The Market of Solonus Isle was based upon the ancient Greek Agora which began life as a place for citizens to gather, for news to be shared, and a place to sell nearly anything. The Sunday Market had changed little.

Stretching the length of the village the Market was a truly colourful affair as booth owners appeared to out-do each other with the decor of their booths in order to attract customers. Echo explained that there was a complex set of courtesy rules that the booth owners followed which kept down rivalries and prevented the stealing of customers.

Another part of the Market seemed geared towards children. These were entertainers who performed wandless magic that was more sparkle and noise than anything useful. There were other performers who did acrobatics that defied gravity, and wandering Oracles that reminded Severus far too much of his bat-brained colleague, the professor of Divination, Sybill Trelawney.

Wizard's Chess was a sport to gamble over throughout the Market and Severus was astonished at some of the arguments that broke out over the game. Curiosity won out at one point and he stopped to watch one game and was interested to learn that the chess pieces were much more aggressive than their British counterparts.

To Severus it seemed more like a fairground atmosphere and was just as busy and noisy. Harry was fascinated by the whole thing and found much to distract him. Since he kept wandering away, his father attached a magical leash to him that was similar to a Tracking Spell. This bit of invisible magic made certain that if Harry drifted too far from his father he was tugged back to Severus' side. At first the leash annoyed Harry and he was prepared to put up a lengthy fuss against its use, but the distractions of the Market were so many he soon forgot about fussing.

The only downside to their time at the Market were the veiled looks of mistrust and disapproval Echo kept getting from various booth owners and vendors. Severus was just beginning to understand how Echo's ex-husband had so thoroughly destroyed her reputation that he now saw the reason behind her attempted suicide. At least there wasn't any open hostility like there had been at the clothing shop in the village.

Severus was beginning to think his son was part crow with the regularity he kept going from booth to booth that had an abundance of sparkly and shiny objects. Harry never once asked his father to buy anything for him that he had his eye upon. More than likely such a habit came from when the child was with the Dursleys and everything was given to their biological child, yet nothing was ever given to Harry. He was also never allowed to complain.

Left and right, other children whined and pleaded with their parents over some toy or little trinket. It was irritating and Severus couldn't help being thankful that his child wasn't so spoiled. Even so, he watched Harry carefully, and if the boy's eyes went particularly wide over something, with Echo's silent complicity, Severus would slip away and purchase the object.

Most of the trinkets were little things that Severus would be able to hand out to his son as rewards for cleaning his room, helping Albus, or just being a good little boy. It wouldn't do to give Harry all the secretly bought items when they returned home, or he would become a spoiled child.

Severus was about to follow Echo to a booth that had some intriguing looking books, when Harry stopped dead before the one booth that must have been the mother-lode of shiny. Neither Echo, nor Severus could stop themselves from looking upon the booth in wonder just as Harry was. The booth was crammed full of all sorts of beautifully crafted timepieces. They chimed, ticked, bonged, and their insides glittered and whirred with precision. Severus knew what Harry was thinking before he could even voice it.

Albus' weakness was timepieces. He collected them. Had he been here with them, he would have spent the afternoon learning about each and every piece. Albus had asked Harry to bring him something from the Market and no doubt Harry wanted one of these time pieces to bring home to his grandfather.

A wizened old witch was nestled in the depths of the display of the time pieces. She eyed the little boy. "Now what would a youngster such as yourself want with the passage of time?" she teased with a raspy cackle.

"I like 'em because they're pretty," answered Harry. He was so terribly tempted to touch the pretties that he quickly stuffed his hands in the pockets of his shorts.

"I can see in your lovely green eyes, child, that you're rather fond of things that sparkle," she replied and placed a time piece with two dancing, clockwork figures at its center in front of him.

Harry leaned forward, being mindful that such things were delicate, and watched in fascination as the two figures, one in silver, the other in gold, whirled and twirled around. To his dismay, the old woman removed that time piece. However, his sadness was deflated as she placed another time piece in front of him. This one stood tall. Its mechanism was encased within a piece of faceted crystal that caught the sunlight and threw rainbows in all directions. Inside the crystal the mechanism was a series of tiny, silver spheres that tumbled along a Rube Goldberg style mechanism. After several minutes, the witch replaced that time piece with a miniature version of an Orrery. Severus saw the spark of green fire in Harry's eyes at this piece that showed the planets orbiting the sun.

He leaned down, his hand resting on Harry's shoulder. "Do you think Albus would like this one, Harry?"

"It's so pretty!" he marveled. "Grandpa could watch it all day long."

Echo touched Severus' arm and whispered in his ear, "I hope you're good at bargaining, Master Snape."

He lifted an eyebrow with an expression that said, 'just you watch!' "What are you asking for this piece, madame?" asked Snape with disdainful officiousness.

The witch squinted at the tall man in black robes. "One hundred galleons," she stated.

Severus studied the time piece for a moment and then countered, "It appears a bit tarnished. Fifty galleons."

Huffing at the insult, the witch waited a moment and then informed him archly, "This is a rather unique time piece, sir. You won't find many craftsmen who can synchronise the Orrery movements to earthly time." When she thought Snape was considering her information, she lowered her price. "90 galleons."

"I agree, such a piece is quite unique, but I know I saw one rather like this in Britain last summer. It was quite fascinating. I will offer... 60 galleons." Deliberately he crossed his arms over his chest and looked at another time piece that was much smaller and obviously much less expensive than the Orrery.

"You should know, sir, that this exceptional time piece was created by Blind Hanus, the Master Clockmaker of the Orloj in Prague. 85 galleons is nothing to the prestige of owning such a piece," boasted the witch.

Severus gave the witch a nod. Hers was a fine story, but he knew that Blind Hanus never had anything to do with the magnificent Orloj. "It is rather a fine piece, but Blind Hanus, as skilled as he was, had no skill in astronomy. He would never have been able to construct a piece such as this. Whoever the craftsman was, it is a rather delicate time piece which my son obviously feels his grandfather would desire in his collection. Therefore..." here he tapped his chin as though thinking very carefully. When the witch leaned forward to hear his counter offer, he replied sharply, "75 galleons and that is my final offer."

The witch's broad smile showed missing teeth and wrinkled her old face even further. "You are a fine bargainer, sir! I shall accept your 75 galleons. How fortunate your son and your father are." The witch took up the delicate time piece and with a wave of her wand, it was carefully and securely wrapped. Severus signed an authorisation for 75 galleons to be withdrawn from his Gringotts account, and then took the package from the old woman.

"Grandpa will love this," Harry said with awe as Severus took Harry's hand in his. He did not shrink the package as he didn't think something with such delicate clockwork would do well shrunk.

They walked a little further down the avenue when Severus' attention was caught by the rich tenor of a portly man standing beside a large chess set of granite. He was shouting out challenges to those who walked by. As soon as his grey-blue eyes caught Severus' own looking his way, he grinned widely.

"Fancy a game, sir? I am Bido, champion of the Market. Everyone plays me, no one wins." He laughed heartily.

"My Daddy is the greatest!" boasted Harry very seriously. He'd seen his father play several opponents. He never lost.

"Oho! Is he now, young master?" asked Bido.

Harry glanced over his shoulder at his father, a bit embarassed now that his boast seemed to be taken seriously. Echo grinned and whispered in Severus' ear. He shook his head, she whispered again, then he shrugged. He nodded to Harry.

Harry replied to Bido, "He is, sir. He played against Ron and he's dead wicked, but Daddy beat him in ten moves. Daddy called it the Orloff Strategy."

Bido crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Severus. "Orloff, eh? He was an underhanded thief."

"That he was, but his chess strategy was a sound one," answered Severus adopting his own crossed arm stance.

"Think you can beat me without employing a thief's strategies?" Bido's bushy eyebrow rose up towards his bald head and he smirked beneath his droopy mustache.

"I can employ my own, if you so wish?"

"Ah, yes. Let us meet as warriors over the game. Sit ye down, sir." Bido indicated a chair opposite on the white side.

Severus shook his head. "I play black."

Bido's gaze narrowed. He was obviously another player who favored the black side. It seemed, for a moment, he wouldn't give, but he was intrigued by this Englishman and so he nodded and moved from the side he was on.

"The black is yours, sir."

Severus seated himself, but not without a small touch of the dramatic as he swept the folds of his robes behind him. Bido chuckled and then seated himself.

"I assume there is to be a wager?" asked Severus as he looked over the pieces. Fashioned after pirates, they were a dangerous looking lot, but saluted their new captain, the Potions Master.

"Five galleons," Bido said easily. "Tradition accepts insults between opponents and participation from the spectators. I don't allow wands or fisticuffs at my table."

"Agreed," nodded Severus. As Bido made the first move, the game was begun.

For several long minutes both players were silent. Their pieces were not. When a piece was taken, it was a vicious fight across the board rife with catcalls and insults. The first player insult came from Bido who did not see the sense in Severus moving his knight when he did.

"What stupidity is that?" bellowed Bido. "You've never played this game!"

Severus did not reply to the insult. Bido studied the board, listening with one ear to the caustic suggestions made by his pieces. Harry giggled at some of the insults which weren't really for young ears.

"Repeat any of those words at home, young man," warned Severus softly, "and you'll be dining on soap."

Harry grimaced. "Blech."

Minutes later, the move with his knight earlier had placed Bido bishop (a piece he obviously favored attacking with) into a vulnerable situation he could not get out of. At the loss of his first bishop, Bido cursed coloufully at his opponent. Severus smirked and their growing audience laughed or cheered against the local Bido.

Bido had a moment of triumph when he took one of Severus' knights. It seemed to him that the man in black seemed to favor playing with the knights. It was a ruse, of course, a few moves later Severus used his pawns to trap Bido's second bishop.

As Bido's bishop was subjected to a brutal assault, Bido himself stood from the table and proceeded to insult the dubious quality of Severus Snape's ancestry.

"Don't you talk to my Daddy that way, you greasy, flobberworm slimy git!" shouted Harry.

He was puzzled as Bido clapped him on the shoulder and laughed good-naturedly. Harry backed away slightly until his father motioned him over. Severus picked Harry up, balanced him on one thigh, with his arm around the child's waist.

"You're a good boy," whispered Severus in his ear. "Now watch carefully as I put him in check. Do you see it?"

Harry studied the board. His father had been teaching him to play but he had yet to win against Severus. He expected it would be several years before he'd come close to winning. As he'd been taught, he imagined the board and the pieces in his head. It was hard because his imagination wanted to hare off and send all the pieces fighting against each other. They always made a lot of noise and it was fun to see the mess and the explosions.

In his mind he saw the chess pieces move until he saw what his father had done to trap Bido's king. He smiled as he opened his eyes. Severus was about to take his move when Bido held up a hand to stop him.

"A further wager, sir. A twist to the game. 10 galleons to the winner, but your son plays the next five moves. What say you?"

Severus gave the appearance of outrage, slightly insulted, but then his gaze narrowed and a wicked gleam came to his eyes. "Agreed, sir."

Bido had expected the hand of the little boy to effectively destroy his father's carefully played game. To his delighted consternation the child played as though the devil himself were guiding his hand. Bido scrutinised his older opponent. Considering the man's appearance, perhaps he was a devil.

Three minutes later the game was ended as Harry gleefully shouted, "Checkmate!"

The crowd cheered and Harry was the recipient of several congratulatory slaps to his back. After the fourth one, he dove shyly behind his father's robes. It was Echo who coaxed him forth.

"You did very well, Harry. Come out and thank Bido for a good game," she encouraged.

With his father's hand nudging him in the back, Harry approached Bido and stuck out his hand. "Thank you, sir."

Bido knelt down to Harry's point of view and shook the child's proffered hand. "You're welcome, young master. Tell me, what is your name?"

"Harry Snape. This is my Daddy, Severus Snape." He smiled.

"You and you father are excellent players, Harry. Hold out your hands." Harry did so. "Here are your winnings." Bido counted out five galleons, dropping the shiny coins into the child's hands. He then rose to his feet and gave the other five to Severus. The two older wizards shook hands.

As they left Bido's game table, the man was soliciting another challenger. Harry turned back to his father. "Can I buy something?"

"I think you should save three galleons," advised Severus. "Take two and buy whatever you'd like, but no sweets."

There were many things that caught Harry's eyes, but Severus saw that the boy was a discerning shopper who didn't want to waste his money. Harry finally settled on a set of Broom Maintenance Oils made with local olive oil.

"I think it's time to go home," announced Harry's father. In reply, Harry yawned. Severus smirked knowingly. Someone was in need of a nap!