Checkmate

Hermione cringed every time a chess piece was destroyed and she couldn't wrap her mind around the rules. So instead of playing she watched and ate most of the candy. George was pretty good, and Ron was starting to get flustered.

"Check!" George said.

"I thought you were supposed to say checkmate?" Hermione was confused.

"That's only if you have taken down the King. You say check when you've only got one move left before you crush him." George said, looking smugly at Ron.

"Oh shut up. You must've been practising. You were never this good!" Ron pouted as he made a move. George grinned evilly.

"CHECKMATE!" He yelled, jumping up and performing a victory dance.

Hermione laughed. George held out his hands. "Come on!" he said. "We're winners!" His smile was so huge that Hermione couldn't help herself. She took his hands and let him pull her to her feet. She mocked the dance that he was doing and laughed. George laughed too.

Ron was sitting on the floor, his mouth open in shock. "Sore loser, Ron?" Hermione teased, wiggling her hips as George did.

Before Ron could reply, Mrs. Weasley appeared. She gave a surprised smile. "What's going on in here?"

George kept on dancing. "I beat Ronald at chess."

Ron crossed his arms and muttered "I want a re match."

"Oh, lovely! Well I'm glad you're having fun." Mrs. Weasley beamed, walking over to George, reaching up to hold his face. He was much taller than his mum so he leaned down and let her kiss his cheek. "Well don't let me stop the fun!" She said, getting out of the room.

"You said you wanted a re match?" George asked raising an eyebrow at Ron.

"Yes I do. I'm sure you've found a way to cheat."

"I am hurt that you think that of me." George said, faking innocence.

"No you're not." Ron stated.

"Well maybe one more round." George sat back down on the floor. "Hermione are you going to play again? And by play of course I mean ask a dozen questions and eat all of Bertie's Beans?"

Hermione grinned. "No, I think I'm going to read for a bit."

"Yeah, George. So no more dancing with my girlfriend." Ron said.

Hermione blushed and George said, "Oh I'm sure she didn't mind. Right, Hermione?"

Hermione decided to play along. "Oh no, I didn't mind at all! When you win this round let me know and I'll come join you for some more."

"Will do," George winked. Hermione bit back laughter at Ron's furious expression.

"Lay off George!" Hermione burst out laughing and George hid a smile. He raised his hands in surrender. "I'm going to crush you this time." Ron said determinedly.

"I'd love to see you try." George taunted.

Hermione went to go upstairs to find a book and she leaned down and kissed the top of Ron's red head as she passed him. She heard George make a gagging noise and she smiled. She looked around Ginny's room for one of her books. She only found The Tales of Beedle the Bard. She had read it about a hundred times cover to cover on the Horcrux Hunt and she didn't think she'd ever read it again. She only had it still because Dumbledore left it to her in his will.

She knew that there was a book shelf in the family room so she decided to check out what the Weasley's had in their book collection. She had almost made it down the stairs when the front door opened and Harry and Ginny came in. She froze on the steps.

She saw Ron appear with an anxious expression on his face. Ginny didn't look at him and stared haughtily at Hermione. Harry's face was hard. Hermione slowly descended the rest of the steps and stood at the bottom. "Ginny," she began but Ginny looked far from wanting to talk to her. She walked straight at Hermione, pulling Harry with her by the hand.

"Excuse me," Ginny said. "I would like to get to my room if you don't mind moving your ego out of my way."

Hermione's jaw almost dropped. Ginny had never insulted her like that before. "Hey Ginny you better watch your mouth!" Ron said furiously.

"Are you going to make me?" Ginny asked, shooting him a look.

"Maybe I will! You may be mad at Hermione for saying some things-"

"Saying some things? She practically called me a whore! Yeah, then she told me I was a pest so you know what? If I'm bugging her so much then I'll just stop altogether."

"Harry, talk some sense into her," Ron said.

Harry shook his head. "She's got a point."

"Are you mental?" Ron asked, disbelievingly. "She's over reacting!" Ginny blew out an angry breath and looked away, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What Hermione said was uncalled for. It wasn't nice, whether she meant it or not." He said plainly, putting his arm around Ginny's shoulder.

"I didn't mean it! Harry, as soon as I said it I regretted it." Hermione said.

"Well you must have thought it to have said it," Harry said, looking at her warily.

Hermione didn't want to lie; she had been thinking it. "I was just getting frustrated! I don't like Ginny always bugging me about my relationship with Ron."

"Then why didn't you just ask her to stop? Why not just telling her you don't want to?" Harry said.

"I di-" Hermione stopped. She had told Ginny she didn't feel like talking about it, but she had never actually asked her to stop. They were left in an angry silence.

"All right kiddies, it looks like Dr. George is going to have to settle this. Again." George said as he appeared. "Hermione, you need to apologize to Ginny for what you said. And Ginny, you have to actually let her apologize to you and then forgive her."

Hermione looked at Ginny. "Ginny, it was wrong of me to have said those things to you. I'm sorry." She meant it.

Ginny was silent for a bit, she looked like she was battling internally with herself. "It's ok." She puffed. Hermione wasn't sure if she meant it because when she smiled at Ginny, she didn't smile back.

"Very good." George said. "Now, Harry, Ron, no more taking sides. I don't want to have to sort out another row."

"Fine." Ron said.

"No problem." Harry said. They didn't really look bothered anymore. They were just on edge before because their girlfriends were fighting.

"There we go. Was that really so hard?" George asked. No one said anything. "Apparently. Ron, are we going to finish our game?"

"What? Oh yeah, sure. C'mon Mione." He held his hand out for her. She rushed over and took it, not looking back at Ginny, or Harry.

She wasn't in the mood for reading anymore so she just sat beside Ron and rested her head on his shoulder, trying not to think about Ginny. "Even though she's sitting with you, Hermione is still on my team." George said, after telling one of his chess pieces to move. It crushed one of Ron's Pawns.

"Yeah I'm definitely on George's team."

"Thanks. It's very encouraging when you're girlfriend tells you things like that." Ron joked. "We should settle this, though."

Hermione laughed. George looked at Ron. "Alright. Winner gets Hermione as a teammate for good."

"You better win, Ron." Hermione warned. "Or else I'll just have to sit with George instead of you." George waggled his eyebrows.

"Oh, you're on." Ron said. "I'm going to crush you like a bug."

"Sure about that, Ronniekins?" George instructed a piece to move. "Check." Ron's jaw dropped.

"There's no way." He looked desperately at the board. Hermione took her head off his shoulder and couldn't help but giggle. Ron really didn't want her to be Team George. "Bloody hell I can't do anything!"

"Looks like Ron has finally found a better chess player than himself." George said triumphantly. "Checkmate!" George got up and began dancing again. "Hermione is officially Team George."

Ron's face was so red and George's dancing was so hilarious that Hermione couldn't take it any longer. She burst out laughing. Her sides began to ache and she looked at Ron. He was moping. "Oh come on Ron. I may be Team George but I'm still you're girlfriend."

George swooped in between them and lifted Hermione to her feet. "Yes and right now you're girlfriend is dancing with me." He twirled her around and Hermione laughed. Her and Ginny's row dropped from her mind. She was having too much fun at the moment. Ron just shook his head and muttered something about George being a prat.