The four had just arrived at the next checkpoint, and as soon as they stepped into the next room, the door behind them slammed shut.
This startled Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Chen Yu.
The sudden closing of the door, without warning, made them wonder if they had triggered some mechanism.
Fortunately, the previously pitch-black room instantly lit up.
Immediately after, the four found themselves standing beside a giant chessboard.
The chess pieces on the board were tall stone statues.
They were really tall, almost as tall as Hagrid, and the closest ones to them were black pieces, while opposite them were white pieces.
These pieces stood on the chessboard, as if in an unfinished war.
Chen Yu carefully examined the shapes of the black and white pieces.
Without a doubt, this checkpoint must have been designed by Professor McGonagall.
Only her Transfiguration ability could make these stone chess pieces move.
But it must be said that Professor McGonagall's aesthetic sense needed improvement.
She didn't even give the chess pieces facial features.
At first glance, these pieces looked human-like but not quite, with no facial features, like monsters from Silent Hill, giving Chen Yu the uncanny valley effect.
Eek~, these chess pieces were quite scary in the dim light.
Chen Yu touched his nose; he could just coast through this round.
He didn't really understand Wizard's Chess; although he had played a few games with Ron, he was still a terrible player.
The entertainment in the wizarding world was truly lacking; after hundreds of years, the wizards' forms of entertainment were still the same few.
The four cautiously approached the door opposite the white pieces.
Suddenly, the white soldier pieces instantly drew their twin swords, immediately blocking the four's path.
The sudden change made Harry, Ron, and Hermione tremble all over.
The four retreated a few steps, and the stone chess pieces with drawn swords put their swords back.
"What do we do now? We don't have to knock down these statues, do we?"
Harry whispered, afraid that a moment of carelessness would make these stone pieces wield their swords and move again.
"Isn't it obvious enough? We have to follow the rules and win this game of chess to get there."
Ron pointed at the door behind the white pieces and said, "Otherwise, we might be waiting for a group attack from all the stone chess pieces."
Ron was uncharacteristically smart for once; playing Wizard's Chess was the game he was most familiar with.
From a young age, his most frequent form of entertainment was playing Wizard's Chess with other Little Wizards using the pieces left by his grandfather.
After confirming that these white pieces would not move for now, Ron placed his hand on a piece dressed as a black knight.
The statue immediately came to life; the knight on horseback turned his head, looking at Ron.
"Do we have to win with you to get past?"
The black knight nodded, dismounted from his horse, and motioned for Ron to get on.
"It seems we have to act as pieces and win this game to get through. But..."
Ron didn't finish his sentence, but everyone understood what he meant.
When a chess piece is captured, it is knocked over by the opponent's piece and then dragged off the board.
If people were playing the roles, then when a black piece was captured by a white piece, it would clearly be when these white pieces attacked the Little Wizards.
At this point, each of the four had to play a piece, and the more people, the more disadvantaged they would be.
And there was a high possibility of getting injured.
"Don't worry, Ron, you're the best at Wizard's Chess among us. Play boldly. If there's danger, I'll protect you with a Shield Charm."
Chen Yu twirled the wand in his hand, indicating that Ron didn't need to worry about safety.
"You know the Shield Charm? Oh, right, you mentioned it before. That's not an advanced spell a first-year Little Wizards should master. Thank goodness, I feel much more at ease now."
After hearing Chen Yu's words, Ron breathed a sigh of relief and was no longer so nervous.
Ron had already decided that if a sacrifice was needed, he would be the only one.
But remembering that a few days ago, Chen Yu and Harry had mentioned that when they encountered a Dark Wizard, possibly a minion of Lord Voldemort, Chen Yu had used a Shield Charm to protect Hagrid, Ron's confidence returned.
"Alright, Chen Yu and Harry, you replace that bishop. Hermione, you stand next to Chen Yu, replacing that rook. As for me... I'll be a knight."
As soon as Ron finished speaking, two bishops, a rook, and a knight among the black pieces turned their backs to the white pieces and walked off the board, making room for the four.
"The rule of chess is that white moves first."
Ron continued to explain to the other poor chess players.
The opponent, a white soldier, moved two squares forward.
Ron began to focus on commanding the black pieces in battle.
The remaining three silently followed his instructions.
It was when the black pieces were captured by the opponent that they began to feel real fear.
The opponent's knight fiercely knocked the black knight to the ground with the greatsword in his hand, then dragged him off the board.
The black piece lay motionless on the chessboard, allowing itself to be dragged off.
Hermione trembled slightly; she felt that her delicate body could not withstand a single blow from the opponent.
How could flesh and blood collide with stone?
Harry, however, was much calmer. He had personally witnessed Chen Yu use a Shield Charm to block a Dark Wizard's Crushing Curse, so he was naturally full of confidence.
"Hermione, you go capture the opponent's knight. Go, Hermione."
A chess piece had the strength to knock over another piece, but did she have the ability to knock over this tall stone piece?
Looking at her small biceps, Hermione doubted whether she could even drag the fallen knight off the board.
It looked very heavy.
Hermione looked at the tall piece and waved her wand: "Diffindo!"
This was the only attack method she could think of; otherwise, how would she attack? She couldn't just tap the stone piece with her wand, could she?
That would be like throwing an egg at a rock; the wand would break.
The stone statue hit by Hermione's spell did not shatter, but rather the knight on it let out an "Ah" and fell off his horse, then got up and, leading his horse, automatically walked off the board.
Chen Yu saw this scene and knew that these pieces had high magical resistance. The spell "Diffindo" that Hermione used actually had no effect on these pieces; it was willingly complying with the rules and moving off.
Seeing the opponent's white knight leave the board, everyone's spirits lifted.
However, the white pieces were extremely ruthless and didn't care about the fate of their own pieces, and soon a large number of lifeless black pieces were cleared from the board.
Ron maneuvered his horse like a real knight charging on the chessboard, capturing many white pieces.
But good luck wouldn't always favor them. Harry was in a stalemate, and the white king faced Harry with its featureless face, seemingly wanting to drag Harry off the board.
Ron, deeply entrenched in the opponent's camp, saw the white queen beside him and whispered, "It seems this is the only way. I must be captured by the white queen."
Then he said to Chen Yu, "Chen Yu, be ready to cast the spell. I will move one step forward, and the white queen will prioritize capturing me. This way, you can move three squares and checkmate the king."
Ron stepped forward, and Chen Yu immediately cast a Shield Charm in front of him.
An invisible wall blocked the white queen's attack, and the white queen could only pound her fists fiercely against the air wall.
Ron laughed heartily, but soon he stopped laughing.
Because the white queen's attack didn't stop, and the Cutting Curse Chen Yu cast after moving also had no effect on the white king.
It was like a bug had frozen the program's operation; all the pieces looked at Ron, waiting for him to be executed by the white queen and dragged off the board.
Ron's face instantly turned pale, his eyes shifting from panic to determination.
"Chen Yu, drop the Shield Charm! Let the white queen attack me! Only then can this game end!"
"But..."
Hermione covered her mouth; without the protection of the Shield Charm, no one knew what would happen if he was attacked by the stone statue.
"No 'buts'! We must follow the rules of the game! Otherwise, we cannot win and prevent Snape from getting the Philosopher's Stone!"
Chen Yu heard Ron's explanation and saw his resolute expression, so he shouted to Ron, "Okay, I'll withdraw the Shield Charm now. You must be careful to protect yourself."
Since Ron was brave for once, he couldn't disappoint him.
Anyway, at most, he would suffer some minor injuries; Professor McGonagall's checkpoint would definitely not take Ron's life.
Hearing Chen Yu's warning, Ron immediately put his arms in front of his face.
The meaning was simple—hit anywhere but the face.
Without the obstruction of the air wall, the white queen immediately pounced.
She raised her stone arm and punched Ron hard in the stomach.
Ron was knocked down by the white queen's punch, falling heavily onto the chessboard.
Hermione shrieked in fright at Ron's miserable state.
The incapacitated Ron was dragged off the board by the white queen and tossed aside.
Just as Chen Yu was about to cast a spell to finish off the white king's piece, he saw the white king take off his crown and throw it at Chen Yu's feet.
All the pieces bowed and retreated from the board, clearing a path to the next checkpoint.
