Chapter 27
Seren had quickly realized what was attempting to strangle them and was excited to get a trimming later to give to his father as his more public Christmas gift so it wouldn’t look suspicious when he didn’t give his father something for the holiday. He wondered if he would manage to find anything else on this mini adventure to give to his mother, sister, and uncle for their gifts.
“It’s Devil’s Snare, it grows within dark and damp environments.” Seren told them before using his wand to shoot a jet of blue flames just above the plant as his friends leaned away from the flame with their eyes closed.
The plant’s tendrils loosened it’s grip on them as it cringed away from the light and heat, unraveling around them and freeing them. Seren subtly cut some of the plant and gave it to Colin for safe keeping. They went down a sloped passageway until they reached a brightly lit chamber. The chamber’s ceiling arched high above them and was full of small jewel-bright birds fluttering and tumbling around while on the opposite side of the room was a heavy wooden door. They worried the birds might attack them when they crossed the room, but they surprisingly left them alone. Despite making it to the door unscathed, the door was locked and none of the charms they knew could unlock the door. Neville, who’d been looking around the room rather than helping with the door as he knew he wouldn’t be able to help, noticed that the bird weren’t birds at all and were actually winged keys. He quickly told his friends and Ron looked more closely around the room before pointing out the brooms. He was in the middle of explaining, after studying the lock on the door, that they were looking for a big, old fashioned silver key when they heard the door unlock and open. They turned to see Vortex smirking at the children and let them know that the door hadn’t been protected against muggle methods. Seren glanced back at the keys before giving Vortex puppy dog eyes.
Vortex sighed before giving him a small smile, “We can come back later so you can grab some of the keys.”
Seren hugged him, thanking him, before they went to the next chamber. It was so dark they couldn’t see what was inside but, the moment they stepped inside, light flooded the room and they was able to see a giant chessboard. They stood at the edge of the board full of the black chess pieces taller than even Vortex and carved from beautiful black stone with the white chess pieces on the other side of the chamber, in front of the door to the next room. It was very unsettling as all the pieces were faceless yet seemed to be watching their every move.
“N-now what do we do?” Neville asked nervously.
“It’s obvious, isn’t it? We have to play our way across the room.” Ron told him, trying to hide how unnerving it was when they were smaller than the pieces of one of his favorite games, “We’re going to have to be the chessmen.”
Before he could lose his nerve, Ron walked up to a black knight and touched the knight’s horse which instantly sprang to life. The horse pawed the ground and the knight turned his head down to look at Ron, it’s face featureless underneath it’s helmet.
“Do we… have to join you to get across?” Ron asked hesitantly.
The knight nodded and Ron turned to his friends, “I know we want to see what else might be in here, but this is starting to get dangerous and I’m sure the further we go then the more dangerous it will become. We can turn back now, if you want… what do you want to do?”
They all thought about it and eventually decided to move forward until they found something they couldn’t handle and have to turn back. Seren contemplated on whether or not he should reveal Vortex’s true form before deciding against it.
“Vortex… If it gets too dangerous, revert back to your true form. We can tell them a small bit of the truth if we need to. If we need to be healed immediately, you can also reveal yourself too Colin.” Seren whispered to Vortex and Colin.
Everyone, excluding Colin, took the places of some of the chess pieces and began to direct the other black pieces. It was terrifying when their first piece was taken, smashed to the floor by the white queen before being dragged off the board facedown and completely still. Neville’s knees were trembling as he stared at their taken chess piece.
“Had to let that happen.” Ron said, looking shaken as he instructed Hermione to move and take a bishop as she shakily moved across the board.
Eventually, they managed to win the game with the white king taking off his crown and throwing it at Seren’s feet. The chessmen parted and bowed, leaving the door open. They quickly ran through the door and up the next passage.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to play wizarding chess after going through that.” Hermione said with a pale face with Neville nodding in agreement.
“W-what do you t-think is next?” Neville asked.
“So far, we’ve been through challenges relating to the subjects we’ve been learning. Herbology with the Devil’s Snare, charms with the flying keys, and transfiguration with the chess pieces. I don’t think astrology or history of magic would be used so that would leave defense against the dark arts and potions. I’m not sure what other subjects the older students have though so there might actually be other subjects that were added.” Seren said.
They went through another hall before reaching another door. Just as they had barely opened the door, Vortex quickly began to gag and started pushing the kids away from the door while covering his nose.