The conversation flowed naturally, between Effie's questions about Hogwarts and Duncan's sometimes overly practical answers. He explained the ghosts, the teachers (carefully omitting the tragic details), and the strange custom of using talking hats to decide one's future.
"And do you think the hat chooses well?" asked Effie, fiddling with the hem of her overly large robe.
"The hat chooses based on your character," replied Duncan, grabbing a pumpkin pasty that had appeared from who knows where. "But it also listens to what you want. So deep down, it's 50% your personality and 50% mentally screaming 'Not Hufflepuff!' at it until it gets tired."
Effie laughed again, a clear sound that seemed to surprise even herself. She was about to ask another question when a soft knock on the compartment door interrupted them.
The door slid open to reveal a smiling, round-cheeked woman, pushing a trolley loaded to the ceiling with a cornucopia of magical sweets.
"Anything from the trolley, dears?" she asked in a sing-song voice.
Duncan's eyes lit up as if he had seen the key to the Chamber of Secrets. 'Inventory, don't fail me now.'
"Yes!" he said, jumping up. "A bit of everything, please."
"A bit?" repeated Effie, looking incredulously at the mountain of chocolate, oddly colored candies, and pastries emitting blue smoke.
Duncan paid no attention. He pointed enthusiastically. "Two of those chocolate frogs, three boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, a handful of pumpkin pasties, those glowing Acid Pops, two treacle tarts, a pack of liquorice wands, and… what are those that sparkle?"
"Fizzing Whizzbees," replied the trolley lady, smiling with amusement as she began piling the packages onto Duncan's seat.
"Add three! And also…"
"Duncan!" interrupted Effie, her eyes wide. "Are you really going to eat all that? You're going to have an epic stomach ache."
Duncan, paying with a handful of Knuts he pulled from his pocket as if by magic (which, technically, it was), shrugged.
"You're not my mum, Effie. And a man with a [Holy Body] can metabolize whatever he wants. Or so I hope." He winked at her.
"It's for research, pure science. I need to try all the magical products for… strategic analysis."
Effie crossed her arms, unintentionally mimicking a miniature Molly Weasley. "I'm warning you. When you're writhing on the floor at the feast, don't come crying to me."
"Noted," said Duncan, already opening a box of beans. He offered one to Effie. "Courage?"
She hesitated for a second, but curiosity won out. She took a light blue bean. "What flavor will it be?"
"Snot, with an 80% probability," said Duncan with all the seriousness of an expert. "Or vomit. The box never brings good news with pastel colors."
Effie thought better of it and set the bean aside, picking up a chocolate frog instead. "Better to start with something safe."
Duncan, on the other hand, popped a handful of Fizzing Whizzbees into his mouth.
Immediately, small golden sparks flew from his lips as he chewed, and a comforting warmth spread through his chest.
"Incredible! They have like a 2% temporary magical power boost! Or so my… instinct says," he quickly corrected, almost mentioning the system and making his first major mistake as a reincarnator.
As mountainous landscapes paraded past the window, the compartment became a feast. Duncan tried everything with the eagerness of a mad scientist, making comments like "The Acid Pops improve hand-eye coordination by 5%, but they stain your teeth orange" and constantly offering things to Effie.
She, initially reluctant, ended up succumbing to temptation. Soon, both of them had fingers sticky with treacle and mouths stained impossible colors, laughing when Duncan got an 'earwax' flavor from a bean and spat it out the window.
"I told you! They're a game of Russian roulette!" laughed Effie, wiping away a tear of amusement.
"It was for science!" insisted Duncan, rinsing his mouth with Pumpkin Fizz. "And… I admit I might have gone overboard with the fourth pumpkin pasty."
Indeed, an hour later, Duncan's superhuman stomach began to emit a faint rumble. It wasn't pain, but an uncomfortable feeling of… digestive magical overload.
Effie, who was trying to levitate a chocolate wrapper with a clumsy "Wingardium Leviosa" that Duncan had taught her as a first basic spell, looked at Duncan, noticing his sudden silence and paleness.
She looked at him, and a slow, deliberately sinister smile spread across her face. It was an expression that would have made a seventh-year Slytherin proud.
"What's wrong, Duncan?" she asked with poisoned sweetness. "Are the 'strategic analyses' making you queasy?"
Duncan swallowed, feeling as if the Fizzing Whizzbees were doing a rebellious salsa dance inside him.
"I… I'm perfectly fine. I'm just… processing data. At high speed."
A particularly loud gurgle from his stomach echoed in the compartment.
Effie leaned back in her seat, satisfied, her green eyes shining with pure, hidden glee.
"I warned you," she hummed softly, picking up the last chocolate frog with a triumphant air. "And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to enjoy my chocolate… with the peace of mind of a person who actually listens to sensible advice."
Duncan, defeated by gastric evidence and the mocking smile of his travel companion, merely groaned, resting his head against the cold window.
"Alright…" he murmured, closing his eyes. "You win this round, Potter. But the war of the sweets… has just begun."
Effie continued to smile, watching the landscape begin to turn orange in the evening light. For the first time in her life, the journey to an unknown place didn't scare her. It was… fun. And Duncan, with his stomach ache and his pretensions of genius, was undoubtedly the most interesting person she had ever met.
Perhaps Hogwarts wouldn't be so bad after all.