No one wants to hear about when things are going smoothly. It's simply not interesting. I'll be kind and spare you the details. Suffice it to say that, with my long list of employments, I rarely had time for anything more than work (including the friends who visited me there) and sleep. My life was going well.

On April 14, 2002, I received a letter. It wasn't uncommon; letters were the way I kept in touch with friends who didn't frequent the Leaky Cauldron. This letter, though, was from St. Mungo's—or rather, from Tom, sent by the Healers.

I don't believe I'll be able to run the Leaky Cauldron from my bed here. Do you think you could manage it for me while I'm away?

I instantly scrawled back:

Yes, let me know if you need anything.

I took time off from Madam Malkin's and Florean Fortescue's to run the Leaky Cauldron full-time for a few days. Time passed in a blur of managing the successful tavern and worrying about Tom. He wasn't young by anyone's standards; in fact, he was probably a good bit older than Averill.

On April 17, Tom was demanding my presence at St. Mungo's. Upon my arrival, the Healers told me he was simply inconsolable.

He said hello, and asked how business was going at the Leaky Cauldron. As I told him about it, he seemed happy. According to the Healers, it was the only time during his entire stay that he wasn't angry or impatient.

When I had told him everything important I could think of and quite a few things of minimal to no importance, he handed me an envelope, saying, "Everything in it is yours, kid. Take care of it."

I nodded, and promised I would.

I didn't want him giving things to me, because that meant he had given up hope. He had no one else to call, as he had never been close to his own family. He had no wife or children, and his nieces and nephews barely knew him. So he gave me that old manila envelope—the most precious thing he owned—the day before he died.

I've developed a few rules for this story:

1) Everything contained in a chapter has to fit on one page in Pages (Apple's equivalent of Microsoft Word)

2) When people within the story write something, I have to use a different font, which seriously screws with my estimation of length. If you're interested, Tom's note is written in PhontPhreak's Handwriting and the trolley witch's is KG Eyes Wide Open. Both can be downloaded from Dafont (add: dot com) if you even care.

3) I don't update until I get a review. I like this story, but I'll stop writing it to work on some of my other projects if no one cares to read it. I'm not begging for attention, and I won't care if you don't review. I'd just rather not waste my time with a story no one wants to read, if you don't mind.

4) From time to time, I'll give you chances to get a preview of the next chapter. This is only good for FF members, so if you don't sign in, you better at least give me your username so I can PM it to you. Since the fourth chapter is already prewritten, I'll give this a try. Review with the name of the trolley witch and I'll send you the whole thing. (HINT: She was in the same year as Harry and a member of the DA.)

I'm SO SO SORRY for the long author's note, but I felt like you might want to know how this story works.