Chapter Text
Severus stared at a stack of colourful, neatly folded dress shirts.
“Thank you, for this.” Mother said softly.
Severus hummed and struggled to formulate a coherent thought about his presence in a department store. He hadn’t been in a muggle outlet mall since before he’d begun working at Hogwarts.
He hadn’t bothered considering fashion or outfitting himself in current clothing since he’d turned 20.
“I’ve even found a frame.” Mother said with a gentle nod. “A lovely silver one.”
“Did you buy it from Jan?” Harry asked.
Mother shook her head ‘no’. “Well, he did mention the stallholder who sold them, so I suppose he helped.”
Severus thumbed through the selection and began unconsciously searching for any black or grey options, as those were the only colours he could envision himself wearing, before he remembered Mother’s plea for him to pick out something brighter.
Did men his age wear bright clothing?
“Harry, what do you think you’d look nice in?” Mother asked quietly.
Harry flinched and his eyes widened as he blinked up at her. “Erm.” He twisted and looked over the selection of clothes with a concerned look. “Erm, I guess, something red?”
Mother laughed kindly and held her hand out for Harry, who grabbed ahold of it without question. “Would you like to look through their options? They’re just over there.” She asked, pointing to several tables across the aisle.
Severus gladly turned away from his own concerns in order to help Harry find something appropriate to wear for a formal photo.
Harry however, squinted at the aisle before glancing at Severus and the table, seemingly considering how easily reachable Severus would be from within the short distance.
For one awful moment, Severus almost wished Harry would give in to his anxiety and ask to stay with him. The department store was small, but not quite small enough for either Severus or Mother to feel comfortable leaving Harry alone. Too many Muggle families wandered around the surrounding crowded tables and searched up and down nearby shiny, white aisles.
“Severus?” Mother asked.
Severus hummed and paused in his musings. “Yes?”
“Harry and I will be just there.” Mother nodded toward the table she’d pointed to earlier. “Unless you’d like for us to stay here and help?”
“No,” Severus said as he shook his head ‘no’. “I’ll be here.”
Mother nodded and steered Harry around tables and small families before arriving at their own destination. They quickly began to sort through the options for small children and seemed to find many acceptable choices.
Harry appeared to approve of them, at any rate.
Severus sighed and looked back at the stack before him.
If the photos surrounding the small corner of men’s clothing were to be believed, patterned sweaters over brightly coloured polos were the most age appropriate and fashionable choice of clothing for Severus.
“Do you need any help finding anything?” Asked an older man with a trimmed mustache and crisply pressed employee vest.
Severus bit back an immediate denial and tossed a quick look over his shoulder. Mother was holding a striped, dark red shirt against Harry’s front and looked to be debating whether or not it suited him.
“In my opinion, the persian green would look nice.” The man said. “Though the carnation would look good as well.”
“I beg your pardon?” Severus asked in a blank voice as he turned back around.
“The colours,” The man said as his eyes flickered toward the stack. “Of course, selecting something you feel smart wearing would be ideal, but I thought to offer my choices if you were looking for second opinions.”
Severus doubted he’d ever asked anyone for a second opinion. “Have you much experience in selecting clothing?” He asked.
“I do.” The man nodded. “I used to tailor suits at a haberdashery.” He brushed a quick finger over his mustache before tidying up a nearby table.
Severus hummed.
The tailor’s opinion on clothing certainly made Severus feel more comfortable.
He looked toward the man and raised his eyebrows as pointed at the dark blue shirt.
The man smiled. “The navy looks nice, but the carnation really would suit you.” He reached over and tapped a pink shirt. “Winter colours suit you, if you’re inclined to them.”
Severus wasn’t sure if he felt inclined toward a season.
Harry might find it enjoyable, both for being a choice Severus clearly would never have picked himself, but also because it resembled the colours in Lily’s flat.
“Thank you.” Severus said quickly.
He found his size and pulled the shirt free from the stack as he mentally ticked off one task from his list. A mild feeling of success washed over him that he’d made any decision at all. He turned to find Mother and Harry, but paused mid step after it occurred to him that he’d need appropriate trousers.
“Would black trousers go with this?” Severus asked as he internally sighed and held the fabric up.
“I would choose navy, or grey.” The man said before pointing Severus toward a selection of trousers along the wall. “You could choose black as well, but with your colouring, navy would look nice.”
“Thank you.” Severus nodded and narrowly avoided speaking too sharply.
“Of course.”
Perhaps the man often dealt with irritable customers, as he seemed to sense that any more chatting would push Severus’s tolerance for polite conversation over the edge.
He searched through the selection against the wall for a short while before Harry appeared to his right.
“We found a green one.” Harry said as he held up a small shirt. “I thought I’d want red, but then, I saw this one and it reminded me of how Mrs Weasley talked about my dress robes, and how they matched my eyes.”
Severus hummed and pulled a pair of navy trousers free. “There’s a salesman around here who would no doubt agree with you.”
“It’s a real thing then?” Harry asked as he stood on his tiptoes and searched over the section for the man.
“Selecting clothing to match your eyes?” Severus asked.
He had a sneaking suspicion Harry had as little experience with purchasing clothing as Severus, and he was unsurprised to hear about Molly Weasley jumping at the opportunity to help dress another child.
Harry nodded. “Sometimes Aunt Petunia picked blue for Dudley, but she also said everything looked great on him,” He said as he fell back on his heels and looked at Severus. “Because he’s blessed with blonde hair and blue eyes.” He pitched his voice as he mimicked his aunt. “I thought everyone else just sort of made do.”
Severus paused. “If you’re curious you could go ask Mother, or that salesman.”
An uncomfortable thought trailed through Severus’s mind and he wondered if Tuney had snidely told Harry that being different from Dudley meant he was ugly, or in any way inferior. Knowing her, she likely had. Tuney never missed a chance to tell Severus about his own hideous looks and character.
He folded the trousers and stacked his dress shirt on top before silently holding a hand out for Harry to hand his own selection over.
Harry’s eyes brightened when he passed it over and saw Severus’s choice. “You picked pink?” His lips curled upwards, but he kept a smile from his face with a herculean effort.
Despite Severus’s disapproval over the amount of joy Harry felt at his uncommon choice, he far preferred it to any unpleasant worries brought about by discussing Tuney.
“It’s a winter colour, if you must know.” Severus said as sniffed.
Harry gave him a confused look. “You’re making that up!”
“I assure you, there’s a salesman nearby who would disagree with you, vehemently.” Severus nodded and considered finding the old man in order to allow Harry to hear about what season would match his own colouring. “Perhaps he’s still here, you could hear about your—”
Harry shoved his hands over his ears and shook his head wildly. “No, no thanks!” He said. “I’m ok!”
“You like it then?” Severus asked in a curious voice. “Do you want to match?” He asked, reminding Harry of Lily’s love of sharing her hideous taste with everything and everyone. He picked up a dress shirt that was very nearly the same shade as the pillows in Lily’s flat.
Harry laughed and grabbed it from him, before trying to refold it. “No, no thank you, I love your choice. You should wear it!” He nodded. “It’s a great colour, I dunno where I got so turned around.”
Severus huffed a near silent laugh and led him out of the Men’s section. “Did Mother say where she was going before she left you with me?” He asked as they searched over the aisle.
“She said she’d be near the jewelry.” Harry said.
“Do you have trousers?” Severus asked after situating the items in his arms and remembering his earlier forgetfulness.
Harry blinked at him and shrugged. “I could wear jeans?”
Severus shook his head and the two explored the child’s section for something more appropriate. It wasn’t long before Harry found himself with a pair of black trousers, as well as a nice pair of shoes.
“Is Ms Eileen sure she wants me in your photo?” Harry asked with a whisper as they crossed the aisle once more. “I could just wait outside, or, erm.”
“I think she wants you in the photo.” Severus said softly, when it became apparent Harry wouldn’t continue his sentence. He wondered how many photography appointments Tuney forced Harry to attend, only to intentionally leave him out of the photo.
Harry slowly nodded.
“It will be a short, twenty minute to half an hour appointment.” Severus said as they passed a rack of blouses. “Mother is quite excited to have a photo, rather than a portrait.”
“Why wouldn’t she want a portrait?” Harry asked.
“They’re more traditional.” Severus said. “And often austere.”
“You can talk with them though.”
“Paintings that can be spoken with are often limited to exceedingly wealthy, or high profile clientele.” Severus said. “The portraits you’ve seen at Hogwarts are often only there by donation.”
“Oh.” Harry said quietly.
“Mother prefers less formal events as well.” Severus said. “Or else we’d be purchasing robes with far more frills and bows than Mr Weasley’s dress robes.”
Harry smiled. “Ron would probably love to see that.”
“Ah,” Mother said after they found her near a rack of necklaces. “Did you find anything you like?”
Harry nodded excitedly.
——
Mother fussed with the photo as she arranged it on the mantle.
Severus loosened his pressed collar and pinched the bridge of his nose. He tried to fight off the headache brought about by the bright lights he’d stared into for the last 45 minutes. He was quite proud of himself for having maintained a sense of decorum with the photographer, given how chatty the man had been.
In the back of his mind, he understood why the photographer wanted to catch ‘their good side’, however, Severus didn’t believe that truly required quite as many lights and angles as the photographer used.
No one could handle that many lights.
Harry’d struggled beneath the spotlights as much as Severus had, though he’d smiled brightly each time the photographer asked him to. It reminded Severus of how he used to sneer at Harry about his fame. Now that he thought of it, He couldn’t remember ever seeing a smiling photo of Harry in the Daily Prophet.
Mother hummed happily as she stepped to the left and angled the frame. “Can you see it from where you’re sitting?” She asked, turning to look at Severus and Harry.
“I can.” Harry said as looked up from his stuffed dog.
Severus silently agreed, though he didn’t think he had the energy to say so. He couldn’t remember enduring something so monotonous yet involved in years. He couldn’t imagine how the photographer handled waking up to that job every day.
“Excellent,” Mother said before taking a step back. “If I tilt it just a little, there isn’t a glare, is there?”
Harry’s head fell against Severus’s side as he shook his head ‘no’.
Severus dropped a hand over Harry’s head and cleared his throat. “No, but you could charm it against a glare if you’re worried.”
Mother brightened and mumbled excitedly to herself as she slipped from the room, likely to find one of her books on household charms.
“Can I show Ron and Hermione?” Harry asked.
Severus’s eyes flickered open, and he tried to remember when they’d fallen shut. “The photo?”
Harry nodded.
“Only at your godfather’s house, not at Hogwarts.”
“You wouldn’t mind if Sirius saw it?”
Severus bit back a shudder at the thought of Black seeing that smiling photo. He’d probably have something nasty to say about the state of their clothing, and how they were purchased from a department store, rather than having them tailored.
“Maybe Sirius could be in a picture with us someday?” Harry asked. “I bet he’d look nice in winter colours too!”
“I refuse to share the same season with him,” Severus said as he tilted his nose in the air. “He can have autumn, or spring.”
Harry laughed and held his stuffed dog against Severus’s shirt as he squinted. “I think my dog is a summer.” He said. “And since he looks like Padfoot, I’ll say Sirius is a summer.”
Severus’s eyes slipped shut again. “What colours do summers wear then?”
“They wear all black.” Harry snickered.