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The week Thane had set aside to manage the opening of Fae's Apothecary passed in the blink of an eye, most likely because he hadn't slept longer than two hours at a time. Thane knew his store would be popular but had underestimated the mass appeal of convenient shopping and comparatively dirt-cheap prices. For the first three days, an ever-present line of people was waiting to get into the apothecary. Thane could have saved himself the headache and started turning people away, but that would have been counterproductive to the brand image he was trying to build. Fae Inc. would be a champion of the people ready to serve and go the extra mile to suit the public's needs and wants.
That's why Thane ended up buying the entire row of buildings on what was now his side of the alley. The process hadn't been easy. The first obstacle was, of course, the previous proprietors of the buildings. Some were easier than others, taking little more than the promise of profits to have them sign the deed to the building over to Thane. Others were in it for more than the money. For them, their business was something that had been passed down from generation to generation, and the sentimental value was more than Thane could or was willing to afford.
So, Thane took a different approach. Instead of buying the business outright, he offered them a partnership. Fae Inc. would become a partial proprietor with a 5% stake in the business. In return, the business would gain access to Fae Inc. resources, including Gringott accountants and the Fae storage network.
Seeing the success of the Apothecary, none of the owners could refuse the offer. Over the course of a few days, Fae Inc. underwent its first expansion, growing from a single apothecary to several commercial properties. The street itself had transformed as well. With Thane owning one side of the public space, he had redesigned the buildings and sidewalks using the same template as the Apothecary, mixing stone and greenery. A detail that Thane made sure to include in the contract between himself and the property owners. After all, few things mattered as much as appearance in business. People would associate the color pallet of natural stone and vibrant plant life with Fae Inc.
Which is why for the past week, Thane had worked overtime to ensure that the association would bring only positive memories and impressions. In addition to expanding his locations, Thane grew the Apothecary's inventory as he began to implement all the knowledge he had learned under the tutelage of Solara. It was hard to put into words just how much knowledge the Fae queen had command over. Last year, Thane asked Solara what was required to make a philosopher's stone, only for the queen to reply that the seemingly miraculous feat was nothing more than a gimmick and mockery of what true alchemy could accomplish.
Thane would admit that he hadn't utilized the fountain of information Solara had bestowed upon him, but he was quickly rectifying his wrongdoings. For days at a time, Thane locked himself away in the Atrium, working on nothing but alchemy. Sometimes, he would create large batches of common potions, experimenting with the potency of his mana-rich ingredients, allowing him to augment the once iron-clad recipes, often improving them.
However, innovation at the cauldron and in his gardens consumed a significant portion of Thane's time. Using his intrinsic life magic, Thane accelerated the growth of his gardens, bringing plants to maturity, the stage where they would be ready to propagate.
That's when Thane intervened, performing the complex process of selective breeding, carefully choosing specimens for their genetic qualities that they could pass on to their offspring. What usually took hundreds of years happened in days as Thane cycled through generation after generation, going from seed to full-grown plant in minutes. Over time, Thane manipulated the genetic material of his plants to such a degree that they were almost impossible to compare to their original counterparts.
Thane managed to create a new subspecies for dittany, shadowmoss, fluxweed, shrivelfig, and knotgrass all bred to grow faster, larger and more potent. Using his new subspecies, Thane made augmented recipes for every potion that called for the alchemical ingredients, most notably, healing potions that used dittany, invisibility potions that called for shadowmoss and fluxweed and polyjuice which also called for fluxweed and knotgrass.
Thane then sent his recipes and plants to the Ministry to have them registered, a responsibility that fell on the shoulders of Mirabel, who, as always, pushed herself to meet and exceed his expectations.
Thane considered it an act of fate that brought Mirabel to his store. She had recently graduated from Hogwarts with her certificate in Potions and had been looking for an establishment to apprentice. Which is why Mirabel had come looking for Mr. Mulpepper's Apothecary, only to find Fae's Apothecary before Rita could even publish her article.
Thane had hired her on the spot, not putting much thought into Mirabel's duties in the store. He wanted someone to whom he could hand off any potential grunt work that would distract him and waste his time.
But Mirabel quickly proved herself to be an asset, handling business without needing to be micromanaged or given orders every few seconds. Seeing her thrive, Thane decided to provide Mirabel with an environment that would allow her to flourish. The first step was buying her the best alchemist equipment available. The second was slowly drip-feeding the information and knowledge Thane had gleaned from Solara herself.
Thane accomplished this by asking Mirabel to shadow him when he was brewing while also providing a few 'random' textbooks and manuals he had come across. It was only a glimpse at a depth of knowledge Thane had access to through a Solara, but Mirabel took that meager portion and ran with it.
Every moment she wasn't running the store, Mirabel was immersed in alchemy, preparing ingredients, brewing, and every step in between. An obsession that Thane could relate to, pursuing advancement for the sake of progress and knowledge alone. However, it wasn't enough for Thane to reveal all of his secrets not yet.
With a sigh, Thane corked the last of the tinctures of thyme he had brewed and bottled before sweeping them into his trunk, where they would age for the next six months, 'If I had another week, I could probably figure out a way to reduce the toxicity, but I've spent enough time hiding away. Time to step back into the public eye.'
As Thane stepped away from his workbench, he felt space warp slightly as someone entered the Atrium, "Maribel is that you?"
"Is that the name of that sweet girl out there?" a familiar voice asked, sultry and husky. Thane couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as Rita, wearing a heavy winter fur coat, walked into view. "Well, this is a surprise I don't remember inviting you to a meeting."
Rita smiled as she walked towards Thane, revealing her sparkingly white teeth behind plump cherry-red lips, "From what I've heard, you haven't been meeting much of anybody. Hardly anybody's seen you for the past week. I almost certainly thought you would capitalize on your moment of fame."
"As you can see, I've been rather busy," Thane replied, gesturing around at the Atrium before his gaze hardened, making Rita freeze, "But you knew that...so that begs the question, why are you here when I have so little time to spare?"
Rita's cheeks flushed, her whole body starting to tremble as she reached up and shrugged the heavy fur coat off her shoulders, letting it drop to the floor, "That's why I'm here; I was hoping that I could help take the edge off."