𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑻𝑬𝑪𝑻𝑶𝑹 || 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘂𝘀 𝗦𝗻𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗮𝗯𝘆 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟎𝟑.

Shopping had never been a particular favorite of Severus's but this really just took the cake. First of all he felt completely humiliated, pushing the cart around with Harry in the little seat facing him. Harry sucked on his fist contentedly and looked around the store curiously. Snape decided to get food first, then clothes. Then he would talk to Albus who would hopefully help him the furniture department. One thing Snape knew with a positive certainty, he was NOT purchasing a rocking chair. Or a changing table. Those things were going to need to come from somewhere else. He walked slowly down the food isle, feeling ridiculous and especially self conscious as the cart he was pushing had one wheel that squeaked obnoxiously. Harry was slowly starting to relax a little bit. He tipped his head back and forth in response to the music playing in the supermarket.

"Good Potter. You can take up ballet when you're bigger. I'm sure that would make your father proud," Snape remarked, as he wondered if he had enough dignity to purchase baby food? When did babies stop eating baby food. Snape spent another few seconds looking at the jars of mushy, colored junk and shook his head.

"You have teeth. I'm not buying that."

"Do you need help, sir?"

Snape turned and saw a middle-aged woman wearing a name tag reading "Sara Lee" and a store apron approaching him. Oh no. Assistance. This was something Snape dreaded. He turned and ignored the woman.

"Sir? Sir? Do you need any help, sir?" she asked, following Snape down the isle. She was probably three inches taller than Snape, and about three times his weight. She had dyed red hair, which had ended coming out more of a pinkish color and had extremely long nails, painted with blood red nail polish.

"No, I don't need any help," Snape said, not making eye contact with the woman.

"Oh, but you look confused," she said cheerfully. "What are you lookin' for?"

"Food," Snape stated. "Which is fascinating, seeing as I'm standing here in the food isle,"

The woman laughed. It sounded like a donkey getting stung by a hive full of bees. Harry stopped bobbing to the music and squeezed his eyes shut, scared again.

"You are so funny!" Sara Lee snorted. "You're standing by the baby food. Do you have another one at home? Cause this one," she indicated Harry. "Can probably move on to solids by now," she lowered her eyelids and peered at Snape through her lashes. "I could help you find some solids if you like."

Snape was horrified. He was quite sure that in all his experiences, including those with the Death Eaters, he had only had a couple experiences which could even compare to this one in terms of his horror.

"Well that will be something I will not be needing help with," Snape adamantly said, and he turned and began walking away, briskly.

"If you're sure, sir," she said, baring her teeth at him in a smile. Her front teeth had lipstick on them.

"Positive."

"If you need me, come and look for me. My name is Sara Lee, I'd be glad to help you anytime you like, okay?"

Snape didn't bother answering.

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After the encounter with Sara Lee the rest of the food shopping had gone alright. Snape had grabbed cheerios and fruit snacks and little cracker thingummies among a wide assortment of things he hoped Harry would eat. Then Snape swallowed and braced himself, and headed to the back of the store where he could find clothes for Harry. He was the only man in that area of the store. There were five women clustered around the baby shoes, and a very pregnant woman piling her cart full of baby toys and teething rings. Snape looked at the clothes which were labeled to fit a one year old first, but they looked much too big for Harry.

"I think your son would fit a 6-8 months better," a voice behind him said.

Snape started, then breathed a sigh of relief. It was just the toy lady. So long as it wasn't Sara Lee, he didn't care.

He nodded to acknowledge her and then went to look at those clothes. They did seem to be more Harry's size.

"I refuse to dress you in anything with a smiling bumblebee on it," Snape said to Harry. "It just won't be happening."

As he looked through the options he had he felt worried. "Is there no baby clothing without something embarrassing upon it?" Snape muttered. He went past smiling animals of just about every kind, smiling choo choo trains, onesies with the words "Daddy's Big Boy" and "Heartbreaker" stitched on them.

"This is appalling." Snape said, looking at the clothing in front of him. Finally he found some more basic items. Just about all the shirts he placed in the cart for Harry were green. He also picked out two blue shirts, and three white ones.

Suddenly Harry made an impatient mmm-ing sound. He pointed his finger at a white shirt with black sleeves and a big smiling panda on the front, eating a stick of bamboo.

"Well isn't that just the most precious thing," Snape stated. "No Potter. I have my reservations about smiling animals."

Snape got some pants, and two pairs of pajamas and added them to the cart, then began to walk away.

Harry dropped his head down and Snape could just see his bottom lip protruding and trembling slightly.

Snape pretended not to notice and grabbed some bibs for Harry, because he wanted to spend as little time as possible washing Harry's clothes.

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The shopping experience was almost complete. Snape walked towards the front of the store and saw baby shampoo in little canisters. Harry did have a lot of hair. It would probably need to be washed sometime.

"It's a good thing you're quiet Potter," Snape remarked. "Because you are expensive." he grabbed some shampoo for Harry and then, after looking around quickly to make sure no one was looking, grabbed a bottle of Pantene Nature Fusion Shampoo. He was almost out and this would help him avoid another trip to the store. He shoved the Pantene to the bottom of the cart, under the baby clothes and the little shoes.

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Snape was in line waiting to purchase the various items and afraid to see how much they'd cost. He was almost to the front of the line when he noticed Harry was still looking down and his chin was wet from tears rolling down his cheeks. Snape maneuvered the cart out of line and went to get one last thing.

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When they got back to Spinner's End, Snape had to take two trips to haul everything inside. He set Harry down on the floor, then began putting the new clothes into the dresser which stood against the wall opposite the crib. The last thing he put in, in the third drawer down was a little white outfit with a smiling panda on it.