Hustling Chess

Fungo's Funny Fun Shop was the go-to store in Diagon Alley for board games, knickknacks and the like. Whether it was rare chocolate frog cards, exploding snap decks or Wizard's chess sets, all were sold here. Ron would often come here, playing Wizard's chess with the trial chessboard in the back.

And that was exactly what he was here for today. Only this time, with profit in mind.

Going to the back of the store, he saw that the chessboard was in use by two boys, around his age. One was dark-skinned with short black hair, while the other had pale skin and sandy-blonde hair; playing white and black respectively.

"Queen to H4! Me mam always tells me to Check where I'm going!" The pale boy said with a grin.

"Well, you should listen to her. Knight takes Queen on H4." The other boy responded.

The white knight leapt over a Rook before shattering the black Queen to slag.

"I'll get you back for that!"

Ron yawned as he watched the boys bickering and playing. Neither was at a tenth of his skill level. Eventually, the dark-skinned boy won, with the early queen blunder damning his opponent. It was showtime.

"That was a good game." The sandy-haired boy said with a smile, shaking hands with his opponent. "I'm Seamus Finnigan."

"Dean Thomas. You weren't bad yourself."

But as the two boys got friendly, Ron stepped in, with the haughtiest look he could muster.

"Who are you kidding, he was awful! Blundering a queen on move 5. Even a troll wouldn't be that bad!" Ron criticized.

"Oi, it was an honest mistake!" Seamus protested.

"Yeah, leave him be." Dean came to his new friend's aid.

"Oh, don't get me started on you. A Hippogriff could've checkmated you a dozen times before you finally put this loser out of his misery. I bet a sickle I could beat both of you in under 30 moves!"

"I'll take that bet any day!" Seamus cried out angrily.

"How's about you put your money where your mouth is?" Ron asked, lazily flicking out sickle from his pocket and setting it on the table.

"Don't think I won't!" Seamus cried, but there was a look of unwillingness on his face.

Ron had picked his betting stake very expertly. Most families would give their children a few sickles on their first visit to Diagon Alley. One sickle was high enough to be profitable, but low enough that he wouldn't scare people off.

"What, are you scared?"

How could Seamus, as a future Gryffindor, take such provocation lying down? Pulling out two sickles, he slapped them down.

"Let's double it!"

Ron grinned. That was perfect.

"Alright, let's start this off with E4." Ron began the most common move.

"E5."

At least Seamus knew the basic theory. Unfortunately, he had no idea what hit him as Ron started the most trolly opening in chess. The Scholar's mate.

And Seamus fell right into it. As Ron sent his queen to H5, Seamus went knight C6. Sending his bishop to C4, Ron wondered if Seamus would see it. He didn't. Playing one last move in knight F6, Seamus smiled.

"Not so bad, am I mate?" He asked with a grin.

"Queen takes F7. Good game." Ron said, extending a hand even before his queen delivered checkmate.

"Eh?" Seamus blinked, watching Ron's queen walking across the board.

Then, his F7 pawn shattered into dust.

"Are you stupid? I can just take that with my king!" Seamus cried. "King! Take F7."

The king didn't respond. Then, it slowly toppled over.

"You… you've cheated!" Seamus cried out.

But then Dean saw it.

"Your bishop was protecting it… you've won."

"Very good… but hand over the sickles and bugger off now. I don't play with losers." Ron mocked, wondering if he could get another game out of this.

Seeing the fire in Dean's eyes, he figured he could.

"I'll play you. Two sickles as well!"

Ron grinned, saying nothing as he cleared the board, gesturing for Dean to sit.

Knowing that a trick opening like the Scholar's mate was best the first time, Ron played civilized Chess this time. Figuring he was rarely in London, he decided to play the London chess opening.

Dean played several stupid moves in the beginning, guarding against a Scholar's mate that would never come. When the middle game came around, he hadn't developed his pieces at all, allowing Ron to score a swift checkmate.

With six sickles in his pocket, Ron was the happiest boy in the world. But how could it end here? Challenging anyone who would accept him, he won five more games quickly, racking up fourteen sickles. Now, even if he gave back the two sickles, he'd still have made twelve sickles.

He even increased a few points in Wizard's Chess proficiency, proving he could improve naturally. But it was much too slow for his taste.

Unfortunately, talk had gone around, and after his seventh game, no one would play him. Just as Ron was about to leave, he got his final challenger of the day.

"I don't think you're that good. You're just using a couple elementary traps to trip up beginners and take their pocket money." A bossy voice came over. "It's really quite mean. Someone who knows the traps would beat you easily."

It was bushy-haired girl, carrying with her a shiny new book titled 'The Magic of Chess: Seventy-seven Tricks to Stupefy your Opponents'.

"And what's your name?" Ron asked, having a stinking suspicion.

"Hermione Granger."

So, it was her. Ron felt a little excited. Hermione's family wasn't like his. Her parents were dentists, and ought to be pretty well off. Looking at the large pile of books in her bag, many of which weren't required, she probably had heaps of pocket money.

"Well then how's about we make a deal, Miss Granger? You'll put up all the money you've got, and if you win, I'll return everything I've won to its rightful owner. If I win, I get the pot."

"You've got to apologize as well." Hermione added.

"Fine." Ron said hurriedly.

Hermione was the fat sheep he was waiting for. And she didn't disappoint, taking a shiny gold galleon out of her pocket. Ron sucked in a breath. That was 493 Points right there… a Green-level skill, just pinched between her fingers.

Immediately, Ron gave up any thoughts of going easy. He was going to ravage Hermione, then go for as many rounds as he could until she was broke.

"Let's start." Hermione said confidently.

Confidence was good. But it wouldn't help her here. One game later, and Hermione was just like the rest.

"But… but… it doesn't make sense! I did everything the book said! I built a strong centre, I only made even trades, I castled quickly…" Hermione spluttered as though looking for her mistake.

"Chess isn't something you learn out of a book. Sometimes, you just have to play and learn."

Hermione only stared at Ron in horror, as if he'd blasphemed her god.

Ron shrugged. He might have just ruined his chances with her, but business was business and ought not be mixed with pleasure. But just as he considered a rematch, he saw it was quarter past eleven. It was only ten minutes until Molly's one hour time was up. If she went looking for him and saw him swindling a few children, she might make him return the money.

However, as he left, Hermione grabbed him by the robes.

"Hang on! You haven't told me your name." She protested.

"Oh… It's Ron, Ron Weasley."

Then, he left, heading back to the meeting spot in a hurry.

Fortunate that he did, as he saw Molly back there, holding Fred and George by their ears as she yelled at them, with Arthur holding her back. Percy was pink in embarrassment, while Ginny seemed ecstatic.

"How could you have lost your brother! He was the one thing you were meant to be looking after!"

"Well, we wanted to go with him!" Fred lied. "Tried to force it even!"

"But he really wanted to go alone." George continued. "Wanted to be independent."

"He couldn't be reasoned with!"

"Adamant about it, really!"

But how could Molly be so easily fooled.

"I suppose he was also 'adamant' that you spend all your time in Gambol and Japes, buying Dungbombs with all your pocket money!?" She shrieked, summoning their bags and revealing them to be stuffed with joke items.

"Molly, calm down, Ron's returned." Arthur said, noticing Ron in the crowd.

"Oh Ronnie, you're back! Where've you been?" Molly asked sweetly.

"I went to the broom store. I wanted to see the new Nimbus 2000." Ron lied. "Am I late?"

"Not at all." Molly assured him. "We were just heading off. Fred and George have just kindly offered you their room while they spend the next week sleeping in the barn."

The twin's faces darkened, but neither commented.

Molly then looked over the stuff, praising Ron for making good purchases. She didn't ask about the change, and he didn't volunteer it, needing every sickle he could keep.

With that, Ron left Diagon Alley, a galleon and fourteen sickles richer than when he'd first come.

His eyes were filled with Galleons as he planned the days to come.