July 2nd, 1985.

Severus was aware of his responsibilities and reputation. His past had obstructed him from clearly being trustworthy and had also hindered him a lot, not so professionally but….personally. He had never found himself mixing in with the light wizards-his comfort had always been the dark arts and potions. His choices had led him to suffer a huge loss and that he would regret forever. But there were some things in his life that he had done well, Dorothea being one of them.

He would have jumped at the chance of adopting Dorothea but there was still xenophilous in between, although he would always be thankful towards Dorothea who ended up coming with him. She selected him, and he will forever remember that and protect her to the best of his abilities. He was aware of his temper and his…unsociable nature and the girl bypassed all of that and managed to get close to him without even doing anything-just like her mother. Josephine suffered from a disease called pathological ignorance in which she would ignore everything and anything that her mind didn't seem worthy enough.

Whenever his heart would feel heavy with burden he would ring her doorbell and she would look at him with blank eyes. He would sit with her in the drawing room-she painted and he would get lost in the colours. The painting were cruel and downright frightening and yet him and her would find comfort in it. He didn't even remember when it started but somehow they both ended up in each others company. After the raids and its mishap he stopped going-not willing to put her in any danger. Hence he was also able to miss the birth of Dorothea.

He looked at the letter-that laid on his hand-Dorothea curled up in his lap after dancing around the night in order to not feel bloated had fell asleep-his dark black robes in sharp contrast with her white outfit and he felt…at peace. This was the happiness he could have but couldn't and now he did. He let his hands fall onto her hair and twirled it around, it almost reached her knees now. It grew awfully fast. It was the first day of holidays, students had went back home and this time instead of staying a bit longer in the castle he chose to pack his bags and used the fireplace to come here.

He could still feel the happiness when her eyes crinkled in spirits and she jumped on him.

"Stop thinking." she muttered, "hmm?" he asked-don't tell me she had already learned the art of legimilency?

"I can feel it-" he looked down at her, hands still massaging her hair encouraging her to speak, "when you think too deeply and heavily I can feel it, the emotions and all. It makes me feel fuzzy!" His hands just for a tiny moment stopped its moments before he resumed it, and started rocking her back and forth. 'Magical Sensitivity' his mind whispered to him as he tightened his hands more around the little girl-not willing for her to be left alone and suffer the same fate as his cousin did.

~

"How is the shop going, Mipsy says you've stop going there." Severus asks from behind the newspaper, she didn't look up from her typewriter and instead mulled on the words that the character could say.

"There's no need for me too." She shrugged, his silence reminded her to explain it in more detail-the little habits now more obvious than ever-"At the start there were some problems but now-" she treated typing, "Now there's none. It can all be handled perfectly and the shop runs smoothly. So there's no need for me to go there anymore." Thankfully Severus had sharp ears so he was able to hear her voice even above the noise that the typewriter made.

"Hmm." he muttered in response. If Severus stayed silent than that meant that he wanted a more through explanation but if he softly made a noise or muttered a hmm than that meant that he was satisfied with whatever answer that had been given.

"But…I do need your help with something." Severus let the paper fall from the upper side and gave his undivided attention to her, "I wish to change the name of the cafe, Hiraeth-A place that feel like home, I wish for it to be changed to Hiraeth, by Vandeleur."

"The paperwork might need to be changed-just the name and the sign board too. Nothing else, just this." She muttered softly.

Severus looked at her properly this time and let the words drag on, "You wish to…" he mulled over the appropriate words, "launch more businesses." It wasn't a question, it was a statement and Dorothea said nothing. She perhaps was waiting for scolding or something akin to disappointment, perhaps for not informing his of the idea first but he wasn't about to do any of that.

Independence was a good trait of early signs of maturity, this was something that he was willing to indulge her in.

"I'll go to the ministry tomorrow and complete the process."

The next day he filled in two paperwork's, one for the shop name change and second one to establish the identity of Vandeleur's Enso.

Enso meant a zen circle that is drawn with an opening that can suggest that imperfect is an inherent part of existence. The Enso symbolises absolute enlightenment, strength, elegance, the universe and mu (the void). It best described Dorothea Vandeleur.

The person on the registry looked at the youngest potion master in Britian as he submitted the form on behalf of someone with careful hands and upon noticing his eyes-he looked at him blankly before moving on. Zebresky's eyebrows raised, 'Was he in love or what-' and by the time lunch came around a lot of other officials sat on the table listening to the employee of Department of private enterprise and hoarding drone on about Severus Snape having a potential romance partner.

Gossip is always something they look forward to in their otherwise miserable existence.

~

"Add a diluted amount of peppered liquid and now gently mix it. Use the knife to cut the eel in two parts and pour it in the bowl…" she followed the instruction as Severus said and soon saw the colour changing from transparent to blue. The hues mixed with each other and created a lovely shade of oceanic deep water blue.

She gasped and behind her Severus gave out a small smile, patting her head, he moved on towards the kit on the other table and pulled out a small flask and inserted the liquid prepared into the bottle. Turning it slowly and gently he gave it to Dorothea and she then waited for five minutes-as the book gave instruction and then took a small potion and put in on the parchment that were submerge in the bucket of water. There were around eight parchments that floated inside the bucket and soon enough just a small drop made the age old ancient brown looking parchments turn into a lovely shade of blue paper.

"Can I bring another bucket, I wanna try them on the quills too." She peered up at him asking for his permission, he nodded and she ran off to the other side of the room and brought the empty bucket back.

"Aguamenti" said Severus and water soon filled the bucket, Dorothea brought ahead her quills and other knickknack items like pouch and glove, they were dropped into the bucket and after soaking them in she again inserted the formula just three drops-she reminded herself and watched them turn to blue.

"It depends on the shade-" Severus said, "three shades means a light blue," he gestured towards the colour in the bucket, "and more than three drops means darker shades of blue. Similarly if you wish to prepare other colours then you would require the essence and the texture of the shade and then you can follow the steps again to make the potion."

Dorothea listened with rapt attention and nodded her head like a chick. She followed the instructions as he was sitting in the corner and reading the different books that Dorothea had handed him earlier that day, it was something that she had written on her own and he had been tasked with reviewing it. She got onto the work of making potion for different colours-he was sure she had a lot in mind-while he marked the behavioural mistakes and missing details that had escaped her attention.

By the end of it-she had prepared around 34 shades of colour out of which-he noted with distance-four belonged to colour pink.

"This is rose pink, magenta pink, light pink and that's dark pink." She had said to him while sneering at his lack of information regarding the colour……pink. He just rolled his eyes in response not yet willing to snort and make her more mad.

For the next few days Severus saw his owl being treated like a servant as it continued to deliver packages upon packages and lightly flinch whenever Dorothea would tie a new note on his leg. Although he understands his owl's sentiment as hearing Dorothea's glee filled laughter that strangely resembled a villain-not to mention that creepy grin that she had started showing-he blames the Lovegood for that, had also made him feel a little……uncomfortable.

The buckets lined up on the second floor hallways and inside her bedroom as she dropped things and other objects into it and fished them out while prattling on and on about random stuff to Mipsy, at least there wasn't anything in the living room.

"Severus" he hard a shout and with a grimace noticed the two huge buckets that floated beside her-his elf's work- "I have so many other things but there's no place upstairs. Can I use your room?"

"Absolutely not." He sneered and she in return-blasted child-shrugged and said loudly to the elf behind her, "Living room it is then. Go on and arrange them, I'll go bring the clothes and the flask."

He spoke too soon and with a grimace stood up to go towards his own room where he intended to set up silencing charms-the house can burn on fire and he could care less at this moment. Finally getting comfortable he took out his quill and continued to read the budding enmity between the two characters in the novel.

~

At half past eleven, Master Octavius Balker arrived via the floo at Hiraeth in Hogsmade. Making himself comfortable he ordered a cup of tea and sat down in the booth towards the far end by the window. The whispers of winter would soon come and soon enough another year would come to an end. Time passed by awfully fast for someone as young as him. Fresh out of Hogwarts two years ago he had a lot of plans and yet now there was no remaining ambition that a Slytherin should have. He had been sidelined since his younger years from his family and after coming to Hogwarts-getting sorted in Slytherin had given him some much needed footing.

He sipped his tea-and waited for them to arrive. A few days ago an owl had swooped into his life with a letter that had given him a shock. The person requested a meeting with him and said that they had a plan for a business idea that would require a designer. Severus Snape, his head of the house had recommended him to the person. His daily life in Knockturn alley had suddenly become a little interesting as he now had something to think about while sitting idly in his shop.

The idea-he wanted to hear it-if it wasn't something that suited him then he would finally pack his business and move to France or America, anywhere but here to be honest.

He saw the cashier move and out of the corner of his eye noted that he had closed the sign of the door. His eyebrows raised-the cafe was now close to other people. Someone who was influential then-the floo roared to life-out came a child. She seem to know his position because her line of sight was directly towards him. Not even a moment later she stood in front of him bowing down and introducing herself, "Master Balker, my name is Dorothea Vandeleur, I was the one who wrote the letter and before you judge, I was the one who started this cafe too."

He sat stiffly and nodded his head, a cup of chip cookies floated in front of both of them and she munched on it.

"Severus Snape recommended me to come to you. He says you're an excellent designer but lack the particular quantity of good that could make your work come to life." She seemed awfully confident about his lack of money and doesn't even shy away from pointing out the obvious.

"Indeed." He didn't wish to comment more on his misery.

"I wish to start a brand-that would deal with various items, clothing and accessories majorly, it would open outlets in several important locations like Diagon Alley and Hogsmade and would also deal with owl orders and pamphlets that could allow people to order from wherever they are." She looked into his eyes saying it all so causally.

"First and second years-"he said to the receiver of this pamphlet, she nodded and he felt an intense feeling of challenge, something foreign to him. "This project would require a lot of money-but not time. I already have designs for a lot of products that I haven't been able to make, it would be entirely easy to make them if we have workers on board, a place for them to work, a shop in Diagon and Hogsmade would also cost money."

'Can you really afford it' went unsaid. She raised her eyes in amusement and nodded, "Master Balkan, please don't worry about the money."

She fished out the paper-contract, he corrected himself-and put it in front of him. A dividend of 40-60 percent, 40 would be his and 60 would be hers. This would be disadvantage to her, he hesitated but…she seemed smart and knowledgeable about this, "I've gone over this with my guardian, he agrees with my line of thought."

Shrugging he read it all over and 20 minutes later both their sign was marked over the bottom of the contract and they continued with the discussion about the designs and outlets. Turns out the wizarding world is far from the perfection that it tends to showcase.

Check marked points for the business-

1: A factory

2: Materials and Equipment

3: Workers

4: Enchanters

5: Shop

6: Advertisement

Dorothea struggled with her thoughts as she went back home later that day. Severus welcomed her with his review for her book ready and noticed her distraction. She shared her worries with him and he looked at her deeply before telling her not to stress out so much, 'you're just a girl, take it easy.'

Well, Dorothea shrugged, it's still June isn't it, these can be arranged by say-September and maybe by December they can get together everything and open the doors for the general public. Yule seems like a good time to start her new brand.

Somewhere in Edinburgh, a publisher late at night received an owl order of a book with green covering.