Characters/Pairings: Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley; no pairings
Rating/Warnings: G; none
Harry glanced up distractedly, ignoring the shouts of his Bishop. "Move me there, you idiot! Don't you see you can take the enemy Queen? Oh for Merlin's sake!" Ron obligingly moved the cranky Bishop across the board, capturing his own Queen on Harry's behalf--it was a good move.
"Ay, Harry? Mate? I'm... just going to take my turn now. Okay? Alright." The black King is carefully moved out of Check, but Harry is too busy watching an obviously-frustrated Hermione to notice.
"What's with her?"
His ginger-haired friend glances up at the question, confused for a moment before he follows the arch of another crumpled parchment to the waste basket. "She's been like that all day. Keeps muttering about Charms homework."
Harry's brows scrunch together and his frown deepens. Charms homework? He had completed it the day it was assigned. What was the assignment again? It was mind-bogglingly easy, he remembered that much. Oh! The Cheering Charm. Hermione was having trouble coming up with three inches on the Cheering Charm? How was that possible?
Abandoning the game--Ron shrugged to the agitated Bishop and made the last few moves to checkmate his own King to keep the piece quiet--the tousle-haired youth retrieved his friend's most recently-discarded parchment. Upon uncrinkling the paper, he found that it was nearly full--excessively more than the three inch maximum they had been assigned. So that was her problem!
He didn't even consider his next move. Just as Hermione set out a blank sheet of parchment, he drew his wand from his back pocket and (as quietly as he could) cast the charm on her. She shook her head, curls bouncing, as if shaking an errant thought. Her quill then set to the paper as she began to write, a smile slowly curling her lips. There was no more talk of Charms assignments that weekend.
Filius plucked up the next sheet in the stack of papers he was grading, humming to himself merrily. Most of his students had made a passing effort at the assignment, predominantly mentioning the effects of the cheering charm, the basic components, and detailing no more. No student went over three inches, though a few came close with their large handwriting. He uncurled the corners of the parchment and the name caught his eye. Ah, so Hermione had managed to meet the required length, he noticed. Her handwriting must have gotten small inde--he blinked, and laughed aloud. "By thunder, I think she's got it!"
Hermione Granger
Charms - Third Year
On Cheering Charms
Cheering Charms are really great. They make you feel like nothing could possibly be wrong. Why was I worrying about this assignment, again? I think every witch and wizard should experience Cheering Charms on a regular basis.