Harry Potter: Beyond Good and Evil in the Wizarding World-Chapter 47 - 42. Problems With the Shop. Part 1. Back to Diagon Alley

Chapter 47: Chapter 42. Problems With the Shop. Part 1. Back to Diagon Alley

Chapter 42: Problems With the Shop. Part 1. Back to Diagon Alley

The moment the weekend arrived, Severus left Hogwarts early and took the Hogsmeade fireplace to Diagon Alley.

When he reached the shop-house, a long queue of witches and wizards was already standing in front of the closed door. A sign on it read:

Open from 9:00.

He did not go inside immediately. He sharpened his hearing and listened in.

"I heard this shop sells a beauty potion that combines everything Madam Primpernelle offers, only twice as strong and twice as long-lasting."

"Exactly right. Seventy Galleons, which sounds steep, but it is still less than half what you would spend at Primpernelle’s for the same effect," a middle-aged woman was explaining to a younger girl who had clearly come because of the rumours and was still slightly dazed by the size of the queue. "Though that is not why I am here today."

"There is something better?" a third witch asked.

"A potion that restores youth for a full day. Even for the very elderly." The woman paused. "Yesterday, on my way home, I saw a young woman of about twenty-five outside my elderly neighbour’s house, with two gentlemen escorting her. When I asked who she was, I was told it was the neighbour herself, who had taken the youth potion from this shop. And then, all night, the sounds coming from that house." She clutched her cheeks.

Behind her, three men went pale simultaneously, each one clearly imagining themselves in the position of those two unfortunate gentlemen.

They drifted away from the women, found two other wizards, and passed the information along. Those two passed it on. Within half an hour, every man in the queue had heard about the potion and its terrifying implications.

Severus found the whole thing quite entertaining, particularly when two wizards approached him personally to warn him about the risks and advise him to be extremely careful about checking identification if any witches tried to make his acquaintance.

Severus shared with them a terrible truth: why would elderly witches need wizards at all, when Muggle men were readily available and considerably easier to approach than anyone from the wizarding world? 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

They were forced to concede the logic, but still advised caution.

There were also rumours circulating about a potion that enhanced magical ability without side effects, though those were considered tall tales by most people in the queue, since no ordinary wizard had ever seen one. The first through the door each day were Malfoy’s people, Ministry Aurors in civilian clothes, representatives from other gangs, and various significant figures, all of them competing for a product that came with a hard limit: one hundred units per day, ten per person. They sold like hot cakes: nine thousand Galleons per day, before costs.

That level of profit was temporary, and Severus knew it. Once ingredients became strained and competitors worked out the rough composition of the potions, herb prices would rise sharply. Demand would fall eventually. Wars did not last forever.

This was the seventh day since the shop had opened, and the last day of the introductory volume. From next week the limit would drop to one hundred per week. He had set the initial pace to build attention and pull in ordinary customers. That goal was accomplished. He was not made of iron, and he could not spend unlimited hours at a cauldron.

He also had large quantities of standard potions to move, priced at three to five percent below the competition to sell them steadily without being pestered.

A quick scan of the queue also identified several people watching the shop with expressions that were not friendly at all. Each of them had done the maths on what it was earning, and the temptation was entirely predictable, particularly since the owner was a Hogwarts student.

Severus waited, smiling.

The evening was going to be interesting.

He went around to the back entrance, hidden behind the building by an illusion.

Inside, a curly-haired man of about twenty-seven was moving quickly between shelves, setting out stock and preparing for opening.

"It seems I chose well," Severus said, and Karner flinched sharply. His hand went straight to his wand, then came away just as fast when he saw who it was.

"Mr. Snape, please. My nerves are barely holding together as it is," he said, setting down a row of potions and dropping into a chair.

"What is happening?"

"Problems."

"Hm. I told you to contact me if anything came up," Severus said, and the note in his voice made Karner shrink slightly.

"I am sorry. I thought I could manage it through my own contacts. You have already done so much: the debts, all of it."

"Tell me."

"The local gangs. I had ties with two of them, but after that incident they both vanished, and now others are moving in to replace them."

Severus felt a small and rather guilty twinge. He was the reason those two gangs had vanished.

"Understood. I will stay today and deal with it."

"There is no need, really, I can—" Karner jumped up, and Severus sat him back down.

"I want to see these people." And decide which of them has a future.

Karner noticed the quality of the light in the young man’s eyes and felt a distinct chill run down his spine.

Half an hour later the shop opened, and within roughly five seconds it was full. Shafiki had to clear most of them out and limit entry to five at a time, who promptly bought half the remaining ability-enhancing potions.

Severus worked the counter. Karner tried to talk him out of it, failed, took over the physical work, and left Severus where he was.

Over the following hour Karner watched, with some surprise and a private edge of envy, as Severus managed every customer with ease: light when the moment called for it, direct when it did not. Every one of them left satisfied. The women in particular seemed particularly pleased: several left their addresses and Floo codes. Severus accepted these with a half-professional smile and put them in his breast pocket.

He was watching more than he was selling, though. Legilimency ran continuously beneath the surface. Anything unpleasant in a surface thought: marked. Fewer than he expected in the first hour, only seven, but the evening was still coming.

He did not leave the counter for the next nine hours. His list grew by another hundred names.

At eight o’clock Karner stepped to the door and announced closing. The crowd complained, had no real choice, and dispersed.

Karner locked up, stretched, and turned to Severus.

"Mr. Snape, I have to say I am genuinely astonished. I never imagined you were this good at this."

"A trained voice and Legilimency will make anyone effective at commerce." He looked at the numbers. "Not a poor day: twenty-one thousand six hundred Galleons. For the week, not counting the first day: a hundred and thirty-seven thousand."

"That is entirely down to you!" Shafiki’s eyes were shining.

"Without your skills, nothing would have worked." A second pouch appeared in Severus’s hand. He tossed it across. "Your bonus."

"Please, no. You already got me out from under those debts. I am genuinely happy to help, and the salary you pay is already well above—" He tried to hand it back.

Severus walked past him toward the exit.

"If you do not take it, I will let you go."

"I. Thank you." Shafiki bowed and heard the door close and lock behind him.

He really is a good man.

He opened the pouch, smiling, intending to glance at the amount.

What happened to his face was not a glance.

"HOW MUCH?!"

The sound brought a mildly sleepy Nagini crawling out from a shelf near the counter. She had spent most of the day eating and sleeping.

Watch the shop while I am gone. Severus’s voice came through the link, calm and direct. Nagini narrowed her eyes in irritation.

You could have taken me with you. But at that moment a plate appeared in front of her with an entire chicken on it. She looked up at the nervously smiling Karner.

"I was told you preferred this."

"Fine. I will watch the shop."

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