Hannah Abbott walked slowly through Hogsmeade with a ring of keys jingling in her hand. It was early and the sun was just beginning to tint the sky red. Under normal circumstances she would've apparated, but the walk from her flat to her new business was short and the deserted streets were too pleasant to pass up. It was the perfect opportunity for her to mull over everything she would need to set up when she arrived.
The past few months had been a whirlwind of activity and Hannah couldn't believe where they'd taken her. Four months ago, she'd been gainfully employed as the secretary for one of the most successful wizarding law firms in magic Britain. While her job had been easy enough, it had left her feeling unfulfilled regularly. One morning, she'd been reading The Daily Prophet and seen an article about The Three Broomsticks being up for sale after Madame Rosmerta had died in a tragic work accident when a large shelving unit had collapsed on top of her. While Hannah had felt a twinge of sadness at the famous landlady's passing, the idea of owning a pub had lit a fire in her belly that was unquenchable. A week later, she'd quit her job and put up an offer without a second thought.
As Hannah continued her journey, everything seemed surreal. The fact that she was the landlady of the famed pub was like a dream. She felt like it would all sink in once she was actually standing in The Three Broomsticks.
Soon the building was in sight and the first day nerves filled Hannah. She'd never owned a business or worked in a pub, but she figured it would be easy enough to learn. By the time that she reached the front door, her hands were trembling. Carefully, she unlocked the door exactly as she'd been taught, disarming each security spell with each lock.
Stepping through the door, Hannah whispered "Lumos." As soon as the words left her mouth, the room was awash with flickering light from the old chandeliers that lined the ceiling. Looking around she noticed that the pub was quite dusty and the paint was peeling off of the walls in several places. It would take a bit of work, but it wasn't anything she couldn't fix with a few good maintenance spells.
"May as well start with the dust," she said to the empty room. "Tergio"
In minutes the room was sparkling like new and Hannah had a satisfied smile on her face. She took a few steps forward, still admiring her work and stumbled. A loud crashing sound echoed around the room as she crashed into several bar stools. Jumping up rapidly and brushed herself off. She quickly glanced around the room as if someone might have seen her and said with a sigh, "Clumsy me. It would be just like me to injure myself on the first day."
With one last look around the room, Hannah headed behind the bar to survey the set up. There were three kegs of butterbeer and a keg of gillywater in the cooler. Seven handles of firewhiskey sat on the counter just a little bit to the left.
"That should be enough to get through the day," she muttered to herself, unsure of whether it was the truth or not.
Next, Hannah decided to take a look at the kitchen. She'd seen it briefly during the original inspection of the building, but had yet to really have time to study it. As she stepped through the doorway, she felt a deep chill circulate through her body causing her to shiver. Unease bloomed in her insides and she found herself looking suspiciously around the kitchen.
"There's nothing here, Hannah. Get a hold of yourself," she whispered. "It's just an old building, so it feels creepy."
Glancing around the room, Hannah saw a large stove in the corner. Next to it stood two large ovens and a deep fryer. Behind that was what appeared to be a refrigerated section where prepared food could be stored for production. Just above the stove was a pass through window in which the food would come out of to be served.
In the far corner of the kitchen, there was a large metal door which hid an even larger refrigerator. It was so massive that Hannah could've moved her desk into it and still had sufficient space to store food and drink. She smiled at the thought of filling it with all of the things she'd need.
Finally, Hannah did a quick lap of the pub to familiarize herself with the layout of the tables, but was soon distracted as customers began to pour in. She hadn't expected it to be busy this early and hadn't scheduled anyone to work until later in the afternoon. Although she tried to remain positive and assist each customer to the best of her abilities, things began to go bad rather rapidly.
"Excuse me, miss! I'd like to order a pint of butterbeer," said the first customer of the day.
Hannah smiled at him and replied, "Of course. Give me just a moment and I'll have it right over to you."
Heavy glass mugs sat in piles next to the beer tap. Hannah picked one up and held it under the butterbeer tap. She lifted the nozzle and was promptly blinded by thick, sticky foam.
"I see you forgot to clear the lines on your tap this morning," chuckled the customer.
Hannah laughed. "I suppose so. I imagine I must look quite ridiculous dripping in this foam. Something like a pygmy puff."
The customer laughed. "That's a good analogy, although I think you might look more like an abominable snowman."
Hannah snorted with laughter and poured the customer a full pint of butterbeer. "Butterbeer's on the house. Thanks for having patience with me while I learn."
Shortly after Hannah's mishap with the butterbeer, help arrived in the form of a young server named Jenna. She had worked for Madame Rosmerta and came highly recommended.
"Oh, good! Jenna, you're here. I'm afraid I've been mucking things up quite a bit. Hopefully, everything will go a bit smoother now that there's at least one person who knows what they're doing," said Hannah with a warm smile.
"I'm sure it won't be that bad, Madame Abbott. You'll learn everything in no time."
Seconds later, black clouds of acrid smoke poured from the kitchen and filled the pub. It was so thick that Hannah could hardly see Jenna standing in front of her.
"Whoops. Looks like I forgot about the gravy. I'd set it on to simmer so it'd be ready for lunch, but it must've cooked down to nothing."
Choking on smoke, Hannah and Jenna made their way back to the kitchen. With a wave of her wand, Jenna moved the scalding pot to the dish sink and poured water all over it. It sizzled loudly as the water made contact, but soon the smoke had dissipated.
"I can't believe how many mistakes I've made. I'm trying to hold it together, but I feel like I'm just a mess. I have no clue what I'm doing," said Hannah in a moment of frustration.
Jenna put her hand on Hannah's forearm. "It's okay, Mrs. Abbott. Think of it like this. You've made all the mistakes that you can and now they're out of the way. From here on out it should be smooth sailing."
"Of course. You're probably right, dear. I just can't help feel a little discombobulated."
With Jenna's help the day went much smoother. Customers were seated and served properly and Hannah had the opportunity to see how things normally went. By the end of the evening, she had an idea of the basic drinks. She still made a few mistakes here and there, but her ability to laugh at herself kept the situation from getting too tense.
At the end of the evening, Hannah poured a glass of firewhiskey for herself and one for Jenna.
"Did you see earlier when I poured that glass of firewhiskey for that gentleman who was sitting at the bar?"
Jenna giggled. "You mean the one who you gave an entire pint of firewhiskey."
"Yeah, that's the one," said Hannah with a smile playing at her lips, "He seemed so surprised by the quantity of liquor that I gave him. Did you see his face? He looked as if he'd just seen his mother riding a hippogriff through the streets of London. I had a hard time keeping a straight face."
More laughter.
"Oh, I know. I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing as well."
Hannah took a deep swig of her drink. "Well, for a first day, I don't suppose it was too terrible."
"No. Madame Abbott, it wasn't bad at all. Except maybe you walking around covered in butterbeer foam all day. You really did look like a pygmy puff. I'll have to remember that this year for Halloween. Instant costume idea."
Jenna's eyes lit up as she gave Hannah a bit of a ribbing.
"Well, I'm happy with everything so far. Thank you again for all of your help and hard work today. We should probably both be going now. We have another long day tomorrow. "
"You're right. Good night, Madame Abbott. Thanks for the firewhiskey."
With that, Hannah locked up the front doors to her pub, smiling to herself. It wasn't perfect, but she now owned one of the most famous pubs in all of London and that was beyond her wildest dreams.
Hi there!
This story was originally posted on HPFF for the Flip Side Fic Challenge where it won 1st place! The goal of the challenge was to write a 2 chapter short story with the first chapter being humorous and the second chapter being horror. I was pretty stumped with how to do this, but I'm fairly pleased with what I came up with.
If you have a moment, I'd love to know what you thought, so feel free to leave a comment!
Thanks for reading!
~Kaitlin/TreacleTart