Always

Always Part 1

Chapter 1:

A young woman around the age of seventeen or eighteen looks at an abandoned building in Diagon Alley with her midnight blue eyes sparkle in delight. It's a dream finally coming true. After years of saving up and money and finding the perfect building to build her small business has been finally paid off.

The door is a little challenging to open, but she manages to get it open with all of her strength. Raven's surprised by the inside. Thick layers of dust cover everything as furniture has been thrown in different places

"Well," she speaks to herself with a smirk, putting up her shoulder-length raven black hair into a ponytail, "the Summer Holidays goes by very quickly. This will be open for the school year and years to come," she's determined.

No magic for this determined young woman when it comes to her shop. Good old-fashion cleaning and gardening in the greenhouse outside. Sure, it makes her black on black clothing dirty, but hey, Raven enjoys having something she can call her own.

A few weeks have gone by. The shop is almost spotless, about ready to be open within a week or two.

One day around noon, a very dear friend of hers flies on her broomstick and lands at the shop's doorstep. "It has been three weeks since our graduation, and I came to see you're cleaning?" the very familiar female voice speaks through a chuckle.

Raven turns around to see her very best friend from Hogwarts! "Tonks!" she grins, seeing her. "What are you doing here?" she asked, hugging her.

"Can't I visit my best friend once in a while?" Tonks asked, smiling, hugging back.

A chuckle escapes the raven-haired girl's smirking lips. "So, how did your application into the Ministry of Magic?" she asked, remembering something.

"It wasn't easy, that's for sure, Raven," her best friend admits. "I barely made it in, and I start next week," she says, proudly. "This is your shop?" the former Hufflepuff looks around.

"Yea," the former Slytherin answers with a proud smile. "I'm almost done cleaning, just need to get some furniture to use, and the greenhouse wouldn't be too much of a problem."

"Wait, this place has a greenhouse?" Tonks turned to her in shock.

"Wanna see it?" Raven asked, smirking.

"Sure!"

Raven grabs Tonks's hand, excited to take her best friend outside where the greenhouse is. Along the way, she feels Tonks stumbled over something by the door. They both look to see it's some stand knocked over onto the floor.

"Hmm, another thing to do, but for another time," Raven smirks, making Tonks chuckle.

"Is it like the one from Hogwarts?"

"The greenhouse is bigger than Professor Sprout's greenhouse so that I wouldn't have any problems with my plants," Raven chuckles, smirking, remembering something from their third year.

"Hey!" Tonks playfully glares at her best friend. "I wanted everyone to know that I spilled the dirt everywhere!"

"I know that, but that's also when she told us about Boggarts where we took the information into our Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson the next day," the raven-haired girl reminds her of the positive side of what happened.

"That's true," the now purple-haired girl agrees with her. "Still, don't know why she fears werewolves," she comments, rolling her eyes.

"All creatures are amazing."

"Indeed."

As soon as Tonks sees the greenhouse outside, her eyes immediately widened in shock. "Oh, my!" she utters.

Raven giggles at her best friend's reaction. "That's the same reaction I had when I saw it for the first time. This got me to buy the shop." Then an idea planted into her mind. "If the Ministry of Magic doesn't work out, you can always work with me," she offers with a smile.

"Or I can use you to help out whenever I need ingredients or your help for anything," she smirks in return.

The former Slytherin student laughs at that. "And that's why you're my Hufflepuff best friend," she smirks.

"And you're my Slytherin best friend. I don't care what my pureblood relatives think," the former Hufflepuff student smiles at this.

"I don't care what my parents think. Wanna some Early Gray Tea?" she offers.

"I always look forward to your delicious tea," Tonks happily accepts.

Tonks manages to visit Raven as much as she can whenever she isn't busy. She holds her visits close to her heart because it reminds her of their time back at Hogwarts - the happy memories of Raven's school years.

One day, just days before, when students will be shopping for school, another person from the young woman's past enters her shop. "Hello, and welcome to Nightshade!" She greets the customer from another part of the shop.

"You named your shop after your family name, Miss Nightshade?" asked a very familiar, cold, male voice.

Raven turns her head and notices it's her former Potions professor standing in her shop! "Professor Snape!" she's quite surprised. "What brings you here to my shop?" she asked with a smile.

"Answer my question first, Miss Nightshade," the professor tells her.

"Oh, my apologies, professor," the young woman realized her mistake. "Yes, I have named my shop after my family name because I want to show my parents that I am worthy, and the family name is an ingredient used in Potions."

"Nightshade and moonstone are the subjects you have chosen for your extra credit essay," Snape says, remembering them.

The raven-haired woman smiles big at that. "You remembered, professor."

"I remember everything about my favorite student," he mentions before looking around. "You have succeeded....with your shop, Miss Nightshade," Professor Snape comments.

"Yes, professor. I am hoping it will be successful for years to come." Raven starts to blush a little. Her former professor has become more handsome since the last time she saw him. The heart in her chest flutters the familiar rhythm it did back at Hogwarts.

"I came here to get ingredients ready...for the school year," he says and looking directly in her midnight blue eyes.

"Oh, right, please come this way, professor." Raven leads Snape to some ingredients to use.

Where's the Calming Draught when she needs it!? Her heart is about to turn into fireworks, and her pale face heats up like mad! The silly little crush on the Potions Master has come back, but this time is much stronger than before. She needs to talk to her best friend about this.

"Thank you for coming in today, professor, and have a great day," Raven smiles at him as she gives him the supplies needed.

"You have a wonderful day as well, Miss Nightshade," he smiles back very small while taking the supplies.

The all-too-familiar blush keeps on appearing on my face. Midnight-blue eyes watch him turn and leave the shop almost dreamily. "Bloody hell, Raven!" she snaps out of her trance, arguing with herself in her head. "He has been your professor for years! You shouldn't be like this!" She takes a deep breath to ease her nerves and emotions before speaking out loud, "I need to write to Tonks."