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"After riding so many brooms, aren't you interested in the structure inside the broom?" Moriarty smiled at Lilith.
Lilith seemed captivated by the smile. She rested her cheek on her right hand, tilted her head, and looked at Moriarty with a casual tone. "So?"
As Moriarty opened his enchanted bag, he explained, "So I've been purchasing brooms from all the major brands for the past three years."
One by one, the bags opened, revealing all kinds of brooms—fifteen in total.
"Oh, Merlin!" Jericho gasped, clutching his head in disbelief. He adored Quidditch and could recognize nearly every broom model on sight.
Staring at the collection, Jericho blurted out, "This is the Nimbus 1700 you used, sir! And the 1500 and 1000 too!
These three are from the Comet series—260, 180, and 140. My dad mentioned that Comet is working on the 290 now.
Then we've got the Sweeping series—Seven Stars, Five Stars, and Three Stars.
And the Silver Arrow! Wow, I love it—and even the Moon Edition!
Wait... is that a Meteor?" Jericho's excitement faded as his brow furrowed.
"Mr. Moriarty," Jericho said, pointing to the Meteor broom, "the American Department of Magical Games and Sports logs tons of flying accidents every year, and their reports indicate that the Meteor stalls midair and fails to reach stable altitude."
"Very good. You just saved me some effort."
Moriarty tossed the Meteor aside. If the broom's defect was known, it had lost market value. Disassembly would be a waste of time.
Jericho, now acting like a helpful assistant, began categorizing the brooms. Lilith, however, looked puzzled: "Workload? You're not planning to take them apart, are you?"
"Oh!" The Slytherin students exhaled in unison. Fifteen brooms—taken apart?
All eyes turned to Moriarty. His slow nod and quiet "yes" confirmed it.
News of Moriarty's broom dissection spread like wildfire, even before dessert was served. Soon, students from the other three houses were whispering about it.
The Ravenclaws exclaimed, "Merlin's beard, Mr. Moriarty is dismantling fifteen brooms just to study their internal structure!"
"Honestly, aren't you curious too?" asked one fifth-year prefect. "Why can a broom fly? How does it support weight? Why are some faster? Mr. Moriarty is doing experimental research!"
"Bold idea... that broom handle is quite long, thick and—"
"For your bold idea, I just want to say—can you get me one?"
Two seventh-year witches giggled, drawing knowing looks.
The Gryffindors eyed the high-end brooms with envy, wondering just how many Galleons Moriarty had spent.
"One Nimbus 1700 costs about 300 Galleons. The Sweeping Seven Stars and Comet 260 run 285 Galleons each..." Charlie muttered, calculating the total value of all fifteen brooms. He finally gasped, "5,207 Galleons! That's a decade's income for an average wizarding household!"
The Gryffindors looked defeated. Their old Comets and Sweeping models suddenly felt embarrassingly obsolete.
"I still think Mr. Moriarty won't really take these priceless brooms apart. He doesn't need to—he's already a genius."
Others weren't so sure.
The Hufflepuffs said nothing, watching quietly. Cedric approached Soldaya, who held a broom reverently, eager to study it up close.
Then the astonishing moment arrived.
Moriarty drew the Slytherin staff from his system space and pointed it at the Nimbus 1700.
"Sword is sharp!"
The ancient family spell was perfectly channeled through the staff. The joint between the broom handle and bristles split apart, revealing a complex array of magical circuitry.
Moriarty blinked. It reminded him of Muggle gear systems—precision instruments powered by spellwork.
He muttered the spell again, slicing the broom handle into segments. Lifting a piece, he examined the embedded magic circles.
The Slytherins gathered around. Leon was stunned. "This is the first time I've ever seen inside a broom!"
Students from other houses rushed over, whispering in awe. Only the Weasley twins spoke out loud.
"Guys, do you see this?"
"Obviously—it's insane!"
"To be honest, Fred, I've seen a magic circle like that in Dad's flying car."
"Don't say that! And I'm Fred!" the real Fred snapped, pulling George away. George winced—mentioning their dad's illegally enchanted car was dangerous.
The other students had gotten used to the twins' identity-swap pranks and just chuckled. The twins trotted off, planning their next joke. Moriarty, however, watched them with narrowed eyes.
Arthur Weasley's car… a marvel of magic and mechanical fusion. It contained both the depth of alchemy and the brilliance of Muggle engineering—a true hybrid of science and sorcery.
"Marcus, Jericho, bring the brooms back to my dorm. We'll take them apart tonight and document all the magic arrays."
"Yes, sir," the boys responded eagerly, carrying the brooms toward the Slytherin dungeons. The other students watched them enviously, longing to be chosen by Moriarty.
But Moriarty didn't involve everyone this time. Lucius Malfoy had written back, approving Moriarty's visit but demanding that he present a new broom concept by 3 p.m. the next day.
Back in the dormitory, Moriarty personally dismantled the remaining fourteen brooms. The floor was soon carpeted with broom fragments.
He laid out every recovered magic circle on his desk. There were more than 6,000 in total.
"Each broom contains over 500 distinct magic circles."
Most of the circles were similar, serving as the magical 'fuel' that powered the brooms—akin to gasoline in cars.
Marcus and Jericho diligently recorded the structure and layering of the spells.
"Condensing small-scale magic circles isn't difficult for modern wizards," Moriarty muttered. "But the sequence and arrangement—that's what makes each broom unique."
He scrawled the theory into his notebook.
Then, "The Alchemy Matrix," he whispered. He inserted the recorded spell diagrams into the magical matrix.
His mind emptied. The matrix processed, rearranged, and optimized the flow of magic.
Two hours later, Moriarty snapped back to consciousness. The results were staggering.
He scribbled the findings onto parchment. The puzzle was solved.
For example, the broom required:
One spell to increase speed (Gale Spell),
One spell for shock absorption,
One spell for flight stabilization.
Each was embedded as a magic circle. But their sequence—ah, that was the real challenge. Should speed come first? Or should stability be prioritized before motion?
Each arrangement seemed logical in its own way.
And that didn't even include other necessary spells: hovering, braking, self-repair, waterproofing, flame resistance...
Unlike most alchemy tools, where order didn't matter, broom construction demanded functionally layered spell sequences.
Now, having cracked the principle, Moriarty was ready to deliver.
He pulled out a large thirty-inch piece of yellow parchment and picked up his favorite quill.
"It's time to fulfill the wager, my esteemed Professor of Alchemy," he wrote. "Forget those pre-assembled wand sets, Fudge won't even be Minister until 1990. And until then, your storage rooms will gather dust.
Now, today—this moment—I have a new invention.
I have discovered how broomsticks truly function. The principle is as follows…
As you can see, the construction of a broom merely requires the correct sequencing of hundreds of small magic circles. So why can't we build our own?
Let us craft the finest broomstick the world has ever seen!"
He sealed the parchment in a dark green envelope, embossing it with the Slytherin crest.
"Marcus, go to the secret room tomorrow morning. Deliver this to Nicolas Flamel."
"Yes, sir."
Notably, Moriarty withheld the sequence matrix from the letter. He wanted to test whether Nicolas Flamel's conclusions would match his own.
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