17 June 1989

"Evening," Minerva said, closing Albus' office door behind her. "I hope you haven't forgotten our chess game?"

Albus looked up from the letter he had been reading. "Not at all, my dear." He folded up the letter and slid it into its envelope before casually waving his wand and vanishing the mountain of files that had been sitting precariously on the chair opposite his desk. "I had not realised it was 8 o'clock already."

Minerva raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure? I feel as though I have caught you by surprise," she admitted, taking out her chess pieces. Her eyes then briefly paused on the cream envelope sitting on his desk. Although she had never taught Arabella Fig, she had received one letter from her years ago and remembered the distinctive handwriting. "How is he?" she tried to ask casually.

"Perfectly well. Everything seems to be in order," Dumbledore replied. He then picked up the envelope and slid it into a desk drawer. "Shall we begin?"

Minerva sat down and helped him set up the board. In truth, she wanted very much to ask more about Harry. She had never been too keen with the idea of sending him to live with the Dursleys despite her grudging admittance that it was the safest place he could be – blood magic was a very ancient and powerful form of magic.

Feeling Albus' eyes on her, she made a decision to keep quiet. She trusted Dumbledore and, if anything really were the matter, he would not be calmly playing chess with her now.

"All right," she answered, pushing the thought of Harry Potter out of her mind.

They played for half an hour until Dumbledore's knight took Minerva's last bishop. She grimaced.

"It is not like you to miss that," Dumbledore said. "A lot on your mind?"

Minerva leaned back in her chair and rubbed her eyes. "The Weasley twins have been causing me a lot of grief this week. My mind is not at full capacity this evening."

Dumbledore smiled. "Excuses, excuses," he said.

"If only," Minerva sighed. "I think they are the sole reason I am starting to get grey hairs."

Dumbledore chuckled. "Hardly noticeable."

"Not for long," Minerva answered. "At the rate they are going, I will be completely white by the end of the year. I don't think I will be the only one either. Argus is constantly knocking on my door and complaining about their behaviour. I am not sure how they have done it, but those boys seem to have formed some sort of alliance with Peeves."

"Gracious," said Dumbledore, who seemed to find the situation most amusing. "I concede that is a first."

Minerva shook her head as they went back to their game. "They are worse than their uncles, which is something I never thought I would say."

Dumbledore smiled. "Check," he said after a minute.

Minerva grumbled and placed the tip of her finger under her chin. She narrowed her eyes at the board then finally smiled. "Bishop to F6," she said so that her bishop took his rook.