Sweet Tooth | Albus Dumbledore

Epilogue

Hogsmeade at night was a magical place, Albus mused. Even after so long, he was still as enchanted by the magic, the lights, the shops, as he had been as a young boy.

Of course, he wasn't so young these days. It had been a long time since Albus Dumbledore had been a boy, but he liked to think he was still as agile as ever, something Minerva, Ariana and Will would probably all disagree with.

The door of the shop was unlocked, and he sighed to himself momentarily. No matter how much he tried to remind Will, he was as absent minded as ever. Knowing him, he was busy with some new flavour, his mind still sharp and creative in old age.

Albus pushed open the door and locked it behind him, looking reflexively at the shop. It was still, with only the gentle glow of the marshmallows lighting the room.

He glanced up the stairs to the flat above, but thought it more likely he would be in his inventing room. "Will?"

"In here," came a voice from inside, and he came to the doorway, squinting. "Gosh, it's got awfully dark, hasn't it? I lost track of time."

Albus smiled. "Sometimes I think you love this shop more than you love me."

Will gave that old grin. He had never gotten the tooth fixed, and it still caught. He hadn't opened the shop today, and had clearly not decided to bother to dress, wearing mismatched silk pyjamas, the top with flashing stars and the bottom with clashing stripes. On his feet he wore bunny slippers, and on top of his wispy white hair, he had a pair of goggles.

"If I didn't have you, who'd remind me to eat? Good day at Hogwarts?"

Albus yawned. "Fudge is still giving me a headache."

"Funny," Will said with a snort. "The man relied on you completely and became Minister for Magic, but now he thinks he can do it alone the idiot's sinking."

Albus sighed and looked in at the shop.

"I was remembering today," he said softly. "That summer. You remember, don't you?"

"Of course I do. I'm not that senile, Al. We did it together, no matter how hard they tried to keep us apart."

Albus smiled in the near dark. "Of course we did."

He looked at the shop, Will's empire and legacy. As soon as he had been seventeen, Will had left home with money from his grandmother, and found Albus. Of course, neither of their fathers had been happy about it, but they had purchased an empty building in Hogsmeade, and the rest was history. Will's grandparents had come around, as had Albus' parents, even his father. Will's father, however, never had. He never spoke to his son again, and when he died, Will was twenty eight, and had not seen him in over ten years. It was sad, and Albus knew it had hurt him, but they could never change his mind.

So much had happened in this shop over the years, the nerves of their first opening day, the fear when the business failed at first. But the business had thrived, had even spawned several branches. Ariana's children had grown up amongst these sweets, were now fully grown adults with their own teenage children.

Something brushed against Albus' leg, and he reached down and picked up the cat.

Reginald glared at him. Old age had not improved his mood. Nobody had ever expected him to live so long, but Ariana said she supposed he must have kneazle blood, for he was now over ninety years old.

Will came over and scratched behind his ears.

"You brought us together, didn't you, Reg?" He said softly.

Reginald gave him a dirty glare and hopped down from his arms, stalking out into the street, and they laughed softly, because some things never changed.