Sitting in his little dark corner in the Slytherin common room, Martin was in deep concentration over his chessboard. The white queen had just murdered his tower and he didn’t appreciate that. Perhaps his little enchantment had worked a bit too well. He only meant to play against an average invisible player not a world champion. He didn’t play against anybody as he usually did but that didn’t seem to matter for the white pieces. How could they play against Martin without somebody commanding them was a mystery for everybody apart from Martin who managed to convince them to play.  As a child, Martin would often play with his father. He observed how pieces would get utterly destroyed in the process, only to reassemble once the game was over. After coming to Hogwarts his passion for chess didn’t disappear but he found it much harder to find other players. Instead, Martin thought of instilling the pieces with the idea of their moves and of survival. Thus the pieces could play even without being commanded. But that didn’t go too well because the opposing pieces just kept running away from his. So one night, Martin decided to give the pieces “the talk” and convince them then only way for them to survive was to checkmate his king. It was a long night talk but in the end it worked. Maybe a bit too well. Four moves later the black king gave up his throne.
Martin was in the process of coming up with a revenge plan against the white queen when he heard footsteps behind him. Normally he would care but they were coming straight towards him. Looking behind him, Martin was not surprised to see Luke Jeremy, a boy just a year younger with whom he sometimes played chess.
“Hey Martin, how are you?”
“Fine.”
“So, who won?”
“Me.”
“Are you coming to the Halloween party tonight?”
Martin was sure that was his question from the very beginning. He never understood why people always wasted time on small talk instead of going straight to the point though.
“Do I have a choice? It’s in the Main Hall. Everybody is going whether they like it or not.”
“So what’s your costume? I heard this year they have a huge flaming pumpkin trying to eat the first years. That’s going to be fun to watch.”
“I don’t have a costume.”
“But it’s Halloween.”
“Don’t care.”
“Well, anyway, hope to see you around. Bye.”
Luke was always obnoxious in his enthusiasm but he was a good chess player so Martin tolerated him. In any case, he had to think of a costume for that stupid party. There was no way he could avoid it and the Head Master would tolerate nobody destroying the spirit of Halloween.