Search:

SIYE Time:16:02 on 28th March 2024
SIYE Login: no


Reality Bites
By Trinka

- Text Size +

Category: Alternate Universe
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom
Genres: Comedy
Warnings: None
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 760
Summary: Ginny is persuaded to be on a Bachelor-type reality show against her better judgement. Who is the hunk all the women are fighting over? We know him. We love him. But in my story, Ginny's never met him. NOTE: If you think you'll hate this story, read it anyway! I hate reality shows too, you know! lol Trust me, you'll love it...I proclaim in as non-arrogant a way as possible... *sweat drop*
Hitcount: Story Total: 170320; Chapter Total: 7145







ChapterPrinter
StoryPrinter


Episode Twenty
Check Mate


Ginny flung open one of her drawers and pulled out a box full of odds and ends that she had decided to pack on a whim. At the bottom of the box was a smaller box with her chess pieces inside. “You want a game of chess?” Ginny spat. “I’ll give you a game of chess. I will whip your arse in a game of chess, you manipulative little sod.” Ginny lifted the box carefully so as not to tip the contents; the queen was sure to give Ginny the rough side of her tongue if the pieces were jostled and Ginny didn’t exactly need that kind of encounter around Janice.


Trying to smooth her composure Ginny left her room and joined Janice back in the alcove. Janice was sitting quite comfortably on one of the big chairs, which she had scooted toward the coffee table in the middle of the room. Ginny would have given just about anything to see Janice actually drag that thing across the room, but then she noticed that Janice’s wand was out. Wimp.


When she entered Janice smiled at her and if Ginny hadn’t known any different she would have thought it was genuine. No wonder she has Harry fooled. Ginny pulled her own wand out, moved another chair forward and sat down across from Janice. I’m not a wimp, I just don’t want her making any comments about my skill as a witch, that’s all!


As they set up their pieces — which did not at all seem in the mood for a game — Janice gave small satisfied smirks at Ginny’s pieces. “How quaint,” she said at one point. Ginny’s queen stuck her tongue out a Janice, making her face go from a smirk to a full fledged evil smile. “And so well mannered too.” Ginny wanted to shove her king down Janice’s throat. “Are they hand-me-downs?” Janice asked smugly.


“Yes. These were the pieces my brother Ron learned chess with, if you must know.”


Janice’s nose turned up slightly. “How old are they?” she asked, scandalized.


Ginny ground her teeth before answering. “About twelve years old.”


Janice tapped her lips with a perfectly manicured fingernail as though pondering something but Ginny knew it was only to further hide her smile. “They are remarkably, um…un-worn for such an existence.”


Ginny fought the urge to roll her eyes and merely growled. “Yes.” Then spat back “Thank you,” with a hint of sarcasm and without any conviction.


Ginny had spent many years trying to control her Weasley temper, since she realized that it only seemed to make things worse. This situation — and really, all situations that Janice had put her in — were really starting to try that control.


Ginny glared at Janice who glared back mockingly and the game began.


“Knight pawn to B-3,” Ginny started, being white.


“Bishop pawn to C-5.”


The game continued slowly, each of the two taking time to analyze the next move and seeming to anticipate their opponent’s thoughts.


“Rook pawn to H-5,” was Janice’s first big mistake. Ginny’s Knight pawn was situated directly beside Janice’s Rook pawn at G-5, so Ginny commanded her Knight pawn to H-6. As the pawn moved, it dragged Janice’s pawn with it and threw it off the board when it reached its spot.


“What are you doing?” Janice demanded. “You can’t do that! Your pawn moved mine. That’s cheating.”


“No it’s not. That’s the rule of en passant, or ‘in passing.’ It’s the only time in chess that moving to an empty square can procure a capture.” Ginny tried and failed to keep the smug look off her face. “I have a rule book in my room if you don’t believe me.” Ginny’s pawn stood shaking it’s fist at Janice as the two glared each other down. Ginny was not the first to look away


Janice harrumphed and continued playing. She was still acting confident and after a few more moves she began to speak. “I hope your things aren’t so spread around that it will take you a long time to pack,” Janice said placing a Bishop.


“What exactly is that supposed to mean?” Ginny asked, placing a Knight.
“It’s just that I’m not sure you’re going to make it through the next ceremony,” she said, her voice honey, as her Rook took one of Ginny’s pawns.


“That’s strange,” Ginny mused. “I thought only Harry was able to make those kinds of decisions,” she responded as one of her pawns tossed Janice’s right Bishop off the board.


Janice tittered in a way that made Ginny want to gag. “Oh, it will be his decision. But you see? Allurement is a powerful means of persuasion. Sweet words and implications work wonders with someone who, shall we say, seems to enjoy sweets?” Her Bishop knocked one of Ginny’s Knights off to the side.


Ginny’s face reddened in anger of Janice’s intimation and embarrassment because of Janice’s insinuations at the expense of Harry’s morality.


“You know that Harry isn’t dumb,” Ginny began. “He will see through you, and I only hope I’m there when it happens.” Ginny commanded her Rook to attack Janice’s Bishop.


“If everything goes how I expect it to — how I know it will — you won’t be around to see much of anything soon.” Janice’s Rook took out one of Ginny’s Bishops, which then left Ginny the space to take the Rook.


Ginny didn’t feel this comment deserved any kind of reaction and so studiously ignored it. The game continued without either of them adding to the conversation. Slowly but surely the pieces occupying the board diminished. It was a fairly even game with Janice still in possession of her King and Queen as well as one Knight, one Rook and three Pawns. Ginny had sacrificed her Queen in order to take out Janice’s other Rook, which left room to take several of Janice’s pawns as well. Ginny was left with her King, both Rooks, a Knight, a Bishop and two pawns. Ginny castled earlier in the game which put her King at B-1 and one of her Rooks at C-1.


“I’ve noticed,” Janice began suddenly. “That you’ve gotten a bit cozy with Harry lately.” Ginny was just barely able to suppress her flush at this comment. “I’m not so sure he’ll be so comfortable around you now, however. He seems to think you’ve been telling lies.” Janice commanded her Queen which was placed at check. If Ginny saw correctly, Janice’s Queen had an expression that mirrored Janice’s smug look; it was directed toward Ginny’s King.


Before moving her next piece, Ginny innocently asked: “How’s Dustin?” The horrified look on Janice’s face simply doubled Ginny’s glee at taking the Queen with her Knight.


Janice seemed to be floundering so she merely moved a pawn. Ginny saw her victory. She moved her pawn one space closer to Janice’s King. “Check Mate.”


Janice smiled sweetly. “Not so. I can merely take your pawn with my King.”


Ginny pointed to one of her Rooks. “But then he can take you.”


“Then I’ll move my King to the corner, where your pawn can’t get me, and neither can your Rook.”


Ginny pointed this time to her Bishop which was diagonal from the corner. She didn’t speak, though. She pointed and smiled wickedly. “And,” Ginny added, pointing to her other Rook. “If you move away from the corner, my other Rook can take you.” She crossed her arms and sat back lazily. “So, I repeat: Check Mate.”


Janice sat there staring bewildered at the board for several minutes before her face was back to a smirk. “Too bad your chess skills haven’t rubbed off on anything else in your life.”


Ginny did roll her eyes this time. “My strategies are quite up to par, thank you, I just refuse to use them to manipulate others. You, however, seem to have no such qualm.”


“Of course not,” Janice said, her face twisting with malice. “With my strategies, I always get my way; I always win.”


Ginny gestured to the board. “Not always,” she whispered.


------------------------




After the game Janice stalked off with as much dignity as she could hang on to. For the rest of the day she left Ginny alone. Ginny took this as the blessing that it was. Having finished her scarf, Ginny relapsed to reading one of her novels, and spent the rest of the day wrapped up in the plot. She went to bed early — having already read the book, she wasn’t exactly eager to get to the end so quickly. She knew the next day was going to be a nightmare, however, so she spent most of the night tossing and turning.


The next morning, Ginny dragged herself out a bed for a shower and was practically falling asleep into her porridge bowl during breakfast. She had slept very poorly.


When Trista and Harry got back, Trista came to Ginny’s room to help her finish packing and tell Ginny all about the day before. “My parents really liked him. He was the perfect gentleman and I’m afraid my little sister may have fallen in love with him. It was really cute, but…I almost got mad at her by the end of the night because she wouldn’t leave him alone.”


Ginny laughed at the re-telling. “I won’t have that problem…unless my mum gets it in her head to fall for a younger man. And I just don’t see that happening. I think my brothers will be able to cause enough trouble, however.” Ginny sighed. “Do I really have to go through with this? I mean, you really have no idea how scared I am. I’d rather not be made a fool of in front of Harry; I got enough of that on our last date with just Fred and George. I don’t even want to think about the embarrassment that the rest of my family is sure to cause!”


“You worry too much,” Trista said soothingly while resting a hand on Ginny’s shoulder. “What’s gotten into you?”


“Janice.” Ginny didn’t really need to say more because Trista nodded understandingly.


“I don’t know what she was trying to do yesterday with the hug and the sugary sweet words, but I think it was pretty dumb of her. I saw Harry’s face afterwards and he looked pretty confused about it.”


Ginny looked up from her suitcase before she spoke. “Janice told me something quite disturbing yesterday.” Trista handed Ginny a folded shirt to add to the suitcase. “I think she told Harry stuff about me; stuff that isn’t true. It just gave me another reason to dread the day.”


Trista came over and gave Ginny a hug across the shoulders. “It’ll be fine, don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll have lots of fun and you’ll wonder why you were so nervous. Trust me. It’ll be great.”


Ginny’s face lost all color as she looked back at Trista. “You really don’t know my family.”



---------------------------



If you don’t understand how to chess match panned out I can explain more thoroughly and I have a picture of sorts to explain it better too. The end-game doesn’t really matter so much as how the conversation and their plays were paralleled. I was very proud of that. Please review!!
Reviews 760
ChapterPrinter
StoryPrinter




../back
‘! Go To Top ‘!

Sink Into Your Eyes is hosted by Grey Media Internet Services. HARRY POTTER, characters, names and related characters are trademarks of Warner Bros. TM & © 2001-2006. Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Note the opinions on this site are those made by the owners. All stories(fanfiction) are owned by the author and are subject to copyright law under transformative use. Authors on this site take no compensation for their works. This site © 2003-2006 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Special thanks to: Aredhel, Kaz, Michelle, and Jeco for all the hard work on SIYE 1.0 and to Marta for the wonderful artwork.
Featured Artwork © 2003-2006 by Yethro.
Design and code © 2006 by SteveD3(AdminQ)
Additional coding © 2008 by melkior and Bear