the duo suddenly bursting out laughing, paying no attention to the other café patrons who stared at them.
Thank you, everyone, for waiting very patiently. Now that I graduated, I have more time to write, so you can expect updates to resume. You guys are truly amazing, your support means more to me then you may realize. Thank you again, everyone.
I don't speak a lick of French, so if any of you do and notice that Google made a mistake, please let me know, it's greatly appreciated.
Translations:
Cher Dieu = My God
Everything is— What, how can I speak French? What happened? Something is wrong. Father!
Good, thanks. But am I stuck like this? I can still understand English but I can't speak it.
l'a fait = did it
Can you still understand French?
If I concentrate, I can still speak it.