Petals & Thorns | Fred Weasley

thirty

SONG OF THE CHAPTER -
you & i • pvris

Adalinda heaved a heavy stack of books onto the main desk in her shop, wiping a bead of sweat off of her forehead. The bindings were tattered and she had to leave them there to remind herself to fix them. Her shop was a day away from opening and she was falling over herself to get everything ready. She stopped for a moment, her eyes falling over the rows of bookshelves and the subtle decoration around the store. Hanging planters with flowing green vines, potted flowers lining the windows, picture frames of art and book indexes hanging on the walls, fancy labels for each shelf. She was beside herself with joy. Everything she ever wanted seemed to fall into place. Malfoy's Mostly Books would be her greatest accomplishment and most prideful milestone. She laughed at the name. When she told Fred and George about the stock she had ordered, they were puzzled at the inventory.

"Why would you be selling sweets and divination supplies at a bookstore?" George asked.

"Sometimes when you read you want something sweet, Georgie. There's coffee too, if that gets you riled up."

"Alright, but what about the tarot cards and crystal balls? The funny looking rocks and tea leaves?" Fred asked, picking through a pile of loose tea bags.

"I like divination. Maybe not Trelawney's take, but I do find it rather interesting. I know these types of things are quite popular with the younger Hogwarts students, especially now that Firenze is helping out. It got much more interesting." She paused. "and accurate." The three of them laughed.

"So you cant just be a bookstore if you sell mostly books." George said.

"You might as well call it Malfoy's 'Mostly' Books." Fred added.

"You know what," Addy paused. "I like that name." She smiled.

She thought back fondly on the memory. Any memory she had with the two she held near to her heart. They made the whole 'double-agent, pure-blood fanatic parent' part of life more bearable. Speaking of her parents, Narcissa and Lucius were not keen on her opening a bookstore once she told them. Of course, over time and once Narcissa saw how truly happy Addy was, she caved. Lucius wasn't exactly as understanding. Almost like clockwork, Addy received an owl with job openings at the ministry daily. She almost found it humorous now.

Addy was living in a flat above her shop. George and Fred had one atop their own building. They had tried to convince her it was useless to be in her own, as she could just live with the two of them. She disagreed for the time being, wanting to have her own home for when her parents came to visit. She shook her head at the irony. She was half engaged to Fred and she was still covering her tracks with her parents. She sighed and walked over to the last shelf in her row of ten. Ten rows in the middle of the shop, plus each wall was lined with more inventory. A lot of books she had taken from her own shelves at home. She had read them so many times that she could recite them backwards. That filled at least four of the shelves on their own. The positive side of coming from a rich family was that she got anything she ever asked for. The rest she ordered with her money from her vault.

She let her fingers drift over the spines of the books as she organized them by alphabet. It would have been much easier to do by wand, but she didn't mind the work. She didn't have anything else to do until the twins closed down their shop for the day. She moved from one end of the shelf to the other, organizing and double-checking to make sure everything was correct. She stepped back when she was finished, looking proud at the work she had finished. Her heart warmed at the idea of opening her shop the next day. She walked over to her desk and grabbed an acid pop she left there and popped it in her mouth. She let it dance on her tongue as she opened a notebook, looking down at her to do list. She was pretty much finished and just had to clean up some clutter.