Checkmate

And the appeal, partner
Of this deal, partner
Is we all stand to win
You and me, the lady also

Who'd ever guess it?
This would be the situation
One more complication
Should be neither here nor there

Lyrics from "The Deal (No Deal)" from Chess by Benny Anderson, Tim Rice and Björn Ulvaeus

* * *

Many of the Slytherins and a scattering of students in other houses lost their fathers, or in some cases both parents, to Azkaban in the Ministry's swift and quiet move to arrest the Death Eaters named by Lucius Malfoy. Some of the arrests were shocking, revealing upstanding members of the community, while others were no surprise at all. Most of these students declined to return to Hogwarts in the New Year after the Christmas holidays. The Slytherins who did return, including Crabbe and Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson - one of the few whose parents were not named - drew together to form an unexpectedly solid and insular wall of protection around Draco. Pansy was a particularly staunch supporter of their restored Slytherin leader. She insisted that all remaining Slytherins wear the buttons she made that alternately flashed a picture of the Dark Mark with a diagonal red line through it and the words: Real Slytherins Are Not Sheep!

Harry's true relationship with Draco was still a secret from most of the school, but the fact that they now took several of their classes alone together caused wide-spread gossip. So, with Dumbledore's permission, they had finally explained about the Magebond and Harry's talents in wandless magic and Magical Medicine to their closest friends.

And it was only those closest friends who also knew that Harry now shared the room at the top of Slytherin tower with Draco. A very ingenious spell had been cast on the door to the broom closet at the top of Gryffindor tower. Given the proper password, the door opened directly into Draco's room, so to everyone except Harry's roommates, it appeared Harry still lived in the Gryffindor dorm. Unfortunately, Seamus made it his newest hobby to try to discover that password.

One night, as Harry made his way up the stairs to the closet, a terrible crash was heard. The fact that the crash was followed by a loud, "Mother of God!" and a colorful string of Irish expletives left little doubt as to the culprit. Harry threw open the door of the closet to find Seamus, who'd hoped to overhear the password by hiding in the closet, sprawled in a puddle of soapy water on the floor, his foot stuck in a bucket and a dripping wet mop draped over his head. After that, Harry kept a watchful eye on Seamus's whereabouts when he was on his way to bed. Otherwise life at Hogwarts went on pretty much as usual.

Harry's most confidential secret - the baby daughter due in March - was known only to Dumbledore, Draco, and to Cho, her husband and their parents.

Draco was eventually prevailed upon to stay on the Slytherin Quidditch team. Harry was pleased that Draco had decided not to abandon his team. To Harry it was simply a matter of honor. He was pleased, too, because the game between their Houses wouldn't have had the same excitement without their long-standing rivalry. But he was also a little annoyed because Draco had witnessed his secret team strategies and would know what to expect. However, Draco kept his word and never told his teammates about the surprising maneuvers he had seen Harry practicing with the Gryffindor team.

Consequently, during their final game on a drizzling rainy afternoon in early April, when Draco suddenly whirled his broom and raced off after the Snitch, the Slytherins were taking a terrible beating. The score was a staggering 230 to 50 in favor of Gryffindor. Harry instantly gave chase and they both vanished up into the low, gray cloud cover.

The crowds of students and teachers in the stands and the players circling the pitch all waited, shading their eyes from the rain and craning their necks, watching intently for the Seekers to reappear. Gryffindor was in control of the Quaffle, yet everyone paused in anticipation and no one tried to score. But minute after suspenseful minute went by . . . and there was no sign of them. Loud speculation, and even some bets, were exchanged in the stands.

At last, a dark shape appeared overhead and a hush fell over the crowds as they waited to see who it was. It was Harry, looking very much mussed, who emerged first from the clouds. The disheveled state of his hair and robes was most likely the result of flying at top speed through the wet clouds. However, given the high color in his cheeks and the fact that he had a rather silly and sheepish grin on his face, it looked a lot more like he may have been quite thoroughly snogged. He shrugged at his teammates and shook his head apologetically.

A second later, Draco swooped out of the clouds, flying directly to the center of the pitch. He paused, hovering in place for a half a heartbeat, then smiling from ear to ear, punched his arm over his head in triumph. Clutched in his upraised fist was a fluttering flash of gold. Screams of jubilation erupted all over the stands as the Slytherin supporters went wild. Draco's team rushed at him in a massively unruly display of congratulations. Slytherin might have lost the match, but none of them cared. Draco Malfoy had finally caught the Snitch against Gryffindor!

* * *

It was an early morning in May when Professor Dumbledore stood at the window in his office, stroking his long silver beard and pretending to gaze out across the grounds at the lovely contrast made by the newly green trees of the Forbidden Forest against the clear blue spring sky. Actually, he was watching the glassy reflections of the three young people who were using his office as a secret place to meet.

"Just hold her like this - let your arm support her head," the young woman was saying, and Dumbledore smiled beneath his mustache and turned to watch with an extra sparkle in his light blue eyes as Harry Potter took his infant daughter in his arms for the first time.

Harry held the sleeping baby gingerly, awkwardly, a dazed and rather besotted smile on his face. Draco had one hand on his back and was looking closely over his shoulder. The baby's small face was relaxed in sleep, black lashes on rose-petal cheeks, her tiny mouth slightly open. If it was possible for two boys to fall in love between one heartbeat and the next, they did.

Draco reached over and touched the cloud of downy black hair that crowned Lily's head with curls like the fluff on a dandelion. "She has your hair," he said with a teasing grin.

"She has his eyes, too," said Cho.

"My mother's eyes," said Harry softly. He looked up at Cho and smiled. Draco's arms slipped around his waist to hug him from behind. Harry leaned back into the other boy and smiled again, finding Draco's unconscious possessiveness endearing.

"We'll have to use a spell to disguise her eyes to look brown, though," said Cho, "while we're gone."

Harry nodded. "When do you leave?" he asked.

"Day after tomorrow," she said. "We'll stay with Lian's mother's family until the war is over . . ." She paused and met Harry's eyes, then amended her words. "Until we know it's safe to bring her back."

Harry nodded, understanding what she hadn't said, that there was still the very real chance they might not win the fight against Voldemort and that the end of the war would not bring them safety. He looked back down at his daughter and shifted her in his arms until he could move one hand out to touch her face. "China is a long way away," he said wistfully. "She might be grown before I ever see her again."

If I ever see her again, he added silently, knowing he might not live to see the end of the war. The future stretched away from Harry like a great, mysterious, blank page where any number of possible maybes and what-ifs might be written as well as one dreadful, appalling task.

Cho reached out and touched Harry's arm. "We'll make sure she knows you, Harry. No matter what happens."

"Thanks," said Harry, his voice breaking slightly. He took a deep breath and gazed down at the child in his arms. "Thanks for bringing her here," he said, "so I could see her."

Cho gave his arm a squeeze, and just then Lily yawned and stretched and opened her eyes.

"Oh," breathed Harry. "Oh, my God." He gazed down at the sweet face of his daughter, completely entranced. "She does have my eyes!"

And in that one moment, as Harry turned to grin at Draco and Draco hugged him tightly, grinning back, all the uncertainties of the future were forgotten, all the potential terrible ordeals to be endured ahead were as nothing. For contained in that one breathtaking moment there was a wonderful timeless eternity of pure joy. And it was perfect.

The End