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Tweak says, "MONKEY!"

in_the_grass (in_the_grass) wrote in wished,
@ 2010-09-01 12:40:00

Entry tags:

!2003: 08, !complete, essery oakby, severus snape

Who: Severus Snape and Essery Oakby
What: Chess.
Where: Headmaster's office, Hogwarts.
When: Backdated to August 31st, evening.
Warnings/Rating: Probably none/low

He wasn't certain who had left this set behind, but doubted it had been Dumbledore. It hardly seemed whimsical enough. By the look of it, it might not have been enchanted at all; it was all perfectly plain black and white stone, and none of the pieces showed any sign of jumping to life and murdering one another. But then, there were probably plenty of things hiding away in this office that weren't what they seemed, and five years hadn't been enough time to make a thorough survey. It didn't seem to be cursed, in any case, so it would serve. He set it out without incident, lining the pieces up with a flick of his wand.

"You can go first, if you like," he said, with a faint smirk. "I believe that's the courtesy usually afforded the party occupying the disadvantaged position?" Not that he saw any cause to doubt her chess-related abilities - but she had set herself up for an unwinnable argument.

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	in_the_grass 2010-09-07 12:47 am UTC (link)
	"And I had always consoled myself that at least I taught a practical subject," he said, dry. Anything one could get by without for more than a decade didn't quite deserve that label. "Perhaps I'll have to be content with useful." So long as it stuck, though. Another knight, another feint. "I suppose your subject is in roughly the same category." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

oakbye
2010-09-07 01:00 am UTC (link)

"Oh, potions are very practical..." Essery hadn't meant to denounce the subject, even though she'd always heard he'd wanted the DADA position more than his own. "Just not something I was any good at. I melted more cauldrons than any other Hufflepuff, my first and second years..." She laughed at the memory and moved her knight again, this time taking one of his pawns and lining up to take his knight on her next move.

"I think Muggle Studies is practical too. There are few things as ridiculous as a grown man who can't manage to hail a cab for himself on a muggle street. Or who screams when a phone rings..."

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in_the_grass
2010-09-07 01:07 am UTC (link)

"Did you. Almost always the result of too much dragon's blood; it's quite expensive, you know." He moved his knight out of range, gunning for a piece closer to the line, meaning to draw out some of her defenses. "I agree that blending in is rather underrated, in certain circles. Some people aren't lucky enough to have a foot in both worlds, of course." He'd always counted himself very lucky since, naturally, he would rather have been caught dead than in Muggle Studies during his time at school.

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oakbye
2010-09-11 02:08 am UTC (link)

"Oh, trust me, I know..." Essery's mum and grandmum had both sent howlers her second year about the need to keep restocking that - even if they'd had the money to do so.

At the comment, she eyed him curiously. "Were you that lucky?" Oddly, the thought of him out in the muggle world caught her offguard enough that Essery didn't really see what he was trying to do with the knight, and she moved offensively toward the bishop instead before she realized and cursed herself under her breath. She'd basically given him her own knight that way.

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in_the_grass
2010-09-11 02:28 am UTC (link)

"Oh, yes." He let himself smirk openly for just a moment when she made her move, looking at the board; he'd spare the knight for now, but he was certain he'd have it within three moves. "My father was a Muggle; we lived in his neighborhood." It was funny to be calling that lucky, but he didn't feel the need to elaborate too much. He diverted his bishop, beginning to imagine an offense rather than just working on reading her strategy. He glanced up at her briefly before turning his attention again to the game. "I cant say any of the purebloods I knew were terribly fond of The Clash."

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oakbye
2010-09-11 02:32 am UTC (link)

Essery looked mildly shocked, but only for a moment, then she was smiling again and waving her hand dismissively before she moved her knight away from the impending attack.

"Well, most purebloods don't have much taste. The high society type, at least. But I never knew you....I guess I just assumed. Sorry about that." Her own family name was well-known enough, just from the jokes that could be made. They were pure, but never pure enough to really be considered, with far too many muggle marriages and squibs, and they'd liked it that way. Pureblood politics wasn't something Essery had ever worried over.

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in_the_grass
2010-09-11 02:45 am UTC (link)

"I never bothered to advertise," he said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. It wasn't exactly true, of course, but no one outside of his awful little circle of comrades had known his silly nickname, in any case. "I had friends who would hardly have approved of too much crowing." And it had been better to have a name no one knew than a name like hers, known to be firmly on the wrong side. He moved his bishop further in to the cluster in play. "Honestly, I don't remember what they were listening to, if it was anything. Possibly they were too serious for that sort of thing. It's a bit of a throwback for you, though." She couldn't have been listening to much more than her mother singing, in the 70's.

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oakbye
2010-09-11 02:49 am UTC (link)

"Retro," Essery defined with a cheeky sort of grin, finally catching on to the bishop intent on decimating her defense. "Oi, you there, that's not fair." She said, more to the bishop piece than to Snape, and she mobilized her Queen's side castle.

"There are quite a few modern muggle bands I like well-enough, too. And wizarding. But there's something a bit more raw about the first of a movement, right? Social upheaval and everything. Plus, it annoyed my mother and father to no end when I was a teen home on holiday."

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in_the_grass
2010-09-11 03:06 am UTC (link)

"Retro," he repeated slowly, arching a dry eyebrow at her and taking his turn to feel a bit ancient. "Marvelous." He clicked his tongue and brought his knight in from the side, holding off on the attack for a moment. "I've rather fallen out of touch, I'm afraid. There was no reason to keep up; I don't think I ever had to shock my parents again after I brought home God Save the Queen." He finally smiled, even if it was entirely sardonic. It was a good memory. "I can't say I care much for what they're listening to in the halls these days, but I suppose it's only natural."

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oakbye
2010-09-11 03:09 am UTC (link)

"You should just feel lucky they don't have mobile phones and laptop computers in the hallway. Muggle schools have a whole host of problems we get to avoid..." Largely because most of the students here didn't know what those things were until they got to her class - and by that time they had magical equivalents that they found easier to wrap their brains around.

She moved her castle again, eyeing the knight he'd moved and trying to figure how that worked with his bishop. She felt an awful bit like she was being cornered and prepared for something.

"But yes, retro. You're the original." She thought about it though, then shrugged. "I suppose some of my tastes have always run a little counter to what my own age group was doing, though, so it wasn't that much of a shock."

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in_the_grass
2010-09-11 03:20 am UTC (link)

"Wands are more problematic, I imagine," he pointed out, rather than admit he really couldn't pretend to know what a laptop computer was. "Unless you can jinx someone with a mobile phone?" He couldn't quite see what she meant to do with the castle, which gave him pause. It was possible she was onto him. He struck anyway, dashing her knight to pieces and beginning the advance.

Original was amusingly diplomatic. "A bit behind, a bit ahead? You seem to deal with the students admirably, from what I can tell. And the faculty. It hasn't hindered you at all." Neither were skills that he had though, and here he was.

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