50 50) I know, I know

The duel between both of them had been completely one sided and it had completely bored Severus.

He craved the thrill of fighting someone stronger but it seemed to him that enhancing himself had perhaps resulted in him becoming more stronger than anyone in Hogwarts bar the Professors. And as much as he wanted to test his skills, he wasn't going to egg the Professors for simply doing that.

He was bored, a knockback jinx was all it had taken for James Potter to submit. Even Alice gave a better fight than him when he had trained her a little during the summer.

Speaking of which, he had felt her gaze on him. He sometimes forgot that she was a girl on the light side of spectrum who had stated to broaden her horizons now. But then again she was slowly learning a little more about the world now. He couldn't blame her, she wanted him to not be an extremist in anything. Even if it was in holding grudges or in his methods.

He looked as James Potter was sent into infirmary with a seventh year Gryffindor Prefect who had already dueled.

It seems that knockback along with the physical pressure he later generated to flung him had caused quite a problem for him.

As if he cared about him, huh!

His walk to the Slytherin area was filled with applauses for him and he could see interest in many people's eyes due to the dodging he had done there. It was nothing special for him, the faster he made his body, the better he could perform those things nicely.

He walked back to his postion as he simply gave a nod to Evan Rosier who was walking on his way to the duel with Harry Potter.

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It was the History of Magic class after the lunch today for him as he was sitting once again with Alice on the back of class with a notice me not charm on the area around them plus a silencing ward.

He was leaning on the desk behind him calmly as he looked at Alice who was sitting besides him with a calm look.

"You are really not angry, are you?" He asked for the third time in the span of 10 minutes.

"Severus," Alice spoke up with a sigh.

"I am really not angry," she spoke again tired of the constant pestering. She didn't knew why Severus played around James or didn't finished his fight early. And she had no interest in learning his reasons, she trusted him to make the right decision.

"Oh," he said quietly, in a slow voice looking at her.

"Can you please drop the matter?" Alice asked softly to him. She really had no interest in the reasons behind his actions.

Her grandmother had explained that for a relationship to work, one must sometimes do sacrifices or compromises. Nothing in the world is perfect and sometimes it is better to shape your surroundings for best, rather than to crave the best.

Her grandmother's logic and reasoning were always like that. Sometimes she hardly understood the reasoning behind those words but this was one of the few ones she had understood.

It suddenly reminded her of another thing which had happened two days ago during the time where she had went home to attend the party.

Her grandmother had given her a book which she had seen earlier only in the restricted section.

The world's first comprehensive guide in the art of loving and eroticism - The Kamasutra.

She didn't knew why her grandmother had given her the book with english translation. She however had understood her purpose later.

There was much more to the book than its erotic reputation. While there were various descriptions of sexual positions, it also contained a good description on the basic things of life.

According to her grandmother's explaination on her mortified and embarassed nature, the book was much more than eroticism.

Apparently the book contained lessons on how one can seduce others and manipulate them perfectly. It had embarassed her but her grandmother like always had spoken bluntly.

She remembered the meeting carefully.

Three days ago........

In the room above the library both the grandmother and grand daughter were sitting and talking. Bethany had just given her granddaughter the book on Kamasutra which she hoped would help her greatly. She was growing fast and soon it would be time where she would be in physical intimate acts with her parmaour. She needed to know some things and while her daughter in law was good enough, she thought that it would be better if she herself imparted this advise.

Both of them were playing chess like they did occasionally. However this time Bethany had thought carefully about everything and all to speak to her grand daughter. Simply muggle one not the wizards chess as her grandmother preferred this one.

"Have you ever wondered why the King is one of the weakest pieces in the chess?" She asked looking at her granddaughter inquiringly.

Alice looked at her grandmother's imploring gaze as she found herself on one of those 'measuring stares' of her grandmother.

"No," she spoke up after moments of silent thinking.

"I must confess. I have always wondered, why is it that the king piece so weak? Why is the queen so much more powerful than him? How can a simple pawn be made the most powerful of pieces?" Bethany asked back with a small smirk on her old face.

"I myself didn't knew about those things until my aunt told me about it," Bethany continued on as she fondly remembered her aunt who had been one of the generals of Grindelwald's army and had died in the war. A lady who had taught her many things about life and basic human emotions.

"The king's strength lies less in his personal skill at arms but more in his ability to command others. You may consider that a king would be a fine and great warrior like King Arthur. While it's true that there were kings who could wield sword and slay their enemies better, it is not always the case Alice. A king may grow dependent on luxuries of his life and may enjoy the perks of it leaving his skills rot. There had been many such in the history and for the same reason it is believed and told that the king's greatest powers lies in commanding his people. You may be a man more handsome and more skilled than your King in fights, but even you had to go and follow his every whim like a dog because you are a mere servant in front of him," Bethany explained calmly to Alice who soaked everything.

"A wise king knows the areas in which he is lacking, and delegates to those with greater skill and talent then him. He listens to his counselors and heeds their advice but does not let them rule him. He could be manipulated according but at the end of the day it was the King who decreed it, therefore the blame will go on entirely to him," Bethany continued on slowly as she sipped the mild hot tea.

"In keeping with this notion, the king in chess is the single most important piece but he is also limited in how he can move for he is meant to command and lead, not necessarily to fight himself, though he can if he must or wishes. The true power of a king is their charisma, the ability to inspire others to do great things in their name." Bethany explained to her grand daughter who was amazed at the wisdom in her grandmother's words.

"And the other questions? What of the queen and the pawn? Does not what applies to the king similarly apply to the queen?" Alice asked with a frown. She was curious about them too, her grandmother had a way with her that made her more intriguing. She had always heard great praises about her from Severus who even admitted to admire her.

'A chad queen,' he had said. Alice hadn't understood the meaning behind those words but had forgotten about them with other works. It had only entered her mind now.

"In some ways perhaps, in others not. A queen regnant performs the role of a king for she is the ruler in her own right but a consort? A consort is different. At a first glance they seem insignificant for they have only the power that their spouse deigns to give them but in practice they wield immense power, or at least, they should under normal circumstances." Bethany spoke up with a small smile. Now came the favourite part of her explaination.

"The king's consort is and should be his most powerful ally, the most important person to him. After all the queen shares the king's ear, the king's bed. She is the mother of his children, one of, if not the primary influences on his heir. The queen commands the court in ways the king cannot, forming relations with other ladies who in turn influence their husbands. And while the counselors of king may have different loyalty to king, a queen could make their loyalty more determined by her actions. An ally of king who if skilled uses her charms and skills to make more allies for her husband. They unofficially act as hostess, ensuring the royal family is not involved in scandals and giving gifts to high-ranking officials in a society where it was important to maintain bond. If the king cannot trust his queen, who can he trust? History has proven that men who had strained relations with their wives often failed as rulers and failed to raise their heirs correctly. You don't share someone's bed legally and become worthless. You need to be able to command the man with your whims, make them listen to you, your counsel," Bethany spoke up remembering her aunt who had said the exact same thing.

"However, queens need not represent consorts only. They represent any powerful ally that a king would be loath to give up, be it his most trusted warrior, or his heir, or his most skilled general. Someone who brings the most to his cause, someone who he values as much as his actual wife. But, like all pieces in chess save the king, the queen is ultimately expendable," Bethany said as she moved her rook to kill Alice's rook. The girl had still to learn to see traps from a distance, she thought amusedly.

"I see," Alice replied thinning her lips a little. She had an idea about what her grandmother wanted from her.

"You want me to manipulate Severus," she stated as she moved her king to a safe position.

"No my dear. Your paramour is too cautious and alert. Besides you have very few bones of subtlety in your body like my oaf of a son," Bethany said with a click of her tongue. Heir Prince couldn't be manipulated by her granddaughter, not a chance.

"I want you to use your head a little longer than you do normally. Don't rush into your Gryffindor foolishness at once, double think about matters," Bethany said calmly looking at her granddaughter who turned a little red with embarassment at that.

She sighed inwardly, Dexter had managed to corrupt their son with his Gryffindorish ideals and the Gryffindor wife their son had brought didn't helped matters much. She had hoped that Alice would be a good one and join her noble house Slytherin but alas! fate was not on good terms with her.

She should have trained Alice more, she lamented now inwardly.

"I am not saying you go and manipulate him. But be an important part of his life. Enough that he will not discard you for something. He is making moves, moves that will gain him allies and extremely dangerous enemies too. Be happy but be safe with him too. And remember the latter part, don't make me regret for you with the news of you being pregnant while in school," Bethany said with a small amused curl of her lips. Alice's red face, full of embarrassment was too fun to see.

Present...........

"Now Emeric the evil..." she heard Professor Binns as she snapped out of her memory.

Severus was looking at her amusedly as he was supressing an amused smile on his lips.

She simply took his hand and interwined their fingers while she simply smiled in return not before giving him a wink.

The rest of the class was spent with them holding hands and them taoping their foots with each other while Pandora simply doodled away. Severus honestly was reminded of another sordid thought that hit him at that moment looking at Pandora's doodles.

An hour later when he exited from the class, he tasted his lips a little feeling the strawberry lipbalm of Alice. A discreet snog or two wasn't hard when noone was watching besides Pandora never interrupted them.

It was with this thoughts that he was walking into the corridor alone after the History of Magic class.

The corridor was full of students and he was walking away when he suddenly moved his body right catching the fastly incoming paper ball propelled with magic towards him in mid air. The students around him became a little alert as they looked at him at his sudden movement.

He turned backwards and saw that three students were behind him, one of whom who simply lowered their wands instantly as they caught him looking.

They looked to be around second or third years. One of them was a Slytherin with a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw.

'Well this is certainly unexpected' he thought inwardly, however his interest peeked a little more with slight annoyance as the next moment he suddenly felt a slight legillimency probe.

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Word Count - 2.3K words

I hope you don't consider this chapter as filler because this is the start of another plot happening simultaneously.

Hope to cross 1K powerstones this week too.

Also this conversation about king and queen was inspired by High Tide (A Corlys Velayron SI), a nice fic I had read long ago