Round 13 of the Quidditch League Competition.

Team: Falmouth Falcons

Position: Chaser 2

Prompts:

CHASER 2: Bishop: Write about a 'dark' character acting moral.

(word) checkmate

(object) chessboard

(colour) steel grey

Word count: 1096

Beta's: 2DaughtersOfAthena

Notes: AU!

Narcissa Malfoy stared into the steel grey eyes of her competitor and nothing would get in the way of her victory. Her eyes narrowed as he made his move before a sly smirk made its way onto her lips. Without even looking down at the chessboard, she picked up her Queen and moved it three spaces. "Checkmate."

Her son's eyes widened with shock as he stared down at the game, watching as her Queen smashed his King to pieces. "Wh- bu- That wasn't fair!"

Narcissa smiled softly at the seven-year-old. "What wasn't fair?"

"I… I wanted to win!" Draco replied with a humph. "You should have let me win like Crabbe and Goyle do!"

"You wouldn't learn anything," she replied. Narcissa was always annoyed at how the children he hung out with never challenged him. She wanted him to grow up and develop - he wasn't right now. At his groan she added, "Why don't you go and tell him how unfair I've been?"

Draco paused in thought, his grey eyes twinkling before he jumped up. "Wait until he hears about this! He'll be on my side!"

With that, the young boy strutted off.

Narcissa let out a small laugh as she cleared away the chess game, thinking about all the pieces which makes up the game. Would her son be the king? Or just a pawn in somebody's game? He needed to meet a more variety of people, that much Narcissa knew.

Narcissa watched her son interact with the other 'true pureblood' children with a frown. They were absolute idiots. Crabbe and Goyle were so much smarter than their children - how did that even happen. What good would come out of Draco associating with these two imbeciles. At least when Parkinson came over there was a similar intellect.

She wanted to intervene, to disobey Lucius' decision to keep Draco 'protected' from filth. Perhaps she would stress the argument again that learning from filth can be very productive.

As she watched the shorter and fatter boy - Crabbe - literally use his hands to eat a pumpkin pie, she knew she would convince Lucius to see her way. Her family's way, the Black's way, would be the best action.

"Lucius," Narcissa said in a stern voice, it coming out more fierce than she had imagined. She hadn't lost her touch. "I refuse to allow Draco to only hang out with stupid little children. He needs to be socialised more."

"If you're going to suggest a blood traitor then-"

"No," she interrupted, feeling the fire burning within her. The expression on her husband's face almost scared her. "Halfbloods, Muggles, filth. It will help. He will learn more from spending time with them then the idiot's you parade around."

Lucius stood up and towered above her. "I refuse to let my son associate with those sorts of people.

"He's my son, too, Lucius."

She saw steel grey eyes bore into hers. But they weren't like her son's, whose often looked blue. These were hard and cold. Nevertheless, she did not break eye contact. "You want to corrupt him."

Narcissa took a small step forward, closing the short distance even more as she stared up at him. "I will help him." She paused. Time to change tactics. Her eyes relaxed slightly but remained connected to his. "You want him to know the difference between purebloods and mudbloods, yet he's never met them. Let me find a muggle park for him to play out and interact with children his own age. He will see the difference."

"This can only end with disaster."

"I'm going to do it. Back me."

There was no compromise in her voice. She had tried for years to get something out of him. One day to visit the Weasley's, or arrange a playdate with another Pureblood. She learnt quickly to no suggest Halfbloods. But she didn't care anymore. If he didn't give her an inch, she would take a mile.

"When it goes wrong, it's your fault," Lucius spat before straightening up. "But I won't stop it this time."

That was all the permission she needed. Breaking eye contact, she swung around and walked off.

"I don't want to! They're going to steal my magic! I want to be a Wizard!" Draco protested as his mother dragged him down a path. Suddenly, she stopped him.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy. I have warned you to not talk about the Wizarding World."

Draco paled.

Narcissa took a breath. "Muggles cannot steal your magic. You will play with them without discrimination."

He looked towards the park with conflicting feelings. His Father would disown him if he had fun, right? He wasn't allowed to be nice to a Muggle. "But they're filth."

"Doesn't matter. You're going to play with them."

Draco looked up at his Mother; was this a test? A trick? When he didn't see any lies in his mother's eyes, he started to walk into the park. Sending a few anxious glances back at his mother, he still didn't know what to do. Part of him wanted to attack the Muggle children - his father would approve. But another part of him just wanted to play. He settled for sitting on the swing next to a girl reading a book. Pushing himself back and forth lightly, he watched her until she looked up.

"Hi?"

"Hello."

She looked away from him for a second and seemed a little confused.

"My Mother said I had to play with somebody," Draco explained. It was a silly statement but the girl smiled.

"My Dad says that to me. Says I should play with children my age instead of reading."

So, she likes to read? He did too! "Really? What do you like to read?"

The girl's face brightened up. "Right now I'm reading the Twits by Roald Dial."

Draco looked at her with confusion. Did she just call him a twit? Or was there really a book called that? Should he be angry? Were Muggles mean?"

"Here! I've already read it once today. I was rereading it because I am supposed to stay out longer."

He accepted the book, slightly stunned, and looked at the cover. It really was called the Twits. "I don't think my parents would be pleased if I read this…"

The girl shrugged. "That's fine! You can borrow it! Then you can read it whenever," she replied as if solving the solution - it just wasn't the one he had in mind. "Want to play with me?"

The hopeful look on her face made him smile. "Sure. I'm Draco. Draco Malfoy."

"I'm Hermione Granger."