Chapter 1: Noah's Ark Trap
5 July 1992
Harry Potter was not enjoying his summer vacation so far.
He had a terrible upbringing, abused by the Dursleys, his only living relatives. He had to suffer through nearly ten dark years after his parents were killed. Harry's maternal aunt Petunia, as well as her husband Vernon and son Dudley, were his only living biological relatives. Harry hated the summer holidays solely because it meant he had to spend time with his aunt, uncle, and cousin. It was a living nightmare.
Oh well, two weeks had passed. Professor Severus Snape, head of Slytherin House, had promised to get him out of there when that two-week period was up. Harry hoped that Vernon would do something stupid and insult Snape. Harry knew that his head of house was the wrong person to mock or deride. Any harsh words would surely be punished.
Harry was waiting for his chance to make fun of Dudley. The fat git seemed frightened by Harry's presence. The Dursleys had no clue in the slightest that Hogwarts students under the age of seventeen were not allowed to use magic at home. This gave Harry a clear advantage, as he could make fun of Dudley as he pleased. He would probably get punished, but that was nothing new from the Dursleys.
Harry yearned to speak with Draco Malfoy, his best friend. Draco, along with his other friends Pansy Parkinson and Theodore Nott, had become his closest friends at Hogwarts. Harry's classmates in Slytherin had treated him well, and Harry had garnered the respect of the older students in Slytherin, with the way he had acquired their house points and helped them win Quidditch matches last year. Slytherin had won the Inter-house Quidditch cup and the House Cup for seven years in a row.
Harry had so much fun during his first year at Hogwarts. It was definitely the best year of his life, that was for sure.
Anyway, Harry was staring at a rose bush outside the Dursley household. Dudley had walked over and Harry internally groaned.
"Hey, freak", Dudley sneered.
"Dudley", Harry responded coldly.
"How come your freak friends haven't sent you any messages? Don't those morons care about you?"
"My friends are not freaks, and they're not morons either."
"Why anyone would want to be friends with you, is beneath me", Dudley said, laughing.
Harry then started staring at the rose bush, hoping Dudley would notice. And sure enough, he did.
"Why are you staring at that rose bush?", Dudley asked, the humor in his eyes clearly gone. "Are you doing magic?! You're not allowed to…"
"Jiggity pokity!", Harry exclaimed, hoping Dudley wouldn't notice the obvious gimmick and fake incantations. "Hocus squiggly…"
"MOMM!", Dudley howled, running for Petunia.
A consequence for Harry doing this was that he had to clean the yard. Harry wasn't surprised. In all likelihood, they would have forced him to do this anyway.
"Start cleaning, and I'll see if you get any lunch", Petunia snapped.
Harry started cleaning. He had just finished the front of the yard when all of a sudden, a robed-figure appeared.
"Potter", the figure said.
"Professor Snape!", Harry exclaimed. He was glad to have an excuse to leave this hellhole. Anything was better than doing this crap.
Snape smiled as he said, "I think it's time we get going, Potter. No reason to stay here."
"Not so fast, freak show!"
Snape turned to glare at who said that. It was Vernon, who was running outside to clearly prevent Harry from escaping.
"The headmaster granted me permission to take Potter away from here after the first two weeks of every holiday", Snape said. "Two weeks have passed, and I'm here to fulfill that requirement."
"As if you think I'll let this boy go anywhere with you dangerous scum…"
Snape's facial expressions turned dangerous as he suddenly pointed his wand at Vernon.
"Do you really want to finish that sentence, Dursley? I can fire a dozen hurtful hexes at you right now, to teach you proper manners. You had better speak to me with a civil tongue, or you will suffer the consequences. And knowing the way you've treated this boy, those hexes are not what you ultimately deserve."
Vernon then kept his mouth shut, obviously staying silent. He then walked back into his house, knowing he was defeated.
Snape then turned to Harry.
"All right, then, Potter. Take my hand."
Snape offered his hand to Harry. The latter took it, and he felt himself moving through some black hole. He was shaking all over. When the shaking stopped, Harry found himself with Snape in some run-down neighborhood.
"Professor", Harry said. "Where are we?"
"We're in the town of Cokeworth", Snape said. "This is the street my family home is located. Spinner's End."
Harry thought the town looked impressive, despite the obvious poverty and poor conditions it seemed to have.
"My house is located right here", Snape said, pointing to a small building.
"It looks nice", Harry said. Any place was better than Privet Drive, in his opinion.
Snape and Harry both walked in. Harry thought the house looked nice, despite the fact that it was so small.
"So, Potter. Let's just get one thing out of the way immediately. I know you were taught how to play Wizard's Chess last year by Draco Malfoy. Let's play a game right now, just to see how much you've learned and to brush up on your skills."
So, Harry had the white pieces and Snape had the black pieces.
"Pawn to e4", Harry said. The white pawn on e2 moved to e4.
"Pawn to e5", Snape said. The black pawn on e7 moved to e5.
"Knight to f3", Harry said. The white knight on g1 moved to f3.
"Knight to c6", Snape said. The black knight on b8 moved to c6.
"Bishop to b5", Harry said. The white bishop on f1 moved to b5.
"Pawn to a6", Snape said. The black pawn on a7 moved to a6, attacking the white bishop on b5.
"Bishop to a4", Harry said. The white bishop on b5 moved to a4.
"Pawn to d6", Snape said. The black pawn on d7 moved to d6, defending the pawn on e5.
"Pawn to d4", Harry said. The white pawn on d2 moved to d4, threatening the e5 pawn.
"Pawn to b5", Snape said. The black pawn on b7 moved to b5, attacking the white bishop on a4.
"Bishop to b3", Harry said. The white bishop on a4 moved to b3.
"Pawn to d4", Snape said. The black pawn on e5 moved to d4, capturing the white pawn on the d4 square.
"Knight to d4", Harry said. The white knight on f3 moved to d4, capturing the black pawn on the d4 square.
"Knight to d4", Snape said. The black knight on c6 moved to d4, capturing the white knight on the d4 square.
"Queen to d4", Harry said. The white queen moved from d1 to d4, capturing the black knight on d4.
"Pawn to c5", Snape said. The black pawn on c7 moved to c5, attacking the white queen on d4.
"Queen to d5", Harry said. The white queen on d4 moved to d5. It seemed like a wonderful position for white. The white queen was threatening checkmate on f7 and threatening to capture the undefended black rook on a8. It didn't seem like Snape could stop both threats at the same time.
However, there was a move that guarded against both threats.
"Bishop to e6", Snape said. The black bishop on c8 moved to e6, blocking the white queen's access to the f7 square. The bishop move also uncovered a defender for the black queenside rook, namely the black queen on d8.
"Queen to c6", Harry said. The white queen moved from d5 to c6, giving check.
"Bishop to d7", Snape said. The black bishop on e6 moved to d7, blocking the check.
"Queen to d5", Harry said. The white queen moved from c6 to d5, threatening checkmate on f7 again. Harry thought that Snape would probably move the bishop to e6 again, and he thought that a draw by threefold repetition wouldn't be so bad. Imagine getting a draw against Severus Snape!
But Snape was not interested in a draw.
"Pawn to c4", Snape said. The black pawn on c5 moved to c4, attacking the white bishop on b3, which was trapped. There were no moves for it to escape.
"Bishop to c4", Harry said. The white bishop on b3 moved to c4, capturing the white pawn by attacking it with its sword. Harry figured he'd at least get two pawns for the loss of the bishop.
"Pawn to c4", Snape said. The black pawn on b5 stabbed the white bishop on c4 into numerous pieces before replacing it.
"Queen to c4", Harry said. The white queen moved from d5 to c4, capturing the black pawn that was on the c4 square by obliterating it with its sword.
"Bishop to e7", Snape said. The black bishop on f8 moved to e7.
"Castle Kingside", Harry said. The white king on e1 moved to g1, and the white rook on h1 moved to f1.
"Bishop to b5", Snape said. The black bishop on d7 moved to b5. This move attacked the white queen on c4.
"Queen to b4", Harry said. The white queen on c4 moved to b4.
"Pawn to d5", Snape said. The black pawn on d6 moved to d5.
"Queen to c3", Harry said. The white queen on b4 moved to c3.
"Bishop to f1", Snape said. The black bishop on b5 moved to f1, capturing the white rook that occupied that square.
"Queen to g7", Harry said. The white queen on c3 moved to g7, capturing the black pawn on the g7 square. This move was a counterattack on the black kingside rook. But this attack was not a major threat.
"Bishop to f6", Snape said. The black bishop on e7 moved to f6, attacking the white queen on g7.
"Queen to g3", Harry said. The white queen on g7 moved to g3.
"Pawn to e4", Snape said. The black pawn on d5 moved to e4, capturing the white rook that was on the e4 square.
"Pawn to h4", Harry said. The white pawn on h2 moved to h4.
"Bishop to b5", Snape said. The black bishop on f1 moved to b5, avoiding capture.
"Knight to c3", Harry said. The white knight on b1 moved to c3. This move attacked the black bishop on b5.
"Bishop to c6", Snape said. The black bishop on b5 moved to c6.
"Bishop to g5", Harry said. The white bishop on c1 moved to g5.
"Queen to b8", Snape said. The black queen on d8 moved to b8.
Harry decided that now would be a good time to trade queens. He already knew he was losing.
"Queen to b8", Harry said. The white queen on g3 moved to b8, capturing the black queen that was on the b8 square.
"Rook to b8", Snape said. The black rook on a8 moved to b8, capturing the white queen that was on b8.
"Knight to e4", Harry said. The white knight on c3 moved to e4, capturing the black pawn that was on the e4 square.
"Bishop to e4", Snape said. The black bishop on c6 moved to e4, capturing the white knight that was on the e4 square.
Harry knew that he had made another blunder. He was definitely going to lose this game.
Oh, well, might as well go down fighting.
"Rook to e1", Harry said. The white rook on a1 moved to e1, pinning the black bishop on e4 against the black king.
"Bishop to g5", Snape said. The black bishop on f6 moved to g5, capturing the white bishop that was on the g5 square.
"Rook to e4", Harry said. The white rook on e1 moved to e4, capturing the black bishop that was on the e4 square. This move put Snape's black king in check.
"Bishop to e7", Snape said. The black bishop on g5 moved to e7, blocking the check.
"Rook to a4", Harry said. The white rook on e4 moved to a4.
"Rook to b6", Snape said. The black rook on b8 moved to b6.
"Pawn to b3", Harry said. The white pawn on b2 moved to b3, defending itself from capture.
"Knight to f6", Snape said. The black knight on g8 moved to f6.
"Pawn to g4", Harry said. The white pawn on g2 moved to g4.
"Rook to c6", Snape said. The black rook on b6 moved to c6.
"King to g2", Harry said. The white king on g1 moved to g2.
"Knight to d5", Snape said. The black knight on f6 moved to d5.
"Pawn to c4", Harry said. The white pawn on c2 moved to c4. This move attacked the black knight on d5.
"Knight to c3", Snape said. The black knight on d5 moved to c3.
"Rook to a5", Harry said. The white rook on a4 moved to a5.
"Bishop to b4", Snape said. The black bishop on e7 moved to b4.
"Rook to h5", Harry said. The white rook on a5 moved to h5.
"Knight to a2", Snape said. The black knight on c3 moved to a2, capturing the white pawn that was on the a2 square.
"Rook to e5", Harry said. The white rook on h5 moved to e5, giving check to the black king on e8.
"Rook to e6", Snape said. The black rook on c6 moved to e6, blocking the check from the white rook.
"Rook to d5", Harry said. The white rook on e5 moved to d5.
"Knight to c1", Snape said. The black knight on a2 moved to c1.
"Rook to d1", Harry said. The white rook on d5 moved to d1.
"Rook to e1", Snape said. The black rook on e6 moved to e1.
"Rook to d5", Harry said. The white rook on d1 moved to d5.
"Knight to b3", Snape said. The black knight on c1 moved to b3, capturing the white pawn on the b3 square.
"Pawn to g5", Harry said. The white pawn on g4 moved to g5.
"King to e7", Snape said. The black king on e8 moved to e7.
"Pawn to h5", Harry said. The white pawn on h4 moved to h5.
"Rook to d8", Snape said. The black rook on h8 moved to d8.
"Rook to f5", Harry said. The white rook on d5 moved to f5.
"Rook on d8 to d1", Snape said. The black rook on d8 moved to d1.
"Rook to f3", Harry said. The white rook on f5 moved to f3.
"Knight to d2", Snape said. The black knight on b3 moved to d2.
"Rook to f5", Harry said. The white rook on f3 moved to f5.
"Rook to g1", Snape said. The black rook on e1 moved to g1. This move gave check to the white king on g2.
"King to h3", Harry said. The white king moved from g2 to h3.
"Rook to h1", Snape said. The black rook on g1 moved to h1. This move gave check to the white king on h3.
"King to g4", Harry said. The white king on h3 moved to g4.
"Rook on d1 to g1", Snape said. The white rook on d1 moved to g1. This move gave check to the white king again.
"King to f4", Harry said. The white king on g4 moved to f4.
"Knight to c4", Snape said. The black knight on d2 moved to c4, capturing the white pawn that occupied that square.
"King to f3", Harry said. The white king on f4 moved to f3.
"Rook to h3", Snape said. The black rook on h1 moved to h3, giving check to the white king yet again.
"King to e2", Harry said. The white king on f3 moved to e2.
Snape smiled as he said, "Rook to e1."
The black rook on g1 moved to e1.
"Checkmate", Snape said.
Harry sighed and lowered his head, clearly feeling dejected. It wasn't too bad, the chances of him winning this game were slim, anyway. Snape was a genius at Wizard's Chess.
"I knew I was going to lose", Harry said.
"The problem began when you captured that black pawn instead of moving your kingside bishop to safety. By allowing that bishop to be trapped by the black queenside pawns, you fell into a trap known as The Noah's Ark Trap. It's a trap you should definitely be aware about in the future."
"Thanks, Professor. I greatly appreciate your tutelage."
"Not a problem, Potter. Mistakes help you learn."