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PLOP!
Harry landed with a strange muffled sound, as if he had fallen on something soft.
"It's all right!" he shouted. "You can jump, a soft landing awaits you!"
I wouldn't be able to land on it now. I went around the hatch and jumped down.
"What is this thing?" I asked first. There were some stalks under me.
"I don't know, it's probably some kind of plant," Harry shook his head. "I think it's here specifically to soften the landing. Come on, Hermione!"
The music coming from above stopped. There was a loud barking, but Hermione was already flying towards us and soon landed next door. It's a good thing it's not on us.
"We're probably very deep under the school," she remarked.
"That's for sure. We're lucky to have this plant here," I smiled.
"Lucky?!" Hermione suddenly screamed, turning on the lumos. "Look at you!"
She jumped to her feet and backed up against the damp wall. She did it with great difficulty, because the moment she landed, the plant immediately began to wrap around her ankles. And as for Harry and me, the long creeping shoots managed to tie our legs so that we didn't even notice it. Hermione managed to free herself before the plant could entangle her, and now, pressed against the wall, she watched in horror as Harry and I tried to tear off the stems. But the more effort we put in, the stronger and faster the snake-like shoots wrapped around us.
"Don't move!" Hermione ordered. "I know what it is. It's a "hell of a trap"!"
"I'm awfully glad that's what it's called!" I growled, trying to stop the stalk that was trying to wrap itself around my neck. "This, of course, will help us!"
"Shut up, I'm trying to remember how to kill them!" Hermione replied.
"Then hurry up, I can't breathe anymore!" Harry choked out, struggling with the stalk wrapped around his chest. I silently pulled the stem away from my neck.
"Hell's snares, hell's snares," Hermione repeated tensely, wrinkling her forehead. "What did Professor Sprout say? This plant loves darkness and humidity..."
"So make a fire!" Harry shouted, panting.
"Yes, of course, but what should I set on fire? I don't see anything wooden anywhere, honestly!" There was desperation in Hermione's voice, and she was wringing her hands nervously.
"ARE YOU CRAZY?" Harry bellowed. "ARE YOU A SORCERESS OR NOT?"
"Oh, that's right!" Hermione whipped out her wand and waved it, whispering something. A blue flame burst from the wand, the same one she had used to set Snape's clothes on fire at the Quidditch match. Just a second later, Harry and I felt the stalks' embrace weaken. The plant tried to crawl away from the light and heat. Convulsively twisting and spinning, the appendages that had enveloped us hurriedly unwound and finally disappeared.
"It's good that you were attentive in herbology class, Hermione." Harry said, wiping the sweat off his face.
"Yeah," I agreed. "And it's a good thing Harry didn't lose his head in a moment of danger. "But what should I set on fire? I don't see anything wooden..."" I mimicked Hermione. "The witch is called."
"Let's go." Harry waved his hand in the direction of the only stone passage that led from here.
All we could hear-except our footsteps, of course-were drops of water falling from the walls. The corridor went down sharply.
"Do you hear?" I whispered.
From somewhere above came a soft rustling and a soft ringing.
"Do you think it's a ghost?" Harry asked me.
"I don't know..." I shrugged my shoulders. "But it looks like wings."
Harry thought about it.
"There's a light ahead... And I see something moving there", Finally, he said. "And whatever it is, we have no other choice."
We reached the end of the corridor and found ourselves at the entrance to a brightly lit hall with a high arched ceiling. The hall was full of fluttering and circling birds, small and bright as precious stones. There was a heavy wooden door on the other side of the hall.
"Do you think they'll attack us if we try to cross the hall?" I asked.
"Maybe. Harry thought about it. "They don't look particularly dangerous, but if they all attack at once... Well, there's no other way... I'll try..."
Harry sucked in a deep breath, covered his head with his hands, and rushed to the door. He reached the door and grabbed the handle — the door was locked.
After making sure that the birds weren't dangerous, Harry turned to Hermione and me and waved at us.
We pulled the door towards us and pushed it with our shoulders, but even the three of us couldn't open it. Even the Alohomora spell, which Hermione had cast several times, didn't help.
"And what now?" I asked.
"These birds... They can't just be here for decoration." Hermione said wisely.
We raised our heads, looking at the bright, shiny birds fluttering over our heads...
"These are not birds!" Harry suddenly shouted. "These are the keys! The winged keys! Take a closer look and you'll see for yourself. These are the keys, which means..." Harry looked around.
"Of course, look!" he exclaimed. "Brooms! We have to find the right key!"
"But there are hundreds of them here!" Hermione was horrified. I leaned over the door, examining the lock.
I took a closer look at the lock in the door.
"We need a big antique key... It's probably silver, the same as the door handle."
We quickly straddled the brooms, rose into the air and found ourselves in a cloud of keys. At first, we tried to grab what we needed at random. But the enchanted keys dodged, diving sharply or gaining altitude, so it seemed that it was simply impossible to catch them.
However, Harry did not become the youngest hunter in the last hundred years for nothing. After circling for a few minutes in a whirlpool of colorful feathers, he noticed a huge silver key with a dented wing. It looked like he had been caught and forced into the castle quite recently.
"Here he is!" Harry shouted to us. "This big one, right here... no, over there... with bright blue wings... One wing is dented!"
I ran where Harry was pointing, crashed into the ceiling, and almost fell off the broom.
"We need to surround him!" Harry shouted, not letting the key out of his sight. "Ron, you go in from above, and you, Hermione, stay below and stop him from coming down. I'll try to grab him. Are you ready?"
"Yeah," we breathed.
"HERE WE GO!"
I climbed up, Hermione rushed down, the key slipped away from both of us, darting to the side, and Harry rushed after him, pinning him against the wall with outstretched hand. There was an unpleasant crunch, which was drowned out by Hermione's and my enthusiastic cheers.
We landed hurriedly, and Harry darted to the door. He slammed the key into the lock, turned it, and there was a click. At that moment, the key burst out of the keyhole and flew up heavily. He looked very rumpled and battered.
"Are you ready?" Harry asked, holding on to the door handle. Hermione and I nodded, and he pulled the door open.
The next room was so dark that nothing could be seen at all. However, as soon as we took a few steps, the room was suddenly flooded with bright light.
We all stared in amazement. We were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, right behind the black stone pieces that were taller than the three of us, even me. There were white pieces on the other side of the board. Harry, Hermione, and I shivered — the white figures, unlike the black ones, had no faces.
"So what do we do now?" Harry whispered.
"In my opinion, the answer is quite obvious," I said. "We have to win to be on the other side of the room."
There, behind the white figures, was another door.
"So how do we win?" Hermione asked nervously.
"I think," I said after a moment's thought, "we should become figures."
I boldly stepped forward and, approaching the black horseman, who was playing the role of a chess knight, touched his horse. In an instant, the stone figure came to life. The horse began to dig the ground with its hooves, and the rider turned his helmeted head and looked down at me.
"Do we... uh... do we need to join you to get to the other side?" I stammered.
The knight nodded. I turned to Harry and Hermione.
"I'll have to think about it," I whispered. "I think we should take the places of the three black figures."..
Harry and Hermione waited in silence for me to finish my thoughts.
"Anyway," I finally raised my head. "No offense, but I'm a much better chess player than you are..."
"And we're not offended," Harry quickly interjected. "Just tell us what to do."
"You, Harry, take the place of that elephant. And you, Hermione, take the place of this rook."
"And you?" they asked in unison.
"I'll be a horse," I said confidently. It looks like the pieces were listening to our conversation, because in the next instant, the knight, bishop, and rook turned and left the board, freeing up three squares. And Harry, Hermione, and I took them without hesitation.
"White always starts," I said, looking at the other side of the board. "yeah... That's it..."
The white pawn moved two squares ahead.
I began to guide the black figures, who obediently stood where I pointed them. I tried to calculate all my moves and the opponent's and tried not to think about what would happen if we lost.
"Harry, move four squares forward!" I commanded.
The first time I felt uneasy was when the enemy attacked our second rider. The white queen knocked him to the floor and pulled him off the board — the knight, who was lying face down, did not move.
"I had to sacrifice him." I whispered, although I was also shocked— not by the surprise of what had happened, but by the brutality of the massacre. "Hermione, you can take this elephant now."
The white figures were ruthless. Soon there was a whole mountain of motionless black bodies lying by the board, which meant that our turn could come soon. Twice now, I've only noticed at the very last moment that Harry and Hermione are in danger. I myself was constantly rushing around the board, and I had to admit that, despite the brutality of the opponent, there were not many more white pieces left on it than black ones.
"We're almost there," I whispered feverishly. "Let me think about it... Let me think about it..."
The White Queen turned her absent face to me. After calculating the remaining options, I realized that I had only one way out.
"Yes..." I said softly. "It's the only way... I'll have to sacrifice myself. I hope she doesn't break my skull."
"No!" Harry and Hermione protested together.
"But this is chess!" I shouted back. "You have to make sacrifices here! I'll take one step forward and she'll pick me up, and then you, Harry, can checkmate the king!"
"But..." Harry began.
"Do you want to stop Snape or not?" My voice was firm and confident.
Even though I didn't have much confidence in the correctness of my actions.
"But, Ron..." Hermione interjected.
"Listen, if you don't hurry up, Snape will have the stone!"
I was right, and Harry and Hermione couldn't help but admit it.
"Are you ready?" I asked. "I'm off, and when you checkmate them, don't waste any time."
I stepped forward, and the white queen darted towards me. Swinging her arm, she brought her nominal hand down hard on my head, and I fell heavily to the floor. Blood trickled down the top of my head, and I passed out as Hermione screamed. Blood trickled down the top of my head, and I passed out as Hermione screamed.
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