As you wake up in the dorm room one morning, you hear a particular sound coming from down the stairs. It's not a scary noise, just unusual. You decide to investigate. You quickly throw on some clothes and open the dorm door. That's when the strong smell of spice assaults your nose.

You rush down the stairs and arrive in the dorm lounge. In the corner is a door you've never seen before. It seems that the noises and smells are coming from behind it. You decide that this is too urgent to rush off and get a professor or even a prefect and think that you should deal with the problem yourself.

Cautiously, you slowly approach the door. You lift your hand to knock on the door when it suddenly opens with an ominous creak. Quickly moving back, you manage to trip over the only rug which is rolled up behind you.

Brushing yourself off as you stand up, you notice an old woman standing at the doorway, someone you’ve never seen before. She’s glaring at you with a wicked smile on her face. “Welcome to the brand new opening of the Gryffmart! Where we can make all your dreams come true!” she says. “Come in, come in, and don’t be shy. We have everything and anything you could ever want for your writing needs!”

“No thank you.” You stutter trying to turn away and run to the nearest professor, but a strange force pulls you slowly though the doorway. As soon as you’re though, the door slams shut leaving you in the darkness.

A light suddenly flares and you think that you’re suddenly underground. Confusion flickers over your features and the old woman cackles. “Go on! Have a look around; tell me, is there anything you’re interested in? We have amazing prices here. Our stock is unique and ONLY for the members of Gryffindor.”

You walk around the shop, lingering over different items. “That’s nice. Ooh, I could do with one of them. Wow! I’ve not seen that before. What’s that I wonder? I HAVE to get myself that!” These are the thoughts you think as you explore the grove of items for sale.

You pick up an item and take it to the woman. “I want to buy this please.” You take out a small pouch and pull out a single Galleon.

The woman looks critical, “Oh, I’m sorry; it seems I forgot to explain HOW this shop works.” She stares pointedly at your money before continuing. “This shop doesn’t use money in exchanges; instead we use a currency called, Manes.”

Even at this point, you’re still looking confused. “Confound it! You don’t even know what a mane is? It seems as if I’m going to have to explain it all from the start for you!” The old woman exclaims loudly following a deep sigh. “A Mane is an item you collect for activeness in Gryffindor. Every time you make a topic on the notice board you will automatically be rewarded with TWO Manes. When you reply to a topic, the prize will be a single Mane. Though creating extra pointless topics and useless replies will result in your Manes being taken away from you.”

The woman then takes a large breath before continuing, “Also, occasionally the professors will leave a quiz in here with me. By answering the quiz you’ll receive a one time bonus of a certain amount of Manes. Though woe be you if you don’t get at LEAST 80%.” She pauses for suspense, “You’ll LOSE many of your Manes already collected. Be sure to do your revision before taking the quiz or you might find yourself worse off. Before I forget, you have to take part in the quiz, or you’ll lose Manes that way too.”

You check your pockets and sure enough, there’s a new pouch there full of Manes. “Where did this come from?” You ask the woman.

“Poor dear, you’re actually really new here aren’t you? Basically, you can only redeem your Manes in this shop, so you can only see your Manes in here. Just look at your inventory to see all the stuff you own.” The old woman gives you a small caring smile. “We also run a bank feature for you so that you can save up your Manes in a place that’s safe from thieves. The bank we set up was to help you poor students from spending all your Manes at once. Our interest rate is 2%, but on the downside, withdrawing Manes will cost you 2% too. To open an account with us, you’ll need to have a minimum of 100 Manes. For administration purposes of course, those monkeys don’t fill in all the forms with no incentive you know.”

You check your pouch and see that you have just enough Manes to open an account at the bank and buy yourself a Butterbeer. You thank the lady for her time and patience and promise her that you’ll tell everyone about her amazing shop so she doesn’t need to tell everyone the same message she told you.

You leave the shop quickly, Butterbeer in hand. The door slams shut behind you. You turn around to look again, but it’s gone. Confusion rushes across your mind, but you know it’s there, closed for re-stocking.