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Checkmate
Drarry AU
Draco has the perfect plan to get Harry Potter and challenges him to a game of Dare Chess. But is it love, or betrayal, he has in mind? A real chess game is played throughout the story. A seventh year story based on canon through Goblet of Fire.
http://moonfeather-ink.com/naadi/fanf...
Words:245,276 Complete
Draco has the perfect plan to get Harry Potter and challenges him to a game of Dare Chess. But is it love, or betrayal, he has in mind? A real chess game is played throughout the story. A seventh year story based on canon through Goblet of Fire.
http://moonfeather-ink.com/naadi/fanf...
Words:245,276 Complete
737 pages, ebook
First published May 26, 2002
1 person is currently reading
46 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 2, 2019
THIRD RE-READ 9 September 2017
Some More New Favorite Quotes:
slipping irrevocably, effortlessly, and earth-shatteringly from falling in love to being in love
he felt boneless and melted, poured out warm and languid as a puddle of sunlight.
SECOND FULL RE-READ 8 October 2016
Still overly-wordy, melodramatic, overly-emotional, and sappy. And still one of my all-time favorite drarry fics. I just adore how vivid the descriptions are, and how this Harry and Draco interact with each other.
I just now realized that I've returned to this one every October. Maybe I can only make it a year without this delightful shot of melodrama and gold-and-crystal sparks.
Some New Favorite Quotes:
Draco's smile widened a bit. "Oh damn, Potter," he said in a low, amused voice, "being straight with you isn't what I had in mind at all. But," he said, louder, "I do promise I'll try to be honest with you."
it was probably happiness, or contentment, or something equally cliched--so he really didn't want to put a name to it--he just wanted to enjoy feeling it.
Across the lake, Hogwarts was lit up from the inside, golden lamplight from the many windows spilling across the dark water to lap in quiet, gilt-edged ripples at Harry's feet.
It made him forget that darkness had ever existed.
FIRST FULL RE-READ 24 October 2015
Some New Favorite Quotes:
and suddenly there were words that Harry needed to speak to someone and never had.
the deep gratitude that not only was he allowed to share a kiss with this person but that this person was holding him and kissing him back.
ORIGINAL REVIEW 14 October 2014
Sappy and emotional and melodramatic, this story is one of the most perfect depictions of what falling in love for the first time feels like. Every emotion was perfectly portrayed as Draco and Harry first learn to forgive and then to genuinely care about each other. Just so beautifully well done, that even having just finished this I can't wait to go back and read it again so I can experience all of this over again.
And it was just so, so beautifully written. So vivid that Draco's bedroom with that fireplace and the window and the chairs around the chess board will likely always be a part of the Hogwarts in my head from now on. And having the connection that Harry and Draco form actually be visual was an extra delightful treat for someone as visual as I am. I may choose to picture them trailing white and golden sparks along each others' skin in every story I read about them from now on, I enjoyed it so thoroughly. And that dance! Has to be one of my new favorite Drarry scenes!
Add in the wonderfully unique abilities Harry possesses in this AU, and combined with Draco's just absolutely endearing stubbornness and this is definitely one of my new favorite Drarry stories.
Lovely, lovely story!
Favorite Quotes:
He was being adorable again, completely pathetic, but so adorable.
Then Harry's eyes traveled up to the pale, fire-burnished blond fringe falling over Draco's forehead, and his longing-to-look turned into wanting-to-touch.
There was a new depth in this kiss, of bridges crossed and foundations solid underfoot, a commitment made, understanding sure.
and had healed the brokenness he felt inside so completely, so skillfully and effortlessly, that it was both breathtaking and frightening at the same time.
"I expect to be greatly made over and petted later for the trouble."
"But butterflies!?" he teased. "Butterflies!!" He was laughing hard now. "God, Potter! That's got to be the poofiest thing I've ever seen!"
Draco loved him, all of him--both Harry-of-the-rare-magical-power and Harry-of-the-unruly-hair--both flaws and talents accepted as parts of a whole, neither outweighing the other.
he had found a starting place for hope again.
"It's a dragon with red Gryffindor eyes," said Draco. "I wanted it to mean that we ... belong together."
"I see them now, not so much as different, but as the two opposite halves of a whole. I'm not sure they can do without each other now"
Later, as evening fell, filling the room with a peaceful enveloping darkness, and the dying fire cast a rich rose-amber glow across the floor and faint flickering shadows over the bed, Harry lay in Draco's arm drawing slow random designs of golden glitter over Draco's pale skin.
For what was trust, he understood suddenly, if one cast it aside at the first test ... however great a challenge that might be?
And what Harry wished became truth.
and the exploration of a new kind of trust, a trust that accepted uncertainty.
"Unlike some people ... who shamelessly flaunt their scars by wearing them around on their foreheads,"
"The rest of my life has always belonged to you."
Some More New Favorite Quotes:
slipping irrevocably, effortlessly, and earth-shatteringly from falling in love to being in love
he felt boneless and melted, poured out warm and languid as a puddle of sunlight.
SECOND FULL RE-READ 8 October 2016
Still overly-wordy, melodramatic, overly-emotional, and sappy. And still one of my all-time favorite drarry fics. I just adore how vivid the descriptions are, and how this Harry and Draco interact with each other.
I just now realized that I've returned to this one every October. Maybe I can only make it a year without this delightful shot of melodrama and gold-and-crystal sparks.
Some New Favorite Quotes:
Draco's smile widened a bit. "Oh damn, Potter," he said in a low, amused voice, "being straight with you isn't what I had in mind at all. But," he said, louder, "I do promise I'll try to be honest with you."
it was probably happiness, or contentment, or something equally cliched--so he really didn't want to put a name to it--he just wanted to enjoy feeling it.
Across the lake, Hogwarts was lit up from the inside, golden lamplight from the many windows spilling across the dark water to lap in quiet, gilt-edged ripples at Harry's feet.
It made him forget that darkness had ever existed.
FIRST FULL RE-READ 24 October 2015
Some New Favorite Quotes:
and suddenly there were words that Harry needed to speak to someone and never had.
the deep gratitude that not only was he allowed to share a kiss with this person but that this person was holding him and kissing him back.
ORIGINAL REVIEW 14 October 2014
Sappy and emotional and melodramatic, this story is one of the most perfect depictions of what falling in love for the first time feels like. Every emotion was perfectly portrayed as Draco and Harry first learn to forgive and then to genuinely care about each other. Just so beautifully well done, that even having just finished this I can't wait to go back and read it again so I can experience all of this over again.
And it was just so, so beautifully written. So vivid that Draco's bedroom with that fireplace and the window and the chairs around the chess board will likely always be a part of the Hogwarts in my head from now on. And having the connection that Harry and Draco form actually be visual was an extra delightful treat for someone as visual as I am. I may choose to picture them trailing white and golden sparks along each others' skin in every story I read about them from now on, I enjoyed it so thoroughly. And that dance! Has to be one of my new favorite Drarry scenes!
Add in the wonderfully unique abilities Harry possesses in this AU, and combined with Draco's just absolutely endearing stubbornness and this is definitely one of my new favorite Drarry stories.
Lovely, lovely story!
Favorite Quotes:
He was being adorable again, completely pathetic, but so adorable.
Then Harry's eyes traveled up to the pale, fire-burnished blond fringe falling over Draco's forehead, and his longing-to-look turned into wanting-to-touch.
There was a new depth in this kiss, of bridges crossed and foundations solid underfoot, a commitment made, understanding sure.
and had healed the brokenness he felt inside so completely, so skillfully and effortlessly, that it was both breathtaking and frightening at the same time.
"I expect to be greatly made over and petted later for the trouble."
"But butterflies!?" he teased. "Butterflies!!" He was laughing hard now. "God, Potter! That's got to be the poofiest thing I've ever seen!"
Draco loved him, all of him--both Harry-of-the-rare-magical-power and Harry-of-the-unruly-hair--both flaws and talents accepted as parts of a whole, neither outweighing the other.
he had found a starting place for hope again.
"It's a dragon with red Gryffindor eyes," said Draco. "I wanted it to mean that we ... belong together."
"I see them now, not so much as different, but as the two opposite halves of a whole. I'm not sure they can do without each other now"
Later, as evening fell, filling the room with a peaceful enveloping darkness, and the dying fire cast a rich rose-amber glow across the floor and faint flickering shadows over the bed, Harry lay in Draco's arm drawing slow random designs of golden glitter over Draco's pale skin.
For what was trust, he understood suddenly, if one cast it aside at the first test ... however great a challenge that might be?
And what Harry wished became truth.
and the exploration of a new kind of trust, a trust that accepted uncertainty.
"Unlike some people ... who shamelessly flaunt their scars by wearing them around on their foreheads,"
"The rest of my life has always belonged to you."
September 7, 2018
Beautifully written, gentle and lyrical story from a very good author. Possibly the best Harry Potter fanfiction I have ever read.
October 18, 2016
3.5 stars
It's a romantic story yet too wordy. Though I love going through the story from both Draco and Harry's perspectives, it's a bit too much. Almost all the plot is described twice, and the tiring repeated details and information are more than necessary. In addition, the relationship between Draco and Harry develops too fast (though there's a plausible explanation at the nearly end of the story), and the feelings they share are too sappy for me. I would enjoy this story more if I were seventeen.
Still, this is an enjoyable and touching story to read.
It's a romantic story yet too wordy. Though I love going through the story from both Draco and Harry's perspectives, it's a bit too much. Almost all the plot is described twice, and the tiring repeated details and information are more than necessary. In addition, the relationship between Draco and Harry develops too fast (though there's a plausible explanation at the nearly end of the story), and the feelings they share are too sappy for me. I would enjoy this story more if I were seventeen.
Still, this is an enjoyable and touching story to read.
March 24, 2018
i loved every minute even it has no smut in it i was very worried if Draco died or mabey Harry but the managed thank gofd ,i didnt like thin with the daughter fom Cho this wa better left ,pure Harry pure Draco.but the sory was really touching its one of my favorite .thank you Naadi!
May 28, 2024
My 1st H/D fanfiction and the one that started it all. It will always hold a special place in my heart. It has been so many yrs ago that i dont really feel i can give a proper review, but if it got me on the path of a 18+ year obsession you know it was good.
August 29, 2019
toooo loooong
August 1, 2023
My favorite Drarry fic of all time-- it's romantic, melodramatic, longing, and gorgeous. I reread it just about every year, it's just so funny and lovely.
June 20, 2016
I love how Naadi weaved a chess game into the story. It's a beautiful story about loving, and how you don't have to follow in the shadow of your family's footsteps.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews