Work Text:
Wizarding Chess Genius
Just before her sixth birthday, Molly becomes fascinated by Wizarding Chess. For her sixth birthday, she asks for and receives from her parents a chessboard and two sets of chess pieces. One white as the moon; the other black as midnight.
She loves the chess pieces. How smooth and cool the marble feels beneath her fingers when she strokes them. How they talk to her. Give her straightforward and unflinching advice. If only all communication could be so unambiguous.
She loves, too, the chessboard itself. The orderliness of its checkered black and white spaces. How clearcut it is. Divided into its tidy and precise spaces. Every section plainly marked out with no confusing gray area in between. Molly wishes all the world could be arranged so neatly.
She reads the accompanying instructions carefully prior to attempting to play (as the instructions themselves advise). Memorizing every rule for Molly is a staunch and instinctual believer in following every rule exactly as it is written.
She tries to get her dad to teach her how to play, but he shakes his head ruefully. “I’m rubbish at it, truth be told, Molly. Always lost miserably to my brother Ron whenever we played. You’ll want a different teacher.”
Molly’s face falls. She can feel it.
Dad must see how crestfallen she is. Adds as an apparent lighting bolt of inspiration hits him, “You should ask your Uncle Ron to teach you, honey. He’s a genius at chess.”
Molly gapes at him. She has never heard him refer to any of his siblings as a genius.
However, she understands next time they visit Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione. When Uncle Ron teaches her the how, the when, the where, and the why for all the chess pieces and their movements around the board. When he shows her cunning maneuvers and clever strategies to beat an opponent.
Her desire to learn more of those cunning maneuvers and clever strategies is intense. She begs and wheedles her parents to buy her chess books the next time they go on a family shopping trip to Diagon Alley. Stop by Flourish and Blotts. Molly’s favorite store in all of England for the vast array of books it contains on every topic that strikes her interest.
Her appetite for knowledge in every subject that incites her curiosity and passion is voracious. She delights in touching the covers of the books. Flipping them open to inhale the aroma of ink and paper that to her seems to smell of every great discovery and brilliant idea of humanity.
She devours the books on chess her parents purchase for her. Memorizes the strategies and moves. Eagerly recounts them to her Uncle Ron next time they play chess together by the crackling fireplace at the Burrow.
Uncle Ron is thrilled that there is finally someone in the family who shares his keen interest in chess.
As niece and uncle, they start traveling to Wizarding Chess competitions across the length and breadth of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Win many gold awards that Molly proudly displays perfectly polished and lined up in ascending size order on the wooden shelf in her bedroom gazing out over London’s foggy gray sky.
As their victories increase, they hunt for competition further afield. Expanding their scope to all of Europe and then around the globe.
He becomes her favorite uncle. Because chess is more than just a game to both of them. It is their passion. Their shared special interest. Their way of bonding with each other.
She loves chess for how it stretches her mind with strategies and maneuvers. Loves her Uncle Ron because he is a genius at chess who whistles and claps whenever she wins another trophy to add to her ever-multiplying collection.