"I'm fine, this is nothing," Harry sweated on his forehead, but he managed to stand up, "Compared to this, we should continue to go down, and we must not let Snape-"
He covered his left arm to keep it from shaking as much as possible, but the severe pain gave him the urge to cry.
"...Stop looking at me and open the door quickly!" Harry said anxiously.
The next room was pitch black and nothing could be seen. But before Hermione could use her magic, the room suddenly lit up with wall-mounted oil lamps, and it suddenly became brightly lit. But the scene inside made all three of them open their mouths.
"Oh my God!" Ron exclaimed, "This, this is..."
No wonder they were surprised, because the room was quite spacious. But this spacious room was almost completely occupied by an oversized chessboard.
What surprised them the most was that this chessboard was unusually special!
"...Ron, is this the wizard war chess piece that Maka gave you for Christmas?" Hermione asked with her eyes widened.
"I'm sure he gave it to more than just me." Ron said blankly.
Harry covered his arm and said with difficulty: "Ron, I remember that you are very good at wizard chess. What do you think..."
"No, no—absolutely impossible." Ron said loudly, "This chess game invented by Maka is too terrifying. It competes not with chess skills, but with luck!"
"But this level must be passed -" Harry said, suddenly staring at a certain square on the opposite chessboard and saying, "Look, what is that!"
Hermione and Ron hurriedly raised their heads and looked - blood stains!
"Oh, Snape must have been injured when he broke through this level!" Ron said.
"Yes, even if Maka is not here, he is still helping us." Hermione murmured, "Maka helped us give him a hard blow!"
But Ron shook his head, "Maka gave him a hard blow, but she will probably give us one too—"
"Okay, there's no point in thinking about it anymore, we're done!" Harry said firmly, but his tone was a little trembling. It was obvious that his hands had been sending pain signals to his brain.
"Then - there's nothing we can do," Ron said, "I'm more familiar with it. You'll be listening to my instructions in a while. You can only come like this."
"Each of us plays a wizard chess piece! Remember, wizards have the largest number, but the weakest ability. We must use the effects of various cards to improve our abilities, and rely on terrain, positioning and joint attacks to ensure Don’t be killed yourself.”
"As long as we can pass through the opponent's defensive formation with the help of other powerful chess pieces and capture the opponent's castle while resisting the opponent's counterattack, we will win!"
"Then come on!" Harry forced himself forward, "I believe in you, Ron. You are always better than me at chess."
"Oh, Harry, are you - okay?" Hermione asked worriedly.
"It's okay. Okay, Ron, let's get started!"
"Well, wizard w5, advance two spaces! Giant w3, advance three spaces..."
As the chess game begins, all the chess pieces on the chess board come into play. The fire dragon flapped its wings, the giant waved his stick, and the griffon flew up and hovered in place from time to time. Even the other wizard chess pieces had vivid expressions and movements.
If the original wizard chess was just a moving game of chess, then the war chess invented by Marfa has the flavor of a real magical movie.
"Roar-"
Under Ron's control, a Heshidri Islands black dragon swooped down, spitting out red flames from its mouth, burning the two wizard chess pieces within the attack range into powder.
"Oh -" Hermione looked at that scene in fear, not daring to think about what would happen if she was there.
"Don't worry!" Ron said, "The chess strength set here does not seem to be very high, they will also make mistakes!"
In fact, Ron is really good at chess. After a while, they finally reached the castle opposite!
"Oops!"
Just when Hermione was relieved, Ron's "Oops" made her heart rise again.
"What's wrong, Ron?" Harry could only barely hold on to prevent himself from fainting from the pain, and he tried to make his voice as loud as possible.
"I miscalculated a few steps, um-" He stopped after saying a few words, "No, it's okay, no problem!"
"Harry, go to the front of the castle and attack the castle gate every next round! No matter what happens, don't stop, no matter what happens!" Ron shouted.
After speaking to Harry, he turned to Hermione next to him and said: "Hermione, go to the side of the castle gate. While attacking the gate, prevent the other wizard from attacking Harry."
"What about you?" Hermione asked.
"I have to lure the last centaur archer on the other side," he said. "Don't worry, I have an armored knight here, I'll be fine!"
Ron's words were beautiful, but the reality was not that simple.
The centaur archer on the opposite side was indeed blocked by the armored knight. It would take at least three rounds to defeat the armored knight. But on the other side, a hippogriff with high mobility was rushing towards him, and it was almost too late.
"The door is broken!" Harry suddenly shouted, "I occupy it!"
At the same time, the hippogriff pushed Ron away! he shouted before he was hit.
"Keep going Harry!"
"Float into the air!" Hermione immediately raised her wand, but she only had time to catch Ron, who had been pushed into the air.
"Oh - poor Ron, he was knocked unconscious."
Harry had already captured the castle. Ron had won, but he couldn't move forward.
The opponent's magical creature chess pieces turned into stone statues again, and the wizard chess pieces all took off their hats to Ron. Behind the chessboard, the huge stone door opened automatically.
Harry and Hermione gave Ron one last sad look back before rushing through the door and down the next corridor.
"Would he-"
"He'll be fine." Harry gritted his teeth and said, while trying to convince himself of it, "What do you think will happen next?"
"We've passed Sprout's trap, the devil's net; it must have been Flitwick who enchanted the keys; Professor McGonagall transformed the chess pieces and made them come to life - and now only Quirrell remains. 's magic, and Snape's."
Just as they were talking, they came to the door of another door.
"Are you okay, Harry?" Hermione asked, looking at him worriedly.
"No problem, we have to keep going, at least for Ron." Harry said firmly.
As soon as they opened the door, they were choked by a familiar smell and took several steps back. It was a disgusting smell, and they had to lift their clothes to cover their noses.
Their eyes were also filled with tears. Through their blurred tearful eyes, they saw a giant monster.
It was even bigger than the last one they'd seen, lying motionless on the floor in front of them, unconscious, with a large bloody lump on its head.
"Great, we don't have to fight this troll anymore," Harry said weakly.
They carefully stepped over the troll's thick legs.
"Come on, I can't breathe."
When Hermione opened the next door, she didn't see anything more terrifying - there was only a table in this room.
On the table, seven bottles of different shapes are neatly arranged.
"This must be Snape's magic," Harry said, "What should we do?"
As soon as the two of them crossed the threshold, a flame rose up behind them and sealed the doorway. The flame was unusual, it was purple. At the same time, black flames burst out from the door leading to the front.
They found that they were apparently stuck in the middle.
"Look!" Hermione picked up a roll of parchment next to the bottle, "This-this is a logic puzzle!"
Hermione read it quietly, and then let out a long breath. Harry was surprised to see her smile. He couldn't smile himself.
"That's great," Hermione said. "The method of getting through here obviously has nothing to do with magic! Since ancient times, many wizards have no logical reasoning ability, so they have to be trapped here forever."
"What about us?" Harry gasped.
"Of course not," said Hermione. "All we need to know is written on this piece of paper. Seven bottles: three are poison; two are wine; one will allow us to pass safely through the black fire, and the other Can send us back through the purple flames.”
"But how do we know which one to drink?"
"Give me a minute."
Hermione read the paper a few more times. She walked up and down in front of the row of bottles, talking to herself and pointing to this or that bottle.
Finally, she clapped her hands happily, looking so cute like that.
"I see," she said. "This smallest bottle can help us pass through the black flames—and get to the Philosopher's Stone."
Harry looked at the inconspicuous little bottle and couldn't help but said, "It looks like it's only big enough for one person."
Hermione looked at Harry, hesitated, then pointed to the round bottle on the far right and said, "This bottle allows you to return through the purple flames."
"Harry, you have to drink it—"
"-No, it should be me! It has to be!" Harry stood up straight and tried to look better.
"Harry!" Hermione raised her eyebrows and looked at Harry seriously, "Listen to me!"
"You are seriously injured now. Even if you go over, you can't stop Snape! But I'm fine. Even if I can't, I can still escape."
"And you, now, immediately! Go to the room with the flying key and get a broomstick - if Ron wakes up, call him with you - and then go to the owl room to send a letter to Dumbledore! In any case, I will try my best Delay Snape by all means, and you! Go!"
After Hermione finished speaking, she picked up the smallest bottle, poured it into her mouth, and walked towards the black flames.
"I still remember that day in the library," she said as she walked, "Maka said that I am a Gryffindor, the smartest Gryffindor, and I don't think I will let his affirmation of me become a joke."
Harry really couldn't figure out whether Hermione was talking to him or to herself.