Hermione pushed the pawn forward and then leaned back and said, "Your move."
Blaise was sprawled out on the bed next to her and he looked first at the board, then at the mouse who had walked onto it, tail wrapped tightly around himself, and was wrestling a knight into a new position. They'd had to find a tiny chess set with hollow pieces and Draco had put special felt on the bottom of each one so Theo could move them.
"Why do you play chess with him?" Blaise asked. "He beats you every time."
"He does not," Hermione said.
"'eck," said Theo, scampering back to his side of the board where he picked up his apple slice and began to nibble again.
"He does," Draco said; he was sitting in one of the chairs in their suite, a glass of excellent whiskey in one hand and his feet kicked out in front of him as he watched the tableau on the bed.
"I beat him once!" Hermione said as she moved her king behind a bishop to get herself out of check.
"Let oo," Theo said.
"You did not," Hermione said, glaring at him.
"id," he said.
"He really did," Blaise said. "Either that or he was totally drunk at the time. You're terrible. You are routinely beaten by a rodent."
"I used to beat my cousins," she muttered. "And it's still Theo in there."
"The idiot cousins we met downstairs?" Blaise asked with a snort. "The ugly ones with the unfortunate shoes?"
"They aren't ugly," Hermione objected as she moved another piece.
"They are," Blaise said.
"They'd be fine if they dressed better," Draco said, "and maybe found new hairdressers. Honestly, Blaise, how do you run a Muggle hotel?"
"You run Muggle businesses," Blaise said with a shrug. "It's where the profit is."
"Yes, but I hire people who hire people. I don't have to flirt with the morons in the bar." He glanced at Hermione who was ignoring him while she watched Theo move his queen one square, a move that clearly confused her.
Theo rubbed his paws together and smirked at Blaise who looked up at the ceiling as Hermione moved a pawn toward the edge of the board, capturing one of Theo's rooks.
"Merlin, Hermione," Draco said watching her. "Who taught you to play?"
"What?" she asked as Theo nudged a pawn of his own forward, capturing one of her knights. She picked the captured piece up and set it off the board and then studied the pieces.
She squinted at Theo who ran a paw through his whiskers before whispering in a tiny squeak, "eck ate."
"Damn it, Theo," she said. "When you're human again I'm going to smack you for how smug you sound right now."
Theo wiggled his nose and clapped his paws together as Draco and Blaise laughed.
. . . . . . . . . .
A/N - Plotless drabble of Mouse!Theo because because.
