Stay - Theodore Nott

Chapter 1

"Up! Get up! Now!" the voice of Petunia Dursley boomed loudly and Kirra and Harry woke with a start, the single bed that they were sharing was past the point of being far too small, Kirra had to practically snuggle into her twin's chest as they lay there so that neither of them would fall off.

Their aunt rapped on the door again. "Up!" she screeched, and Kirra couldn't help but let out a soft sigh before pulling herself up. The twins heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. Harry rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having while Kirra quickly pulled her shoes and socks on, not liking the cold feeling that the floors gave her.

Kirra had always hated the cold, she was drawn to warm things which was hard to deal with while living in a household that belonged to the Dursleys who were nothing but cold towards the two twins who knew the only people that actually cared about them were themselves.

Their aunt was back outside the door. "Are you up yet?" she demanded. Kirra felt chills roll down her spine from the rough voice on the other side of the door, she thought she would have gotten used to it after all these years, but clearly not.

"Nearly," said Harry as he gave his sister a small smile, trying to make her feel better, but it didn't take a genius to realize how depressed the two children were.

"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday." Harry groaned while Kirra stayed quiet, she was used to this by now so she just went along without, though her brother was far from accepting the fact that they will probably have to deal with this for the next 7 years if not more than that.

"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.

"Nothing, nothing..." Harry muttered out and got slowly out of bed and the two twins quickly began to change, not wanting to get into any more trouble than they were already in. When they were dressed they went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.

Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry and Kirra, as Dudley hated exercise — unless of course it involved punching somebody. Dudley's favorite punching bag was of course Kirra and Harry, but he couldn't often catch them. They didn't look it, but the twins were very fast. Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but they had always been small and skinny for their age and Kirra was even shorter.

They looked even smaller and skinnier than they really were because all they had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than they were. Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.

Kirra had a thin face with strong arms and legs for her age, her hair was black and she had bright green eyes just like her brother. The only thing Harry and Kirra liked about their own appearance were the very thin scars that each of them had on their foreheads that were shaped like a bolt of lightning. They had had it as long as they could remember, and the first question they could ever remember asking Aunt Petunia was how they had gotten it.

"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions."

Don't ask questions — that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys. Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon and Kirra was pouring orange juice into a few glasses.