Severus walked as quickly as possible down the path to Hogsmeade. He needed candy and lots of it.

Rounding one of the many bends in the road, he found himself walking behind the friendly half-giant groundskeeper.

“Oh, hullo Profess’r Snape! I didn’t hear ya behind me!” Hagrid said, continuing to walk towards the village.

“Hello Hagrid,” Severus said, falling into step with Hagrid’s large strides.

“Why’re ya goin’ to Hogsmeade Profess’r?” Hagrid said, trying to strike up a conversation.

Severus was quiet for a moment, still thinking over the list of possible things he could get for Julian.

“I need to do some last minute shopping,” he answered quietly. “Hagrid, you enjoy magical creatures, correct? Tell me, what would you give an ill vampire if not blood?”

Hagrid thought about it for a moment, stroking his beard as he walked.

“Prolly a few blood pops. Or chocolate. Dark chocolate would be better. Blood would be best, o’ course, but chocolate is good too. Some of ‘em like dark red wine too, but not all of ‘em. Why, do ya have a vampire?” Hagrid asked rather excitedly.

“No, Hagrid,” Severus sighed. “It was just a theoretical question. There is very little information on illness within many magical creatures. They must get ill at some point.”

“An’ it is very hard to deal with. Special creatures, the lot o’ them. An’ the more magical they are, the more help they need. Take pixies, fer example. When they get sick, their friends will huddle ‘round ‘em and let ‘em feed off their magic. I dunno ‘bout vampires, solitary creatures they are. Do know they don’t go to muggle hospitals though!”

Severus walked in silence for a few minutes as he thought about what Hagrid had said. It made sense really. Magical creatures did tend to always stay near other magical creatures or structures. Muggles rarely saw them and not just because they were consciously hiding. They needed magic to feed off of. Vampire attacks were more common in muggle communities that bordered on magical ones. Reports from muggles of magical creatures in the wild were rarely far from major magical towns.

“Thank you, Hagrid,” Severus said sincerely. The man’s insight into magical creatures was always surprising and insightful in ways that belied his education level.

On arriving at Hogsmeade, Severus nodded his head in thanks to the groundskeeper as they parted ways. Hagrid continued on to the tavern while Severus turned and went to the high street, thankful that this was not a weekend and there were no students in town. It wouldn’t do well for his reputation to be seen going into a candy store.

Severus sighed as he stepped into the shop and was assailed by the smells and colors of candy of every shape and flavor imaginable. A quick scan of the shop and he found the rather untouched jars of blood pops in the ‘Unusual Flavors’ section. Few people enjoyed their flavor, but they were just what he was looking for.

Severus looked at the price and scoffed at how much they cost. It cost less for him to buy many of his potions ingredients than it cost to buy a single blood pop! He was going to have to ask the headmaster for a forward on his salary if he was to take care of the child over the summer. This was rapidly going to become an expensive endeavor.

Grabbing a few different dark chocolates and breathing a sigh of relief that they were nowhere near as expensive as the blood pops, Severus quickly checked out so as to avoid small talk with the owner. He had never spent so much on candy before in his life. Six blood pops and four small chocolate bars had cost him ten sickles!

Albus owed him a raise.