Chapter twenty-nine: A Spot of Chess

"Shit, I hope this room is better than the last..." Andrew said shakily.

"Oh, yes of course Drew! the next room will be full of bunnies, butterflies-"

"BUTTERFLIES!"

"Uh...not butterflies...lambs and pretty country girls in dresses and they'll invite to their tea-parties!" Mione said sarcastically.

"I don't like tea..." Andrew mumbled.

"Lemo likes tea!" Barry said brightly.

"Who cares, let move on," Andrew said pushing the door open, suddenly a huge butterfly flew out, "ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Andrew jumped into Barry's arms, unfortunately, Andrew and his tallness could not be supported by Barry and his slight weakness.

"Argh, what the hell are you doing Andrew!" Barry said, squashed.

"It's a- a- butterfly!"

"So...?"

"I hate them and their...bug-eyed hairiness!"

"You my friend...are an idiot, geroff me!"

The butterfly then turned into Professor McGonagall.

Andrew who was rising to feet said,

"What the hell! Professor McGonagall I thought you were more into cats?"

McGonagall ignored Andrew, instead she spoke to Mione,

"Miss. Ranger, I believe you will have to be held back a year, you failed all your exams."

"What! No! No! No! No! No!" Mione yelled.

Then McGonagall was about to turn into something else when Mione began laughing, almost manically.

Andrew threw her a worried glance, so did McGonagall - it wasn't really a worried glance, it was more of a confused glance...

"Uh...Mione, what's funny?" Barry asked.

"C'mon guys! Laugh as well! Trust me on this!" Mione said, never pausing her laughing fit. Doing as they were told, the boys began laughing too. McGonagall looked from Andrew, to Barry, to Mione with an extreme look of confusion upon it's face, then with a small pop it dissapeared.

"What the fuck was that?" Andrew asked.

"I have no idea, but I thought, if it's main focus was to scare us, then we should do the opposite. And that to me was laugh!"

Barry and Andrew looked at her blankly, then exchanged glances, then nodded.

"You didn't understand any of that did you?"

The boys shook their heads.

Mione sighed,

"Oh well, never mind..." She then stepped through the door. Immediately, as if someone had hit the light switch, (and maybe they had, you just never know!) the room was flooded with light, revealing a huge chess board, with equally huge chess pieces.

"Shit. I hate chess," Barry stated.

"I'm crap at it too," Mione said.
"Who said I was crap! I just said I hated it!" Barry said upset.

"I'm sorry! I-"

"Joking Mione, I am crap!"

"Not funny!"

"Well guys, I guess we're lucky I'm not a bad chess player - 'cause I'm guessing we'll have to play our way across..." Andrew said pointing towards the door behind the white pieces.

"Well, I guess your right...What shall we be Drew? Dirrect us to our doom!" Barry said tipping his imaginary hat to Andrew. Andrew rolled his eyes, and thought,

"Barry, you be a bishop, and Mione you be a castle next to him, as for me I shall be a knight!"

"Why a knight?"

"Well...knights are cool!"

Barry and Mione swapped nervous glances.

"Don't worry guys! I grew up with chess! We'll win, no problem! Now white moves first..."

A white prawn moved first,

"And then we play..." Barry said dramatically.

"Well. Nuh-duh!"

Andrew continued to dirrect the pieces around the board, occasionly the white pieces would thrash the hell out of their pieces, but Andrew usually made sure he got them back, (sometimes verbally and physically...)

"Hmm..." Andrew said stroking his chin, being only fourteen, he only had the slightest stuble - hardly worth counting, but he was proud of it all the same..."Of course!" he muttered, "I've got to be taken."

"Fuck no!" Barry and Mione exclaimed.

"Drew, as Andy's friend I say you can't do that! She'll kill me if she found out I let you get knock out by another chick!" Mione exclaimed jerking her head in the dirrection of the Queen.

"Sorry, guys, but it's the only way! It'll leave you, Barry free to check mate the King!"

"But-"

"No buts, I'm gona do it," Andrew said shakily, but determined all the same. Andrew stepped forward, the Queen eargerly threw herself at Andrew, then threw him off the board knocking the poor bugger out cold.

"Oh my god!" Mione cried, tears beginning to well up in her eyes, but she stayed in her place.

Barry moved three spaces to the left, not taking his eyes off Andrew - as a result he walked slightly crooked, but made it all the same.

"Check mate," he said firmly and loudly as though the King was hearing impaired. The king threw it crown at Barry's feet. Barry then began to dance - it was scary, the dance was so much like Lemo's.

"Lemo's habbits are really starting to rub off onto you!" Mione said laughing. Barry immediately stopped dancing,

"Are you saying my girlfriends weird? 'Cause she is...but you better not be being mean about it..."

Mione stood up from looking closely at Andrew,

"I think he'll be fine, a little scratched and unconcious - but other than that, he's all good. Lets go!" Mion said walking briskly to the next room.

In the next room there were two bottles and a piece of paper on a table. Mione reached the table and read the paper aloud:

"There is a 50/50 chace you'll get poisened.

.Have Fun.

She looked at it in dismay,

"No clues, nothing! That's so...mean!" she said as fire blew up in front of them, blocking the door to the next room.

"Well, it's easy enough, Snape's already drunk some of the left one. So obviously, since there's no dead Snape...that the good one, that'll let us through the fire," Barry said logically.

"Oh yea. But there's only enough for one mouthful..."

"Okay, here's the thing. You go back, don't worry about the others, leave them. Go find Don and Emo, see if they managed to get hold of Dumbledore, if they haven't go immediately to McGonagall. I think I might be able to hold Snape off for that long..." Barry said in a not so confident voice.

"Oh Barry! Your so - Shit I sound corny! I'll go find the old man, good luck!" she saluted him then turned and with a wooooooooooooosh of her bushy brown her she walked back out the door they had just came through. Taking a deep breath Barry drank the rest of the stuff, that will get him through the fire ahead. He then walked through, the flames licking (ew gross!) his body, but not burning he reached the door and puched it open, to find...

"You! What the fuck are you doing here!"