Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything you recognise from it :)

Second year flew by and James found himself more and more desperate to defeat the mysterious girl, Moira, in just a single game. She was difficult to beat, he had since admitted to himself, but it didn't make him any less determined to beat her.

"Mate, don't you think you're a little obsessed with her?" Fred asked cheekily, earning a slap from James. He grunted, before going back to teasing his cousin.

"You can't deny it," Fred sang at James's protests. "Even Dom agrees."

Dominique, who had been sitting cross legged on the floor of the boys' dormitory, nodded in wicked agreement. James glared at both of them, but they both shook their heads in glee.

"Wittle Jamsie is in loooooove," Dominique crooned, dancing about the dorm and screaming it out the window, earning some puzzled looks from the people below the dorms. James, bright red, stormed out of the dormitories. Being the mature second year he was, he marched up to Moira, who was sitting on the common room couch, quietly reading as book, and demanded a rematch.

"You, me, common room tonight," he said, before blinking. "Not like that," he scowled at Dominique's loud wolf whistle from the dormitories. "You know what I mean."

Moira shrugged. "Whatever."

Expecting more banter than that, James stood next to her awkwardly, tapping his foot on the ground until she looked up from her book again.

"What?"

"You wanna play now?"

Moira looked amused, but put her book down and sat on her ground, motioning for James to sit down too. He did so, doing an exaggerated flop to the ground for Fred and Dominique, who were watching from a short distance away, tucked behind a corner of the room.

"Ah, the love in this room right now," Dominique sighed, a trace of a smirk appearing on her face as Fred fake swooned at her words. The two continued to make hand gestures behind James's back, laughing uncontrollably at their younger cousin.

Noticing their theatrics, James glared at them both, Moira quirking an eyebrow at his expression. Noticing the questioning look on her face, James dropped the glare from his face sheepishly, but made sure to glare at Fred and Dominique while she wasn't looking.

The two made small talk over the wizarding chess board, which Moira claimed James ought to beat her over.

"Chess?" James huffed, crossing his arms. "Why does it have to be chess?"

"Your uncle's one of the best players around," Moira reminded him when he whined about it.

"But chess," he protested. "Why does it have to be chess?!"

"Your uncle's one of the best players around," Moira repeated, rolling her eyes a little at James's antics. She had forgotten, over the progression of their first game, just what James Potter was really like.

"Have it your way," he grumbled. "It's not like I'll win anyway."

Moira's eyes narrowed at this and she fell silent for a moment. She and James were hardly friends, but she was perceptive enough to know something was up. But for a while, she didn't ask. It was true that she was strong, stubborn, smart and won at games, but she was hardly good at keeping a decent friend around. It was a miracle she had found a group of friends, albeit the gossipy and sometimes cruel type, who accepted her for the emotionally unavailable person she was.

"Hey," James said suddenly, breaking the silence. He looked back quickly, to where Fred and Dominique no longer stood, before turning back to Moira, who stared at the chess board, lost in thought.

"How do you do it?"

Moira blinked, withdrawing from her thoughtful trance. She shook her head, before looking at James, puzzled.

"How do I do what?"

James hesitated, knowing his question was somewhat childish, but decided to ask it anyway. "How do you always win?" Moira pondered this for a moment, her calculating brown eyes still on the game.

"I guess I don't like losing," she said eventually, knowing what a pathetic statement it was. James knew this too, Moira could tell, by the disbelief ringing on his face.

"I don't like losing either," James said, slightly annoyed by her vague response. "But I don't win like you do."

"And how do I win?"

James smiled, a rare, genuine smile Moira hardly saw. Not that she was close enough to see him smile like that. Hell, she thought, they wouldn't even have met if she wasn't friends with Dominique.

"Knowing that you'll win," he said, which made her smile too. It was awkward, this exchange, but Moira found that she was actually enjoying it.

"I'll tell you a secret then," Moira said and James's eyes sparked with interest, eagerly waiting for her response. "It's all bull."

James groaned. "Okay, that is so not fair!" He exclaimed, making Moira laugh. "Your secret to winning can't be that!"

"If you hate to lose but love to win and you know you won't, you fake it," Moira explained, shrugging. "That's all it is. Try it."

"I'm going to win," James said in a monotone voice, to prove his point. He raised in hands in a defeated way, Moira rolling her eyes while shaking her head.

"Try again."

"I'm going to win," James said, this time, sounding more boastful. He sounded like he did when he was amongst his friends, acting loud and raucous, all while causing a racket in the hallways. Like he did when hanging out with the second year girls that had crushes on him and he knew it. Like the James Potter everyone loved.

"That's about right," Moira said, nodding in approval. "Now you just have to make a few good moves."

"But I'm awful at chess," James complained. "How am I supposed to win with no talent?"

"You've handled the game well so far," Moira said kindly, before pointing to his knight, who was screaming rather nasty insults at him. "But there are definitely things you can improve on."

"Move me, dammit!" The knight yelled and James figured she was right.

"So if you had moved your knight here two blocks earlier, you could have taken this bishop out and then…"

The two spent the whole afternoon playing chess, Moira teaching James about the game. He was quite good, Moira realised, once he had gotten the hang of it. But what was more startling was that, despite the fact they had played games on and off all last year, this was the first time she and James had had a proper conversation with it. Without the pressure and the people around them, Moira noticed that she and James could have some pretty interesting conversations.

"I still don't think Snape was a good person," James argued, while moving his knight, who nodded in approval. "True, he wasn't all bad, but he was still an arse."

"Mmm, but if you think about it, he could have been," Moira said thoughtfully, while moving a bishop. "I mean everything that happened to him made him into a monster, but he still loved your grandmother until the end, right?"

It was then James realised he was having a serious conversation, with a girl, no less. His cheeks flushed a light red and he turned away. "Yeah, true." When he turned back to the board, he realised that Moira had made her move. She had cornered his king, he realised with frustration. There was no way for him to win now.

"Merlin, you don't know how to lose, do you?" James shook his head, exasperated, but secretly, he was glad he'd played with her anyway. Moira was someone he wouldn't mind hanging out with, he thought in surprise. Noting his expression, Moira gave him a small smile.

"Trust me, I do," she said. "But for now, checkmate."

He shook his head again and she laughed, a wicked grin reaching her face.

"I'll win against you eventually, Thomas," he promised, much to her amusement.

"I believe you said that last time, Potter," she smirked in glee before flouncing away to her friends, who immediately began giggling and laughing. James winked at them, much to Moira's annoyance, before going off to find Fred and Dominique, who immediately began making fun of him.

"Awwww, Jamsie made a friend!" Dominique cooed, while Fred laughed.

"Sure," James shrugged, much to the bewilderment of both of them. "Yeah, I did."

Perhaps it wasn't to last, but James and Moira became closer after that, spending much of their second year playing chess and enjoying the playful banter between them. It was the beginning to a whirlwind friendship with a rivalry that was competitive, crazy and even maddening, but always sweet.

Thanks for reading! I know, I know, it has been an incredibly long time since I last updated! I'm awful :( But my muse has (somewhat) returned, so if you keep reviewing, favouriting, following and if possibly, giving me feedback and constructive criticism. Thanks for being patient, or, if you're a new viewer, thank you for giving this story a go :)

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