So I was sitting on my porch, enjoying the fall weather come early, every window open, with a mug of hot apple cider and my kindle, rereading the Harry Potter series for the third time, when on the radio I heard a commercial for pumpkin spice EVERYTHING, "now available for a limited time at participating Dunkin' Donuts locations!", and I thought. The thought went as so: so everything in Magical Britain has a large selection of pumpkin variations. I hear of pumpkin juice, pumpkin-paste-filled pastries(pumpkin pasties, they're called), lots of pumpkin pie and even, I believe, ice cream at one point. Now I like fall flavours for the most part, including what most people call "pumpkin spices", but if you add any bit of the overgrown vaguely spherical orange gourds to it I can't stay in the same room. Sweet potato pie, butternut squash pie, and mulled cider all use "pumpkin spices" and I LOVE them. But all these "pumpkin lattes" and "pumpkin donuts" and other things, I cannot stand. I know a few people who hate "pumpkin spice" flavoured things as much as I do. So, given that Magical Britain has a pumpkin variation of just about everything and several variations of pumpkin everything, what would happen if some Muggle-born who HATES pumpkin was thrust unexpectedly into the world of magic? Let's see.
"Oh! It's the food trolley! Anyone want anything?" The black-haired eleven-year-old opened the compartment door and immediately recoiled, sneezing.
"Are you okay Annabel? What's wrong?" The two girls sharing her compartment hovered over Annabel as she sat as far from the door as possible.
"That cart! It stinks of...of...of PUMPKIN!" Annabel was nearly shrieking. "How much of the stuff is ON there?!"
"Well, dear, I've never met someone who didn't like pumpkin! I've got pumpkin juice, pumpkin pasties, slices of pumpkin pie...and some pumpkin cauldron cakes." The young dark-haired woman selling snacks smiled at Annabel. "I have several kinds of chocolate, some vanilla and chocolate Cauldron Cakes, gum, and some Every Flavour Beans here. You might want to watch those - they mean every flavour."
"Is there apple cider, tea, apple pie? Fruit of some sort? Cookies?" Annabel sighed as the woman shook her head. "Fine, I'll have some water and if you find someone that has something they're not eating that's not pumpkin I'll pay you back if they want to sell it.
"All right, dear. Have a nice rest of the trip." The woman pushed the trolley down the aisle, the door closing as Annabel's new friends proceeded to eat their pumpkin-infested snacks.
She sighed. It was going to be a long trip with only water.