Chapter 9
After everyone had a cup of tea and a biscuit Ron took a sip and set his aside, opening the box of Cheering Chocolates. He put on an announcer’s voice and said“Alright, I’m excited about these. So allow me to show you the new flavours of Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes Cheering Chocolates, vivacious vanilla creme, and tip-top Toffee.” He presented the chocolates with a flourish, then in his normal voice asked, “Can I tempt anyone?”
“Oh yes, I love the sound of the vanilla creme,” Ginny said, leaning forward a bit to take one from the box her brother held out to her. “Which is which?”
“The ones on your side of the box are vanilla.”
Ginny took one and looked around, everyone was waiting to see what she thought, “Well I’m not going to be the only one eating one of these things. Hurry up, get one for yourselves.”
“I’ll try one. A toffee’un I think” Hagrid said and Ron offered the box in his direction with a smile.
“Oh, me too,” Hermione said when Hagrid had his.
“I’ll give it a go,” Harry said to, standing up, with James clinging to his shoulder, to retrieve one for himself.
“They sound quite nice. Pass the box.” Neville said with a grin.
They all looked at professor McGonagall, who was quietly sipping her tea in her armchair. She looked at them, sighed, and said, “Fine, I might as well.”
She took a Vanilla creme and Ron took a toffee. “Right, now I want your honest opinions of them after we’ve all come down from this,” And with that, he bit into his chocolate truffle and the rest of the assembled gathering could see his features relax into a smile.
Harry ate the whole thing in one go, best to get these things out of the way. The flavour was quite nice, but no one ate them just for the flavour, no it was about the cheering feeling too. The tip-top Toffee that Harry was eating started working the moment he bit into it. A calm, followed by a general feeling of happiness, he was content and smiling when he swallowed the last of it.
He looked around and saw that most everyone else was experiencing the same thing. Ginny was grinning at James, who had curled up in his father’s lap, she looked positively elated by the mere sight of him. Hagrid looked very chipper like he was about to teach a class on blast-ended skrewts or hippogriffs. Hermione was smiling at Ron and Ron was smiling at Hermione. Neville was laughing a little at Minerva, who had an unprecedented look of peace on her face, with her head back against the chair and her eyes closed.
The effects didn’t stay so potent for long, they wound down from their glee in a few moments and were simply feeling uplifted. They started talking again, all excitedly telling Ron how excellent the new flavours were and how great the whole line was. All except Minerva, who had quite fallen asleep. Neville gestured to her and the whole group had to stifle a laugh.
“Oh, well is it any wonder, really? I don’t think she gets much rest around here.” Hermione said with a stifled laugh.
“I just knew that was going to happen,” Neville said, “it happens every time.”
“Oh, I didn’t realise that,” Ron said, with a hint of embarrassment.
“No, don’t worry about it,” Harry said, handing James off to Ginny and taking the aluminum lid of the biscuit tin off of the table. He walked up towards the fireplace, where the rug ended, and dropped the lid onto the stone floor. That created the desired sound, which had the desired effect of startling the old Professor awake. She inhaled sharply as her eyes flew open and one hand went to the pocket where she keeps her wand. When she came around fully she looked a bit embarrassed and said, “That’s why I should never be allowed cheering potions, it gets quite awkward.” She laughed a bit as she said it and the rest did too. “It’s just like that time at the Christmas party a few years ago, with that stuff professor Brewster brought.” She said, mostly to Neville, who laughed at the memory it stirred and agreed.
They moved on in the conversation, catching up with everyone’s business and cooing over James as he got another burst of energy and started bouncing and clapping his hands in the most precious way.
Eventually, it was time to start heading home. Ron left the rest of the cheering chocolates with Neville, and he and Hermione headed home. Minerva finally gave James back to Ginny and she and Harry floo’d home with him. The remaining professors headed down to the great hall for dinner. The whole group, having spent such a lovely afternoon with friends, left feeling much lighter and more in the mood for the coming holiday.
Of course, the chocolates helped too.