"Why hello Severus. Back so soon?" asked Dumbledore with an amused expression.
"As you probably already know, I have no idea where to go, since you have not told me about my chambers." Severus set Harry down on the floor, and the child instantly crawled away to explore. "Secondly, I have no idea what to do. I was literarily given a child, and the next thing I know I was out the door, and in the Great Hall trying to prevent Mrs. Norris's murder."
"Yes I thought about this whist you were away." Dumbledore winces as Harry knocked quite a few of his possessions to the floor. "Harry must have a new identity. We mustn't forget that Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters are after him, and that with the planned disappearance of Lily and James, this will be quite difficult."
"What do you suggest we do?" Several books were now in a pile on the floor. "How am I to explain that this child is living with me?"
"I think that after you change Harry's name, he can pose as a distant relative of yours, and we can say that you are the official guardian of said child." Fawkes thrilled an annoyed note, and flew to the other side of the room to avoid danger.
"I guess that that will work. That way, no one will have to know that a Slytherin is housing a potential Gryffindor. Once he starts school, he can go back to living with his parents, his sister, and that godfather. Black! What are we supposed to do about him?"
"Sirius Black will continue on as though nothing has happened. As cruel as this may sound, he will have to believe, along with the rest of the world, that all four of the Potters are dead." The window shattered.
"Good then, if my being here is no longer necessary, I think that I will go down to my new chambers and have some peace," said Severus.
"Yes that would be nice would it not? However, I have just one more errand to run." Dumbledore suddenly looked very mischievous. Snape raised an eyebrow.
"What, may I ask, would that be?"
"Why shopping of course. I do not remember Lily or James leaving any of Harry's things. So I would like you both to go to London, both magic and muggle, and get everything that Harry may need. The key to Harry's savings vault is right here. All you need to do now, is wait for me to change his appearance a tad." Severus stared at his former Professor as if he were mad.
"There is absolutely no way that I will spend a second of my time shopping," Sev said slowly and very venomously.
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"I cannot believe that he got me to do this," said a very strange looking Severus Snape. He was now wearing muggle jeans, and a loose t-shirt, with his hair (clean for once) tied behind him in a low ponytail. "But let's look at it this way, at least he is punished by the immerse damage Harry managed to inflict." The baby in his arms was very different from what it looked like a few minutes ago. Harry now had longer hair (still black), deep, onyx eyes, slightly higher cheekbones, and a very happy expression on his face. He now could be mistaken for an overly happy Snape.
Severus glared down at the baby in his arms, and entered the leaky cauldron. There, he unshrunk a dark green pushchair, and walked proudly to the entrance to Diagon Alley with the baby in tow.
First stop was Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions, since Albus already took the money from the vault. The chime rang through the store, when the two wizards stepped in.
"Hello there, what can I do for you today?" asked a sales clerk.
"I need a whole new wardrobe for this child. I will need you to find everything he may need in terms of clothes. Do try not to take forever."
"Of course sir, I'll just get some help, and you'll be out of here in no time," she smiled.
As though on queue, eight middle-aged women appeared in front of Harry, and pulled him away.
I still cannot believe that I am doing this. Remind me why.
You're doing this because Dumbledore is manipulative and Lily takes after him. You are also growing soft and weak.
This is supposed to make me feel better how?
It's not supposed to. You asked a question, and I told you the answer.
Look at that, the monster is back.
Serves the idiotic women right, they deserve to be kicked.
Oh! He bit that one.
They deserve to be bitten as well.
They can say goodbye to that manicure.
I think that one just lost sight in one eye.
No she's still going.
I don't get it, how can he be so horrible, and they are still cooing over him with mother hens?
It's a woman thing I guess.
I wonder when they'll have had enough?
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It's been three hours. If I didn't have to act like a responsible guardian I would have been back at Hogwarts two hours and fifty-eight minutes ago.
Are they still going at it?
Yes.
Well, that proves it. They're mad.
Quite.
"Well, that certainly did take a few more minutes than we thought it would. But we did put together many of the cutest outfits. This little fellow here had a lot of fun. Didn't you?" Harry scowled up at her, and stuck his tongue out.
Good Harry.
Harry then poked the one next to her very hard in the nose.
VERY good Harry.
"Then if we are done here, I would very much like to move on. Please send all of this to Hogwarts. The money on the counter will cover everything.
It better cover everything. I spent the better part of half and hour counting and recounting it.
The sun was slowly starting to set, but Severus was not about to have to come back here for a very long time. The next shop they went to was a baby supply one. Once in the store, the Potions Master felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment when ten or so women with their offspring looked long and hard at him and Harry.
Severus grabbed a shopping cauldron, and hastily walked down the isles. He bought a whole crate of baby formula (he REALLY didn't want to ever go back here), and a few dozen bottles, cups, plates, and feeding utensils. He looked through the diaper section. A picture of a woman nodded knowingly at him
Miss Elder's Baby Nappies Supreme
These nappies are what all mothers want. They are magically fitted once on, and can be left on the baby for up to a week, since each diaper has an automatic cleaning and anti-rash charm on it. Nothing else is needed for a child who is not yet toilet trained. Don't waste time with the old brands! This is the dream come true!
An entire crate of those also was delivered to Hogwarts later on. There were just a few things left. Severus took a firmer grip on Harry, and went out of the store, heading to the Apothecary. He needed more ingredients, especially those that were useful in baby medications. Behind him he heard a gasp from the store manager. Isle seven definitely needed clean up after Harry.
Before going inside the Apothecary, Severus halted. He put the bubble charm around Harry and levitated him in the store. After all, many things in there actually held some value. The Bubble charm worked perfectly, and they left the store without causing the need for renovation.
"Come on then, you. We have a toy store to go to, and then, finally, I will get peace," Severus tried to scowl to prove his point, but was too wary to intimidate even a baby.
"Fred! George! No! For goodness sake come back here!" A red headed woman ran up to Severus, a boy in her hands, and two following her.
"Have you seen two boys go past here? They're twins, have red hair, freckles, and were probably laughing their heads off," she said breathlessly.
"I assure you Madam. We have not seen any children, twins or no, come by. Now, we have to get on with what we came here for," Snape tried glaring once more, but failed miserably.
"Oh, who do you have there? This is Ron," she said motioning to the youngest red headed child. "They look to be about the same age. What's your son's name?"
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My chapters are getting good length. This one was exactly 1444 words long. I think that 1500 will be normal for me. If someone thinks that I should do more or less, please say so in a review. I left the story off here for a reason. I need names. I good names that will sound good with Snape as a last name. As you have probably guessed, Severus has not yet thought of a name. Now is the time. So please review, you all are making me very, very happy.
~Miki
Oh, and I'm sorry if this chapter was a bit on the boring side. I promise to do better in later ones. I had to get the boring part over with.
Thanks to all who have reviewed. It's really great that you like the story so much. I don't have time to put up all those who have reviewed up, so bear with me. I'll do so next time.
