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Cedric's Huffle Puffs
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The prefects herded the first years up the many steps and gave them the password for their tower. The fat lady beamed at all the new students as she swung silently aside, letting them enter. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and the rest of the older students tramped into the common room a few minutes later. Ginny and a few other fourth years were busy showing the new girl around and the first years were sort of milling around together in a large group. The older students immediately broke them up and a dozen conversations began around the room.
"Ah cool! So you like the Cannons too! That's great! My favorite…"
"No, no football here. They have something called Quidditch. It's a great game, you'll get used to it soon enough! I did!"
"Hey! I live near you, we can visit over the summer and…"
"Yeah I know the first year no broom rule 'kinda stinks, but what can ya do…"
"So, are you really a giant," Ron asked the new first year. He smiled down at Ron and nodded.
"Yeah, no too many of us are magical. Last year stuff started happening. My brother and I were wrestling and he was getting the better of me and out of nowhere this big branch sailed over and smacked him upside the head! Bang!" Nodens said illustrating the smack with a clap of his large hands. Ron, who was the youngest brother of six laughed heartily.
"That's brilliant!" he said, "I wish I'd have know how to do that when my brothers were beating me up." Lee Jordan, Hermione and a few giggling second years crowded around the young Giant, and began asking a flood of questions. Now that Ron had started a conversation, the rest took it as a cue that really, this boy was normal however tall he was.
"Psst! Harry!" Harry tuned and saw the Weasley twins beckoning him from across the common room. The boys wore identical smiles, but Harry was quick to notice they weren't the usual mischievous smiles the two normally wore.
"What's up?" Harry asked them. Fred drew Harry aside so that their backs were to the common room. George stood in front of them and withdrew a small bag from the pockets of his robes.
"We invented these this summer. In secret. We wanted them to be just right when we gave them out. We used some of the gold you gave us to develop these," he tipped three, brightly colored puffs of what looked like spun sugar into Harry's cupped hands.
"He," George began, stopped, tried again, "he really wasn't that bad. We were just sore he was so good at Quidditch. He was a good guy. Our games against Hufflepuff won't nearly be as exciting," Harry knew exactly who the twins were talking about. Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff who'd died by the hand of Voldemort the year before.
Seeing Harry's bright mood instantly begin to dim, George continued on in a hurried pace.
"So you said we were gonna need some laughs. And Dumbledore told us not to forget. So we made these," he indicated the soft candies.
"Try one," Fred said, "We call them Cedric's Huffle Puffs. What better way to remember someone than to name a candy after them! Everyone knows Bertie Bott and Zonkos! Go on, Try one." Harry looked at them and hesitantly ate the blue candy. It was the pleasant taste of blueberries, freshly picked. It was also chewy after being initially light and fluffy like spun sugar. They were, Harry had to admit, quite good. Normally Fred and George's candies and tricks had some sort of joke spell attached to them, but Harry couldn't detect any such thing thus far.
"There are good," he said. As he spoke a plume of blue smoke erupted from his mouth. "Woah!" he exclaimed and another plume shot out and drifted silently upwards. The smoke smelled faintly of blueberry.
"Are they not excellent?" Fred asked.
"We want to run a bag over to Hufflepuff. The first years should really know about the bravery that's a tradition in their house and at their school." George said. Harry noticed that the twins seemed unusually somber, though they were smiling. Harry supposed they felt slightly guilty about using the gold Harry had won in the triwizard tournament. Harry couldn't possibly have used any of it himself, the price for it was simply too high. Apparently the Weasley's, while once removed from the actual events, felt the weight of that price as well.
"I think that's a great idea," Harry told them and they relaxed.
"Fantastic! We ran them by a group of Hufflepuffs on the train and they thought the candies were pretty good too. We just wanted to tell you first. You know," he shrugged and let the train of though drop. Harry nodded, he knew all to well.
"Well," said Fred, "we better get these over there before they all go to bed."
"Right. Night Harry," Harry waved as the twins slunk off to some secret passage or another out of the tower. Harry continued to chew the candy thoughtfully and returned to the middle of the common room. Many of the students had gone to bed, but a few were still up and chatting.
"Hey, Harry. Come meet some of the new first years," Ron called. Harry smiled and joined the group. Noticed he still had two candies, he gave Ron the green one and Hermione the red.
"Try these! The twins made them," Harry said and a small puff of blue smoke curled out of the side of his grinning mouth.