Prologue

It wasn't a particularly impressive building at first glance. Hidden away from the main street in Hogsmeade behind a narrow alley, the strange, cottage-like shop seemed to sit in its own little meadow. A low fence isolated it from the dark forest behind and the grey, imposing buildings in front. A large patio surged outwards from the front of the building, partially covered by a deck, and filled with little circular glass tables and wrought iron chairs. Its walls and cedar shingles were weather-worn, and if it had once been painted, the colour had long since been banished by the elements.

In point of fact, if it wasn't for the lack of leaves and weeds, or the soft music coming from the open glass doors, one would think the store was abandoned. As it was, none of the monthly visitors from the castle would have known of its existence, if it were not for the fortuitous lack of navigating ability of a wandering third-year, seeking to revitalize his low supply of parchment. By the time the next Hogsmeade visit had come around, just about everybody knew of the strange general store with the little café.

The inside was a veritable contrast to the outside. Several alleys of wooden shelves lined two thirds of the room, carrying everything from ballpoint pens and potions ingredients to make-up and cake pans. The right wall was covered in glass cooling cabinets, which housed such things as milk, vegetables, and butterbeer. The back wall, almost completely made of glass, looked out into a colorful garden. The lower half was covered in angled shelves, carrying several copies of newspapers and magazines from several different countries, as well as small paperback novels and cookbooks. The only dark corner housed a curtained nook, which contained a tiny collection of books on contraceptive charms and sex manuals, all charmed against theft but available for reading. The last third of the store featured a glass counter, containing many an assortment of freshly baked goods, and the sign behind proclaimed the offer of hot coco and cider. A small box beside the register took requests for items to be brought into stock.

Yet it was not the strange assortment of products which made the inside so peculiar. It was the fact that everything wooden was covered in carvings. Celtic knots, vines, and animal heads peered out from every surface. Some had even been endowed with a fair bit of magic, as some of the heads followed you around and made unwelcome comments. Bronze statues and figurines sat where there were no carvings, and the odd baroque painting sat held by a bronze hand or claw extruding from the walls. But without a doubt the most striking thing in the entire store was the ceiling: a gigantic marble mural, depicting a ferocious mythical battle. Angels and demons, phoenixes and basilisks, and dragons and griffins fought amidst swirling beams of alabaster magic, which occasionally glowed from within. At the very centre, a reptilian man with the lower body of a snake and a man with feathers covering his head and body faced off, wands locked in the first stages of prioiri incantantem. Sprawled between them was an ordinary man, arm swung across his face and one hand raised in supplication, although to who was unclear.

Much speculation on its significance surrounded this particular feature. However the artist in question, a scarred man with white hair and white eyes (who was often seen with knife or chisel in hand in the garden), would brush every question aside gently and merely say, "It means what it needs to mean."


Edit: Fixed the formating and some spelling.