Watching Shoplifters, Wasting Time, Wishing I Could Use Less W's

Kyra dragged Liz all the way from Florean Fortescue's to WWW, answering the girl's questions along the way: "Things blow up in their faces, love potions are issued, all sorts of stuff. I've never gone with a friend because I don't really have all that many."

When she finally let go, she showed her friend the shop with a grand gesture. "Welcome to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, possibly the greatest thing to ever happen to the world. Originally run by Fred and George Weasley, its awesomeness resonates throughout Diagon Alley," she breathed. "LET'S GO INSANE!"

She ran through the store, looking at all the products: Pygmy Puffs, Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, U-No-Poo, Extendable Ears, Skiving Snackboxes, all sorts of things. One boy tried to give his sister a Puking Pastille, taking it out of its box and ending up with a green hue and the urge to vomit, making him run out of the shop. Kyra had to admit, she loved it here.

"That must be hilarious," Liz mused as they were dragged along. "I can't wait for this place!" At her explanation of her friends, she sighed. "You're not alone."

As soon as they came to the floor, she stood there in awe. She laughed at Kyra's description and he sudden burst of randomness(Randomity?), but continued to stand there, staring at all the good. Quite suddenly, she squealed and became hyperactive, rushing from one product to another. Thankfully, the shop wasn't as crowded as usual; otherwise, she would have knocked over quite a few people. She went from Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder to Self-Inking Quills to Punching Telescopes, and finally made her way to the potions section. "Look at this!" she called to Kyra, fascinated. "A love potion!" She grinned in a way that was quite out of character. "Got any crushes you could use this on?"

She took a sniff of the Daydream Charms and immediately had a flash of herself being sucked into a video game of some sort--a free sample, she assumed. She grinned. "I love this place!"

"Look at this! A love potion!" Liz grinned at Kyra in a way that she never thought was possible. "Got any crushes you could use this on?"

Her cheeks reddened and she meekly said, "Possibly... How about you?"

She looked through everything in the shop, trying her best not to make anyone think that she was going to steal anything. She felt the urge to look around and say, "Don't worry, I'm not stealing anything," but she didn't think it would end very well. She ran to the Pygmy Puff cages and called for Liz. "LizLizLizLizLizLiz! Lookie here! Aren't they adorable?"

Liz felt her eyebrows raise and a cheeky smile hit her face at her friend's flushed face and response, and she replied carelessly, "Not yet. Maybe next year..."

She watched, amused, as her friend snuck through the store, carefully looking around. She almost asked if she was planning on stealing something, but she sincerely doubted it. She watched as she made her way to some cages before squealing, saying Liz's name so many times she wondered if she was having a seizure, but she came over regardless and immediately gasped. "They're so fluffy!!!" she grinned. "I just wanna cuddle one!"

After picking one up and nuzzling it rather thoroughly, she looked up at Kyra again, excitement apparent. "Did you see the daydream charms? They're amazing! I think they show you whatever they want--come look!"

She grinned at her friend and a sudden thought occured to her. I can't remember a time I've been this happy, she mused. It's as good as trying out a video game!

Now she knew her future favorite spot to hang out at...

Kyra smiled as her friend came closer. Pygmy Puffs were just the cutest things ever, she wanted one for her own, but probably couldn't afford it.

"They're so fluffy I'm gonna die! I think you can without getting in trouble," she said, following Liz's example and picking a purple one up, stroking its soft fuzz, rubbing her cheek against it.

"Daydream charms? I don't think I saw them yet. Let's check it out!" she exclaimed as she gently set the Pygmy Puff back down in its cage, letting it mingle with its fellow species. She briskly walked over to the charms, thinking of the only time she'd had this fun; She and Shelly were playing a round of Quidditch. Just because the girl hated the game nowadays didn't mean that she was horrible at it. It was official. Liz was an awesome friend.

Liz laughed. "That reminds me of a movie," she remarked, "but I can't remember which." She grinned at the small puffballs; they were so adorable, it was unfair!

"Oh, they're absolutely...what's the word...perfect? No, too much of an understatement." She shook her head. "They're so great there isn't even a word for it! They show you exactly what you want to see--it's not exactly a mirror of Erised, but it's definitely amazing." She swelled happily at the thought of the daydream, but now that she had mentioned it, she thought about the Mirror of Erised. What was her heart's desire?

Pushing the random thoughts out of her head, she handed a vial of the potion to Kyra, beaming. "Just sniff it--it's like a free sample."

"Perfect is an understatement for them? So it's like a Mirror of Erised in your brain?" she asked, wondering how truly wonderful/amazing/all around awesome the charms were. She also wondered what exactly she wanted to see.

Liz gave the vial to Kyra, and the girl just stared at it. "Just sniff it--it's like a free sample."

She looked back up at her friend, looking a tiny bit doubtful, but replied, "Okay, I trust your judgment..." She then took a whiff of the potion and it sent her senses whirling.

She was flying. No, falling. Free-falling down toward the ground below, awaiting the crash and pain to come. It never did. Instead, a pair of smoky wings found their way out of her back, flapping, making her float. She had always loved the feeling flying gave her, but when her sister died, it went away. Now it was like a distant dream, watching Quidditch games being played in the pitches below, seeing Michelle fly happily on her broom-

The daydream ended abruptly, sending Kyra back to reality. She looked into Liz's eager eyes, slightly confused about what was fantasy and what was real. "Whoa. That was amazing."

"Exactly!" she agreed, happy that someone had found the right words. "But...better. It's like a movie or something!"

She beamed as Kyra declared her trust. It was hard to believe, but she hadn't actually made many (or any, really) friends at Hogwarts in her first year; she was delighted to find someone who trusted her. She watched eagerly as her friend's face went momentarily blank before coming back, and she beamed. "Isn't it?" she replied happily. "I'd imagine a bigger sniff gives you a better sample, as I barely glimpsed it, but wasn't it stunning? Do you want to buy some or get something else?" Suddenly, her unusually hyperactive attention span zoomed in on something else. "Are those fireworks?" she shrieked, zooming over before turning and beamed childishly; the little rational she had left decided that she looked incredibly stupid. "Come on!"

"It does give you this huge-ish vision. It was amazing. I'll buy some if you buy some," she told her friend, biting her lip. "I don't know what else I'd see. What did you see in yours?"

"Are those fireworks? Come on!" Liz screeched.

"Fireworks?! Let's go!" she yelled. Running toward the shelf, she tentatively handled one, looking at it lovingly, amazed at the sight. "Fiiirewooorks..."

"Great! Let's buy some before we leave, okay?" she beamed at her friend. At her question, though, she felt her face heat up a little. She considered lying, but now that she had someone's trust, she wanted nothing but to keep it. After a moment of hesitation, she admitted, "My older brother Jerrod finally got a break from his job and came over to play a video game with me. We were both sucked in...and that's where it ended." She smiled a bit dreamily before shaking her head. She could miss her brother later. "What about you? Or is it personal?"

Liz held the box out gingerly, carefully reading the label. "Weasleys' Wildfire Whizbangs--virtually indestructable fireworks." She squealed and clutched it to her chest, bobbing up and down happily. "That's so cool! I should get these and set them off on Christmas next year!"

"We definitely should," she answered Liz. "They're amazing."

"My older brother Jerrod finally got a break from his job and came over to play a video game with me. We were both sucked in...and that's where it ended. What about you? Or is it personal?"

"That's cool," Kyra smiled. "No, no, not personal at all. I felt like I was flying, but not with a broom. I had...wings. It was awesome, breathtaking even. It was just so surreal and different." She stopped smiling before saying this, only because she was thinking hard. What does it mean?

Seeing Liz's giddiness at the idea of setting off fireworks at Christmas, Kyra asked, "Can I help? I bet that you'd be able to see them all over the grounds from the Clock Tower."

Liz listened eagerly to Kyra's explanation. It sounded so amazing, and much...freer than her own. But that was probably because, even if they were friends, they had completely different interests. "That sounds wonderful!" she beamed. "I wish humans really could fly without brooms...wouldn't it be great?"

Almost immediately after she said this, she noticed the Hufflepuff's frown and changed the subject. "I wonder how much the charms cost?" she frowned. "Not much, I hope..."

Her eyes lit up at the thought of seeing it everywhere and the prospect of help. "That'd be awesome!" she cheered. "I hope the teachers wouldn't get us in trouble, though..." Suddenly, she wasn't so sure of how good of an idea that was. She couldn't just get detention from that, she could get expelled. She wasn't sure if she wanted to take that risk in he first--maybe second--year.

"It would, I guess. It's just weird. I hate Quidditch and flying in general, actually, and I don't understand why that happened in my daydream thingy," she answered with a thoughtful expression. "It was just...so cool and strange at the same time, if I make any sense."

She looked at the flier that was attached to the shelves, revealing the products' prices. "Ack, 15 Galleons. The Whizbangs are 10 if you want the basics, 15 if you want deluxe. Is it just me, or are the prices getting higher?"

Kyra smiled happily once again. "I don't know if we'd get in trouble. I've been up there hundreds of times, even after curfew, and I've never gotten caught." At least she hoped they wouldn't get caught. She left out the little detail that she'd only been up there with Pierre, trying to cheer him up, and once when he tried to cheer her up.

"Maybe you've got some deep subconscious urge to fly again," she suggested, trying to sound like she knew more about it than she actually did. "Maybe you used to like flying and you're re-imagining the feeling...?"

She made at face and checked her wallet. "I don't even have five with me," she grumbled, staring at them solemnly before brightening up. "Maybe mum'll let me come back later! If I can, I promise I'll buy some for you, too, okay?"

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Great! Then when we set them off, we'll be safe." She grinned again. "I've never actually been up there, so it'd be great if you could show me around someday..."

“It’s a possibility,” Kyra replied, thinking hard about what could trigger it. “I did like flying, but after the accident, the feeling went away.”

The girl checked in the beaded bag she carried with her that day to see if she had money. I have about twenty… she thought to herself. “Maybe I can buy a bottle. We’ll share it,” she said, her eyes gleaming, trying to make Liz let her buy something for the girl this time. “You don’t have to buy me anything, it’s okay.” She really didn’t want to be a burden, especially after what happened that one time with Sami. She didn’t want a repeat of that.

“Definitely, there won’t be a problem at all. I’ll be sure to show you. Maybe you can show me some more of your vido games. They’re really, really cool,” she grinned.

"Maybe your subconscious has gotten over the...accident and your conscious self hasn't," Liz suggested uneasily. She naturally assumed that by 'accident' she had fallen off of her broom and broken a bone or something of the sort, though she instinctively felt that it was much deeper than that. She ignored the feeling and continued the conversation.

She frowned at the offer. She didn't want Kyra to have to pay for her--that would be undeniably rude. "If you do, I'll pay you back later," she replied before grinning. "Who knows? Maybe by the time we use it, our daydreams will have changed." She was excited by the thought. "Wouldn't that be great if the daydream changed depending on your mood? Like if you were thinking of your crush when you took it you would fantasize about them, or if you were thinking about pirates you would be in a high-seas adventure?" She watched her carefully as she told her not to buy anything, beaming. "If you're going to buy something for me, it's only fair I buy something for you," she pointed out. "If you really want to, you can pay me back later."

"Great!" she smiled. "They're not much, really, but I could definitely show you more of them."

"I dunno. I guess that it just...I don't know," she said, shaking her head. She wondered how the subject always went back to the accident and why everything had changed so much in so little time.

"Wouldn't that be great if the daydream changed depending on your mood?" Liz asked, grinning slightly.

"That would be awesome! Though I'm not sure about the 'fantasizing' part," she said in a teasing tone. "You can pay me back any time, Liz. If you bought something for me, I'd definitely do the same thing."

Her eyes went completely wide as Liz said her video games weren't much. "Not much? They're some of the best things I've ever seen in my life! They're definitely not not much."

"Well, that's okay." Kyra was starting to look uncomfortable, and Liz wanted anything but that, so she decided to get off of that subject for a bit. "There's a lot of things we don't know, right? We might never figure it out."

She blushed slightly. "Sorry, that sounded weird, didn't it?" she grinned. "Then how about...Imaging? Living the dream?" She shrugged. "I dunno. Not reusing words becomes hard every once in a while..." She beamed at her friend's offer. "Great! How much are they, then? I'll repay you once we get to Hogwarts..."

"Not not much?" She grinned. "Nice way to put it...but seriously, there are far better ones out there. I just don't like the gory ones." She made a face. "Plus, there are some non-portable consoles like Wiis...I have some at my house."

Suddenly, her face lit up. "Hey, that reminds me! My family owns a restaraunt that I'm supposed to advertise, and we live right on top of it. If you want, one day you could grab a bite to eat and I could show you my Wii and X-Box and all that."

"Yes, it sounded very weird," the girl laughed. She didn't think that she'd laughed this much since the end of her first year, when she, Pierre, and Sid were on the Hogwarts Express. "Meh, I reuse words all the time, it's really nothing new."

"I just don't like the gory ones." Yuck, they make stuff like that for people to PLAY? she thought, sort of disgusted at just the thought of imagined gory games.

Liz went on about her games and consoles, and Kyra listened intently. "Yeah, that would be great!" she said, grinning. "I should go over some time."

Liz made a face. "And that's why you're not a Ravenclaw. I, on the other hand, am really OCD about things like that and can't stand when words are overused. Sorry, weird thing about me." She shrugged in a what can you do? way.

She felt immensely satisfied at the expression on the Puff's face at the mention of gory games. "Yeah. They're kind of disgusting," she agreed. "But most guys enjoy them..."

She nodded, a smile on her face, at the immediate agreement. "Great! I'll be sure to keep an eye out for you." After a moment's pause, she looked at her arm before realizing that there wasn't a watch there. "Er...do you have the muggle time? We've probably been here for a while."