Fool's Mate

Knowing pain like an old friend, I only encounter slight difficulty in clearing my mind to open myself to Mana. That's good, doesn't look like anyone's close. With my free arm clutching my side, I keep my wand pointed forward as I move down the row.

Taking a turn, the row of books widens, creating a small sitting area at the dead end. Red fire illuminated the island of a room within the sea of rows of bookshelves. Even then it still followed the properties of the Labyrinth, walls made of bookshelves and with no ceiling. Looking up, the area still opened up to the desolate black emptiness.

A decent amount of brown, leather, armchairs pepper the room. Some alone, some with grey wooden side tables, some grouped around those tables, and some with a side table separating them. Sitting raised off the ground in the center of the lounge is a human-sized chessboard with birch and oak squares.

The typical faded blue carpet cushions my footsteps as I step off of it and onto the playing board. Sitting on opposing sides are sets of clear marble and waxy obsidian pieces. Moving to the black side, I watch as the white pawn on F2 moves to F3.

Knowing the loud rumble of the pawn's movement would have alerted anyone in the vicinity, I quickly showed the pawn on E7 its orders. The hunched-over knight waits for a moment before following my order and sliding to E5.

The white pawn on G2 moving to G4, I respond by asking my queen to move to H4. Moving in place, my queen merely turns to look at the white side's king. Rather than my queen decapitating the king and using its head as a new tip to her scepter as she typically does, all of the pieces turn to me.

Enough with the pageantry! I think, impatient, as every piece looks down and performs what Penny believes to be a bow. The floor between my queen and the white king slides away with a click and a rumble.

I mouth a thank you to the queen and descend the stairs once hidden under the floor. Next time I see Penny I'll thank her for showing me the Fool's Mate shortcut. Leaving the staircase, I exit out of one of the arches that line the walls of the Great Hall.

Leaving the stairway not a moment too soon, the wall drops back into place. Early morning light filters through the circular stained glass raised above the main door and hits me. Aside from the multi-colored light from the window, candelabras on the newel posts of the stairway and walls illuminate the impressive hall in a golden light. The Entrance Hall is a rectangular room with a large open area in front of the main doors.

Across from the main doors are two stairs from the sidewalls that connect and come down a singular staircase. To the sides of this staircase are two more staircases. Knowing they could burst out of that arch at any moment, cross the hall to ascend the staircase. My escape to the Great Hall doesn't last long, for I'm only able to make it to the foot of the stairs before someone calls out my name.

"Miss Olivander!" Professor Flitwick calls from the top of the right staircase. I sigh as he scurries down the stairs to me.

'Yes, Professor?' I ask, fighting the urge to clutch my side or scratch the scar across my face.

"Are you alright?" Concern coats his voice as I struggle to not think about the pain in my arm and side.

'Right as rain!' I lie, hand shakily holding my notepad up.

His eyebrows furrow as he looks me up and down. His dueling speed comes into play as pushes my robe away and lifts the side of my dress shirt and sweater. I'm too slow to stop him as he reveals my scars and recent bruises. I'm eventually able to push him back but by then it was too late, for color was already drained out of his face.

'Don't worry! They aren't recent or self-inflicted,' my effort to cool his worries only causes his face to sag more.

"What about the large bruise?" My hesitation to his question answers it for me, "What happened? Are you hurt anywhere else?" His deeply genuine concern confuses me slightly. I race to come up with an explanation as we move to sit on the steps.

'My arm is a little hurt too. I was messing around with charms and tried to get a similar effect the levitation spell has with the knockback jinx. I was testing it and accidentally absorbed too much Mana,' I give a version of the truth as green light spreads out from the tip of his wand.

"Are you sure that's what happened?" He questions, hovering his wand above the bruise. A cozy warmth fades the pain back. Should I tell him about the bullying? It's not like he can do anything about it. They attack when teachers and portraits aren't around. Even when portraits are there they make sure to only do something when the portrait's around won't care. Aside from Nearly Headless Nick, all of the ghosts hate vampires to the point where they ignore it. I can only nod as he takes my arm, rolls up my sleeves, and takes his wand to do the same.

"Are these why you have nightmares?" His question comes out of left field, the blow causes me to once again push him away.

'How do you know about those?'

"After the Welcoming Feast, I came up to the Common room. You were screaming in your sleep," He explains as I'm less concerned about putting distance between us. Of course, the rune stops me from speaking but it doesn't stop sleep talk! Because why would it! Wait, how does that make sense? I have to ask Professor Babbling, don't I?

'I figured out that thing about the Shield Charm,' I tell him, terrible with awkward silence.

"Oh?" A spark lights up his eyes.

'Yep. Straight line for a complete block. The other four that would be annoying to list out.'

"Wait, Five? I only know of the three."

'I consider the continuous shield and barrier shape as forms of the spell considering the similarity.'

"I suppose you could see it that way. Oh, wait! I have something for you," at his words I start clamming up, considering the last thing he had for me was the silver bracelets.

"You are not good at people giving you things are you?" He asks, reading my face. At my nod, he chuckles, "Don't worry. This technically isn't a new thing."