A Cursed Name (Harry Potter Next Gen)

Year 3 Part 1

Somehow, nonchalantly strewn across the seat of the Hogwarts Express, Lilium Malfoy was elegant. The girl– tiny, with the color palette of a piece of parchment– could be compared to a ballerina, moves made to look effortless and refined, as if she tried to make her actions a work of art. Her elegance, however, was that of an icicle. Though she looked beautiful from afar, she was cold and sharp– until she warmed up to you, at least.

She was intensely staring at a Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean, rolling it between her thumb and forefinger as she contemplated the risk she was facing. "Moss, do you think this bean is coconut, milk, coconut milk, spoiled milk, or vanilla?"

Moss Oskar looked up from the assortment of peppermint toads and chocolate frogs he had released and focused his deep brown eyes just as intensely at the offending bean. "Last time we decided vanilla had little brown specks and spoiled milk had a yellow tinge to it."

"How yellow was the tinge?"

"Enough to show against your hair, I think."

"Hmm...." Lilium pulled a small section of her hair towards the bean and scrunched her nose. Into the bin the bean flew.

Focusing back on his task, Moss waited until the last of the candy amphibians attempted to escape before rearranging them into three rows on the seat beside him. He grinned towards Lilium before taunting, "Bet you another bean box that I can get at least one of these frogs to sing."

The girl moved her eyes from her new bean to her old friend.

"No deal– I have every faith in you and your saccharine choir." And with her declaration, one peppermint toad let out a pitiful "Meep" before hardening fully as the spell wore off. Moss beamed proudly at the inanimate candy, and, as the others were encouraged by Moss's excitement, soon followed a short cacophony of amphibious sounds, ranging from pitiful to oddly melodious. As soon as it started, the noise ebbed when each of the candy critter's spells wore off.

Moss looked hard at the sweets. "Lili... I don't think I can bring myself to eat them now."

"Well, I know there's a spell for turning humans into toads in our school books, but I can't recall if there's one for turning candy amphibians into real amphibians." Lilium put aside her Every Flavor Beans– only for a moment, she promised herself– and  rummaged through her trunk. She pulled out a rather large, well-worn book, and started flipping through the bookmarked pages lovingly. After a short time had passed, she let out an "aha" of triumph before pulling out her wand. She practiced the described wand movement a time or two before turning to the line of sweets.

"You found one?" Moss asked excitedly. Lilium smirked at him with a gleam in her eyes.

"Amphibifors," she articulated carefully. Her target was the peppermint toad that had made the original attempt at music. Within a blink of an eye, the smooth candy that made up the toad turned dry and fleshy. The candied perfections became a more realistic imperfect, and the little being began squirming around.

"That's brilliant!" Moss beamed at his friend. "Can you do the rest?"

Lilium obliged, and with repeated transfigurations, the little candies became little creatures instead.  Lilium eyed her work before turning toward her friend with a dry smile. "Enjoy your new friends, Moss. Aren't they dashing?"

Dashing was one word for the creatures, though it probably wasn't a word many would use to describe ones such as these. The (previously peppermint) toads had retained their stark reds and whites, while the (formerly chocolate) frogs were a rich brown. Unique they were, though dashing they were not.

"Dashing? They're hardly hopping! They're squirming around like they've got no back legs!"

"Well, can you blame them for not knowing how to move properly? They've only had one good jump before this, and that was before they even had a brain. Give them time. They'll learn." Lilium sat back on the seat and picked up her Every Flavor Bean Box once more. She pulled a single bean out, and frowned over it. "Is this one lime, grass, green apple, or green bell pepper?"