Another day, another chapter!!

Thanks to azorianqt for the review!!

Disclaimer: With less than 20 days--oh, Merlin, say it isn't so!!--until the release of DH, I am proud to proclaim that JKR's sandbox is the best and I would never claim it for my own!

Picture Perfect

Chapter III:
The Old Married Couple

"Hermione, catch!"

Hermione spun around, her bushy brown hair whirling around her head as she glanced in the direction of Harry's voice. A shiny red fruit flew toward her and she leaned forward, arms outstretched…

A streak of red shot forth and quickly intercepted the pass and Hermione groaned in frustration as the red blur flew across the padlock and easily passed the apple to its teammate who effortlessly threw it into one of the three baskets positioned in the tree.

"All right, Gin!" Ron whooped loudly as he exchanged high fives with his sister.

Harry and Hermione quickly landed on the ground, huddling close in order to quickly devise a new strategy while the youngest Weasleys celebrated their goal.

"I think we can take them," Harry whispered quickly, glancing furtively about as Ron swung on his broom before fluidly transitioning to a series of loop-the-loops, "we just need to do something about Ron. Ginny's been all over the field, but do you notice that Ron's the one that makes most of the intercepts and Ginny does most of the scoring? I think if we can distract Ron from what he's doing, then maybe Ginny won't stand a chance."

"I think…I think I know exactly what to do," Hermione spoke in a thoughtful tone. "Just give me the apple at the start of this round.

Harry willingly handed her an apple from the basket that was placed at their end of the padlock before kicking off.

"C'mon you two," Ron taunted with good humor, swooping down to meet them. "We can't wait to wipe the field with you."

"You wish, Weasley," Hermione said snottily, poorly imitating what she imagined to be an intimidating opponent as she shakily straightened George's old Cleansweep Five to keep from smashing into the nearby tree.

"Okay, ten to seven, Harry and Hermione playing," Ginny announced as they each took their position.

Hermione immediately tossed the apple to Harry. As Ron made a dive for the fruit, she shot forward, cutting him off with a concerned look. "Hey, Ron, remember on the Charms O.W.L., question fifty-five, part C?"

Ron stared at her blankly.

"See, I had trouble trying to remember the exact wand movement for the Cheering Charm—I missed that class back in third year, remember? Anyway, so is it a jab and then a swish, or a flick and then a jab, or was it just a basic up-down movement like transfiguring matches into sewing needles?"

"Uh…" Ron's eyes widened with worry as he attempted to execute the movement wandlessly. "I think it was a swish-jab…unless it was the up-down...?" he answered uncertainly.

"Really?" Hermione also wandlessly executed the movement. "The up-down is usually used in transfiguring objects, like animals into goblet and owls into opera glasses, but McGonagall and Flitwick did say that there are exceptions like with the Speed Charm and the Thickening Spell."

"A…a swish-jab, then?" Ron suggested hesitantly.

"Plausible," Hermione murmured, deep in thought, "but the jab is usually used in the cases of sounds and movement. Then again you did over do it when you were partnered with Harry during the exam in third year, and he started to laugh like a madman, which does tie into the sound idea, so I guess there might be a jab required…"

"Ron!"

The pair straightened to find Harry and Ginny fighting fiercely over an apple.

"What part of 'We're down by two points and I could use you help,' do you not understand?" Ginny barked as Harry wrestled the apple out of her hand and casually tossed it through the basket. "Argh!" she cried in frustration.

"W-wait, when did you—and when did he…?" Ron sputtered, his eyebrows furrowed together with confusion (no doubt brought about by the cross between Hermione's thoroughly analytical discussion about wand movements and the sudden awakening from the land of schoolwork Hermione to find that his team was now three points down when it had been in the lead by the same amount of points moments before). He whirled around to face Hermione. "You," he pointed at her accusingly, "you distracted me from the game, knowing full and well that I hate going over questions after exams, and somehow I listened to that nonsense about Cheering Charms so Harry cold take on Ginny without any troubles and you two would be in the lead for once."

"Oh, well, Merlin, if you're so brilliant, why couldn't you figure it out before they started to win?" Ginny seethed, unable to control the infamous Weasley temper.

"Ron," Hermione said sweetly as she patted him on the shoulder, "you use the basic clockwise triangular flick followed by the up-down when you perform the Cheering Charm." She smiled at him before swooping down to the basket of apples.

Ron gaped at her in disbelief. "You…you…" he searched for an insult that would not be too vulgar for the baby moles that resided beneath the ground. "You…Slytherin."

Down beneath the ground, under the thick layer of uneven grass and topsoil, the young moles gasped in horror as they watched the scene unfold on the tuber-vision. Mama Mole quickly changed the channel, horrified at what was being show on tuber-vision these days. She quickly set out to compose yet another letter of complaint to the TV station in hopes of more suitable programs to be shown during the day when children were around.

Meanwhile…

"Slytherin?" Hermione repeated incredulously. "What makes me—?"

"You sneaky Slytherin!" hissed Ron.

"Does he not hear himself?" Ginny—who had calmed down by this time—whispered to Harry.

"Well, Ron Weasley, I think you're nothing but a tactless meanie!" Hermione shot back.

"Hermione's not doing any better," Harry murmured back, his eyebrows arched with concern for his friends.

"They're just like a couple of three year olds," Ginny sighed hopelessly.

"You know what makes so sick?" he didn't wait for a reply. "You and your stupid hair. It's all brown and bushy and—and would it kill you to not put quills in them when you're using them?"

"I do not!"

"Third year."

"Nuh-uh!"

"That whole month before finals."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Um…actually," Ginny piped in cautiously, "yeah, you did. It took us forever to get the ink out, remember?"

"Well…it was just that one time," Hermione shot back, finally able to form coherent sentences.

"Last year right before the O.W.L.s."

Hermione pursed her lips. "I. Was. Stressed!" she seethed, fuming with anger. "Anyway, you don't see me complaining about your hair!"

"Oh," Ron feigned a hurt look before rolling his eyes. "At least I don't get ink in my hair."

"Well, at least I don't spend twenty minutes on my hair every morning to impress a certain someone."

"How'd you—" Ron turned to face Harry.

Harry's arms shot up defensively, "I didn't say a word."

Ginny smiled guiltily.

"Why couldn't I've been an only child?" grumbled Ron.

"Oh, oh, are you saying that only childs don't have any problems?" demanded Hermione, lips pursed once again.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Ron stared in disbelief.

"I'm talking about that general comment that just fell out of your mouth, you thick head, about how families with one child have no problems whatsoever, when, really, they do; they're just not as loudly proclaimed as the ones with multiple kids."

Click. Flash.

Harry directed his attention away from the bickering pair to find that Ginny had conjured up a camera from seemingly nowhere.

"I shall call this piece 'Old Married Couple'," she proclaimed philosophically as Ron and Hermione stared at her stupidly.

"Ginny!" Ron quickly fell out of his daze and was overcome with anger. "Give me that camera!"

"See you guys at lunch," Ginny laughed as she shot away on her broomstick, her irate older brother in pursuit.

Harry echoed her laugh as he and Hermione landed on the ground, collected the bin of apples, and made their way back to the Burrow.

"'Old Married Couple'," Harry repeated thoughtfully. "I like the sound of it. It suits you two."

Isn't it funny how, no matter how much one plans something out, the final product turns out to be nothing like the blueprints? Ron and Hermione's argument totally took over this chapter, and I must say, it was actually a really satisfying change!!

Any thoughts on this chapter? Any ideas at all? How about some constructive criticism? Drop them in a review, please!!

With hopes of hearing from you soon,
Chikin Wang