Checkmate

The Game Part 7

If it were love I would give that love every second I had
And I do

Lyrics from "Heaven Help My Heart" from Chess by Benny Anderson, Tim Rice and Björn Ulvaeus

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Trailing up the stairs of the Slytherin tower, close behind Draco, Harry felt a bit nervous about being seen since Draco had hurried up the stairs without giving him time to put on the Invisibility Cloak. "We're not likely to run into anyone right now - it's dinnertime," Draco assured him, when Harry voiced his apprehensions as they quietly wound their way up the spiraling stairs. "But if we do . . . I can always use another memory-spell." He grinned wickedly at Harry. "Right now, I'd love an excuse to punch Pansy in the nose and then make her forget how it happened."

Luckily for Pansy, they met no one on the stairs.

Harry was still wearing his winter cloak and wool muffler from walking back from Hogsmeade, but there was something about the closed-in, stony cold of this tower that chilled him in a way that being outside in the frosty fresh air didn't. The Gryffindor tower was never this unrelentingly cold - it was as if the dankness of the dungeons followed Slytherin House, even up into their tower.

Harry shivered slightly while he waited for Draco to unlock his door, and was very grateful to slip safely into Draco's room. The fire was already lit in the hearth and to Harry, as he stepped inside, the room seemed a startling contrast and relief after the tense, frigid trip up the icy tower; it was welcoming and familiar, filled with warmth and sweet memories, a place he belonged in now. He relaxed, the tension of the climb up the stairs forgotten, and smiled as he set his bookbag down just inside the door and began to undo the clasp of his cloak.

Draco leaned up against him for a moment, pressing a brief kiss on the corner of his mouth, then took Harry's scarf and cloak and hung it by the door. "Close your eyes," he said, taking Harry's hand.

Harry did as he was told and allowed himself to be towed blindly away from the door. "What are you up to, now?" he asked, grinning, both amused and mildly suspicious.

They only went a few steps before Draco stopped. "Okay," he said after a moment. "You can look now."

Harry opened his eyes and found himself standing by the table in front of the fireplace, but instead of the chessboard that had been there, the table was covered with a white cloth, and laid with the gold dinnerware from the Great Hall. Two candles stood on either side.

Draco pulled out his wand. "Incendio," he said softly, and the candles flamed with a honeyed glow.

Harry's face lit with surprise and pleasure. He slipped one arm around Draco's waist and pulled him close, his gaze still held by the unexpected sight of Draco's table laid out for a romantic dinner. "Do we really get to eat here?" he asked turning to Draco with a delighted smile. "In your room?"

Draco smiled, exceedingly pleased with Harry's reaction. "We do," he said. "No loud, unruly Great Hall, no boring, nosy housemates . . . just us."

"This is great!" said Harry, moving to sit down. "How on earth did you arrange it?"

"I didn't want to eat in the Great Hall tonight," explained Draco with obvious pride in what he had pulled off, "so I went down to the kitchen to ask the house-elves for some sandwiches or something to bring up here, and I ended up with this." Draco waved his hand over the table and grinned at Harry. "Quite a funny story actually," he added as he sat down in his own chair.

Grinning back, Harry said, "But Draco, there's something missing. You know - the food? Did I mention I was starving?"

With a short laugh and an arch look, Draco raised his wand again and said clearly, "Let the feast begin." Instantly, bowls of food, just the same as down in the Great Hall, appeared on the table.