Twenty minutes later, Marisa was two pawns and a bishop up, but Potter and Granger had managed to get one of their pawns dangerously close to the edge of the board and Marisa's rook was forced to defend against its promotion.
Marisa's defences were more or less intact, but it was getting towards the stages of the game where a wall of pawns in front of her king was doing more harm than good. "Pawn to f7," she said, and glanced over to see how Leo and Weasley were getting on. Their game had by the looks of the board been very brutal and involved lots of exchanges, and Leo now had bishop and knight against Weasley's rook, and the two sides were vying over pawns locked together in the middle.
She turned back to her own board to see Potter launch a bold attack with his rook, offering to exchange it for hers – a deal that she couldn't afford to take, despite her advantage, because if she did, they'd promote the pawn and put her in a very dangerous position. Instead she retreated the rook along the file while still attacking the square in front of the pawn.
This, however, left her knight exposed and undefended: Potter quickly took it with his rook. She frowned and stared at the board for a minute before announcing her next move, advancing her own pawn further and then pausing as she heard Leo announce "Check" to a groan from Weasley.
"Rook to h3. Check."
Marisa sighed and instructed her king to escape to g8.
"So mad girl's playing chess with Gryffindors now, is she?"
Marisa glanced up to see Theo glaring at her, wand already out.
"Yup," she said. "Although I'm not mad. Is your wand out because you want to jinx me or because you think I want to jinx you?" Scaring and disconcerting people, she'd decided, was very enjoyable, if only for the joy of seeing the looks on their faces.
"I think you want to jinx me," said Theo. "Why are you associating with Gryffindors?"
"Why not? And I don't want to jinx you, but that might change if you continue to ask stupid questions. Oh yeah, and pawn to c6."
"Because they're – well – Gryffindors," said Theo.
"They're fun to mess with. A bit like you, actually. I think we're nearly done here if you don't mind waiting."
"Waiting for what?" asked Potter.
"A meeting," answered Marisa. "Ask Leo, it's kind of confidential."
"Leo?"
"I'm thinking," said Leo, who was studying his board carefully. "Don't distract me."
"Am I allowed to explain, then?"
"Fine."
Marisa tucked her hair behind her ears, paused to observe Potter's move, and then said "Rook to d1. It's an extra-curricular group, we mainly do practical spell work."
"Sounds interesting," said Granger. "Can we join?"
"No," snapped Theo.
"It's restricted to Ravenclaws and Slytherins," explained Marisa, "but maybe Leo can make an exception or change the rules."
Theo looked, to say the least, less than pleased by this. "What the – "
"Language," said Marisa. "Leo's in charge, he gives the orders. His decision."
"Oh," said Leo sarcastically, attacking Weasley's pawn with his bishop, "so now there's a tricky decision to be made I'm the sole leader and you have no authority whatsoever? Really, I'd almost think you're trying to deny responsibility for the consequences."
"Yup," said Marisa cheerfully. "Guilty as charged."
"Rook to e3," said Granger. Marisa quickly moved her bishop to d4 to defend the pawn.
"Let me think about it," said Leo. "And about my next move."
There was a long pause, during which Marisa was able to push her pawn forward another square, but at the cost of her rook being forced to defend it now it was on a different-coloured square to the bishop.
Daphne and Tracey strolled up to the group, Tracey looking rather glum and glaring half-heartedly at Marisa. They were followed by a group of Ravenclaw girls chatting amongst themselves.
"I think a democratic method would work best," said Leo slowly. "If a majority of our current members vote in favour the motion will be passed. So we need to wait until the others show up."
Marisa nodded, smiling as she announced "Pawn to e7. Now who's denying responsibility?"