Draco walked into the next room after Harry. Ron was already there looking excitedly at their next challenge.
"It's Wizard's chess!" Ron called out excitedly. " It's giant Wizard's chess!"
" Wizard's chess are you kidding me?" Draco groaned resentfully.
"What? Can't you play?" Hermione raised an eyebrow at him amused.
"What... well... Of course, I can play… It has just been a long time…" Draco stuttered.
"Sounds like excuses to me" Ron puffed out his chest. "I play wizard's chess all the time, it easy!"
" Maybe you should take the lead in this one then Ron" Harry suggested.
"My pleasure" Ron spared a haughty glance back at Draco who returned with a grimace. He realized that there were four empty places on the black side. "We have to fill in for the missing pieces," Ron thought out loud.
" But isn't wizards chess violent? What happens if our piece gets taken?" Draco asked concerned.
" I hope we don't have to find out," Ron responded bravely.
They all got into place, Ron as a knight, Harry as a Bishop, Hermione as a queen, and Draco in the front as a Pawn. Ron orchestrated the moves beautifully and strategically. He was in the zone. Near the end of the game, Ron became stuck. He would have to sacrifice himself so that Harry could take the queen and win the game. He relayed this information to the rest of the group who tried to convince him otherwise but Ron knew this was the only way. He told them how to win and to leave him to finish the rest of the quest. Ron called out his move and the horse slowly slid across the board in front of the queen who took his piece. As the horse smashed and Ron fell onto the pile of rubble with a thud and didn't get up.
"Ron!" Hermione called scared making a move to go help him.
" NO" Draco and Harry called out at the same time.
" the game is still going you can't move" Harry explained as he moved over to his next spot and called out "Checkmate" The rest of the white pieces crumbled and the remaining three ran over to check Ron. He was unconscious. Harry and Draco dragged him over to a wall and leaned him against it to sit while they continued. They would be back for him later but needed everyone they could get for the rest of the journey
They walked silently together into the next room where they were confronted with a small table with a line of potion bottles. There were two doors in this room, both suddenly covered in colored flames. Hermione walked up to the table examining the bottles and the note that came with them. It read
"Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever 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 hidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore,
To help you with 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 onwards neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are a 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 gasped as she realized that it wasn't magic, this one was a logic puzzle! Draco walked over to look over her shoulder at the note. They started muttering to each other about various possibilities. Harry didn't dare interrupt their thinking so he leaned against the door waiting. After a few minutes of arguing and shuffling Draco and Hermione nodded at each other and she called Harry over to share their findings. Draco pulled out two small bottles while Hermione explained the one on the left would let you go forward through the flames on the doors and what one on the right would let you go back. Neither of the bottles had very much liquid in it, they would have to be careful as one of the bottles would have to be for two people. Harry grabbed for the bottle on the left, heroically offering to go ahead alone. The other two should go back and get Ron to safety. Draco reluctantly lets the bottle go, looking at Harry suspiciously, questioning his ability to face the great Lord Voldemort alone. Draco knew the stories better than most and knew how powerful Lord Voldemort really was. If the potter boy was stupid enough to try and face him alone he deserved whatever he got. He turned to Hermione to decide how to deal with the last bottle. They decided to just take a little bit of it each and make physical contact on the way through the door to try and combine the forces of the potion, just in case. They all faced each other as Harry chugged his potion and stepped nervously through the flame and the door without looking back. Hermione and Draco were alone in the chamber. Silently they shared the potion and awkwardly linked arms ah Hermione squeezed her eyes shut and stepped quickly through the door and pulled her arm away.
Ron was still leaning unconsciously against the wall and broken chess pieces were still laying on the floor in piles. They each took one of Ron's arms over their shoulder and dragged him between them. After getting settled Draco broke the silence. "I still don't understand. What's with the sorcerers stone and the teachers?" Hermione explained how the sorcerer's stone was a stone created by Nicolas Flamel that made him immortal as long as he took the potion made by the stone. Voldemort was looking for it to give himself life and to regain strength. They had found out that at least one of the teachers was still working for Voldemort and trying to steal the stone for him and they were trying to stop him. They had deduced it was Snape. Draco was confused, he knew Professor Snape had been a death eater but had left and sided with Dumbledore. Silence descended again as Draco absorbed the information. The only sound was Ron's vague moans and feet scraping along the ground. Hermione glanced over at Draco who looked very different now than he usually did. Sweat beading at his forehead and his hair disheveled, and his eyes was tired. He looked nervous and uncomfortable. Hermione thought back to the last class they had together where he had written mean words and insults all over a piece of paper, wadded it up, and enchanted it to follow her and hit her like a bludger. There was also the four different times he had sabotaged her potion in potions class to explode in her face. Professor Snape never believed her. Draco was always his favorite. He was always sitting behind her, pulling her hair, spitting paper balls, calling her names, and trying to show her up in class and make her look stupid. She glared over at him but it was hard being mad at someone who looked so distressed.
Draco was staring blankly ahead, dragging the Weasley boy with him. He glanced over at Hermione. He remembered all of her rude comments. All of the times she had shown him up in class, and how superior she acted. She looked so different now with her hair even more wild than normal and her eyes exhausted but determined. They had lost their usual bright, smug spark they always had. She didn't seem as aggressively Hermione as she always was.
They kept quiet for the rest of the journey. As they were climbing the last set of stairs out Ron started to regain consciousness. Hermione shushed and tried to calm Ron as they dragged him toward the infirmary. For the last corridor, Ron was awake enough to walk himself so Draco nodded his goodbye and walked off to go to the dungeons. Hermione turned to watch him walk tiredly away, shoulder slumped for once. She guided Ron into the infirmary to get him some help. They were both badly scraped and bruised from their adventure. She couldn't get Harry out of her mind knowing that he was still down in the chamber. After Ron had been settled Hermione rushed off to go find Dumbledore and ask him to help Harry.
The end of the year was fairly quiet but there was a lot of debate over who was going to win the house cup. The day for the final feast and the announcement finally arrived. Walking into the Great Hall the students were greeted by green and silver decorations everywhere. Despite the decorations, during Dumbledore's final speech he called for a change. He awarded several last second points to students in Gryffindor. So many points in fact that at the very last minute they won the house cup! There was a great roar coming from the Gryffindor table, but over at the Slytherin table, they looked horrified, none more than Draco Malfoy who hadn't even been mentioned in the points when he had helped just as much as Granger. He glanced over and caught her eye with a betrayed look and she blushed. He turned stony and spent the rest of the feast complaining with the rest of his classmates.
