Going back to the potions, however, I had sold several of my recipes to British Chemical Concerns, the group Delilah had managed to convince to invest in me, but I made sure to keep the knowledge on how to actually brew them to myself. Without my magical catalysts their attempts would produce worthless sludge.
I still had obligations to my investors, however, so that meant I needed to mass produce certain products. Namely, the one they believed would make the most money; the hair growth potion.
It ended up working out well for me. I would manufacture the potion-creams and then my investors would arrange for most of it to be marketed and sold through one of BCC's pharmaceutical groups.
I had other things to sell, of course. One which I was still tinkering with. The menstrual cramp relief potion Perenelle Flamel had given me and Delilah was going to be big money too, alongside the Wiggenweld cream.
And I'd even gotten permission to make Sleekeazy's Hair Potion which tamed even the unruliest of hair from Harry. The famous potion had been invented by a Potter, after all, and even to this day they owned the patent for it.
It was expensive to make, due to the fact it used actual dragon hair in it, but it worked wonders! Except for the Potters themselves, for some odd reason. Their hair hated being messed with, and I sometimes wondered if any wigs made of their hair would come to life.
That was something I didn't have to worry about. Hopefully. What I did have to be concerned for was how I would be handling the business itself.
I wouldn't be running everything in my growing enterprise all by myself. I still had to get a degree or two from Oxford, after all. But I would be making money hand over fist all the while as people would take care of most of the nitty-gritty for me.
Delegation was the key to success, after all. You'd never get anywhere if you had to do all the paperwork yourself. That was why secretaries, managers, and other staff members existed. To share the burden.
And so I'd hired a bunch of people. Almost all of them were Squibs, referenced to me by Archibald. And the handful of non-magical employees were all people who knew about magic. Including, to my surprise, Dean Thomas's mother. She'd needed a job, seen I was hiring, and the rest was history.
But for the moment, that could wait. Right now I wanted to show off some more to my mother, so I led her inside.
"…and that's where the hair growth stuff goes, and this is the spot for medicine for stomach aches. Other cures for gastrointestinal issues will go here as well," I said, taking her on a very brief tour of the interior.
"Are you sure this is legal?" she wondered nervously, seeing some of my 'creams' already on the shelves.
"Of course! I'm not selling actual potions," I assured her, feeling bad about lying again in the process. But it was for her own good. As long as she didn't know the full extent, she couldn't feel guilty and pressured into telling somebody, which might alert the Aurors.
"Really?" she asked hopefully, and I nodded.
"Yup! Ever heard of Homeopathic Medicine? It's this Muggle thing where they use natural herbs and ingredients in place of actual medicine. Like willow bark tea for headaches and cramps and crystals to purge their negative energy."
"Does that actually work?" my mother inquired suspiciously.
"It's a whole thing! You can even get PhD's, the Muggle equivalent of a Mastery, in the topic. And they wouldn't do that if the subject was bogus, would they?" I replied, being evasive. Of course, I was lying again. Homeopathic stuff was bunk, but when had that stopped institutes of learning from selling degrees for worthless topics? Creative Writing was not exactly a worthwhile Bachelor's Degree. Something my old college roommate back in my previous life no doubt immensely regretted.
Still, my falsehoods reassured her, and she smiled happily at me, proud of my work and what I was doing. I felt my chest constrict with guilt, but kept on smiling back. It hurt, but it was for her own good. Maybe if I said it some more, I would eventually believe it myself.
"So, now that you've seen my store, wanna grab some lunch? There's a deli that's nearby. Has good smoothies and very nice black forest ham paninis. My treat," I offered, and my mother nodded.
"Thank you, Edward. That sounds lovely," my mother said cheerfully.
"And thank you for using my new name. I know it's taken some getting used to," I said. She just nodded, and together we went to the deli, and found out they also made one heck of a good Reuben.
Once that nice little outing was over, I bid my mother farewell as I dropped her off at the Leaky Cauldron so she could take the floo back home. Dinner wouldn't make itself, and she did need to check on my brother as well.
I didn't know what Rudy was up to at the moment, as both mother and I had tried to avoid bringing him up at all. Though I hoped he wasn't doing anything stupid. It might have been summer break from Hogwarts, but there was plenty of mischief he could get up to.
Still, it wasn't my place to interfere.
...
....
Join my P*atreon for 100 premium chapters ahead of the public release.
Link: pa*treon.com/MysticVerse (Remove the *)
Free members also get 2 advanced chapters for free.