"So, the likelihood of Teddy is… slim?" Titania asked.
"Yeah…" Myah sighed. "He didn't live to see his first birthday, Titania. He and Andi were hit the week after Harry went into the veil."
Titania made a sad whimpering sound.
"St. Mungo's called me, I was listed as his godmother. I held him while he took his last breaths." Myah let her tears fall. "I won't ever forget him but this is a different world. Some things are similar but some are very different."
"Moony isn't one of those." Paddy shook his head.
"No, he's not and that's probably why I feel so comfortable with him." Myah said. "He feels familiar, in a good way."
"And that's why you said 'yes', when he asked you out?" Luna asked.
"It is." Myah nodded.
"Good." Titania smiled. "Tea?" She held up the teapot.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" Paddy asked the twins.
"We've thought it through, Uncle Paddy."
"And we asked dad and Uncle Gareth." The twins spoke one after the other.
"There's so many Weasley's."
"Not just our brothers, but our cousins, too."
"And Ginny is the only girl."
"All the rest are boys."
"So, we felt that doing this?"
"The Weasley's aren't really losing out."
"Is that why you didn't use your names in the shop's title?" Paddy asked.
"It is." The two young wizards spoke together.
"Taking our surname is a big thing, both of you taking our name is… It's huge, boys." Paddy held up a hand. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to try and talk you out of it. I just want to know that you both understand what you're doing."
"We do." George said.
"You'll be a Grimmley." Paddy went on. "You don't get another chance. The Ministry and Lady Magic will only give you one chance. Without taking adoption or conversion potions, changing your name is a big thing."
"We know." Fred said. "Uncle Gareth gave us the rundown."
"There's no going back." Paddy warned.
"We don't want to go back." George replied.
"We talked it through and… we want this." Fred added.
"Uncle Paddy…" George felt the need to explain. "Mum and dad raised us but while we knew that they loved us, they had so many of us that showing it was hard. Mum… struggled. Whether it was that we looked like Uncle Gideon and Uncle Fabian or not, mum couldn't look at us, not for long. If she did, she got angry and loud and we usually ended up with a sore bum. Whether we'd done something wrong or not."
"And dad loved us but he was always at work, he had to be to earn enough to feed and clothe us all. But that meant that we didn't see him much. He was a distant father. Maybe that was different on the world you came from, maybe not." Fred went on.
"But that's how we feel that he is here." George said. "We love him, don't mistake that, and regardless of what surname we have he'll still be our father."
"It also might make it easier on mum if we have a different name, too." Fred added. "It might be enough to create a distance that she can see over."
"It might…" Paddy said.
"Anyway, we can't do it yet." George reminded him. "Gringotts require six-months' notice, before they'll let us do the ritual and as Fred Titania are betrothed, they insist that Fred's ritual happen on the same day that he and Titania marry."
"Which won't happen until she's eighteen." Fred added. "I'd prefer to wait and know that I'm not pushing her into something she doesn't want."
"And I thank you for that, Fred." Paddy nodded to the young wizard. "Alright, I'll approve it, but you get to tell kitten."
"Aw bollocks…" Fred whined.
"Hi, Luna. Hi Titania." Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley greeted the two blond witches.
"Hermione, Ginny, hello." Titania gave them a smile and a wave from the ceiling of Wee Wizarding Wheezes, where she floated on a broom, attaching streamers to the ceiling.
"Hello, Hermione, Ginny." Luna waved at them as she directed the other ends of the streamers to the tops of the shelves.
"How are your apprenticeships going?" Hermione asked. "Aren't you doing two at the same time?" She directed the question at Luna.
"Yes, I am and it's going quite well, thank you." Luna replied. "Master Lindquist is quite pleased that I'm working with Madam Corey at the same time, it's opened up a possible new avenue for study, but he's decided that he'll investigate that once I finish my time with him."
"And you Titania?" Ginny asked. While the three girls might have started Hogwarts in the same year and been in the same house, they had not been particularly close, but Titania was betrothed to her brother and she felt she should get to know the girl a little better.
"Yeah, good." Titania let the broom float down to the floor. "I've finished with Madam Lofter, she'd signed off on my Runes' Journeyman's certification and is encouraging me to go for my mastery, but I haven't decided when, yet."
"Weren't you studying with Professor Flitwick, too?" Padma and Padma Patil joined them. "Oh, and hi Titania, Luna." The pair hastily added.
"Hello Padma, Parvati." Luna said, opening a new box of streamers.
"Hi, Parvati. Hi, Padma." Titania gave a quick smile. "Yes, I'm still with Professor Flitwick, at least for this summer. He can't take an apprentice while he's teaching, which is a bit disappointing, but Professor Dumbledore found a way around it, I can apprentice with Professor Flitwick but only outside the schoolyear. Hence, my summers are spent in our converted barn with Professor Flitwick, studying charms."
"Ooh, better you than me." Parvati laughed. "I barely scraped an 'E' on my OWLs."
"Eh, it's not so bad." Titania shrugged. "You're more interested in divination, right?" Parvati nodded. "Think about being able to have time with a Seer outside of school."
"Ooh… oh, that would be… wonderful…" Parvati breathed.
"See?" Titania laughed. "That's kinda how I feel about getting time with Professor Flitwick."
"Oh, I see." Parvati nodded. "Okay, well, I'm happy for you, then."
"Will you be going for your mastery in charms, too?" Hermione asked.
"I'm thinking about it." Titania grimaced. "I kinda want to but at the same time, I just want to get on with my shop."
"Shop?" Padma asked.
"What will you be selling?" Ginny asked.
"Mostly the wizarding equivalent to muggle stuff." Titania answered. "Personal Updateable Portfolios as opposed to muggle resumé folios, quill-grips as opposed to dip-pens, self-inking quills as opposed to cartridge pens, scroll holders, metal and timber rulers, mechanical pencils, student compendiums, student diaries. That sort of thing… Or that's what I've got, so far."
"Oh, my." Hermione's eyes lit up. "When do you think you'll be opening?"
"Not for a while yet." Titania shrugged. "I have some stock, but I'm still struggling with the rune-work on a few things. Professor Flitwick is helping me work my way through my list of items. I'll get there."
"Would you be prepared to sell, mail order?" Hermione asked. "It's just… Some of that sounds so good."
"Sure." Titania replied. "I can send you a list or… I can meet you somewhere and show you some samples?"
"Oh, samples, please." Padma said. "And can I join you?"
"Sure."
"May I tell a few others?" Padma asked. "Most of my fellow Ravenclaws will be interested and I know a couple of snakes that would be, too."
"Are you likely to have a problem with the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Department?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, no." Titania laughed. "All of my stuff is completely wizarding, it just does the same job. Like muggles have pens, that have an ink cartridge in them, change the cartridge to change the colour. Right? Well, I have quill-grips with removable or replaceable inkwells. It does the same job but is entirely wizarding."
"Okay." Hermione nodded. "When is a good time? If I reserve a parlour at the Leaky Cauldron, is that okay with you?"
"Sure." Titania shrugged. "How does Monday, next week sound? I'll owl both of you a list of what I have ready to sell and prices, just so you have an idea."
"That would be great." Padma smiled.
"Okay." Paddy looked at his daughter. "Walk me through this. Through each product. What've you got?"
"Right." Titania gave her father a smile. "First, we have, these… Personal, updatable document portfolios." She held up what looked to be a notebook.
"Explain them, please." Paddy sat back and waited.
"It appears to be a book, something like a notebook." Titania answered. "But… Look inside." She laid the book on the desk in front of Paddy and opened it. "These are mock-up documents, not genuine at all. But for demonstration purposes, they'll work fine."
"And how does it work?"
"Patented charm and rune work." Titania replied. "How to use it? That's a different cauldron of nifflers." She laid a pile of clearly fake documents on the desk and a book. "The documents are added to the folio by placing them inside it and activating a rune sequence hidden by an embossed image on the cover." She showed him as she spoke. "This sequence sorts the documents by date and divides them into calendar years, with each year having its own subtitle page." She opened the folio and placed it in front of Paddy. "Docs can be added at any time, by placing them anywhere within the folio and activating it again. Docs can also be removed, there's two different ways to do that. One, just tear them out, or two, there's a deactivation sequence on the back, here." She turned the folio over and point ed it out. "There's also shrink, enlarge, lock and unlock runes on the front cover." Each was pointed out and demonstrated. "Not hard to use, even a pureblood could manage it."
"Kitten, I think the purebloods are going to be very interested in this." Paddy smiled as he nodded.
"They will, but the muggleborns and muggle-raised are going to be the biggest buyers, after all muggles have been using resumé folios for decades." Titania grinned.
"Alright next product."
"Quill-grips." Titania held up a plain silver quill-grip holding a pretty feather. "It's variant of a fountain pen that allows the user to change the feathers of the quill pen without changing the grip."
"Uh?"
"The user can have one grip and a dozen feathers." Titania explained. "Then it's simply a case of removing and replacing the feathers for a new look. No more broken quills, no more blunt tips. Nibs are interchangeable, so you can have an all-purpose nib for notes and letters but a finer nib for more formal writing." Each step was demonstrated and examples shown.
"Excellent. Next?"
"Pretty much the same." Titania held up a slightly different quill-grip. "But this one has an enclosed inkwell." She showed him the tiny little phial-shaped inkwell that pulled from the grip. "Buyers can change out the inkwells, allowing them to change ink colours. Each inkwell is charmed to have an enlarged capacity, but without the appropriate switching charm, which I wrote and am currently the only person to know the chant for, inkwells can't be refilled. Bring them back to me and I'll refill them or give a small refund or credit on another inkwell."
"And how do you change the feathers?"
"Buyer's get a blank grip, no feather attached, but have their choice of a number of different feathers, depending on the grip that they buy. A feather is simply inserted into the grip, like so." She showed how. "And the feather is screwed into place, like so. To remove simply unscrew the feather and replace with a different one."
"Excellent." Paddy beamed at Titania.
"I also plan on selling a whole lot of other stuff, but rulers, mechanical pencil, diaries and compendiums are fairly self-explanatory. There's also scroll holders and a few other things, but I haven't finalised all the designs, yet."
"And where will you sell them?"
"I spoke to Scribulus about what I have and he wasn't concerned that I was going to compete with him. He basically laughed and told me to 'have at it', competition is always good for business. When said I was thinking about getting a stall, he said, I'd get more custom from the purebloods if I had a storefront, even if it was a small one. Fred and George said much the same, so I've bought a small shop in Diagon Alley. It's next door to the boys but opens out the on the Technic Alley side. It's a tiny window front that opens out into a reasonable size, about four hundred square feet. Plenty big enough for me."
"When will you open?" Paddy asked.
"Not for a while, yet." Titania answered. "I have a meeting with some students next week, I ran into Hermione, Ginny and a couple of others, they want me to show them my stuff and maybe sell some of what I have ready."
"Really?"
"Yeah, Hermione's reserving a parlour at the Cauldron next Monday."
"It'll be interesting to see how much you sell." Paddy rocked his head. "Hermione did like her quills."