AN: Set in the second year, still no Teddy. Kudos to JKR for her amazing imagination, I don't own a thing, apart from the plot. Its been a while, but more soon, I'm just trying to make them presentable. Hope you like it...
Corey smirked, Cassia scowled. It was torrential outside, stepping out for only a second would soak you through.
The open sky had forced students indoors. Close to the fire in the Huffelpuff common room Cassia, Sam and Corey tried to dry their clothes, Leota's cloak hung over a nearby chair, the witch had nipped out for 'supplies'.
"What a fun game." Corey stressed each syllable, his voice grating on Cassia's nerves.
Sam looked up from his book, a muggle novel about DIY that Leota had gotten him for his birthday. He gave Corey a look, Corey sighed, wizard chess was no fun without annoying Cassia.
Nonchalantly Corey began reading the box the pieces came in, she was taking forever to move. He began humming tunelessly. The damp outside and the stuffy warmth inside only helped to heighten the tension.
"Shut up!" Cassia growled, frowning at the game. Corey smirked again and Sam went back to his book.
A minute ticked by with no moves being played.
Crash!
Cassia had swiped the board off the table. Black and White pieces scattered across the floor. Bouncing and scraping, they making a loud clatter that attracted the attention of some fifth years. Sam looked up, eyebrows askew, he wasn't that shocked at Cassia's outburst. Corey looked smug.
"So I guess this mean I win?" A scowl collected at the corners of Cassia's mouth.
She looked away, she hated wizard chess, but she was still a little ashamed. Her eye caught something moving, a bishop, hobbling across the stone floor towards the upturned board, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
Corey took this as a sign to increase his gloating. He began a rousing chorus of his usual victory song
"For he is the Corey my friends, dun dun dun dun! And he'll keep on winning till the end, dun dun dun dun! He is the Corey! Heeee is the..."
"Corey shush!" Cassia's voice was low and quiet, no longer joking. She watched in silence as the diminished Black and unfortunately substantial White armies collected at the board. She padded over to it, bare feet on cold stone and carpet.
Her fingers fumbled as she picked up the board. She took it over to Sam's sofa, firelight danced over her face, she placed it down on the hearth, swiveled on the spot and waited.
The chess pieces began, with indistinguishable grumbles, to walk towards the board. Cassia's eyes grew wide. The pieces began assembling at the board. Her smile became impish.
"Cass?" Corey had given up gloating. He stepped over to her in thick grey socks. His blonde hair was messy from the rain, his eyes held a hint of concern.
"No time to explain!" Snatching up the pieces and the board under one arm Cassia grabbed his hand. She pulled him across the common room, dodging sofas and students, then out the door. In their haste they almost ran into Leota, who was coming back from the kitchens her arms laden with food.
"Guys?" The girl swayed, barley regaining her balance.
The pair were almost halfway down the corridor by the time she had spoken. She shrugged and poked her head round the barrel entrance to her common room.
"Sam, you coming?" The boy looked up from his book. He shook his curly black head and jumped up. In one fluid motion he scooped his bag off the table, shoved his book inside and rushed towards the door.
The second pair followed at a slower speed, Sam taking some of the food off of Leota. They quickened their pace as the other two disappeared out of sight round the corner.
It was a flurry of running, slipping in damp socks, bare feet on bare stone, skidding around corners, tripping up stairs. Corey was acutely aware of Cassia's hand in his.
They rushed up countless stairs until Cassia found what she was looking for, whatever that was. Corey recognized the deserted corridor on the third floor, it flanked the courtyard two floors down.
Rain was still pouring behind the stained glass windows and exposed pillars. Cassia dropped his hand. Corey's stayed in place, just in reach, she was too busy to notice.
Carefully Cassia laid out the chess board, all the pieces reassembled for the start of a new game. She snatched four pieces at random and sprinted to about halfway down the corridor. Dappled light danced over her face as she placed them painstakingly on the floor.
"So what's this all about then?" Sam rounded the corner about a minute later.
"Beats me" Corey stood near the board, the pieces hadn't moved. Cassia had a face of thunder, Leota cocked her head.
"Cass?" Leota walked down to her.
"Mmmmmm" Cassia murmured noncommittally. She was staring intently at the unmoving pieces.
Sam walked slowly down to join them, he watched the onslaught of rain, noted the concern on his friend's faces and tried to figure out what to say.
"Cassia Vesance Black! What the hell is going on?!" His voice was strong and commanding. Her head jerked up, suddenly realising herself.
"Sorry." She looked around at her friends "It's just I..." A harsh shiver went down her spine.
"Cold?" Leota smiled, she pulled two thermoses out of what seemed like thin air. Cassia detected the wonderfully sweet scent of Dirigible Plum tea.
"Fucking freezing." Cassia looked down at her bare, exposed feet.
Corey collected the board and ambled down towards his friends. By the time he had gotten to them they were sitting at the side of the corridor, backs to the wall, watching the rain through the colonnades.
He dropped down next to Leota, the witch was pouring out warm pumpkin juice into collapsible goblets. The group was quiet for a while as they warmed themselves and tucked into the cake that Sam had produce from his bag.
"I thought they would move," Cassia offered as some means of explanation. Three heads turned. "the pieces..." She unclenched her hand to reveal the four she had snatched up, she let them drop to the floor. "In the common room," she continued "they walked back to the board."
"Yeah, you moved the board" Corey chipped in " and they followed."
"Yeah, they did. But there..."She trailed off.
"Mmmm, here." Sam murmured "Why'd you run here?" he secretly missed the warm fire.
"So no-one else would see it?" Leota offered. Cassia nodded, Leota knew her well.
"Of course." Corey rolled his eyes, Cassia was no the most trusting of people.
"But it didn't work" Cassia sighed.
They sat in silence again, each considering the puzzle. They remained quiet, aside from the roar of the rain, until the cake was finished.
"Back to the common room?" Leota suggested, she saw Cassia stubbornly getting cold and Sam was shivering.
"Spose." Cassia got up slowly, resigning herself to defeat.
The quartet packed up their things and began back down the corridor. Deep in thought they descended a thankfully-static flight of stairs in silence.
All of a sudden Corey let out a whoop and began bouncing up and down. The other three thought he looked positively mad.
"What?" Sam questioned. Corey grabbed him by the shoulders, an inch from his friend's face, a huge grin had enveloped his face.
"The anti-cheating jinx!" Corey almost shouted. Sam's eyes widened, the girls looked incredulous. The boys bounded back up the stairs, Cassia and Leota hot on their heels. All thoughts of cold had left them as they raced back to the corridor. It was still deserted.
Corey threw down the board in a flourish, the pieces scattered. He and Sam dropped to their knees on the cold stone floor. Snatching at the pieces Corey began to explain at double speed.
"I read it, earlier. When Cas was taking ages to move. I read it! On the box!" He placed a rook and knight. "Each set is bewitched" He intoned from memory. "Don't you see, to stop cheating." Sam stretched for a bishop.
"So when I swept the board?!" Cassia realised.
"Yeah!" Corey almost shouted "They remembered, the walked back, to where they were, before." He gestured vaguely at the assembled board.
"Play me?" He asked Sam coyly. They began.
Ten moves in the boys stopped. The girls looked on. No-one breathed. Corey stuck out his arm, looked around for approval. Leota and Cassia nodded frantically.
Sam grinned and swept the pieces off the board. The bounced down the corridor. Skidded to a stop. Anticipation echoed with the rattle of pawns. No-one spoke.
Slowly, painstakingly, the chess pieces got up and hobbled down the corridor back to their board.
Shouting, clapping, Cassia and Leota joined hands and jumped frantically up and down. Corey playfully punched Sam on the arm.
"You stole my swipe." Sam just grinned. More shouting, a chorus of whoops. Cassia flung her arms around Corey's neck.
"You genius!" They quickly broke apart. Everyone was grinning; caterpillar smiles. In all their excitement the board rearranged itself. Once they had all calmed down Corey spoke up.
"Well this is great, but what now?" A beat of silence. "I mean what's the use?" Sam just grinned at him
"Whoever has the board has the power!" He wiggled his fingers, Corey looked confused.
"You can follow them back," Leota added "You can always get back to the board..."
AN: Please review. I would love to hear what you think...