Bonds of Pain

Bonds of Pain

Chapter 8

In which they visit a Slytherin in Muggle London

Severus watched as his godson and Potter practically rampaged through Diagon Alley. They had both mad drastic changes over the past three weeks. Both were cheery and active, and they were obvious friends. They spent little time apart, and they were taking more interest in life.

As the boys finished their school shopping, Severus led them through the Leaky Cauldron. He stopped to hang up his robes in the cloakroom before they left. When Harry's jaw dropped, he looked at his clothes and grinned.

"Yes, Potter, I do wear Muggle clothes from time to time." His shirt was Slytherin green with silver writing proclaiming, "Keep staring, and I might do a trick." His baggy black denim trousers were stitched in silver, and he looked every inch the casual Slytherin.

"Cool outfit, Uncle Sev," Draco commented, nudging his friend. Potter picked up his jaw from the floor as Severus chuckled.

"'I Carry a Wand' has a lot of merchandise in House colours. I have to admit, Wendolyn has quite a head for business." Harry looked at Draco, who spoke for the other boy.

"That's a really obvious name for a store frequented by Muggles. Don't any of them suspect?" Severus smiled wryly and shook his head.

"Actually, it attracts the sort of Muggles that want to believe in magic anyway. If any of them see a wand, they figure you're one of them." He pointed to his own wand, poking from a long pocket on his left hip. Harry looked very interested.

Smiling at the boys, Severus strode from the Leaky Cauldron, stuffing his moneybag into a pocket he'd enchanted. He tended to keep a bit of Muggle money in with the rest of the money, and he'd made sure each boy had gotten a decent amount of Muggle money before they'd left Gringotts as well. As the boys followed him into the Muggle world, they discussed several "normal" subjects. Well, Draco discussed them. Potter would make appropriate noises, but he didn't speak.

Severus knew Potter's vocal chords had been damaged at the hands of Vernon Dursley. The simple "Thank you" he'd received in the bank had sounded like stones grating. That had to hurt. He actually felt sorry for the boy, despite his hatred of James. So he looked like James and often acted like the idiot his father had been. He saw now that the boy wasn't his father, and never would be. He was going to try to go a bit easier on Potter now that he knew how the boy had grown up. Humble, indeed. It was a wonder his spirit hadn't been crushed.

The Dursleys had been arrested the day after he had rescued Potter, and they had been tried one week later, just before the boy's birthday. Poppy, always the consummate mediwitch, had taken photos of both boys' injuries before she had treated them. The pictures of Potter had been used in the trial, and each of those awful Muggles had received a year in Azkaban. Potter had shuddered when he'd heard the news. They would never take "care" of the boy again, due to their negligence and abuse.

When "I Carry a Wand" came into sight, Severus lengthened his strides. Harry spotted the sign and called Draco's attention to it. The paler boy responded with a whoop and a sudden sprint for the door. Potter was close on his heels.

When Severus entered more sedately, the first person he saw was a very shocked Wendolyn Altair. She missed his entrance entirely, and he poked his old classmate's shoulder. She blinked and looked at him.

"Sev! Is that Draco Malfoy?" She waved a hand towards his godson, who was chattering away at Harry and looking at shirts. Severus chuckled.

"Aye. And the other one's Harry Potter." He was doing his best not to laugh at his Housemate.

"No... Really?" She looked at him, completely amazed. "I thought you said they hated each other! Wait, didn't Lucius get taken in a few weeks ago for being a Death Eater?" At Severus' nod, she frowned. "His own boy turned him in?"

"Anonymously after being tortured for three weeks because he wouldn't take the Dark Mark." Wendolyn blanched at the statement.

"You know, now I don't blame him. Why's Potter with you, though?"

"Didn't you hear about the Dursleys being tried two weeks ago?"

"Oh. So they were in charge of him? I didn't connect that to the Boy Who Lived..." Wen shrugged. "Not that the papers said who it was they'd abused so badly."

Severus mirrored her shrug. "I wouldn't treat him as if he were famous, if I were you. Evidently, he hates the treatment. Didn't even know anything about his parents or being a wizard until he was eleven. The damned Muggles wouldn't even let him have his Hogwarts acceptance letter." Wen looked scandalized as Severus elaborated. "Dumbledore had to send Hagrid to take him to get his school supplies for his first year."

"Geez..." Wen frowned. "I see why they got the time they did, then."

Severus nodded and turned his attention to the boys. Potter was holding up a bright blue tee and chuckling. The front read, "I love Quidditch!" When Harry flipped the shirt around, Snape stifled a laugh. "I think it's because the Bludgers hit on me." That had to be for the Weasley boy.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry had the Bludgers shirt tucked under his arm and was browsing more shirts, looking for himself, when Draco tossed a tee at him. It landed on his head, and he pulled it off to look at the legend. "I love to catch the Snitch" was flanked by a broom and a fluttering Snitch.

{Get it?} Draco asked. {Catch the Snitch?} A lewd suggestion floated across the bond, and Harry doubled over in silent laughter.

~That's bad,~ he laughed, throwing the emerald tee back at his friend. The other boy ducked before folding his "find" and putting it back on the shelf.

{Not as bad as some slogans I've seen.} Draco wore a disgusted look on his face.

~Then I don't want to know.~ Harry pulled out a green shirt with long sleeves to look at its slogan. "Don't squish the Seeker!" Harry smiled and held it up for Draco to see. ~Think I should get this one with a red and gold stripe beneath the writing?~

Draco smirked back. {Maybe two or three. It might keep the girls off you come September. Wouldn't want the House Seeker and my best friend flatter than a hotcake.}

~Thanks,~ Harry thought back wryly. ~But why would the girls be on me, anyway?~ Draco's look was incredulous.

{Haven't you looked in a mirror lately? Or behind you at all today? The only reason you weren't mobbed in Diagon Alley today was because of Uncle Sev and I.}

~Say what?~ Girls? Following him? What could they want from him? Sure, he was famous, but he wasn't that recognizable without spotting his scar. Draco walked him around a rack of trousers and pushed Harry in front of a full-length mirror.

"Think like a girl for a minute, my friend. Is that not one of the most adorably handsome specimens of the male teenage human you have ever seen?" Harry blinked at the strange boy in the mirror. He was sort of tall, with striking green eyes and unruly black hair. Wait. Was that him? "Come on, Harry. You're not the scrawny, pale boy you've been for four years. Hell, even the old me wouldn't mess with you now. And he was an arrogant bastard. You're a different person now, and the girls--and guys that play for that team--are starting to notice." Now that he noticed, he had filled out quite a bit and gotten some sun over the past three weeks.

~Eurgh. Great. I'm going to be swarmed. Thanks for warning me, mate.~ How was he going to deal with this?

{Hey, I'll be there to help fend them off.}

~Maybe you should try out for the Gryffindor team. We're going to need practically a whole new team next year, and we need a Keeper this year.~ Harry slumped, thinking about how hard they'd have to work to keep Slytherin from beating them. Then he spotted Draco's grin over his shoulder.

{I play best as a Chaser. But I'm not going to use one of the brooms Lucius used to buy my Seeker position. The dirty Slyths can have them.} Harry smirked at this. He had an idea.

~Er, Draco, when's your birthday?~

{Promise you won't laugh?}

~I'll try not to.~

{February fourteenth.} Draco scowled. {I'm five and a half months older than you.}

Harry's eyes went wide. ~No wonder you're always in a foul mood on Valentine's Day. I guess you don't particularly like your birthday, either.~

{Nah. I never had a real party because it was always very formal, and the guests were there for political reasons. To nick a phrase from the Yankees, it sucked.} Harry nodded sympathetically and wove his way towards the counter, where Snape was talking to the witch running the store.

"Need something, lad?" the witch asked. Harry nodded and mimed writing. Snape, used to the gesture, understood.

"He needs something to write you a message on, because Pomfrey's forbidden him to talk." Snape shot him a puzzled look as the witch rummaged under the counter, her wand sticking up form a back pocket.

"Here ye go, lad," she said as she straightened, sliding a blank sheet of paper and a ballpoint pen towards him. He bent over the paper and began to write in his usual scrawl.

Can I get this shirt with a gold and red stripe beneath the slogan? I am Gryffindor's Seeker, after all.

The witch peered at the near-scribble, and Snape rolled his eyes.

"Really, Potter, you need to print. You know no one else can decipher that scrawl." The professor turned to the witch. "He wants to know if he can get this shirt with a red and gold stripe where the slogan is, because he's Seeker for Gryffindor, but I imagine he would like the rest of the shirt to stay green, as it is his best colour."

Harry nodded before crouching over the paper again, his tongue sticking out in concentration as he tried to print legibly.

Don't say anything about this next bit...

Harry looked up, and the witch mimed zipping her mouth shut.

I want to get Draco a Firebolt as a belated birthday present for the last four years.

Snape nodded in understanding. He obviously hadn't seen the note Harry had handed to the goblin in the bank earlier. "You're a different lad than I'd thought, Potter. I'm sorry."

The witch gaped and muttered to Harry. "Never thought I'd see the day Sev apologised to anyone, let alone a Gryff." Snape glared at her--his first real glare of the day--and she winced.

"We'll help, Harry." Snape put a hand on Harry's shoulder as the witch quietly burned the sheet of paper.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

~What can they be up to?~ Draco wondered. Not that he really was nosey, but it didn't take that long to ask about a little change in shirt colour.

"Sure thing, lad. Won't take a second," the witch said. She took the shirt through a door and was back shortly, the shirt just as Harry probably wanted it.

{You were right, Draco,} Harry told him as he looked at the shirt. {It does look pretty good this way.} The broad red stripe under the slogan had been outlined in thinner gold bands, and the slogan had been printed in gold as well.

Draco snorted. ~Pretty good? More like really good. Keep looking, mate. You have a whole wardrobe to stock.~ Harry got a pained look on his face before replying.

{I just... I've never had decent clothes outside of my uniform. I'm overwhelmed.} Draco put a hand on Harry's arm. He didn't know it had been that bad.

~Want me to help?~ He was relieved when Harry nodded.

{The only clothes I ever got from the Dursleys were cast-offs from Dudley, and he's always been huge. The only other regular clothes I had were Mrs. Weasley's jumpers, and they burned them when I came back. Along with nearly everything else I owned.}

~Oh.~ Draco now understood something else. ~That's why they sent you so many for your birthday.~ Harry's package from the Weasleys had contained enough comfortable knit jumpers to last him all winter, and Draco had gotten a box full himself. Evidently, Mrs. Weasley was a very forgiving person.

Harry nodded again, looking at a rack of denim trousers. {She works so hard on them, it's like each one is a piece of her heart.}

Draco chuckled. ~I guess I'll start getting an original Weasley jumper every Christmas as well, then. I wonder what colour she'll choose for me.~ Harry grinned at him.

{For you? Probably a dark blue-grey. The only person she's ever missed on to my knowledge is Ron.} One green eye winked at him. {I owled her and told her to try bright blue for his next jumper.}

~Let me guess. She keeps putting him in maroon.~ Draco vaguely remembered the horrible dress robes from the Yule Ball, and shuddered.

{Got it in one, mate. Every year, and it washes him out.}

~Bright colours would probably work much better on him.~ Even he had seen that.

Harry pulled out a pair of dark blue trousers and held them up against himself to see if they would fit. Draco rolled his eyes and pushed him in the direction of the changing stall.

~Go in there and try them on, for God's sake,~ he said, and Harry obediently ducked inside. He was back out in just a minute, and Draco nearly fell over laughing. The cuffs were halfway between his friend's ankles and knees.

{Not gonna work, mate. I need something longer.}

~What size are those?~

{Just a sec.} Harry went back inside, and the denims were soon thrown over the curtain. Draco caught them deftly and checked the tag.

~You have some long legs, mate,~ he thought to his friend as he searched the racks for something longer. He soon found a pair that might work better and handed them through the curtain.

{Much better,} Harry said just before he emerged. The bottom hems bunched a bit around his shoes, and they fit well overall.

~Definitely. Comfortable?~

{Quite. And they're long enough I can grow another couple of inches and they'll still fit.} Harry beamed, and Draco grinned back.

~Wicked. Let's keep looking.~

It took them a while, but once they had started, there was no stopping them. The pair eventually accumulated two large piles of clothing on the sales counter, and the witch leaned over to look at Draco.

"You lads act like you're building two completely new wardrobes." She looked a bit puzzled, and Draco grinned.

"We are." He chuckled, and the witch looked scandalized. "Hey, Professor Dumbledore had to transfigure some hospital gowns for these," he continued, pulling at the plain shirt he'd worn all day.

"H-how? Why wouldn't you wear the clothing your father bought?

"What father?" Draco growled. "I don't consider Lucius Malfoy as my Father. And I certainly won't wear anything he bought for me." He could see things beginning to connect in her head.

"I'm sorry, lad. Didn't mean to bring up a sore subject. Wendolyn Altair." She offered her hand. "Call me Wen."

"Nice to meet you." Draco shook her hand. He might be seeing her a lot in the future, considering the way his godfather was looking at the woman.

How will Harry's friends and the other Gryffindors react to Harry's new look? What is in the crate? Find out on Tuesday's chapter!

Beth Weasley