Plymouth had lost his brother. Mum had let them wander off on their own with the threat of having to stay near her forever if they didn't stay in each other's sight, but now, Wesley was gone. He was sure that his brother would find his way back soon, at least before they needed to go back to their parents. Wes was sort of like a puppy, he always found his way back.

Plymouth wasn't concerned.

He was, however, checking his pockets for the correct coins to use for this machine. Of course Wes had swiped most of their money before he disappeared.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squishy

Ten knuts, Lux was finally rewarded with the one she wanted.

"SCORE!!"

Retrieving the BLUE gumball from the machine, she smiled...and almost dropped it as someone practically yelled at her.

Oh.

It was Caleb.

"Yes, it's me in the flesh! Alive and mostly well." It was taking her longer to recover than Cinna, but then the Gryffindor was made of tougher stuff. She wished that she could bounce back so well, but at least she was doing better than she had been before.

"How are you?" Caleb asked. He normally was not one to care about how other people were doing health wise, but seeing as how he knew SOMETHING happened to her in that Chamber...well, obviously he was concerned! Especially since he had TRIED to help and Murdoch hadn't believed him. Which he felt was a good thing to bring up...

"I saw you go down there, you know," he said rather softly. "And I tried to help, I did, but...by the time I got Murdoch I think everyone had gone. There was no noise coming out of there anymore so...she didn't believe me," he explained sheepishly. He didn't think she even knew that he had SEEN her go in that bathroom BUT he felt obligated to let her know that someone HAD tried to do SOMETHING, ya know?

With the promise of bringing all sorts of things back home with him later for Calliope, Rooney had bulging pockets of things he had collected on his walk around Diagon Alley whilst Mum, Teddy and Deacon had lunch with Aunt Alina, Radley and Annaliese. There were three stones that he had wanted to launch into the fountain, but thought they would be best kept for when Lop wasn't sneezing more snot than any of their siblings had ever produced in their lifetime. He'd even tried to read about how much snot was healthy to sneeze up and it was not as much as Lop was producing every few minutes.

And it always smelt of cauliflower - something that Rooney wasn't extremely fond of.

He supposed she would want something better than a stone also though, so he had gave his Mama a kiss on the head and finished singing to Annaliese before headed to his most favourite of the sweet shops. Today, anyway. As he went to pull his coins from his pocket, the stones bcrashed to the floor, followed by the coins that he had spit shined this morning.

NOOOOOOOOOO.

Hmm. The green one was good, he had to admit. ‘Next one!’, he announced, putting the coins in the machine. Orange? ‘It’s not too bad’ I mean… it was CANDY, after all. Another one… ‘Blue!!!’, he exclaimed happily. ‘The second best…?’ See… Sugarplums-Gumball-Machine-Mastermind-Zeke? He did memorise the order of the delicious candy. ‘I think the green one was better’, he said after eating the blue gumball. Or were his expectations too high? Meh- Nevermind- back to the machine. More candy! The candy was already kicking in and the eleven year old was getting more hyperactive by the minute.

He couldn’t stop until he got a red one, could he?

That way he would not only get the BEST gumball, but also see if Sugarplums-Gumball-Machine-Mastermind-Zeke was ACTUALLY right. Like… he could lose the Mastermind title, you know?

He took a short break from the machine and turned back to Zeke. ‘Hey- are you by any chance going to Hogwarts?

Caleb's concern was endearing, and Lux could tell that he probably felt bad for not being able to help. She had no idea that he had heard the noise coming from the Chamber. At that point the full attack probably hadn't started, so it was totally understandable that no one had really known that something was seriously amiss.

"It's totally fine. No worries." Lux gave him a hug figuring that he probably wouldn't mind and it might help him feel a little better. She didn't blame him for anything, and he HAD tried to help. "I'm doing pretty well! Having some nightmares still, but being at home with my parents and boyfriend is really helping." So all and all she was doing pretty well!

1 knut....

One more. Merlin. Why did he have so many coins that were not knuts?!

Just when Plymouth had managed to fish out another knut, he heard some sort of crash of sorts, very close by.

Wesley would have laughed. For sure, Wesley would have laughed. Plymouth had always been the nicer one of the two, though. His mum liked to tell him that he had an 'old soul' which sometimes made him worry that he was going to go grey early. He stuffed the coins back into his pocket and leaned over, collecting the stones from the floor. Then he stood and offered them over to the boy.

"Cool rocks."

Yeah.

Zeke chewed his gumball slowly, watching with immense curiosity as the kid went nuts. Legit, nuts, over the gumballs. Unlucky about the orange one though. Zeke scrunched up his nose when Alex said it was not too bad, it was WAS bad okay?... orange was orange.

Lining his own pockets with extra gumballs, Zeke kept his eyes on the boy, did he just say green was better than blue? "Yeaaahhhh... no." No. Just no. The kid had compromised tastebuds, that's what it was.

Adding another red to his pocket, Zeke looked between his machine and Alex as the question about Hogwarts reached his ears. That was cute. REAL cute. Was he by any chance going to Hogwarts? Ha!

Zeke grinned, "Yeah, I'll be in my fourth year, lemme guess, you'll be starting there?" Dude was tiny, and didn't know how to use a gumboil machine. That screamed 'first year' right?

Teddy giggled when the man showed him his chewed up gum, and he took the knuts from him. Teddy knew it wouldn't get stuck. He just knew. "Well.. we can see if you're the unlucky gumball man or not." Because if it DID get stuck, then it was likely someone had put a curse on him and his gumball acquisition skills.

Teddy smiled and nodded. Yup, he DEFINITELY liked the chocolate frogs. He listened to the man's description of muggle vs wizard chocolate frogs and found himself laughing in agreement. "I've lost a few chocolate frogs before, but sometimes I find them again, covered in dust and bite marks from my cat." The cat never learned that it just didn't like chocolate, though Teddy wondered whether it was because the cat found the frog when it had been moving. The muggle ones weren't bad, good chocolate, but he liked the anticipation of unwrapping and the jolt of excitement as the frog tried to leap away.

When the man guessed he was a first year, Teddy nodded. "I start this term," he said. "My sister jus graduated. Did you know her? She's Zhenya," he explained. Though of course he would, he was older and attended Hogwarts.

Collecting candy after candy, Alex finally came across a red gumball.

Finally!

Grinning from ear to ear, he started chewing the gumball. Let’s see if Zeke was right. ‘It is good, I can trust you now’, he said on a VERY serious tone. Kid had trust issues, but you couldn’t be suspicious of someone who was right about candy, now, could you? 'To be honest, the green one is almost as good. But you can keep your title' He would allow it.

Having his mouth full with candy, he just nodded at Zeke’s question. Starting at Hogwarts this year. ‘What house are you in?’

"Th..anks." Rooney split his word as he turned the stones over in his hands to check for any cracks, chips or shatters. Nothing as of yet, so he moved to the next stone after pocketing the first. "You want one? I have three." So one for him, one for Calliope and one for...the stone saving kid. Roo pocketed the second then, and inspected the third before holding it out to the other boy.

Did he look like a stone type of person? Rooney was already reaching for the notebook shoved in the back of his trousers when he looked towards the gumball machine. "Can I get one? I have to take one to my sister." Because she was sick.

“Well technically, it won’t get stuck because the luck has shifted. You got my 2 knuts now, yeah?” Ethan gave the kid a toothy smile, and gestured him to go and put the wizarding coins inside the slot. “Though to be honest, I am not ready to accept that I’m 1001% unlucky with these things. There must be some scientific explanation behind its malfunction. Like this gumball machine is too full, probably causing the candy to be stuck under the ball dispenser.” Uh-huh. He simply can’t be that unfortunate, right?

Ethan made an ‘EW’ face and followed it with a chuckle as he listened to the boy. Covered in dust and whatnot? That’s just gross. “That won’t be a problem when you start your formal magical schooling. You get to learn how to clean your lost and found chocolate frogs.” Ethan grinned at the idea, and gave the kid a thumbs up.

But wait what?! Zhenya?! “She’s your sister??! How cool is that? Of course I know her!” Ethan almost swallowed his gum in excitement, making him a cough a little. “Tell Z I said hi! Say it’s from Ethan Mordaunt.” The Slytherin nodded and tilted his head as he looked at the little fellow. “So what’s your first name Mr. Burton?” And will he be in Slytherin too? Ethan can only wonder. He was pretty sure the kid doesn’t know either. They will have to wait for the term to start and get him through Sorting.

Did he want one? Would it be appropriate to take one from him? Plymouth wasn't sure but he supposed this was going to be one of those things where he should not continuously think about what was proper and just go with it. "Sure, thanks." Plymouth took the stone and flipped it over, taking a better look at it before he put it in his pocket. "Where did you find them?" The stones, that was. They were pretty cool looking.

With a nod, the boy moved out of the way, allowing the other to use the machine. It was no big deal, he'd just take his turn after.

She stood there staring at him not even realizing that his hand was stretched out towards her. Neither had she thought that his smile was being at all creepy, dreamy probably could have been a better way to describe it, but of course that was something she'd not said aloud. Josette came out of her sort admiring stare when he had cleared his throat, followed by taking her books for her. She did have to admit, her arms were a bit sore from carrying all of those books, but being able to alleviate that weight was a bit relieving. She looked up at him when he'd said hi & she blushed a little bit smiling at him before replying, "H-Hi..Ethan.."

The brunette then took notice of his eyes taking a quick scan around as if he were looking for someone. And it did make her heart did jump a bit when he'd asked if her father was around. Josette shook her head, "N-No..He's not here t-today..H-He allowed me t-to venture on my own for a-a little so I could buy m-my books this t-term.."

...Unless he was watching from a distance trying to be unseen? Josette couldn't help but take a curious look around the area this time until she felt that it was alright to stop looking. She cleared her throat before running her fingers through her hair.

It wasn't logical logic, but it did make sense, therefore it WAS logical. Teddy nodded seriously at the older boy. "That could be true," he said, considering the theory. "Let's see if it works this time, then if you have another two knuts you can try again." See if his luck really was that bad. He put the knuts in the coin slot and twisted the knob and waited. There was a GREEN gumball. "LOOK!" Teddy said, making sure the boy got a good look at it. He watched its every move as it travelled down the little maze.

Teddy laughed at his expression. It was exactly like that finding a chocolate frog all dusty and chewed on. He always threw them out with that exact look on his face, and also a little sad because he loved eating them. But then his eyes widened. He could actually CLEAN them? "Wow," he said, in awe. He was going to ask the Professors to teach him that spell first! Of course Hogwarts was the only place he could practice it.

Teddy was delighted that this older boy knew his sister. He smiled happily at him and nodded. "Was she called Z? That's cool. We sometimes call her Zhenny. I'll tell her! So Ethan, that's your name?" Obviously. "So you're in the same house as her?" He asked. "I'm Teddy. Well, Theodore, but everyone calls me Teddy." Very few people called him Theodore, actually.

Scarlett was being an obedient daughter. Or something like that.

Her mother, Medusa, said she was going to buy more candies for Scarlett because she'd been well-behaved as they meandered from shop to shop today. And because she wanted to secure her prize, she was going to follow her mother's instructions like the good little girl that she was. Her mommy gave her a few coins and said she could get some gums from the gumball machine while she paid Scarlett's sweets.

YES. GUMBALLS. NOM.

Nearing the machine, the 7-year old began to count her coins. 7 bronze ones. 1 silver one. Soooo...7 knuts, and because 1 sickle was 29 knuts then...7 plus 29 equals thirty-five.

See? She was not only well-behaved. She was smart too.

Sugarplums was an obvious stop on any shopping trip to Diagon Alley, though it was his sister who suggested it today. She was keeping an eye on Henry today while their parents were at work and she gave him a little bit of money to spend on candy for himself. Of course he had a little bit of his own money, but he wasn't going to turn down any offered money either.

The twelve year old wasn't completely sure what he was going to buy - probably chocolate frogs, and fizzing whizbees were really fun too. But the colorful gumball machines caught his eye when he walked in. Had they been there before? He stopped and stared at them for a moment before diffing into his pocket for some coins. Only two knuts? That was some deal! He slid the coins into the slot and peered closer as he watched the gumball roll through the maze.

Noelle was in need of some candy. Her mum had been with her but now she was taking Hope to get some new robes so Noelle was free to venture out by her own for sometime. Noelle walked into Sugarplums because they had the best candy. Her eyes darted this way and that as she took in all the sweets.

She went over to the licorice wands because those were her favorite. But ever since.. Things happened, her taste buds had changed a bit and she wasn't really in the mood for licorice wands anymore.

Time to move on from the licorice wands.

Noelle spotted a familiar brown headed boy as she ventured further into the store. Her eyes lit up and she walked over to him and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Henry!" She spoke in a loud whisper. She didn't want to disturb anyone else in the candy shop today.

Henry had his hands pressed up against the gumball machine as he peered closely, his eyes fixed onto the roll ball of gum as it was sent spiraling down the maze. That was so cool! He thought about getting another just to watch it again. Plus it was only two knuts so it wasn't much money at all.

He had just grabbed his purchased gumball from the exit and popped it into his mouth when he felt a little tap on his shoulder and his name spoken behind him. Turning around he gave the girl a smile as he immediately recognized her. "Hey Noelle!" Chew, chew. Yum, his gumball was some kind of pineapple-y flavor. "Coming to get some candy?" Maybe she would get a gumball too and they could both watch it go through the cool little maze.

Noelle couldn't help but giggle as she watched Henry press his face to the glass as the gum ball went down. "What flavor did you get??" She asked as he popped the gumball into his mouth. She wanted to hug him because she missed seeing him. They hadn't got to talk a lot over last term. She figured she should wait on the hug for now.

"Mum gave my some money for some candy. Are these special gumball sate are they just regular??" Noelle asked Henry as she joined him by the case. "Do you mind if I get a gumball??" she asked not wanting to take his turn or anything. She wanted to see the ball go down.

Henry chewed a little more. He didn't have quite enough to blow a bubble, but maybe he'd get another one. "Um, I don't know exactly," he shrugged. "It's like a tropical punch. I think there's some pineapple in it." It was a little unusual, but it was really good. He wondered if he'd get the same or if it was different if it would taste good mixed with what he already had.

"Oh.. yeah, my sister gave me some money too." He wondered if she was still in the store, looking around for herself or waiting while he did his own thing. "I'm gonna buy other stuff, but I wanted to see the gumball go down the maze," he added with a chuckle. And he might get another one to see it again. "No, go ahead." He stepped back to let her get one of her own, but he kept his eyes on the machine so he could see the gumball again.

Tropical fruit gum doesn't sound that bad. In fact, it sounded a bit tasty.

Noelle licked her lips as she looked at the gumball machine. "im hoping for blueberry." Nells said as she bent on front of the machine. Blueberry flavored gum was her favorite, not to mention that it made her tongue blue and that was pretty cool too.

Putting her two sickles into the machine, she looked at Henry. "Watch with me??" She asked as she pressed her face to the glass again and pushed the button to make the ball start down the machine.

"Blueberry sounds good too." Henry couldn't say that it was one of his favorites or that he would hope for it, but he wouldn't have minded if he had gotten that flavor. It wasn't a bad one.

He turned his eyes to the gumball machine as Noelle put her money in. "Of course I will! It's really neat." Allowing her to have room to get in close, he stood back a bit but watched as the ball started down the maze. So cool! He'd get another one just to watch it. "Do you think you got your blueberry?" Only one way to find out.

Blueberry was her favorite. Noelle was hoping she would get one.

"Has yours done anything weird yet?" Noelle asked Henry as she looked back at him. Knowing a magica candy shop, things weren't always what they seemed. A chocolate bar could jump off the package if you didn't watch out. A simple gumball could turn your whole mouth blue.

Noelles attention turned back to the gumball machine. She watched as a pink gumball came sliding down and making its way through the machine. She booed. "Ah man! I was hoping for blueberry." She said and snapped her fingers.

When the ball dropped into the bin to collect it, Noelle grabbed it and popped it into her mouth. "Mmm this is a good flavor though. Cotton candy."

Weird? "Um.. no, I don't think so," Henry said after a moment's thought. Neither the taste nor the consistency had changed, and he didn't notice anything else strange. Unless it changed his tongue a different color or did something to his appearance, but he couldn't see that.

Oh, bummer. Henry glanced at the gumball now in Noelle's hand. Clearly not blueberry. "Better luck next time maybe." Ew, cotton candy? He wrinkled his nose, not sure he'd like that flavor in a gum. But at least she seemed to like it.

"I think I'm going to get another one though." The one he was still chewing hadn't even lost it's flavor yet, maybe that was what made it so magical. But he liked the maze thing and he was sure his mouth had room for one more gumball. Plus he'd probably be able to blow a bubble then. Digging a couple more knuts out of his pocket, he plunked them into the slot and then turned his eyes to the gumball starting to roll down into the maze.

Noelles gum was bursting with flavor. It tasted like she was literally eating cotton candy. Right there. Mmm delicious!
Her mouth had formed this funny... Yummy look and she watched as Henry said he was going to get another one. She thought that was silly because mixing flavor a was silly.. Or was it?

"Oh!! If you get blueberry can I have it?? I promise I'll give you two knuts and you can do the gumball thing again!" Because dos she mention blueberry was her favorite?? Because it totally was.

Noelle looked as he put the knuts in and waited for the machine to start throwing out a new gumball.

Come on blue!!