Checkmate

Checkmate

This is one of my personal favorites, just because it portrays a casual, playful moment for Remus and Tonks, of which we get none in the books. It's sort of before Tonks declares her feelings but they both realize that they feel something for the other.

I don't own anything...it ALL belongs to JK Rowling. So don't sue!

"Remus?"

"Yes?"

Tonks nudged his leg with her shoulder, looking up at him impatiently. Her back leaned against the couch; to her left was Remus Lupin, who sat above her, eyes intent on the book he held in his hands. She watched carefully, nudging more insistently, until his eyes stopped moving and she knew he wasn't reading any longer.

"Now you're just pretending."

Remus lifted his eyes from the book and gazed down at her. "Was that your purpose? To stop me from reading?"

"What is it you're reading?" Tonks leapt to her feet, collapsing on the couch next to him and pulling the book toward her. Remus let her take it, leaning one arm against the arm of the couch and relaxing into the cushions. Tonks raised a purple eyebrow at him as she read the title of the book aloud.

"The History of Goblin Rebellions, 1740-1900? Do you actually enjoy this?"

"It's research, and yes, I enjoy it," Remus said, quirking an eyebrow back at her. Tonks handed it back to him reluctantly, and he took it, opening to his place and devoting his attention back to the text. Tonks glanced around the parlor, searching for inspiration.

"Remus?"

"Yes?"

"Where did Molly and Arthur go again?"

"Ministry for Arthur's initiation. Now hush."

"And remind me why I didn't go?"

"Because you said you'd be bored out of your mind. Hush."

"Well, I'm beginning to think I should have gone. At least there I'd be bored out of my mind doing something useful."

Remus looked up from his book again, looking slightly uncomfortable. "You're bored?"

"I'm sitting here watching you read a book about Goblin rebellions, twiddling my thumbs, and imagining a whole host of things I'd rather be doing. What do you think?" Tonks felt the corners of her mouth twitching, and turned away so he wouldn't see her smile. When she turned back, he had returned to his reading.

"I think you're just trying to make me feel guilty," he mused. The wrinkles around his eyes were deepening, which meant he was trying not to smile. Tonks frowned, looked around the quiet, dusty parlor of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place once again, and this time found her inspiration.

"Remus?"

"Yes?"

"Are you feeling guilty?"

"No."

Tonks stood, stretched, and yawned. "Well then, I'm off to bed."

"Good night."

"Remus?"

"Yes?"

"Remind me why you didn't go to see Arthur's initiation?"

Remus sighed and looked up again. "Tonks, you know why. But for both our sakes..." he frowned at her. "The Ministry doesn't like people like me in public places, and Greyback doesn't trust me yet and I'm exhausted and in no mood for such a dull orientation. You know that, Tonks. Now why don't you tell me what it is you really want?"

"I want you to entertain me," Tonks said brightly, tugging on a lock of her bright purple hair and grinning at him. "I'm bored, and you're not being good company."

Remus glanced back down at the book, heaved a huge sigh, marked his place, and set Goblin Rebellions aside. "Very well."

Tonks crossed the room to the desk on the far side and picked up a box the Weasley twins had left lying there earlier in the day. "Chess, then, Remus. I haven't played competitively in ages."

"Chess? I haven't played chess period, in ages," Remus protested, though a smile was evident in his voice and eyes.

"Good. Losing is bad for my self esteem," Tonks said, plopping down on the floor in the center of the room and opening the box. "On the floor, Remus."

"I'm too old."

"I'll help you up later. Now sit."

Remus slid off the couch and sprawled on the floor, staring at the board Tonks had spread out on the floor. His pieces were already marching to their respective places, observing him and muttering to themselves. "I don't think they like me."

"Show them who's boss," Tonks said, stroking one of her knights, who was attempting to crawl into her lap. "My pieces already like me."

"Hmmm. Well, I have a feeling this is going to be a short game."

"Why?"

"Because I already feel the urge to get back to Goblin Rebellions." Remus sat up and attempted to get to his knees, but Tonks reached over and pulled him back down.

"You promised, Remus."

"I promised nothing," Remus protested. "I didn't even agree to this!"

"Life isn't fair, Remus. You can go first."

"Why, thank you, how considerate." Remus nudged a pawn forward; it went reluctantly, turning to glare at him as it slid into place. Tonks' piece was already moving into place opposite Remus', laughing shrilly at his pawn, which seemed to shrink a few millimeters into the board.

"Poor things, they're humiliated," Tonks observed.

"Why don't we put them out of their misery?" Remus suggested, moving to stand up again. Tonks shook her head and tapped the board impatiently with one finger.

"You're being a poor sport. Sit down!"

Remus groaned dramatically as he collapsed back to the floor. "Knight to B-3."

"Not there! Can't you see I'd be slaughtered by that pawn? Don't move me there, you idiot!"

"Move!" Remus growled. "The bishop has you covered!"

"I don't care, I don't want to move, and I'm comfortable! Can't you see that would move me into the line of fire? I might be killed anyway, sacrificed just because…"

"Move, or I'll bite you!" Remus reached down and shoved the protesting knight forward onto the proper square. Tonks was laughing, her shoulders shaking.

"They hate you! Pawn to B-3!"

"See, there you are! I'm killed, done for!"

"Shut up," Remus said, watching as the knight hauled itself off of the board as the triumphant pawn took its place. "Bishop to B-3."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Tonks asked, leaning down on one elbow.

"Yes, why wouldn't I?"

"Remus, you need to be more careful," she sighed, prodding her queen forward so that the little figurine could smash Remus' bishop off the board. "That's a bishop and a knight to one pawn."

"Oh." Remus stared at the board, a furrow between his eyebrows. "Yes. Well…" He pushed a pawn forward bodily, ignoring its shriek of protest. Tonks' queen annihilated it.

"Are you even watching?" Tonks asked disapprovingly. "Or are you just trying to get out of the game?"

"Oh, you caught me," Remus grinned, settling down to lean up on one elbow. "So clever."

Tonks whacked him across the head with a pawn, pursing her lips at him as she shook a finger in his face. "You're a poor player, Remus! Just because you know you're losing you're trying to get out of it. Well, it's not going to work! I'm going to sit here and smash your pieces one by one, with pleasure. And there's not a thing you can do to stop me!"

"You're right," Remus shrugged, laying back completely, hands behind his head.

"Ooooh, you're no fun," Tonks grumbled, prodding a pawn forward to take Remus's other screaming knight. Remus studied the board with indifference for a moment, and then moved his rook forward to take the pawn. Tonks reached automatically for her queen, frowned, and withdrew, scanning the board carefully. Then she looked up at Remus, who covered a yawn with one hand.

"You just took one of my pawns," she said. Remus raised an eyebrow at her.

"Always the tone of surprise."

"I didn't think you had it in you," she said. "Well done, Remus. Congratulations!"
"Thank you. Now that I've proven myself, I think I should be released from…"

"Sit down," Tonks said, threatening him with one of his decapitated pawns. He sank back down onto his elbow with a grunt of irritation that was softened by the grin threatening the corners of his mouth. "Hmmmm…Queen to E-8."

Remus watched as her queen glided slowly and serenely across the squares, shooting him a rather haughty look as it passed his King, which was encircled with pawns. "Your pieces have an attitude."

"Better than yours," Tonks said, waving at Remus's men, who were all whispering together and shooting glares up at their player. One hand knocked a rook flying; he screamed shrilly as he was mobbed by a crowd of her pieces. Remus rescued him quickly and set him back up, frowning down at his mutinous pawns and rooks.

"I think there's going to be secession."

"Stinks for you," Tonks said indifferently. "Your move."

Remus pushed a pawn forward; it protested the entire way until he nudged it onto a square occupied by one of Tonks' knights. It twisted and stared up at him, clearly shocked. "Well?" he asked pointedly. Tonks' knight stumped off the board, and the pawn did a small victory dance on the spot. "Don't be too happy," he told it. "You're a sacrifice."

Tonks' queen smashed it to the ground and flung it off the board, where it began berating Remus instantly with a string of curse words that made him shove it under a pillow hastily. He glanced up at Tonks just in time to see a horrorstruck look leaving her face.

"What? Was it that offensive?"
"No," she said, shrugging, a smile back on her face.
"Good," Remus said, urging a reluctant rook forward toward Tonks' queen. "Go on, take her, you're protected. Oh, go on. Trust me." The queen was making quite a fuss as the rook attempted to push her off the square; Remus bent forward. "You're allowed to maim her, you know." The rook did so immediately, chipping a large chunk out of the queen's robe with a well aimed swing; she stormed off the board to complain loudly to Tonks, who hushed her irritably.

"Well, I'm sorry; I made a mistake, all right? Relax!" And she shoved the tiny queen under the same pillow as the swearing pawn, where a tussle immediately broke out between them. Remus and Tonks ignored them, returning their attention to the game. Remus' pieces were a bit more inclined to obey his orders now, and they marched happily around the board, taking Tonks' pieces as often as she took his. Tonks was becoming more and more frustrated as her pieces were chased off the board with wild war whoops and much flailing from Remus' overexcited soldiers.

The game was down to three pawns, a rook, two bishops, and both kings. Two pawns, the rook, and a bishop belonged to Remus, and he had cornered her last pawn with the rook two squares from his end so that it was impossible for her to make a queen. He looked quite pleased with himself now, drumming his fingers lightly on the floor and humming a rather bouncy song. Tonks glared at him out of narrowed eyes as she moved her king out of check for the eighth time in a row.

"You went?" he asked as she cleared her throat loudly. "Sorry. I wasn't paying attention."

"Obviously," she said through gritted teeth. "Hurry up."

"So eager to lose?"

"To watch you," she retorted. "I've got tricks up my sleeve like you wouldn't believe." Remus laughed and took her pawn with his rook.

"Hope that bishop has some good ideas."

Her bishop was sulking by her king, muttering to itself in a tinny sort of voice. Tonks prodded it up and forward a square.

Remus moved his rook up. "Check."

Tonks moved her bishop in front of the rook, and Remus shook his head, pointing at his own bishop. "Illegal."

"Fine!" she moved her king again, now only a few squares from the corner. Remus moved a pawn forward; she moved her bishop another square. Remus made a queen; Tonks flung one of her defeated pieces across the room, and its laugh changed to a squeal as it struck the couch and bounced off.

"Calm down," Remus advised, eyes widening a little in alarm. "Perhaps we'd better quit."

"I can take it," Tonks growled, shoving her king forward one.

"Good, because that's checkmate," Remus said as he moved his queen carefully into place. His pieces erupted, pouring onto the board to strip Tonks' king of his crown and scepter. Remus looked up at her with a smile. "Thanks for playing, Tonks."

"Sure," Tonks said, rescuing her king and placing him next to his own defeated subjects. He turned away from her haughtily, and she glared at him. "It wasn't my fault, okay? He cheated."

"I cheated?" Remus was the picture of innocence. "You just don't want to admit that I'm better at chess than you are." He looked back down at the board. "You were lost the minute I made my sixth move," he said. "I set you up with a classic. That's all there is to it."

"You know those tricks?" Tonks asked, suddenly interested. Remus laughed and pushed himself up to a sitting position. "I was Hogwarts Chess Champion my sixth and seventh year. I learned a lot of tricks. Help me up."

Tonks hauled him to his feet and he collapsed back onto the couch, hand behind head. She sat down next to him and watched the pieces march back into the box. Remus flicked his wand at the board and it soared in after the pieces. The lid jumped on and the box floated back to its perch on the desk. He hesitated, and then his arm floated lazily down and rested across Tonks' shoulders; she stiffened a little but then relaxed into his shoulder, grinning. "You're terrible."

"Aren't I?" Remus asked lazily. "Sirius and James had it mastered by fifth year."

"I'm sure they did," she replied. "Too bad all you can do is chess."

"What do you mean, all I can do is chess?" Remus asked indignantly. "Choose anything and I'll run you down…"
"Anything?" Tonks asked, twisted to look up at him calculatingly. "Well…how are you on a broom?"

fin