Ton-Tongue Toffee

The Ton-Tongue Toffee is a magical sweet invented by Fred and George Weasley designed to make the eater's tongue swell to an immense size. It was one of the first products developed for their future joke shop, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, and was famously tested on Dudley Dursley.

• Type: Magical Confectionery, Joke Product
• Owners: Fred Weasley, George Weasley
• Maker: Fred Weasley and George Weasley

A Ton-Tongue Toffee is designed to look like an ordinary, non-magical toffee. It is described as a sweet wrapped in a brightly coloured paper, making it appear enticing and harmless to an unsuspecting victim. Its innocuous appearance is key to its function as a prank item.

The toffee is enchanted with a powerful and fast-acting Engorgement Charm. Once consumed, the charm targets the eater's tongue, causing it to swell at an alarming rate. In the case of Dudley Dursley, his tongue grew to approximately four feet in length within moments and turned a purplish colour. The effects can be reversed by a counter-spell, likely a Shrinking Charm. However, the potency of the magic is significant, as Arthur Weasley had some difficulty performing the counter-spell and returning Dudley's tongue to its normal size. The toffees were intended to be a flagship product for the Weasley twins' joke enterprise.

The Ton-Tongue Toffee was created by Fred and George Weasley sometime prior to the summer of 1994. Having developed a passion for magical invention, they began creating joke products to sell to fellow Hogwarts students. The toffees are first seen in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when the Weasley family comes to collect Harry Potter from Number Four, Privet Drive via the Floo Network. Before departing, Fred “accidentally” dropped a handful of the sweets. Dudley Dursley, who was on a strict diet, could not resist and ate one. The resulting magical mayhem caused his tongue to swell dramatically, leading to panic from his parents and fury from Molly Weasley, who promptly confiscated the twins' remaining stock. This event, while chaotic, served as a successful field test for the product.

The incident with the Ton-Tongue Toffee is a key early indicator of Fred and George's talent, ambition, and rebellious nature. It establishes their goal of opening a joke shop and foreshadows the success of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. The event also provides a moment of comedic relief and a small victory for Harry over his cousin, Dudley. Furthermore, it highlights the conflict between the twins' entrepreneurial spirit and their mother's desire for them to pursue more traditional careers at the Ministry of Magic.

• The scene involving the Ton-Tongue Toffees at the Dursleys' house was written for the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire but was ultimately cut from the final version. (film)