Chapter 2
Harry
For the first time in his life Harry woke up with his limbs sprawled out, light pouring into the room and the sound of seagulls. The first few moments of the day were fuzzy, blurred confusion before the events of the previous two days came back to him.
He sat up in his large bed and blinked a few times before realising instead of morning haze, he just hadn’t put his glasses on yet.
When living In the cupboard, he would wake up to pitch blackness and the first thing he would do was put his glasses on, Then leave the cupboard without putting the light on. So the discombobulating, eye straining blur was usually reserved for when Dudley stole the glasses right off of his face. Wanker, he thought, smirking.
He felt around before finally finding them on the bedside table, where he definitely didn’t remember putting them, and slid them on.
Once he could see, he got up, stretched and looked out the window. It was a sunny day and Harry could already tell it was warm by the amount of people he could see on the beach.
He got dressed into his best clothes- a t-shirt that had fit Dudley when he was six, and a pair of jeans with a similar backstory- and brushed his teeth.
He walked downstairs and read the grandfather clock in the front hall, -that mysteriously worked but made no hourly announcements, Harry suspected it was magic- it was only seven in the morning on a Sunday but Harry could already hear Severus pottering about in the kitchen.
Harry walked into the room and noticed that all the water damage from last night had been repaired so well you couldn’t even tell it had happened. Magic.
Severus was frying eggs -or at least that’s what Harry assumed, they were starting to look more scrambled- when he turned around.
“Good morning,” he said, giving Harry a small smile which instantly put him at ease.
“Morning,” he walked over to Severus, “what.. are you making?” He asked, eyeing the black crumbled pile in the pan.
“Eggs, er- I think,” Severus scowled at the pan before whipping out his wand and emptying it.
“Here,” Harry said, taking the spatula and turning the hob down, “you need to lower the temperature, that’s why they’re burning. And see, you need to wait until the oil starts sizzling and bubbling before you flip it or it’ll just fall apart and leak everywhere.”
Harry flipped the egg and then put it on to one of the plates that were laid out on the bunker next to the hob.
“How do you know how to do that?” Severus asked, frowning slightly.
Harry ducked his head. From what he could tell so far, Severus was very different to the Dursley’s; he gave him a real room, he answered all of his questions, he fed him even when he’d been angry at him, he let him sit at the table and he’d even stopped him doing the dishes, where the Dursley’s would have complained that the water wasn’t hot enough to clean them properly and turn it up until he was shaking and his glasses steamed up.
So he almost felt embarrassed when Severus made his life seem like a horror story with his ‘ridiculous’ sarcastic suggestions and saintly ‘basic courtesy’.
Severus seemed to pick up on this so he dropped it, still looking vaguely angry but not at Harry, that much he could gather and that was enough to get him to pick up an egg and hand it to Severus. Taking the egg, Severus still managed to crack his egg with control and precision.
Eventually both he and Severus had a glass of orange juice- Harry hated orange juice but he would never be so ungrateful- and two eggs each, Sev's looking a little wonky and the yolk cooked all the way through, but he refused to let Harry make his for him, I’m a grown man, Harry. I don’t need a child’s help to fry an egg. He sounded too proud but something in Harry couldn’t help but feel like there was another meaning behind the comment.
“Why eggs for breakfast if you can’t even cook them?” Harry asked, watching Severus cut off some burnt bits of his own .
“It's all we had left in the fridge, we need to get some food shopping today as well.”
“Oh,” Harry had never been shopping before, not even in the muggle world, “wait so we’re going wizard shopping?”
“Yes.. but I expect it’ll be like muggle shopping, just a bit stranger to you, I suppose.”
“I’ve never been muggle shopping either,” Harry admitted, “is there like a high street just for wizard shops?”
“Yeah, diagon alley. Charms hide it from most muggles so we don’t have to hide our magic. It's massive, you can get almost everything you need there.”
“If it’s hidden, how do we get in?”
“We’ll floo the leaky cauldron and the entrance to Diagon alley is just through the-”
“Floo? Like when we came here through the fireplace?” Harry didn’t really want to do that again if he was being honest, it made him feel a bit woozy.
“Yes, we could also apparate straight into the alley but I think we should stick to flooing for now.”
“Okay,” Harry said, he was still excited about the trip to Diagon alley, even if the thought of going through the flop again made him nervous.
“Do you want some more toast?” Severus asked once Harry had finished his breakfast.
“No, I’m okay. Thank you,” he replied, Severus pursed his lips slightly as though trying to hold in a comment before taking Harry’s plate.
After the dishes were cleaned- by magic!- and put away, they were ready to go. Harry’s tummy was buzzing at the thought of going wizard shopping, he was practically jumping up and down with excitement.
“Right,” Severus said as he turned to face Harry, the older man frowned slightly, then wet a cloth to wipe the breakfast off Harry’s face.
“Are you ready to go?” He asked once he’d finished making Harry look presentable. He nodded so vigorously that he accidentally poked himself in the eye with the cloth Severus was still holding up, now just in front of his face.
Severus let out a huff of laughter as Harry righted his glasses, from their now sqew-if position caused by the collision, and got rid of the cloth, leading Harry into the living room.
“Okay, take a handful of powder and stand in the fireplace,” Severus explained, as Harry did so feeling very odd indeed.
“Once you're inside, very clearly say Diagon alley then chuck the power down onto the floor, once you're there, I want you to wait just at the side of the fireplace, I’ll come out just after you.”
“Okay,” Harry said,shuffling awkwardly In the cramped fireplace, nerves flowing through him, “Diagonally.”
He threw the powder down and was engulfed in heatless green fire. He soared down the magical system stiff as a board, watching quick flashes of what must have been hundreds of living rooms and offices.
When he finally fell through a fireplace in a crumpled heap, something wasn’t quite right. He was in a dark, dusty shop with very little sunlight. Looking around, the shop was filled with all sorts of strange and creepy objects.
He waited beside the fireplace, wiping his glasses and staring at it, willing Sev to come through behind him and explain that this was normal for wizards and everything was okay, but he had no such luck.
After a few minutes he started wandering around, avoiding things that looked dangerous and trying to find a way out. Eventually he spotted a door and exited the dingy shop, passing a tall man with long blond hair who seemed to be about to go into the shop, and gave him a very odd look.
Once outside, things were not much better, despite the sunny day, it seemed to still be quite dark in this alley. Harry felt uneasy looking around at the strange people surrounding him, he hadn’t met many wizards, but the ones he had -Severus, professor Dumbledore, professor McGonagall and Hagrid- certainly didn’t look like this. Feeling panicked, Harry set off down the alley, walking blindly in hopes he’d find Severus somewhere.
The narrow, winding road was very busy and while making his way through it, ten minutes after he left the shop, he accidentally bumped into a very unfortunate looking old woman.
“You lost dear?” She asked in a creepy, shrivelled old voice. Harry would have said yes if not for the fact he was absolutely terrified and could only stare at her, eyes wide and start backing away slowly, bumping into more people by doing so.
He had been getting funny looks all the way down the street but now there was a crowd of people staring at the small boy, a few creeping towards him.
“‘Arry?” A booming voice came from up the street. Harry couldn’t see over the people around him as he barely came up to chest height on most of them, but he would recognise that voice anywhere.
“What are you doin’ ‘ere? Where’s Severus?” The large man finally came into view, people moving out of the way to let him through.
“I got lost through the floo,” Harry croaked, knowing he sounded like he was on the verge of tears but he didn’t care, maybe he was. So far this was not a good first experience with the Wizarding world and he kind of just wanted to go home.
“‘Ere come with me,” Hagrid said, putting a large hand on his back and leading him up the street.
“Where are we?” He asked
“Knockturn alley, ya don’ wan’ a be hangin’ ‘round ‘ere, ‘arry. Mixed up with the wrong sort an’ all that. Nasty business”
“What were you doing down there then?” Harry asked, feeling a lot better now he was with Hagrid.
“Ah needed some flesh-eatin’ slug repellent for me garden, gettin’ that season now, am afraid,” he replied, still steering Harry about the alley.
Eventually Harry saw an opening, quite literally a light at the end of the tunnel, as the alley opened up onto a much brighter street, filled with people in bright colours, laughing and chatting as they did their shopping.
Harry flooded with relief, this is more like what he expected, magic. There were people everywhere flooding in and out of shops, flourish and blotts- looked like some sort of book shop-, Florean fortescue’s, ollivanders, quality quidditch supplies.
There was almost too much to take in -in a good way compared to how he felt in knockturn alley- so he just stood there, observing, until he felt a soft pat on his back.
“Come on we better get y’a back to professor Snape ‘e’ll be lookin’ for yah”
————
Severus
Diagonally? Severus had an uneasy feeling as he recalled the way the small boy rushed out the words in a nervous blur before flooing.
It’s fine, he told himself, hurry up he’ll be waiting. With that he took his own handful of powder,
“Diagon alley.”
When Severus landed in Diagon alley’s floo point, Harry was nowhere to be seen.
Looking around the haggard pub to no avail, He started to panic, he went over to the owner who was currently serving drinks behind the bar, “Mrs Abbot? Did you see a small boy floo here before me?” He rushed out, trying not to be rude.
“No, sorry love. Haven’t seen any children come through today-“ she kept talking but Severus didn’t hear it as he walked through the pub to the entrance way to Diagon Alley.
Once he got out to the street he started walking around, asking random people and shop owners if they’d seen a small boy, roughly 4’7ft, with black hair, round glasses and green eyes. Severus would probably be embarrassed if he wasn’t so distraught over the fact no one had.
Eventually, he found an auror standing near magicalmenagerie and started giving him the same description when he heard a small voice yell, “Uncle Sev!”
He spun around instantly to see Harry running towards him, Hagrid lumpily trailing behind.
“Harry!” Severus crouched down and grabbed him by the sides, “are you okay? Where was he?” He directed the last question at Hagrid but only spared him a quick glance to make that understood before returning to Harry and scanning him.
He was covered in soot, had a crack in his glasses and a small graze on his chin, hair even more messy than usual and clothes in a rut.
“Found him wanderin’ ‘round Knockturn alley, said ‘e got lost in the floo.”
Severus was horrified. Knockturn Alley? How had he ended up there? He felt a surge of fear as he imagined the small boy wandering around Knockturn Alley on his own and before he knew it, he was pulling him in for a hug, clutching the boy’s too large shirt as if to stop him getting lost again.
Severus can remember clearly the last time he’d hugged someone, about twelve years ago when he’d reconciled with Lily after joining Dumbledore’s side of the war. He tried not to think of that however as he focused on the small boy clinging to him like static, shaking ever so.
Once they separated, Severus thanked the auror for his time and the pair of them said their farewells to Hagrid, the giant reminding Harry lightheartedly on the dangers of nockturn alley before taking his leave, claiming he had important pumpkin business at Hogwarts.
“Do you still want to stay and do some shopping?” Severus asked, taking in how tired Harry looked, but he just nodded and glanced around in amazement at the multi-coloured street.
Severus took him by the hand and led him through the crowds and into Florean Fortescue’s first. Going straight to the bathroom to clean some of the soot off of him and put a plaster on his chin.
When they left the bathroom Severus stopped in front of the counter, “what do you want?” He asked Harry.
The boy gave him a bewildered look and then said, “ice cream?” As if he’d never tried it before, he probably hasn’t. Severus got a sense of déjà vu from the previous night when he’d made Harry hot chocolate.
Severus really fucking hated the Dursley’s.
“Yeah, what flavour would you like?” Harry still looked a bit shocked as he peered into the glass ice cream case, “umm, chocolate?” Harry said looking at Severus like he was going to snap and tell him off for suggesting it.
He gave the boy an encouraging smile, “we’ll have three scoops of chocolate and an affogato please.”
Harry’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head as Florean handed him a stack of ice cream almost as big as his head and sat in a booth, trying to catch all of the drips with his tongue.
Severus laughed as he took his affogato and a large stack of napkins. He sat down across from Harry and grimaced as he watched the boy get ice cream all over his just cleaned face and hands.
It was only then, in the mellow blank of his mind, that he had a moment to think, that he remembered what Harry had called him when he’d found him, just fifteen minutes prior. Uncle Sev. The title filled Severus with a feeling of warmth that he couldn’t quite place but he knew he’d felt it a few times before, with Lily.
Love
————
Once they had finished and Harry had his face and hands wiped, again, they made their way out of the shop.
“Where are we going?” Harry asked as he took Severus’ hand and gripped it tight, following him down the street and away from the most interesting shops.
“We should probably get your glasses fixed before we go looking around,” he answered taking Harry into a repair shop.
The glasses only took a few spells and a galleon to fix but Severus spent an extra 10 sickles to get an anti- steaming charm on them.
They looked in better condition once they left than Severus had ever seen them, now that the tape had been taken off and the bridge repaired.
He had also bought a case and cleaner because he suspected that If clothes were few and far between in Harrys current wardrobe, probably wasn’t given those either.
“What shops do you want to look in?” He asked when they were wandering back down the alley.
“Me?” Severus wished Harry would stop being so surprised when he wasn’t just treated like an inconvenience .
“Yes, this is your first time in Diagon Alley, where do you want to go?” He said looking at Harry.
“Umm… the book shop?” He said with that same uneasy look on his face.
“Flourish and blotts?” Harry nodded, “okay.”
And he led Harry into the shop, dropping his hand inside so they could look around. Severus ended up in the potions section, shocker, and Harry was looking at something across the aisle.
“What’s Quid- ditch?” Harry asked.
Severus turned around and saw Harry was holding flying with the cannons, a book on a popular Quidditch team.
“It’s a wizard sport you play on broomsticks and you have to get points by throwing a ball through a hoop in the air,” he tried to explain although he really didn’t have much knowledge on the game, he’d seen enough to give an accurate description, “the Hogwarts houses have teams and they play against each other throughout the year.”
“Did you ever play?”
“Me? No,” Severus almost laughed at the thought, and then, “your dad did though.” Severus had hated James Potter but they seemed to have reached somewhat of a truce when he and Lily reconciled. Besides, he owed it to Harry to tell him these things, because.. who else would?
“Oh?” Harry had a kind of sad expression on his face but he still looked interested.
“Yeah he loved the sport, there’s a whole shop dedicated to quidditch if you want to have a look?”
“Yeah?” Harry asked, making sure he meant it.
“Yeah,” he gave Harry a smile as he led him outside and down a few shops.
Severus had never actually been inside quality quidditch supplies before, just passed it. Although that was partly because there was about an 80-20 percent chance you would see James Potter inside and odds usually did not go in Severus’ favour.
The broom in the shop window was the nimbus 2000, a new revolutionary broom that had apparently reached astonishing speeds. It was the most expensive broom to date due to the new design and materials used. Harry immediately loved it.
“woah, have you ever ridden a broom before?” He asked.
“Yes, you get lessons your first year of school,” Severus replied, he’d never been interested in Quidditch but he had quite enjoyed flying. Even on his way to the most knee quaking death eater raid, flying was always soothing. He was pretty sure he still had his old broom in the loft somewhere, sitting unused since said knees aged.
“Cool, I can’t wait, I think I’ll be really good at it,” Severus huffed out a laugh at the ever so Potter comment that strangely made him feel nothing but fondness rather than the expected loathing. Harry swiveld and marched across the room to look at a poster, it was a Birds Eye view of a Quidditch pitch, with all the positions marked out in their respective places. Harry owned that shop, looking at everything seriously, even if he clearly couldn’t understand it, as if it was the most important thing in the world, and he, was an expert. It was incredibly cute.
“What position did my dad play?” Harry didn’t take his eyes off of the poster, scanning it for all the information he could get from it.
“He was a chaser, that’s the one who tries to get the ball into the hoops,” he added, glancing at the shopkeeper for reasurence in his statement- he gave it in a small nod, looking very entertained by Harry’s sudden business persona.
“What do they do?” He now pointed at the beaters.
“Er- I think they try to hit the other balls with a bat, I don’t know why though…” Severus looked around the shop to find the old man, hoping he would be able to help, but he’d turned around and was now helping a new customer. Eventually he spotted a book, Quidditch; positions, rules and tactics, “Why don’t we get a book, yeah? I’m not really that into quidditch.”
He had that look on his face again, Severus was sad to see the all-work-no-play one fade away into the one carved by wrongdoings Severus feared he would never be able to undo.
“you want to buy a Quidditch book?” He asked.
“Yes, if you want.”
“But you said you don’t like quidditch,” Harry looked confused.
“Well if you’re interested in Quidditch you should learn about it,” Severus said smiling again. this is normal Harry, the smile said. Please make it normal Harry, it whispered, “if you want to.”
Harry looked shocked again and a bit sad but he started nodding and went over and hugged him tightly, “Thanks Uncle Sev,” he said earnestly.
This boy was going to kill him, “no problem,” he said, pulling back from his second hug in about twelve years.
They bought the book and the poster Harry had been looking at and left, “I think we should go get some new clothes, yeah?”
Harry’s shocked look was starting to dull but perhaps that was just by Severus’ willpower, or self soothing delusion.
“What kind of clothes do you want?” Severus asked.
“What kind?”
“Yeah, i think you should get some t-shirts, trousers and pyjamas but you should probably also get jumpers and a jacket for winter because you won't be able to come shopping with me when we’re at Hogwarts.”
“Oh,” is all he said, looking around the shop with wide eyes.
Severus led him over to the boys section and started with the t-shirts, “what’s your favourite colour?”
“Erm-“ Severus reminded himself that Harry had probably never been asked questions like that, “I quite like blue and red.”
“Okay,” he picked up size 8-9 and 9-10 of a pale blue polo shirt, because he was quite small for an almost eleven year old, and turned back to Harry, “do you want to try on these first so we know your size?”
“Okay,” Harry looked a bit overwhelmed but still took the t-shirts into a small dressing room at the back .
The size 8-9 fit better so Severus got him 5 t- shirts, a polo shirt and a dress shirt. He also got him a few t-shirts in the larger size in case he grew in the first term.
They then got three pairs of jeans and a pair of smart trousers. -Severus didn’t think he would actually need much ‘smart’ clothing but he’d rather be safe than sorry- Harry picked out a Quidditch jumper- getting excited when he saw it but not outright asking for it, almost squealing when Severus asked if he wanted it-, and got a few plain knitted jumpers for winter.
He got Harry a coat and a pair of trainers -pair of smart shoes as well just in case- and lastly they got ten pairs of pyjamas -just in case.
“Do you want to get robes?” Severus asked, not knowing because the boy was raised muggle.
“Robes?” Harry asked, confused.
“Yeah, like the ones Dumbledore and I wear. Most wizards wear them as casual clothes but not all do, some wear muggle clothes like you but you can get some if you’d like. Probably couldn’t wear them out in the muggle world though, might look a bit odd to them,” he said, looking at the small boy.
Harry seemed to ponder this, “yeah if that’s okay.”
“Great, we’ll get you fitted at madam malkin’s.”
Just. In. Case. If he needed clothes Severus didn’t see any reason why he should have his pick. It was all necessary. What if still left room for possibility and that meant he had to have one of everything. Just in case. It was the least he could do. However rare the possibility Harry would always have a just in case with Severus. Harry would never go without things he needed. Anyway, it’s not like they were unnecessary, oh no they were definitely necessary . Life loved to throw what ifs at you and Severus would always throw his just in cases right back at it.
Just in case Harry was cold.
Just in case Harry was invited to a quidditch party.
Just in case Harry went to a ball.
Just in case it was wear your coolest socks day.
Just in case it was wear your favourite cool trainers day.
Just in case Harry was sad.
Just in case Harry didn’t know who he was or where he came from.
Just in case Harry felt unloved.
If there was one thing Severus could make sure of from now on, Harry would always have what he needed.
Harry would always be warm.
Harry would always be able to fit in and show off his favourite quidditch team.
Harry would always be well dressed.
Harry would always have unnecessarily cool socks just because he pointed out the cool pattern on them absentmindedly and Severus bought every kind.
Harry would always have clean, cool, favourite shoes that fit.
Harry would always be comfortable, he could always wear his favourite colour.
And if Harry felt unloved, Severus would always give him what he needed. If Harry ever felt unloved Severus would always be there, in the room three doors down, in the office a castle away or in the clothes on his back, Severus would always do anything for Harry.
And if it started with clothes,
he’d buy the lot.
— — — —
Once they had bought everything from Minos Montgomery’s muggle fashion, Severus no longer had enough hands to hold Harry’s in the street, so the small boy had to grab Severus’ sleeve and trail after him through the busy alley.
“Hiya what can I do y’a for?” A jolly Madam Malkin said from behind the counter.
“We’re here to get fitted for a pair of robes, please,” Severus said, gesturing at Harry with his head.
“Sure thing, first pair?” She asked
“Er- yes… please” Harry said awkwardly, shuffling out from behind Severus a bit.
“Alright I’ll just get you measured first then, love. Then you can pick out a set that you like,” she said.
“While we’re here we might as well get him fitted for a winter cloak for school if that’s okay,” Severus added.
“No problem, we’ll just get him sorted with the robes and then get a cloak that fits well over them. If you just want to jump up here, love?” The latter was for Harry so Severus gave him a small nudge and the boy clambered up onto the podium, instantly multiplying as he stood in front of various large mirrors.
Once Madam Malkin measured him, she got him to pick out a set of robes he liked. After much deliberation and reassurance, Harry settled on a navy set and a matching navy and silver scarf for the winter, artfully leaving out the pointy wizards hat which Severus respected, truthfully he’d always found them rather unnecessary himself.
They got a black winter cloak with silver buttons for over his school robes and when it came time to pay they just decided it would be better if Harry kept the robes on and just to put his old clothes in the rubbish, considering their from the floo fiasco and previous life.
It was quarter past three when they left Madam Malkin’s and Harry was starting to drag his feet, “we just need to get some food shopping then we’ll go home, yeah?”
The small boy only nodded and walked behind Severus, rubbing his eyes all the way to the leaky cauldron.
Severus thought going to a muggle shop would be the best considering the food Harry grew up eating would’ve been from one and going from Ribena to pumpkin juice might be rather unpleasant for a ten year old.
Once at the Leakey, he got himself and Harry a portion of chips each to keep them going until dinner, -giving an appreciative smile to the barmaid who took in the small boy he’d entered with and looked pleased, clearly recalling his previous panicked state- Harry regained some energy after the snack, He assumed the boy must have been hungry and silently wished he’d have said something upon the immediate appearance of the feeling.
They finished their food and Severus quickly flooed home and back to drop the bags off -asking Madame Abbott to watch over Harry for a few minutes, not trusting the floo with him one bit after the day he’d had- then set off into muggle London, walking a few streets before finally reaching Waitrose.
“Waitrose? s’a bit posh no?” Harry asked, looking amused.
“Oh shut up, it’s the only muggle grocery shop I’ve been to.”
“I thought you grew up in muggle England?” Harry asked.
“I did but my dad preferred wizard food,” he replied getting an “oh,” in response.
Walking in Severus realised he should have taken his own advice about wearing robes out in muggle places because he and Harry were getting very strange looks.
“What meals do you like?” He asked, praying Harry would actually have an answer rather than, “whatever’s fine”.
To his pure joy and slight pride the small boy said, “Italian food.”
“Italian food? So like, pizza, pasta, lasagne, things like that?” He clarified, happy to oblige whatever the answer.
“Yeah,” Harry smiled slightly shyly and tiredly up at him through his fringe.
Okay, Sev thought, I think we’re getting somewhere.
Severus got a trolley and Harry asked to sit in the small seat at the front, ment for young children but he was small enough.
They went around Waitrose -Harry barely staying awake in his seat- getting things to make meals throughout the week and snacks. It was at this point Severus realised that he should probably get some other things too.
Harry would need shampoo and soap in his bathroom and he should probably get things like plasters and paper towels, considering Harry couldn’t do magic, and a lock to fit to his bedroom door if he wanted some privacy.
After a very lengthy shop -in which he got Harry to admit he didn’t actually like orange juice and that his favourite fruit was apples, which was basic but he’d probably never tried much else, so Severus got a selection of others as well- they were finally ready to go home.
“Um.. maybe we should apparate home,” Severus said, still too scared to let Harry floo home just yet.
“Ok- ay,” Harry said, yawning. They were now trolley-less and the small boy was taking badly to the knee standing situation.
They walked down towards the Leaky cauldron until they reached a small alleyway and slipped inside, Severus apperating them with a crack.
————
They landed in the front garden and Harry immediately doubled over and threw up. Dropping the bags, Severus rubbed his back and lead him inside.
Harry sat on the couch and Severus sweeped out of the room to get him a glass of water. When he returned however, the tired child had already keeled over and fallen asleep. Setting the glass to the side and covering Harry in a blanket, Severus went outside to collect the shopping bags.
An hour later, after putting all of the food away and the toiletries in Harry’s bathroom, he decided to attach the lock he’d bought to Harry’s door.