As the myth went.. when Merleshwar Appoliosus planted his wand on Mount Everest, there sprung a fountain of youth which showered Magical Besan ke Laddoo. Anyone who ate those laddoos could gain eternal youth and attain immortality.
Magical Besan LaddooWhen the Patil sisters had their first nephew, their family sent over a large package to the twins at Hogwarts. A huge parcel arrived with the morning's owl post and a large tawny dropped off the package painted with cauldrons of gulab jamun and mithai-laden flying saucers. Padma opened the parcel with gleeful anticipation knowing it was going to be filled with goodies from home to celebrate the arrival of the young one.
And that's when Luna spotted them. Nestled cozily in a large pile, golden brown spheres jeweled with greenish nuts. Besan ke Laddoo!! Were these the legendary Magical Laddoos? They seemed innocent enough. Parvati reached in and grabbed a few. One by one came everyone's turn.. the whole school got to try the celebratory Laddoos.
Finally Looney Luna got her prize.. it lay in her hand like an ordinary candy-ball. But when she lifted it up to eat, the laddoo leaped right out of her grasp! Darting and twitching, left and right it whirred.. she tried to grab it.. but it wasn't easy to catch the little devil! Everyone around her was doing the same... jumping and leaping, trying to catch their laddoos!! Luna turned to Parvati, "How do we eat these?" Parvati smiled annoyingly, "Of all the people here, you should be the first one to get your laddoo!!" she said enigmatically.
Looney Luna was mildly miffed. She couldn't imagine what would be the use of giving out candy if one couldn't eat it! Oh well, life's intricacies did not bother Luna for long. She simply left her flying laddoo alone and started to pack-up for class. As she made her way through the Great Hall her laddoo followed her, zipping around her, taunting and tempting her with every move. But Luna politely ignored it.
On her way out she remembered that she had forgotten to wear her radish earrings!! As she fished them out of her bag, gazing idly at the Wrackspurts hovering over Ginny's head, it struck Luna that her laddoo was slowing down and getting closer to her. She noticed tiny little golden fluttering wings on the laddoo. Could they actually be the endangered Golden Snidgets enchanted illegally to look like laddoos.. ? The more Luna analyzed this possibility, the more the laddoo slowed down and the closer it came. That was weird.. was the laddoo suffering from Loser's Lurgy?
That was it! The laddoo plonked right into Luna's hand and just sat there waiting for her to eat.
Why this abrupt beneficence from the prank-laddoo! Hmm.. reminded Luna of the recently published work on Duality in Quantum Phygic! Incidentally, Luna was a staunch supporter of the latest theories in Quantum Phygic and Mathemagic. She particularly adored Booleo Maradona, the young Mathemagician who had boldly challenged established Seers, claiming that his “equations” could be used to predict the outcome of Quiditch World Cup better than their tea leaves. Ron and Harry's laddoos, whizzing in the air near Luna, were now also starting to slow down and approach her..
That was just about when Padma Patil announced in the Hall, "Everyone who has never eaten Magical Laddoos before... we celebrate birthdays with fun and laughter. So you need to think something silly and funny if you want to eat these laddoos."
Interesting, thought Luna, this silly thoughts strategy could be the laddoo’s way of forcing people to remember their childhood, in effect imparting eternal youth!!
The myth of the Magical Laddoos was true after all. Just as Luna had always known! Perhaps she could get the Patils to send a few laddoos as evidence to the Quibbler.. and some more to Booleo Maradona..
Plonk! Plonk! Plonk!
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PS: This is our 100th post!!
