The large, half-dead silver key seemed to fit Ron's assumption about the key that corresponded to the lock. When Harry tried to get close and grab it, it flapped its wings a few times to get up and run away, but to no avail.

The last person who caught it must have been rough, and there was a huge crack in the handle of the key, as if it had been vigorously struck by some kind of blunt object. This is not surprising, though, as you can't expect a shameless thief to be of such noble character. The worst thing about being a bad guy is this, there are some things that you didn't do, but you can't stand up and prove your innocence.

Harry grabbed the key and ran towards the door, shoved it into the keyhole and twisted it hard, and with a click, the lock popped open.

"It's finished!" Ron cheered, "It's a shame I didn't get a chance to show you how I rode a broomstick."

"I don't think there's anything to be sorry for." Hermione said angrily. Her flying skills were almost as bad as Harry and Ron's History of Magic, and Madame Hooch's flying lessons were the only subject she wasn't confident of getting "excellent", "Importantly, it saves us a lot of time, and we should hurry up."

Harry let go of his hand, and the key flapped its wings twice weakly to fly out of the keyhole, but it didn't work, and he couldn't bear to see the pitiful look. He couldn't help but help it, carefully grasped the handle of the key, and gently pulled it out and placed it on the floor beside him. The key still looked haggard, but I don't know if it was an illusion, it seemed to feel better now.

"Alright, are you ready?" Harry looked at it and smiled, then turned to grab the doorknob and asked Ron and Hermione with a straight face. Seeing him retract his smile, the two of them also stopped arguing and nodded with a serious expression, so he pushed the door open.

What greeted me was a dark room, and nothing could be seen. By this time, however, Harry had begun to understand a little bit about the path of these levels, which were not obstacles against thieves, but tests of the challenger, designed to test a person's abilities in all aspects, not just to shoot a cold arrow from a corner to kill someone. Therefore, he did not hesitate this time, and strode into the darkness ahead.

As soon as they stepped inside, the room suddenly lit up, illuminating a shocking scene.

The three of them found themselves standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, surrounded by chess pieces taller than a human being, carved out of some stone.

"What is this for?" Harry whispered, the faceless pawns made him feel a little hairy.

"It's not obvious?" Ron said, Harry could hear his voice slightly excited, "We've got to play chess to get through—voila!"

He pointed ahead, and there was a door behind the white chess pieces waiting on the opposite side.

"Good." Hermione looked a little nervous, but asked calmly, "Which of you two is better?"

Harry didn't hesitate to point at Ron, who straightened up as if he didn't care.

"Okay." She shrugged, apparently less concerned about the issue than the Broomsticks - perhaps because Wizarding Chess wasn't one of the required Hogwarts courses, "And how are you going to play?"

Ron didn't answer immediately, but looked around carefully.

"In my opinion." He said, "We have to be pawns."

He walked over to one of the black knights and reached out and patted the knight's horse. Immediately, the stone came to life, the horse scraped the non-existent earth with its hooves, and the knight turned his helmeted head and looked down at him condescendingly.

The silent pressure made Ron flinch a little, but he had the courage to shout at it, "Are we, huh...... I have to come with you to get there?"

The Black Knight nodded.

Ron turned to look at Harry and Hermione, looking like he was saying "What am I talking about".

"You need to think about it." He said, "I'm afraid we'll have to replace the three black pieces here, let me think about it......

Harry and Hermione didn't speak, afraid to interrupt his train of thought—both

Be self-aware of your own level of chess.

After waiting for about half a minute, Ron looked up, as if he had a plan, "Alright, Harry, you go and take the place of the bishop; Hermione, you're standing next to him, you're the castle—no, no, it's on the other side, in the corner of the board!"

Harry watched as Hermione scrambled to find her place, "And what about you?"

"Me?" Ron straightened his chest, "Get on your horse and be a knight."

Despite the fact that Ron was the only one who could ride a tall horse across the board and loudly command the black pieces around, and that he could only use his legs like a dwarf to move between the huge pieces, Harry soon realized that he only deserved this level of treatment in this game.

"Move four squares to the left, Harry!" Ron on the horse shouted. Harry didn't have time to think about it, so he pulled his leg and ran towards his designated position - like most board games, wizarding chess is played by both sides in turn, but the countless giant pieces that wrestle together gave him the illusion that he was in the middle of a chaotic battlefield, and if he took a slow step, he would be shot through the throat by a cold arrow that flew from him.

The queen of white chess rampaged through their camp, smashing the black pieces one by one, and on a few occasions, Harry saw that it had moved violently to the position directly in front of him or Hermione, and the next step was to lift the murderous chair and smash the two of them into meat sauce. But whenever such danger arises, Ron can arrange for them to dodge in time, or let other pawns contain him, so as to save the day.

At the same time, he must also ride the black horse to the left and right in the middle of the white pieces, and pull out the remaining pieces while the queen is lacking in skills, so that the losses of both sides will always be at a comparable level.

Gradually, there were fewer and fewer surviving pieces on the board, and Harry was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief and calm down to observe the direction of the endgame. As for Hermione, perhaps the impact of seeing the other Black Knight being dismantled was too strong, and she was now like she was scared silly, her eyes were straight and she didn't say a word, she just acted indifferently on Ron's instructions.

The White Queen was still upright, leaving behind her a path paved with black gravel, her featureless face facing Ron, her fingers tapping impatiently against the back of her chair. Ron had not many pieces left in his hands, and there were so many additional losses to defend himself, Harry, and Hermione's pawns, and there wasn't enough cannon fodder to lure the shrew who was wreaking havoc on the chair into the trap.

He stared at the White Queen for a moment, as if he were making some kind of difficult determination.

"Very well...... he whispered, "there's only one way to do it—I'll be the bait!"

"What? No!" Harry shouted, and Hermione, who was in a trance, also came to her senses and shouted with him.

"It's a game of chess!" Ron snapped, but his face was frighteningly pale, "There are always sacrifices to be made! Take me one step forward and she'll eat me - and you'll have a chance to put the king to death, Harry!"

"But—"

"Do you want to keep the Philosopher's Stone?"

"Ron—"

"Hurry up, if you don't hurry, the thief will have to get the Philosopher's Stone!" Ron shouted hoarsely, not so much worried about the theft of the Philosopher's Stone as he was afraid of changing his mind.

Harry didn't hesitate any longer. Hermione looked back and forth between him and Ron several times with frightened eyes, but couldn't say a word.

"Are you ready?" Ron shouted, pale but resolute, "I'm going - remember, if you win, leave me alone and run straight to the door, we don't have time to delay here."

"Ron!"

"See you later...... I hope so!"

Ron struggled to squeeze out an ugly smile, mimicking Harry's tone of voice when he jumped out of the trapdoor and told an unfunny joke.

He pinched the horse's belly with his legs, and the black horse made of stone took a step forward, and the white queen immediately pounced, picked up the chair and slammed it on the horse's neck, and the horse burst open and lifted the horse's back

Ron shook to the floor.

Hermione screamed, but didn't leave her lattice, and Ron lay motionless on the board, he didn't seem to be bleeding, but he had completely passed out.

"Don't move, Hermione!"

Harry spoke in a trembling voice, and then took a step and moved three blocks to the left with his trembling legs—stopping right in front of the White King, standing on the same grid as him.

"You're checkmated!"

He roared hoarsely.

For a moment, he was worried that the three-hundred-sized piece would choose to kick itself out, but the enchanted pieces had a higher reputation than Harry had imagined—or rather, they had lower intelligence than Harry had imagined. The White King took off the crown from his head and threw it at Harry's feet, and the other white pieces bowed and retreated, making way for them to walk to the door.

They won.

Harry and Hermione looked back at Ron sadly one last time, then rushed through the door and down the next hallway.

"Will he—"

"He'll be fine." Harry interrupted without waiting for Hermione to finish, trying to convince himself of this, "What do you think will come next?"

Hermione sniffed, and did her best to put Ron's plight behind her for the time being, "We've passed Professor Sprout's trap, it's those devil's nets - it's definitely Professor Flitwick who enchanted those keys - Professor McGonagall has deformed the pieces and brought them to life - then there's Professor Quirrell's magic and Snape's ...... down there."

As they spoke, they came to another doorway.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked in a whisper.

"Let's go inside." Hermione took a deep breath and said.

Harry nodded and pushed the door open. As soon as the door opened, a disgusting stench hit their nostrils, forcing them to lift their clothes to cover their noses and mouths, and even then they were still blurred with tears.

However, there was nothing in the room except for this stench.

"What's going on?"

Harry shook his head, "I don't know, maybe the last person who passed by here helped us get the mechanism done - let's go, he must be ahead!"

He opened the next door, and for a moment the two of them couldn't look at what was waiting for them next—but there was nothing terrible here, just a table with seven bottles of different shapes lined up. The door to the next room was not far ahead, and a black wall of fire burned in front of the door.

As soon as the two of them crossed the threshold, intending to take a closer look, the entrance behind them was sealed by a sudden burst of purple flames.

"Snape's magic," Harry said to himself. Even at such times, he could not hide the disgust on his face when he mentioned Snape, "What should we do?"

"Wait, I think this should be a clue." Hermione picked up a roll of parchment that had been placed next to the bottle, and Harry leaned over to look at it, but there was only a string of limericks on the paper that he couldn't read at all, and it didn't seem to have anything to do with the bottle in front of him.

Hermione let out a long sigh, and Harry was surprised to see her smile, for he couldn't laugh himself.

"That's wonderful." Hermione said, "It's not magic, it's logical reasoning—it's a riddle!" Even many of the greatest wizards lack the ability to think logically, and they are trapped here forever."

Harry pretended not to hear the treacherous remark that was suspected of slandering the entire wizarding community, "What about us, we can't get out, can we?"

"Of course not," Hermione said, her nose slightly cocked, as if she was smug, "and everything we need to know is written on this piece of paper." Seven bottles: three are poisons; two are wine; One will allow us to pass safely through the black flames, and the other will send us back through the purple flames."

"But how do we know which one to drink?"

"Give me a minute."

Hermione read the piece of paper a few more times. She walked around in front of that row of bottles, mouth

He was talking to himself while pointing to this or that bottle. Finally, she clapped her hands happily.

"Got it!" She said, "This smallest bottle will help us pass through the black flames and get the Philosopher's Stone!"

Harry picked up the humble little bottle and shook it at the fire. The bottle was so light that he could barely hear the liquid flowing inside.

"There's only enough for one person to drink." He frowned and said, "It's not a mouthful yet."

The two looked at each other, and finally Harry spoke again. jj.br>

"Which bottle will make you go back through the purple flames?"

Hermione gestured to a sleek bottle on the far right.

"Very well, you drink that bottle." Harry said, "Don't interject yet, listen to me - you go back to find Ron - grab two broomsticks from the room where the keys are flying, fly them back the way you came, go find Hagrid, or whoever you can find to help, we need any possible rescue." I may be able to contain the thief for a while, but I'm afraid I can't be no match for him."

"It's too dangerous! You can't be alone—"

"Well, even Voldemort can't kill me, remember?" Harry forced a smile and pointed to the scar on his forehead, "Don't worry, a thief can't help me. Besides, if you're really worried, hurry up and get someone to help, okay?"

If he now knew how many years he would be laughed at by Neil for this phrase "his mouth is like a light", he might change his mind and change his mind to a different way of saying it.