- Chapter 6 –

- Let the games begin! –

Sweet October was soon entering the scene with its usual unpredictable rain, gusting from the dark skies. Slowly, I began to get used to things. The breakfast for example, always seemed to be different from the one the day before. And professor Snape continued to dislike me-a lot-. In my second potions class, he forced me to drink my own sleeping potion, which wasn't the right colour and made my hands swell up to the size of two shovels. Reason enough for Snape to take five points from Ravenclaw again. Stephany was eating a salad sandwich, when Peter came along.

'Hi Stephany. Hey Yorokei. Do you mind if I borrow Stephany for a while?'

'Of course not. What's it for?'

'The junior quidditch team. Her first game is next week. Ravenclaw against Hufflepuff. We have to discuss her training. Want to come along? That is, if Stephany doesn't object against it.'

'I don't.'

'Okay. If you two just walk along with me?'

We picked up our stuff and walked along with Peter. While walking, we talked about how our study went. I told Peter about my confrontations with professor Snape, and he had to laugh about it.

'That is so usual, Yorokei….Snape hates all students that aren't from his own house! He constantly gives Slytherin points whenever he sees an opportunity to do so, and vice versa he takes house points from any house that isn't his.'

'That's unfair! How can he be a headmaster of any house if he is that way?'

'I don't know Yorokei…. but professor Dumbledore seems to have his reasons to keep Snape around…. and I doubt he is wrong. Dumbledore is a brilliant headmaster, I tell you.'

Peter stopped in the middle of a corridor. I saw nothing that looked like an entrance, and neither did Stephany, looking at her face. Peter just stood there, and pointed up.

'Where you least expect an entrance, huh?'

'The chandelier?'

Peter gazed up to the beautiful bronze chandelier, and shouted: 'water polo!'

'Water polo?'

'Water polo. Favourite sport of Dumbledore.'

'How do YOU know?'

'We don't. We guess…..sure would fit him right, don't you think? Oh, watch it now! It's coming down!'

The chandelier fell down from the ceiling, and nearly crushed us. But it revealed the entrance: a hole in the ceiling. Also, it we saw a rope ladder: the chandelier must have hung on that ladder, but now we could climb straight up to the hole in the ceiling. Peter went first, and we followed him. When we were up on top of the ladder, we could came into a small, round room. A lot of pictures from wizards were hanging there, of which all wore sports robes of different sorts. Beneath them hung articles, probably about the achievements they made in their respective fields of sports.

Peter helped Stephany up, who looked around. She pointed at the doors, which I didn't notice before. There were five doors in the tiny room.

'Peter, what are those doors for?'

'Behind those doors are our different sports sections. We have quidditch, athletics, wizard duels, targeting games and wizard chess and checkers.'

'Wizards chess?', I happily replied.

'Of course', Peter said. 'Wizards chess is one of the fields we Ravenclaw students are most famous for. We have one of the most famous junior wizards chess players in our midst, Dennis Mason. He has a national known status as a player.

'THE Dennis Mason? The one that won the junior wizards chess cup three times in a row?'

'Yes. That's him. Boy, you do know wizards chess, Yorokei.'

'Do I? It's my favourite sport! I know all about it.'

'In that case….Dennis will be giving exhibition matches all this month. I can put you on…next Thursday. Is that all right?'

'What? I will be playing against THE Dennis Mason?'

'Yes, if you want. Next Thursday, right after dinner in the Great Hall. You know where to find the entrance.'

'Okay! Thanks, Peter!'

Just a week later I found myself in the quidditch stadium. Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff! It would be Stephany's first match! This was the junior division of the quidditch competition, which only included students from up to the fourth class, which weren't able to compete in the prime competition. Despite this fact, the competition was very popular amongst students of all classes, as I could see judging by the amount of people that had gathered there. Masses of blue and yellow flags, the colours of the houses, were waved around in the stadium, and the crowd was cheering, even though nothing happened on the pitch yet. Suddenly, the commentator of the match began to speak.

'Welcome to you all! Welcome to the very first junior division quidditch match of the season: Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff! Both teams have gathered brand new players amongst their ranks, so lets give the teams a round of applause! There they are!'

The crowd went wild, and both teams came walking up to the field, towards the quidditch pitch. Some of them were looking around with a nervous look in their eyes, as if they were desperately trying to avoid eye contact with any of the people in the stadium, which of course was quite impossible. The players of the opposing teams shook hands with each others, and Madame Hooch walked up to the pitch.

'Madame Hooch enters the stadium….she releases the quaffle….AND THE GAME BEGINS!'

The players took of from the pitch and the Chasers immediately went after the quaffle. I tried to find Stephany amongst the racing players, but I couldn't find her. What a fast game this was!

'Hufflepuff chaser Jenny Hay takes the quaffle! Jenny has a reputation to keep, so she must fly –oooh!- barely avoided a bludger from Jackson, there! Plays the quaffle to Forrester, but….Intercepted by Ella Knight! Quick pass towards McPherson, can Davenport stop this one? No! And Ravenclaw scores!'

First point scored for Ravenclaw, that should provide the team with a mental boost, I figured. Meanwhile, Stephany was flying stationary high above the stadium, looking around, probably to find the golden snitch. She looked quite nervous, but then again, so did the opposing seeker: a boy with pitch-black hair that partially covered the front of his face. Perhaps this was his first real match, too.

'Ouch! Bludger fight, everyone! Beaters Melissa Johnson from Ravenclaw and Giovanni Ulrich from Hufflepuff are rapidly beating a bludger to each other, trying to gain control over it! Melissa has a hard time because of the highly experienced Giovanni, and OOOH what a surprise! Giovanni loses and gets hit full in the face! Oh god! He falls down! But wait what? Yes! I see! Li Hikari was reckless leaving his goal hoops undefended, and Davies scores! Hikari is going to get it from his coach tonight! That makes the score 20 to 40 for Hufflepuff! But this game is far from over!'

Stephany was still gazing across the field. No sight of the snitch. One of the Ravenclaw chasers got hit badly by a bludger. If this would continue, Ravenclaw might lose! But then, all the sudden…

'Oh! There goes Urban, the Hufflepuff seeker! He races down around the goalposts……Belladonna quickly races after him….has he seen the snitch? I can't see, but it's quite a race between the two seekers! Both of them are new to their teams, so now we can see which team chose best, this year…..Belladonna seems to have a speed advantage, but perhaps Urban can…wait what's he doing? He's making a loop! Belladonna is surprised, and flies into….ouch! No! Belladonna crashes into the barriers of the field! Oh god! Is she alright?'

'STEPHANY!'

I stepped up from my seat, but Lily flew in my way before I could leave.

'No, Yorokei! Look!'

Madame Hooch hurried to Stephany, and seemed to cast a spell upon her. A magical light glowed around her body, and she stepped up again.

'Ferula spell, Yorokei. Heals wounds.'

'Okay…..thanks Lily.'

Stephany stepped back up her broom, and flew back into the game. She seemed alright. But something changed about her. No longer did she look uncertain of her abilities. Even from this great distance, I could see the fire burning in her eyes. She was determined to capture the snitch.

'And Belladonna flies back into the game after a brilliant deceiving move from Urban! And what a move that was! Back to the score! 40 for Ravenclaw versus 60 for Hufflepuff now! The game goes on! And Bernard Banshee nearly gets hit by a bludger himse- Oh my god look at Belladonna!'

Stephany had spurted ahead and was now flying no more then 4 feet from the ground at tremendous speed. The snitch was flying in front of her, almost within reach! But From the other side of the field, the Hufflepuff seeker also came flying in. If this continued to go on this way, he would certainly catch the snitch since it was flying straight to him. The snitch began flying lower, now flying only one foot above the ground.

'The two seekers are head to head now! Steven Urban takes the risk and flies closer to the ground, Belladonna really should fly lower, too, if she is to catch the snitch!'

But then, Stephany took a big spurt with her broom! Now, she was flying right above the snitch. She reached out for it with her arm, but couldn't catch it. There was no more time for Stephany to start flying lower, and Urban was sure to catch the snitch. And then!

'Well, people, LOOK AT THAT!'

Stephany held on to her broom with both legs and one arm, and dropped down her broom, now hanging from it as it flew on. What an exiting game! She reached out for the snitch, touched it, and….

'BELLADONA CATCHES THE SNITCH! What a move! How brilliant…It's 190 to 60 for Ravenclaw! Ravenclaw wins! Oooh, Belladonna crashes into the ground…again! Hope she is okay!'

The Ravenclaw spectators went wild and cheered for their team, and especially Stephany. 'Belladonna!', they cheered, but Stephany lied down on the ground, probably exhausted. The team members flew towards her, probably to congratulate her. I was sorry for not being in the team….I wanted to congratulate her, too…

Stephany ended up in the hospital wing, just for a check-up, because Madame Hooch thought that crash-landing twice during a match wasn't something to be taken lightly. But, Stephany wasn't badly wounded, only bruised a bit. Madame Pomfrey had taken care of the worst injuries, and now she was happy and babbling around as usual.

'It was so exiting! I can't believe I did it…..I just like….saw the snitch, and it was THIS close, but that other guy would catch it if I wouldn't..'

'It WAS a very dangerous thing to do, Steph….'

I blushed a bit.

'You scared the heck out of me, you know…'

'Well….I scared the heck out of myself, too.'

'You are my best friend, Stephany. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you.'

Lily sighed. 'What about me?'

'Well, you are my best friend, too.'

Stephany giggled. 'Jealous, Lily?'

'Hmph. Just a bit.'

'A big bit or a tiny bit?'

'A miniscule bit.'

'Yeah yeah…'

Suddenly, there was some racket in the back of the hospital wing. The doors flew open, and professor Snape came walking in, carrying a girl that was unconscious in his arms.

'Poppy? Where are you?'

The doors flew open again. It was Roy Sulphuryn walking behind Snape, following him in his tracks. Madame Pomfrey came walking towards him, and was shocked to see the girl. I overheard them talking about the girls condition, but I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, only little words like 'accident' and 'didn't mean to'. Roy just stood there, looking, showing no expression on his face.

'Lily…could you go check that out? I have the strange feeling…'

'Okay, Yorokei.'

Lily flew towards the bed, and hurried back.

'Yorokei! You must see this….!'

I walked towards the bed, getting quite a shock. It was Bianca! But her face had swellings on it, and she was unconscious.

'Bianca! What has happened?'

Madame Pomfrey pushed me away from the bed. 'Out of my way! I need to help the patient! We have to get her back to her senses again, first. Professor Snape?'

Professor Snape took his wand, a held his arm stretched above Bianca's chest.

'Reviveae Incantus!'

Red drops formed on professor Snape's wand, and three drops fell down on Bianca. She slowly started opening her eyes.

'Ow….it hurts…', she said, with tears in her eyes. 'Please make it stop…'

I wanted to stroke her, soothe her, but Madame Pomfrey kept us at a distance. She picked up a bottle from the desk next to the bed, and poured some of the potion into Bianca's mouth.

'This will make the pain go away a bit, dear….'

Bianca swallowed the potion and closed her eyes again. Madame Pomfrey looked towards professor Snape.

'She will be kept here for the next two days….it will certainly take some time before all the swellings have gone away…and then, still some time before her face is fully rid of them.'

'Good. Then I will be leaving to my office again.'

'Professor Snape!'

Professor Snape looked at me as if I was a piece of dirt under his shoe. I looked him straight in the eyes, because I knew what the consequences of avoiding his eyesight could be.

'Yes….mister Tokisado?'

'Can I ask…what happened?'

Snape looked even angrier, but stayed calm and answered the question. 'Miss Birdwing refused to help mister Sulphuryn here with his swelling potion, and when he tried to show it to her, he tripped and the potion fell into her face.'

'Are you sure, professor Snape? I mean, they had a fight recently, and…'

'Do not tempt me to deduct point from your house, mister Tokisado…I shall leave, now.'

Snape walked out of the hospital wing, and Roy followed. I looked at Bianca. Despite the swellings on her face, she still was beautiful.

'Bianca?'

'Yorokei? Is that you?'

'Yes…I was here with….how are you feeling?'

Tears dropped down Bianca's cheeks. It was terrible to see such a sweet girl being so sad.

'I feel terrible, Yorokei…..look at me….'

'Madame Pomfrey said you would be fine.'

'That's not the only thing…'

Bianca sighed.

'I…there are things…I can't tell about…. it makes me sad. That stuff with Roy, and…'

'It wasn't an accident, was it?'

'No…Roy was….warning me again not to tell…'

'THE SCUM!'

'Yorokei…'

'Look what he did to you! This has to end!'

'This is something between me and Roy…'

I took Bianca's hand, and stroke it. She smiled. Suddenly I realised what I was doing, and let go of her hand. I turned red and turned my head away. But Bianca reached out to my hand, and tangled her fingers around mine.

'I like it if you…keep me company…'

We both turned red, both not really knowing what to say.    

A few hours later – I don't know how – I found myself back in the Ravenclaw common room, together with Stephany. We were both studying for Charms, professor Flitwick had given us a lot of homework.

'You like each other, don't you?'

'Who?'

'You and Bianca…'

'It is hard to deny I guess, after this afternoon.'

'Any idea how to get to her, yet?'

'Get to her?'

'Ask her out! Do something about it! Get the fire burning!'

'Well….I will try…but I don't know….taking her to the Yule ball would be great.'

'You can't. You know that. Only fourth-years students and up are allowed at the Yule ball.'

I sighed and stood up from my chair. I was just about to go to my room and get something to read, when I remembered I had forgotten something.

'Lily!'

'What?'

'I have forgotten something!'

Lily sighed. 'Again?'

'Please Lily. I know you know what it is! You have a really good memory.'

'I can't even remember what things of importance I am supposed to tell you! How could you say such a thing?'

'Well ehm…you DO remember all things connected to school!'

'Let me think…..aren't you supposed to play chess tonight?'

'Wizards Chess! Against Dennis Mason! I gotta move!'

Stephany grabbed her books. 'Wait, Yorokei! I'm coming with you!'

Next thing, I was standing in the little room, with all doors. Peter was already waiting for me. He grinned as I came in.

'In the nick of time. Are you ready?'

'As ready as I will ever be….'

'Then, enter through the white door.'

It was now I realised there were actually two doors. A white door and a black door. Both had a chess symbol of the chess king on them.

'Why the white door?'

'You are the challenger today. Challengers always play with white.'

'And Dennis…'

'Plays with black.'

'Okay.'

'Go on in, Yorokei. Uhm…'

I opened the door. What was hidden behind it, was incredible. There was a very big balcony, and I walked up to it. Looking down, there was an enormous chess field down below, with enormous chess pieces on it. Also, a huge clock hung above the centre of the chessboard.

'16 by 16 yards.'

Peter smiled.

'It was made two centuries ago, by magic craftsmen who thought it would be much more exiting to play chess in an area this big. It's useful for the crowd, too. Look up there!'

Up to the balcony, there was another balcony with students sitting on comfortable leather chairs. Also, tiny professor Flitwick was sitting in a chair at least four times his size. He looked down with a little spark in his eyes out of exiting. And on the other side of the chess field, on the opposite balcony, a boy with blond hair growing down his neck was looking me straight into his eyes. His arms were folded behind his back, as if he was waiting for me. And he was. I recognized him immediately. It was Dennis Mason. The junior wizards chess champion. He smiled a bit, and just nodded, not saying a word. Professor Flitwick rose up from his chair, and squeaked with his high-pitched voice.

'It is time for the next match! First years student against Yorokei Tokisado against Dennis Mason, junior chess champ! We have seen quite amazing things of Dennis Mason this week already! But perhaps, Yorokei will prove that even a champion has an equal! Are the players ready?'

Dennis nodded his head, and I did the same.

'Then, you can begin!'

I looked towards my chess pieces. Of course, the first thing that sprang to mind was to put my pawn forward from E2 to E4, but would Dennis Mason fall for that? It was quite predictable, perhaps putting the pawn on G2 forward to G4 would be wiser. I was just about to make the make the move, but then…

'BOOM!'

The pawn I just wanted to put forward, had blown up! But why?

'Wait a second, what was that all a-'

But Dennis already announced his move.

'Pawn! E 7 to E5!'

Dennis' pawn moved forward, but then, Peter came walking up to me.

'Wait! Time-out!'

Dennis Mason looked irritated.

'You are throwing off my natural rhythm!'

'Sorry. I forgot to tell him about the time penalty!'

Dennis maked unpatient noise. 'Hmph. Hurry up, then.'

Peter pointed towards the big clock, and began to tell.

'Well, it's like this. To make things a little more exiting for the public, we have introduced the time penalty here at our tournament. That means that you have a limited amount of time to move your chess pieces.'

'How much time?'

'Ten seconds.'

'What?! How can I think in ten seconds?!'

'That makes it such a hard and exiting game to play.'

'And if I don't play within those ten seconds?'

'The piece you last thought of, will…..'

'Blow up?'

'Yes.'

I looked back at the chessboard. This would make things more exiting indeed, but it would also make the game a lot harder to play. Could I compete in such a match?

'Also, Yorokei…If you are to be checked in your turn and can't save yourself within the time, you are declared check-mate, and you lose the match.'

'Anything else you forgot?'

'No…I don't think so…'

'You get 10 seconds extra play time per turn as soon as you have lost the half of your chess pieces.'

Dennis grinned from the other side of the board.

'And now I would like to continue this game. Are you ready, Yorokei?'

I looked down to the chessboard to my pieces. But I never backed out of a chess game before, and I decided this wouldn't be the first time to do so, either.

'Yes, Dennis. Knight G1 to F3!'

'In that case….pawn E5 to E4!'

'Bishop…no……..castle…..make it the….pawn'

'BOOM!'

My pawn on B2 exploded, but Dennis didn't even notice, really. But it did have consequences.

'Pawn, E4, get that knight on F3!'

My knight was stabbed by the pawn with its sword, and exploded. Already three pieces lost….how would this go on?

It was a hard game. Dennis proved worthy of his reputation. My pieces were blown to bits one by one, but I managed to conquer some of his chess pieces as well. His bishop turned out to be a very violent one, but my castle's proved to be it's equal and cornered it, sweeping it off the board. But after 20 minutes, most pieces had already been cleared of the board. The time penalty proved to speed up the match a lot. Dennis and I both seemed to break quite some sweat, until the chessboard only had a few chess pieces left. I had to settle for my king and two castles, while Dennis still had his king, a castle and the most frightening piece of them all: his queen. Dennis certainly had the advantage in this match now. And it was his turn, too.

'Queen……..no, no, king to F7!'

'Castle to G5!'

'Damn….Queen to F5!'

'Wrong move Dennis…'

'What?'

'King to F5!'

My king smashed Dennis' queen from the board. That was a wrong move of him. Probably he had made it because of the pressure of the game. His head was sweaty, and he looked really nervous now.

'NO! NO NO!'

'Sorry, Dennis…..He who makes the move, can't withdraw any more.'

'I…I…'

Dennis looked on the board, and closed his eyes, leaning on the wall of his balcony.

'I give up.'

I looked surprised, and so did the public. But the only thing Dennis did, was letting out a little smile, and looking towards me.

'Congratulations, Yorokei….you have won. I have not played at my fullest….If I would have known of your qualities as a chess player, I would have tried better.'

'But you gave up!'

'I can't win with those pieces, I can tell you know. It might have taken another half an hour, but eventually, you would have won.'

Professor Flitwick rose up from his chair, and squeaked:

'And thus, by the fact of Dennis withdrawing from the match, I declare Yorokei the winner!'

The crowd applauded, and the chess pieces also returned to the board, and began to cheer for me loudly. This was cool! I felt like I could take on the world, now.  Peter walked up to me.

'Good job, Yorokei.'

'Thanks, Peter.'

'You are a natural. Make good use of it.'

A natural chess player….and Stephany was a natural quidditch player. How lucky we were! Perhaps someday, we would become sport idols…although that day could still take ages.