Severus Snape and the Hunt for Lemon Drops

"Severus!" Severus Snape paused at the door of The Three Broomsticks, his hand posed to push the door open. "Can you do a favor for me in London?"

His black hair brushed his shoulders as Severus turned to face the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. "Certainly, Headmaster," he replied in his raspy voice.

Albus Dumbledore had twinkling blue eyes that shone through his half-moon shaped spectacles. Severus rarely saw those eyes fierce, but when he did, he always grateful the older wizard counted him a friend. For Dumbledore, Severus would gladly perform a small favor.

"Yes, I'm out of lemon drops. Can you pick me up some?" Dumbledore smiled broadly as Severus' face turned puzzled.

"Where do you get those?" he asked questioningly.

"Oh I'm sure any Muggle grocery shop will have them stocked. They shouldn't cost much." Dumbledore waved as he turned away to go back to the table he was sharing with the Hogwarts groundskeeper, Rebeus Hagrid.

A Muggle grocery shop! Severus thought with alarm. He wants me to go into a Muggle shop?

"Headmaster," he began but stopped when Dumbledore turned to him with a broad, mischievous smile. So that's what this is about, Severus thought with an inward smile. He wants me to go out and make a complete fool of myself. "Lemon drops, did you say? How many?"

Dumbledore's smile widened, if it were possible. "Oh, you might get me several large bags. I'm almost out and I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to get more. It might be the entire coming school year."

Severus fought down a groan and pasted on a sick-looking smile. "Certainly," he agreed. "Not a problem."

Dumbledore was sure that the poor man could hear Hagrid's rumbling laugh thirty seconds after the door closed behind him. "You're cruel you are," the giant told him with a huffing chortle.

Severus wasn't often in Muggle London. He'd walked about once or twice, even done some clothing shopping every once in awhile, but it was long after Voldemort's fall and his role as a double agent for Dumbledore long revealed. He'd never had a reason to go into a Muggle grocery shop, though. The prospect was a bit intimidating.

On the direction of a curious-looking Tom at The Leaky Cauldron, Severus stopped in front of a large shop, a franchise chain of some sort that was throughout Britain. The sign proclaimed Sainsbury's. He remembered seeing them here and there throughout Great Britain.

Taking a deep breath and telling himself that it was ridiculous to feel apprehensive about entering a grocery store, Severus entered through the double doors. He felt his jaw drop at the scene before him. It looked like mass chaos to him but it was an organized chaos.

"Excuse me!" a woman brushed past him from behind and he moved aside, immediately watching what she did. She walked over and pulled from a stack a small metal cart, placing her purse in a front compartment area that another woman passing him to go outside had a child situated in. Deciding that to look inconspicuous, he'd just follow her. Surely she'd eventually go by the spot where the lemon drops were.

He too grabbed a cart and pushed it front of him, following her at a discreet distance.

She walked to the produce. He sighed. He had a feeling this was going to take a bit. He wondered if he'd grabbed enough Muggle money from Gringotts. He didn't know how much to get so he'd exchanged up to one hundred ... pounds he thought the goblin had said. Yes, pounds. Why did Muggles name their money after a measurement?

While waiting on her to pick some pears, Severus' attention was distracted by some plums. It was weakness, plums; he loved the tart sweetness of them. So he mimicked a young boy who grabbed a plastic bag from a roll, and put about five plums in it.

The woman he was following finished her produce in the time it took him to pick out his plums and was rounding the corner of the aisle. Frowning, Severus went chasing after her. She picked up some milk, which he avoided, not having a clue how to care for it even if he bought some. The chocolate milk did sound good though. He noticed there were smaller containers that looked to be one serving, so he opened the glass door and a waft of cold air brushed over his face. He grabbed the small carton labeled "Chocolate Milk" and placed it in his cart.

The woman turned down another aisle and he continued to follow at a discreet distance. Along the way, he found fig cookies (another weakness), cheese crackers (it just sounded interesting), baloney (he didn't know what it was but it looked like meat of some kind), Hawaiian bread (another sounded interesting), and a large bottle of something called soda.

After about twenty minutes, the woman turned down an aisle that was nothing but candy. His jaw dropped. How am I supposed to find lemon drops here!? Slowly he walked, scanning the shelves for the original item he'd come here looking for. At the end of the entire aisle, he found them and grabbed fifteen bags of them. They looked fairly large and should at least last long enough.

"Those are the expensive ones."

"What?" he turned, startled to find to the woman he'd been surreptitiously trailing smiling at him.

"Sorry, but they aren't that good either. Try these," she said, reaching for a lower shelf of lemon drops that he'd missed completely. "They have a better lemon flavor and they're cheaper. You've got about twenty-five pounds worth of candy right there."

He gave a feeble smile and replaced the first batch and took the bag from her. "Thank you," he said.

She smiled at him and then gave a short laugh. "You don't shop much, do you?"

He gave a sigh. "Is it that obvious?"

She gave another laugh, more relaxed. "Yes. You've been following me since we entered. I take it your wife does the shopping usually?"

Suddenly feeling ashamed, he shrugged. "Actually, my, uh, s-sister does it," he stammered. "Or a, a maid, yes the maid."

"Oh?" She gave him a speculative look. "You don't seem the rich type, but to each his own, eh?"

"Heh," Severus weakly laughed.

"Don't worry, love, it's not that hard. I'm heading for the deli area, if you need any deli products." She smiled at him. "I rarely get to have fun shopping. I usually have my son with me and he always has a fit in the cereal aisle. It's nice to just browse, even if it's a grocery store."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "I, uh, have no idea what's in a deli," he confessed and felt his ire raise a bit when she gave another laugh.

"Usually meats, cheeses, pasta salads and the like," she told him. "Ready to eat foods sometimes, already cooked."

"Oh." Looking down at his cart he shrugged. "I think I have enough on me for some more food."

She looked amused. "You mean cash? You can pay with your credit card or check, you know."

He had no clue what she was talking about but managed to shrug it off. "I left them at home," he said, trying to make it sound like a shameful confession. He was thankful when she seemed to buy the excuse.

"How much did you bring, if you don't mind my asking? You seem to be unsure enough to have more to buy than money to purchase with." She moved her cart aside for another shopper.

"One hundred pounds," Severus replied, wondering why he was blushing. This is ridiculous! he scolded himself.

Her eyes widened a moment and then she turned her sharp brown gaze to his cart, mentally tallying his items. "You should be alright," she finally said with a nod. "Come on, I'll show you the deli."

Severus had the sneaking suspicion she was enjoying herself greatly at his expense but decided to let it go. It was his own fault. He'd never felt this ignorant before in his entire life. With a frown he realized that this was exactly what Dumbledore probably intended, broadening his Potion master's horizons by thrusting in the middle of an everyday Muggle activity.

He listened with reluctant interest as the woman, who had introduced herself as Beth Scott, chattered about her son and her in-laws. She never said but he gathered that she was a widow. He'd never had reason to be in such close proximity to a Muggle before, at least not close enough to actually have a conversation.

"Deli!" she singsonged mischievously, sweeping her hand outwardly in a dramatic gesture.

The huge sign proclaiming a sale on turkey slices caught Severus' eye. He gulped. By Merlin's staff, did everything he like reside in one store? He sighed.

Beth laughed. "I recognize that sigh. You've been doing it all over the store. Find something you like?" she asked in a teasing tone.

He had to reluctantly smile. "Turkey," Severus pointed to the sign. They strolled over to wait in line. Severus watched with interest as Beth got one pound of honey-cured ham and a pint of some kind of wiggly food she said was a strawberry Jell-O salad.

Taking cue from Beth, Severus stepped up next and said, "One pound of the turkey, please." In two minutes he was placing a white wrapped package of turkey into his cart.

"Anything else, sir?" asked the deli clerk. Severus eyed the other items and then shook his head.

Beth again led the way down several other aisles, picking up cans of vegetables. Severus marveled at how Muggles stored their food. "I'm used to fresh garden vegetables," he confessed when she looked in askance at him picking up a can in curiosity.

"You have a large garden at your home?" He nodded, thinking of the large greenhouses at the school. "I envy you. We barely have a small garden in the back for my son to play in." He gave a wan smile. "Ready to pay?" He nodded.

They stood in line another five minutes, Beth in front, still chattering and asking occasional questions.

"Where do you work?"

"I'm a teacher."

"Oh? What classes?"

He hesitated. "Chemistry."

"I never was good at science. I was better at languages myself."

"I speak French, Latin and Gaelic," Severus supplied helpfully to keep the conversation going.

"I speak French too!"

Beth started putting her items on the counter and Severus watched the clerk ring them up. Her total came up and Beth paid it without blinking. Severus felt nervousness rise up. What am I going to do with these things? he asked himself.

Beth's bags of groceries were placed back into her cart and she waved as she left. "Thank you, Beth!" he called lamely.

"Sure thing, Severus!" she replied before disappearing out the double doors.

The clerk in the meantime had rung up his own purchases. "That will be fifty-two pounds, seven shillings, sir."

Severus handed her the two fifty pound notes and she gave him his change, which he stared at dumbly. Don't you tip? When the girl showed no signs of interest in the money and was running the next person in line's items he decided the answer was no.

He grabbed his bags, staggering slightly at the surprising weight and left the building. With a sigh, he felt a great weight lift from his shoulders. That was easy! he told himself with a grin. I was making this much more difficult than it needed to be.

The house elves in the kitchens were startled when the Potions master entered their domain and plunked several grocery bags on the table. "I want a turkey sandwich for lunch tomorrow and every day until it's gone. I want cookies for a snack before bed and do we have any milk?" One of the elves nodded dumbly as they stared at him dumbstruck. "Excellent, I'll have milk as well with the cookies. And I'll take the plums." He pulled the small plum bag from the larger bag. "Dispose of the bags as you see fit. Don't Muggles do something called Cycle?"

He turned to leave and was halfway to the door, pointedly ignoring the shocked stares of the house elves when he remembered something. "Oh." He went back and grabbed the bag that had the bags of lemon drops. "These are the headmaster's."

He left.

"What," squeaked a shocked elf from the back of the group, "was that?"

"Potions master I thinks," replied another and they went back to work.

Severus munched on one of his plums as he waited for the gargoyle that stood sentinel at the headmaster office to move. He tramped up the stairs and knocked briskly on the office door. Dumbledore opened it with a surprised smile, more surprised when Severus handed him the bag full of lemon drop packages.

"You do all right, then, Severus?" asked Dumbledore.

Severus took a bite and chomped noisily, causing Dumbledore to smile. "Why would you think otherwise, Headmaster?" he asked around his bite of plum and turned away.

"Thank you, Severus!" called Dumbledore. Severus waves negligently over his shoulder. "I can count on you when I need more then?"

"Not on your life, Headmaster."