Kapitel 61: Chess

"Let's go," said Draco, pointing down a stone passageway, which was the only way forward.

Hermione moved closer to Daphne explaining her the situation.

All they could hear apart from their footsteps was the gentle drip of water trickling down the walls. The passageway sloped downward, and Draco was reminded of Gringotts since it was very similar. Harry, on the other hand, also had a similar feeling, he felt an unpleasant jolt of the heart, he remembered the dragons said to be guarding vaults in the Wizards' bank. If they met a dragon, a fully-grown dragon... He sighed walking close to Draco.

"Why are you really here?" Harry asked he was still doubting how Draco and he had come to the same conclusion as himself.

"Same plan different enemies," Draco replied not even looking at him,

Harry looked at him in deep thought wondering what was he trying to say.

"So what happened with Weasley?" Draco asked interested since he was sure the red-head was sure to be here.

"He slept through." Harry lied avoiding Draco's gaze.

"Can you hear something?" Daphne suddenly whispered.

Draco listened. A soft rustling and clinking seemed to be coming from up ahead.

"Do you think it's a ghost?" Harry said

"I don't know... sounds like wings to me." Hermione said, "There's light ahead -- I can see something moving."

They reached the end of the passageway and saw before them a brilliantly lit chamber, its ceiling arching high above them. It was full of small, jewel-bright birds, fluttering and tumbling all around the room. On the opposite side of the chamber was a heavy wooden door.

"Do you think they'll attack us if we cross the room?" said Daphne in a wary tone. From what Hermione told her, the place seemed to be full of traps.

"Probably," said Harry. "They don't look very vicious, but I suppose if they all swooped down at once... well, there's no other choice... I'll run."

He took a deep breath, covered his face with his arms, and sprinted across the room. He expected to feel sharp beaks and claws tearing at him any second, but nothing happened. He reached the door untouched. He pulled the handle, but it was locked.

Draco rolled his eyes slowly crossing the place with the other two following behind him. Harry tugged and heaved at the door, but it wouldn't budge, not even when Hermione tried her Alohomora charm.

"Now what?" said Daphne.

"These birds... they can't be here just for decoration," said Hermione.

They watched the birds soaring overhead, glittering -- glittering?

"They're not birds!" Draco said walking forward. "Accio"

He chanted but nothing happened, 'Spell proof huh!' Draco thought to himself.

Harry who was wondering what Draco was doing looked at them closely and said. "They're keys! Winged keys -- look carefully. So that must mean..." he looked around the chamber while the other two squinted up at the flock of keys. "... yes -- look! Broomsticks! We've got to catch the key to the door!"

"But there are hundreds of them!" Hermione said examining the lock on the door. "We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one -- probably silver, like the handle."

"It's that one." Draco pointed with his wand towards a particular key, "The silver key with the blue wings."

"How can you tell?"

"The feathers are crumbled up meaning someone who came before us, used the key." Draco said lazily looking at Harry, "You are a seeker, aren't you? Go on and show off your skills."

Harry looked at Draco for a while as he sighed, seizing a broomstick and kicked off into the air, soaring into the midst of the cloud of keys. He grabbed and snatched, but the bewitched keys darted and dived so quickly it was almost impossible to catch.

"Is he going to be okay?" Hermione asked.

"Don't worry, I can blow off the keys if they attack," Draco said waving his wand lazily. Hermione glared at him, "Don't you know any other spells?" She asked.

"I do but this one's hard since it's spell proof." Draco said in a joking manner, "Blowing it off is the best case scenario."

Not for nothing, though, was Harry the youngest Seeker in a century. He had a knack for catching things but this one seemed impossible as it kept running away.

"We've got to close in on it!" Harry called, not taking his eyes off the key with the damaged wing. "I need some help, one of you come at it from above -- Hermione, stay below and stop it from going down and I'll try and catch it. Right, NOW!"

Draco stopped Hermione as he waved his wands manipulating the brooms in the direction Harry had said and as Draco suspected the key moved away from the broom, Harry who was in a moment of shock quickly broke out of it moving along as he pressed the key against the wall, finally catching it.

Harry landed quickly, and ran to the door, the key struggling in his hand. He rammed it into the lock and turned -- it worked. The moment the lock had clicked open, the key took flight again, looking very battered now that it had been caught twice.

"Ready?" Harry asked them, his hand on the door handle. They nodded. He pulled the door open. The next chamber was so dark they couldn't see anything at all. But as they stepped into it, the light suddenly flooded the room to reveal an astonishing sight.

They were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which were all taller than they were and carved from what looked like black stone. Facing them, way across the chamber, where the white pieces.

"Now what do we do?" Hermione whispered.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" said Harry. "We've got to play our way across the room."

Behind the white pieces, they could see another door.

"How?" said Daphne nervously.

"I think," said Harry, "we're going to have to be chessmen."

He walked up to a black knight and put his hand out to touch the knight's horse. At once, the stone sprang to life. The horse pawed the ground and the knight turned his helmeted head to look down at Harry.

"Do we -- er -- have to join you to get across?" The black knight nodded. Harry turned to the other three.

"This needs thinking about" he said. "I suppose we've got to take the place of three of the black pieces...."

The three of them stayed quiet, watching Harry think. Finally, he said, "Now, I know that Hermione isn't that good at chess and since Ron isn't here..." He looked at Draco and Daphne.

Draco was thinking something himself as he looked back at Harry, "Move away, Potter."

Harry not knowing what Draco was planning to do, moved back subconsciously.

"Confringo." Draco chanted pointing his wand towards the white pawn. The pawn exploded into pieces and suddenly the knight from the white side made a move.

"What happened?" Daphne asked surprised.

"I found a loophole." Draco said grinning, "It looks like, as long as we destroy the pieces, we don't really need to play it."

Harry and Hermione were sitting with their mouth wide open.

"Why does everything involve exploding with you?" Hermione sighed. "Sigh! You felt smarter before you learned the curse."

"Wait until you learn the spell first, then you will learn to love the power of explosions," Draco said grinning, chanting several curses towards the white pieces and by the end, none of the pieces remained except for the king. The white king took off his crown and threw it at Draco's feet. They had won the game of chess without even moving a single piece. "Let's go."

All of them charged through the door and up the next passageway.

"We've had Sprout's, that was the Devil's Snare; Flitwick must've put charms on the keys; McGonagall transfigured the chessmen to make them alive; that leaves Quirrell's spell, and Snape's."

They had reached another door.

"All right?" Harry whispered.

"Go on." Draco said

Harry pushed it open.

A disgusting smell filled their nostrils, making both of them pull their robes up over their noses. Eyes watering, they saw, flat on the floor in front of them, a troll even larger than the one they had tackled, out cold with a bloody lump on its head.

"I'm glad we didn't have to fight that one," Daphne whispered as they stepped carefully over one of its massive legs. "Come on, I can't breathe."

Draco thought the same as well, fighting the troll will definitely drain his energy whether he wins or loses and will be at a complete disadvantage for the final fight.