After-dinner mints are hard sweets characterised by the presence of mint flavouring. They are popular breath fresheners and they soothe the stomach, and are thus, ideally, eaten after meals. On 31 July, 1992, as Petunia Dursley was passing a box of after-dinner mints to Mr and Mrs Mason, a large Ministry of Magic owl, bearing a letter to Harry Potter from the Improper Use of Magic Office, swept into the dining room, disturbing Mrs Mason, who "screamed like a banshee".