The store was located on the corner of Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley, and most unfortunately, its primary entrance was on the Knockturn side, though a small door had been added to the Diagon side. Most of the sales it made were through that door. Its regulars came through the Knockturn side, more often than not, but that was more because the private entrance to the Curse Breakers' Office of Gringotts was to Knockturn.
It was in Raven's Loft that a book once given to Lucius Malfoy to keep by the Dark Lord now resided. The book laid in a stack of empty books, advertised as diaries. Most of the books had to be cleaned of their prior content, spelled so the existing ink leaked out and left clean. This particular volume hadn't needed any removal of printed text. There was no dangerous text in the book that Raven could find, and there didn't seem to be any dark charms on the book. If anything the book seemed plain and clean to his spells. The only marking the proprietor had found was the gold "TMR" on the cover. That was an easy fix, much easier than replacing a human skin cover with a conventional leather one.
Now those letters would change, based on who picked it up, until the seller fixed them at purchase. The same charm had been applied to many other of the books that he'd purchased from the Malfoy house elf. They'd all come rather cheap, as if his store was the last place willing to accept such books. It may have been, for Raven's Loft was known for taking and breaking charmed objects, no matter how darkly they had been charmed or cursed, then reselling the repaired item.
The proprietor was a Ravenclaw alum, of course, but he'd also spent three decades as a curse breaker for Gringotts. His shop was still a stop for some of the Gringotts cursebreakers, either for consulting, or just plain telling the story of a recent work over a glass of fire whisky from the proprietor's private stock. There seemed to always be a few conversing with Raven Croft or each other in the club room he ran above the store.
The bell rang, announcing that another customer had entered the store, and Mr. Croft was quick to look up and greet him. "Bill Weasley! It's been a while since you were in jolly old England."
"Gringotts has me working in Egypt, but I had a week off, and you know my Mum would never forgive me if I didn't use the time to stop by see family, Mr. Croft," Bill said.
"You're a curse breaker now, Bill, call me Raven. A wise man keeps his mother happy, because if mother is not happy, no one is happy," Mr. Croft said. "Though I am willing to bet that she's not going to like that ear ring or your longer hair."
"I won't take that bet," Bill said. "I wish I could have taken this time next month though. Then I could be there for my sister's eleventh birthday."
"Oh boy, you are in trouble," Mr. Croft said. "Missing your youngest sister's last birthday before they go off to boarding school is quite an offense."
"So Lara told me," Bill said. "I understand she still holds a grudge about it."
"I deserve it," Mr. Croft said. "No only wasn't I there, and I still say being held up by rampaging inferi was a valid excuse, I should have, at least, made sure that I had a gift sent for her. I'd been cutting it close, even before the inferi held me up. I take it you're here to get something for your little sister's birthday?"
"Of course," Bill replied. "Mum says she's been doing a lot of letter writing, and would like her own diary, since she'll be at school with her pen pal this September."
"Then I might have just the thing in the used plain books," Mr. Croft said. "I'll add a lock to them at no extra charge."
"I'll go take a look then."
When Seamus's letter came it had been addressed to the loft bedroom above the kitchen, not because the loft bedroom was the only bedroom suitable for a boy his age. No, the bedroom was the bedroom he wanted, and had obtained a couple years before the letter, moving away from the bedroom next to his parents. He could smell breakfast cooking as he carefully hung up his best white shirt, so he could use it again for Mass tomorrow.
There was a squeal from the kitchen. "Peter Finnigan!" his mother chastised his father, ending in giggles. Seamus figured it might be a good idea to be scarce after breakfast.
Lately he'd been questioning why his mother never cast a silencing charm, because the noise they made in that bedroom was the primary reason he'd moved to the loft bedroom, over the kitchen. His parents were not perfect. He was pretty sure that his mother still began every confession by confessing that she had yelled at her husband and failed to obey him.
Mum was a bit old fashioned, compared to all the other mothers in the village. Until he had gone to Hogwarts he hadn't realized that it was the wizarding world in general that was very traditional and somewhat hidebound. Sometimes he liked that, sometimes not.
Every morning, Seamus's mum got up and went to Sunrise Mass. Breakfast was not served until she came back and cooked it. Seamus had always hated waiting for breakfast. He wanted his rashers, fried eggs, and hash browns right when he got up. Of course, since Father Quinn had tricked him into being the altar server and do the wine for communion too, he was actually beating his mother to the church every morning but coming home from church a bit later than him. That almost was enough, after he changed out of his good shirt, for him to arrive just in time for his mother to put the plate down in front of him right as he sat down.
"Thank you, Mum," Seamus said, bowing his head. He knew better than to not at least give the pretense of praying before eating. He didn't at Hogwarts, most of the time, but at home, he whispered the prayer, "Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen" Then, he did the sign of the cross and dug in to a breakfast that Hogwarts had never managed to match. Nothing beat Mum's cooking.
Mum took her seat opposite Seamus's father, and after she did her own sign of the cross, smiled at Seamus. "Seamus, your father and I have talked about the letter we received last night."
Seamus immediately stopped eating and looked up at his mother. The invitation from Harry and Hermione for Jimmy Anthony's baptism had arrived late last night.
"Your father and I believe that the sacrament of Baptism is not just important religiously, but important for family and friends," his mother said. "You've told us a lot about Harry and Hermione. I know he has no real family left, so it's important that he has his friends. So, I'll take you to the Mass next week, and we'll stay for the afternoon."
Seamus had been stealing himself for rejection. Going across to England was not exactly something that his parents liked to do in this time of troubles. It took him just a bit for the acceptance to sink in. "Thank you, mum, dad. I'll owl Harry to say we'll be there."
"Don't worry about that, I'm going to call Montague Granger before I go off to work today," his father said. "I can tell him that his suggestion on Mrs McGreavey's mare's teeth appears to have worked. I'm really sorry that the call for the injury to Robert's hog made you have to hitch a ride with your uncle."
"Well, I don't think Father Quinn is," Seamus said. "I'm still not sure how I agreed to do every morning Mass."
"It's Father Quinn," his father said. "None of us have ever figured out how he gets us to volunteer."