For a moment everything behind the door was pitch black, then, when they stepped inside, suddenly, as if something had flicked their wand and murmured a spell, the room in front of them lit up with firelight. Tall marble pillars with fires blazing on the tops lined the walls, the flickering orange and gold flames lighting up the room, which for a moment seemed like a museum of some sort due to the many stone figures scattered across the floor. Then, as Draco inspected the room more thoroughly he realized that the floor was checkered black and white and that directly in front of them stood a bunch of giant black chess pieces, and across the room stood a set of giant white chess pieces, except every piece was faceless. The place where their eyes and noses and mouths were supposed to be were simply smooth pieces of marble, like someone had simply cut all facial features off of them. It was eerie and unsettling, and Draco involuntarily shuddered.

"Now what do we do?" Harry whispered as if speaking louder than that would cause the pieces to attack them or something.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Ron said without a trace of the raven-haired boy's nervousness, a tiny smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. "We're going to have to play our way across the room." It really was obvious, that seemed to be the only logical assumption considering the only exit beside the one behind them was across the room, behind the white chess pieces.

"How?" Hermione looked nervous, even more nervous than she had been before their final exams, and normally that would freak Draco out, but for once it didn't. Maybe it was because he knew her nerves most likely came from her not being particularly good at chess, or maybe it was just because the thought of playing a chess game wasn't that terrifying to him. In fact, the idea of playing a game of chess in the middle of this, like a break from the stress, seemed oddly inviting and nice. Ron's smirk suddenly made sense, he too felt like this was more a break than a task they had to complete and was therefore more laid back about it.

"I think," Ron said, still smirking slightly. "That we have to become chessmen." He walked over to the nearest chessman, a tall knight carved from black marble, and hesitantly reached up to touch the horse's flank with his fingertips. For a second nothing happened, then the statue came to life and the knight turned its head towards Ron, waiting for him to speak, or something of the sort.

"Do we … um… have to join you to get across?" The knight nodded in response to the redhead's shaky question and Ron turned to face them again; his smirk was gone and was replaced by a slightly nervous frown.

"Let me think…" He frowned and looked around at the chessmen lined up behind him, scanning each of them as if to judge their importance. His eyebrows were scrunched up in the way they always were when he concentrated on something, eyes narrowed and lips pressed into a tight line. "I think we have to take the places of four of the black ones…"

Harry, Hermione, and Draco watched silently as he continued to observe the different pieces, pacing back and forth and mumbling things unintelligible to anyone but him. Though the latter wanted to help as well, he got the feeling that it would go quicker and better if he just let Ron figure it out, the redhead was admittedly better at chess than him and if in this situation the better chess player had a higher chance at getting them out of there alive, then Draco would have to swallow his pride for a little while.

"Okay, don't be offended, but Harry and Hermione, neither of you are very good at chess -" Ron started to say a few moments later, though Harry cut him off, speaking quickly as if he needed to get the words out as fast as possible.

"We're not offended. Just, tell us what we need to do." The redhead hesitated for a brief second, glancing around at all of the huge, towering marble chess pieces surrounding them like gravemarkers in an old cemetary. The whole thing might be a bit less threatening and frightening if the pieces were just a bit smaller, like a foot shorter than them, or at least their size, but maybe that was the point, the more dangerous the game seemed, the harder it would be to focus properly on it, making it more difficult to win.

"Good. Harry, you take the place of that bishop, and Hermione, you play for that castle over there next to him." Both of them nodded and Ron smiled tightly, as if nervous, which he likely was considering they had basically made him in charge of making sure they beat this. Draco felt guilt stab at him and he grimaced slightly, about to offer to help a bit if he needed it, when Ron continued, facing him. "Draco, you're a lot better at this than them, so you have to help a bit, make sure I don't mess up."

The blond nodded in response to that, and then, oddly nervous suddenly asked, "Which piece do I play?"

For a second Ron didn't answer, his blue eyes glinting in concentration again as he thought, eyebrows scrunched together slightly like they had been a few moments prior. "Be the second castle." His voice had a slight questioning edge to it, as if he was making sure that Draco agreed.

"Got it," he said and smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner at his best friend. The more sure of himself Ron was, the better and quicker they would finish this, and the higher the chance was of them all making it, plus, him being a castle was a good idea, they were more difficult to kill than a bishop and any other pieces were too important or were generally the first ones to go.

"What about you?" Hermione asked Ron and the smirk from before returned, still rather small, but there.

"I'll be a knight." His blue eyes glittered in excitement that suddenly seemed very out of place. Somehow the chessmen must have heard them, or at least understood what they were planning, because when Ron finished saying that the knight next to them jumped off the board, as did both castles and the closest bishop. For a moment the four of them stared at the empty squares, then they all went over to their respective spots.

"In chess white always goes first," Ron said and, sure enough, a few seconds later one of the white pawns moved forward two squares. "Yeah… look…"

The game sort of began to feel like one of their everyday chess matches that they had with each other, with pieces from both sides sliding across the board, white pieces being dragged off the board. After a while however it became evident how dangerous the game really was, when the second black knight, the one Ron was not on but could've been, was knocked off the board by the white queen and didn't get back up, just laid there, motionless, facedown.

"I had to do that," Ron said in a trembling voice, staring down at the knight with wide eyes. "Now you can get that bishop, Hermione, go ahead."

She hesitated a moment before doing so, her gaze lingering on the other knight. Draco couldn't help but follow her gaze and a sudden image of Ron lying there in the same position, face first on the stone floor with crimson blood matted in his fire-red hair and one arm trapped under his body flashed through his mind. A shudder ran through the blond at that and he had to rip his eyes away from the statue. He couldn't think about that, he couldn't. They would win this and all get past the chess game, they would all be fine.

Still, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself of that was true, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong. The feeling only got worse when a little while later something almost did go wrong. Ron, it seemed, hadn't noticed the danger his best friend was in, and was about to move a different piece instead.

"Ron!" Draco yelled, voice an octave higher than usual with panic. "The knight!"

The redhead froze, mouth open to tell a chess piece what to do, eyes still fixed on a white bishop that he likely had planned to destroy with his own second bishop. "What?" He said instead, looking over at the blond in confusion. Draco gestured wildly towards the white knight that was one move away from knocking Harry off the board. Ron's blue eyes widened in a mix of horror and concern, immediately forgetting about whatever play he had planned.

"Harry, move one square diagonally to the right." He said, ever so slightly higher than before, though forcefully not panicked. Harry did as his best friend said, looking confused briefly before doing so, as if he hadn't noticed he was just almost killed, or at least injured, by a giant chess piece.

"Pay a bit more attention, Ron." Draco said and the redhead nodded as a white castle moved across the board, face pale. All of his previous calm and composure melted away, replaced by slight fear and determination, the gravity of the situation finally occurring to him. This wasn't one of their casual everyday chess matches, this was life or death.

"Got it." Ron said quietly, swallowing thickly before directing one of their pieces towards the castle that had just moved, knocking it off the board.

The same thing almost happened again a few minutes later, but Ron caught it himself that time, sending a piece to destroy the one trying to knock Hermione off the board. Slowly the amount of pieces on the board began to disappear, being piled at the side of the board like the ruins of an old building.

"We've almost got it…" Ron murmured suddenly and Draco looked over at him in surprise before trying to discover how he planned to finish this soon enough to say that. "Let me think… let me think…"

The white queen turned her blank face towards him and his face hardened into a determined expression, coming to a decision.

"Yes…" He mumbled to himself, blue eyes blazing. "It's the only chance we've got… I've got to be taken."

"NO!" Harry, Hermione, and Draco all yelled at once. There was no way he could do that, no way. There had to be some way they could all get out of this unharmed. A voice somewhere in the back of his mind told him Ron was right, that was the only way they could win this, but he didn't want to listen to it, didn't want to accept what it was saying.

"That's chess!" Ron snapped though his voice wavered slightly as if he realized what he was about to do. "Sometimes you have sacrifice pieces! I'll jump and she'll hit me, then you can checkmate the king, Harry!"

"But -" He tried to protest, green eyes wide in fear.

"Do you want to stop Snape, or not?"

"Ron -" Hermione tried to convince him as well, but he shook his head vigorously.

"Listen, if you don't hurry up then he'll get the stone and be gone!" Their protests died on their lips and they all stopped trying to get him to not go through with his plan. He was dead set on it, and they couldn't convince him otherwise, just like there was no way to convince Harry not to come down there through the trapdoor.

"Ready?" Ron called, face pale but determined, eyes blazing. "Here I go - now, don't hang around after you've won." With that said he jumped forward and, as he said would happen, the queen came after him, hitting him on the head with her marble arm. He crumpled to the ground, and lay there motionless on his side. A scream echoed through the room and it took Draco a moment to realize it had come from him. Harry and Hermione were both pale, the latter of the two looking as if she were forcing herself not to run over to the redhead and make sure he was okay. Draco watched, trembling slightly, as the queen dragged Ron off the board and then returned to her square, leaving the redhead slumped against the other black bishop.

After a moment of hesitation, Harry went three steps to the left, his trembling visible to Draco even from halfway across the board. The white king stared at Harry, or at least looked at him with his blank face, and then grabbed his crown off his head, throwing it down to the ground, where it cracked.

They had won.

The white pieces moved to the side, freeing the way to the door and for a moment they all stood where they were, scared to move. Then the three still conscious members of the quartet moved towards the door, only to freeze just before walking through it.

"What if he-?" Hermione started to ask, but broke off, glancing back at the redhead.

"I'm going to check on him," Draco mumbled instead of answering her question, trying his best to keep his voice from shaking. He knew they had to go on, knew Ron had told them not to wait, but he needed to make sure he was at least still alive. "To make sure he's okay."

The blond turned around and ran across the black and white tiled floor towards his best friend, whose red hair stood out like flames amongst the dark marble of the other chess pieces. He knelt down next to him and frowned in concern when he saw the blood on the side of his head, matted in his hair like he had imagined earlier. Draco reached a trembling hand towards him, about to shake him to see if he'd wake up, when Harry spoke from behind him.

"He'll be alright." There was a slight tremble in his voice as he said it, but when Draco looked over at him he had a determined glint in his green eyes. For a second he stayed where he was, not wanting to leave Ron behind like this, but then he sighed and stood up. "What do you reckon's next?"

The blond shrugged slightly as they left the chess room and quickly made their way down the next corridor which was almost pitch black in comparison to the firelit room they had just exited. "We've had Sprout's, hers was the Devil's Snare, Flitwick must have charmed the keys, Professor McGonagall brought the chessmen to life, all we have left now are Quirrell's and Snape's." Hermione counted off the different teachers they knew had put tasks up.

"What about Dumbledore? Didn't he do something too?" Draco asked and Hermione glanced over at him as if she hadn't thought of that.

"I assume he put wards up directly around the stone so that it's almost impossible to get a hold of." She shrugged slightly, not sure if she was correct, but that seemed like a decent explanation to Draco.

A few seconds later they arrived at the next door and once again they all hesitated for a moment in front of it. What dangerous thing could lay beyond that door?

"All right?" Harry whispered to the two of them, sounding just as unsure as Draco felt.

"Just do it." Hermione fidgeted nervously with the hem of her sleeve, glaring at Harry as if it would make him go faster. He took a deep breath and then pushed the door open.

A disgusting, somewhat familiar smell drifted out of the room and they all gagged, pulling the collars of their uniforms up over their mouths and noses. Tears sprang into Draco's eyes at the sheer intensity of the smell, as if something had died a couple weeks prior and was just left there to rot, filling the stone chamber with the smell of its decomposing flesh. This was not the case here, however, because when he blinked to get the tears out of his eyes he saw a troll, not unlike the one he, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had defeated on Halloween, lying spreadeagled in the center of the room.

For a long moment the three of them simply stood there in the doorway, staring at the creature in disgust. Upon further inspection, it became apparent how the troll had been defeated, likely by similar means to how they had defeated the last one, which had admittedly been smaller, judging by the bloody wound on its head.

"I'm guessing this one was Quirrel's?" Draco managed to say, trying his hardest not to breathe in through his mouth as he did so. Smelling the troll was bad enough, he really did not want to taste it.

"Either way, I'm glad we were spared having to deal with this one," Harry whispered as he stepped into the round chamber with an arched ceiling shrouded in darkness. Even in the dim lighting of the room, the disgust was clear on the other boy's face as he looked down at the troll while cautiously stepping over its fat, lumpy legs. "Come on, I can't breathe."

The other two, who were still standing in the doorway, scowled and hesitantly followed Harry across the room. This time they didn't hesitate to open the door, anything seemed like it'd be better than to be trapped inside that chamber with the troll. Well, almost anything, Draco was not particularly keen to run into a dragon, but considering Snape was more the potions and puzzles type, it was highly unlikely his task would be a dragon or anything of the sort. Still, they all held their breaths as the door swung open.

Nothing threatening lay beyond the door, however, simply a plain stone chamber like the one before with a wood table standing in the center of it instead of a troll, seven bottles of varying sizes and shapes filled with different colored liquids lined up on it. A scroll of parchment lay rolled up in front of the bottles, a dark green ribbon tied around it like it was a document of some sort. Definitely Severus's…

"Snape's," Harry said, stepping into the room with Hermione and Draco. "What do we have to do?"

Before either of them could answer, however, a loud whoosh came from behind them and they all spun around, backing quickly away from the door. The doorway was filled with bright purple flames, flickering and popping, but emitting no heat or sparks. Then the same sound came from the other side of the room. Once again they all spun around and found the other doorway filled with black flames, trapping them inside the room. For a long moment they all stood in place, unsure of what they were supposed to do. They were trapped in a room with nothing but seven bottles filled with liquids that were likely potions, poisons and some other drink that may or may not be harmless.

"Look!" Hermione suddenly exclaimed, striding over to the table and picking up the scroll. She quickly untied the ribbon and unrolled the parchment, eyes skimming over the words likely scrawled onto it in Draco's godfather's handwriting. Harry and Draco both looked over her shoulder at the riddle written there:

Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,

Two of us will help you, which ever you would find,

One among us seven will let you move ahead,

Another will transport the drinker back instead,

Two among our number hold only nettle wine,

Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line.

Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,

To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:

First, however slyly the poison tries to hide

You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;

Second, different are those who stand at either end,

But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;

Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,

Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;

Fourth, the second left and the second on the right

Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.

Hermione let out a sigh, a small grin on her face, relief shining in her dark eyes. Draco himself felt relief at the fact that he had been correct on Snape having done something with both potions and riddles, both things he knew he was decently good at.

" Brilliant, " Hermione said. "This isn't magic, it's logic, a riddle. Many of the greatest wizards don't have an ounce of logic in their minds, they'd just be trapped here forever."

Draco nodded, but Harry didn't appear to share the other two's relief and enthusiasm. His eyes were dark, moss green with panic, mouth curved down in a nervous frown. "But so will we, won't we?" He asked, voice soft but audibly trembling slightly.

"Of course not," Hermione scoffed as if Harry was being ridiculous just by thinking that. "Everything that we need is on this scroll. Seven bottles: three have poison, two wine, one lets us through the black flames and one lets us back through the purple ones."

Her words didn't seem to reassure Harry in the slightest, however, and he continued to frown nervously. "But how do we know which one we're supposed to drink?" he asked, but before Hermione could answer Draco stepped a bit closer to her and looked down at the scroll again, tilting his head to the side.

"Can I see it?" Draco asked and wordlessly she handed him the parchment, which he read through again before giving it back to her. He got closer to the bottles and examined them intently, his mind whirring as he tried to figure out what each line of the riddle meant. The two on the end wouldn't help them move forward, nor would the ones beside them, meaning one of the three in the middle would let them go through the flames in front of them, and the other two would kill them.

"I've got it." Draco and Hermione both said at the same time, and he let her continue. They both likely figured out the same things, but still, Hermione would probably explain it better than him. "The smallest bottle will get us through the black flames, to the stone."

Okay, she didn't exactly explain it, but that works too.

"It only has enough for one," Harry remarked, a fact which Draco was already aware of, but really wished weren't the case. "It's barely a swallow."

All three of them looked at each for a long moment, all knowing what that meant. Only one of them could go on, and if Draco knew Harry, then he knew he would fight tooth and nail to be that person.

"Which one goes back through the purple flames?" For a moment Draco and Hermione hesitated, then she pointed at a tall, pale blue bottle filled with a cloudy yellow liquid, which stood at the end of the row.

"You two drink that one, there's enough for both of you," Harry said immediately, not giving them any time for argument, proving Draco correct. Both of them, despite knowing the effort was fruitless, opened their mouths to protest, but were cut off before either of them could utter a syllable. "No, listen. Go back and take Ron with you, take three of the brooms from the room with the flying keys, those'll get you through the trapdoor and past Fluffy; fly to the owlery immediately and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, we need him. Maybe I can hold Snape off for a little while, but really, I'm no match for him."

Hermione and Draco both frowned nervously, the plan wasn't terrible, in fact it made the most sense, but neither of them wanted to do it.

"But, Harry, what if You-Know-Who is with him?" Hermione asked in a slightly trembling voice, looking at him fearfully.

"Well, I got lucky last time," Harry said as he pointed at his lightning scar, and though that was technically true, Draco found no comfort in his words. "Maybe I'll get lucky again."

For a long moment Hermione simply stood there, lips wobbling slightly, tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. Then she launched herself at Harry, nearly knocking him over as she hugged him, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

"Hermione!"

"Harry, you're a great wizard, you know that," She said and Draco fidgeted slightly, feeling just as uncomfortable as Harry looked. He felt out of place, like he was watching a moment between the two of them and like he should be on the other side of those flames already.

"Not as great as you," Harry said a bit stiffly and patted Hermione awkwardly on the back instead of reciprocating her hug. She immediately pulled back, sniffling slightly and blinking in an attempt to rid her eyes of the tears gathered in them.

"As me?" Hermione repeated slowly, looking at him. "Books! Cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery and - oh, Harry, be careful !"

He nodded and grabbed the pale blue bottle, looking down at it for a moment before handing it over to Hermione. "You drink first," Harry said determinedly. "You're sure you know what's in there?"

The brunette nodded as well, holding the bottle a bit gingerly in her hands. "Positive," she reassured him and then took a big gulp of the yellowish liquid. A shudder ran through her and for a moment Draco feared they really had got it wrong and that was the poison, then a tiny smile tugged at her lips.

"It's not poison?" Harry sounded a bit scared, as Draco had felt but relief replaced the fear the moment she nodded.

"Nope, but it's like ice." She said, shuddering again.

"Quick, go. Before it wears off." Harry made a slight shooing motion towards her, as if that could make her go faster, his eyes a bit nervous again.

"Good luck, be careful -"

"GO!" Harry yelled. Hermione shoved the bottle into Draco's hands and then ran through the flames behind them, glancing back for a split second before crossing the threshold. The blond hesitated for a second, looking down at the bottle in his hand before glancing up at Harry. He bit his lower lip and, before he could think twice about it, he too stepped forward, like Hermione had, and pulled Harry into a tight hug. Draco had never really been the type to show affection in any way, let alone through hugs or anything of the sort, but for once it felt like if he didn't, he would regret it forever, and he wouldn't be able to go back.

"Be careful, Potter," He said quietly and hugged his raven-haired best friend a bit tighter for a second before pulling away again.

"You to,... Malfoy." Harry grinned slightly at him and then nodded at the bottle in Draco's hand. "Go. I'll see you in a bit."

Draco nodded and, even though he would much rather have gone with the other boy instead, took a big gulp of the potion as Hermione had. She had been correct when she said it felt like ice. His throat immediately felt like he had swallowed snow or a lot of ice cream, his chest freezing slightly.

"See you," he said and then placed the bottle back on the table and walked through the flames, glancing back briefly to see Harry pick up the small bottle with milky white liquid in it before he walked through the doorway and back into the room with the troll.