Chapter 241 Planning And Design Of Shops
Under joint persuasion, Sirius finally agreed to replace his wand.
He sighed and followed Mr. Ollivander to the wand shop, running his messy hair, resembling a young wizard.
"He used to be so stubborn! But as long as it's reasonable advice, he will likely give in..."
As Lupin looked at Sirius's back, he shared with Evan, Harry, and Hermione some anecdotes from Sirius's school days, managing to make everyone laugh.
Amidst laughter, they arrived at 36 Diagon Alley, the Black's shop.
It was a three-story shop with a street-facing facade, located on the corner across the street from Ollivander's wand shop, next to the Apothecary, and north of a dark alley where Eeylops Owl Emporium was located.
It was where Hagrid bought Hedwig, Harry's pet owl, and gifted it to him.
Besides the pet shop, the Apothecary was also a renowned potion ingredient store in Diagon Alley. Due to its low prices, Evan used to order many magical potion ingredients by mail.
The outer wall of the magic shop was of dark brown brick with only a narrow window. Inside, barrels of viscous substances stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and glittering powders lined the walls; clusters of feathers, necklaces of fangs, and intertwined claws hung from the ceiling.
The products inside were fascinating, but due to their nature, the shop smelled horribly, like a mixture of rotten eggs and stale cabbages.
Even worse, 36 Diagon Alley was right next door.
The old bricks were incomplete, looking extremely forlorn and weathered. The two arched windows were covered in enough dust to obscure the interior from outside. Between the windows was a black, battered wooden door, riddled with wormholes and scratches from sharp objects, emitting a musty odor.
Evan dusted off the window and tiptoed to peek inside.
Through a curtain thick with dust, he saw scattered furniture and trash everywhere. In a crack in the upper corner of the window, there was a brown spider the size of a saucer. The whole place seemed like a haunted house.
"It seems this shop has been inactive for more than ten years and has never been used," Lupin explained. "Many wondered if there was something wrong with it, hence its inactivity, but they did not expect it to be owned by the Blacks!"
He drew his wand and struck the shop's wooden door.
With a bang, the door swung open.
At the precise moment of opening the door, a large amount of dust shot out.
Everyone quickly covered their noses and stepped back several paces.
Upon seeing the unexpected intruders, inside the shop, a frightened mouse scurried away squeaking.
They entered, leaving clear footprints on the crunchy floor.
The shop was furnished in the usual opulence of the Blacks, and their worn furniture was entirely made of precious mahogany and teak.
Perhaps that's why it was also a target for thieves.
Anything of slight value in the shop had disappeared or been destroyed, and remnants of various magnificent ornaments and furniture were scattered on the floor.
The back windows were also shattered, allowing in a cold draft. Certainly, the thieves had sneaked in through there.
From the outside, this shop was already quite bad; inside, it was terribly extreme.
If they wanted to use it and open it for business, almost everything needed renovation.
"It really takes a lot of effort to clean this up," Hermione frowned, drew her wand, and said to a rug, "Scourgify!"
Immediately, pink soap bubbles appeared on the carpet, but it didn't work. There was so much dust that the shiny soap bubbles darkened instantly and filled with mud.
Hermione was not willing to give up. She waved her wand and recited the spell several times.
"Do not waste your efforts, Hermione. Get rid of the carpet," Evan said, covering his forehead. "Furniture and office supplies can be bought. But you're right, as you just said, this place really needs a cleaning. It's no small task!"
"This house has been empty for many years, long enough for many things to multiply. You must be careful when cleaning it," Lupin said, crouching in front of a closet and peering through the keyhole. "There seems to be a Boggart here. It's best to let it out before cleaning."
"It's madness to clean a place that has been abandoned for over a decade. I don't want to spend the rest of my Christmas holiday here," Harry said, climbing the stairs and panting. "This shop is much more spacious than it looks from the outside. The upper space is huge, and there's even more clutter than downstairs."
"Don't worry, Harry. I think three days should be enough. We can ask for help from Dobby and Kreacher. House-elves are very good at this kind of thing," Evan also climbed the stairs and looked around, nodding in satisfaction. "We'll visit Ron in a moment, so we can also ask the Weasley family for help with the cleaning. I'm thinking the first and second floors are enough for the newspaper headquarters. The ground floor can be used for other purposes, like selling Fred and George's joke products..."
"They'll both love it. Since last semester, they've started an owl mail service at school!" Harry said, "The products they developed are very interesting and very popular."
"They are also very dangerous and repulsive," Hermione disagreed. "Look at what they did last semester. They made giant stink bombs that stank up the entire hallway. The whole corridor was filled with odor. It was hard to clean up!"
"That's Filch's business. Besides, the Slytherin Tower, they haven't used that kind of thing anywhere else in the school," Evan said with a guilty conscience.
He dared not tell Hermione that the idea for the stink bombs was actually his suggestion. However, the theory used was inspired by Hermione's contribution to a newspaper article on metamorphosis, to find a way to activate stink bombs so that they obeyed the user's instructions.
"There's plenty of space here; many counters can be set up. In addition to Fred and George's joke products, they can also sell what other young wizards need for their studies," seeing Hermione still wanting to proceed with joke products, Evan hastily added, "For example, with potions made in our Potions class; apart from taking out some for Snape to grade, everything else is discarded, which is a waste. We can place them here and sell them at a much lower price than the competition."
"That's a good idea, as long as Snape agrees with us," Harry interjected.
"He will agree. The potions are originally brewed by the students themselves. He has no reason to reject them," Evan affirmed as he descended to the lower floor of the shop, contemplating future plans and projects. "In addition to potions, everything created by young wizards can be sold. The name of Hogwarts should be the ideal promotional tool!"