iTechGuides is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more
Minding Your Own Business is the Haunted Hogsmeade Shop side quest in Hogwarts Legacy. To unlock it, progress through the main story until you complete Fire and Vice, then return to Hogsmeade and speak with Penny outside the vacant shop. You must pay Cassandra Mason 1,500 gold before the shop can become yours.
The quest is available on PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Nintendo Switch following the summer 2024 update. It is a substantial side quest built around a haunted cellar, puzzles, combat, and a confrontation with Cassandra Mason; no authoritative source gives a reliable minute count, so it is more accurate to call it lengthy than to promise a specific completion time.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Hogwarts Legacy - Nintendo Switch | $37.49 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
|
Warner Games Video Game for Switch Hogwarts Legacy: The Legacy of Hogwarts | $43.64 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
|
Hogwarts Legacy | $25.41 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
|
Hogwarts Legacy - PlayStation 4 | $24.99 | Buy on Amazon |
What Minding Your Own Business is
Minding Your Own Business is a Hogsmeade side quest that is also commonly called the Haunted Hogsmeade Shop quest. Its opening appears deceptively ordinary: Penny, a house-elf, stands outside a vacant shop and directs you to Cassandra Mason. After the purchase, however, the quest turns into a supernatural dungeon sequence beneath the store.
Recommended Free Tools
The objective is not simply to buy a business. You repair and clean the premises, investigate a mysterious chest, descend below the shop, work through Fastidio’s labyrinthine cellar, complete a library-and-atrium puzzle sequence, fight through the area, and deal with Cassandra Mason before Officer Singer intervenes. Completing the storyline transfers ownership of the Hogsmeade shop to your character.
#1 Best Overall
- EXPLORE AN OPEN WORLD. The wizarding world awaits you. Freely roam Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, the Forbidden Forest, and the surrounding Overland area.
- BE THE WITCH OR WIZARD YOU WANT TO BE. Learn spells, brew potions, grow plants, and tend to magical beasts along your journey. Get sorted into your house, forge relationships, and master skills to become the witch or wizard you want to be.
- EXPERIENCE A NEW WIZARDING WORLD ADVENTURE. Experience the wizarding world in an unexplored era to uncover a hidden truth from its past. Battle against trolls, Dark Wizards, goblins, and more as you face a dangerous villain threatening the fate of the wizarding world.
Requirements to unlock the quest
Complete Fire and Vice first
The firm progression requirement is completion of Fire and Vice, identified by walkthroughs as the third Keeper-trial stage. If Penny is not offering the shop conversation, the most likely reason is that this story gate has not been cleared. Continue the main quest rather than repeatedly searching Hogsmeade for a different trigger.
Find Penny in Hogsmeade
After Fire and Vice, return to Hogsmeade and locate Penny outside the vacant shop. Speaking with her starts the chain and sends you to Cassandra Mason. The quest does not begin from a generic shop menu or from a board elsewhere in town; Penny is the initial contact.
Have 1,500 gold available
Cassandra Mason will not transfer the shop to you without payment. The documented purchase price is 1,500 gold. Keep that amount available before starting the conversation so the transaction does not stall the quest after you have found the correct NPC.
The Tool Desk
Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Suggested levels are guidance, not a confirmed lock
Published quest guides disagree on the suggested level. One quest database lists level 18, while another walkthrough lists level 25. Those numbers should be treated as recommendations for combat readiness, not as a proven hard requirement that blocks the quest. The dependable unlock condition is the Fire and Vice story progression, followed by Penny’s conversation and the 1,500-gold purchase.
Availability by platform and update
The quest was initially exclusive to PlayStation. A summer update reported on June 6, 2024, expanded it to all players. The official game listing includes PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Nintendo Switch, so a current player on any of those platforms should be able to access Minding Your Own Business once the story requirement is met.
If you are following an older guide that says “PlayStation only,” check its publication date. That statement describes the pre-update release and is not a current platform restriction. On a non-PlayStation system, make sure the game has received the relevant updates before concluding that the quest is missing.
Rank #2
- Video game for Switch from the brand Warner Games
- Color: Multicolor
- Dimensions: 10.5 x 16.8 x 1.2 cm
- Reference: S7830090
- If what you want is quality at the best price do not keep looking!
Preparation before speaking with Penny
Check the story checkpoint
- Confirm that Fire and Vice is complete rather than merely active in your quest log.
- Return to Hogsmeade after the completion, because Penny’s shop conversation is the next practical trigger.
- Approach the vacant shop and speak directly with Penny outside it.
Reserve the purchase money
Set aside 1,500 gold before you start. The amount is a one-time quest objective tied to buying the store, not a recurring shop fee described by the quest records. The sources do not establish additional operating costs, a recurring rent, or a separate upgrade budget, so do not plan around charges that are not documented.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesExpect a dungeon-style side quest
The second half is longer and more involved than a normal conversation errand. The documented objectives include exploration, a chest investigation, a library and atrium puzzle, and combat in Fastidio’s cellar. Enter with the equipment and spell setup you normally use for a multi-stage fight, and avoid treating the initial shop-cleaning objective as the end of the activity.
Quest walkthrough: every documented stage
1. Speak with Penny
Penny is outside the vacant Hogsmeade shop. Her conversation establishes the shop’s situation and points you toward Cassandra Mason. If she does not offer the quest, revisit the story requirement and update status rather than spending time searching unrelated Hogsmeade locations.
2. Meet Cassandra Mason
Follow the objective to Cassandra. She is the person who controls the sale, so this meeting is part of the required sequence rather than optional flavor dialogue. The purchase cannot be completed until you have the 1,500 gold objective available.
3. Buy the shop for 1,500 gold
Pay Cassandra Mason the documented 1,500 gold. This transaction begins the ownership portion of the quest, but it does not immediately resolve the mystery surrounding the building.
4. Repair and clean the premises
Once the purchase is made, the objectives direct you to repair and clean the shop. Treat these tasks as progression steps: they prepare the building for use and lead to the discovery that the property contains more than its visible storefront.
Rank #3
- Explore an Open World - The wizarding world awaits you. Freely roam Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, the Forbidden Forest, and the surrounding Overland area
- Be the Witch or Wizard You Want to be - Learn spells, brew potions, grow plants, and tend to magical beasts along your journey. Get sorted into your house, forge relationships, and master skills to become the witch or wizard you want to be
- Experience a New Wizarding World Adventure - Experience the wizarding world in an unexplored era to uncover a hidden truth from its past. Battle against trolls, Dark Wizards, goblins, and more as you face a dangerous villain threatening the fate of the wizarding world
5. Open the mysterious chest
The next objective is to open a mysterious chest. Doing so reveals the route into the shop’s hidden lower area. The chest is a deliberate transition from the business-management setup into the haunted portion of the quest.
6. Explore below the shop
Descend into the cellar and explore what lies beneath the storefront. The quest record describes Fastidio’s area as a labyrinth, so expect the environment itself to be part of the challenge instead of a straight corridor between objective markers.
7. Complete the library and atrium sequence
The documented puzzle section includes a library and an atrium. The available records identify the locations and the puzzle-and-combat structure but do not establish a single universal shortcut or a minute-by-minute solution. Read the room, follow the active objective, and be prepared for the puzzle sequence to transition into combat.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
8. Survive the combat and confront Cassandra
After the exploration and puzzles, complete the combat sequence and confront Cassandra Mason. Officer Singer’s intervention is part of the recorded conclusion. The encounter is therefore not just an optional fight in a side room; it is the narrative resolution of the shop’s hidden problem.
Rewards and permanent outcomes
| Reward or outcome | What the quest provides |
|---|---|
| Your own Hogsmeade shop | Completing Minding Your Own Business transfers ownership of the shop to your character. |
| Shopkeeper’s Coat | A shopkeeper clothing item listed in the quest record. |
| Shopkeeper’s Top Hat | A matching shopkeeper clothing item listed in the quest record. |
| Shopkeeper’s Ensemble | The third shopkeeper clothing item listed in the quest record. |
| Shop name choice | You choose one of three names: Vesters and Venum; Cladwell and Brewster; or Stitches and Draughts. |
| Penny’s status | Giving Penny the elf-sized hat makes her a free elf. She may still choose to remain working in the shop. |
Choosing the shop name
The naming decision is cosmetic and occurs among three fixed pairs. The available choices are Vesters and Venum, Cladwell and Brewster, and Stitches and Draughts. No source establishes a gameplay-stat difference between them, so select the wording you prefer for your storefront.
What happens to Penny
The elf-sized hat gives Penny her freedom. That choice does not automatically remove her from the shop: the recorded outcome says she may elect to keep working there. The quest therefore allows a distinction between freeing Penny and deciding whether she continues her work at the store.
Rank #4
- We’re overwhelmed with gratitude for the response to Hogwarts Legacy from fans around the globe. The team is working hard to deliver the best possible experience on all platforms and we need more time to do this. Hogwarts Legacy will launch for PS4 and Xbox One May 5, 2023.
- EXPLORE AN OPEN WORLD. The wizarding world awaits you. Freely roam Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, the Forbidden Forest, and the surrounding Overland area.
- BE THE WITCH OR WIZARD YOU WANT TO BE. Learn spells, brew potions, grow plants, and tend to magical beasts along your journey. Get sorted into your house, forge relationships, and master skills to become the witch or wizard you want to be.
- EXPERIENCE A NEW WIZARDING WORLD ADVENTURE. Experience the wizarding world in an unexplored era to uncover a hidden truth from its past. Battle against trolls, Dark Wizards, goblins, and more as you face a dangerous villain threatening the fate of the wizarding world.
Does it award XP or count toward a challenge?
The quest record states that Minding Your Own Business does not count toward the Complete Side/Relationship Quests challenge and does not award XP. This is attributed to the quest’s former exclusive-content status. Consequently, its principal progression rewards are the shop ownership, clothing items, naming choice, and Penny-related outcome rather than challenge completion or experience points.
How long the quest takes
No authoritative source publishes a dependable completion time in minutes. The guides describe it as lengthy and list several distinct stages: the shop conversation and purchase, repairs and cleaning, the mysterious chest, descent into the cellar, maze-like exploration, library and atrium puzzles, combat, the Cassandra Mason confrontation, and Officer Singer’s intervention.
Your actual duration will vary with combat difficulty, how quickly you read the environments, and whether you pause to explore. The defensible description is a substantial side quest, not a guaranteed 20-, 30-, or 60-minute activity. A guide that gives a precise universal time is making a claim the available quest records do not support.
Troubleshooting when the quest does not appear
Penny has no relevant dialogue
Check Fire and Vice first. Suggested level labels of 18 or 25 do not replace the story gate. If Fire and Vice is unfinished, progressing the Keeper-trial storyline is the appropriate fix.
The shop purchase cannot be completed
Verify that your available gold is at least 1,500. The purchase objective is explicit, so being at the correct location without enough currency prevents the transaction from advancing.
You are playing on Xbox, PC, or Switch
The former PlayStation-only descriptions are outdated after the June 6, 2024 summer update. Confirm that your installation is current, then check the Fire and Vice requirement and Penny’s location again.
You expected a challenge reward or XP
That expectation conflicts with the documented quest record. This quest is specifically listed as excluded from the Complete Side/Relationship Quests challenge and as awarding no XP, so the absence of either reward is not evidence that the quest failed.
At-a-glance checklist
- Complete Fire and Vice.
- Return to Hogsmeade.
- Speak with Penny outside the vacant shop.
- Bring 1,500 gold for Cassandra Mason.
- Repair and clean the shop.
- Open the mysterious chest.
- Explore Fastidio’s cellar and complete the library-and-atrium sequence.
- Finish the combat and Cassandra Mason confrontation.
- Choose a shop name and resolve Penny’s hat decision.
- Collect the shop ownership and shopkeeper clothing rewards.
The quest is best approached as a story-gated, exploration-heavy side adventure. The reliable unlock test is Fire and Vice plus Penny’s Hogsmeade conversation; the reliable cost is 1,500 gold; and the reliable time expectation is “substantial,” because no verified minute total has been published.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
