Luminescent

Chatper 16

Around half past twelve, there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"

I leap to my feet, Dora told me about the strange candies from the magical world. Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and several other strange things that I am eager to try.

"I want five from each. Do you want me to order something for you?" I asked as I was talking to the carting lady.

"No thanks," Ron mumbled as he took out a lumpy sandwich. "I brought my food."

"I will take the rest of the lot."

Harry seemed really hungry. When was the last time he had eaten because his order was really big? However, I have to admit that the guy has style. Dammit, I should have said it first. It would look so cool.

"Well, in that case, let me share the order with you if you do not mind."

"Actually, you do not need to, I can pay for everything..."

"Shut up, you just gave me the perfect excuse. You will not take it back. If I'm stuck in a castle until Christmas, I need candy supplies to survive. Otherwise, I will not be able to maintain my sugar levels high, enough for me to function properly." I said while raising a finger to his face making him effectively shut up.

In the end, we shared the bill. It was a total of eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts. Half of the cart for each. Looking at mountains of sweets in front of us, I thought of the empty cart. The kids who didn't manage to buy it before it sold out sure would hate us.

"Hungry, are you?"

"Starving," said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty. I nodded with my mouth full.

Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef."

"Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty. "Go on —"

"You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."

Before Ron could object more, dragged the candy pile in front of him and ordered "Eat". It seemed to work as he could not resist the temptation and tried the candy, hesitant at first until he started to stuff his mouth. The sandwiches lay forgotten.

"What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs.

"They're not really frogs, are they?"

"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa."

"What?"

"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know — Chocolate Frogs have cards inside them, you know, to collect — famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy." Ron explained.

Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half-moon glasses, and had a long, crooked nose, flowing silver hair, beard, and moustache. His appearance was exactly like Gandalf's, maybe he is cosplaying. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.

"So this is Dumbledore!" said Harry.

"He looks like Gandalf." I committed while bitting a Licorice wand.

"Dumbledore is the greatest wizard ever, not some Gandlaf? Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron.

"Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa — thanks —" Harry turned the card back over and exclaimed in surprise.

"He's gone!"

"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. "He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her . . . do you want it? You can start collecting."

"Is this like a video? Is there a screen in the card?"

Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped.

"Help yourself," said Harry. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos."

"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "Weird!"

"Photos move? So they are like a magical artificial intelligence created based on someone or more program like based?" I asked. I mentally stored this idea for latter.

Harry had picked a Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans while I was briefly distracted.

"You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. "When they say every flavour, they mean every flavour — you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a booger-flavoured one once."

Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner.

"Bleaaargh — see? Sprouts."

They had a good time eating the Every Flavor Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and even dared to nibble the end of a funny gray one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper. I got apple pie, chocolate ice cream, hamburger, and one black bean that tasted oddly like oil. When they asked how I knew what oil tasted like, I didn't bother to answer.

Ron dared me to see how many beans I could fit in my mouth at once. Their faces were priceless as I grabbed a handful of beans and tossed them in. The moment the flavors hit, I regretted my life choices. It was chaos in my mouth. There were so many conflicting tastes that I couldn't make sense of them all. My gag reflex kicked in almost instantly, and I barely managed to keep everything down. It took a ton of Chocolate Frogs to wash out the sour taste.

We laughed hard after that, though Ron wasn't so lucky. He ended up with rotten egg and broccoli flavored beans, which promptly killed the fun. None of us dared reach for another after that.

The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills.