"She completely blew you off?" Y/n asked as he and Hermione caught up with the two.
"Yeah, Dumbledore has gone to the Ministry of Magic," Harry told the two of them as they stopped walking for a moment. "That was no stranger Hagrid met, that was Snape which means he knows how to get past Fluffy," Harry spoke as he looked at Y/n.
"And with Dumbledore gone," Hermione began but was cut off before she could continue.
"Good afternoon," The voice of Severus Snape interrupted the quartet as he walked up to them. "Now what would three young Gryffindors... And a Slytherin such as yourselves," Y/n felt Snape's eye seem to single him out from the other trio, just like McGonagall had done before. "Be doing inside on such a day like this?" He asked, seeming to direct his question towards Y/n for an answer.
"The usual, kicking names and taking butts," Y/n smiled as he heard Ron and Harry coughing behind him, trying to hold back their laughter.
"You outta be careful," Snape almost whispered as he looked at each member of the quartet. "People will think you are," He paused as his eyes landed on Harry. "Up to something," Another whispered sentence as he looked at them, studying each of the four before turning around and walking off.
"Now what do we do?" Hermione asked as she tugged on Y/n's sleeve, not that he noticed since his mind was distracted at the moment.
"We go down the trap door," Harry spoke up as he turned to the three. "Tonight,"
"Why's the door unlocked?" Ron's voice whispered as they entered the room only to see a figure standing near Fluffy as a harp stood on one side, playing itself. With a big breath of air shooting from the giant dog's nostrils, the invisibility cloak was sent flying off of the trio.
"You guys finally made it," Y/n called as he stood near Fluffy.
"What's he doing here?" Ron whined as he looked at the Slytherin who had beaten them to the trap door.
"He is here because I am," Hermione glared at the Weasley before walking over to Y/n with Harry just behind her.
"How long have you been here?" Harry asked as he inspected the Harp.
"Just got here a minute or two ago, Fluffy was already out cold by then," Y/n never moved his eyes away from the large dog. "We need to move its paw," Y/n explained as they walked over to the trap door.
"What?" Ron growled as he stared at the two boys.
"Enough, Ron," Harry fired back this time. "Just get over here and help us," He ordered as the ginger-haired boy did just that. "Okay and push," The four of them all worked together and effortlessly moved the large paw off the door. Harry soon pulled the door open as the three of them inspected the entrance of the door. "I'll go first, don't follow me until I let you know it's safe,"
"Guys," Y/n interrupted the planning as he tapped Harry and Hermione on the shoulder.
"What?" Ron almost yelled as he looked at the Malfoy.
"Oh, nothing... Just checking if anyone else hears the music playing?" Y/n asked sarcastically as he stared at Ron.
"Are you an idiot? Of course, we hear the music, the harp is right-" Ron froze as droll fell onto his shoulder. The four looked up to find Fluffy staring down at them. Without thinking too much about it, Y/n pushed Harry into the hole and followed by Hermione.
Fluffy ripped the door off the entrance and Ron got the idea and jumped in before Y/n even touched him, giving Y/n just enough time to jump in, feeling his jacket get ripped off by Fluffy. Y/n instantly found himself in a peculiar situation.
"Woah, lucky this plant thing is here," Ron celebrated, Both Y/n and Hermione seemed to have other ideas however as vines started wrapping around the quartet. Ron and Harry began trying to fight the vines off but to no avail.
"You need to stop moving, the both of you," Hermione was the first to call out as she watched the other two Gryffindors. "This is Devil-Snare, you have to relax or else it will only kill you faster," She tried explaining as she watched them.
"Kill us faster, Oh now I can relax!" Ron spat as he tugged at the vines, Hermione gave him a sarcastic smile before glaring at the Weasley. "Wait!" Ron screamed as he looked around. "Hermione, where is your boyfriend," Even though he was being sarcastic, he had brought up a valid point because neither Harry nor Hermione could see Y/n anywhere. Before they knew it, Hermione had sunk beneath the vines.
"Hermione!" Harry yelled as he began tugging at his vines once again.
"Just relax!" Hermione yelled from beneath the Devil-Snare.
"Hermione, where are you?" Harry questioned.
"Bloody hell, do as she says!" Y/n yelled this time, clearly annoyed by the constant tugging and thrashing from above. Harry took a deep breath upon hearing his two friends' voices and allowed himself to sink into the plant before falling through from beneath it, being caught by Y/n.
"He's not relaxing is he?" Hermione questioned as the trio looked at the vines above them.
"Apparently not," Harry shook his head.
"Bloody hell," Y/n was beyond frustrated at this point. "We need to do something about his stupidity," Y/n growled.
"I remember reading something in Herbology," Hermione muttered as she paced up and down.
"'Mione! You are brilliant," Y/n exclaimed as he pulled his want out.
Lumos Solem
A blinding flash of light emitted from Y/n's wand as the Devil-Snare parted and Ron fell threw, unlike with Hermione and Harry, Y/n made no move to catch the panicking Weasley as he fell right in front of the Malfoy's feet. "Ron, are you okay?" Harry asked as he helped Ron to his feet.
"Yeah," Ron quickly dusted himself off before looking at the plant above them. "Lucky we didn't panic," He smiled as he watched Y/n slide his wand back into his holster. "Good job with that quick think 'Mione,"
"It's Her-mione," The brunette snapped at Ron before walking towards Y/n. "What is that?"
"Sounds like wings," Harry answered as he joined the two, followed by Ron before the four walked into the next room.
They entered a room filled with flying creatures, that seemed to glow and shimmer. "I've never seen birds like these," Hermione whispered as the four walked through the room.
"They aren't birds," Ron spoke up as they inspected the room. "They're keys," He added, not missing the eye roll from the only Slytherin amongst them.
"And I bet you, one of them fits that door," Harry chuckled as he stood in front of a broomstick, looking at it.
"Well, what's this?" Hermione asked as she stood next to Y/n and Harry. Ron pulled his wand out and walked over to the door with Hermione following him.
"Alohomora!" He yelled as he pulled on the door.
"Not the brightest one is his," Y/n spoke, mostly to himself as he heard Harry chuckle. "By the way, you need to catch that key over there," Y/n nonchalantly pointed at the large key that was struggling to fly around. "Be quick, I'd like to get this over with as fast as possible," Y/n gave Harry a pat on the back before walking over to the door and sitting down, leaning against the wall and closed his eyes.
Y/n sat there for a moment with his eyes closed before he heard the sound of buzzing become loud before fading and moving around the room. "This complicates things," He heard Ron talk to Hermione, he knew enough to make the assumption that the keys all swarmed Harry when he got on the broom and...
"Catch the key!" He heard Harry shout before someone grabbed his shirt, Opening his eyes he was met with Hermione trying to pull him to his feet while Ron struggled to get the door open. As soon as he did, the three of them moved inside and waited for Harry to fly in before Ron slammed the door shut, hearing the keys pelt into the door.
"Would you look at that," Y/n chuckled as they walked through the room, inspecting the life-sized version of Wizard Chess.
"I don't like this at all," Hermione muttered as she grabbed onto Y/n's arm.
"Where are we?" Harry asked as he looked around. "A graveyard?"
"This is no graveyard," Ron was the first to speak up as he inspected the area. "It's a chessboard," He muttered as the room became brighter.
"What just happened?" Y/n muttered as he looked around at the now brighter room. "Was this some 'Dramatic Reveal' spell or something? Like why couldn't it just be this bright from the beginning?" He asked no one in particular as he looked around.
"There's the door," Harry exclaimed as the trio began walking towards it only for the row of pawns to stop them.
"What do we do now?" Hermione asked the two before looking back at Y/n who leaned against one of the pawns.
"Isn't it obvious, now play our way across," Ron seemed happy about his discovery as he looked around the board. "Alright. Harry, you take the empty Bishop square and Hermione, you take the Queen side castle," Ron explained before looking at the other pieces. "Y/n will take the empty a7 square and I'll be the knight,"
The two nodded as they took their place while Y/n just rolled his eyes before moving to his square. "What happens now?" Hermione looked at the boys.
"Well, white goes first and then... We play..." Ron nodded his head as he watched the white pieces.
"Que the dramatic music," Y/n twirled his finger in the air as he shook his head. "However, what happens if this is exactly like Wizard Chess?" Y/n looked at the Weasley on top of his horse, his question wasn't really a question as they watched white play pawn to e5.
"You there!" Ron yelled at one of the pawns. "D 5!" They watched the pawn move forward before the White pawn drew its sword and completely destroyed it. "At least now we know..." Ron gulped as they watched the scene before them.
"I should be calling the moves," Y/n mumbled to himself as he shook his head.
And with that the game was underway, pieces were being destroyed one by one and the quartet watched as the board slowly emptied out. After a good number of pieces were absolutely obliterated, it came down to the End game.
The board fell quiet as Ron looked around, trying to find the best move to make. Y/n had taken a crouching position as he studied the board, he had already calculated the winning line but even he didn't like it. "Okay," Ron muttered, sounding defeated as he looked at Harry.
"Wait a minute," Harry spoke up, both of them noticing the line of moves Y/n was thinking of.
"You see it, Harry?" Ron gave his friend a weak laugh as he turned to the board once more. "Once I make my move, the queen will take me and you will be free to check the king,"
"Ron no!" Harry yelled.
"What is it?" Hermione asked, not liking what she heard.
"Ron's going to sacrifice himself," Harry informed the brunette.
"No, you can't!" Hermione yelled at the ginger-haired boy but was cut off.
"Do you want to stop Snape from getting that stone or not?" He shot back before turning to the board again. "Y/n, listen," Y/n turned his head towards Ron for a moment. "Whatever happens next, you need to help Harry and Hermione defeat Snape, okay?"
"Ronald, we are in this situation because I am taking orders from you," Y/n shook his head as he turned to face the white pieces again. "But if it will help you make this move then fine, I'll do whatever I can to help," He muttered as he shook his head.
"Thanks, and I am sorry about before," Ron mentioned as he looked at the Malfoy one final time. "Knight to H 3!" He ordered as his piece moved across the board and came to a halt. Watching as the Queen turned to face him and slowly slid over to him and his knight before lifting her sword above her head and driving it through the horse, sending Ron flying backwards and hitting the ground.
"Ron!" Hermione screamed before she tried to run towards him.
"Hermione!" Y/n yelled, causing the brunette to stop before leaving her square. "We are still in the game," He explained before turning his attention towards Harry. "Do it," He spoke as he watched Harry nod before walking over towards the King.
"Checkmate!" Harry screamed as the King let go of his sword, watching it fall down next to the Boy Who Lived. Almost instantly the two had run over to the unconscious boy, Y/n didn't run but it was close enough. "Take care of Ron you two, then go to the owlery and send a message to Dumbledore, Ron's right. I need to finish this,"
"Your title is The Boy Who Lived, not The Genius Who Lived," Y/n smiled as he rose to his feet. "Hermione, you look after Ron while I go with Harry," Y/n spoke as Hermione nodded before the two boys started running off to the next room.
Y/n wasn't sure what would be on the other side of these doors but what he did know was that this would all come to an end once he walked through them. Was that end going to be good or bad, were they going to be safe or would one of them not be walking out of it? No matter the answers, there was one factor that remained the same... Harry Potter was going to leave this room with his heart still beating, no matter what...
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We have officially reached the climax of the first book, and with the next one or two chapters we will have finished Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone. Are you ready?
What was your favourite part of this chapter?
Don't forget to comment and vote, I would really appreciate it.