Chapter 2
After dinner, Harry returned home with more questions than answers. The two men had discussed the store and his plans for it a little further, and Severus had urged him to leave the books as arranged and not to change anything too much. There had been a large group of locals who solely patronized his mother’s store for books, and the reopening meant they would most likely return. When they did, Severus told Harry, they would expect everything to remain the same, and be annoyed if it wasn’t.
Now that his plans for rearranging had been ruined, he decided to at least create a labeling system for the shelves in case any new patrons visited. The next day, he called several companies about utilities and learned that everything had been paid for and kept running through Lily Potter's estate, which meant that he could order new books and access the internet on the old computer next to the cash register. Harry also texted Hermione, who offered to bring him a bag of clothes and supplies, but he turned her down, telling her that he would return the next day.
Instead of staying at his flat forty minutes away in London while attending Uni and running the shop, Harry decided to slowly move his things into the flat at Potter’s Books while commuting for classes each day. Since he’d created his schedule so he could be finished with classes at two in the afternoon each day, he could open the store in the evenings after getting back and hopefully earn a small profit while doing homework.
Luckily, Harry didn’t have to worry about driving yet since it was Sunday, but he felt jittery from being cooped up inside the bookstore all weekend, even after dinner with Severus the night before. After getting ready for the day, he headed downstairs and outside, where he locked up quickly and then started to walk in the opposite direction of the bistro.
Potter’s Books was centrally located on Rosemont’s Main Street, one of several small businesses lining the road that ran through the entire tiny town. On one side was a bakery Harry hadn’t visited or caught the name of yet, and on the other side (in the direction opposite the bistro) was a home goods store named Marquis Mercantile. As he passed, the dark-haired man peeked in the window and was greeted by an excited golden retriever prancing around inside. Each storefront along the street was very different, some amalgamating several businesses in a single building (one boasted an attorney, a nurse practitioner, and a yoga teacher all wedged into less than 2000 square feet). As he approached the end of the street, the stores became further apart and offered more unusual services. One drew Harry’s attention at once due to its name, Tailored Like Magic, and he paused to check it out.
As he entered, a voice called out to greet him. “Hey! Come on back!” Harry passed rows upon rows of labeled clothing, including multilayered wedding dresses, children’s clothing, and weirdly enough, some sort of robes. They almost looked like wizard robes from movies about magical kingdoms. Maybe there was a cosplayer in the Rosemont area who needed tailoring for their next convention.
The voice manifested as a youthful woman with golden curls and a fashionable outfit that somehow mixed leopard print with pinstripes but still looked phenomenal. She smiled brightly at Harry from her seat at a sewing machine surrounded by spools of thread. “You must be Harry Potter! I’m Lavender Brown, Rosemont’s resident tailor,” she said while guiding a pair of jeans under the needle. “What brings you by today?”
Word must travel quickly here if people already knew his name.
“I was just in the area and wanted to look around. Um, so you offer tailoring services?” He wanted to kick himself immediately after speaking. Of course she did – the woman had just said so not even a minute prior. “Do you have a pricing sheet?”
A bright laugh echoed in the room. “Oh no, honey, for you, my services are free. What are you looking for?”
Harry shook his head. “Wait, why would my things be free? We’ve never even met before.”
“Think of it as collateral. When I was just starting Tailored Like Magic and your mother ran Potter’s, she gave me many books on sewing and fashion design for free and never asked for anything in return. This is my thanks to her and the bookstore,” Lavender said. She stopped the sewing machine and stood, bringing the jeans with her as she walked back to the front room. “I am about to close, but if you are ever free and wanted to talk about anything – running a business, your mom, Rosemont – give me a call. I’m an open book.” With that, she ushered Harry outside and locked the door behind him. He was surprised since it was only around noon, but perhaps the tailor needed to head to lunch.
He decided to continue heading down the street. Harry had searched up the town after dinner the night before and found that a nearby building housed the accountant that he’d seen listed in one of his mother’s old ledger books. The outside of the building was modern compared to its surroundings and had greenery climbing nearly all its walls.
The receptionist’s brown eyes peered up at him mischievously under his fire-red fringe. Like everyone else Harry had met so far, his face was far more youthful than the laugh lines around his mouth proclaimed. A nametag labeled the lanky man as Fred.
“Hi there, um, I was looking for Percy Weasley? I think he was my mother’s accountant for her shop and I—” Harry was cut off by a door swinging open to his left, revealing a thin man wearing a pressed suit and an old-fashioned pair of horn-rimmed glasses.
He beckoned Harry to enter his office. The dark-haired man looked back at the receptionist, who had already returned to fiddling with some sort of brightly colored toy, then stepped into the small, cramped room. It was lined with bookshelves, although the titles of the books were too tiny to make out, and housed a large oak desk with comfortable chairs on either side. Harry considered for a moment how odd it was that he was known by what felt like the entire population of Rosemont, yet the shop had been empty except for Severus all weekend.
Percy Weasley sat across from him behind a computer and typed feverously for a few moments, then trained his stern gaze on the other man. “Mr. Potter. Welcome to Rosemont. How have you found our town so far?” he asked. Harry was surprised that he hadn’t immediately jumped into some sort of number speak based on his no-nonsense demeanor and to-the-point tone.
His eyes flitted around the room, taking in the books, as Harry answered. “Um...thanks. It’s nice, I think. I’m still settling in though.” His fingers twisted together in my lap.
The accountant typed rapidly again. It concerned Harry a bit how much he wrote. “Good, good. We were all quite excited to hear that you would be reopening the bookstore. I know many of us have been wondering if it would ever be open again, so you will probably receive some returning patrons soon.”
He nodded. “Yeah, that’s what Severus told me yesterday. He also said to keep things in the same areas, just so nobody would be confused.” A dark look passed over Percy’s face when he said Severus’ name, but the man didn’t say anything and quickly schooled his features back to a stern-but-pleasant expression. Harry paused for a moment, then continued. “But, um, I was actually here to ask if you could give me more information on Potter’s Books’ financial state and anything I would need to do if you continue to help with the accounting.”
Percy nodded in understanding and turned his computer screen towards the other. Harry leaned forward and was greeted by a spreadsheet filled with numbers and information, presumably about the shop. From his vague knowledge of accounting based on a single class taken his freshman year, it looked like financial information dating back several years of the business’ existence. Hopefully, those financials were good. Otherwise, Potter’s Books’ reopening might not actually happen like the town seemed to expect.
Harry stuck to his plan to open the store in the evenings after returning from London for the next week. His three roommates from the flat, Hermione, Neville, and Luna, had been extremely excited about his finding a more permanent residence, and Hermione especially begged him to let her visit soon after graduation and show her around Rosemont.
As the week went by, several people visited the shop. Harry had earned a solid profit so far, at least from what his ledgers proclaimed, and according to Percy Weasley, he was selling drastically less than what Lily had during her time as owner. If patronage continued at this pace, he could afford to live off the earnings from Potter’s completely in less than a year or two.
Severus had not returned yet. Harry had met several other Rosemont inhabitants, however, including the owner of Marquis Mercantile (an incredibly old man with kind features named Albus Dumbledore who encouraged Harry to call him Uncle Al) and a few older women sporting pale, drawn features and snooty attitudes. They’d harrumphed over the labels he’d added to each shelf and told him that they were unnecessary since everyone already knew their way around the store. Harry kindly didn’t point out that it had been seven years since many of these women had even stepped foot inside the place since they spent quite a bit of money and seemed likely to return. He didn’t want to scare off any clients just yet.
His second week in Rosemont dawned bright and early at six in the morning on Monday. His clinical psychology professor emailed the night before and canceled class that day, leaving Harry to his own devices again. Did all business owners feel that they opened the shop, worked, closed, slept, and started again the next day? That was how he felt during the beginning of his ownership of Potter’s.
The man decided to spend his newfound free time exploring Rosemont further and trying to locate Severus’s catering company. He’d added a few items of business to his to-do list, the first of which was hosting a party at Potter’s to celebrate the official reopening and return to full business hours once he graduated. After looking through all the options, catering was somehow the cheapest and easiest way to feed at least 50 people. He didn’t expect many more than that.
Harry’s plans were to find the catering company, then visit a local park and lay out for a few hours reading. It was one of his favorite pastimes on campus when the sun shone just right on the quad, and today was the perfect type of day. He grabbed a tote bag that he’d bought at a Weird Sisters concert and filled it with a large blanket, water bottles, and a book from the shelves called “Magic and Me: a Guide to Spellcasting for the Modern Magical.” It looked like any other nonfiction book except for the name that denoted it as fiction, and he wanted to see what exactly drew so many of his customers to this type of book.
It didn’t take long to find the way to Severus’s storefront. The façade was red brick with white-trimmed doors and windows and ivy crawling across each empty swath of building. Harry hadn’t noticed before, but it sat in the plot directly beside the bistro they’d visited together. The name emblazoned on the quaint sign was “Prince & Snape Catering Co.” Harry wondered if every business in this town was named using the owner’s surname.
He pushed open the door, which rang a bell signaling his arrival, and looked around with interest. The inside matched the whimsical but homey nature of the exterior and looked very similar to PSC Bistro next door, aside from appearing more office-like. A door led off to what he assumed was the kitchen, and photos of large buffet spreads lined the walls. He approached the desk and was surprised to find Fred, the accountant’s receptionist, manning the computer.
“Um, hello...” Harry spoke. He did think it was a little weird that the redhead worked in two different places, reasoning with himself that maybe both positions were part time and he alternated days, but when Harry looked down at his nametag, it read George. Maybe Fred had a doppelganger, or a twin? Harry shook his head and smiled. “I was wondering if I could book catering for a celebration I’m having.”
George didn’t even glance up from the book he was reading. Harry strained to see the title, but it wasn’t visible, although several illustrations of what looked like cauldrons and pastries were “What day?” He asked.
Harry stammered for a second. “Oh, the 14th. Of May. Um, it’s going to be at Potter’s Books...” He trailed off when George looked up sharply.
“Harry Potter! Ah, give me just a moment. Dr. Snape will be right out.” George picked up a black corded phone and typed out a number, then held it to his ear. “...Dr. Snape, Harry Potter is here. Would you like me to send him to you?” After a few moments, he put the phone back and directed Harry through the door to the right.
Harry collected my thoughts while looking for his new acquaintance. It felt odd that so many people in Rosemont would know him by the name of his shop alone, even without having met him face to face. He also found it confusing that Severus would ask his employees to send Harry to him directly if he visited, even though they had only spoken a few times and weren’t close friends, although Harry thought he might quite like to be.
The door led to a long hallway ending in a set of doors, similar to those of a restaurant, that presumably gave way to a kitchen. Along the way were several other entrances labeled with brass plaques, and he made his way down until he found one with Severus’s surname etched across the smooth surface. Harry hesitated for a moment before knocking.
“Come in!” The older man rasped, and Harry pushed open the door to find him sorting through jars on a tall shelf that teetered precariously above a set of plush emerald chairs. At his entrance, Severus glanced up and gave him a small smirk. “Ah, hello, Mr. Potter. Whatever brings you to my office today?” He swept across the room and gestured for Harry to sit across from him in the chairs.
Harry smiled back and immediately noted how comfortable the cushions of the seat were. “Hello, Severus. I was just wanting to inquire about catering for a small re-opening celebration I’m planning for mid-May. I didn’t mean to make such a fuss. I could have scheduled it with George, out there," he told the other.
Severus shook his head. "No, no, I handle all of the catering scheduling. Don't worry about it at all," he told Harry. "Now then, what would you like for your celebration? We can get everything planned out now and I'll work out the pricing."