The alarm clock started ringing way too early. Edward rolled out of bed and shook his flatmate, Oliver, awake. Oliver groaned and rolled over. "Get up!" Edward hisses. "Just because you insisted on partying until midnight doesn't exempt you from chores." Edward firmly grasped Oliver's sheets and pulled them to the floor. Oliver sat bolt upright in bed. "What'd you do that for?" he yelled. "It's freezing in here! Your spell must have worn off!" Edward sighed and stalked over to his dresser, grasping the 14 1/4 inch long cedar and dragon heartstring wand. He waved it. Oliver groaned. It was no warmer. "You've always been useless at charms." he muttered, uttering the spell that would help warm the room. "Incendo." Nothing happened.
Oliver got up, waving his wand to open the closet doors. "Looks like we'll need to dress warm today." He slammed straight into the heavy doors. Edward walked over to him as Oliver rubbed the welt steadily growing on his head. "Strange. Our magic doesn't seem to have any effect." He stared at his wand. By this point, Oliver had recovered enough to look around the room. He poked Edward. "Over there. Isn't that what the smugglers call a'sticky note?" He pointed at a brightly coloured square of paper on his dresser that had been completely overlooked. Edward walked over to it and picked it up. As he read it to himself, his face fell. "What does it say?" Oliver asked. Edward took a deep, shaky breath and began to read. "Dear sirs." he said. "I was walking past your flat the other day and happened to overhear a horrendous conversation. The two of you were blatantly poking fun at the way muggles live their lives." Edward paused for a breath. "As a muggle born, I was deeply offended by this. Therefore I have locked your magic for a year so that you can see what the life of a muggle is really like. Sincerely, Anonymous." Oliver groaned and collapsed in a heap on the carpet.
"No magic!" Oliver cried. "My mum won't let me into the house for the holidays now!" Edward smiled grimly. "Be thankful it's only for one year. It could be worse." He walked over to the closet, manually opening the doors and dragged out two coats lined with the warmest puffskein fur. The two ex-wizards got dressed, wrapping the warm coats around themselves to protect from the biting cold that had invaded the room. "First things first." Edward said. "We have to find a muggle to tell us how to operate the heater." They walked outside, glancing around nervously. Anyone could be the wizard that had stolen their magic. Edward walked up to the first muggle he saw. "Excuse me." he said. "I recently got a new heater and have no idea how to operate it. Could you help me?" The stranger nodded slowly. Edward motioned for Oliver to come over and explained things to him. Oliver nodded and ran back into the building. "He's my flatmate." Edward explained. "Its a bit of a mess in there and he's just getting things cleaned up." The muggle followed Edward inside.
"It's over here." Edward said, leading the muggle to said heater. Oliver was quite preoccupied with leaning against the closet door to keep their wands and cauldrons from falling out. Edward grabbed open, a muggle writing instrument he was unaccustomed to using and began to take notes as the muggle explained the finer points of operating the heater. When he had finished, Edward thanked the man profusely and Oliver managed a small nod. Edward escorted the man out of the room. After he was gone, Oliver staggered away from the closet and collapsed on the floor. He crawled to the bed and curled up in a little ball, stroking his wand and crying. Edward walked back into the room. "It's getting late." he said. "I'm gonna turn in. I need sleep after this crappy day." He climbed in bed and turned the lights out, leaving Oliver an emotional mess.