Chapter 14
Chapter 13
“Uhg…” Harry said nearly buckling over as he was side-along apparated back into the cave they had been staying in. In the time they were away the torches had gone out and the Potion Master was unusually quiet.
“Severus please talk to me!” Harry pleaded as he was being given the silent treatment. “I swear it was a spur-of-the-moment action!”
“Spur of the moment?!” Severus growled as his eyes narrowed at Potter… well Evans now. “You accosted me in broad daylight in the middle of Diagon Alley!”
“I wanted to get my point across!!” Harry tried to argue.
“Oh, several points got across, just not the one you were wanting to make Potter!”
“It’s Evans now,” Harry corrected with a sigh. “It’s not like I can legally use the Potter or Peverel name in this reality,”
“Oh? Trouble in Paradise?” Death questioned with a wry smile on his skeletal face as he appeared in the cavern.
“Don’t do that! You nearly scared me half to death!” Severus growled.
“Only half?” Death sounded disappointed. “My my, I’m losing my touch,”
“So what happened between you two?” The entity now asked.
“Aren’t you everywhere?” Harry frowned. “You should know,”
“Eh… I was given a little talking to by Mom so I wasn’t really paying attention,” Death sounded sheepish.
“Mom?” Both Severus and Harry questioned at the same time.
“You might know her as Lady Magic,” Death mumbled. “She wasn’t all too pleased with me messing with the fabric of reality, nor getting Fate involved. Damn sis went tattling,” the entity growled.
“But leave that for now,” Death said as his mood turned curious. “Spill the tea, Harry! What have I missed? Last time I left, you two were getting along-ish,”
“Well your Master decided to accost my person in public,” Snape growled.
“It wasn’t like that!!” Harry defended.
“Professor…” Harry tried to reason as they entered the Gringott’s lobby once more.
“Mr. Potter we will discuss this later,” Snape stated. “Right now I want to get any errands that still need doing, done,”
“Eh, right,” Harry said upon realizing that they had limited time. “It’s a wonder the Order hasn’t found our location yet,”
“You were the one that said it would be easy Mr. Potter. That the Order wouldn’t be able to get close to us if we stick to populated areas,”
“I know, but it’s still kind of weird. Considering the Headmaster I would have thought that he’d have eyes everywhere.”
“Don’t be fooled Mr. Potter, the Headmaster does have informants but the news still takes time to reach his ears. Not all informants are in the Order so they may not be up to date yet on your…. Disappearance,”
“You’re probably right Professor. Then it’s best we get as much done as we can right now. First I will need a new wand,” Harry stated “Oh, and remember it’s Evans now. Hadrian Evans,” He winked.
“How could I forget Pot-I mean-Evans,” Snape corrected. “You didn’t look particularly happy at the identity the goblins had prepared for you,”
“I admit I was a little disappointed,” Harry muttered as they stopped near the bank’s exit. They were near one of the large marble columns and out of the general way of the other patrons leaving. Both had their conjured cloaks covering them somewhat, but not too much to appear suspicious. “In my other reality, I was Lord Potter-Black,” Harry whispered. “The Peverel estate was included in the Potter lordship as one. I just realized I only gained that because I did away with old Voldy.”
“Voldy?” Snape questioned softly though his brows did shoot up at the nickname.
“Well I could call him Tom since he hates that name but I refuse to call him the Dark Lord, and your mark would hurt if I use the full name. I just figured Voldy would piss him off even more if he ever heard it,”
“Mr. Evans, your lack of self-preservation astounds me,” Snape deadpanned.
“I’m used to it by now,” Harry waved off. “Let’s start knocking things off our list. First is a wand. Ollivanders is thankfully nearby,”
The duo quickly exited the bank and turned to their right. Ollivanders was a mere five doors down and it did not take them long to get there. The bell to the shop jingled merrily as they entered.
“Greetings,” a young man said from behind the counter. “Welcome to…” Though the young man stopped mid-sentence and his eyes widened upon seeing the duo. Harry noted that his face turned slightly ashes.
“Gerrold is that any way to greet guests,” Someone admonished from further in the shop. Footsteps could be heard and Harry saw Mr. Ollivander who had helped him as a first year. In this reality, he wasn’t yet so worn out from the war.
“Garrick,” Snape greeted.
“Ah, Professor Snape… and…” the elder Ollivander looked at Harry with soul-piercing eyes before saying “Mr. Potter, it’s a pleasure to see you again,”
“Da… uhm…” the young lad uttered shakingly.
“Ah, I see what happened. Gerrold why don’t you go wait in the back room. You’re not trained enough to withstand this type of pressure,” Without another word the young lad fled from the counter. Obviously happy to be removed from whatever caused his discomfort.
“I apologize for Gerrold. I haven’t trained him yet to withstand the pressure the wand you are carrying exudes Professor Snape,” Garrick stated. “A powerful wand indeed. Even more so when it is still sealed inside that box,” the wandmaker muttered. “Truly a work of a master craftsman,”
“Huh,” I don’t understand,” Harry uttered looking quite perplexed.
“Please excuse my companion,” Snape stated. “He isn’t as attuned to magic to feel it’s pressure. Even I grew uneasy upon feeling tendrils of it from the box. I can’t imagine Object Empaths such as yourself and your son dealing with this presence,”
“Oye, I’m plenty attuned,” Harry defended. “And what do you mean Object Empaths?”
“Mr. Pott-Evens, surely you have at least questioned at some point how the Ollivanders know which wand matches which wizard,” Snape’s frown expressed his displeasure that he had to explain this to Harry.
“Professor no need to berate the young man. Object empathy isn’t a widely known talent.” Garrick waved off. “But we are getting a bit off track. What can I help you gentlemen with?”
“Uhm… I need a new wand,” Harry uttered while looking from Snape to Ollivander.
“Hmmm… I suppose you do Mr. Evans,” Garrick muttered while scrutinizing Harry closely. “You aren’t from around here are you?” the shopkeep then questioned.
“How do you know?” Harry questioned.
“Your magical aura shows me that you have faced many hardships in your life,” Garrick stated. “Nothing a 15-year-old should have lived through. You also don’t look like a 15-year-old at all,” the man then deadpanned. “Be that as it may, I might have just the wand for you,”
With that said Garrick ventured off into the back of his shop. Both Harry and Snape could hear rummaging and some slight cursing as several wand boxes fell down. When the man emerged once more he held up a dusty box. “The only one I ever made,” Garrick announced proudly. “No one has ever managed to tame her before,”
Harry opened the box and peered at the wand nestled inside. “Laurel, 12 inches with a Horned Serpent Horn core,” Ollivander explained as Harry picked it up. No light of acceptance happened like his first Phoenix wand and Harry was sceptical.
“Speak to it Mr. Potter,” Garrick hinted. “It loves Parselmouths,”
Harry concentrated, thinking of snakes, and then hissed a Hello. Immediately the wand felt warm in his palm. “Oh,” Harry blinked as he could feel his magic and the wand core connecting.
“Finally this wand has an owner,” Garrick seemed almost relieved.
“Should Professor Snape also get a backup wand?” Harry questioned.
“No!” Garrick said more forcefully than intended.
“Forgive my outburst gentlemen,” He corrected, “Professor Snape should not touch another wand but the one he has now. I do not know where you got it from but it’s been wanting your attention all this time and its emotions seem to be on the jealous side. I would not recommend pissing it off,”
“You speak as if the wand is highly sentient,” Snape frowned.
“It might just be more sentient than we know. Frankly, I have never felt a wand like this in all my life. I can see why Gerrold was unnerved. Treat it well professor. It will be your greatest ally.”
“That was something,” Harry said as they exited the shop. “Professor, perhaps you shouldn’t keep that wand in the box. The goblins did say that it was some sort of sealing box. If it is as sentient as Mr. Ollivander says then it’s been waiting for centuries for another owner.”
“Not here, I can’t very well open a magically powerful artifact from its sealing box in the middle of Diagon Alley,” Severus stated. “Let’s just get the rest of our supplies and we will deal with this back in… uhm… at our base,”
“Right… where next?” Harry asked.
“We need food and clothes Harry,” Snape grumbled. “I am still half dressed.” he then gestured to the shirt he had hastily dawned the morning before dashing into the Hospital room. “You and I have no clothes but the ones on our back, we haven’t had a bath in a day and refreshing charms can only last so long. We also have no food. I highly doubt Death will keep providing us with a fruit basket.”
“Gotcha, Madam Malkin’s it is,” Harry responded. “Thankfully the Goblins managed to transfer the trust fund under the Evans name.”
“We are not going to Madam Malkin’s Potter when there is a perfectly good second-hand robe shop next to Ollivanders,” Snape countered. “We have limited funds so we need to be as frugal as possible. Whatever you might think, a teacher's salary would not cover a whole new wardrobe immediately,”
Harry hurried after Snape who had marched into the secondhand shop without looking back. “Severus so nice to see you,” The shopkeep greeted just as Harry entered. “I saved you some shirts in your size you might like,” Harry was a bit flummoxed at this interaction as this meant that Snape shopped here frequently.
“What?” Severus snapped after seeing Harry’s look.
“No nothing,” Harry evaded looking a bit guilty.
“If you must know, most of my salary goes to potions ingredients I need for my research,” Snape grumbled.
“But doesn’t Hogwarts supply those?” Harry now frowned.
“Hogwarts only supplies the ingredients needed for potions for the Hospital wing. Any individual research I do is out of my own pocket,” the dour man said tightly. “Now go and find some clothes that fit you. Those transfigured clothes will hardly keep.”
Harry nodded as he realized Snape was right. The man had transfigured Harry’s hospital pajamas into something sort of respectable when they were visiting the bank but transfigured clothes would never keep. They would either revert back to the original within a certain timeframe or they would decay faster if the transformation magic kept being reapplied.
Harry quickly found some jeans, shirts, a jacket, and a pair of shoes that would fit him while Snape looked for his own clothes. At the counter, Snape paid for it all even as Harry protested. “Don’t worry Po-Evans. You can pay for the supplies,” the dour man stated. Harry still a bit put out for not being able to pay his own way nodded.
When they were out of the second-hand robe shop Snape dragged Harry into Knockturn Alley. Next to Borking & Burkes was a small General store that sold the essentials. Harry of course paid for their supplies as Snape wandlessly shrunk them and put them in his pocket much to the store clerk’s surprise. “T-Thank you for shopping with us esteemed Wizards,” the man bade them goodbye. Once outside Harry had a frown on his face. “Just what the hell was that?” he questioned. “The clerk was dismissive of us until he saw you shrink those packages,”
“Potter you should know very well how the world works now,” Snape hissed. “Hogwarts Alumni are considered the cream of the crop here. Knockturn Alley differs from Diagon Alley like night and day. The purebloods consider this alley basically the slums of the Wizarding world. For those living here seeing wandless and or wordless magic is considered a wonder. It saddens me to say that the children of the people living in Knockturn could never afford the Hogwarts tuition. They are often homeschooled with their family’s limited magical knowledge.”
Harry frowned “That doesn’t make sense. Shouldn’t everyone get a magical education?”
“You are still too naive. Nothing is as simple as you make it out,” Snape stated. “Did you even know about any of this in your own reality?”
“Well no I….” Harry stopped as he pursed his lips. The professor gave him a look as if to say that now wasn’t the time nor place to argue about this. Harry kind of agreed as they were surrounded by some unscrupulous vendors. With their supply run done, they were walking to the apparition point when they came face to face with the last person they wanted to see.
“Alastor,” Snape greeted.
“Severus,” Moody muttered.
“Word on the street is that you kidnapped Mr. Potter,” Moody stated as he looked at the hooded duo.
“Word on the street is that you are retired,” Snape shot back as if to tell Moody to mind his own business.
“This is…. Highly unexpected. I only came here for an eye check-up,” Moody muttered.
“Then you best be on your way,”
“But now that I’ve seen you two I can’t just let it slide,” Moody uttered while Snape frowned. “As I said, there are rumors that you kidnapped Mr. Potter,”
“Hold on,” Harry interjected, startling both men. “Do I look like THE Mr. Potter you know?”
“Well you do look older,” Moody agreed.
“Do I look coerced in any way?” Harry asked.
“Well… no…”
“So I obviously don’t appear kidnapped,” Harry continued as he wound an arm around the Potion Master’s waist. “I’m obviously not here under any duress,” He said as he leaned in closer to Snape.
“It…. would appear so,” Moody had to agree as his eye did not alert him to any dark magic.
“Let me make one thing clear,” Harry stated as he pulled Snape close. The Potion Master squawked at the sudden action but kept quiet as he wanted to see where Potter would go with this. He did blush however as Potter’s hand wandered downwards. “What Severus and I get up to… is our own business. I am not your Potter, I don’t answer to the Headmaster, I am not a member of your Order, and neither of us has committed a crime,”
“Well yes…” Moody had to agree with the logic.
“So glad you agree,” Harry stated as he unconsciously groped Snape who blushed furiously. “Now we’ll be off. Too-daloo…” Snape apparated at that moment taking Harry along.