blood bound

chapter 18: Robes, Stalking, and Lunch

The moment Harry realized they were headed for Madam Malkins he tried to quietly slip away only to be caught by a smirking Severus and half dragged into the shop. Severus had never really understood why Harry wore the clothes he did until they were trapped together on bed rest for a week and he had out right asked. Harry actually didn't know that his clothes were close to being tattered rags, only that they used to be his cousins and that they were usually too big for him. He had mostly learned how to avoid getting caught on things at a fairly young age if only to escape Vernon and Dudley's attempts to catch him from time to time. When this was explained to his mates in a halting half understood manner they were speechless before immediately declaring that he would be getting a whole new wardrobe regardless of anything else. Even after Harry had remembered his trunk was in his pocket they wouldn't let him wear his old clothes.

Severus on the other hand simply didn't have access to his wardrobe since all of his things were still at Hogwarts and Voldemort didn't want to let them out of his sight. Voldemort knew he'd have to let them have more freedom eventually and trust that they could take care of themselves but once it was known they were mated to him they would be in even more danger than before. It was one of the reasons, aside from the bed rest assigned by the healer, that he hadn't made the announcement yet. He just wanted to spend time with his mates before they had to fight off idiots who wanted to kill them or try to take their place.

While they hadn't been exactly circumspect in their shopping they hadn't been advertising either as a result Harry was more annoyed than surprised to find Rita Skeeter waiting for them in Malkin's robe shop. The predatory smile that spread across her face had Harry growling low in his throat. The warning made her falter for a moment before regaining her equilibrium and advancing on the trio.

"Mr. Potter! How lovely it is to see you here today," Skeeter said winningly.

"And what, madam, do you need to speak to my mate about?" Severus asked forbiddingly, using his best dungeon bat impression to try and scare her off.

"Mate?" Skeeter asked gleefully, latching on to the most juicy part of that statement before sending rapid fire questions at him. "And when did this mating occur? The Boy-Who-Lived is underage how did that complicate your relationship? How did you get around the legal restrictions? Did you get around the legal restrictions? The public deserves to know!"

"No, they do not," Voldemort said darkly, moving to shield his two mates from the reporting vulture. He absently destroyed her hurriedly scribbling quick quotes quill and the parchment it was writing on. "Write anything about either of my mates without their express permission and your ratings will be the absolute least of your problems. As to the underage issue Harry came into a creature inheritance, there is no legal issue with our mateship. As we have been bonded less than six months we have plenty of time to file the paperwork."

"And who might you both be? Many with a creature inheritance take years to find their mates, how did the two of you come to so luckily find that the Boy-Who-Lived is your mate?" Rita asked practically salivating and planning to simply use a special recall spell to help her write her latest scoop.

"We are here for new robes, not to answer idle chatter. Good day," Severus said coldly, easily regaining his mental footing from his earlier misstep. The trio turned toward Madam Malkin herself who had come out to see what the fuss was about. Skeeter opened her mouth in outrage at the casual dismissal only to be wandlessly silenced by a smirking Harry, who had simply sat back and enjoyed the show.

"Perhaps we should require a privacy oath? We wouldn't want a little beetle to spill the beans before we're ready now would we?" Harry asked sweetly, an evil grin sending a shiver down the spine of several shop helpers.