This one makes those other long ones seem really short. Yup.

Chapter 29 – Firsts

For the first time in a week, Severus and Harry discovered that they could walk into another room without having to have the other with them. In some ways, this was a wonderful revelation to be had, since going to the bathroom in pairs had started becoming a little tedious. In fact, they had largely switched to using evanesco to take care of the more difficult trips, as well as some of the smaller ones. In turn, that had become tedious as well.

On the other hand, their relatively new freedom meant that Severus now spent an inordinate amount of time wondering about whether or not the lad was safe by himself, even though he was just next door. He knew his fear was largely illogical, but that knowledge had not helped alleviate his anxiety.

Luckily, it did allow Severus the opportunity to speak with Poppy at length, just the two of them, without fear of saying something that might upset the child.

In some ways, Poppy was largely their go-between for both the outer world and their own private one. With Christmas happening in less than a week, the fact that they were suddenly able to converse somewhat privately with another person meant that secrets could begin to be kept.

Severus began to see Harry watching him with more than his usual level of speculation, and he privately wondered if the looks had something to do with the upcoming holiday. He had tried to keep casual about the mention of the holiday itself. Of course he had mentioned the feast that would be that Friday at noon, and had asked in passing, whether the lad would be interested in going to it.

"Of course, Poppy will be there too," Severus had said thoughtfully, though without appearing to dwell too heavily on the idea.

"Can I sit between you two, like always?" The boy had asked, barely able to stand still with the idea, the excitement nearly pouring out his ears.

"I suppose we could make that happen," he had said slowly, appearing to think about it carefully, but really just furtively watching the boy as he whirled away to his room, his feet barely touching the ground.

It also had become apparent that the child had begun getting used to the idea of having a room, if only for the time being.

On the evening of the 21st, after finishing dinner with Poppy, Harry had shyly declared a desire to try sleeping in his own bed, but only if it was okay with Severus. Harry's exuberance towards the idea was nearly matched in strength, if not in display, by Severus himself. He dearly cared for the lad, but after years of solitude, he had found the enforced company of the boy to be more than a little tiring, and lately had found himself wishing for a bit of his privacy again. If the child did well with the move, then Severus would have his nighttime back again; which he knew was no small blessing.

Not much longer after that, the boy had begun yawning, and before long Severus had ordered him to go to bed. After the boy had done his nighttime business, Severus had gone to get him settled in.

"May I come in?" Severus asked from the doorway.

"Of course," Harry looked confused at his asking.

"You look perplexed. What's wrong?" Severus asked; having a feeling he already knew the answer.

"You didn't have to ask to come in. These are your quarters, after all." The boy said, looking up at Severus, the puzzlement still visible on his face.

"Ah. However, as I told you earlier, for now this is your room." He answered lightly.

The boy grinned his shy grin at Severus, as was becoming his custom for whenever the man made any gestures of perceived kindness towards him. Severus felt that he wasn't doing much more that providing the boy with a few amenities that his bastard relatives should have done long ago for the boy, but he wasn't about to argue the point. There were some things better left unsaid.

"Severus, look what the castle did while you were still out there with Poppy," the boy said, gesturing him closer to the bed.

Crouching, he looked at the bed itself, but did not see any differences. The walls were the same cold gray that they had been before, only—he looked closer at them as Harry let out a giggle.

"All right brat, what is it?" He asked with a smirk.

"Try pressing on the wall," the boy said, by way of hinting.

Severus did, and to his great surprise, he discovered that the wall had some give, making it feel somewhat like a soft cushion.

"This way, if he flails in his sleep, you won't have to worry about him getting hurt from contact with his surroundings," the castle voice said without warning in his head.

"Impressive," he said, honestly amazed with the castle's ingenuity, as well as its concern for the both of them.

"Thanks," the castle said, sounding almost shy about it.

Severus briefly found himself wondering how often the castle was complimented.

"It's brilliant." The boy said, while his eyes shone with wonder. He took his glasses off and laid them on his trunk carefully, before sliding farther under the covers.

Severus pulled them up around his still small body, suddenly fearing whether the boy would be warm enough that night.

"I won't let him get cold," the castle promised softly.

Severus thanked him in his head, as he leaned over to kiss the boy goodnight.

"If you need anything, just ask. Understand?" He said for emphasis.

"Yes sir," the child said sleepily.

Severus spelled off the light, before leaving the room. He closed the door on his way out, but did not shut it completely, just in case something should happen.

Turning around, he found Poppy waiting for him with a small smile on her face, and he scowled at her, knowing too well what she was about to say to him.

When Poppy saw him finally exit the boy's room, she couldn't help but smile at him. She saw him scowl darkly at her expression, but she had been expecting that and only smiled more broadly in return.

"I can't help but find myself continuing to be amazed by your increasing depths of emotion concerning the child." She said with an open handed shrug.

"Need you constantly bring this up?" He groused, but she thought it highly likely that he was more embarrassed than annoyed at her statement.

Not wanting to invoke a fight, no matter how amusing she might find it, she let the topic drop, at least in part.

"My brother sends his regards and says he hopes you have a happy Christmas," she said to him with a grin.

The statement was purposely obscure, given that Harry was in the next room over.

"Oh?" Was all Severus said in response, although she also saw a small smile touch the corners of his lips briefly.

"Are you going to take him shopping?" She asked curiously.

"Should I?" He asked her with a purposeful look on his face.

"Well, I would offer, but given that he can't yet leave your side, it doesn't actually seem to be a viable option." She said, giving him a look of his own.

"I haven't decided," he said more seriously.

"You could go in disguise," she said, guessing one possible concern.

"The thought has crossed my mind, more than a few times now, actually. I believe that you two are up to something as well though, are you not?"

"Honestly Severus," she said, saying nothing with a glare.

"Oh good, we will have to come up with a response then. I believe that has settled it. We shall go tomorrow, unless something unforeseen should arise," he said, raising an eyebrow at her sudden blustering.

Crossing her arms, she inquired as to where they would go.

"And let you in on our response?" He asked in mock surprise. "I should think not." He sneered.

Yes, she did like this new Severus Snape very much indeed.

He couldn't sit still. He couldn't stand still either, for that matter.

Severus was taking him shopping today.

And it was only 3 days until Christmas!

He didn't know why the idea of Christmas made him so bizarrely crazy. The Christmas's that he had spent with the Dursleys had always been miserable affairs for him.

In contrast, the Christmas experience at Hogwarts, the year before, had given him a taste of what the holiday was supposed to be like, and he had a feeling—more than a feeling really—that this year's Christmas would far surpass that one.

He had been afraid, well terrified rather, that when Severus saw all that had happened to him by way of his memories, the man would have been disgusted to be around him, but nothing of the sort had occurred. If anything, the man had begun talking to him more frequently, about a variety of topics not just limited to his dour past.

The man was willing to listen to his fears and questions and concerns just like he had seen with other kids around—well, around their family members. He wasn't quite willing to let himself think of Severus as a parental figure, no matter how much he might secretly want it to be so. This way, if he was just leading himself on for nothing, it wouldn't hurt so much when it didn't happen.

But he hoped it did. He really really hoped it did. He had even talked to the castle about it, after Severus had turned out the light and left.

"Are you his pebble?" The castle had asked him from within his head.

The question had been so ludicrous and yet so serious at the same time that Harry had had no idea whether to laugh or cry. He had settled for coughing lightly, and then had been stuck with a great deal of fluttering emotions leftover in his stomach.

"You mean, am I his child?" He had asked, needing it clarified before he dared to think on the idea further.

"I suppose, but I like my term better," the castle had said reluctantly.

"Not yet," he had admitted quietly. "Maybe never," he then added, somewhat miserably.

"I think you underestimate him. I think he would make a fine rock father."

"Rock father?"

"My walls are a mixture of stone and earth. The rock quarry that I was built out of is one half of my creation, while the dirt, or the earth itself, is the other half." The castle explained.

"Oh, wow. So the earth is your mum?"

"Yes," the castle had said.

"I wish my mum were still alive," the boy had whispered, suddenly tearful.

"Severus and Lily were very good friends in school," the castle had said, purposely not going into details.

"Yeah?" The boy had asked. "I wish I could have known her."

"Severus wishes the same," the castle had said.

For some reason, this had made Harry so terribly mournful that both he and Severus had wished for something that would never happen. It was yet another reason why he wouldn't allow himself to dream for something more permanent with his mentor.

"What is your name?" Harry had asked, wishing to change the subject.

"Hogwarts, I suppose." The castle had answered, sounding less than enthused.

"What name does your mum call you by?" He had asked, thinking that maybe the castle had a better name that no one knew.

"It's actually rather similar to what Severus often calls you. The translation doesn't exactly work, given that the ancient language that my 'mum' speaks is so different from the language of people. So for clarity's sake, let's just say she calls me 'lad,'" the castle had said carefully.

Harry had giggled at the castle's comparison.

"If you could pick your own name then, what would you choose?" He had asked in a moment of insight.

"Hmm, now that's a question I've never been asked." The castle had said, sounding rather excited at the prospect. "Well, when your mum was in school here, I made friends with her, like with you. She told me about a fictional story called 'Star Trek,' in which a man named James T. Kirk explores the galaxy with his friends on a ship called the 'Enterprise.'" The castle had said, happy to be finally sharing something with someone else.

"I know about that too," Harry had said, more than a little amused to be discussing a science fiction muggle show with an ancient magical castle. "Would you like me to call you 'Enterprise'?" He had asked.

"Oh yuck, no way," the castle had denied ferociously.

"What do you have in mind then?"

"I always liked the description of Captain Kirk. His first name is the same as your middle one," the castle had said, suddenly sounding rather shy.

"Oh yeah," Harry had said.

"But in the show, Lily said that everyone who was friends with him just called him 'Jim.'" The castle explained. "I thought, if it wouldn't be too much trouble to you, maybe you could call me 'Jimmy'? After all, you are my friend," The castle had asked nervously.

Harry was more than a little impressed that the castle thought of him as a friend.

"Jimmy. I like it. Will you tell Severus?" He had asked.

"Should I?" Jimmy had asked him hesitantly.

"Yes," Harry had said firmly; wanting yet another thing he could share with the older man.

Harry had gone to sleep then, only to wake up the next morning and discover that Severus had decided to take him shopping. He had told him during breakfast and now Harry was anxiously pacing the sitting area while Severus finished getting things ready for their trip.

"Harry?" Severus said, finally stepping into the room.

"Sir?" Harry said automatically.

"I thought I told you to get ready to go outside." Severus said, frowning at him.

"But Severus, I am." He said, trying to make it seem as though he didn't know what Severus was talking about.

"Then where is your cloak, impertinent brat?" Severus demanded sternly.

"Doesn't fit?" He offered up, feeling idiotic under the man's unwavering stare.

"Child," the man's gaze softened significantly, "why did you not tell me?"

He scratched his neck, turning away so that Severus wouldn't see his embarrassment. He hadn't wanted to tell Severus the reason that the cloak didn't fit; it was too awful.

"Harry," Severus said in a warning voice.

Harry miserably sat down on the couch. Severus walked over and sat down next to him, silently offering Harry his support as he correctly identified another problem connected with the Dursleys. He took Harry's hand and pulled the boy so that they were looking at one another.

"Lad, tell me. There is no way that I will be angry at you, although I cannot swear the same for those idiotic filth relatives of yours," the man said gently.

"I didn't buy a new one because at the beginning of the school year, the old one still fit. In fact," Harry said as he felt his face turn red, "it was a bit loose."

Severus put an arm around his shoulders then and silently embraced him, while Harry relaxed in the warmth.

"I daresay that you should now understand the mechanics of the shrinking spell well enough to perform it yourself, yes?" The man asked him after releasing him so that they could see each other's faces once more.

Harry had to grin a bit at that.

"I think so. I've only watched you do it nearly every day for a week now sir," he answered cheekily.

"Brat."

Harry grinned wider at the man's playful tone.

As it turned out, Harry had no trouble shrinking one of Severus's older cloaks down to an appropriate size. Cloaks, after all, were meant to fit a bit loosely, in order to accommodate for extra layers underneath. It was a very good item for a beginner to practice on.

"Are you sure you didn't plan this?" He asked Severus then, as they were preparing to floo out.

"The cloak?"

"Yes."

"I suppose that it had crossed my mind at some point, especially after seeing the state of the clothes your pissant excuse for relatives had given you." Severus said seriously.

"Severus?" He asked then, a question bobbing at the front of his mind.

"Yes lad?" Severus asked, inadvertently reminding Harry of Jimmy.

"Are you purposely referring to my 'pissant relatives,' as you said, with a new insult each time?" He asked, beginning to grin.

"Now Harry, why on earth would I choose to call your poor excuse for dog vomit relatives anything other than what they were?" Severus asked him, managing to keep a straight face throughout his answer.

Harry, however, felt that his strength of will was not nearly comparable as he soon found himself giggling out loud at Severus's continuing unwavering look. He didn't even notice when Severus applied glamours upon them both as they prepared to go through the floo.

He was still giggling a little as they arrived into the Leaky Cauldron. But he soon became serious as Severus quietly took him by the arm and led him quickly outside and then into Diagon Alley.

"Won't someone recognize us and wonder why we're out together?" He asked nervously.

"No, silly boy," Severus said with a smirk. "I cast what's called a 'Glamour' charm upon us both before we flooed. It changes our outer visual appearance to something else, even under direct scrutiny from another."

"Cool!" He answered, greatly relieved not to have to endure that day's outing as the damnable "boy-who-lived." "I hate being gawked at," he said sourly.

"In direct contrast, I tend to be hissed at when I walk through public wizarding spaces," Severus said with a scowl.

"Ugh," Harry said, taking the man's hand and squeezing it gently.

He watched Severus's face soften in response before feeling him squeeze back.

"What should we do about names and whatnot?" Harry asked, suddenly realizing that the charm was only a visual one.

"I think that if you stick to 'sir,' and I keep to 'lad,' then that should be fine for where we are headed. If you remember, I still have the charmed necklace that Poppy made. If you are in any kind of distress, and I happen to be out of sight, then it will alert me instantly." Severus said as they carefully made their way through streets filled with throngs of people.

Around them blew a stiff icy breeze which took Harry's breath away, but which also invigorated him as well, after spending more than a week in the dungeons.

"Where are we going sir?" He asked after a moment as they passed most of the stores that he knew and continued onwards.

"What did I say about those glasses?" Severus prompted.

"Oh! Thank you sir!" He said skipping for a bit. He thought that Severus might mind the childish behavior, but the older man only smirked at him, keeping his thoughts to himself for once.

Then suddenly, Severus announced they had arrived.

Harry looked at what appeared to be an old dilapidated house sitting among throngs of lesser visited businesses. Although he knew better than to judge wizarding buildings by their appearances, he still walked closer by Severus's side as they made their way inside.

As he had suspected, the inside was absolutely nothing like the outside of the building. The waiting room was clean and brightly lit, with modern furnishings in muted tones. Severus took him straight to the front desk and quietly made mention of an appointment with some Dr. Lentz to the receptionist.

"You'd be Mr. Snape then, I suppose?" The woman asked, eyeing Severus carefully as he nodded in response. "Very well; if you will take a seat, he'll be with you in a moment."

As soon as they had sat down, Harry leaned closer to Severus with a questioning looking in his face.

"You could have given any name. I thought you didn't want to be recognized?" He asked, suddenly very confused.

"Calm yourself lad. I have not rashly given myself away. Dr. Lentz is an old acquaintance of my family's, although I wouldn't automatically call him a friend. He is the very best at what he does and he owes me a favor. He will not speak of this to anyone, I promise." Severus said quickly, purposely speaking only loud enough for Harry to hear.

Harry nodded and Severus was the one to squeeze his hand that time.

"You remember my first promise to you child?" Severus asked him then.

"Of course I do sir," Harry said nodding briskly, surprised at Severus's mention of that. How could he forget the man's promise to not allow anyone ever to hurt him again? For days it had been all he could think of.

Then Severus's name was called and in what felt like no time at all, Harry quickly found himself sitting in front of Dr. Lentz, in what looked like a perfectly typical eye exam room. Dr. Lentz didn't appear to be much older than Poppy, but as he had been recently reminded, wizarding appearances were never quite as they seemed. For all Harry knew, the man in front of him could be 140 years old. He was a slightly rotund man, somewhat like Father Christmas, but without the outward appearance of joyful merriness. His hair was a bit wild, somewhat like his own, but it was sprinkled with silver all throughout, making the man appear somewhat austere in his features.

Harry was almost inclined to be frightened of him, even with Severus in the room, if it were not for the very odd object strapped to his head, currently resting on his brow. It was beset with a number of golden bronze knobs along its sides. In its center sat two glass lenses, apparently for the purpose of allowing Dr. Lentz to better see Harry's eyes with. In a way, it looked a bit like the man had a small set of binoculars strapped to his face, but none like Harry had ever seen before.

"Mr. Snape," Dr. Lentz said formally, "if you would like to, I invite you to take a seat next to your boy."

Harry was afraid that Severus would remain fixed at the door, so he shot him a pleading look, which Severus looked blankly back at. Regardless, Severus did move to take the proffered seat next to Harry, before offering the boy his hand.

Harry took it, grateful for the contact with the man. Dr. Lentz's unwavering stare was beginning to unnerve him somewhat.

"All right lad," Dr. Lentz said, using the same phrase as Severus did. He pulled the contraption down on upon his eyes and gazed at Harry, his eyes now magnified as they peered at him closely.

And then, it could have only been a second, Dr. Lentz jumped a bit, before regaining his composure quickly.

"Severus! You old rat. You could have told me who you were before now, you know." The man said, sounding a bit put out at the other man's deception.

"I didn't know if you would recognize me. I had to make sure." Severus answered with a sneer.

"How could I not, you old fleabag!" The man said, nearly shouting, only to be interrupted by an unexpected sound.

Harry couldn't help but laughing at the two men, especially after Dr. Lentz had begun his tirade of putdowns. It was too similar to Severus's own descriptions of the Dursleys.

Dr. Lentz looked back at him, his mouth setting up in a grin as well.

"This boy has been spending too much time around you Severus," he said speculatively.

Severus scowled deeply at him, but shot Harry a wink too.

"I take it you recognize him as well then, you paltry excuse for an old gentleman?" Severus asked him.

"Right," the old man said sarcastically with a sneer of his own. "I recognize the boy I haven't seen in twenty damn years, but fail to notice that Harry-bloody-Potter is sitting right here in my own office??? No offense lad," he said to Harry after finishing his outburst.

"None taken," Harry said with a grin.

"At least you're not entirely senile then," Severus said to him, leaning back with a satisfied smirk on his face.

Harry snorted and they both looked at him.

"Perhaps the boy has a point there Severus. Maybe if we allowed him to see us, he'd realize just how stupid the two of us look, flipping insults back and forth like we're a bleeding tennis match." The older man said seriously as he abruptly turned businesslike.

"Let me have those poor pitiful excuses for a pair of glasses you have there on your face, lad," Dr. Lentz said, reaching out a hand for them.

Harry pulled them off carefully, not sad to see them go, but mostly because with them off, he no longer could see much of anything.

"You should get Severus to give a proper memorial service for these poor dead things," the large blob on his right said.

He was rewarded by a snort from the grayish-black blob to Harry's left.

Harry was then instructed to sit up and look into what Dr. Lentz referred to as the "oculizers."

"Dr. Lentz sir?" He asked.

"Lad, what is it?"

"I don't know where they are. You're just a rather large blob to me, no offense," he said grinning shyly.

"That's the way lad! Hit us where it hurts," Dr. Lentz's voice said jovially. "All right Harry, I'm going to reach out and move your head in the direction it needs to be, got it?"

"Yes sir," Harry said, grateful for the warning.

Once Harry's head was moved into position, Dr. Lentz mostly just seemed to look at him. Every so often he tutted and turned a knob or two on the side of his 'oculizers.' For every touch of a knob, Harry heard a corresponding pitched clicking sound, but otherwise nothing much else happened, at least from Harry's extremely limited point of view.

Then, at last, when he was allowed to move his head, it was only to look through the same sorts of lenses that any muggle eye doctor had in his office.

"I suppose you don't need to look at the pictures of dragons, do you now lad? Letters it be for you," Dr. Lentz muttered oddly to himself, carefully adjusting the settings with his wand.

Whatever Dr. Lentz had done while staring at him with his oculizers had apparently done the trick; Harry found himself looking through lenses that seemed to completely fix his vision instantaneously. Not only could he read the first three rows of letters without difficulty, but he could also read the bottom line with perfect clarity as well.

As it turned out, the bottom line was actually a set of instructions informing him to stick out his tongue and blink three times if he could read it. He did as it had said and was amazed to see the moving picture of an aggressive dragon appear in the space where the letters had been. He laughed in delight at the dragon, but also from pure joy at being able to see so well.

When he finally turned away from the dragon, he did so with a bright smile.

"I believe we got the right balance for you then lad, I'd say," Dr. Lentz said, his face fuzzy once more before Harry's own eyes.

"Now I'm going to set a charm on your eyes that will hold the level of vision you just experienced for the next half hour, while you go and pick out some lenses. I do believe that you shall be wanting some different ones while I feed these old ones to the goats, yes? Very good." Dr. Lentz sounded pleased as he tapped Harry's head twice with wand, muttering something as he did. Harry blinked and there it was again, the whole world at his fingertips.

He turned towards Severus and was surprised to see a real smile touching his lips at the boy's obvious joy. Harry felt that he oughtn't, but couldn't resist jumping up and hugging the man, at least briefly. After he quickly stepped back, he saw a faint tinge of pink across the tips of Severus's ears and had to fight with himself not to smile at the discomfited man.

"Brat." The man said, standing up quickly to hide his brief vulnerability.

They were nearly out the door when Dr. Lentz mentioned something to Severus about his mother.

"She was a beautiful woman Severus. Eileen would have been proud to see you like this." The man said, completely serious now.

Harry looked up at Severus to see what his reaction would be. The man's eyes—which Harry could now easily see the pupils within—had initially narrowed defensively at the man's words, but as Harry watched, the man's face relaxed.

"Thank you Thallius," Severus said, opening the door with a hand on Harry's shoulder, guiding him into hallway carefully.

"Bye," Harry waved at Dr. Lentz as he went.

"You keep an eye on him boy. He's an ornery one." Dr. Lentz said with a clearly viewable smile. Harry nodded at his words, still smiling.

Severus guided him down the hallway and into a relatively large room on the far right. He had taken Harry's hand again sometime during their walk, but Harry had neither noticed when, nor cared about the action. He liked having his hand held. It was as though Severus didn't want to lose him, which had always been the exact opposite of the message he had gotten from the Dursleys whenever he had been allowed in public with them.

Harry gasped as he saw the room that they had walked into. It was full of a multitude of various styles and colors of frames that ranged from the mundane to the outrageous. Some of the glasses hooted and made sounds—rude sounds in some cases—while others advertised themselves as the end-all, be-all products of completely accessorized beauty care gadgetry. Of those, Harry saw some that not only worked as glasses, but also provided sunglasses, tiny wipers (for those unpleasant rainy days), eyebrow waxing kits (automatic, works like a charm!), toenail clippers (promotes flexibility!), and even fully extendable rain gear (with optional traffic whistle).

Severus steered him clear of those, even though Harry could have stood there for hours just gawking endlessly, and onto the section of "Slightly mundane, but Always Practical," styled frames.

"Wow, Severus, it says that all of the glasses in this section are not only smudge proof, but also completely shatter and water resistant!!!" He bounced haphazardly. Severus gave him a look and Harry made himself calm down, at least visibly, but his excitement only increased the more they looked.

Suddenly a pair of frames caught his eyes and he knew without a doubt that he had found the right ones for him. On the tag, it read:

Cleo's Cool and Classy Eyewear

These glasses are guaranteed to be: smudge proof, shatter proof, and water resistant.

Special features include: Lightweight Frame, Never Dropped Binding, 3 Years of Instant Eyewear Adjustments, Unsinkable, and Chameleon Color Charm (matches your outfit's color scheme automatically!)

Repair Kit and Tracking Charm Included, With Portkey Optional

They shimmered at him alluringly, but he suspected that they would stop once they had a definite color to match. The frames were sleek and thin, but surprisingly sturdy to the touch. When he put them on, the Chameleon Color Charm kicked in, matching his gray top with an amazingly adept level of accuracy. The colors in his glasses connected well with his outfit, but were subtle enough to promote the brightness of his eyes.

Harry loved them.

"Are those it then, child?" Severus asked from where he had been quietly watching the boy stare in rapture at the glasses on his face in one of the many available mirrors.

Harry turned to look at Severus, able to now see the care in the man's face as well as hear it in his voice.

"Do they look okay to you?" He asked anxiously, hoping that he wasn't the only one enamored by the new frames sitting lightly atop his nose.

"Child, you have always been Lily's son, but with those glasses on, the link between the two of you is now almost completely undeniable. Your face is very striking now. They are a good fit for you, I believe." Severus said thoughtfully.

Harry's hesitant look cracked open into a brilliant glowing smile at the older man's praising words and additional mention of his mother. He wondered if Dr. Lentz's mention of Severus's own mother had been related to the man's outpouring of kind words.

"Thanks Severus," he said as he abruptly found himself wrapped tightly around Severus's lean torso once more.

Severus had taken the boy in his glasses up to the woman at the booth in the middle of the room to apply and finalize the charm on the glasses, and then paid and retrieved the free repair kit and tracking charm. As he explained to Harry, the tracking charm worked double duty when the boy was wearing the glasses, because not only would they be able to track the glasses, but also Harry himself, as a resultant bonus.

Then they were done and on their way to start the boy onto building a real wardrobe. As far as he could tell, the child's school clothes were perfectly adequate, but that was largely it for the boy. He needed a complete overhaul from his underclothes and up.

He had been a bit overcome by the change that a simple new pair of glasses had caused in Harry's overall appearance. The boy's face all but screamed out Lily's name to him, making him simultaneously miss her, yet in turn, love him all that much more.

In addition, he had been thankful for the time that Harry had been absorbed in looking at the various frame options. Thallius's passing remarks to him had caught him completely off guard, and he had needed that brief time to recuperate and gather his wits back around him. His mother had died when he was still a boy, even younger than Harry was now.

He had not been prepared for the reawakening of pain that he had experienced at just the mere mention of his mother's name. It was not just pain from having lost her so early, but also some of what he suspected Harry to suffer from at times; the pain of what might have been.

Thallius Lentz was not typically a sentimental man, nor had he ever been. He had actually been a bit worried about taking the child to him, given Thallius's trademark dislike for youngsters. It had therefore been surprising to see the man take such an instant liking to the boy. Thallius had also liked the young Severus Snape in a similar way, but probably for different reasons. He had never cared to ask, not being entirely sure if he actually wanted to know the answer to the man's unusual reaction.

Severus looked up to realize that he had walked the boy all the way back to the regular Diagon Alley proper, without even being entirely aware of most of the trip. Internally he chastised himself for his negligence; he knew now that he would not easily continue on if the child were to be harmed or grievously injured while in his presence. He had made a wizard's oath to protect the boy, and he meant to do it. He promised himself some real thinking time when they got back to his quarters. In the meantime however, they needed to find a store that catered to a boy like Harry.

They passed by Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions shop, before Severus finally found something that would fit most of, if not all, Harry's current clothes needs.

"Come on lad," he said, steering the boy through the cold busy streets carefully. They reached the shop and stepped into the warm inner embrace of the store itself. The advertisement on the outside stated that it stocked a range of sizes and styles for all children and youth. In addition, he saw with a small modicum of trepidation, a number of his students and presumably their parents, looking excitedly through the selections there as well.

He steeled himself to put up with the frequently falsely polite atmospheres common to establishments like this. He knew that once they had some basics in place, as well as an inkling of the child's size needs, he was then going to focus the rest of the boy's wardrobe expansion via owl post.

"I don't want you to let go of my hand unless you should need to try something on, understand me?" He asked the boy sternly as they walked through the store.

"Yes sir," the boy gulped as he instinctively walked closer to Severus.

Severus could see that he was not the only one discomfited by such an environment as this. He knew he shouldn't feel relieved at Harry's similar feelings, but he could not help but feel comforted that his was not the only irrational opinion.

As they got farther into the back of the store, he began seeking out someone who looked possibly competent enough to help with their complex needs. Knowing what he did about the boy's past, he was quite unwilling to place the child with anyone who might dare betray that sacred trust again.

Abruptly, he heard a voice speak to him from his far left. He turned towards it, instinctively blocking the boy's body behind his own, only to discover the speaker to be a beautiful dark skinned woman. Surprisingly, he actually recognized the girl as having been one of his favorite students from nearly five years prior. Moreover, he realized that it might actually be advantageous to reveal his identity to her, considering that she had been a Slytherin Head Girl in her time.

He stepped to the side to bring Harry back out into the open to meet the girl—well, now the woman—who was standing before them, offering her help in finding clothes.

"As I recall, your name was Marjorie Zeggley, am I correct?" He asked seriously.

"Do I know you sir? Mr.—?" she broke off in confusion.

"Snape," he said softly, leaning his head in close to her ear, before reveling in her utter shock.

"Professor!" She growled accusingly, as she glared incredulously at him.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't spread it around too much, Ms. Zeggley," he said bitingly, but with an amused expression in his eyes.

"Sorry!" She said, raising her hands in apology. "Oh, and Professor?"

"Yes?"

"It's Marjorie Hornblower now," she said, showing him the ring on her finger.

"He was a Ravenclaw, was he not?" He asked, remembering something about a short red haired boy who had played Catcher in those years for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

"Gah. I always hated your memory," she said pursing her lips at him in frustration.

He felt a squeeze on his hand and looked down at his charge, who looked silently up at him with a questioning face.

"Marjorie," he said, thinking quickly, "this is my nephew, Evan," he said, using a similar version of Lily's maiden name for the boy's first name. Harry though, seemed to understand, catching onto the plot quickly.

"Pleased to meet you," the boy said solemnly, sticking out his hand politely.

"I'm very pleased to meet you as well," Marjorie said with a kind smile, leaning to shake his hand for a moment before standing back up.

"What can I do to help you two gentlemen today?" She asked, slipping into a more professional mode.

"Evan has recently had a rather significant growth spurt, and more or less needs a completely new wardrobe," he said, remembering back to the cloak issue from earlier that day.

"Well, he's not the only one with that problem," she said, smiling at them both. "If you will follow me then, I think I know how to help."

They followed her through the store carefully. Severus shot a careful look at Harry, only to be rewarded by a raised eyebrow that he had likely learned from spending so much time around him. Thallius had been right about that.

"Growth spurt?" Harry mouthed up at him, clearly amused by his quick answers.

"Brat," he shot back down at him.

Harry snorted lightly at him in return. Luckily for them, the sound was nearly completely covered up by the background noise of busy holiday shoppers.

"This section of the store is stocked entirely by the Wizarding company called Geyser Gear," Marjorie told them once they'd reached her intended destination. "It's marketed to ki—ah, young people who are currently undergoing incredible changes in height and weight, thanks to the joy that is puberty." She finished; a sarcastic undertone evident when she mentioned puberty.

Severus had to bite down on a groan as he figured out the connection between the name and the specific clothing that they made.

"Geyser Gear, growth spurts," Harry quipped just then, making a face. "Ew."

"Indeed," Severus said in complete agreement.

"I'm not sure if they actually meant it to come across that way," Marjorie said, trying to retain a serious demeanor.

"Ew either way," Harry said, his face still crumpled up.

Severus was forced to shoot Marjorie a glare when she let out a small giggle at his unpleasant expression.

"Sorry professor," she said, clearing her throat. "Regardless of the connotations of its name, the clothing is amazingly useful, because it grows with you through at least two major size changes."

Severus raised his eyebrows, mildly impressed.

"That's pretty cool," Harry admitted grudgingly.

"Right, so let's find out what size you wear," she said, smiling brightly at him.

It had taken two hours out of his life, but Severus and Harry were finally done with his so-called basic shopping. Harry had fallen asleep on a stool before they had finished wrapping and shrinking all of the parcels that Severus had bought for the boy.

Now the boy was being carried tightly against Severus's side, while the bag of purchases was held with his free hand. One thing was sure about Severus's relationship with Harry—he was most certainly going to gain some more muscle mass in the process.

He had set a silencing spell around them to keep the noise from the marketplace from interfering with the boy's sleep. It had occurred to him that the last silencing spell that had been used around Harry had not worked, but he believed it likely had more to do with Harry having been disconnected from Severus, rather than the idea that Harry some kind of new hidden power that had never shown itself before or since.

Although Severus was only a short walk away from the Leaky Cauldron, he decided to stop off in one more store on his way back to Hogwarts. The Quidditch supply store was glowing brightly against the dim winter day, and with Harry fast asleep in his arms, it seemed an opportune time for him to quickly peruse its shelves.

Amazingly, he was in and out in just fifteen minutes. Apparently he had caught the store at a lull, or so a haggard looking employee had said to him when he gone up to pay. Even though the object that he had bought was already fairly small, he had quietly asked for it to be shrunk anyways. The employee had only needed to take one look at the boy who was fast asleep in his arms to understand why.

"Shopping with a kid at Christmas is insane mate," the man had said to Severus sympathetically as he shrunk the present down into the size of a gumball. Severus had put it in his inside pocket with a small grin and then nodded at the clerk, before picking up his other bag and setting off swiftly for the floo at the Leaky Cauldron.

Thankfully, with Harry's new glasses, he no longer had to worry about the possibility that they might fall off while the boy was asleep. As it was, he was more than a little exhausted as well, and thought it likely that the child would not be the only one asleep after they arrived at home.

Home—that word had kept appearing in Severus's mind; his own childhood home, like Harry's, had been less than a satisfactory experience for him, and likely his mother as well, if his gut feeling had any say in it. His father wasn't the same breed of sniveling perverted bastards that the Dursleys were, but he was bad enough in his own way.

As Severus stepped from the floo into his now brightly lit quarters, he couldn't help but smile in response to Poppy and Minerva's efforts to make the room more festive. He had not been exactly thrilled with the idea of letting Minerva into his quarters while not in them himself, but Poppy had talked him into it.

Apparently Minerva had finally made a decision about Dumbledore's increasingly idiotic actions, and according to Poppy, that decision had been against the old man. Besides, Poppy had promised to keep an extremely close eye on the Gryffindor head of house as long as they were in there.

Severus set down the clothing in Harry's room, before carefully pulling back the covers and putting the boy down. He quickly removed the boy's cloak and boots from his person, before tucking him in lightly. He removed the glamour from both of them as well, in case he should forget later. Then he removed the child's glasses and carefully laid them down on the child's trunk.

As was his own private custom, he kissed the boy lightly on his head before exiting the room, leaving the door fully open as he exited.

In the other room, he quickly reversed the effects of the shrinking spell on his small wrapped parcel, and then placed it under the already decorated tree. As he had gathered, the boy had only one good Christmas memory, and he had every intention on adding on to it with the celebration this Christmas. As he was about to stand up, his eyes caught the sight of another present already under the tree. He lifted it up and looked at the inscription. With little surprise, he realized it was addressed to both Harry and himself. He nodded to himself as he put it down, and then went to find his own nap.