Stay - Mattheo Riddle

Jasper Rowle

It took Kirra and Harry Potter several days to get used to their strange new freedom. Never before had the two of them been able to get up whenever they wanted or eat whatever they fancied. 

The two of them could even go wherever they pleased, as long as it was in Diagon Alley, and as this long cobbled street was packed with the most fascinating wizarding shops in the world, the Potters felt no desire to break their word to Fudge and stray back into the Muggle world. 

The twins were quickly mending their relationship and ate breakfast each morning in the Leaky Cauldron, where they talked and laughed as they watched the other guests: funny little witches from the country, up for a day's shopping; venerable-looking wizards arguing over the latest article in Transfiguration Today; wild-looking warlocks; raucous dwarfs; and once, what looked suspiciously like a hag, who ordered a plate of raw liver from behind a thick woollen balaclava.

The twins also didn't have to do their homework under the blankets by flashlight anymore; now they could sit in the bright sunshine outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, finishing all their essays with occasional help from Florean Fortescue himself, who, apart from knowing a great deal about medieval witch burnings, gave the twins free sundaes every half an hour. 

The twins were walking around Diagon Alley and there was a big commotion coming from in front of them. Curious to know what the crowd in the shop was staring at, the twins edged their way inside and squeezed in among the excited witches and wizards until they glimpsed a newly erected podium, on which was mounted the most magnificent broom they had ever seen in their life. 

"Just come out — prototype —" a square-jawed wizard was telling his companion. "It's the fastest broom in the world, isn't it, Dad?" squeaked a boy younger than Harry and Kirra, who was swinging off his father's arm. 

"Irish International Side's just put in an order for seven of these beauties!" the proprietor of the shop told the crowd. 

"And they're favourites for the World Cup!" 

A large witch in front of the Potter twins moved, and they were able to read the sign next to the broom: 

 ** THE FIREBOLT ** 

THIS STATE-OF-THE-ART RACING BROOM SPORTS A STREAM-LINED, SUPERFINEHANDLE OF ASH, TREATED WITH A DIAMOND-HARD POLISH ANDHANDNUMBERED WITH ITS OWN REGISTRATION NUMBER. EACH INDIVIDUALLY SELECTED BIRCH TWIG IN THE BROOMTAIL HAS BEEN HONED TO AERODYNAMIC PERFECTION, GIVING THE FIREBOLT UNSURPASSABLE BALANCE AND PINPOINT PRECISION. THE FIREBOLT HAS AN ACCELERATION OF 150 MILES AN HOUR IN TEN SECONDS AND INCORPORATES AN UNBREAKABLE BRAKINGCHARM. PRICE ON REQUEST.

Price on request... Kirra didn't like to think how much gold the Firebolt would cost. She had never wanted anything as much in her whole life — but she had never lost a Quidditch match on her Nimbus Two Thousand, and what was the point in emptying her Gringotts vault for the Firebolt, when she had a very good broom already? 

She could tell her brother wanted it too, but neither of them asked for the price, but the two of them returned, almost every day after that, just to look at the Firebolt. There were, however, things that the twins needed to buy. 

They went to the Apothecary to replenish their store of potions ingredients, and as Harry's school robes were now several inches too short in the arm and leg and a majority of Kirra's were stained, they visited Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and bought new ones. 

Most important of all, they had to buy their new schoolbooks, which would include those for their two new subjects, Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. The twins got a surprise as they looked in at the bookshop window. Instead of the usual display of gold-embossed spellbooks the size of paving slabs, there was a large iron cage behind the glass that held about a hundred copies of The Monster Book of Monsters.