Chapter 4: Stalemate

18 November 1991

At 7 AM, even before breakfast had started, Severus Snape hurried to Albus Dumbledore's office. Snape had plenty of choice words he would have loved to use when ranting to the headmaster.

Snape wasted no time when he ran to Dumbledore's office. When he used the password for Dumbledore's office (Beater's bat), Snape started shouting.

"That deceiver, Quirrell, is the one that tried to murder Potter at the match. He was jinxing his broom."

"I understand", Dumbledore said.

"Oh, do you really?", Snape asked with bitterness in his voice.

"I do", Dumbledore said. "I'm going to be watching Quirrell closely as of today."

"Watch him closely", Snape repeated slowly, not feeling supportive of Dumbledore's plan in the slightest. Then his anger boiled over.

"WATCH HIM CLOSELY?! ARE YOU JOKING? THAT ASSHOLE TRIED TO MURDER POTTER TWICE! NOT ONCE, BUT TWICE! HE LET THAT FUCKING TROLL INTO THE SCHOOL! IS YOUR OLD AGE CAUSING YOU TO ACT LIKE A DUNCE? I SWEAR, SOMETIMES I DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU OR YOUR STUPID DECISIONS!"

"Severus, watch your tone", Dumbledore said as calmly as possible.

"You should be thankful that Potter and the other Slytherin first-years came to me for help rather than trying to fight Quirrell by themselves. Who knows what would have happened if they had done the opposite."

Dumbledore was silent.

Snape continued. "Potter also asked if he could skip Quirrell's classes. I told him he could do so and I would teach him defensive spells."

"All right, then", Dumbledore said. "Do what you have to do."

Later that day…

All the Slytherin first-years except for Harry went to their Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. When Draco sat down at this desk, he glared at Quirrell briefly. How dare he show his face here after what he did and tried to do to Harry? Why didn't Dumbledore just sack him? Draco couldn't believe the git had tried to kill his best friend without remorse.

Pansy was also disgusted with Quirrell. Pansy might have only known Harry for a few months, but she considered him a really good friend. And no Slytherin would tolerate their fellow housemates getting harassed, especially when they didn't deserve it.

The nine Slytherin first-years, of course, did not want Quirrell to suspect anything. They did their classwork, but did not smile at Quirrell or say anything nice to him. When Quirrell's back was turned, Crabbe and Goyle would mock him and make faces at him.

Meanwhile, at the same time…

Snape was teaching Harry the disarming charm. Harry played along, already being aware of this spell. Harry didn't want Snape to know that he had been taking secret lessons with Flint and Warrington. He didn't have to know…did he?

"Expelliarmus!", Harry shouted, causing Snape's wand to fall to the ground.

"Brilliant, Potter! I am impressed", Snape said.

After class…

"You know, there's still one thing I don't get", Draco said to Pansy and Millicent when they were leaving the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. "Why would Quirrell want to kill Harry? Unless…"

Draco suddenly realized something in horror.

"You think Quirrell could somehow be working with the Dark Lord?", Pansy asked, worriedly.

"Possibly", Draco said. "We better warn Harry in the common room."

In the common room…

Harry found Goyle and Theodore in the common room.

"Hey Goyle, want to play a game of Wizard's Chess?", Harry asked.

"Sure, Harry", Goyle said.

"Theo, do you want to referee the game?", Harry asked Theodore.

"Sure", Theo said.

Harry ordered the pieces to take their places in the starting positions. Harry had the white pieces and Goyle had the black pieces. Theo stood to the side, watching the game closely.

"Pawn to e4", Harry said to begin the game.

And the game seemed to go well for Harry. When twenty-five moves had passed in the game, Goyle's black queen and black rooks had all been captured. When thirty-five moves had passed, Goyle's black king and three kingside black pawns were the only black pieces left. Harry captured all three of those remaining pawns within less than thirteen extra moves. Six moves later, Goyle's bare king was trapped on a8.

Harry's white king was on a6. The white queen was on c1. The white queenside rook was on h1. There were four white pawns on e6, f6, g6, and h6. Harry was closely examining the position. It was clearly winning for him. He needed one move to checkmate Goyle…which was it?

Harry then decided to trap the king a little more to guarantee checkmate. Or so he thought.

"Queen to c7", Harry said. The white queen on c1 moved to c7. Goyle's king looked helpless.

But there was one problem.

"My king doesn't have any squares to move to", Goyle said, frowning.

"Which means it is stalemate, and the game is a draw", Theo said.

"What?! A draw?", Harry exclaimed in shock. He couldn't believe it. Harry had come so close to getting his first win in Wizard's Chess, and he let the win slip from his fingers.

Theo explained the situation. "The reason why it is stalemate is because Goyle's king has no legal moves. The white queen and the white king attack all three of the squares that the black king could move to from a8. However, the square that the black king is on, a8, is not attacked. In other words, Goyle's king is not in check. Which is why it is stalemate and not checkmate."

Theo took a deep breath before continuing. "With a queen and king against a lone king, the win is quite simple for the side with the queen. However, it is also a little easy for the winning side to accidentally stalemate the enemy king on the losing side. This is why you should always make sure the opposing king has at least one legal move before you try to limit its movement during the endgame."

"Thanks, Theo", Harry said. "I needed that lesson."

"Always willing to help", Theo said. "It's better to make those mistakes now rather than later."