Disclaimer: Phaerie no own Harry Potter and Co.
Chuckle
A One-shot
By Phaerie
"Chuckle," Ginny demanded, laying the book she had been reading down in her lap.
"What?" Harry asked his wife as he froze mid-step on his way to the kitchen.
"Chuckle for me," she elaborated earnestly. He chuckled. Putting a finger to her chin in a thoughtful pose, she commented, "That was a rather devious chuckle."
"Isn't that what chuckles are supposed to sound like?" he inquired, moving to sit beside her on the couch.
"I don't know what chuckles are supposed to sound like, that's why I asked you to chuckle," she explained exasperatedly, sighing and placing a stray slip of parchment into her book to hold her place as she set it aside.
"Well," Harry began as he leant back and propped his feet up on the coffee table, "Whenever I think of chuckling, that's the sound that comes to mind."
"So, a chuckle is a devious form of laughter?" she asked curiously with a slight tilt to her head that Harry found incredibly endearing.
"Well, no, not really," he muttered. His brow was knitted as he tried to recall the definition of 'chuckle'.
"Then what is it?" she whined and threw her head back over the armrest she'd been leaning against dramatically.
"How should I know?" he exclaimed, frowning slightly.
"You're the master chuckler!" she stated as if that explained everything.
"Why don't you just look it up in a dictionary?" he questioned with a sigh, clambering back to his feet to continue on to the kitchen.
"All the bloody dictionary does is pronouce the word for you, it doesn't actually chuckle," she explained while waving her arms around madly.
He stopped again to look back at her sardonically. "Well, dictionaries also include definitions of the words, you know."
Her eyes narrowed dangerously and her lips pressed together tightly to form a thin line. He smiled back cheekily.
Ginny rolled off the couch with a grunt and disappeared into the study. "A quiet laugh of mild amusement or satisfaction. To laugh quietly of to oneself," she called out as she made her way back to the living room. "It sounds like it should be devious to me."
"I don't know, I think it's more of a off-your-rocker kind of laugh," Harry mused from the kitchen having finally made it.
"How so?" she asked.
Harry reappeared in the living room with a sandwitch in hand, a large chunk already bitten off. He chewed for a few moments, swallowed, and explained, "Well, if you're going to laugh to yourself, you're obviously quite mad."
"True," Ginny admitted with a thoughtful glance to the fireplace. She plopped back down on the couch. "But the mild amusement and satisfaction? Deviousness written all over that. What?" she asked, having noticed his suddenly intense gaze.
"I just realized," he mumbled thoughtfully.
"Realized what?" she inquired impatiently.
"This conversation is utterly ridiculous," he replied airily as he made his way back into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of milk.
"It is not!" she shouted after him indignantly.
"Really? How so?"
"It is completely relevant for the mental image and sound effects in my head," she stated matter-of-factly, gesturing toward her book even though he couldn't see her.
"Why does your imagination have to be a perfectionist?" he asked on his way from the kitchen to their bedroom.
"For the sake of the story!" she told him fervently as she followed him, book in hand. "By imagining just one laugh wrong, it changes the whole meaning of the story."
"Let me see that," he demanded, taking the book from her and flipping open to where she'd left off. His eyes scanned the pages. With a snort, he advised, "Next time, read the context clues."
"Huh?" She grabbed her book back and began rereading the passage with a befuddled look on her face.
"Nevermind," Harry sighed.
"Oh! I get it now!" she cried triumphantly, grinning widely. She stood on her tip-toes and kissed him soundly. "Thank you," she chirped as she bounced out of the room to continue with her book.
Harry chuckled.
A/N: After writing that, I can't help but ask myself, WTF? Ah, well. Review please! It would be muchly appreciated.
-Phaerie