The next few weeks my time was completly consumed by work and school. When I wasn't at the Old Bean, I was at home, trying to write some paper. Sometimes I even did reports while working, but that required a lot of energy because everytime Mr. Dinkleberry came by I would have to hide it. Sundays, of course, were my visiting days with Auntie. It seemed like I had absolutly no spare time, until, finally, in late November, I had a completly free Saturday.
The news of the Fudge Shop had not gone from my mind since Halloween, so I knew that I had to go visit them. We had to find some way for them to keep it.
After getting showered and dressed, I pulled out my cardboard box that I kept behind the sofa and used my wand to start a fire. Then, I threw some Floo Powder in it.
"Hello?" The familar face of Mrs. Shea appeared inside the flames.
"Mrs. Shea!" I happily exclaimed.
"Oh, Sarah Beth! I haven't heard from you in a while! Is everything okay?" She sounded a bit worried. Where Mr. Cornelius was almost like a father to me, Mrs. Shea was like my mother.
"Yeah, everythings great! I've just been busy with work and school!"
"Oh, well, I see."
"I was just callng to ask if you know anything about Mr. Benard and Mrs. Elisa and-"
"And the Shop?" She interupted me.
"Yeah." She sighed.
"They're still not scraping up enough money. People just aren't interested in Divinations anymore."
"They never were..."
"That's what I tried to tell Benard when he decided to open it.."
"Are they still sellng the fudge?" Mrs. Shea couldn't help but laugh.
"Yes, yes. But even with that they are making no profit."
"So that's what we need to change..." I said, thoughtfully.
"But how in the world would we do that?"
"I don't know. We can figure that out tonight. Would you and Mr. Cornelius like to come to dinner tonight? I'm inviting Mr. Benard and Ms. Elisa and Rufus-"
"No, I won't let you feed all of us! According to Rufus, you can barley afford to feed yourself, much less all of us. I will cook dinner for all of us at our house. Can you come at 6 o'oclock?"
"Yeah, I guess..." I had been hoping to have dinner there so her and Mr. Cornelius and everyone else could see my flat, but she did have a point. I needed to save my money. The dinner I had had for Auntie to get to know Ashley costed me a fourtune. "...Yes. Yes I can."
"Great! I'll see you tonight?"
"Okay!"
.................................................................................
"It feels like I haven't seen you in so long!" The thin figure of Mrs. Shea threw her arms around me as soon as I Apparated into her sitting room.
"I've missed you, too." I hugged her back. We hadn't physically seen each other since I had had dinner there a couple monthes before. She let go of me and took a step back. "I brought cookies!" I excitedly held up the plate I had brought that was covered with shiney, silver, aluminum foil.
"I'm sure they're delicious!" Mrs. Shea took the plate from me and started to take them into the kitchen.
"I'm not sure yet! I made the Muggle way! Without any magic at all! And I only burned one batch!"
"Is that Sarah Beth I hear?" Mr. Cornelius emerged from a hallway that connected to the sitting room.
"Mr. Cornelius!" I ran and hugged him, making sure not to almost tackle him the way I do Ashley or Rufus.
"I've missed you, dear." He hugged me a little tighter.
"You too, Mr. Cornelius!"
Pop!
"Wow! You're already here?" Rufus appeared beside me, along with his mother and father.
"Rufie!" I hugged him as well. He laughed, picked me up off my feet and twirled me around, like he did when we were kids.
"Dinner is ready!" Mrs. Shea cheerfully joined us. We all made our way into the dinning room and sat down. Mr. Cornelius at the head of the table, Mrs. Shea beside him. I sat on the other side of her, beside Rufus. On the other side of Mr. Cornelius sat Mr. Benard and Mrs. Elisa.
We all started scooping and grabbing food from the middle of the table and putting it on our plates. Mrs. Shea was a wonderful cook, and she enjoyed it. She didn't even have a house elf. Cooking was her passion and her pride. Accually, she made all the fudge that they sold at the Fudge Shop.
"So, down to the business we are here for." I said once everyone had started eating. "How can we save the Shop?" I wasn't going to sugar coat it or anything. I really cared about the Shop and I wasn't going to waste time trying to cope with everyone's feelings.
"We've tried uping our advertising," Mr. Benard started, "But that only put us in more dept."
"The Fudge is even starting to go bad because no one's buying it. We haven't had a costumer in a month!" Mrs. Elisa put in.
"But You've gotta get a gimmick!" I loudly sang.
"What?"
"Maybe you can have some kind of event!" I suggested, biting into the end of a carrot. " The Old Bean, where I work, has a kareoke night-"
"Kareoke?" Mrs. Shea questioned.
"It's a Muggle thing. Anyway, they have a kareoke night and lots of people come! Maybe you could have something like that and charge maybe a few sickles a person or something!" I was starting to talk faster and faster because of how excited I was getting, "Maybe Rufus can play the cello and I could sing or play my bagpipes and maybe we could get Ellie to play piano! Oh! And we could make it a weekly thing and-"
"That's nice, Sarah Beth," Mr. Benard laughed, "but you have a job and school to worry about. Although, I do like the idea. Do you think you could play, Rufus?"
"Well, I haven't played in a while..."
"Practice makes perfect." Mr. Cornelius pointed his fork at his nephew.
"Ah, but I thought perfect doesn't excist..." Rufus responded.
"Unless you're talking about me!" I grabbed a roll. They all laughed. "But you can get close to being as perfect as me! Come on, Rufie! Will you do it?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Now, now. I surpassed that a long time ago!" He joked. I poked him with my fork.
"Great!" Mr. Benard happily exclaimed, "Now we just have to set a date!"
