"Oh..." Essery didn't sound surprised. She sounded... young, though. The word coming out in a breath that she hadn't been aware she'd been holding. She looked for a second at his hand planted there beside her shoulder, and she could read some of the frustration in his expression. The words had been so halting, so quick, like... well, like the teenager she felt like, really, and that was endearing and new, the men she'd been with had been smooth, had known what they were doing.
Snape, obviously, didn't, and it was endearing in the same way it was aching, because there had to be more to the story than just being stuck at Hogwarts during two wars...
"Well," she finally said, and she shifted a little closer to him, not quite touching him but letting her knee almost against his. "That's good. I'm absolute rubbish at chess, if you hadn't noticed."