The Memories We Choose To Keep

Spellbinders

The sun shone bright in the late month of August and all the shop keepers in Hogsmeade were up bright and early, anticipating the busy day ahead as newly accepted Hogwarts students would soon be browsing the small town for their Hogwarts supplies.

Amongst the keen shop owners who flicked their wands to arrange their frontage displays, rushed a young woman, only 23, with her wand sticking out of her handbag and her arms full of books. Her caramel blonde hair fluttered gently in the small breeze she created as she quick-stepped to the book shop situated at the end of the row. She greeted her neighbours hastily, her words muffled owing to the brass key in her mouth, and her arms started to ache due to heavy volumes she carried.

Finally reaching the pastel yellow door to the book shop, she juggled the books to free one hand. Grimacing at the taste of the key that was left in her mouth, she sighed as she entered the shop and placed the books on the counter. There were only 5 minutes left until she was supposed to be open. Grabbing the pavement sign stored by the large shop windows, she dragged it outside and placed it in view of the early morning shoppers.

"Good morning" She smiled at the elderly man walking by, and turned the sign on the back of the open shop door from 'Closed' to 'Open'. She admired her sign for a moment, reading the name of her shop 'Spellbinders' written in a large swirling pink pastel font with hand drawn book covers dotted around it, before walking back into the shop to arrange the newly arrived editions of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'.

Spellbinders wasn't an overly large book shop, but it was big enough to have a mixture of tall pastel yellow and pink bookshelves framing the room, shelves towering from floor to ceiling with a sliding ladder allowing her to reach the top. A small counter sat at the back of the shop, pastel pink with a light green surface. She'd been proud the day she finished decorating, her idea of a bright, light safe space finally coming to life. Plants were dotted around on shelves and hanging from the ceiling; String of Pearls and Spider plants. The large fixed windows allowed the morning sun to shine in and bounce off the colours. In the centre of the room were a couple of tables and reading armchairs to allow a safe space to immerse oneself in their escape for an hour or two.

Taking out her wand, the young woman glanced at it grimly. It would be of no use to her today - hadn't been all week - and she locked it safely in the drawer of the counter.

The brass bell above the shop door dinged and her mind was distracted by her first customer of the day.

"Morning Harper, we're here to collect Rory's school books." The witch entering greeted her, a friendly smile on her face.

"Good morning....." She couldn't recall the lady's name, and instead smiled at her warmly.

The newly entered witch stared at Harper for a moment, a hint of confusion on her face but she looked at her with sympathy, "We ordered a couple of months ago, should be under my mum's name 'Mrs Williams'...." Harper picked up the pile of invoices stacked neatly on the counter and started to flip through as the woman continued, "....she would have come herself, but she insisted I bring my brother as she has ministry-" she stopped in her tracks, biting her lip. Luckily, Harper hadn't noticed as she had found the invoice and was now browsing for Rory's books.

"Rory Williams, first year.... ah, here we go" Harper smiled triumphantly. "Are you excited for your first year?" She asked the young boy as she gathered all 7 books from one of the shelves. They were bound together in brown paper with a white name label attached.

"I'm nervous," he told her, "but Maisie says there's nothing to be scared about now."

"That's right," his sister, Maisie, draped an arm around her brother's shoulders, "You're going to make lots of friends, learn awesome spells, and you'll never want to come back. You'll have the time of your life" She reassured him. It had been 5 years since the end of the Second Wizarding War, Rory had only been 6 but he remembered how Maisie had apparated home dishevelled, bleeding and crying. Still in her school uniform, she broke down in their mum's arms and recalled the scenes of the final battle.