Chapter One

Butterbeer For How Many?

June 1996

Sweat trickles down my golden brown skin from a day of hard work. Brewing potions, lining the shelves with ready-packed herbs and seeds, and watering the fresh plants have taken quite a toll on me. Though I’ve been casting cooling charms all day, the summer heat is relentless. 

The bell tied to the door handle chimes as another patron enters the quaint shop. An older man with receding red hair is being dragged by a small, stumpy older woman with flaming red hair. The couple whispers rapidly to each other about what they need for future recipes and what needs to be budgeted better. I try to fix up the counter so there’s enough space cleared off when they’ve finished their haul through my store. 

“Arthur, we need these. I can't find these packets anywhere. One of the gnomes probably got into the stash I had stored in the garage,” she huffs.

“But do we need this many, Molly?” her husband cuts in sighing.

“Yes, we do. I’ll put some aside in a safe spot so they won’t get at it again,” Molly continues as she makes her way to the counter.

She places all the muggle and magical seed packets on the counter as her husband begins to gather his money. 

“Is that all for today?” I start calculating their total. 

“Oh, yes. Thank you,” she remarks. “Say, how long have you been open? I don’t believe I've ever been in here before. Such a lucky find for me with the seeds.”

“Glad you found what you were looking for. I opened this store fairly recently. I apologize for the clutter, as you can see I'm still unpacking everything," I breathed a laugh.

“You seem quite young, did you just graduate from Hogwarts?” Arthur wonders as I start bagging their items. 

“Yes, I graduated a couple of months ago. I had been saving up since my fifth year to open my shop, doing odd jobs and the like,” I explain.

“Now that sounds familiar; our two sons opened up a store here a couple of months ago as well. Oh, you probably went to school together,” she exclaims. “What house were you in?” They both look at me trying to figure it out for themselves.

“I was in Slytherin,” I smile. 

They seem slightly taken aback. “Oh, I see. That’s lovely,” Molly finishes as Arthur cuts in trying to ease the slight awkwardness. “Our whole family was in Gryffindor so you might’ve had classes together with our sons. Possibly even our daughter as well, though she’s a bit younger. Do you know Fred and George Weasley?” 

Tension starts to rise in me, as I am now as uncomfortable as Molly Weasley. Fred and George, Gryffindor beaters, known for their pranking of everyone in Hogwarts, and friends with Harry Potter’s posse. My rivalry with George Weasly began at the end of our first year and progressed worse and worse till our final year. Being opponents in Quidditch certainly didn’t help. Of course, I know the Weasleys, I can see the resemblance clear as day now. 

“I know them, yes. We had classes together through the years, we’ve always been acquaintances, however,” I smile, putting back on my professionalism. “That’ll be 3 Galleons and 5 sickles.” 

“I see, well thank you for the seeds,” Arthur exhales as he hands the money over.

As they gather their bag of seeds to depart I give a short wave of goodbye. I breathe a sigh of relief and begin organizing the store once again. 

Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes opened in Diagon Alley a month or so before I opened my store, Patil’s Prodigious Potions. I’ve never stopped in their store to look at their creations, only peering in through the windows from a distance but I have to admit they’ve done a great job. 

Remembering my last year at Hogwarts I heard of their plans to open a store and their parent's disapproval. Unfortunately, I related to them in that aspect. My family didn’t want the life I’d chosen for myself. They would have preferred I work within a department of the Ministry or something with a more stable future. 

My father hasn’t spoken to me since I finalized my decision and bought the store in February. My mother checks in on me here and there but never asks about what I’ve built for myself. I think if they were to come to my store they’d see that I was not being naive and that this was a good decision. I’m a potioneer; I'm able to do what I love and help people.

Jiya, my sister, is the only one who supports me. We have always been close but soon she’ll be going into her sixth year and absorbed in her studies. Jiya is in the same house as my cousin Padma, both proud Ravenclaws. Parvati and I are the odd ones within the family through not being in Ravenclaw; Parvati is a Gryffindor. 

The door chimes again and I'm snapped out of my thoughts. Flora and Hestia Carrow smile broadly at me as they stride in. I return a cheeky grin myself as I greet my two favorite twins. I became friends with Flora Carrow first, the very day I was sorted into Slytherin. As soon as I took my seat beside her in The Great Hall we became the best of friends. At first Hestia and I would butt heads often, and we still do, though there’s more of a fondness surrounding such interactions now. I've been best friends with the Carrow twins since my first year. 

“Adi, working hard or hardly working?” Hestia jabs. 

“Well I didn’t work up this sweat from just standing here,” I huffed as I rolled my eyes. 

“Snappy today, aren’t we?” Hestia laughs. 

Flora interrupts the banter, “Okay, what can we help with? Also sorry we couldn’t come sooner unfortunately, our cousins were over.” 

“Yikes, wanna talk about it or would you prefer a distraction?”

The twins look at each other as they both say, “Distraction please.”

“Coming right up,” I smile and point my wand at the phonograph in the back corner of the store. The vinyl Ocean Rain by Echo and the Bunnymen play in the background, easing the ill feelings within the shop. 

“Ah yes, sweet muggle music,” Hestia smiles. Flora and I smile along with her as we get to work in perfecting the store. 

❇❇❇ 

Locking the door to the store I turn to face the Carrow twins, thanking them for all their help throughout the day. 

“Do you guys wanna pop over to the Three Broomsticks for a Butterbeer? Or we can be lazy and just walk over to The Leaky Cauldron?” Flora asks.

“I’d rather apparate to The Three Broomsticks honestly,” Hestia says thinking of how unappealing The Leaky Cauldron can be at times. We all nod in agreement and apparate toward our destination. 

With a crack zipping through the air, we stare at the entrance of The Three Broomsticks, excited to have a Butterbeer after a long month of hard work and no outings together. We walk through the door and try to find a table in the back. Once we secured a table I went up to the bar and ordered three ice-cold butterbeers to cool off from such a hot day. 

As I return from the bar, levitating all three drinks, I see a small group crowded around our table. 

“And how is our lovely Ms. Patil?” Cassius calls, humor shining through his smile.

“Oh shut up, will you? What are you all doing here anyway?” I ask looking toward Cassius Warrington, Daphne Greengrass, and Marcus Flint.

“We were at a table on the other side and saw Hestia and Flora. Figured we might as well join you guys,” Marcus explains.

“Alright, enough dallying. Adi, please give me my drink for Salazar's sake,” Hestia whines.

I float the drinks to them, grabbing mine mid-air as I sit at the table. The rest of the group takes a seat along with me as we all catch up. I start to feel at home like I’m in the Slytherin common room once again. We talk about what we’ve all been up to recently and reminisce about our early years in Hogwarts. Our table fills with laughter, exaggerated storytelling, and constant teasing. 

The table has gone through three rounds of butterbeer when I begin to feel like I should go for a walk to try to sober up enough to apparate back to Diagon Alley. I excuse myself from the table saying I'd like to go for a short walk when Cassius excuses himself as well. He asks if I mind him accompanying me on my walk around Hogsmeade. I give him a nod to follow me and we exit The Three Broomsticks together. 

We walk in silence together as the warm night air of summer surrounds us. Besides Flora and Hestia, Cassius has been one of my closest friend since first year. We weren’t too fond of each other at first but when the conversation drifted towards Quidditch we agreed on almost every opinion the other had. We talked of our favorite teams, smart plays made in house matches, and what position we would want to play for our house. 

Getting onto the Slytherin Quidditch team was challenging for me due to no girls ever being on the team before. Cassius and I pushed each other harder to make it on the team. He stood by me the whole time supporting me as I did with him. Anyone that tried to say anything derogatory towards me would have to deal with him, not that I needed him to, but I appreciated it nonetheless. And of course, if the roles were reversed the consequences would be the same for whoever came for him. 

“Has your dad reached out at all?” he questions.

“What do you think?” I sigh and give the moment time to breathe before focusing the conversation on him, “And what about you? Have you figured out what you want to do yet?”

“I’m thinking about becoming an Auror but my parents think it’ll be too dangerous very soon, if you know what I mean,” Cassius’s face takes a grim tone, “I think I want to become an Auror because I know what's coming.”

We drift into another silence thinking about the looming future.

“I think that’s a good idea, especially if it’ll take some of that weight off your chest. Your parents are right to worry though because it will be dangerous but if this is what you want to do I'll support you as always,” I say sincerely while looking ahead at the path.

I hear him sigh, “We should start to head back.” I nod in agreement and we begin our trek back to The Three Broomsticks. 

Once we're back inside everyone begins their goodbyes and discusses setting up a quidditch game with friends in the next couple of weeks. I tell them to send me an owl of the details and wish everyone a good night. With a crack rippling through the summer night, I'm back at Diagon Alley. I unlock the door to my store and enter, locking the door once again. Heading upstairs to the loft space above the store I decide to make myself tea in the kitchen. 

As the water boils I sit at the kitchen counter jotting down more ideas for inventory that could be sold and potion ideas. I’ve been thinking of collaborating with local businesses in Diagon Alley. It may bring more business and make my shop seem more trustworthy, making others want to buy from me rather than my competitors. The kettle whistles drawing my attention to start making my tea. 

Just a spoonful of honey in my tea sets me into a relaxed state.

I stir my honey in the tea and bring the spoon to my mouth to get off the rest of the honey. When I take the spoon away I see my distorted reflection. My golden skin and dark wavy hair show vibrantly compliments my Indian father, yet I have the dark gray eyes of my Irish mother. My sister has always been the darling of our family, with softer features and kind eyes similar to our mother. My face has always been sharp, eyes glaringly similar to our father's. 

A yawn breaks through me and I decide it's time for bed. Putting my cup in the sink, I stretch and walk towards my bathroom to take a quick shower, deciding I've done enough introspection for one day. Once I'm clean and dry, I settle myself into bed and quickly fall asleep.