AN: the definition of 'no beta, we die like men!' Or, when you have no time to write because of school/work and you get a moment to do so, you write very quickly and run out of time to edit so if there is any disasterous blaring typos, just lemme know.
To recap: Alternate universe Harry Potter - Heather, Bank manager goblin - Kunzite, and five years old - Harry are heading to the Moony Forest Reserve to see how it's faired in the new world.
Heather stumbled slightly as the portkey dumped her in the middle of a forest path. She grimaced at one as her seeker instincts caused her to snatch an arm to the side; she caught Harry by the collar preventing him from face-planting as she'd done back in her fourth Hogwarts year. The kid squeaked, prepared or not, a portkey was indeed quite different from apparating.
Asserting that Harry was alright, Heather released his collar, knowing how uncomfortable someone's hand on her own neck made her cringe. Too many times Vernon had used her collar and neck to corral her in her past, and it caused her skin to crawl even years later. Harry shot Heather a thankful look, hiding nothing in his small expressive face; he hadn't learned to hide his emotions yet, that was good.
"Alright Harry?"
"I'm fine." Though he had reached the 'everything is fine and 'never complain' stage instead. Heather didn't point it out though; instead she looked away and cast her eyes around her… and felt her eyes go a bit wide. Unknowingly, she was being mimicked by Harry and observed closely by Kunzite. The goblin couldn't help but notice the 'awed/-surprised' reaction in Heather and Harry was downright identical. Which fit, considering they were technically the same person.
"Wow," Harry was the first to breathe. He took a small aborted step toward the nearest tree, his fingers reaching up automatically to touch the enormous trunk.
"Indeed," Kunzite drawled since Heather seemed just as speechless, "welcome Lady and Heir Potter… to the Moony forest preserve."
Heather nodded a bit distantly, too awed to speak as she took in the trees around her and the view in the distance. The portkey point that they had arrived on had been very specifically designed to be awe-inspiring, but Heather still hadn't been expecting it. Oh, she knew her history well enough thanks to Thresh, Kunzite's father, but… but the difference in world, did really make all the difference for the preserve.
In Heather's past, the forest had existed and had been named the same. She knew the cover story for the forest; James had bought it as a sort of nod to his grandfather Fleamont. The forest was a clear provider for potion ingredients. But that name and the sheer leagues of wooded area that existed in the preserve… Heather had guessed quite quickly that James had really done it for Remus. He had bought Remus a forest, a place out of Hogwarts during a war to transform and run around wildly.
However…
After her father's death when Heather was about nine years old, there had been an extremely hot and dry summer. Without her father around, without someone to control her assets, the wards on the preserve had failed. Thresh had told her in halting words that some Muggleborn teenager had figured a way past the broken wards and a fire had started. A fire that muggles couldn't reach due to the semi-working wards, and that no wizards would know to repair because no one truly owned the land.
The forest had been completely destroyed, burnt down to nearly nothing. The endlessly rare potion ingredients were lost, and several werewolf packs lost their homes entirely. So by the time that Heather arrived to look at the property, all that was left was ashes and a regrowing system. That regrowth had nothing on what the forest looked like now.
Ancient trees stood before her, paths along the lake twisted and twirled, flowers grew, magical creatures thrived. Heather could already see several bow-truckles in a nearby tree and… yes, a threstal in the distance. It made a smile grow on her face as she wondered what beasts lived freely in the forest and if the werewolf packs still existed. As far as she knew, they had made their home in the forest during the war, so it was quite possible that she could reach out to them… and ask about Remus, so long as nothing too drastic had changed in regards to Remus Lupin.
"Hm," Heather reached for her wand and quickly tapped her wrist to make a note, "Kunzite, I'll be hiring a goblin crew to update the wards." She left out anything further due to Harry's presence, but Kunzite was smart enough to realize something had probably happened with the wards in her reality and nodded his quick agreements.
"I'll look into a proper team," Kunzite agreed, "Now, follow me; our meeting begins in ten."
Heather inclined her head and followed Kunzite down the rocky path. Harry was quick to follow with his head on a swivel; he seemed so eager that Heather was unable to resist pointing out a few tidbits as they walked. "That there is a bow-truckle Harry, they live in trees that we can use for wand wood. Oh, and see there. If you're real quiet, you can make out a few fairies, though do be careful with fairies. They're not as tricky as pixies, but they do like to pull hair."
Down the path they went as Harry hung on her every word.
When a break in their conversation started, Kunzite spoke up, bringing her back to her meeting. "Mathias Lagar is the new manager, and he is who we will be meeting."
"It said in the paperwork that he opened a… camping area? Is that for magical people?" Heather couldn't imagine it being open to muggles.
"He would be quite foolish to open the area to muggles, in accordance with the magical plants and beasts nearby." However, Kunzite left out that many would, in fact, be exactly that foolish.
"Hm, do people actually come?" The man who ran the reserve hadn't been very thorough in his reports, but then Dumbledore had been in charge at the time, and it made her leery. She was concerned over the man in charge, wondering if he was stealing from her or he was doing his job properly even with a 'boss' in charge of him.
"They do actually!"
Regardless, Heather was indeed going to find out, and she was going to find out near immediately as she turned to the side to spot a young man walking toward them from a conjoining path. He was… young and had a distinct rugged look to him. He had eye-liner on, which made his blue eyes pop intensely, and Heather was quick to liken him to Bill with brown had instead of red. Unlike Bill, he didn't have jewelry on, and his clothing was less punk-rock and more jeans and plaid, but it worked surprisingly well.
The man inclined his head toward her and reached out a dirt-covered hand. "Mathias Lager, a pleasure to meet ya, Lady Potter. I got yer letter, or the Gringott's letter-' He flapped a hand "-whoever sent it, I got a letter, and we're ready for ya!"
"Indeed." She smiled slightly, finding herself at ease with this man, "Well, I have a few questions of course, but this is more to touch base." She took his hand without complaint; the dirt was nothing compared to what would be on Neville's hands most of the time. That, and Heather recognized a test when she saw one. It seemed Mathias was checking her out as much as she was checking on him.
Internally Heather decided the man acted like a Hufflepuff, but she got the distinct feeling he was probably a Slytherin.
Mathias smirked her way as they shook hands, "And ensure we know someones keepin an eye on us, I got ya." He winked playfully. "Don't want us messing around, specially since everyone went and thought the kid was the last one left. And lemme tell ya, I'm certainly glad he ain't." He looked past Heather to Harry and his disguise, but Mathias' gaze didn't linger he simply looked back, seemingly relaxed.
At least that was how he played it. Heather wasn't a fool; she knew Mathias had already guessed that Harry was Harry. But he wasn't commenting on it; instead, there was a touch of… regret in his gaze. Heather side-eyed Kunzite, who nodded; they'd get a vow from the man before they left. She really didn't need Harry's existence and her own getting out and about.
"Indeed, I assume no one will be finding out about this meeting from your mouth then."
"Oh miss, you pay my bills; I 'ain't gonna piss you off if I can help it."
"Good, then you mind taking a vow?"
"Not at all."
They stared each other down for a long moment before Harry huffed out a breath and said, "I thought you weren't supposed to use double talk Auntie Heather?"
That caused Kunzite to snort and Mathias to grin widely. Little did Heather know he was already pleased; he liked the Potter's already. "Like I said," Mathias spoke yo promptly, "I love my job; pissing off you by selling information is not helpful in keeping that job. No one's gonna hear shi-err anything from me. Now, how about you let me tell you about the campsites, and we can go from there."
"Lead the way," Heather agreed, and together they started back down the path. As they did, Mathias started right up, choosing to hold his 'meeting' in the forest rather than a building of any kind. He'd assumed the kid and lady would appreciate it as he did; neither seemed like the kind to hold up ceremony unless it was forced. Then, he could be wrong.
"Now, I didn't make the choice lightly. See, it started with the rangers - I was a ranger for the park when Mister Cohort died, and well, we tried to contact the family, but none of our letters reach them, ya know. So we managed on our own for some time… until we heard the news about James and Lily…" he hesitated, glancing at Harry, who was distracted by several large colourful birds in a nearby tree, magical birds Heather noted. "And well we waited a bit figured the new manager would contact us, whoever got in charge of… 'him' ya know?" Mathias shot a look at Harry, who was watching the birds, and Heather nodded in understanding.
"But no came, no one talked to us, and well, we just managed ourselves and figured we might not get a replacement until 'he' was old enough. So we… voted."
"You. Voted." Kunzite deadpanned. Heather didn't comment.
"Aye yeah, we did," he blushed heavily, "and well, the other rangers picked me since I was mostly in charged anyway."
"And how did this lead to the campsites?" Kunzite pushed firmly Heather had to note.
"That!" he pointed at Kunzite before realizing what he'd done and blanched, more calmly he said, "that was because we had a few seasons of bloody fantastic weather and the plants flourished like you wouldn't believe. Then we had a few magical species move in, they just picked the forest, but I couldn't tell you why. Anyway, they were leaving hairs, feathers and even blood all over the damned place. And policy is to collect it to sell, but well, we got so much that wasn't being bought and just stocked up. So I thought, well, we had this guy who kept showing up asking if he could come in and collect the ingredients himself. Some potions master ya know?
"This guy said to us, he said he didn't like the store-bought stuff because it's not as fresh and he can collect it better than we can. Right arse he was, called us dunderheads like we ain't been doing this for years." Heather made a face at hearing this, suddenly having a very good idea who Mathias was talking about it. After all, how many potions masters calling being dunderheads could there be. "Anyways, well, we figured why not let him prove himself? We could let him collect what he wanted, and he could just pay us for it straight up. Course he accepted and then spent the whole bloody summer with us! The dude was insane, spent the whole time with his tent, always paying what we asked for since it was cheaper for him.
"Long story short, he went and told other people, apprentices and other potions masters, and they all showed up and camped out. So… it… happened by accident? We just opened up a small area for campsites and they pay us for the spot and the ingredients they collect. Then we got actual people just wanting to camp, and then we had to set up hiking trails because when we let them wander, they stepped all over the good stuff and got lost… one thing led to another and…" Mathias shrugged helplessly.
Heather nodded, following along. "Do you have the records of this? List of the people who stayed? The financial reports?"
"Sure do!" Mathias grinned, happy to have done something right even if he expected to be fired any moment now. "We wrote everything down for the kid, wanted to make sure he didn't have too much work to do when he came into his own."
Different from her world already, Heather decided. She didn't know if Mathias had existed or if Snape hadn't showed up to do this in her world, but the campsite hadn't appeared. "What about the wards? Are they up to date?"
"We've kept them up as best as we can," Mathias told her regretfully, "but to purchase actual warders to redo them… we needed a Potter signature for that, so… no."
"I'll make sure to send someone then." Heather offered easily, having already planned on it.
Her words caused Mathias to perk, sensing that he was not, in fact, being fired for his choice. Heather seemed content with his choices, which was good news for him. Deciding to go bold, Mathias spoke up: "You wanna let the kid take a tour? The lakes are pretty fun for the kids, might be able to see some creatures? I can send him with Sally while we work?" Mathias offered a bit nervous since he'd spotted Harry's glazed look from their talk. "She's got a bunch of kids, she wouldn't hurt him."
Heather glanced backward at Harry, who had been approaching the tree, and called: "Harry, do you want to go see the lake with one of the rangers?"
"Can I?!" he turned on the spit beaming.
"You may." She turned to Mathias, "call her, would you?"
"Course!"
Sally, Heather learned, looked remarkably like Hannah Abbott and she wondered if they were related. She quite happily introduced herself to 'Hanz' and they were off heading for the lake to explore. Heather carefully put a few child care spells on him before he left, one to track him and one to keep an eye on his emotion just in case something happened. Sally seemed unsurprised and didn't even blink at them, she was, after all, a stranger.
After Harry was off, Heather, Kunzite, and Mathias chatted and went over the little and large details. The end result was that Mathias deserved his position and had done extremely well with the preserve and he clearly loved his work. esting
"It's great." Heather decided, "I think I'll arrange for some warders from Gringotts to update the wards to protect the forest and alter then because we have campers now." She flipped her paperwork noting Mathias slowly light up in relief and pleasure. "Otherwise, I like it; keep it up."
"So… I'm not fired?" he wrung his hands together a bit.
"Certainly not," Heather laughed, "Actually, I believe we need to speak about your official promotion; you should actually be paid more." She linked her fingers together, "how do you feel about a raise?"
Mathias squealed his fist-pumping the air: "Best boss ever! I won't let you down!"
"I should expect not." Came from Kunzite while Heather gave a laugh.
Mathias smiled, but it slowly started to fade. "There's… one thing I should probably tell you though… it… we did have one rather large setback."
Heather sobered up, "tell me."
Mathias winced and gestured: "see… the thing is…" he grimaced, "okay, a couple things." He spun in his chair and fetched a file from the nearby cabinet, "first up, not sure how much you know about James Potter but… well the forest itself was designed for… a specific someone and strictly speaking…" he glanced at Kunzite, then Heather, "it's not completely legal, but-"
"There are werewolves that visit the reserve." Heather figured, and the man sagged in slight relief.
"Yes, we… were originally visited by just the one but… he stopped coming years ago." Mathias observed her reaction carefully, but Heather did not give him one; she remained politely curious unwilling to admit to the man that she knew exactly who he was likely referring to. "After he stopped coming, there was quite a bit of debate about what to do during that period, in the end… it was me who made the choice, so… only I'll be arrested."
Kunzite hummed quietly, he gave her a sidelong eye and an irritated expression hidden from Mathias. Heather read the expression well, she was missing something. "Elaborate." She requested Kunzite interrupting Mathias mid-sentence. Kunzite inclined his head and did so.
"A year ago a law was passed which your seat voted for, generally speaking, any witch or wizard known to be harbouring a werewolf pack on their lands will be prosecuted alongside the wolves."
Heather clicked her teeth together in displeasure, firstly because of the law in the first place, but more because it was her seat, the Potter seat that had voted for the damned thing. Her father must be rolling in his grave. "I assume that means, considering you believe you'll get arrested, that we do have a pack on the reserve… permanently."
"Yes, boss." Mathias admitted, "they come every month and… I… hiredafew." He rushed the last part out, but he never once looked away from Heather as he said it. Mathias, it seemed, was a werewolf sympathizer. He'd both hired wolves and gave them land to transform and was prepared to be put away as a result.
"Well." Heather pressed a finger to her temple, that was dangerous. "It is the Moony preserve, my fa-cousin designed the reserve in order to help werewolves and I won't change that design." Heather linked her fingers together, "the pack is more than welcomed to continue using the land, though I'd like to meet those within our employ… it does make things slightly difficult for us."
Heather didn't need to explain the 'why' to Kunzite; her enemy was powerful and intelligent, and if Dumbledore discovered or revealed the werewolves on her land, then Heather would be, without a doubt, shipped to Azkaban and Harry would be removed from her care. But Heather would not kick the werewolves to the curb just because of what they were; that wasn't in her personality. No… she'd just have to create a plan B… she'd have to get the law repealed.
"And so my to-do list expands." Heather heaved a sigh as Mathias relaxed once more, "any other big things you need to share?"
Mathias shook his head, "not that I can think of… there is the dragon that we can't get out of the forest… but we can handle it… probably."
"Ugh." Heather just groaned before she forced a calming breath through her teeth. There was so much information piling on top of Heather's brain at this point that she was beginning to get dizzy from it, a conspiracy, a plot she knew nothing about, an evil man and a lot of unknowns. Heather… she'd just wanted to go home, but she'd taken on fixing the damages to the Potter family for her alternate kid self. She was doing this for Harry… she was doing this for Harry. For the child who had been abused because of Dumbledore's magic, whose fortune had been on the way to being destroyed, who was basically her without any support.
All of it was for Harry.
"Okay." Heather pushed the tension away, "are the wolves on the property? I'd like to speak to the alpha." It was better to get to know the alpha in person after all, the wolf pack in general was, unfortunately, a liability due to the current laws, so it would be better if Heather could talk to them about it. She had to be realistic- Slytherin about this, Dumbledore was a very real threat, and she needed to be aware of her own weaknesses. The pack would be one, so communication had to be clear.
Mathias watched Heather for a moment, stared her down as if trying to suss out her inner thoughts. Heather wondered if she were actually giving away any.
"Yes… let me walkie them." Mathias stood after a moment and grabbed a small device a muggle device at his hip, causing Heather to slightly gape before the man noticed her doing it. She… she hadn't expected that, for what she assumed to be a pureblood to use a muggle device to communicate instead of using magic. That was certainly a surprise.
"-yeah… the new boss is here. Can you come down?"
A voice, deep and gravely, came over the line, and it nudged at Heather's consciousness. She regretted missing the first part of the conversation in her surprise over the walkie-talkie, but she supposed she'd figure out why that voice was familiar regardless.
"On my way."
Mathias nodded to himself and returned the walkie to his belt before catching her eyes and grinning, it made him look younger than he already looked, boyish actually. "You look a bit pure-blood there boss lady."
"And you seem a bit too relaxed to speak to your superior that way." Kunzite drawled in return, it was the sudden defensiveness in the goblins voice that caused Heather to shoot a look at him. She was a bit surprised to hear it, Kunzite of her homeworld had never been close to her. Then, Heather had been far closer to Thresh, to Kunzite's father, then she had been to Kunzite himself. Though Heather supposed she should have expected it, Kunzite seemed like a stickler for a professional relationship, and she was technically advancing toward avenging his father. Perhaps the goblin respected Heather more than she'd originally assumed.
Mathias, meanwhile just smirked, "If she minded, she'd have already have said something," he shot Heather a look, "No, I'm betting you resemble your cousin a lot more than anyone is expecting."
"Making a lot of assumptions for a Slytherin there," Heather countered, though Mathias was right, she did prefer to keep the complicated politics out of her relationships, and it had annoyed Draco endlessly… which had caused Ron to get smug and then the boys to bicker. "Though I am surprised that a walkie talkie works, I thought muggle electronics don't work around magic."
"That's a myth mostly, there is some problems but for the most part most muggle devices can handle magic if you alter it in the correct way," Mathias waved it away, "that, and you should look into Black, he'd actually redesigned the original set of our walkies before the whole crime thing happened… I'd say, no matter what he did, these are useful." He patted the walkie, "we use them every day."
Heather's brow shot into the air, "Sirius did that? Made them work around magic?"
"He did the same with that motorcycle." Mathias tapped his chin, "pretty sure it was a motorcycle anyway, I definitely saw him drive it through the reserve."
"And only you guys use these?" Heather tapped onto the point. If that was the case, it could be an avenue she could invest in herself. After all, all the Potter's had added to the fortune and Heather could tap onto the spells used to make muggle items usable in the magical world. If she could do that she could start with walkie-talkies and move into cell phones which weren't at all common yet.
"No, pretty sure we're the only one who uses them and only because he forgot them after the 'incident.'" Mathias air quoted the latter and Heather nodded, that fit decently well to what she knew of Sirius. He, James, Remus, and unfortunately Peter, had been quite the inventors back in their Hogwarts day. The map, the motorcycle Sirius designed, and now the altered walkie-talkies had been just the tip of the iceberg. But none of the four had gone anywhere with it for obvious reasons. But Heather certainly had the ability to go somewhere with it, perhaps not with something like the map, but definitely with the walkie-talkies which would helpfully make the magical world a bit more accessible to muggleborns in the long run.
Heather didn't say anything else to Mathias about her idea though, she did ask for a pair to look at and made a note to ask how he'd created more then Mathias said they'd only started with two. She'd give credit where credit was due after all. Before more conversation about the walkie-talkies was put to the side as a heavy hand knocked on Mathias' door and opened it without waiting. The fact that the man didn't wait was certainly an alpha werewolf personality trait, but even that thought was shoved to the side as Heather came face to face with the Alpha in question.
"Bloody hell." Heather immediately said as she locked eyes with a set of golden ones. The man was huge and scarred all over, he had thick gray hair and fanged teeth from keeping the wolf within him close to the surface. And, above all, though he didn't know it, he and Heather had most definitely met each other.
"You little girl, smell just like that pup wandering the forest and not in a 'close contact' sort of way. But a 'same person' sort of way." Drawled Fenrir Greyback without a single ounce of hesitation.
"Fenrir!" Mathias moaned even as Kunzite inhaled in utter and complete offense.
"A coincidence, I'm sure," Heather answered, staring the man down, it wasn't exactly wise to keep eye contact with a werewolf - even one in human form - for so long, but Heather had been a Gryffindor. That, and she'd seen this very man, in another world admittedly, rip out the throat of a friend of hers. So Heather wasn't feeling terrible diplomatic.
"Sure." Greyback agreed lightly, though the tone screamed that he hadn't believed her in the slightest and was agreeing purely because he wanted to talk about other issues, namely, his pack on her land. "So, you kicking us out?" Because Heather was brand new to this situation and she could decimate his pack and they both knew it. She could call the Aurors on him and his pack and rip apart any peace they currently possessed, and if she chose to do that, there was nothing he could do about it. This wasn't the time of Voldemort, this was peacetime in between two wars, and he had too much to protect. He had pups, females in the middle of pregnancy, he had aged wolves, he had a lot to lose in this conversation, a lot to lose to a complete unknown.
"No." And Heather calmly soothed all that with a single word. He could scent the truth in that single word, she truly had no intention of decimating them.
"Then what do you want?" he demanded sharply, still staring at her.
"I want you to know that I'm… basically, starting a war with Dumbledore and eventually he will target you and your pack as a result. As a courtesy to your pack-" no matter who led it, "-I am giving this warning now. Be on your guard."
"You're what?!" Mathias squeaked.
"You're what?" Greyback echoed a half-second later with wide eyes and continued eye-contact, "you're a Potter-"
"Yes." Heather agreed, still staring Grayback down, "and Albus Dumbledore has ensured the abuse of my ward and decimated the Potter fortune, he has murdered my accountant, and honestly, I do believe that is only the edge of his crimes against me and mine." Mathias dropped off to the side, making a high-pitched noise of distress, Kunzite scoffed at the perceived weakness, while Greyback continued to stare, it was certainly a challenge between them now. "So, there is your warning. Do what you will with it."
Their eyes continued to connect, it allowed Heather to observe the thoughts going through Greyback's mind and allowed him to see the utter confidence in her words and body language in return. Then he smirked, and if the words were pulled physically from his teeth, he said: "Well, aren't you interesting."
"Unfortunately so." Heather agreed and truly meant it, she'd never really tried to do anything, and yet she constantly ended up the focus and with all the drama. As if her family and blood truly had been cursed, she was, as always, living in interesting times.
"My pack and I do not abide by abuse, especially in children-"
"Don't you bite children?" Heather interrupted. The focus of her stare increased ten-fold as he glared at her hard.
"-and I have reason more than most to hate Albus Dumbledore. From the laws against me and mine, to the rumor crafted from his hands that I hunt and harm children."
"Rumor?" merlin's beard. Heather really wanted to look away; everything was getting a bit fuzzy around them when only Greyback was in focus.
"I can confirm that." Mathias spoke from the back, "or at least I can prove that over the last few years, Fenrir hasn't really even left the preserve, and I've seen him with the kids; he's good with them. I've never even seen any aggression when they're around."
"Then, do you mind telling me about Remus Lupin?" Heather asked, and Greyback sneered before she continued, "I heard he was associated with my family, though I know next to nothing about him."
"Liar." Greyback snapped, "I scent it in you, you lie. You know of him."
Heather internally grimaced; she'd temporarily forgotten the werewolves could smell lies, and technically he was correct. She did know Remus, but not this Remus and she didn't need to look away from Greyback to know Kunzite was scowling at her over it. She could feel his eyes on her back, almost screaming at her to keep her mouth shut. "I do know things, but clearly what I know here is not accurate to that knowledge." Heather corrected herself so she wasn't technically lying.
Greyback inhaled sharply, testing her words before inclining his head, half-truths of not, the words she'd spoken were truthful as far as she knew them. But it wasn't Greyback who explained, but Kunzite from behind her.
"The Lupin family is, through history, a family of hunters. Specifically werewolves."
"Ironic naming choice for that." Mathias said from the side, seemingly happy to observe the conversation for the most part.
Kunzite continued idly: "there's were a muggle family, one aware of the magical world during the time of the founders when a muggleborn child was born to the family introducing magic to the line. Between that moment and now, I am unsure how they reacted to magic… however, where Greyback sets foot into the history, I am uncertain."
"The child was brought on a hunt," Greyback told them all, "the father… he was hunting me and mine and I dealt with the problem. I was victorious… I was going to turn him into what he hated most… and he threw the child between us."
Mathis hummed from the side: "Causing Remus Lupin to become what his family hates."
"After-which, as the child bled out, he shot me." Greyback pulled up the bottom of his loose shirt and Heather was forced to break eye contact to look down. She ignored Greyback's victorious rumble as she took in the lines of scar tissue littering his stomach. "I was forced to flee, lest I lose my life, after-which the father crooned for years that I purposely targeted the child to get back at him."
"So where does Dumbledore come in?" Heather asked for clarification, so far everything was fairly feasible from Greyback's words and what she did know. Remus had generally told her a similar story during the war and it had aligned with Greyback's words now. But Remus had then told her how Greyback had killed his father and hunted Remus down for years afterwards, Dumbledore had been the savior in that tale and world.
"I looked for the child for several years." Greyback shrugged, looking away from her as well now that their battle of wills had been won, "I would not leave a pup to learn about werewolves from a racist, all that would create is a wolf that hates themselves and wishes for death." He scowled, "in that case that man succeeded, Remus Lupin is a wolf that hates wolves. He poisons himself monthly, and there is nothing I can do about it."
"And Dumbledore?" she pressed.
"He crafted the rumor that I kill children from what occurred, he built that fear through his 'rescue' of Remus Lupin and his light persona. He uses that lie to build his anti-werewolf laws while pretending he wants equality for all."
"Which makes sense." Mathias pointed out, "those with dark magic have no problem with werewolves, the wolf within is considered dark magic."
"It's anti-light." Greyback confirmed, "but a light-wizard cannot be seen as discriminatory, so he manages to blame the dark for the laws while building the hate and fear in the children he teachers." Greyback waved a furious hand, "none of what is taught about werewolves is accurate."
Heather reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose, she could see it now. The Dumbledore of this world turning Remus into a teacher years from now, one who would preach his own self hate and lies about werewolves. Then would be caught as a werewolf attacking the boy-who-lived. That would cause more fear and hate in the magical world, coupled with Greyback siding with Voldemort… werewolves in general would be prosecuted, and there would be no way to easily repair the damage. Bloody- it had already mostly happened in her own world, and Heather hadn't even noticed or realized it was an issue… honestly, Heather was relatively surprised Hermione hadn't mentioned anything about it either.
"Okay." She shifted on the balls of her feet and repeated it: "Okay. We have to deal with this… I'm not sure how yet, but… if we- no-" no, Greyback and his pack could do nothing about the situation and that was why they'd sided with Voldemort in her own world. It was the same problem and even without the varied Dumbledore, it would end up the same way. The only difference here was Heather.
Heather glanced to the side and caught Kunzite's eye, he was looking at the paperwork in his eyes, but when her eyes landed on him, he glanced up and caught her sight. Seeing him, the focus and and fact that it was him and not Thresh there- it made her feel sick to the stomach. Kunzite and Thresh, Petunia, now Greyback and Mathias… Heather had so simply changed their fates just by existing in a world she shouldn't have. She was like a ripple in a lake, starting from a simple disturbance and soon changing the very course of the world.
"I'll do something about this." Heather finally said and looked back at Greyback, who was observing her carefully, "I don't know what yet… but… I'll do something."
"I didn't ask that."
"Yeah, well, I have a savior thing and can't leave well enough alone." Heather brushed her curls behind her shoulder. So quickly things changed, allying with Fenrir Greyback, honestly. "Now, unfortunately, I do need a vow from you two about Harry. I assume you put two and two together?"
"The second I saw him." Mathias admitted, "can I ask about the abuse comment to be elaborated and put under that vow?"
"Agreed," Greyback growled between his teeth, "you should bring him and yourself to visit the pack, my pups unfortunately understand abuse, they won't judge him."
Heather heaved a sigh, suddenly grateful that Harry was wandering the forest, she didn't want him part of this particular conversation at all. "Kunzite, can you draft up a vow please?"
"Oooh!" Harry slowly approached the strange-looking creature. He'd never seen an animal in the wild before, but he knew from the telly and experience with Aunt Marge's dogs that he shouldn't grab at it. Instead, he watched it in silent awe as it climbed along the trees and munched on a bug. It was an odd-looking animal, not one he'd seen before, it was like a little stick… person, instead of a stick bug.
"Well spotted Harry." Harry jumped slightly when the woman his aunt left him with appeared behind him.
Sally, her name was, Harry hadn't known what to think of her at first because he didn't know anyone like her. His cousin never had a babysitter and Harry's only babysitter had been Miss Figg, who was definitely not like Sally. Miss Figg had smelled strange, and though she'd always smiled at Harry, he'd always thought she'd been hiding something. He hadn't liked her at all. He did like Sally, who smiled and told him about the magical plants they passed. She'd explained that the care of magical plants was called herbology and that he'd learn all about it when he went to Hogwarts. She'd also told him she'd loved that subject best, and it and a course called 'care of magical creatures' was required to become a ranger like she was.
"It's a bowtruckle." Sally explained, squatting beside him and peering up at the creature, "they're quite difficult to spot; you must be a natural." Sally stilled as the creature glanced at them warily, then softly she began to explain. "Bowtruckles are omnivores, but they eat mostly insects. They can be found in wand wood trees, the trees we use to make our wands from." She waggled her own wand in her fingers, showing Harry. "They're quite peaceful unless you harm their trees, then they attack, rawr!"
Harry giggled into his hands at Sally's face, for the small bowtruckle had copied her miming out the 'rawr' with its little claws. Sally winked at him before explaining: "So we can watch, but we should never touch the tree. We have to have respect for the forest after all.".
"Aunt Heather mentioned them… but, I was wondering… how do you make the wands then?" Harry found himself wondering, "if the bowtruckle is protecting the tree, then you can't use the wood… right?"
"Oh my! What a smart question!" she clapped her hands softly, "we have a way, of course, but it's not commonly known. You see, wands are made from very special parts of the trees. What happens is wand makers will come explore the forest to find bowtruckles and the trees they care for. Then the wandmaker will spend some time by the tree of their choice getting to know the bowtruckles and show they do not mean harm. Then, after trust is established, the wandmaker will be allowed to ask the tree if they can use some of their wood to make their wands."
"Ehhh?" Harry gasped, giving the tree itself a wide-eyed look.
"If the tree agrees, they will present their wood to the wandmaker. The tree will allow a branch of their own to fall, and the wandmaker will take it back with them after thanking the tree for their offering." Harry gaped; he couldn't help him. While Sally, she giggled at him. "The trees are alive, you know Hanz, they have magic just as must as we do, but it's harder for us to sense this magic. That's why we look for bowtruckles, because the bowtruckles can always tell a magical tree from a non-magical one."
"Can I come ask the tree for wood?" Harry asked, peering at the bark intensely.
"Well…" Sally hummed, putting her chin on her knuckles, "Normally, we need to find the right wood for us, and we need a bit of a magical creature, feathers, or hair, or skin, in the wand to boost our magic. But maybe when you turn eleven, you can ask a wand-maker what type of wood is proper for you. Then you can visit the forest and find the right tree of that type. I'm sure it will be a very special wand if you have the direct permission of the tree. But make sure to ask your aunt if it's alright, okay sweetie?"
Sally's radio cracked to life, and he jumped at it. Sally didn't she simply looked down as a voice said: "We're all done here Sals, can you bring Harry back for us?"
"Copy that Math, we're on our way back… how'd it go?" she straightened, and Harry quickly followed her example seeing for a moment a golden glitter in her eyes.
"It went great!"
Sally visually sagged in relief before Harry's eyes, then she beamed. "Brill! Give us about ten, we're near the lake."
"Copy that; see you soon!"
Sally put the radio back on her waist before turning to the tree then she said: "Thank you for having us; we'll be on our way now." Harry watched slightly wide-eyed as she bowed to the bowtruckles and the tree. But a moment later, he was following suit.
"Thank you!" he said and felt a firm gust of wind surrounded them both, but Harry was surprised to find that it wasn't cold. It was warm; that was weird… since it was supposed to be cold; that was why his aunt put him in so many layers.
"Come on, Harry, time to go!" Sally called.
Harry jerked and quickly turned round to follow the woman back to his aunt. He wondered if she'd let him come back to ask the tree for his wand wood, he really hoped so. He liked that tree a lot, it felt right.
As lunch hit, Harry and Heather stopped for a brief picnic in the forest. By that point, Kunzite had vanished back to Gringott's to deal with an increased influx of paperwork Heather had forced onto him. While Mathias had returned to his duties and Fenrir - as he'd demanded she call him - had returned to his pack to prepare for their visit. Heather intended to take Harry to visit the pack after lunch after prepping Harry for the werewolves, and Fenrir prepared the wolves for them. Heather suspected Fenrir intended to tell the adults of his pack generally about Harry, Heather, and her promise to help them however successful that may or may not be. o
After lunch, Heather led Harry to where Fenrir had told her to go while trying to explain that she technically didn't know very much about werewolves at all.
"I know they transform on the full moon like the stories, but… most of what I know isn't accurate, so we will have to ask Fenrir to teach us."
"But that's so cool though!" Harry cheered, hopping along the forest, "I can't wait to meet them!"
Real magical people, people he could actually be Harry around. People who were magic just like him, people who wouldn't think of him as a freak: Harry couldn't wait. Which was why he was all but vibrating out of his skin as they reached a small area filled with cabins. Heather and Harry could make out people wandering the area, talking, and children running around from the path. It was… peaceful, a small village in the middle of nowhere living on the land. But Harry couldn't help but notice one specific thing about the people present… nearly every single one was covered in scars, and he glanced up at his aunt with a question in his expression.
It wasn't, however, his aunt that answered it.
A man appeared from the woods, larger in a way that wasn't like his uncle at all. This man was big in presence and big in a way that wasn't from over-eating, but rather from strength. Like the people on his uncle's TV shows, he was muscular and covered in more scars than anyone else. His hair was silver, and his eyes a shining gold. As he stepped out, Harry watched him give his new aunt and respectful nod addressing her before looking to Harry in some sort of adult thing that went a bit above Harry's head.
"You're wondering about the scars, aren't you pup."
Pup? Harry instantly wondered.
"Most people do, and it's, unfortunately, the best way to tell a werewolf from a human." The man brushed a scar along his face, "we aren't puppies kid, we're wolves, and we fight for everything we possess in life and our victories show on our skin." He smirked, showing a set of sharp pointed teeth, and Harry couldn't help but swallow. He stepped back, putting his aunt between him and the man. She'd… she'd said he was safe but- but Harry felt like he was looking at something dangerous. Like he was a rabbit in the face of a wolf. Like prey before the predator.
"Harry, this is Fenrir, and he's a bit of a dick." His aunt said, causing him to squawk in surprise at her words, "but he won't hurt you; I'd put him on his arse before he even got close."
Fenrir laughed at his aunt's words, and it stole away his harshness, causing Harry to lean out slightly to observe.
"A proper bitch, this one."
"If you weren't a werewolf, I'd have slapped you for that." His aunt said calmly, and Harry gave her a thoroughly confused look, so she explained: "a 'bitch' to Fenrir is sort of respectful; it's a word for a female dog. At least I assume so." Heather glanced at Fenrir, who nodded.
"Any proper bitch protects her pup," he smirked, "I have no doubt you'd put me in my place if I touched a single hair on the pup's head. As since I won't, I'm not worried. Now. Come on, the other pups are excited to meet the kid."
Harry swallowed and reached for his aunt's hand as Heather stepped forward to follow Fenrir; she automatically wrapped her fingers around his. Harry feeling her skin felt instantly more comfortable as she led him into the small village. It allowed him to remain calm as he was introduced to the 'pups' in the little village, a small group of five kids at different ages whose names went too fast for Harry to really catch. But there was one girl his age, two babies, and two teenagers and they all welcomed him with softer voices than Dudley had ever managed.
True, Harry didn't get very far from his aunt. He kept her in sight the entire time he was playing, but he did allow himself to be taught a few games by the other kids. Games with rocks and sticks, games they loved like hunting… except Harry didn't have to be the hunted one and instead, they hunted the older kids who left long trails for them. Annabeth, whose name he finally learned as the other kid his age, and Rascal, the oldest in the group, taught Harry how to find prints in the grass and led him around chasing the second oldest teen around the area within easy sight of his aunt.
And…
And Harry started to enjoy himself; he started to play under the watchful age of his aunt while she spoke at length to one of the monsters of her own childhood who was suddenly very human under slightly different circumstances.
"Those three." Heather gestured to the teens, "they're magical… I assume they weren't accepted into Hogwarts."
"You'd be right; the only werewolf ever allowed within those doors has been Lupin." Fenrir sat at the head of the little circle that had formed, a circle formed by some of the higher ranked adults in the pack. Parents of the five playing with Harry, a curious set, two elders and of course, Heather herself.
"What does that mean for their magic?" Heather wondered, recalling that Fenrir did have a wand, but he was one of the few.
"It means there's only a handful of us that can perform magic, and since we haven't exercised our magic through the growing stage, our cores of minuscule." Answered one of the elders, "the same will occur for the pups unless something changes and we are allowed to carry wands… legally or not." Naturally speaking, wands were not easy to get a hold of; many of the ones they possessed had been stolen or found during the previous war. It made Heather wonder if she could at least arrange for a tutor and some wands for the kids during their growing period, that way, they'd actually be able to access their magic as adults.
"You likely don't know it," Fenrir added, "but our magic is required for our transformation." He brushed his fingers along his own wand, "there is a reason muggle-werewolves don't exist."
"Huh?" Heather questioned ever so eloquently.
Fenrir elaborated calmly, "our forms are based on dark magic and a curse, to transform properly, we need magic to do so." He side-eyed her, "my pack, due to the ministries laws, had shrunken cores since they can not and could not practice magic during their growing years. As a result, they have no magic to pull from for their transformations."
"It makes the chance excruciating," explained one of the women, "for us, and for our pups. Only Fenrir himself can transform painlessly."
"I was bitten after my growth period," he explained, "my magical core is full and remains full because of my wand." He spun it in his hand, "and so I can transform whenever I desire it. But I am the only one within the pack that can."
Heather made a surprised sound; that was news to her. She hadn't realized but should have. "So it's crucial for you to have strong cores and constantly perform magic."
"More than you know," Fenrir added, "we have lost wolves during the moon's rise because they couldn't handle the pain." He nodded to some of the elders, all of which had wands Heather realized. Properly on purpose, they must be using the few wands they had in order to strengthen their magical core, so they didn't pass during the full moon.
"So you give the few wands you have to those that need it."
Fenrir nodded: "the elders and the children."
"The rest of us can handle the pain." Explained one of the men, "but…"
"Legally," continued one of the women, "no one here is allowed a wand, but we have managed to collect a few second-hand wands over the years. Enough to allow several of us to work for the reserve itself. The theory was that if we could make enough money, we could try and… secretly have some of us unknown wolves buy wands for the children," She leaned back on her tensely lazily as one of the kids squealed in joy, "but for what we work and what the reserve makes, it's not enough to supply the pack. Not with how few of us can work."
"That's surprising." Heather admitted not sharing her internal plans to find a discreet and unbiased wand-maker for the group, "Mathias implied the reserve was doing quite well."
"It is," Was confirmed several times, "but that's on the camping site and technically he didn't have permission for that."
"Until now," Fenrir drawled, "but it's not enough to sustain the entire reserve and a full village worth of werewolves. Not when we need to remain under the radar due to the laws of the world."
"That and there's the whole issue with Scale and Sluggers." Was added by another.
Heather hummed; she hadn't visited the company yet. Scale and Sluggers was the company created by her grandfather Fleamont, it was one of the locations she had intended to visit that afternoon, but Heather was relatively sure she'd have to push that meeting back a day so as to not exhaust Harry too much… and herself. "Scale and Sluggers?" she clarified since it had been brought up.
Fenrir scowled: "That is something you'll have to look closer into; that company has been giving the reserve trouble for a year now. They've almost entirely cut off contact."
"They also were demanding way more ingredients than we can give before that."
"Not to mention the company has been sued multiple times despite the ingredients we've given them, and trust me, I collect most of the ingredients myself; what we're sending them is fresh and well prepared." Added a younger man, "I'd not risk my job to give anything less than the best."
Heather felt like she was sighing entirely too much by that point, but how could she resist? Her work was only getting started.
Heather sealed the letter before sending it off with her newly procured owl. Mathias had let her take one of their many owls for a personal owl, and she was already using it. Between putting Harry to bed that night and falling asleep herself, Heather had written out a general want add for an assistant. Then, she'd owled the letter to the prophet to have it put out to the public. Heather fully intended to interview for an assistant as soon as possible, significantly because, as unfortunate as it was, Heather was growing alarmingly busy. At this rate, she'd never get the chance to fix her portal home, and that was unacceptable.
Ergo, an assistant.
So the ad would run that morning, and Heather would interview the next day for the position. Which would hopefully mean she'd find someone uncorrupted by Dumbledore's reach due to the lack of time between her takeover of the Potter companies and the hiring of an assistant. As she hoped, ideally, Dumbledore wouldn't discover her presence until after Christmas.
"Harry, ready to go?" Heather called.
"Yup!" the five-year-old came rushing her way with a small backpack in hand. Within was a packed lunch and some general toys for him to play with for the day. Heather had already asked both Harry and Fenrir if it was alright for Harry to spend the day with the wolf-pack. An ironic choice considering Heather never would have trusted Fenrir Greyback for a moment in her own world. But with a vow between them and an understanding agreed upon, Heather felt confident that Fenrir would not harm Harry.
That and it actually wasn't Fenrir babysitting but the mother to Harry's new friend Annabeth who would be doing the watching. Heather had gotten very good vibes from Annabeth's mother, Sally, and she hadn't minded watching Harry for a few afternoons until Heather got a bit more control under her belt. Control Heather was in desperate need of because Heather had no one she could trust in this world beyond a goblin bank manager, and even that was pushing it slightly. That and Heather was unfortunately aware that Petunia may want to babysit but couldn't actually protect Harry. Taking Harry to her meeting at Scale and Slugger and her grandmother's jewelry company that afternoon would be a blatant mistake.
She could feel it in her very magic.
So Heather took Harry's hand after breakfast and apparated them both back to the reserve. She ensured he was okay and then bid a temporary goodbye to the kid before apparating away, this time to the side alley of Diagon where Scale and Slugger's was located.
Heather stopped in front of the shop and made a face. "Scale and Sluggers Potion company." Heather read the sign standing before the relatively small and ratted-looking building.
Back in Heathers's homeworld, Scale and Slugger's ran worldwide under various names, but the main shop had actually been placed in the middle of the Muggle city. As a result, the shop served Muggle and Magical clientele. Muggles could access the shop; it was a place muggles who leaned toward magical beliefs would visit to buy herbs and crystals from. Ironically they'd do so right beside real witches and wizards who use the shop for real potion ingredients. Though the 'life ingredients' and more magical resembling were found in the back of the building, accessible to only those who possessed magic.
But in this world, the difference was already blatant. The shop was not serving Muggles; it was purely and exclusively for the magical community… it wasn't necessarily a bad thing but… but Heather didn't feel good at how cheap the shop front looked, not to mention was in the back of the alley instead of the front like their competitor.
Shoving back judgment, Heather stepped forward into the shop itself and immediately made a face. It clearly wasn't just the front that appeared cheap, the shop itself was as well and… those prices they were extortion and- Heather leaned toward the product itself, supposedly collected from the reserve and yet- "this is so cheap." Heather muttered, eying the dried plant between her fingers. Half of the items she could see were rotting, and the rest would ruin any potion.
"Grandfather must be rolling in his grave," Heather grunted and tossed the plant back in the box. She continued to wander the area checking the plants, and confirmed the same; none of it had come from the reserve. And if it had, then it had been poorly stored for months before hitting the shelves. Heather couldn't help but notice that no one had approached her to help her. She'd been in the shop itself for five minutes already and had seen any staff.
Heather would have to overhaul the shop entirely, it seemed, though hopefully only this one. Heather had no desire to wander the world and check over every shop in person… she may have to hire someone to do that thought, someone she trusted… of which she had no one, bugger.
Bang.
Heather spun on her feet wand hitting the palm of her hand when she spotted the source of the sudden sound… a girl. A teenager with dark bags under her eyes, dark skin, uncontrolled hair and a fretful expression on her face. As they caught sight of each other, the girl instantly curtsied, and Heather mentally put her at maybe sixteen. Then a smile slid across her face, one designed for customer service, and she cheerfully said: "Hello ma'am! How can I help you today?"
Heather hummed and placed her hand under her chin, peering at the girl carefully, she wasn't familiar, but familiar didn't mean much apparently: "yes, I'm looking for the owner."
"Oh," her hands wrung together, "I'm sorry ma'am, this shop is owned by the Potter family and you cannot currently meet them. I can try and contact our manager though? If… you need?" she looked resolved, familiar with the situation, no doubt she'd had to deal with several complaints before: "he's… uh… not here right now, but… maybe I can help your grievance?"
"The manager, what's his name?"
"Doge, Ryall Doge."
Now that was probably not a coincidence, Elphias Doge was intensely loyal to Dumbledore, and if he had any family, then this Ryall was likely as loyal as Elphias. Heather hadn't known that Elphias Doge had any relatives. "And where is he now?"
"I… I don't… I'm sorry, ma'am."
"You have no idea, do you." Heather drawled, "the manager, he hasn't told you where he is. When was the last time he was in?"
"It's been… Uhm…" she looked a bit uncertain as she did the math in her head, math because her manager hadn't been in for long enough that she needed to do the math. "Awhile." And she couldn't even calculate it.
Heather heaved her thousandth sigh since arriving at this new world: "and your name?"
"Kelly, ma'am… can I help you?" she repeated the question, and Heather scratched under her chin.
"Yes, Kelly, actually… you can answer some questions I have." She approached and set her hand with her Potter ring present on the counter, "see, I own this shop now, and I would like to know who to blame for its… state," she smiled a touch kindly, "I suspect it's not you, but you will have to answer some questions regardless."
"But… but Harry Potter should…"
Ah. She was muggleborn then. Perhaps she really had no idea what the ring on Heather's hand was. "Alright, let's go to the back and talk; I believe I have some things to explain to you." Heather shot a spell behind her and flipped the 'open' sign to closed. "Starting with the fact that this-" Heather tapped the ring, "-means I am head of the Potter family."
It took a moment, or seven, for Kelly to finally calm down enough to lead Heather to the back of the shop and pull out two chairs. There Heather was given a full view of the supplies in the back, all of which looked about the same as the front. Though it seemed Kelly had been going through it while working, in fact, Kelly said exactly that.
"Most of it is bad… they uh… the supplier brings the ingredients once a month, and we don't sell… much. So a lot of it goes bad." She wilted under Heather's look, "I try and put out the… best-looking items, but…"
"How often does Doge visit?"
"Once a month… maybe."
"And how long have you worked here… actually, how old are you?"
"I'm eighteen," she wrung her hands, "I've been working for four months."
"Is it just you?" Heather located the employee files for the shop and pulled them out, setting up a small pile for herself.
"No, there's Dan too… but his mother is sick so… so I took his shifts."
"Two staff…" Heather flipped through it; the pair were paid the basic minimum, less than a muggle would with minimum wage. "Are you both muggleborn?"
"Does that matter?" Kelly's question and tone was sharp, but Heather didn't take offence.
"Yes," she flipped through the papers, "but not for the reason you're assuming. Doge is paying you far less than minimum wage; he's taking advantage of your lack of knowledge when it comes to this world." Heather set aside the pile and picked up a new one, "though I suspect getting any job in the alley was difficult enough after graduation."
"Oh…" she deflated, "yes… I… rent is impossible- but I don't have grades for the muggle world and Dan… he lives with his mom, but she's sick and…"
Heather waved a hand in a circle: "figured that." Where was the information she wanted, where was the connection to the reserve… where was Doge getting his ingredients? "When does Dan return?"
"Err… I have his shifts for the week, but he was going to owl me with an update so…"
"Alright," Doge wasn't giving either of them sick or vacation pay; Heather would have to speak with this Dan fellow and give him some personal days off, then assess his work ethic when he returned. So far she was happy enough with Kelly though, the girl hadn't give Heather reason to fire her yet. "Starting off, I'd like you to start going through the potion ingredients, anything that is usable we can donate. Otherwise, toss it."
"Ma'am!?" Kelly gasped.
"I'll arrange for a new supply of fresh ingredients to be delivered," it would give the wolves more to do… and perhaps she'd hire one or two to help out with the heavy lifting. "Otherwise, we're closed. We need to rearrange the entire shop; perhaps we'll have a 'grand reopening.'" Where was the ingredients Mathias had sent gone? It had vanished completely, and it seemed Doge was the only link; she'd have to go through Doge to discover what happened.
"Kelly," Heather glanced up, realizing the girl had started to pull boxes down while Heather had been thinking aloud, "have you ever seen Albus Dumbledore in the shop or with Doge?"
"The headmaster?" Kelly pondered, then shook her head, "no, ma'am."
Heather made a noise in the back of her throat, "alright, continue on… though leave the heavier ingredients for last. I'm going to hire some additional help for you." Heather tapped her fingers together, "let's aim to reopen next month, so we have plenty of time."
Kelly nodded quickly but didn't slow her work in the slightest. Instead, Heather caught the girl smiling under a curtain of curls and definitely heard Kelly whisper under her breath: "Dan is going to be so happy." Before Heather returned to her work combing through the rather lacking papers.
"Dan!"
Dan Pence jerked in surprise as he was all but tackled by his co-worker the moment he entered the shop. He'd come early, and before he'd meant to. Kelly had owled him almost insistently for a full twenty-four hours before his mother forced him to go check on the girl and the 'big news' she insisted on sharing in person. Though, Dan had decided Kelly's cheery smile did not match the 'Closing Sale' on the front door and the chaos of the shop.
"Kelly." He greeted, "what's going on?"
"Come here!" Kelly grabbed his arm and waved off a pair of rather burly and scared men ripping apart the old shelves and arguing about how to put together a new set in pieces on the floor. Kelly dragged him straight to the back and all but shoved him against a wall before excitedly squealing: "guess what!"
"Whaaaat?" he answered sarcastically.
"We have a new owner!" Kelly bounced, "Doge is fired, though he doesn't know it yet since he's on vacation. But, we're overhauling the entire shop, and we get a raise!" Kelly squealed, "oh! And vacation pay! Oh, oh and personal time off, so you'll get paid for helping your mom and- and-"
"A… Woah wait- on hold, pump the breaks and start over. We have a new owner? Did Doge sell the shop?"
"No! That's the best part- oh, this is a super-secret secret." Kelly pulled him down, "apparently, Harry Potter isn't the only Potter left; there's a new Lady Potter, and she is fantastic," Kelly had stars in her eyes as she whispered the words, "she's so amazing, she took charge so quickly, and people are already hyped up! Oh, but if anyone asks, we have to pretend there's no Lady Potter. She isn't ready to be all public yet- but oh, I can't wait for you to meet her!"
"What?!"