Serious

The Gryffindor Common Room was warm with the heat from the fire in the hearth. Most of the Gryffindor students were outside, playing in the snow, having snowball fights, making snowmen, but two lone figures sat together in the common room.

Ginny Weasley was sitting on the floor in front of a short table, dressed in corduroy pants and one of her mother's hand-knit sweaters.

The young man sitting on the other side of the table was Neville Longbottom. He was dressed in slacks and a dark blue sweater with arms that were a bit too short.

"Knight to E5," he said to the chessboard on the table between them. The knight moved and took out one of Ginny's pawns.

"Hey Neville," Ginny started, considering what move to take next. "You remember that nice little house-elf who's always around the common room?"

Neville thought for a moment then nodded. "Yeah. I do."

"I think we should try to figure out how old he is," she said then told one of her bishops to take out one of his pawns.

Neville shrugged. "That's fine." He was staring intently at the board.

"I'd say over a hundred of course."

"Of course." He moved one of his pawns to take out her knight.

"Maybe around the same age as Dumbledore. So over one hundred twenty." She moved a pawn to take out one of his.

"I'm guessing one hundred fifty. Or one hundred sixty. Somewhere around there." He took out her bishop with his last remaining knight.

She nodded. "I agree. So next time he comes around, I'm going to have to ask him about it. It would be funny to think we were right." She looked up at him, moving her castle to take out his last knight.

He nodded. "Yeah."

The two were quiet for the rest of the game. Both were thinking of the same things. The war and upcoming battles. Their DA meetings, and trying to figure out what creatures Voldemort had under his wand.

Ginny concentrated on what was going on between her and Harry. She knew that now that she and Harry were open about their feelings towards one another, that she would be a main target for Voldemort to get to Harry. She didn't like that feeling of being constantly on edge and having to watch out for Harry. Maybe she shouldn't have kissed Harry. Maybe things would have been better if she had just kept her excitement and feeling to herself. But those were in the past and she knew she couldn't change the past, and she wasn't all that sure she wanted too.

Neville thought about his old grandmother and how she was all alone in her big old house. What if something happened to her? She was the last bit of family that he had left. He couldn't really count his mother and father anymore because they had no idea who he was. He couldn't help not liking the thought of his parents both dying alone in a sanitary room at St. Mungo's.

Just as Ginny's castle took off Neville's king, Hermione came bursting into the common room. She was dressed in mittens, layers of sweaters, warm pants and snow boots. Her cheeks were shining from the cool air, and there were snowflakes dotting her hair.

"Why aren't you two outside? It's gorgeous out there. Come on!" She walked over to Ginny and picked her up by her elbow and pushed her up the stairs, yelling at Neville over her shoulder to get on some warm clothes. Five minutes later, the three made their way through Hogwarts to the grounds and out into the snow.