LOG: Chess in the library
Date: Tuesday (are we in realtime? shall I say 08/07? what year are we in?)
Rating: PG for mentions of scandalous past
Characters: Scorpius, Marius
Summary: They play chess. Scorpius very cunningly tricks Marius's secrets out of him, which is to say that Marius is simply very much a Gryffindor, and Scorpius does not have to try very hard at all.
Scorpius walked into the library in long, slow strides, a folded chessboard tucked under his arm. Looking around, he spotted an empty table and moved towards it, noting with a pleased look the visibility from the door. Marius would be able to see him on entry. Sitting down, Scorpius started setting up the board.
"Right at the armor..." Marius looked up, and sure enough there was armor--scary armor, too, not that he was about to admit it. "Then left into the library." He stopped muttering to himself, lest people think he was a crazy person, and folded the parchment and put in in his pocket, lest Scorpius see it. Then, satisfied that he was composed-looking enough, he walked into the library, spotted Scorpius immediately, put on his most mature face, and approached the table.
Scorpius glanced up and saw a boy walking toward him. "Marius, I assume." Saying nothing about the slightly... contorted face that boy was wearing, Scorpius stood and offered his hand to Marius. "Good of you to come. I hope you didn't have to show any lost children your parchment of directions." Only the tiniest of smirks creeped onto his face, which was then quickly obliterated.
Marius gave his tiniest, most grown-up nod and gave Scorpius his manliest handshake. "Hello, Scorpius. The hallways were devoid of lost children, luckily." He missed Scorpius's smirk, too busy looking at the chessboard with something like longing. It had been a long time since he'd had anyone challenging to play. He hoped Scorpius was good. Not too good, though. He didn't think he'd like being beaten into the ground.
"That's good to hear." Scorpius raised a thin eyebrow, studying his oppoent, before reseating himself. He seemed much calmer in real life. And he could easliy see the Weasley in him, too. Why he was trying ever so hard to hide it, he had no idea, but he wasn't going to pry. "Black or white?" Curt.
Marius got the feeling Scorpius was trying to see through him, and he didn't like it one bit, but glaring at him wouldn't do much good and besides, there was a game to be played, so he forced down his irritation and chose. "Black."
Scorpius nodded and promptly moved one of his pawns. Shaking hair out of his eyes, he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "Let's play, Gryff."
A good opening move, Marius noticed. He tried and failed to suppress his grin, and moved one of his pawns in reply. "Do try to stop calling me that."
"I don't see why I should. That's what you are." Scorpius ignored the capture he could make and moved his knight instead.
"You really shouldn't fight it. Obviously you have some Gryffindor in you if you were placed in that House."
"I'll fight it all I want. The hat made a mistake. It was bound to happen eventually. It's probably senile." Marius wrinkled his nose--an unconscious habit that would horrify him if he knew--and moved another pawn.
Scorpius stared at him. "It's a hat. It doesn't turn senile." Another pawn moved. "Just accept it." He examined his thumbnail with an air of boredom.
"I won't accept it because it doesn't make any sense," Marius grumbled, his voice just short of whining, and moved a bishop one space.
Scorpius just barely restrained the urge to roll his eyes and sighed instead. "Fine. Be unreasonable." The knight moved again, taking Marius' pawn. "You obviously won't listen to sense."
"I am never unreasonable. If you knew me, you'd know I don't belong in Gryffindor." But then, in a reckless move that proved just the opposite, he moved out the other bishop and sent it chasing after Scorpius's knight.
Scorpius ignored the bishop and shifted his castle a few spaces forward. "If that's what you think. Just don't emote at me." Flicking his gaze up to the Gryffindor across from him, he watched him carefully. This one was interesting.
"I never emote," he lied, too busy staring at the board to try coming up with something more plausible, and he stayed like that for a few moments before moving out a knight.
Scorpius snorted, then looked mildly horried that he just did. "That proves you don't even know what the word means." He eyed the board carefully before capturing Marius' freshly moved knight with a smooth move from his castle. Curiosity and sensibility fought a battle in his mind and curiosity won out. "Why do you hate Weasleys?"
"Because they deserve it. Because they did something terrible to my mother." Then, furius at himself for revealing even that much, Marius followed up his last stupid move with another stupid move, capturing Scorpius's knight with his bishop, completely forgetting why he hadn't done it the last go round.
Scorpius smirked and took the bishop with his pawn. "How on earth did the *Weasleys* do something to your mother? They're the... soppiest, most soft-hearted people I've ever heard of."
Marius resisted the urge to bang his head on the table. That was most certainly not in his guidebook on decorum. "That's not what my mother says. They're ruffians." Completely distracted and overwhelmed, he moved a pawn out that really should not have been moved.
Quickly capturing the pawn with his knight, Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "Well, why would your mother say that? It's common knowledge the Weasleys are generally kind."
The color rose in Marius's cheeks, and he looked every bit the Weasley, and only the fact that they were in the library kept him from screaming. "The Weasley who--" he hissed, and then clamped his mouth shut and slammed his castle forward instead.
Scorpius, beginning to wonder if he was pushing the boy to hard, prodded him on. "The Weasley who...?" He moved another pawn to trap the castle and turned his eyes, in a slightly worried fashion, to the red boy.
And Marius just wanted this stupid game to be over, so he mumbled, "The Weasley who saddled my mother with me wasn't generally kind," and moved his queen in a manner guaranteed to get him killed if Scorpius was paying attention.
Scorpius was paying attention and ignored the opening. "Oh." He moved a pawn in a minor move instead. "Sorry." He blanked his face, though, rather than show sympathy visually.
"Why? You're not a Weasley. You should be sorry about that move, though. It's insulting." Marius took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, mortified at spilling so much, but proud of himself for at least not revealing the whole shameful business, and moved his queen back.
"Is it not socially acceptable to feel sympathy to someone when something bad has happened?" Scorpius raised an eyebrow and followed the queen with his knight. "I'm not trying to be insulting."
"I made a stupid move. You should have taken advantage of it. And that something bad happened a long time ago, there's no need to be pitying me for it. But at least now you understand why I don't like Gryffindor, or the Weasleys." Of course, as he was saying this, Marius's Weasley genes allowed him to make an actually intelligent move for perhaps the first time in many turns.
"But taking advantage of such a stupid move would have ended the game far too early and you're too interesting of a person to let escape so soon." Scorpius had no emotion in his voice, as per usual, as he gazed at the chessboard. "I suppose I understand." Out came the queen.
"Mother always tells me I'm unique," Marius said, injecting as much arrogance into his voice as he could to make up for all that pansy secret-spilling, and moved a bishop to set up the beginning of a trap.
One of Marius' pawns disappeared under the queen. "I'm sure she does." Quiet. His hand ran through his hand.
Marius bit his lip to keep from correcting Scorpius's pronoun. If he didn't already know, there was no need to tell him, but now he was distracted again and moved his queen forward one less square than he'd meant to.
Scorpius' knight pounced, taking the open queen. "How is your mother taking you being away? Did she smother you?" He picked a hair off his sleeve. "Mine did. It was incredibly embarrassing." My, he's talkative today.
"Mother writes me letters every day. My grandparents smothered me more than Mother did, though." Marius winced at Scorpius's move, knowing that was his own fault, and then moved his castle out in a way that he was pretty sure was guaranteed to make up for it.
Scorpius smiled a real smile and snuck his queen all the way down to Marius' king, sitting a square away. "Check." Glance. "Letters every day? Hmm. I know my mother wants to do that, but she's afraid to seem overprotective. Which seems very unmotherly, actually."
Marius's mouth fell open in shock, and he stared at the chessboard. "Yes, he's worried that the Weasleys here might be a bad influence--" Suddenly, Marius realized what he'd said in his distraction, and he paled, stood with his eyes wide for a moment, and then bolted out of the library.
Scorpius started, jerking up from his chair in surprise as Marius ran from him. As the boy disappeared out the door, he slowly sank into his chair again, eyebrows knitting together. "'He'..." With a flick of his queen, he knocked over the vulnerable king and sat there, thinking, until Pince asked him to leave.
Rating: PG for mentions of scandalous past
Characters: Scorpius, Marius
Summary: They play chess. Scorpius very cunningly tricks Marius's secrets out of him, which is to say that Marius is simply very much a Gryffindor, and Scorpius does not have to try very hard at all.
Scorpius walked into the library in long, slow strides, a folded chessboard tucked under his arm. Looking around, he spotted an empty table and moved towards it, noting with a pleased look the visibility from the door. Marius would be able to see him on entry. Sitting down, Scorpius started setting up the board.
"Right at the armor..." Marius looked up, and sure enough there was armor--scary armor, too, not that he was about to admit it. "Then left into the library." He stopped muttering to himself, lest people think he was a crazy person, and folded the parchment and put in in his pocket, lest Scorpius see it. Then, satisfied that he was composed-looking enough, he walked into the library, spotted Scorpius immediately, put on his most mature face, and approached the table.
Scorpius glanced up and saw a boy walking toward him. "Marius, I assume." Saying nothing about the slightly... contorted face that boy was wearing, Scorpius stood and offered his hand to Marius. "Good of you to come. I hope you didn't have to show any lost children your parchment of directions." Only the tiniest of smirks creeped onto his face, which was then quickly obliterated.
Marius gave his tiniest, most grown-up nod and gave Scorpius his manliest handshake. "Hello, Scorpius. The hallways were devoid of lost children, luckily." He missed Scorpius's smirk, too busy looking at the chessboard with something like longing. It had been a long time since he'd had anyone challenging to play. He hoped Scorpius was good. Not too good, though. He didn't think he'd like being beaten into the ground.
"That's good to hear." Scorpius raised a thin eyebrow, studying his oppoent, before reseating himself. He seemed much calmer in real life. And he could easliy see the Weasley in him, too. Why he was trying ever so hard to hide it, he had no idea, but he wasn't going to pry. "Black or white?" Curt.
Marius got the feeling Scorpius was trying to see through him, and he didn't like it one bit, but glaring at him wouldn't do much good and besides, there was a game to be played, so he forced down his irritation and chose. "Black."
Scorpius nodded and promptly moved one of his pawns. Shaking hair out of his eyes, he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "Let's play, Gryff."
A good opening move, Marius noticed. He tried and failed to suppress his grin, and moved one of his pawns in reply. "Do try to stop calling me that."
"I don't see why I should. That's what you are." Scorpius ignored the capture he could make and moved his knight instead.
"You really shouldn't fight it. Obviously you have some Gryffindor in you if you were placed in that House."
"I'll fight it all I want. The hat made a mistake. It was bound to happen eventually. It's probably senile." Marius wrinkled his nose--an unconscious habit that would horrify him if he knew--and moved another pawn.
Scorpius stared at him. "It's a hat. It doesn't turn senile." Another pawn moved. "Just accept it." He examined his thumbnail with an air of boredom.
"I won't accept it because it doesn't make any sense," Marius grumbled, his voice just short of whining, and moved a bishop one space.
Scorpius just barely restrained the urge to roll his eyes and sighed instead. "Fine. Be unreasonable." The knight moved again, taking Marius' pawn. "You obviously won't listen to sense."
"I am never unreasonable. If you knew me, you'd know I don't belong in Gryffindor." But then, in a reckless move that proved just the opposite, he moved out the other bishop and sent it chasing after Scorpius's knight.
Scorpius ignored the bishop and shifted his castle a few spaces forward. "If that's what you think. Just don't emote at me." Flicking his gaze up to the Gryffindor across from him, he watched him carefully. This one was interesting.
"I never emote," he lied, too busy staring at the board to try coming up with something more plausible, and he stayed like that for a few moments before moving out a knight.
Scorpius snorted, then looked mildly horried that he just did. "That proves you don't even know what the word means." He eyed the board carefully before capturing Marius' freshly moved knight with a smooth move from his castle. Curiosity and sensibility fought a battle in his mind and curiosity won out. "Why do you hate Weasleys?"
"Because they deserve it. Because they did something terrible to my mother." Then, furius at himself for revealing even that much, Marius followed up his last stupid move with another stupid move, capturing Scorpius's knight with his bishop, completely forgetting why he hadn't done it the last go round.
Scorpius smirked and took the bishop with his pawn. "How on earth did the *Weasleys* do something to your mother? They're the... soppiest, most soft-hearted people I've ever heard of."
Marius resisted the urge to bang his head on the table. That was most certainly not in his guidebook on decorum. "That's not what my mother says. They're ruffians." Completely distracted and overwhelmed, he moved a pawn out that really should not have been moved.
Quickly capturing the pawn with his knight, Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "Well, why would your mother say that? It's common knowledge the Weasleys are generally kind."
The color rose in Marius's cheeks, and he looked every bit the Weasley, and only the fact that they were in the library kept him from screaming. "The Weasley who--" he hissed, and then clamped his mouth shut and slammed his castle forward instead.
Scorpius, beginning to wonder if he was pushing the boy to hard, prodded him on. "The Weasley who...?" He moved another pawn to trap the castle and turned his eyes, in a slightly worried fashion, to the red boy.
And Marius just wanted this stupid game to be over, so he mumbled, "The Weasley who saddled my mother with me wasn't generally kind," and moved his queen in a manner guaranteed to get him killed if Scorpius was paying attention.
Scorpius was paying attention and ignored the opening. "Oh." He moved a pawn in a minor move instead. "Sorry." He blanked his face, though, rather than show sympathy visually.
"Why? You're not a Weasley. You should be sorry about that move, though. It's insulting." Marius took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, mortified at spilling so much, but proud of himself for at least not revealing the whole shameful business, and moved his queen back.
"Is it not socially acceptable to feel sympathy to someone when something bad has happened?" Scorpius raised an eyebrow and followed the queen with his knight. "I'm not trying to be insulting."
"I made a stupid move. You should have taken advantage of it. And that something bad happened a long time ago, there's no need to be pitying me for it. But at least now you understand why I don't like Gryffindor, or the Weasleys." Of course, as he was saying this, Marius's Weasley genes allowed him to make an actually intelligent move for perhaps the first time in many turns.
"But taking advantage of such a stupid move would have ended the game far too early and you're too interesting of a person to let escape so soon." Scorpius had no emotion in his voice, as per usual, as he gazed at the chessboard. "I suppose I understand." Out came the queen.
"Mother always tells me I'm unique," Marius said, injecting as much arrogance into his voice as he could to make up for all that pansy secret-spilling, and moved a bishop to set up the beginning of a trap.
One of Marius' pawns disappeared under the queen. "I'm sure she does." Quiet. His hand ran through his hand.
Marius bit his lip to keep from correcting Scorpius's pronoun. If he didn't already know, there was no need to tell him, but now he was distracted again and moved his queen forward one less square than he'd meant to.
Scorpius' knight pounced, taking the open queen. "How is your mother taking you being away? Did she smother you?" He picked a hair off his sleeve. "Mine did. It was incredibly embarrassing." My, he's talkative today.
"Mother writes me letters every day. My grandparents smothered me more than Mother did, though." Marius winced at Scorpius's move, knowing that was his own fault, and then moved his castle out in a way that he was pretty sure was guaranteed to make up for it.
Scorpius smiled a real smile and snuck his queen all the way down to Marius' king, sitting a square away. "Check." Glance. "Letters every day? Hmm. I know my mother wants to do that, but she's afraid to seem overprotective. Which seems very unmotherly, actually."
Marius's mouth fell open in shock, and he stared at the chessboard. "Yes, he's worried that the Weasleys here might be a bad influence--" Suddenly, Marius realized what he'd said in his distraction, and he paled, stood with his eyes wide for a moment, and then bolted out of the library.
Scorpius started, jerking up from his chair in surprise as Marius ran from him. As the boy disappeared out the door, he slowly sank into his chair again, eyebrows knitting together. "'He'..." With a flick of his queen, he knocked over the vulnerable king and sat there, thinking, until Pince asked him to leave.