compass | florence

[edward remus lupin]

Hard to imagine ever changing

Anything changing my way

March 2027
florence violet fortescue

Teddy ran his hand through his brown hair. It was getting a bit long, showing off its natural brown hue. Once upon a time, he kept it a fun turquoise blue for the fun of it, smiling every time his gran would glance at it. When his beard finally began to grow, it seemed silly to have a beard of the same color. And most of the time, Teddy felt desperate to blend in. Unfortunately, this was not always possible with his name, but he figured it was better than being infamous. The past nine months had reminded Teddy of much of those past times. Working on the Hogwarts rebuilding had brought a lot of nostalgia he hadn’t realized he was carrying.

But he was happy to do it. The first time he saw the aftermath up close he’d been speechless. And shocked to the point his hair went grey, literally. At this point in his life, Teddy felt he was at a place where finding balance with how he felt at any given time wasn’t terribly difficult. Taking a break from working on-site, Teddy made his way toward the village. His feet moved on their own while his mind wandered a bit. How many times had he walked this path during his school years? But now was as good a time as any. He’d been disappointed earlier to find he was out of chocolate.

As a boy, his gran always kept some around. Learning his father had preferred Honeydukes chocolate also helped him feel closer to his memory. A whisper or two had reached Teddy about the shop not doing well financially, which seemed to stir up many in the community as Honeydukes was a staple of the village. He only hoped it wouldn’t get replaced by some other franchise shop as in other parts of the magical world. Entering the shop, he heard the bell ring above the door. The shop appeared the same, though various boxes were stacked in corners or open near a shelf. They must have been restocking during the slower times of the week. But after a cursory glance at a few shelves, Teddy didn’t see those familiar chocolate bars. He hoped this would’ve been a quick visit, but now it was a hunt. Approaching the counter, Teddy peered around for anyone working. ”Hello?” Maybe they had chocolate in the back and hadn’t stocked the shelf yet.

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[florence violet fortescue]

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Hectic. That was the only way Flossie could describe her first few weeks of running Honeydukes. Owning Honeydukes. A dream come true, sure, but one that also meant a ton of sacrifice on her part. Her divorce was finalized only a week prior, she and Spencer finishing up the final paperwork whilst she was already back in the UK and getting the shop up and running. Everything sort of hit at once and it had been difficult, to say the least. Luckily, she knew how to run a business and distract herself, and with operating Honeydukes, the two went hand in hand.

She had been left a long list of instructions by the Flumes. Most was contact information for distributors, but there were also directions on the house made candies. The ones that had always made Honeydukes, Honeydukes. That part honestly didn’t scare her too much, except that she felt like she was still missing something with their infamous chocolate. Despite spending the last half a decade as a private confectioner, she had nothing on the decades the Flumes had before her. Even with both showing her the exact recipe in person, it wasn’t clicking. Thus, Flossie had stripped the store of all of the chocolate until she could figure it out. She didn’t want customers to be able to tell the difference or buy her out of the remainder of her stock. It would be needed for taste comparisons.

Today had started with restocks, as the amount of tourism with Hogwarts being rebuilt had kicked up a bit of business. Watching it go up piece by piece from her front window had been fascinating. But she couldn’t stand there and stare at the castle all day. Fixing the chocolate problem was her first order of business. It had to be all set by the time the school reopened and the students came back. They would demand that damn chocolate, and she was determined to have it perfected by then.

Almost elbow deep in a giant bowl that she used to mix the chocolate, she didn’t hear the door to the shop jingle. It wasn’t until a voice called out that she managed to pull herself up, humungous spatula in hand, and poked her head out onto the floor. She couldn’t see the person, but knew they were still there. ”Hello! Over here!” she waved the spatula, a few droplets of liquid chocolate dripping down her forearm and onto the floor. Flossie could care less about that. It added to the atmosphere.

edward remus lupin ● 422

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