As they entered Honeydukes, a delightful aroma of fudge filled the air. Looking around, they saw numerous shelves displaying a variety of candies and sweets.
Albert immediately recognized a few types. There were large jars filled with peanut brittle, toffees, and nougats.
Near the shelves, there were neatly arranged green lollipops. Albert picked one up, about to read the description next to it, when he heard a familiar voice behind him.
"If I were you, I wouldn't touch that. It's Acid Pops, extremely sour," George said, placing a hand on Albert's shoulder and pointing to the product description. He explained, "Fred bought one for Ron, our younger brother, and it burned a hole through his tongue. Mum gave Fred a good thrashing with a broomstick because of that."
Fred glared at his twin brothers, protesting, "But you're the one who gave it to Ron."
"I didn't tell you to give it to Ron," George innocently replied.
Watching the unrepentant twin brothers, Albert quietly put the Acid Pop back on the shelf.
It can actually burn through someone's tongue. Is it made of sulfuric acid or something?
"What's this?"
In a corner to the left after entering the store, various colors of small mice were hanging on the wall, crawling on a plastic board, resembling live mice.
"These are Ice Mice," Lee Jordan explained to Albert. "If you eat them, you'll feel extremely cold. Your teeth will chatter, and even after finishing the candy, your stomach will make squeaky sounds. It's a bit similar to Zonko's Squeaking Soft Candy."
"Interesting candy," Albert shifted his gaze away from the Ice Mice and walked towards the shelves on the right. There was a large tub of assorted flavored Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. Next to it, a plastic barrel contained various flavors of gummy candies. Further down the shelf, there was an organized display of different types of chocolate.
Albert picked up two boxes of Chocolate Frogs and also eyed a large piece of chocolate. He had bought it once on the train before and found it even tastier than Chocolate Frogs.
Hmm, yes, I should also get some Chocolate Beans.
Albert held various chocolate products as he walked up to the counter.
Behind the counter, a friendly woman smiled and said, "That'll be 4 Sickles and 10 Knuts."
"Oh, ma'am, we meet again!" Albert looked surprised at the saleswoman, never expecting her to be the owner of Honeydukes.
"You're here! Darling, do you need any other candies?" The woman also recognized Albert. After all, it's rare to see a customer buying everything from the cart.
"What do you recommend?" Albert wondered why he could see many candies sold on the train here.
"How about Exploding Bonbons? They're quite popular among students. When you bite into them, they produce a small explosion. Of course, they won't harm anyone." The woman poured out an Exploding Bonbon from a jar and handed it to Albert.
"Wanna try?"
She never hesitated to smile and offer service to potential customers. Of course, it had to do with the Galleons in their pockets.
Albert took the Exploding Bonbon and bit into it. The strawberry filling burst out of the candy, followed by a small explosion in his mouth. Someone unaware would likely be startled.
This should belong to the category of joke items, but the texture of the candy is quite good.
After purchasing some Exploding Bonbons, the shop owner became even more enthusiastic. She helped Albert put the candies into a paper bag and started introducing various sweets and desserts in the store.
"Jelly Slugs, you might have tried them. They're one of our best-selling products."
Albert glanced at the long, slug-shaped gummy candy and furrowed his brow slightly. It would be more accurate to call it Jelly Snakes than Jelly Slugs. However, he didn't like gummy candy, so he had no intention of buying it. The idea of eating something shaped like slugs was a bit off-putting.
The candy store had a wide variety of candies and desserts, including the famous Cauldron Cakes, Chocolate Balls, Fizzing Whizbees, and Sugar Quills. The array of candies dazzled the four of them.
"What's this...a cockroach?" Albert looked at the black insects crawling inside a glass jar and felt somewhat uncomfortable. Next to the jar, there were some Cockroach Clusters, and their legs were twitching slightly.
"This is a Cockroach Cluster," the woman explained. "It's one of the candies that Professor Dumbledore often buys from us. Of course, not everyone can accept candies in this shape."
"I guess only Dumbledore would like that kind of thing!" Albert estimated.
"Have you tried them?" Albert turned his head and asked, and all three of them shook their heads.
The woman winked at Albert and said, "We have Cream-Filled Fly Chews that burst in your mouth and Bloody-flavored Lollipops, which are very popular among most vampires."
"If you want to play pranks on someone, I recommend Pepper Imps. When you eat them, your mouth will feel like it's breathing fire..."
They spent at least half an hour in Honeydukes Sweetshop. Before leaving, the shop owner enthusiastically handed Albert a shopping list from the store and winked at him, saying, "If you want to buy candies, you can use owl mail. It's better not to sneak out yourself."
As Albert left the candy store, he had another paper bag in his hand, filled with his purchase of candied pineapple, which cost him 10 Sickles.
"This is pretty good." Albert took a bite of the candied pineapple.
"I feel like that shop owner was particularly friendly to you," Lee Jordan said, somewhat jealous. From start to finish, the owner of Honeydukes had been very hospitable to Albert.
The twins nodded in agreement with Lee Jordan's words, their mouths full of candied pineapple at the moment.
"She's only friendly to Galleons, not to me," Albert said, looking at the expression on Lee Jordan's face and finding it somewhat amusing.
In addition to the bag of candied pineapple, Albert bought a lot of other things in the store. The thoughtful shop owner offered to mail the items to Hogwarts for Albert, so he wouldn't have to carry so much.
When the four of them returned to the castle, it was already 2 o'clock in the afternoon. After a few hours of exploring Hogsmeade, they were all tired, but they considered it an enjoyable trip to Hogsmeade.
"Where did you guys go?" Percy Weasley sat down next to them, staring at the paper bag in front of them, furrowing his brow slightly.
"That's a secret!"
The twins looked at each other, exchanged a mysterious smile. Of course, they wouldn't mention that they went to Hogsmeade; otherwise, Percy wouldn't send letters home.
The shop owner of Honeydukes was very efficient. Not long after Albert returned to the Great Hall, an owl helped deliver the package.
"I think we should go back to the common room," Albert noticed the attention the package attracted from others, so he called out to the three of them, helping carry the package back to the Gryffindor common room.
As he watched the four of them walk away, Percy's eyes flickered, and who knows what he was thinking.
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(End of this chapter)