The next day, with Albus being watched over by his phoenix, Fawkes, Harry, Severus, and Echo went into the village proper to do some shopping. It wasn't Market day, but the village was still a quaint little place with lots of interesting shops. What caught Harry's eyes was a ferris wheel that rose so high up into the sky that it overlooked the village and the entire island of Solonus.

"Can we ride the ferris wheel, please, Daddy?" begged Harry, as he tugged insistently on his father's robe.

"Harry, I have asked you before not to tug on my robes like that. You get my attention just fine by speaking to me." Harry pouted and Severus chucked a finger gently under his chin. "Let's get Miss Prosper taken care of first, then we'll go on the ferris wheel."

With a smile, and his acquiescent 'okay' Harry was content to wait for his ferris wheel ride. He walked between his father and Echo, carrying on most of the babbling conversation on his own.

"Why did your parents name you Echo?" Harry asked out of the blue.

"My mother fell in love with a line from a poem by Milton and knew that if ever she had a daughter, she would name her Echo," replied the young woman.

"What's the poem?" Harry asked.

He stopped and listened as Echo recited a refrain from 'Comus' by Milton:

"Sweet Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'st unseen
Within thy aery shell
By slow Meander's margent green,
And in the violet-embroidered vale,
Where the love-lorn nightingale
Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well;
Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair
That likest thy Narcissus are?
O, if thou have
Hid them in some flowery cave,
Tell me but where,
Sweet queen of parly, daughter of the sphere,
So may'st thou be translated to the skies,
And give resounding grace to all heaven's harmonies."

"It sounds pretty," said Harry very politely, "but I don't know what it means."

Echo laughed. "That's all right, Harry. It was a long time before I understood it myself."

"This place might be suitable, Miss Prosper," said Severus looking up at a sign bordered with carved roses.

Echo read the sign, "Galliana's Garments for the Discerning Lady." She glanced worriedly at Severus. "Mr. Snape, this shop is rather expensive. Perhaps we should..."

He waved his hand. "Nonsense. Let us see what they have first before you say no. Harry, stay close, and keep your hands to yourself."

Harry shoved his hands into his pockets. He was always touching things and he had a bad habit of making off with anything that was shiny. Severus escorted them into the shop and noted the sharp-eyed, slightly disapproving look the pinch-faced owner aimed at Echo.

"Good afternoon, sir." The elderly woman, who was wearing a badly applied glamour to mask her true age, fluttered over to them and they were assaulted by an overwhelming scent of of cloying orange and vanilla. "How may I help you today?"

Severus noticed the shop owner completely disregarded Echo and addressed her comments only to him. He wondered what was behind the shunning. "My friend requires that her warddrobe be replaced," he began.

The woman's unctious smile thinned out to an awful grimace as she looked upon Echo with extreme distaste as she replied, "Someone such as herself has no need of a lady's clothing!"

Echo clutched Severus' arm just as she realised the dark haired wizard was going to give the old bat a piece of his mind. "Please!" she whispered, "Don't! Not in front of Harry!"

Without a word, Severus escorted his son and Echo out of the shop. Outside, he couldn't help but ask, "Whatever was that rude behavior for?"

"It comes from rumours Oland circulated about me in order to effect our divorce." Echo looked down at Harry and put her hands over his ears. She spoke quietly to Severus. "As we were bonded by magic, we couldn't just divorce. He had to prove that I'd been unfaithful. None of them were true, but the rumours persist." She sighed just as Harry pulled away from her hands. He glared at both adults as Echo finished, "We may not have much luck here."

"We shall look for one more shop, but if we encounter such rude behavior again, then we will go to Diagon Alley. Madame Amalie Mallkin is a most accomodating seamstress."

A trip to Diagon Alley wasn't necessary as they soon found another shop, not quite as fancy looking as the first one, that was owned by two middle-aged sisters who, although they'd obviously heard the rumours about Echo, they ignored them and welcomed Echo. The shop was called, The Sara Sisters - Fashionable Clothing for the Family.

The sisters not only did custom orders, but they also had some fine, second-hand (or what they called 'gently used') clothing for children. While Echo was merrily measured by the sisters for everything she needed, Severus and Harry looked over the gently used clothing. Harry found a garish, Chudley Cannons Quidditch shirt of orange, a similar lime green shirt, and a couple more pairs of shorts. Severus also found a nice button down cotton shirt, white, of course, and a rather nice pair of dark grey trousers.

Harry was fine in getting more socks (he had a bad habit of always misplacing just one of a pair) but he was stubborn about wanting other colours besides white. After a short argument between the two that sounded more like low hissing snakes as they tried not to raise their voices, Severus relented, and Harry picked out a veritable rainbow of coloured socks. Severus then went over to the new packages of underwear, and that's where Harry put up a fuss.

"No, dad!" he gasped, pushing the packages of underwear his father had in his hands back towards the shelf they came from. Harry was looking warily back over his shoulder at Echo.

"Harry, stop it!" scolded his father sharply reaching out for another package.

"Daa-aad," he pleaded in a harsh whisper. He then stepped closer to Severus. "You can't get me under... that! Not when there's a GIRL with us!"

Severus put the packages back on the shelf. "Would it be acceptable if I had the sisters send the underwear to you in a separate package?"

"No-ooo!" Harry drawled as if his father were being obtuse on purpose.

Severus narrowed his eyes at his son, but seemingly gave up. By then the sisters were finished with Echo. While Echo stood with Harry, Severus made arrangements for the bill to be paid, and to have a specific package sent directly to his son. He smirked to himself as they left the shop.

Their next stop was a shoe shop where Harry was fitted with a sturdy pair of trainers that had a dirt repellent charm. It was a little extra, but Severus really had had no idea how dirty Harry could get a simple pair of shoes and he was tired of casting cleaning spells at his current pair all the time.

By then, Harry was thirsty and in need of a little boy's room. They went to a nearby cafe where Severus purchased tea for all of them, and little petit fours. Echo waited at a table for the tea and cakes to be served while Severus escorted Harry to the boy's bathroom. As Harry took care of his needs, Severus waited patiently by the sink in the, thankfully, spotless bathroom.

"Dad?" Harry's voice echoed in the tiled bathroom.

"Yes, Harry?"

"How come you don't talk to Echo?"

"I have no idea what you mean, Harry. I've spoken to Miss Prosper."

"No you haven't. You've sort of ordered her around like you do your dunderheads. Shouldn't you just talk to her like a regular grown-up?"

Harry didn't hear the answer to his question as he flushed the loo at that moment. He emerged from the stall and Severus directed him to the sink. Harry was a bit too short to reach over the lip of the sink, so his father levitated him so he could wash his hands.

"Towel, son! Don't wipe your hands on your trousers."

"Sorry, Daddy."

Father and son soon returned to their table where Echo waited with their tea. Harry leaned over his. Severus automatically cast a cooling spell over Harry's tea so it wouldn't burn his mouth.

Knowing that Harry had been right about his observation in the way Severus was speaking to Echo, he attempted to be more conversant.

"You said you were in the states... uhm..." Stupid! That's when her parents were killed. He swallowed some bile that had risen, wondering horribly if that was one of the few revels he'd been unable to avoid when he spied for the Order. "Where did you go to school, Miss Prosper?"

"The Salem Academy for Witches & Wizards. It has the prestige in America that Hogwarts has here in Britain."

"Did you like it?" asked Harry, his mouth full of petit four.

"Don't speak with your mouth full, Harry," warned his father. Severus handed the little boy a napkin and he wiped some crumbs off his chin.

"I did like it, Harry. I went there for the last four years of school. Did you know they have graduation ceremonies in America when you finish school?" Harry shook his head.

"Rather superfluous, isn't it?" asked Severus. "Once a student has finished school, there's really no need to memorialise the occasion."

"It was rather noisy, and far too pompous. I had to wear this silly gown made of some synthetic cloth that was absolutely sweltering. On my head was a hat that was a square board." Harry giggled at the imagined image of the hat in his head. Echo smiled and Severus noted how delicate the laugh lines at the corners of her beautiful eyes were. "It was funny, Harry. Especially since everyone wore them. But, the worst part was the high heels I had to wear. I prefer bare feet, or if I must, sandals any day, but the women were told to wear high heels. For four hours! Even with a cushioning spell my feet felt crippled by the time they let us go."

Echo picked up a petit four and bit into it delicately. Severus caught himself staring at a bit of frosting on her lip. When her tongue darted out and licked away the frosting, he couldn't remember the last time he'd ever seen something so... well, delicious.

"What do you teach at Hogwarts, Mr. Snape?" asked Echo, her question bringing him back down to earth.

"Potions. I've done so for fifteen years," he replied simply.

"So you're a Potions Master, then?" He nodded and watched as a curl fell over her forehead. "And you never told me I was addressing you incorrectly?"

"What are you s'posed to call, dad?" asked Harry. He stretched his hand out for another petit four, but Severus stopped him. Harry pouted, but quickly covered it with a cheeky smile.

Severus answered his son's question. "A Potions Master is called Master. A Potions Mistress is called Mistress, if she's single, Madame, if she's married."

"Could I call you Master Dad?" asked Harry drinking the last of his tea.

"Don't be silly, Harry," Snape gave the boy a sardonic quirk of his eyebrow, then ordered gently, "Sit down in your chair. You're not that short."

Harry plopped down on his backside on his chair. Echo smiled at Harry and sipped her tea. It was right then, as she was licking her lips, when she realised she was getting some rather intense attention from the Potions Master. She looked down at the table for a moment, and then asked, "Do they allow married teachers to live at Hogwarts?"

Severus barely escaped spluttering his tea everywhere. He wasn't able to keep from choking on the tea he had swallowed and was forced to put down his teacup, and wipe the tears that had been forced from his eyes.

"Oh dear, Mr. Snape! Are you all right?"

As he looked up, there was a devilish, smug, smile upon the young woman's face. He scowled darkly, knowing that she'd caught him off guard deliberately. "I'm quite fine," he replied slowly as he gathered in his dignity. He carefully took another sip of his tea, and then, with a smirk, he answered her question.

"Married teachers are most certainly allowed to live at Hogwarts. It is a rather large castle, you realise? Are you, perhaps, planning on marrying a teacher that works there, Miss Prosper?"

Now it was Echo's turn to choke, and to her great embarassment, she let out a rather unladylike snort before she coughed on the remains of her tea.

"Not at all," she sniped caustically once she recovered. "I'm quite certain there's no one there I'd be remotely interested in."

Harry was rather puzzled by the whole exchange and just stared oddly at the two adults. Shrugging his shoulders, he plucked the last petit four off the plate before his father could see him and popped it into his mouth.