Harry Potter And The Lord Of Darkness - Chapter 29

“Ron to E2.”

“Arthur to D8.”

“Hermione to A1, takes castle. Check.”

“Harry to C6, take Knight.”

“Hermione to A2, take pawn.”

The chess match went in a very quick pace. The moment the white chess pieces made a move, Ron or Arthur would immediately send out another move. However, even with the quick paced moving and commanding, the game progressed slowly. Arth and Ron has to be mindful of enemy attacks. If they made a single sacrifice, one of them could possible suffer a serious injury, or worse, death.

Just as they eliminated the last pawn on the white side, Arth and Ron let out a groan. Harry and Hermione, who had both lost track of the game immediately put on worried looks.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“Is anything bad going to happen? Did we make some sort of mistake?”

Arth shook his head. “It’s not that. With out next two moves, we will be able to win but….”

“But what?”

Ron took a deep breath. “We will need a sacrifice.”

Harry let out a small growl. “If it’s what I think it is then don’t. Don’t do it.”

Ron let out a sigh. “We can’t do it any other way. Every minute we spend here is another minute wasted in stopping you know who.”

Hermione let out a shaky voice. “W-who are we sacrificing?”

Ron went silent as Arth sighed. “We need to sacrifice Ron. If he takes the knight over there, it will force the Queen to take Ron, which then allows Hermione to take the queen and end the game.”

Harry frustratedly stomped on the floor. “Is there any other way?”

“There is but it will take too much time.” Ron put on a brave face before glaring at the queen with a hint of fear. “It has to be me. You have to stop him Harry. Not me, nor Hermione. You. Although, Arth may be able to help you.”

A moment of silence.

“Ready?” Ron called, his face pale but determined. “Here I go-”

“Ron to B3, take Knight. Check.”

Ron was magically forced to stepp forward, and the white queen pounced. She struck Ron hard across the head with her stone arm, and he crashed to the floor. Hermione screamed but stayed on her square – the white queen dragged Ron to one side. He looked as if he’d been knocked out.

Arth frowned. “Why did the queen go easy on Ron? They obviously tried to kill Corvus when I sent him out as bait- as a scout.”

“Maybe because Corvus is a black bird and they are White chess pieces?” Said Harry as an attempt to be helpful. “I mean, Ron is kinda pale and white.”

“Good thing Hermione isn’t black in this fanfic, otherwise I dread what would happen if we had to sacrifice her.”

“What was that Arthur?”

“Nothing, it’s something only the readers will understand.”

“What readers?”

“Again, something only the readers will understand.”

“I see?”

“Hermione to F1, checkmate.”

At once, the White king raised his sword and stabbed itself in the chest before crashing down to the floor heroically. All the other white pieces took it upon themselves to do the same.

Arth dusted off his clothes before giving Harry and Hermione a satisfied look. “Well that went well.”

“Well? Ron got injured!”

“It’s nothing fatal. Most likely a concussion. He won’t die or anything. He’s only gone to sleep. There may be a slight headache when he wakes up tomorrow however.”

Arth made his way to the door. “Let’s go and catch the bloody thief already.” As Harry and Hermione quickly caught up to Arth, Arth opened the door.

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 that this troll wasn’t the one we had to fight.” Arth said to Hermione as they stepped carefully over one of its massive legs. “We would’ve died from the smell alone and the girls bathroom would never smell the same.”

He pulled open the next door, both of them hardly daring to look at what came next – but there was nothing very frightening in here, just a table with seven differently shaped bottles standing on it in a line.

They stepped over the threshold, and immediately a fire sprang up behind them in the doorway. It wasn’t ordinary fire either; it was purple. At the same instant, black flames shot up in the doorway leading onward. They were trapped.

“Look!” Hermione seized a roll of paper lying next to the bottles.

Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,

Two of us will help you, which ever you would find,

One among us seven will let you move ahead,

Another will transport the drinker back instead,

Two among our number hold only nettle wine,

Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line.

Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,

To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four: First, however slyly the poison tries to hide

You will always find some on nettle wine’s left side; Second, different are those who stand at either end,

But if you would move onward, neither is your friend; Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,

Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;

Fourth, the second left and the second on the right

Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.

Arth squinted his eyes for a minute before picking out a tiny bottle and a round one. “The smallest bottle will get us through the black fire towards the Stone while the round one will take you back.”

“How did you know-”

“It’s a simple puzzle. A solvable with a logical mind. Something most brilliant wizards sorely lack.”

Arth picked up the small bottle and frowned. “There is barely enough left for one mouthful. I reckon that at most two people can take it. Any more would weaken the effects.”

Hermione took the round glass. “You two go, I’ll go back to Ron and try to send an owl to Professor Dumbledore. Don’t die Arthur.”

“I won’t,” said Arthur with a confident tone. “The worst that could happen to me is a loss of limb and a permanent mental impairment.”

“….”

“Bye Hermione. Be sure to get Dumbledore here quickly as possible. I don’t think Harry and I will be able to hold off a talented wizard thief like this one.”

Hermione nodded and took a sip of the potion before heading towards the blue flames. Arth took a small sip of the tiny potion before giving the rest to Harry.

“Cheers, and may we survive through the night.”

“….cheers.”

The two of them exchanged looks before running into the fire.”