Gobstopper, Anyone?

Albus Dumbledore was known for his love of muggle candy...especially Lemon drops. That was common knowledge among everyone who ever went to Hogwarts.

He brought the candy in large amounts every time he wandered into Hogsmeade or found his way to London where there was a squib who ran a muggle candy store and who had on many occasions willingly supplied Albus with large quantities of his most favourite treats.

Today the Headmaster was relaxing while looking through a bag filled with some delicious looking toffees and another one with many colourful cylindrical objects, several large and many medium sized ones that he had acquired from the squib earlier that morning.

Sighing happily at the prospect of trying a new muggle treat Albus selected two of the smaller round hard objects and popped them into his mouth. He let the two small objects sit just behind his teeth as he savoured the taste and then sucked happily as his mouth filled with a kind of liquorice flavour that pleased his taste buds

Half an hour later Minerva Mcgonnagal was about to enter the teachers lounge with Severus Snape and both of them stared at the Headmaster who tried to greet them but found that it was a little hard to talk around the muggle treat that he was still savouring.

"Minarva, Seraqs ogomein" Albus said as he motioned them to come in "Wodyuliktotwysomthangnu?"

"Pardon?" Severus asked as he wondered what the crazy old coot had gotten himself into this time.

"awtinkahneealilleelpleash." Albus asked desperately as he suddenly realized that he had a slight problem talking and tried to get the two small objects that lodged in his mouth to shift over so he could converse with his two heads of house.

Alarmed at what she was witnessing while the question 'Was He choking on something or having a stroke' flashed by in her mind Minerva asked; "Albus what in Merlin's name have you done to yourself? Do we need to call for Madame Pomfrey?" She frantically asked as she dashed over to his side in fear for his life. After all here was the headmaster unable to talk properly with something that was obviously lodged inside his mouth that prevented speech and also made his cheeks bulge out like .she wasn't too sure as to how she could describe the image...

"Noonidtaorryer" Albus shook his head as he tried to say as he really didn't want Madame Pomfrey to be called as she would scold him once she found out what all the fuss was over. He struggled as Minerva pulled him up off his chair and tried to get him to go to see the mediwitch. He looked over at Severus with pleading blue eyes as he knew that his Potions Master would know what he was trying to convey.

As Albus was obviously going to be obstinate about going Minerva turned to ask for some assistnace then glared over at Severus who was obviously trying his best to not laugh at the absurb situation but stay calm and objective but still, he couldn't resist saying, "He seems to have acquired the appearance of a chipmunk ."

Pausing while still clutching Albus protectively Minerva looked a bit bemused as she tried to figure out what he meant by his remark as Albus' face went a brighter shade of pink.

Shrugging slightly the amused Potions Master explained further, "It is a common rodent in the muggle world."

" You are comparing Albus to a Rodent?" Minerva huffed angrily as she patted Albus on the back. "At a time like this?"

Not wishing to get into an argument with his fellow Head of House Severus started looking carefully around the area for clues as to what was going on with the 'old coot.' He noticed and calmly picked up the bag that Albus had set down on the table and looked inside. "Hmm, it is just some muggle candy. Toffee...and—Gobstoppers I believe they are called."

" GOBSTOPPERS?" Minerva gave her younger colleague a look that caused him to explain hastily.

" Yes, that is what I think they are. So named as they have a tendency to prevent one from speaking clearly for as long as it takes for them to shrink to a manageable size." He smirked as he watched Albus who was trying to find a way to discretely chew and swallow. "Normally you would try to eat only one at a time."

Albus finally crunched and swallowed the two hard candies that had finally shrunk down to a manageable size.. " They are extremely delicious too." He exclaimed happily as he offered to share the contents of the bag to Minerva and Severus.

" Gobstoppers anyone?" He asked as he reached in a picked out an enormous gobstopper and popped it into his mouth.

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I hope you enjoyed reading this little story inspired by my 9 year old grnaddaughters loove of gobstoppers...It is my gift to her for allowing me to use her teeny tiny Acer Laptop since my Acer Desktop has decided to go on strike after 4 years of hard usage. Hopefuly I can get it up and running soon. My big fingers are having difficulty navigationg about the keyboard.

translation of Albus' garbled speech

"Minarva, Seraqs ogomein" "Minerva Severus, do come in"

"Wodyuliktotwysomthangnu?" "Would you like to try something new?"

"awtinkahneealilleelpleash." "I think I need a little help please."

"Noonidtaorryer" "No need to call her."