Checkmate

Part I - The Setup - Chapter 5

This is the one situation I wanted most to avoid

My dear opponent – I really can't imagine why

So I am not dangerous then? – what a shame!

Oh you're not dangerous – who could think that of you?

You – you are so strange – why can't you be what you ought to be?
You should be scheming, intriguing, too clever by half –

Lyrics from "Mountain Duet" from Chess by Benny Anderson, Tim Rice and Björn Ulvaeus

* * * * *

Draco tapped twice with the knocker, and the large oak door swung open, just as Harry got to the top of the stairs. "Mr. Malfoy . . . Mr. Potter," said Dumbledore, nodding at each of them in turn from his seat in the great chair behind the desk. His voice was grave, and he gazed sternly at them over the top of his half-moon glasses, as they came to stand in front of him. Harry thought he had never seen those light-blue eyes look so unsympathetic, and he felt his stomach drop to somewhere down by his shoes. Maybe this was not going to go as easily as he had hoped. Dumbledore steepled his fingers as he fixed them silently with that pale blue gaze, seemingly at a loss for words to express his complete and utter disappointment in them.

Harry stole a quick glance at Draco. Draco was standing still and straight, his eyes downcast in an attitude of resignation. He was pale, but his chin was up slightly, a gesture not of defiance but courage, of brave acceptance of his fate. And Harry suddenly knew that this time Draco was not going to argue or defend himself, or try to blame Harry, or talk his way out of any punishment. He really has changed, thought Harry, with increasing concern for what was going to happen to him.

"Mr. Malfoy," said Dumbledore in a quiet but severe tone. "It has been reported to me that a great many students witnessed an incident between yourself and Mr. Potter this morning, specifically that you first kicked Mr. Potter in the shin, and then stomped on his foot. Is that true?"

Harry knew he shouldn't, absolutely could not laugh, but the picture of how silly and ridiculous he must have looked welled up in him suddenly, and he nearly did. He looked over at Draco again, and saw Draco bite his lower lip, fighting to keep a straight face, too.

"Yes, sir," said Draco, in a slightly constrained voice.

"And did you not," continued the headmaster, "make a solemn promise to me at the beginning of this school year, when I agreed to make you a prefect, that you would absolutely not fight with Harry Potter? That you would leave him strictly alone?"

There was a long pause. "Yes sir," said Draco softly, all traces of amusement gone.

Harry sobered instantly. Oh no, he thought. This was what I didn't know. But we weren't fighting. And I . . . I don't want him to leave me alone. "Professor Dumbledore, sir?" said Harry, trying to interrupt as politely as possible. "May I say something?"

Dumbledore turned a quelling gaze on Harry. "No, Mr. Potter, you may not," he said firmly. "You will have your chance to speak in due time."

Harry felt a large aching lump form in the back of his throat as Dumbledore turned his attention back to Draco.

"Until today," Dumbledore continued, as if Harry had not spoken, "I believed that you were going to be able to keep that promise." Then he added, in an even sterner tone, "I'm sure I don't need to remind you that you would have been made Head Boy this year, if your behavior, particularly where Mr. Potter is concerned, had not been so disruptive in the past. Your grades are the highest of anyone in your year – you are either ahead or tied this term with Miss Granger for best marks in every subject." Here he paused and eyed Harry severely, too, and when he spoke again, there was a hint of anger in his voice that shook Harry. "But I am particularly disappointed that the two of you must persist in antagonizing each other. That behavior is simply not acceptable or appropriate to your year and positions in this school, and as such, will no longer be tolerated in any way." Dumbledore stood up. "Is that clear to both of you?"