Chapter 24: King and Queen Versus King

15 April 1992

Harry woke up that Wednesday morning feeling slightly energetic. He was looking forward to Charms and hopefully earning Slytherin extra points. Slytherin now had an 80-point lead over Ravenclaw in the running for the house cup. Harry knew that if they could just hold on to the lead for less than two more months, Slytherin could easily secure the house cup.

Harry, Draco, and Pansy ate breakfast with the other Slytherin first-years. Harry noticed Crabbe was grabbing an excessive amount of food and putting it on his plate.

Draco had apparently caught wind of this as well. "Fathead, you don't need to consume that much food. You're not on the point of brink starvation."

"But the food tastes so good, Draco", Crabbe said. "Besides, I'm still the strongest in our year."

"Hey, I'm the strongest!", Goyle exclaimed.

"But you two are nowhere near the smartest in our year, no offense intended", Theodore said. "You won't be very strong if you keep eating junk food and don't exercise to atone for it."

"You're not the smartest in our year, either, Nott", Crabbe said. "Granger is."

Theodore sighed and seethed slightly. "Of course, she is", he muttered.

"She may be the smartest, but Gryffindor is still in dead last for the running in the house cup", Draco said. "I'm sure she does extra credit work as well. And even that still isn't good enough to give Gryffindor a fair chance for the House cup."

"We easily could have lost the lead for the House cup, thanks to Montague and Pucey", Theodore said. "Honestly, I know Dalton's a moron, but attacking him in public like that is just plain stupidity. You're basically asking to get punished."

"Thanks for the feedback", Montague sarcastically replied.

"You're lucky that Flint is even keeping the two of you in the starting lineup for the Slytherin Quidditch Team", Draco said. "Warrington was very helpful in our match against Ravenclaw. He and Harry."

"Yeah, that's Warrington. Always helpful. Courageous Cassius. That kid knows no fear", Harry said.

Harry honestly was thankful for the time he and Warrington had spent working together on spells and Quidditch practice, despite being two forms apart. Warrington had given him decent tutelage and was definitely not someone to underestimate. Harry would absolutely keep all of that in mind. He wouldn't forget about him anytime soon.

"Okay, lads, now it's time for all of you to get to your next class. Do it quickly, or Professor Snape will not be pleased", Flint said. "Got to uphold my prefect duties."

Harry nodded and motioned for the other Slytherin first-years to follow him. They all went on their way towards their Charms class. Professor Flitwick was waiting for them.

"Good morning, first-years", Flitwick said.

"Good morning, Professor Flitwick", the Slytherin first-years said.

"Today we will be practicing the box blasting charm. You can see that on each of your desks, I have placed a trunk for all of you to test this spell on. The incantation for the box blasting charm is Cistem Aperio. Please demonstrate it."

Harry pointed his wand at his chest and said, "Cistem Aperio!"

Harry's chest blasted open immediately without delay.

"Well done, Potter! Ten points to Slytherin."

Pansy pointed her wand at her chest. Harry could tell she was having difficulty in casting this charm.

"Cistem Aperia! Cistem Avario! Cistem…"

"Here, let me help you, Pansy", Harry said. He pointed his wand at Pansy's chest and shouted, "Cistem Aperio!"

Pansy's chest blasted open.

"Good teamwork, Potter. Another ten points to Slytherin", Flitwick said. "Just like Mister Potter demonstrated. Blasting your trunk should not be a difficult task at all."

Despite Flitwick's encouraging words, Theodore, Tracey, Draco, and Blaise were the only ones that could open their trunks without any help at all. Regardless, Flitwick was seemingly satisfied and awarded the four of them ten points each. Harry helped Crabbe and Goyle with their trunks, causing him to earn five points each to Slytherin.

After class, Draco grinned at Harry.

"So Slytherin earned seventy points today. That's good."

"Absolutely", Harry said. "It's almost like Montague's and Pucey's mistake never happened. Just two more months and Slytherin will win the house cup for the seventh year in a row."

"I can hardly wait", Draco said. "That will wipe the smug smirk off of Weasley's face."

The ten first-year Slytherins headed to the common room after classes ended. Draco then pulled out his Wizard's Chess set.

"As you know, Harry, a king and queen can easily checkmate a lone king in the endgame", Draco said.

"Really?", Harry asked. "Show me."

Draco then ordered the white king to e3, the white queen to a1, and the black king to e5. White was to move.

Draco then said, "Queen to a4."

The white queen moved from a1 to a4. The black king then moved from e5 to d5.

Draco said, "Queen to b4."

The white queen moved from a4 to b4. The black king moved from d5 to e5.

Draco said, "Queen to c5." The black king could only move to e6 or f6.

The black king moved to e6.

Draco then said, "King to e4."

The white king moved from e3 to e4.

The black king moved from e6 to f6.

Draco then said, "Queen to e5." The white queen moved from c5 to e5.

The black king moved from f6 to f7.

Draco then said, "King to f5."

The white king moved from e4 to f5.

The black king then moved to f8.

Draco then said, "King to f6."

The white king moved from f5 to f6.

The black king could only move to g8.

Draco then said, "Queen to e7." The white queen moved to e7. The black king had only one square left to move to. It had to move to h8.

Draco then said, "Queen to g7."

The white queen moved from e7 to g7.

Draco then said, "Checkmate."

"Well, that was interesting", Harry said.

"Indeed. Harry, I want to see you try it out. You're playing as white, and you're trying to checkmate the black king with your white queen and king. I'll rearrange the pieces."

Draco ordered the white king to be placed on g1, the white queen to be placed on b1, and the black king to be placed on e5.

"Okay, Harry. Demonstrate what you've learned."

Harry then said, "Queen to b4."

The black king moved from e5 to d5.

Harry then said, "King to f2."

The white king moved from g1 to f2.

The black king then moved from d5 to e5.

Harry then said, "Queen to c4."

The white queen moved from b4 to c4.

The black king moved from e5 to f5.

Harry then said, "King to f3." The white king moved from f2 to f3.

The black king moved from f5 to e5.

Harry then said, "Queen to e4."

The white queen moved from c4 to e4. This move put the black king in check.

The black king moved from e5 to d6.

Harry then said, "Queen to f5."

The white queen moved from e4 to f5.

The black king moved from d6 to c6.

Harry then said, "Queen to e5."

The white queen moved from f5 to e5.

The black king moved from c6 to d7.

Harry then said, "King to e4."

The white king moved from f3 to e4.

The black king moved from d7 to c6.

Harry then said, "King to d4."

The white king moved from e4 to d4.

The black king moved from c6 to d7.

Harry then said, "King to d5."

The white king moved from d4 to d5.

The black king had only two squares to move to and was forced to move to the back rank. The black king moved from d7 to c8.

Harry then said, "Queen to e7."

The white queen moved from e5 to e7.

The black king moved from c8 to b8.

Harry then said, "Queen to d7."

The white queen moved from e7 to d7.

The black king moved from b8 to a8.

Harry then said, "King to c6."

The white king moved from d5 to c6.

The black king was forced to move from a8 to b8.

Harry then said, "Queen to b7."

The white queen moved from d7 to b7.

Harry then said, "Checkmate!"

Draco then said, "Okay, Harry. We'll try another example. I'll have the white king be placed on g5, the white queen be placed on e1, and the black king be placed on g7. So, Harry, how would you deliver checkmate in this example?"

Harry then said, "Queen to e7."

The white queen moved from e1 to e7. This move put the black king in check.

The black king moved from g7 to g8.

Harry then said, "King to g6."

The white king moved from g5 to g6.

The black king moved from g8 to h8.

Harry then said, "Queen to g7."

The white queen from e7 to g7.

Harry then said, "Checkmate."

"So, Harry, what have you learned?", Draco asked.

"It is fairly simple to deliver checkmate against a lone king with your queen and king. All the superior side has to do is try to avoid stalemate and use the queen to narrow down the number of squares the losing king can move to."

"Well said, Harry", Draco said. "I can tell you gained a lot of cognizance about chess during the last eight months."