"Come in, come in!" the man cried now cheerily awake. "We're open."
"Er- You sell shoes?" Harry asked, uncertain he had interpreted the sign correctly.
"We make shoes," the man replied hustling Harry over to the chair. "Cooper Cadogan of Cadogan's Cordwainery. The finest footwear money can buy, lovingly crafted by masters of the trade. Come wrap your feet in Adadan leather from Argentina or Mungohide from Ouagadougou and you'll wonder how you ever walked without it."
"Of course," the man said with a twinkle in his eye, "young men like yourself are always looking for a bit of flash. We've also got a nice young dragonhide straight from the Romanian wilds."
"Er-," Harry said uncertainly. He certainly didn't want to run into Hagrid while wearing a pair of Norbert-skin shoes.
"I have to warn you though, they aren't cheap. The best Adadan goes for seventeen - but since it's you I'll let it go for twelve."
Harry had the distinct impression he meant twelve gold galleons, which was more than his wand cost. 'It would be the most expensive thing I had ever bought, ' Harry realized, but then he thought- "Why not?" he said. 'It was only one galleon for every year I've been alive, ' Harry reckoned. 'Happy Birthday to me. '
"That's the ticket," Mr. Cadogan said with a smile as Harry fished out the money.
"Customer!" the man called and two knobby-kneed creatures wrapped in towels came shuffling out of a back room.
"You have house-elves?" Harry asked.
"Oh yes. Ungo's and his family have been serving the shop for - How long's it been? Two hundred years?" the man asked the elf.
"Three," the older elf croaked in his bullfrog voice, holding up four fingers as the younger one removed Harry's trainers and traced his feet onto parchment.
"Three hundred, bless'em! Good thing they're here too," he said to Harry. "Finding good leather is where I've got it laced up but I'm pants when it comes to shoes," Cadogan said with a wink.
"And do you like working here?" Harry asked them.
"Best boots to buy," Ungo grunted with what Harry thought was a hint of pride.
"Boots or shoes?" the younger elf asked Ungo.
"Boots or shoes?" Ungo asked Cadogan.
"Boots or shoes?" Cadogan asked Harry.
"B- Shoes will be fine," Harry told the elves.
"Had Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, in here for a nice pair of shoes the other day," Cadogan said as he sat on a short stool and Ungo and his friend went to work. "Bowler-hat green he wanted them. Charged him extra 'cause he's an idiot. That's him there." Cadogan pointed to a pair of tiny footprints on the wall.
"Color?" Ungo asked.
"Er- Black," Harry said.
"Had that author fellow too, what was his name? Lockhead, Lockheed - Lock-something," the shopkeeper said with a wave. "Lock up your daughters around that one. If anything, he was worse . Dimmer than a two year old's lumos ."
"A what?" Harry asked.
"Little light spell," Cadogan explained pulling out his wand and igniting the tip. He waved it around like a flashlight before extinguishing it with a nox .
"Don't bother looking for him up there," he waved at the wall. "Wouldn't have him there if he paid me - and he did," Cadogan joked. "If anything he put in his books actually happened I'll eat his boots. Lilac indeed."
"Speaking of-," Cadogan said, buoyed back into positive spirits once more. "Used to have your headmaster, Dumbledore, come in for boots 'til about ten years ago," Cadogan continued, pointing to a long pair of feet on the wall by Fudge.
"Guess he reckoned he was over a hundred and wouldn't be living too much longer and stopped. Pity, that. He was always good for a sale. High-heeled, pointed-toed, any color of the rainbow. You name it, he bought it. Never saw an outfit he disliked; always had to match. Hated to see him go.
"There's one of your Hogwarts types I really want to get," the large man said conspiratorially. "Professor Snape. Now, now-," he said when Harry recoiled, "just because he's more curdled than putrefied potion doesn't mean the man can't do with a nice pair of shoes. Always thought his must be pinching something awful to be as bad as he is. Do the world a world of good to get him in that chair."
Harry smiled, more at the man's easy manner and simple solutions than the thought of an extra spring in Snape's step.
"I was curious," Harry said hoping to guide the conversation to more relevant topics. "How did your family come by your elves?"
"Oh, you know how it is," Cadogan said with a wave. "Family on the way down, selling anything they can afford to lose - then everything they can't - to those with a bit of coin to spare. Has to be the best thing my family's ever done to take them in," he finished with a smile to the elves.
"I heard some are downright nasty to their elves," Harry said neutrally.
Cadogan pulled a face.
"They'd be a twisted sort to be mean to an elf. They're family," the man replied. "I grew up with Ungo here. My kids grew up with his-"
The younger elf waved a hammer at Harry before returning to work.