章節 237: Oleandra Cheats at Chess
After dinner, the students from the four Houses gradually streamed out of the Great Hall and back to their respective common rooms. After ten minutes, the Hall had pretty much emptied itself; whoever was still here was not likely to leave any time soon, so Oleandra didn't stand on ceremony and headed over to the Gryffindor table, where Ron and Hermione were unpacking a Wizard's chess set. Tracey hurriedly picked up her things and followed after her.
"Like it? I got it from a Wizard Cracker at Christmas two years ago," Ron said, before coughing and commanding the pieces in an authoritative tone, "Pieces, to your starting positions!"
Pawns, rooks, bishops, knights, queens and kings saluted and took their positions on each side of the board, though the white king took a little more prodding.
"Stupid king," Ron muttered, flicking the white king upside the head with his finger. "This one's always been a bit slow, ever since Percy stepped on it— go on, hop to it!"
"I've played around with the pieces with my sister when I was younger," Oleandra admitted as she watched the pieces move, "but I've never actually played a serious match. Or game, or whatever you call it."
"Do you know the rules?" Ron asked, gesturing for her to sit in front of him.
"Is it the same rules as regular chess?" Oleandra asked.
"Er…" said Ron, looking to Hermione for confirmation.
"Yes," Hermione confirmed.
"In that case, yes," Oleandra said.
Hermione and Tracey made themselves comfortable on their sides of the table, and they began taking out their homework. If they weren't going to be playing, then they might as well get busy doing something useful. Oleandra looked at the Lady of the Lake for directions, but she simply smiled enigmatically.
"I'd be careful if I were you," Hermione suddenly said before they began. "Ron's really good at chess."
"Better than you?" Oleandra asked incredulously, to which Hermione responded with a short nod. Somehow, the idea of Ron being better than her at something seemed quite ludicrous.
Oleandra was playing whites, so she was to make the first move of the game. She decided to go with a standard opening… which for her was making pointy triangles with her pawns.
"Pawn to D4," Oleandra said, asking one of her pawns to move two squares up.
A few minutes later…
"…"
"…"
"Check."
"…"
"Check."
"…"
"Checkmate."
And less than twenty moves later… Oleandra's king was put into checkmate, and she had lost. Oleandra glared at Viviane, who was floating unconcernedly above the board on her side; what exactly had she done to deserve such a thrashing? Where was the lesson she'd been promised? Meanwhile, Ron was looking quite pleased with himself; he was already setting up the board for a second game.
"By the way," Oleandra asked, making small talk. "Harry's not playing with us tonight?"
Ron opened his mouth to talk, but Hermione quickly shushed him, taking the conversation's reins before the red-headed boy said anything stupid.
"He's writing a letter to Moony and Padfoot," she said meaningfully, poking Ron in the ribs. "About the strange things that have been going on, lately."
Oleandra knew those names; she had seen them appear on the Marauder's Map, which had been created by Harry's father and his friends from a torn-out page of the Book of Admittance and penned with the ink from the Quill of Admittance. Moony was Remus Lupin, an allusion to him being a moon-addled Werewolf; Padfoot was Sirius Black, on account of him being a dog Animagus.
"Oh really?" Oleandra said. "The last letter I got from Moony was last summer— What are they both doing?"
Tracey shot Oleandra a quizzical look, but she ignored it.
"Strange company you keep, I must admit," Viviane commented. "A Werewolf and a criminal."
Hermione shared the information that they had learned from Black and Lupin so far: namely, that Professor Karkaroff used to be a Death Eater and that Bertha Jorkins, who would have known about the Triwizard Tournament, had disappeared in Albania, which was where Lord Voldemort had last been sighted.
"I wouldn't put it past an ex-Death Eater to try and poison you," Tracey said thoughtfully.
"That's also what we thought," said Hermione. "But why would he try to kill Oleandra, and not Harry? It doesn't make any sense."
"Probably because I've got a better chance than him at beating his precious champion," said Oleandra. "You say he's figured out the clue, but has he figured out a way to… you know, for an hour?"
"Nice try," snorted Ron. "But you're not getting answers out of us. So, up for a second game?"
Oleandra rolled her eyes— as if she needed help breathing underwater. Nevertheless, she nodded and turned her attention to the game. This time, she had the black pieces, so she was going second. The game proceeded much like the first— nothing much happening at first... or so she thought.
"Open your Mystic Eyes," Viviane suddenly said.
Oleandra didn't see the point of being able to see magic in this situation, but she did as she was told.
"All Greater Fairies possess the ability to see through lies and deception," Viviane continued. "We are not able to utter falsehoods knowingly, but in exchange, our eyes can seek truth in all things; being able to see magic, which is a lie onto reality, is but a fraction of their capabilities. Now, look here…"
Viviane pointed to a particular piece that Ron had put forward on the board, which appeared seemingly defenceless, with no other piece protecting it at the moment. It was glowing purple in her magical vision.
"What would happen if you took this rook with your queen?" Viviane questioned her. "Look at the colour, all is not as it seems…"
Oleandra thought about it for a moment. Her queen would be fine, and nothing else major would be exposed to danger with her actions… but hold on, what if Ron sent his bishop across the board, from one corner to the next, past her line of defence? With her queen out of the way, he would be able to devour all her pieces from within, starting from his next turn! What a frightful trap! Oleandra shored up her defences, ignoring the tasty bait that had been laid out for her, causing Ron to scowl.
Viviane coached her on what to look for when searching for traces of deception, though Oleandra still ended up losing due to messing up the early game. Eventually, detecting lies would become an automatic reflex for her, like a form of hyper-intuition.
"Good game!" said Ron, "I reckon you're getting the hang of it— how about one last game?"
"Let me handle this one," said Viviane with a sly smile. "It's been a while since I've had some fun. I know a bit of strategy from my time as a general in the army; I'll teach this little brat a lesson or two…"
True to her word, Oleandra, following Viviane's instructions, absolutely crushed Ron in the following game, to his absolute shock. Oleandra quite enjoyed watching his cocky expression turn to disbelief when he realized he was going to lose to a total beginner!
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