Harry Potter One Shots

Bill Weasley

After years of hard work and studying, I'd been able to take over the apothecary in Diagon Alley where I've been working for a good three years since the war. I was restocking the shelves, knowing it might get busy now that the Hogwarts letters had come in and students needed to get their stuff for potions.

I looked up at the sound of the bell ringing and spotted nervous looking people with their child. I smiled lightly at the sight. They were obviously muggles and taken aback by the stuff portrayed on my shelves.

"Good morning, can I help you find something?" I smiled at them and they visibly relaxed.

"Our son, he's going to Hogwarts for the first time. We, er, we're not sure what he needs for his potions class." The father explained and I smiled down at the boy.

"You're going to love Hogwarts! Let me see your list and I'll gather everything you need." The boy shuffled on his feet and handed me the list.

I scanned over the items professor McGonagall had suggested and set off to find them. I was surprised when the boy followed me around.

"What are these?" He questioned, pointing up at a jar filled with dragon scales.

"Oh, those are used in countless potions. They're very useful, you see, they come from dragons! Dragons shed their scales every so often to replace them with new ones and people working with them collect the shedded scales and sell them to us. These have been imported from a dragon reserve in Romania." The boy looked up at me in awe and kept following me around, asking questions about the various ingredients I was gathering for him.

Oh, he was a Ravenclaw alright. He gathered all the information I gave him and he was quick to come to the right conclusions about he effects of certain ingredients in certain potions.

His parents were watching him, unsure of how to act. I frowned and after I put all his ingredients in a bag and accepted the money from his parents, I spoke up.

"Look, I know I'm just an apothecary, but I went to Hogwarts myself. The current headmaster was my transfiguration professor and if you have any concerns or worries, I'd be glad to help you out. You have a wonderful son, very intelligent, and I'm sure he'll do great under professor McGonagall's care."

The parents shared a look before nodding at each other and turning back to me. "We do have a couple of questions."

"Well, great! If you have some time, I would love to meet up with you for lunch and help you out." I smiled at them and they nodded, assuring me they'd be back here by then.

I waved at the little boy and watched as suddenly, the apothecary was overflowing with older students who needed to refill their ingredients and I chuckled when I noticed a few familiar faces.

"Dennis Creevey, ready for your NEWTS?" I grinned at the familiar Gryffindor. He, too, had lost his older brother during the battle of Hogwarts.

"Yes, ma'am." Dennis beamed at me. "If potions goes well, do expect me to come begging for a job."

"I've already got a spot for you." I winked at the younger boy and he laughed, happily paying for the ingredients he needed. He was a smart kid, not many made it into NEWT level potions.

When lunch time arrived, I quickly finished up before turning the closed sign on my door and apologising to all who'd wanted to enter the shop.

"Come back in an hour or two. I'm sure you'll have plenty of fun at Weasley's until then." I announced and pointed at the vibrant shop down the road.