"If I had a dollar for each time I had to clean up after those damn twins-"
"Why haven't you spoken to your boss about placing a charm on the door to keep their products from coming in?"
"Because I would have to come up with a charm for each and every single one. They always have new ones coming out so I would never be able to keep up." Ding. "Good evening, sir. Can I help you find something?"
"I am looking for a book on Saro Powder" said the hooded figure slowly.
"I'm not sure how much we have on that, it's a rather uncommon request. Please follow me. It should be in either the dark magic section or in with the rare herbs." She walked him to the far back corner and whispered a spell that drew the two books they had containing references to Saro powder. "I'm afraid this is all we have sir. Please take your time looking through them. Let me know if you need me to put an order in for more books on Saro powder."
He sunk against the shelf, never allowing her to see him face. This was not unusual in the store during evenings so she thought nothing of it after that.
"Jane, I think I need a night out. I close up at the end of the hour and I could use a drink." Jane squealed with excitement. Moira never did anything fun for herself. They had finished school just a few years before and everything that had happened was well buried with it. Now and then someone popped up from that town but it was rare. No one would dare acknowledge them.
Two hours and several beers later the girls found themselves talking to random guys at the bar.
"Then he said, That's no boulder, that's the fat lady!" Several of the guys bent over laughing. The girls giggled shyly, pretending to know what they were talking about. Everyone here had attended the local school, Hogwarts. There was a lot Moira had learned about the school from her books at the store, but she had never been inside of the school.
"Oh, Moira! I forgot to tell you! There is an opening for a professor at Hogwarts! I applied last week. I don't know if they will take me, I don't have the most experience. Hopefully, they like new grads!" Jane had finished grad school in only two years. She had a knack for magical and muggle history.
"You want to be a professor?" One of the guys said smugly. "Hey guys, we got a little nerd over here! What position are you applying for? Housekeeping?" With that the entire group of guys started making cat calls.
"Well, I suppose it is getting late. Shall we head home?" Moira pointed towards the door. Jane paid the tab for the both of them and followed happy that her best friend wanted to leave. They barely made it around the corner when they heard the cat calls once again. Two of the guys had decided that the conversation needed to continue. The girls walked faster, not looking back. They took a few turns and windy alleyways to try and loose them.
"Hey ladies, where did you go? We didn't mean to scare you away." They yelled in their drunken stupor.
The girls reached Jane's apartment and slipped inside. "You want to stay the night?"
"No, it's ok. I need to head back. I have a book shipment coming in early. Thanks though. You go to bed. I'll slip out in just a few minutes. I doubt they will keep this up for much longer." Moira watched the pictures on the wall. None of them were of people, just places. It was better to not have people in your pictures in case they found them. Half an hour had passed when she decided to brave the wind and head home. Her bed was waiting for her and it had been a long day. Her head buzzed a bit but the cool air made her feel alive. The sky was clear and the stars were twinkling to their own beat.
A shadow next to her moved. She was grabbed and pulled into a doorway. A hand was over her mouth and her arms were pinned. "Shh." The voice belonged to the man holding her. He smelt like sugar but her heart was racing. They found me. But we were so careful. How did they find out? The surge of adrenaline helped sober her up. She felt the pattern her assailant was breathing, slow and steady; the pattern of someone who is either calm or well controlled. It was too dark to see a reflection in any of the nearby windows. "I'm sorry," the voice whispered into her ear. "The Saro powder wasn't as easy to procure as I expected. I'm afraid you walked by at the wrong time." The arms pulled her backwards and through the door. She was released as the figure locked and charmed the door. "Follow me." It walked down a dark hall. There was also a spell on the shop keeping all of its contents hidden in shadow just as the man was.
She managed to follow him without tripping. Normally her eyes would've normally adjusted to the darkness in a matter of seconds. With as much time as she had spent in the dark during those many years ago, she knew this wasn't a normal dark.
"Nox minimo" the voice said. She saw him slowly come into focus. He took the hood off and out popped the most unusually obnoxious shade of red hair. "So it turns out that it's a very rare powder and the people who have it want to keep it. I think I got enough to finish my newest invention though!"
"I'm sorry but who are you?"
"I'm Fred. Sorry for all of the mystery. I hope I didn't frighten you."
"Why am I here? And .. well.. where is here anyways?"
"This is my and my brother's shop. This is the back room. Sorry to keep it in darkness but our products are rather unruly and I didn't want to draw any attention just yet."
Moira looked around, it was a small room. There were different colored spills, scorch marks, a hat that kept turning itself inside out, and other objects she could not identify. "Who's attention are you trying to avoid exactly?"
"Oh no one you need to worry about. But I would suggest you stay here for the rest of the night. They aren't ones to give up quickly." He smirked and started busying himself with a caldron on a wooden table.
"Um, what exactly do I do in the mean time?" She had already decided that whoever the original owner of the Saro powder was was someone she didn't want to mess with. The Saro powder was rare for a reason. "And what are you using the Saro powder for?"
"It is normally used for, well, not so pleasant effects. I intend to use it in order to balance out something. I can't give you the details. It won't be on sale until next summer. If this works anyways." He started busying himself with the contents on the table once again. "Okay, now that is that. There is nothing that can be done until tomorrow. Patience is George's thing, not mine."
"I'm sorry? George?"
"My brother of course. Are you not familiar with our work?"
She suddenly figured out who he was. "YOU! You are the twins aren't you?" She said accusingly. He jumped back pretending to be hurt and confused. "Your damn pranks keep making a mess of my shop! I am so sick of cleaning up after you two!"
"Hey hey hey! You should've just said something. I would've at least watched while you cleaned." He laughed and motioned for her to follow him out of the room. He proceeded up stairs. There was a small couch in front of a fireplace. He ignited the logs. "Tea?"
"Well since I have nowhere else to be at one o'clock in the morning…" She rolled her eyes and sat on the couch giving up on her thoughts of just walking out the front door.