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A/N: Yes, I updated. Now, breathe deep. Concentrate. Do NOT faint.
Important notice to everyone: There will be NO UPDATES OF ANY KIND IN NOVEMBER from me. Regardless of length, popularity, fandom, or any other factors, I will not be updating anything during November.
Fathers and Sons
Chapter 7:
Wardrobe Matters
"Now, Severus, don't be like that," Remus huffed. "It's not like simply going inside will kill them."
"And how am I to know that?" asked Severus sharply. "For all I know somebody might be waiting inside just to kill me the moment I step through the doorway!"
"That is ridiculous," sighed Michael. "They just sell Muggle-styled clothing. And it's even made by wizards, not actual Muggles!"
Still, the Potions Master eyed the store warily. Finally, though, he gave in, grudgingly following his family inside the store. Even there he continued glaring at every item in sight as thought expecting them to attack him.
"Ah, welcome. How can I help you?" asked a chirpy voice from the back of the shop. To their sight skipped a happy young woman wearing a denim skirt and a pink t-shirt. Severus looked almost nauseous at the mere sight of her.
"Hopefully quite a bit," Remus replied dryly. "My husband here has never worn any Muggle-styled clothing before and is now trying to slip out of his promise to actually get some for himself. We were hoping you could help him find something that would match his tastes – preferably not in black."
"The old-fashioned kind, then?" She smiled sweetly. "Very well. Do follow me, I will show you some items that our other customers have liked despite being more used to Wizarding apparel."
Remus followed her and Severus followed Remus. Michael, however, took the opportunity to look around by himself. At least the shopkeepers knew what they were doing when calling the place "Muggle Mix," however ridiculous the name may have been. All the clothes on display were actually ones Muggles would wear in every day life, not ones that had gone out of fashion decades or even centuries ago. And, judging by the shop clerk's clothing, they actually knew how the clothes were supposed to be worn. Michael suspected whoever ran the shop must have been Muggle-born.
That was just well with him. He didn't think he could have accepted a wardrobe consisting solely of robes, however comfortable they may have been.
Walking around, he noticed some quite good-looking pieces of clothing here and there. Although he was hesitant to do so, well, his fathers had told him to look for clothing for himself, right? So he should do that and not worry about it feeling wrong. They were his fathers, so they were supposed to provide him with proper clothing. And given Severus' current mood, he really shouldn't aggravate him any more by not doing as he was told.
Another shop clerk appeared from somewhere – a young man this time. After telling repeatedly that no, he did not need help, Michael gathered some of the most interesting clothes on his arm and asked where he could try them on. Most of the boys of his age maybe wouldn't have much cared about what they were wearing – Ron definitely didn't, as long as it wasn't maroon – but after wearing Dudley's old clothes all his life he was definitely going to take this chance to affect his wardrobe.
He had no room to talk about his fathers' choice of colours, at least, he noticed as he looked at the clothes he had chosen. The main colour was black, spiced with mostly red. There was also some blue clothes and even a mostly green shirt he didn't even recall picking. It didn't look too bad, though, so he decided he would have it despite the Slytherin connotations. Provided his newly found parents wouldn't be shocked at the amount of clothes he found suitable, of course.
He heard Remus calling for him and hurried towards where his fathers were, still wearing the last clothes he had tried on. His eyes widened as he saw the two. Remus seemed comfortable enough with basic blue jeans and a bluish grey button-down shirt, but Severus...
Now, Michael had never seen his Potions Master in anything but black robes (if one didn't count the nightshirt). He probably would have had a heart attack if he'd seen him in jeans, and thus it was fortunate Severus was not quite that comfortable with Muggle clothing yet. However, the dark grey slacks and green shirt were definitely not robes, and definitely not black, and that alone was enough to make his eyes widen.
"Doesn't it suit you?" chirped the girl in the pink t-shirt at Severus. "Really, sir, black makes you look so pale, you really shouldn't wear so much of it..."
"Ah, there you are, Michael," Remus said with a mild smile. "Can you believe it? Severus is wearing something that lets everybody see where his legs are!"
"You make me sound like a Victorian lady or something," muttered Severus. "What exactly is wrong with being traditional?"
"Oh, nothing is wrong with that," Remus said with a grin. "Just that you look even better in these clothes!" Then he turned to properly look at Michael. "So you apparently found something for yourself, too," he observed. "Now, nobody can deny you two are indeed a father and a son..."
Michael blinked in confusion. Then he looked down at what he was wearing – dark blue jeans and a black turtleneck with a silvery dragon pictured on the front. Not even having realized that he was combining such dark clothes, he blinked in surprise. Then, however, he regained his composure.
"With this nose, I doubt anybody could miss the relation anyway," he said a bit cheekily, tapping a finger against his notably grown nose. By now his facial features were an almost exact copy of Severus', while his hair was just as clearly from Remus. A second later he almost regretted the joke as Severus glared at him, but to his great relief the Potions Master just snorted dryly.
"Why is he allowed to wear black but I'm not?" Severus asked then, sounding almost childish in his demand. This was made even more amusing by Remus' very reasonable, parent-like voice as he explained that, unlike Severus, Michael had not spent most of his life wearing black and he was also picking non-black clothing. Looking at their wardrobes, the werewolf reminded, Severus had definitely more black clothing than their son could get during one shopping trip. This, Severus finally had to grudgingly admit true, thus losing his chance at any further arguments. (Although Michael was quite sure he would still argue.)
By some miracle Remus actually managed to coax Severus into wearing the clothes as they left the shop. Severus agreed only after he had managed to get a permission to wear his outer robe over them first. Michael followed their child-like bickering with both amusement and confusion, trying to decide whether these two were truly the serious and responsible members of the Order of the Phoenix he knew or whether he had ended up with just some very, very convincing clones. Who weren't really convincing at all in the end.
Then Severus decided to take them to shop for robes as "revenge" and he decided that it was indeed the real thing. No clone could have ever had that smirk.
Next chapter:
Hopefully? The "More exploration" I promised you in the last chapter.