When Severus barged into Albus's office for the eighth time in the two months that had passed since Harry popped up, Albus was smiling as per usual. The grin irked Severus but not nearly as much as having to come to work to see The Shoplifter's ugly mug every damn morning. Which is why he kept dropping by Albus's office once a week with the small hope that he would finally get it through Fawkes's owner thick head that he'd made a grave mistake.

"What appears to be the problem, Severus?" Albus asked as he always did.

"You know the problem, Albus," Severus answered.

Albus leaned back in his leather chair and spent a minute looking at him. "Has Harry done anything wrong since we've brought him on?"

A part of Severus wanted to yell that they hadn't brought Harry on. That was all Albus's doing, and Severus didn't want any blame cast his way when everything came falling apart (which it inevitably would). And another part wanted to explain that Harry had committed a grievous crime just by breathing in Severus's very presence. However, he knew that neither argument will win him any points in this endless debate.

"It's only a matter of time," he said instead.

"How is Harry getting along with the rest of the employees?"

Severus barely held in his groan because he knew that Albus already knew the answer. "Everybody kisses the ground he walks on," he grumbled.

It was utterly sickening to watch the employees flock to Harry like he was their savior or something. The main offenders were Neville Longbottom and Ron Weasley. Not that he'd liked any of them before Harry came along…but their allegiance to The Shoplifter rid Severus of any positive feelings he may have had towards them.

Neville had somehow broken out of his shell and was now Chatty Kathy with his new best friend. Then there was Ron. The redhead was practically attached to Harry's hip, and they seemed to have developed something of an odd brotherly bond that Severus didn't quite understand or care to analyze any further. The rest of their employees were female high school and college students who smiled wider and became extremely touchy as soon as Harry clocked in. Absolutely nauseating.

"And how have sales been since Harry joined the team?"

Being the manager, this was precisely a statistic that he'd been keeping an eye on as soon as Harry's paperwork had been submitted. The results were less than satisfactory.

"They haven't decreased," he admitted grudgingly.

Albus only chuckled. "From the number of customer's I've seen in our store the last few months, our sales have actually increased."

Yes, Severus already knew this. Sales had gone up by twelve percent. But there could be any number of reasons to explain this sudden burst in profits that had nothing to do with Harry. A whole sea of reasons.

"There is no proof that that's Potter's doing," he pointed out. Albus just smiled at him. "Fine, Albus. Don't fire him. You'll regret it, and don't expect me to hold me tongue when you do."

As Severus turned to leave, he was stopped by a soft cough.

"As you know, we reward people for their hard work at Fawkes. And I think Harry's raise is well past due, don't you?"

Damn Albus, and damn his twinkling eyes.

"Can I help you, sir?" Harry asked, peeking into Severus's door.

"Come in and shut the door," Severus snapped, noting the haste in which Harry followed his commands. Good. He wasn't in the mood for any dawdling.

"Ron said you wanted to speak to me."

While the boy's outward appearance didn't reflect any apprehension, his tight fist gave away his emotions. Severus wanted to laugh, guessing exactly what was putting Harry on edge.

"Take a seat, Potter. You're not getting fired…not today, at least."

As predicted, Harry's hands unclenched and shoulders dropped to a more comfortable position. He walked over to the only unoccupied chair in the office and plopped down gracelessly. "So what did you need me for, sir?"

Severus pushed a stack of papers across the desk until it was in front of Harry. "Sign these."

Harry looked at the pencil holder on the desk but didn't move to grab a pen. "What do they say?"

"It says that your wage will be increased by fifty cents an hour."

Harry looked like someone had knocked on his door and told him he'd won the lottery. Kids. So dramatic. "Wow! I mean, thanks!"

"Don't thank me. If it was up to me, you would be rotting in a jail cell by now."

The Shoplifter chewed on his lip as if he was mulling something over. Severus couldn't imagine what was hard to understand. Severus hadn't done anything that would lead the thief to think that he had been forgiven or his actions forgotten. He might not have explicitly articulated his distaste, but he'd thought the hourly glares had gotten the message across. Perhaps he needed to try harder.

"What, in your opinion, do I need to do to be a worthy employee here then, sir?"

Severus blinked. Thad hadn't been the response he had expected. "Quit now, and maybe then you'll earn my respect."

Harry scowled but tried to cover it up quickly. "I'm afraid I can't do that, sir," he said tersely. "I'm a little short on cash and need it so th-"

"Let me stop you right there, Potter," he interrupted. Harry was gearing up for a long pity session that Severus had no intentions of participating in. "You're mistaken if you thought I brought you in here for some heart-to-heart conversation. I'm not your therapist, and I'm not your friend. So quit trying to slack off and hurry up so that you can sign these papers and get back to work." He gestured towards his pencil holder.

Gritting his teeth, Harry snatched one of his pens and flipped through the packet. "I don't know why you hate me so much," he mumbled as he filled the last page with what could only be called scribbles.

Maybe the boy really was that dense. Fine, Severus would just have to spell it out for him. "Albus may have forgotten, but I promise you that I'll never forget that you stole from us."

Harry sighed. "I apologized and gave you the forty dollars back. I'm really trying here, Mr. Snape."

Severus wasn't impressed. "And yet here you are stealing from the company yet again by wasting time you should be working sitting here and trying to win a fight you and I both know you don't have a chance of winning."

Harry stood up abruptly, causing the chair to screech across the tile floor. "I know you don't know me that well, sir, but I'm not one to give up easily."

"I want you to know that I've deducted thirty minute's pay from your check this week."

And that seemed to have shut Harry down. At least for the time being.

BREAK

"How many times must I tell you that we sort jeans by color then size?"

"This will be the last time," Harry grumbled.

"See that it is! You've been here three months now, Potter. It's about time you acted like it."

Harry groaned but went about shuffling the jeans around like he was told.

When Severus returned to his tiny office, he noted a pamphlet placed carefully across his stack of expense reports. Fuming, he snatched up the paper to hunt for any clues as to who the daring intruder could have been. (These employees were getting out of hand!)

After skimming over Camp Kern's mission about Teambuilding, Cooperation, and Leadership, Severus was left with no doubts as to the identity of the trespasser.

"This is precisely why we tell them no drinks in the store. You should have stopped them before they came in."

"Just to make sure I'm understanding you correctly, you want me to tell a baby that he needs to throw his bottle in the trash before he comes in?" Harry questioned with a dubious look.

"Take the mop, and get to work, Potter."

Severus didn't know if it was possible, but Huntsville's Cooperate Teambuilding Programs looked more torturous than Camp Kern. If Albus thought he would trust any one of their unreliable employees to catch him in a Trust Fall from a fifteen foot ladder, he was grossly mistaken.

"Are you ever happy?"

"Yes."

"When? I've yet to see you smile once since I've gotten here."

"I do not normally share these moments with others, but I have had rare nights when I dream that Albus finally gives me permission to let you go. It's always entertaining to see how my dream self fires. Each time is always so different yet so clever."

Severus would have Filch pull up the video after they closed because he's pretty sure he heard a "Fuck you."

Willy's Corporate Ranch had apparently decided that one sheet of paper was not enough space to detail their program and had invested their money in a hard cover book. A book. About the importance of listening to others, being understanding of other's feelings, and getting in touch with your true self. At least that's what Severus had gathered from the subtitle before he threw the useless thing in the trash where it belonged.

"Just because you got another raise doesn't mean you're suddenly allowed to stop working, Potter. In fact, most rational people's response would be to work harder."

"With all due respect, sir, I'm on break."

"You've already had your break today."

"No, I didn't."

"You spent ten minutes talking to Ron about some sports game and that was after you spent seven minutes talking to Neville about his classes. In case the math is too much for you, that means you went two minutes over your fifteen minute break. You're lucky the mall closes at nine, otherwise you'd be working overtime tonight."

"Are you seriously not going to let me go on break? I haven't even had lunch yet!"

"Go cry to Ron and Neville, Potter. Maybe they can use whatever's left of their break to run out and get you some tissue."

Harry just shook his head. "Whatever."

Severus thought he'd appreciate the day when the team building pamphlets would stop magically appearing on his desk, but Dora the Explorer's Book of Manners somehow made him miss the old routine.

"You're late."

"I know. The bus came lat-"

"I don't want to hear your excuses. I'll be reporting this to Albus, of course."

"I'm sorry, okay? It won't happen again."

Severus sniffed. "For your sake, I hope it doesn't."

Severus frowned at the copy of Dora the Explorer: Good Manners for Me and You he found when opened his desk drawer.

"Who put you in charge of the store's playlist, Potter?"

"Albus said we could bring in our own music at last week's staff meeting."

"You call this music? It's absolute rubbish."

"You may not like it, but I think the customers don't mind it," he said just as a redhead walked by humming along. Harry raised an eyebrow. "Would you like me to do a survey to see what they think?"

Severus didn't care for the cocky tone, but the fact of the matter was that sales had risen three percent since DJ Potter took over. So he glared at the redhead and stalked off to the only place he could find some peace – his office.

Severus stared at the CD on his desk for all of two minutes. He assumed Albus had burned the playlist for him after he'd asked after the names of some of the…semi tolerable tracks that had played the other day. He had balance sheets to correct, but there was something about this music that seemed to be drawing more customers. So maybe – if Severus had some time this weekend to spare – he would sit down and try to figure out what it was.

"Even you're not stupid enough to think fighting a customer in the store is acceptable, Potter."

"But he insulted Ron! And he nearly pushed Neville into one of our displays. Just ask him!"

"I don't care what he did, Potter. He was a paying customer, and you had no right to raise your hand to him."

"He started it!"

"What are you, five, Potter? I. Don't. Care. Who. Started. It. We don't tolerate that kind of behavior here at Fawkes. You should have known better."

Severus didn't like these feelings. He didn't want to label them "disappointment" since that would imply he had some set of expectations for Harry, but he was failing to come up with a better term.

At the same time, Severus could tell that there was still some lingering rage bubbling underneath Harry's skin. Yet from the way the boy's face slowly became pinched, he imagined the severity of the situation was starting to sink in.

"You're going to fire me, aren't you?"

The terrible thing was that something in his stomach twisted. That never happened in his dreams. In his dreams, he was the happiest he'd ever been in years and had a barb ready at the tip of his tongue. His dream self knew exactly what to say to tear Harry apart and make him never want to set a foot in the mall for the rest of his pathetic life.

But just like before, he was failing to come up with those words.

"You're suspended for two weeks," he proclaimed weakly, now disappointed in himself.

Harry sucked in a quick breath and Severus half expected him to start choking. "Really?" He was practically buzzing with energy now.

Severus frowned. Harry didn't deserve to get excited. Not when Severus was feeling…however he was feeling. "No pay, of course," he added.

Nonetheless, a small grin grew on the boy's face. "Thank you, Severus! I swear to God, I could hug you."

Wrinkling his nose, Severus put some distance between the two. "Touch me, and I will make sure you regret it, Potter."

Harry laughed and held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, fine. But thank you for not firing me. I know you that would have been your dream come true, but you don't know how much this job means to me."

Severus rolled his eyes before shooing him away. He felt uncomfortable having Harry practically bouncing around him like that. Plus, every moment he wasted out here was a moment he was missing out on hearing whatever Albus was saying to placate the battered blond.

"Just go home already. That bruise on your cheek is going to scare away half the girls anyways, so you can take the rest of the day off."

Harry laughed. "You're probably right. Okay. I guess I'll see you later, then. Bye, Severus!"

"It's 'Mr. Snape' to you," he called to the retreating back.

The fact that there was no pamphlet, no book, and no CD on his desk the next morning was more alarming than he cared to admit.

A/N: Thanks for reading this chapter! I'm playing things by ear for now, but I will definitely make sure to do regular updates if I see that people would actually be interested. :)