Freak

Harry doubled over shaking and wretching as he landed on his knees after what felt, he imagined, like being turned inside out and being sucked through a straw.

“W-what was that?” He stammered out still trying to get a bearing on his surroundings as the bat-like man, Seborus? his mind supplied pulled him to his feet and offered him a little blue glass of something. He looked at it questioningly without taking it. This man may have just saved him, but he knew not to take things from strangers.

“That was called apparition, I apologize I should have prepared you for the sensation. It is distinctly unpleasant, especially before you can do it on your own.” Seborus held the bottle of whatever the blue stuff was closer to Harrys face and continued “This is an anti-nausea potion. It will make you feel better, drink.”

Harry looked at the man and cautiously took a sip, then finished the rest in one gulp when he realized it really did make him feel better. It was slightly minty and immediately made his stomach stop rolling. Finally able to take in his surroundings Harry realized they were in an alley next to a Harrods. He recognized the store from when Aunt ‘tunia had to take him and Dudley to get uniforms for primary. Harry looked at the man questioningly as he was led inside, but was given no answer as to why they were there.

POV change <3

“Your current clothes are hardly fit for daily wear, they would be better as dust rags. Come along” Severus said, leading the child towards the childrens section. “We will pick out a few articles and determine what size you are before buying your new wardrobe.”

Severus grabbed several shirts and trousers off of the rack before leading the boy to the changing rooms and pushing the clothes into his arms and taking him to the nearest cubicle. Severus sighed as the boy changed, glad he made sure to keep muggle money on him in case of an emergency believing this definitely qualified as one.

“Umm Seborus,” the child whispered. “I think these fit the best.” Seborus?

The boy stepped out and Severus’ previous thought was swept from his mind for the moment as he took in how truly small Potter was. Realizing the child was starting to flush from embarrassment, Severus shook himself out of his thoughts and beckoned the boy closer.

“Turn around,” he ordered and checked how the clothes fit the boy making sure the waistband on the trousers was tight enough to fit but loose enough to leave some growing room “You can face me again, now raise your arms.” making sure the shirt did not ride up and show the boys stomach and the sleeves were long enough, Severus nodded in satisfaction. “You can change back into your other clothes, we will be looking for more clothing in these sizes.”

Harry flushed and stammered out that he did not have the funds to pay for the clothing before Severus waved him off, “I would hardly expect a child to pay for his things, your family may have told you otherwise, but they were the ones responsible for feeding and clothing you. Even if they did an abysmal job of it.

Finally, the boy nodded reluctantly and they began to shop in earnest. All the while Severus made little comments about Lily, causing Harry to ask for several shirts in different shades of blue since blue was his mum's favorite, and multiple robust patterns in plaids and stripes like his mother often wore. They grabbed a few different sets of pajamas, new socks, a nightrobe, pants, trousers, shirts, and a couple of spring jackets. They could get a coat before winter, but that was still some time away. Once they had finished with their haul, Severus shrunk down the clothes and pocketed them, whilst Potter watched in amazement, before ushering him off to get new trainers. Due to the boys gathering excitement whilst getting his own clothes, it was rather easy to avoid any comments from Potter about ‘not needing new trainers’. Bollocks. No child should have shoes that large on them and held together by gaffer tape. They tried on a few pairs of trainers having the child run and walk in them to determine if they were comfortable, before the boys’ eyes alit on a pair of very familiar trainers and lit up. For Merlin’s sake, the boy did have something in common his father after all, those same ridiculous red canvas shoes Potter constantly swanned about in had Potter the younger immediately beguiled. Severus resisted the urge to roll his eyes and decided that, since he could not speak kindly of Potter the senior he could at the very least offer facts.

Severus cleared his throat awkwardly, “You know, your father used to wear shoes like those. If you would like those you only need ask.”

“Yes, please!” the boy exclaimed, eyes sparkling in delight.

If it made the boy happy, and had him asking for something rather than refusing basic human decency, Severus supposed he could bestow more facts to the boy about his father as well. Paying, and leaving, Severus led the boy to a nearby diner and sat Potter down after ordering some sandwiches for them. “So, Harry.” Severus started, “Now that we have grabbed some basics, I would like to speak with you about our situation. You will become my ward, however, this is not a legal arrangement I made with your previous guardians. Therefore, we must not let anyone from the wizarding world find out you are with me. At this time we will not be able to go to Diagon Alley so we will have to go another day in disguise.” he concluded as their sandwiches were brought to them.

Severus watched as the boy nibbled on half of a sandwich cautiously, before beginning to nod off into the sandwich. Having finished his own food Severus shook the boy awake and led him onto a side street before carefully hugging the child to his chest and apparating the Spinners End. “Now, Potter, you can go to sleep soon, but first I must stress the importance of the secrecy of this arrangement. We will be making a trip to Diagon in the morning, I need to pick up an order and we need to get you some robes. If you let our identities slip, you could be taken back to your relatives.”

“Um, Seborus?” the boy asked shyly, “What do you mean wizarding world? And what’s a Diagon Alley?”

Bloody hell. Severus had dragged this boy around the entire day without ever explaining who he really was or anything about magic. Wait, did he just get called ‘Seborus’? That was going to have to be corrected.