Chapter 35
Disclaimer: If you recognise it, surprise, I don't own it.
Chapter 18– Business.
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"Good morning, Gilderoy," Andromeda says as she walks into my office early in the morning, ready for another hard day of work. For her, that is, not me since I usually just relax and enjoy myself. I am here quite early as well, before her for once, but that shouldn't be that surprising since I live in the building. Honestly, I got sick of living in my previous home. Everywhere I looked, I had memories there that were constantly bombarding me, and even though they were entirely under my control, I wouldn't say I liked it. Plus, I had spent months on end in that place, and I had even kept a prisoner there.
Overall, just a lot of bad memories there. I couldn't go anywhere near the fireplace without wincing from recalling the amount of torturing curses I received in front of it, so yeah, I moved out. I didn't sell the place, however, partly afraid that someone somehow would discover my secrets from it (with magic, duh), plus it would be good to have a secret place to hide anything or anyone in the future.
"Good morning to you as well, Andromeda, radiant as ever. How are you this fine day?" I reply from my chair, leaning back on it, so it was on two legs like I was an unruly child back in school again and resting my legs on top of my desk. I must say, this new home of mine is exquisite, the location is good, and I got it relatively cheap as well. I am very pleased with the direction my new life is taking me, and it is only going to get better.
The location of my new business and home is in a prime location and is surrounded by good businesses as well, which will drag in more people to our area. To the left of my store is the Owl Post Office, perfect for when we need to send off letters since we are right next door, and plenty of other people will be sending their messages from there as well, giving us heavy foot traffic.
To the left of that is then the magical playground. Plenty of mothers, children and Hogwarts students are always around there and to the left of that is a building which is not actually a store, but Ollivanders workshop, where he makes wands and does repairs, and then to the left of that is his actual store. In comparison to the left, the right side isn't as good since it is only one store, and it is the Shrunken Head Bowling Alley. And yes, it is just as weird as it sounds and not an odd zany name for a regular place, but then again, when in the wizarding world, isn't abnormal actually the norm.
I am guessing that someone, probably a muggle-born, came back to the wizarding world after seeing a muggle bowling alley and thought that it would be a good idea to make one here. But, of course, since we are wizards, we decided that instead of using bowling balls, we would rather use shrunken heads as bowling balls. So, if I were to hedge a bet, the original guy with this business idea was a muggle-born, but he had neither the capital nor the clout to bring it to fruition, so he was backed by someone, most likely a half-blood who introduced the more wacky aspects.
I have yet to have the chance to properly check it out since I have been so busy, but I am definitely planning to one of these days. The place just sounds so interesting. Do you put your two fingers in the eye sockets and then your thumb in the mouth? I have so many questions. Anyway, getting back on topic. Instead of there being another shop to the right of the magical bowling alley, it is instead the entrance to Knockturn alley, something I would have thought would have a negative effect on the stores surrounding it.
But surprisingly, during the scouting of my new store, I discovered that it didn't have any effect on the stores, people just gave the entrance a wide birth and stayed away from it, but they still used the stores surrounding it. So it seems people think that everything dark inside of Diagon Alley is solely contained to the inside of Knockturn Alley, and adversely everything not inside of it is completely fine. Which I know not to be the case given the fact that Galloloans exists, or at least it used to before I kicked out the owners and took over the building.
Honestly, since some of my businesses would be giving out loans, it is only natural that the Gallolooans would be my rival business and competitor, and we would be fighting over luring people in to take loans. But I decided I would rather not have some kind of heated competition with these guys that would end up with them attacking us or something. So I planned an extremely preemptive strike to get rid of them and take their building which is already so nicely furnished and set up for my needs. If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying.
Of course, to take this place, I had to take down all the workers at once and then mess with their minds to get them to see things from my perspective. Which would be infinitely more difficult if I didn't have my new employee to help me out. You see, in the contract, it was stated that for as long as Andromeda was my employee, she would keep all of my secrets and not tell anyone without my permission. However, a little loophole made it, so it wasn't just work secrets she had to keep but all my secrets, no matter what they were.
And this agreement would stay alive for as long as the blood vial stayed safe and would only break if the blood vial was destroyed, and it takes a lot of power to do such a thing, a power that Andromeda does not have. But since the blood oath is to stick to the terms of the contract we signed, it can be broken if the contract is destroyed, which is why in a show of trust, I let Andromeda keep the blood vial, and I kept the contract since only destroying the contract would break the agreement.
Thankfully Andromeda did not discover this loophole because when I told her about my plan, she had no problem with it after I told her how Galloloans operate. Instead of straightaway bombarding her with the fact we were going to go and take this place over, whether she wanted to or not, I was subtle about it. First, I mentioned that they would be our competition in the future, and then I talked about their business methods.
Andromeda was naturally disgusted with them, angry that they were taking advantage of these people and trapping them in a never-ending debt that would last till they died. Even then, it might be forced upon the victim's family. That is actually quite rare, and usually, they would only do it if the next of kin is very rich. Half the time, it's because they have a rich relative that they focus on the victim in the first place.
Naturally, Andromeda was appalled and wanted to contact the Aurors immediately and get the place shut down, but I stopped her before she could run. I told her that, unfortunately, they were a legitimate business and were not technically doing anything illegal, so the Aurors would be unable to do anything. I lamented at that truth, as well as the fact that they are rivals, and how I wished that we could just go shut them down ourselves.
Andromeda quickly hooked onto the bait I had left out, the glint in her eyes looking slightly unhinged, a slight resemblance to her crazy sister. We talked, we plotted and then we acted. She truly is a Black sister, raised in such a household to mould her into nobility and to become a superior witch. The mean streak and edge that allowed her to give her entire family the middle finger and leave that had been blunted by years of suburbia and comfortable life appeared again. And I was happy to see it since my future business expansions needed someone with that vicious acumen.
Long story short, we scouted the place out further and then attacked on a day when every employee would be in the store, and it was late at night. So we snuck in, stupified the lot quite silently since they were all getting pissed off their faces, and then I used my mind magic to have them sign over the whole business and sent them on their way, finishing all the current contracts they had. And the fantastic thing is, it was Andromeda herself who suggested such a course of action and decided on us taking over their store. I didn't even have to nudge her for it; no mental influence whatsoever.
My new building and home were very nice and swanky, and it was already heavily furnished by the previous occupants, who graciously let us keep their stuff. When you enter through the front door, you are immediately greeted by a receptionist's desk, which is unmanned and simply has a bell you ding on it to call for assistance. And then you can wait in the waiting area in front of the reception, made up of a few comfy leather chairs and a desk with the latest magazines like Witch Weekly. One of my only jobs is to keep that desk up to date.
Behind the reception is a partition, on the other side of which is a whole bunch of desks set up for work and interviewing prospective new clients. But, again, Andromeda had her pick of the place; the bullpen was her domain. And then further back is a door to my own private office, pretty much the same as when I took it with its excellent mahogany desk, a lovely comfy sofa and a shelf full of different liquors and other fancy stuff.
The stairs leading to the upper floor are behind a locked door in the bullpen area, to the back of the room, so that it doesn't cause trouble to the people coming in and out. It is on this floor that I now live, and it is not nearly as decorative as the rest of this place because I got rid of pretty much everything since it belonged to someone else. I don't want to be sleeping in someone else's bed, wearing their clothes or using their towels. So I vanished all the crap the owner left behind and bought my own stuff quite quickly, anything can be found within Diagon Alley, and nothing is off limits.
Everything has been going right lately, and working out and, surprisingly, with little to no input from myself, thanks to my brand new employee.
I was very happy with Andromeda, and I still am given her performance so far, and I suspect that I will continue to be pleased in the future. Watching as she closes my office door behind her, I can't stop my eyes from pouring over each and every contour of her body, made even more delicious by the office worker/secretary outfit she has on, looking very professional. Not to mention those stylish glasses she has on to complete the ensemble, enhancing her all-business look. Apparently, they have a charm on them that eases the stress on the eye from working with so much paperwork.
This woman is as gorgeous as ever, her age and motherhood only ripening her beauty and charm, and each time I see her, I find it hard to keep myself from making advances towards her. But then I stop myself, I don't want to ruin my business and lose a vital employee just, plus I still remember her taking out those loan sharks with me with a stern look on her face, her actions swift and merciless. I don't want to get on her wrong side. Even if I am confident that our contract is one hundred percent airtight, I am sure she could find some way around it to harm me.