“Checkmate.”

Hermione sucked in her breath. She glanced between the two boys, waiting for someone to speak. As a child, she never really enjoyed playing chess. She had read the instructions. But actually playing it? It had never appealed to her. Wizards Chess had seemed like childish version of the complicated game; thus, she had rarely ever watched the boys play it in the common room.

But this game had been different.

“I’ll set up the pieces again,” said Ron, tapping the board with his wand. All the shattered chess pieces melded back together again, restored to their rightful places.

“What, two out of three?” said Draco with a drawl. He rested his head against the back of his chair. “Face it. I’ll just beat you again, Weasley.”

The side of Ron’s mouth slid upward. “We’ll see, Malfoy.”

Hermione lost track of the time as she watched the second game. It’d been years since she had read the instructions, so the pattern of this game looked exactly the same as the previous one. Ron was hunched over the board, while Draco moved his pieces from a distance, commanding them with a lazy air or using his wand when a practically stubborn piece wouldn’t move.

Until something changed.

At one move from Ron, Draco sat up from his lounging position, his legs unfolding. His eyebrows crinkled. Soon, he hunched over the board, taking the game a little more serious this time. Hermione vowed to reread the instruction book on chess, wishing she knew what was going on in the game. Pieces were shattered as the moves continued.

And then—

“Checkmate.”

Draco’s king lowered his sword in defeat. Ron smiled, looking up at Draco. The other boy didn’t say anything, staring at the board in concentration. After a long moment, Draco leaned back and extended his hand. Ron grinned and shook it.

“Well played, Weasley. Were you just figuring out my style in the first game?”

“No,” said Ron with a shake of his head. “You caught me off guard, but I’d say we’re evenly matched. Wanna play again?”

“Of course.”

The board was reset and the game was on once again. Hermione smiled to herself. She settled back against her chair, looking around the hospital wing. Most of the younger students were asleep in the beds, while some of the older ones were studying in bed. The other prefects had passed out in their seats during the first chess match. Hermione blinked, her eyes growing heavy. The other Heads of Houses, who had arrived after the prefects had alerted them, were clustered together, talking in low voices. McGonagall looked like she wanted strangle something.

Probably Umbridge.

Hermione had no qualms about removing Umbridge from the school. That woman wasn’t a teacher; she was a disease. Maybe tomorrow, they could do something about her. Something inside Hermione knew that this incident wouldn’t be the thing to get rid of her.

No, the Ministry was too powerful.

That didn’t mean the students didn’t have power, too. It was too bad that something like this had to happen, just for the houses to get along a little better. It wasn’t a cure all, but it was a start. Perhaps uniting against a common enemy would help even further. They just needed a plan.

Hermione fell asleep with conspiring smile on her face.

***

Severus stepped out the fire grate, fuming internally at the sheer audacity that the old man had. He was furious with Dumbledore and he doubted that he would get over it quickly. In his mind, two sides warred with each other. The one side wanted to gut the old man for letting things go as they had. But the other side had more compassion, arguing that Dumbledore was only human and was doing the best he could.

But that didn’t mean Severus didn’t feel that the old man needed a good swift kick to the pants. In fact, they all needed one for just standing by and letting the Ministry do whatever they wanted to this school.

Severus glanced towards Harry, seeking for some hope. The boy didn’t look that much better, but he didn’t look worse either. He raised an eyebrow at the scene around the boy’s bed. Most of the prefects had fallen asleep, including Miss Granger. However, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy were playing chess, of all things. They weren’t fighting or shouting or arguing or trading spells – it was official: Severus had seen it all.

“Severus,” whispered McGonagall, motioning towards herself. He sighed and stepped closer to the other teachers. “Why didn’t you alert me sooner?” she hissed, her expression pinched.

“I had more pressing matters to deal with,” snapped Severus, his patience thinning. He needed to check on Harry. “For example, making sure that no other student was suffering under the same effects.”

McGonagall opened her mouth to protest, but Pomona Sprout cut her off with a mild stern voice, “Minerva, have some sense. I’m sure Severus was doing what he thought best. You would do no different under the same circumstances.”

“You’ve been to Albus, then?” asked Flitwick.

“Yes, he has Umbridge.” Severus shook his head. “However, I doubt that he’ll be able to do anything to stop her at this time. To get her removed, we need to testify under trial. She wields too much power right now.”

There might even be some problems between Severus and her, since he had nearly threatened to kill her. Oh, well. Severus wasn’t devastated.

“I’ll turn her into a mouse and eat her myself,” hissed McGonagall. “Using that–that horrid object on the students – never in all my years…”

“I’m sure there are more Slytherin ways of dealing with this,” said Severus with a sneer. “We do, after all, have quite the energetic army at our disposal.”

The light in McGonagall’s eyes gleamed.

“And four Weasleys in my house.”

“What marvelous little soldiers they’ll be,” said Severus lightly. He nodded to them and pulled away. “Excuse me, I need to check up on Harry.”

He turned, missing the pleased smirks that every teacher had on their faces.

As he walked towards the boy’s bed, he caught sight of Luna standing nearby. She kept back somewhat from the group that was around Harry. Severus could see the mark that horrible woman had etched into the girl’s right hand, I must not be a dreamer.

Severus would never admit it out loud, but he had a soft spot for the girl. She had been one of the few students who hadn’t been frightened of him, who hadn’t slacked off in his class, who always maintained politeness when addressing him – and, of course, her crazy theories of his ‘true’ identity. Her humorous attempts at whispering her thoughts on this was one of the few things that kept his sanity high.

And that woman had tainted this unusual girl.

He drew closer and whispered, “Are you well, Miss Lovegood?”

“Oh, hello, Professor Snape. I’m well enough, thank you.”

“You should be in bed,” said Severus, pointing to said empty bed.

“Oh, yes. But I wanted to make sure Harry was okay.”

Severus raised an eyebrow. Luna sighed.

“I like Harry,” said Luna with a soft smile. “He’s nice to me and doesn’t give me odd looks. He’s my first friend.” Her airy gaze darkened somewhat, as if the light had faded from her heart. Her eyes glanced downward. She whispered, “I don’t want anything to happen to him.”

“He will be fine,” said Severus, his tone powerful. “He’s strong, of that I have no doubt.”

Luna looked up at him and smiled; the light returned to her eyes.

“I believe so, too,” said Luna, clasping her hands together. Something drew Severus’ attention to the back of her left hand.

Severus’ hand snapped out of its own accord, grabbing Luna by her left wrist. She didn’t flinch at his sudden movement, only watching with a light gaze. He turned her palm downward. Etched in her left hand was a second phrase.

I must not proselytize to others about my false notions.

“I got that a few days after the first,” said Luna, acting as if nothing odd had just happened. “But my right hand was still hurting and that’s why I used my left hand. I’m not very good with my left hand, but my handwriting doesn’t look too bad, does it? Maybe I should practice more. Then, I could become ambidextrous. That would be rather useful, wouldn’t it be, Professor Snape?”

Severus slowly placed his hand over hers, hiding the phrase from view. Luna gazed up at him, her silver eyes filled with a hidden emotion that he couldn’t quite interpret. He forced all thoughts behind his shields. He wanted to kill something right now. More like someone. A certain squat, nasty pink someone, if one wanted to be exact.

But those eyes stared up at him with gentle expectation.

“What were the events proceeding this?” asked Severus, his voice soft.

“I saw Cho Chang crying in the hallway,” said Luna. “She’s been quite sad this year. She misses Cedric Diggory. We all do. I tried to cheer her up and told her that it wasn’t like she wouldn’t see him again. After all, death isn’t final. It’s just a time of separation. It’s sad that loved ones go, but we’ll see them again.”

Severus sucked in a silent breath.

He’d have to face Lily again. He’d have to justify the reason why he had hated her son and had cruelly treated him for so many years. Every excuse would die in his throat. Her eyes – oh, her eyes – would pierce his soul, stopping those feeble excuses from being spoken out loud. He would stand before her, realizing that he should’ve done more, that he could’ve done more, that he could’ve influenced her only legacy for good.

It’s not too late.

No, it wasn’t too late. There was plenty of time to show Lily that he was going to do right by his mistakes. All of them. All of them. He wasn’t going to hide beneath the excuse of ‘being undercover’ as a Death Eater. He was free now – free to make better choices in his life.

I promise Lily that I’ll do all I can to protect your son. More than I ever have before.

Severus swallowed, forcing the surge of emotion behind his shields. He kept his face impassive. He patted Luna on the hand.

“That woman had no right to… ‘correct’ you on your beliefs,” said Severus. “Hogwarts does not judge nor discourage the vast variety of beliefs and religions of the world. Furthermore, it isn’t against school rules to tell others about what you believe, especially when you were merely trying to help a fellow student.”

“I suspect there will be an Educational Degree by the end of the week, changing that,” said Luna with a lilt in her voice. She smiled at Severus, an almost mischievous light in her eyes. She pulled her hand out of his. “I’ll be fine, Professor. Someone disagreeing with me isn’t foreign to me.”

“I suppose not,” said Severus, amused.

“I better go to Madam Pomfrey. I was fine when I got here, but I do have a headache and I think I’m getting a fever soon. Best get into bed soon.”

And with that, she turned away and skipped the entire way to Madam Pomfrey’s office.