37: (august)
The doors flung open, and Harry jumped to his feet, already turning to get Poppy for whatever emergency the students had had this time before he realised it wasn't a student standing in the doorway.
Harry couldn't stop matching Severus' grin when he saw him. "Harry," he announced, "we're going on a field trip today."
"We are?"
"We are. We're going to Diagon Alley, and you going to love it."
This kind of attitude was new from Severus so Harry couldn't help but feel excited too, "My hands-"
"Will just have to behave themselves for today. Come along." Severus strode through the infirmary into Poppy's office. Once Harry got over his shock and followed behind, Severus already had the box of dragonhide gloves down and was pulling a pair out.
Poppy nodded encouragingly at him, he put them on, and they were off. He tripped as usual coming out of the floo but righted himself quickly to turn and look at everything Severus had set up for himself.
"I didn't have much savings, of course," Severus was saying, "but I had enough to get started on some ingredients. From my time at Hogwarts, I had connections so I went for the rarer materials first, to give me a name, you know?"
"That's great, Sev!"
But Severus wasn't listening, "Now, I don't have a large stock, but I've also brewed a few quick, cheap potions with small adjustments to the recipe to make them more potent. Because every potioneer has to have their own seal on the top, it's its own kind of advertising. Back here we have-" Severus lead into his workroom. It was much bigger than the one he'd had at Hogwarts, even bigger than the one he'd had as a teacher, which of course Harry knew, but it was great to see the space put to such good use. Even as Severus was giving Harry the tour, the bell had rung twice, and Severus had served another two customers. When it was getting late, Severus closed up shop and took Harry upstairs to show him what he'd done with the apartments and to have tea.
"It's good to see you so excited, Sev. I'm glad you're happy."
Severus pinned him with a look, "I'm sorry I haven't been by lately-"
"It's fine. Really. You have a lot of work to do, and I'm glad."
Severus smiled, even if it was a tad more subdued than it had been all day, and Harry had left feeling happy for his friend, but a little neglected as well.