Hermione looked at the hotel room the next day, making sure she had everything before leaving the room to start her first day at work. After turning in her keys, she found a nearby Apparation point and apparated close to the store, her glamour already applied. Opening the door she noticed a customer already in and Zachariah sitting behind the counter.
"Go on upstairs, the wards are set to allow you in and you can add your own to secure it more thoroughly. Come down about noon and I'll show you the books and explain about pricing and benefits." Nodding, she wished him good morning and quickly found the stairs and felt the wards almost welcome her, like an old friend, she sighed, reveling in the feeling of safety she felt. She heard him call out to her, "And if you're a fast learner maybe I'll teach you a bit about wards later." She looked at him surprised, and grinned at him. "Got it!" After climbing the spiral stairs she unlocked the door and walked in. The living room was spacious and open with bookshelves surrounding 3 of the walls and the fourth a huge window with a seat and some cushions. There was a door off to the side in between the shelves that lead to a kitchen and a hallway with two bedrooms, one that would end up being a study or potions lab and the master with a bathroom in between. The master room had a bathroom with a tub that was the size of a small pool, with runes ingraved along the edges. Looking around the bedroom further showed more bookshelves and a smaller window seat, with a small closet and a set of drawers. She upacked some of her clothes and set her boxes of books off to the side for when she had more time to unpack them. She went to the living room and set up her owls things, and charmed the window in there to let him in when he found her. And set the window to take any tracking charms off. After finishing that up she set to warding the place against apparation and locating, as well as ill intent. She set a few specialized notification charms to let her know the status of the wards, and tied a few into her bosses wards. She looked at her wristwatch, which she had charmed to work around magic and noticed that it was close to noon. She grabbed a box full of kitchen things and made her way in there to unpack a few things and make tea for her and her boss.
As she waited for the kettle to boil she made a few sandwiches and grabbed a tray to bring everything down. A few minutes to noon she arrived downstairs and maneuvered through the shelves to set the tray down on the desk Zachariah was at. "I brought down some food and tea for the both of us, how do you take yours?" He smiled at her and nodded in thanks. "One sugar no milk please." As she prepared their tea she handed him a plate with a few sandwiches and set the tea beside him. They ate in silence, and when done she banished everything to the sink upstairs so she could do dishes later. He hummed and looked at her, "Ready to start learning?" She nodded and laughed. "Always."
He stood up and stretched, looking far younger than she thought and taller than he appeared, at least 6'3" and had broad shoulders when he wasn't hunched over the desk. "Alright so first the books are usually divided by subject and author, usually there's an indicator on the cover that shows the price for the book, the rarer books are in the back rooms, books in a variety of subjects like potions, defense, transfiguration, etc. Only certain people are allowed in the back, they have to be vetted by me before hand, and I have to go in the back with them. The door is warded so anyone trying to leave with a book that they haven't paid for, will be compelled to confess their sins and frozen in place depending on the severity. You can adjust book prices out here if you feel like someone deserves a lower or higher price and I'll back you up on it. Blame it on the catalogue if you need to or my orders. I have a few customers who have to pay higher for whatever book and their names will glow on their account if that's the case. There's only 5 wizards and witches who have an ongoing tab here. Only I can approve tabs and they have to prove they have funds exceeding 10,000 galleons before I let them have a tab, and they have to approve me getting a notification if their account goes below 5,000 in which we receive payment in full automatically. Tabs never go above 3,000 galleons, which may seem like a good amount, but some of the books out front here cost 2,000. We have a section for Muggle books as well, any and all genres. I'm MuggleBorn which is why I cater to both types of books here. Any questions so far?" He looked at her expectantly.
"How do we come by new books?" He smiled, showing he was pleased with the question. "Either people bring us books to be bought and then sold, or we go out looking, either for a special request or to find more books for the shop in general. When someone brings a book in to sell, we have a few spells to determine the age as well as any special qualities or flaws it has that the owner has hidden or doesn't know about, you're approved to buy books for up to 1,000 galleons a book, 3,000 max without my approval. Sellers either take a bank draft, or they can apply it to a tab or add it to an account. We do have a section on the Dark Arts, however that's not for normal perusal and someone has the agree to an oath to never use the magic against us and have a chat over tea with me before they even see the door."
Hermione nodded and thought for a second, "What are the hours of the store and what shifts do you want me to work?" He thought for a second. "Honestly I'm open any and all hours, I close for sleep but if you're up at 2am and want to open the shop, feel free to, the shops warded against those wanting to rob or do us harm, and you'll be safe here. I noticed you felt the wards?" Hermione looked at him, and smiled slightly, "I can usually feel the intent on wards and have a really good understanding of what a wards true purpose is underneath that. And I can generally sense the layers in a ward scheme." Zachariah laughed and she looked startled. "Oh you are a wonder, that's a rare talent, and if the Goblins find out they'll be trying to steal you from me to be a curse breaker. This is going to be fun. I noticed you tied a few of your wards into my own. Do you understand how difficult that is for people?" She shook her head at him and looked confused as she thought. "It's always been instinctive for me, and quite easy for me to dismantle other people's wards and get in, with a spell or without." He hummed while thinking. "Alright I'm going to get you a few books of mine on warding, and on talents, and then you'll sit yourself in that chat behind mine and read while I deal with customers. Your first job is to work on an improvement on my store wards, I want details in two days, you'll spend mornings working on learning customers names and faces, and afternoons on wards and runes. And if you're up late not sleeping, no opening the shop until you're more situated here, at least a week. Got it?" Hermione grinned, and sat in the chair he had indicated after grabbing some parchment and ink, and pulling a quill out of her bag. She carried her bag everywhere, even though it had been a few years since the war. Zachariah smiled and went to one of the back rooms, there was at least 6 from what she could tell, and she wasn't sure what they were all for.
He returned with 5 books, "The Practical Guide to Warding" which made her grimace, she owned it and it was rather lacking. Looking at her reaction he laughed and shook his head, banishing it. The next 4 were more appealing, and she hadnt read them as they were rare. There was "Runes, Abstract or Archaic?", the title of this one was misleading, on purpose of course. "The Key to Runes, 2nd Edition" a rather in-depth explanation of the different possible meanings of each rune in different languages, easily one of the biggest books. "Warding, Wands, and Wardstones, the Guide to a Secure Spot" which was about different ways to build your own ward schemes, a hard to come by book as most were owned by old Pureblood Families. And the final book was easily the one she was practically salivating over. "Ritual Wars and Blood Wards, the Do's and Don'ts, 2nd Edition". She reached her hands out and started to do the "gimme motion" as she bounced on the edge of her seat. "I've looked almost everywhere for those, I can't believe you have them! And I get to read them!" She looked up at him with surprise and awe in her features, almost a kind of reverence. "You can borrow these for the forseeable future but they aren't to leave the building. You can take them upstairs with you, they're my personal copies." Right after he set them down beside her, she shot up and hugged him. "Thank you thank you so much for this opportunity here to work here, live here, research here!" He chuckles and patted her on the back. "I'm just glad I have someone to share the knowledge with who has a thirst for knowledge similar to mine."
"You won't regret this!" She sat down in her chair and pulled the "Key to Runes" book out first and settled into her seat with the book and her papers, and as the hours went by he answered basic questions about his wards, but left the majority to her to figure out on her own. When the clock struck 8, he turned to her. "Alright, time to close up shop, I'll explain more about how payments go, and how we handle money tomorrow, so grab the books and head upstairs, I'll lock everything down. Just so you know, until you're cleared to open on your own, you can only floo or apparate out in the hallway by the stairs in front of your door, and only you can. If you want to have guests, you have to side along them or they have to come during businesss hours and go in through the front. Got it?" She nodded and gathered everything up. "I'll see you tomorrow, what time do we open?" He hummed, "Come down about 8?" As she walked to the stairs, she agreed and wished him a good night. After getting back upstairs she made a few more sandwiches for dinner and read the first book until 10, when she charmed the dishes to wash and brushed her teeth and fell asleep, only to be whisked away to dreams of before the war, and then nightmares of the war, waking up suddenly she looked at her watch and sighed, it was 4am. "Might as well get up" she groaned.
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Charlie groan when he woke up, for a second he thought Hermione was next to him but then he remembered the past few days, and the fact he had gone on a bender when he realized she had left, and where he was. After getting up, he shuffled into the main house and started cooking breakfast even though it was barely 6am. He sat down with tea and just looked at it like he had suddenly gained the Sight and it was talking to him. That's how Harry found him an hour later. He sighed and sat down across from him.
"Charlie, maybe it's for the best she left, she had given up trying to convince you to tell everyone, and had started to withdraw into herself. She didn't think you actually wanted a relationship like you said you did. At first she agreed, wanting to make sure it was real and give you two time before you had to face the music, and your mother. But after months of hotel meetings and stealing away after parties, she got tired of being a secret. How do you think she felt?" Charlie looked at Harry, and shook his head. "It made sense at first, I agree, I just I just don't know why I never wanted to tell anyone, hell I wanted to ask her to marry me, but I just couldn't break the bubble, it was just us, and us was all that mattered when we were together, I didn't want that to change, and I knew it would, especially after we told mum. I just don't know what to do with myself now. I know I need to go back home to Romania but I can't, I can't even go to the Burrow, mum will read me like a book and have me spilling everything to her." Harry nodded. "Well it's Thursday, you have until Wednesday to decide where you're going, but after that you need to make a decision. Got it?" Charlie nodded and took a sip of his now cold tea and grimaced. "I'll make some more and warm up breakfast so when Ginny emerges, she has something to attack other than you."