Mornings were always the quietest time of day for John. Whether it be stocking shelves at Honeyduke’s or cleaning up at his father’s pub before opening, the early hours of the day provided time for reflection and getting lost in thought to the rhythm of the monotonous daily chores. He had also taken the opportunity to use the daily duty of putting out fresh product to familiarize himself with the sweets that the shop sold. He’d only been there a week or two.

Then there were the early bird customers starting to drift in. John would tally up the cost of their purchases and put their money in the register before sending them on their way. It wasn’t all that difficult. He was good with numbers and dedicated a good few days to committing the prices as well as could be hoped for. Customers came in, customers paid, customers left. With traffic still manageable, he let his eyes wander across the store to watch out for potential trouble.

He wiped some dust off the counter and watched the last customer he had rung up finally meander over to the door. But something was off. He had seen them hovering around the fudge display for quite some time and could have sworn they had taken some. But no fudge was in the items they finally brought to the counter. He looked them over and briefly saw it, the corner of the wrappings used for the fudge.

John waved his wand under the counter, closing the ajar door before the customer tried to open it the rest of the way. He was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps they’d simply forgotten they still had it. However, he still made a mental note of their face and clothes in case they tried to take off. “Not forgetting anything?” he inquired across the store.

---