Beginning of the race to capture the Philosopher's Stone.

HERMIONE III

That's chess. You've got to make some sacrifices.

The words echoed in Hermione's mind as the white queen slowly moved towards Ron. She stopped one square in front of the knight. For a moment that seemed like eternity, she did nothing. Then she drew her sword and plunged it deep into the horse. Ron screamed and fell on the chessboard. Hermione screamed as well. She never thought she could scream like this. The white queen then pushed both Ron and the horse he had been riding to the side.

All her body, her mind, her heart wanted to move, but it was as if her legs were made of stone. She watched in horror as Ron lied on the ground, unmoving. Was he... dead? She barely noticed Harry was moving, as Ron had ordered him. Only when the white king dropped his crown did she realize the world kept turning while her eyes were locked on Ron.

She jumped at the huge shock of the crown hitting the floor as the other pieces of chess sided away. The door to the next room was right in front of them. But Hermione couldn't bring her legs to move.

"Hermione." She turned to Harry, who was looking just as desperate as she was. "We have to go. We'll come back as soon as we have the Stone."

Yes, she knew it was the priority. Preventing Snape or whoever it was who wanted the Stone from taking it. Even Ron agreed with that. He told them to not linger here after they checkmated the king. Hermione cast one last gaze to Ron, swearing to herself that she would come back as quickly as possible. Then she looked at Harry, they both nodded in understanding and ran towards the door.

She knew that it was dangerous to come here. Ron knew it as well. Harry knew it too. He was ready to go in alone to not risk any other life than his own. But if it was something to believe that they might not all come back alive from this, experiencing it was completely different. Hermione was used to live in books, where only theory mattered. In a classroom, she was the best, but even when she didn't succeed at her first attempt, she could try again. This time was different. One spell mispronounced, a wrong movement of the wand, and they could all die. Worse, they had decisions to take, decisions that didn't involve magic, and they could die as a result of them just as well.

The door gave way to a long passage. Harry tried to say Ron would be fine, but Hermione felt he was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince her. Ron was his friend. He wasn't Hermione's. Wasn't he? She knew that Harry got to be more affected than she was. She thought it was a miracle that they both could go forward while leaving Ron behind and still be able to stand up.

They reached another door and pushed it, only to be met with a nauseous smell. They coughed and tried to protect their mouths and noses with their hands and robes, but the odor was unbearable. It was also vaguely familiar.

"Look!"

Harry just pointed the floor, where a huge troll, larger than the one they faced at Halloween, was lying on its face, blood coming out of his head.

"Quickly, let's leave this place," Hermione said.

"Quirrell is an expert on trolls. That must be the obstacle he put. I wouldn't be surprised if he's the one who killed it."

"That wouldn't surprise me either ," she said between two coughs. "The Devil's Snare must have been placed by Professor Sprout, and the flying keys were certainly Flitwick's work. McGonagall probably installed the chessboard. And Hagrid gave them Fluffy." They pushed the next door and closed it behind them quickly. Hermione breathed deeply in relief. "There is only Snape's spell left now."

"And Dumbledore's," Harry completed.

They both looked ahead of them to see what their next challenge would be, but there was only a table with all sorts of bottles of different shapes on it. It didn't take long though for the room to reveal some of its surprises. Fire appeared and covered the doors, both the one they came from and the one ahead of them, probably the last door before the place where the Philosopher's Stone was being kept. The fire was purple and black, clearly magic in nature. Hermione then spotted something on the table, next to the bottles. A roll of paper.

"Look!" She took it and read it very quickly. She smiled. Luck was on their side for this last obstacle.

"Hermione? What is it?" Harry asked.

"It's not magic. It's logic. A puzzle. Many great wizards have no ounce of logic. They would be stuck here forever."

"And you believe we won't? If we manage to solve this riddle?"

"Of course. Look, there are seven bottles. Three are poisons, two are wine, one will get us safely to the next room and another one will bring us back to the previous room."

"Okay," Harry said, now reading more carefully the roll. "So we just need to guess which bottle contains what and remain away from those with poison."

"Guess?" Hermione asked. She was offended that Harry might think this way. "We're not going to guess, Harry. We're going to discover which bottles to take. Everything we need is on this paper."

"Okay," Harry said, his hands raised in sign of peace. "So, we have seven bottles. If I read correctly, there is poison on the left of each bottle of wine. Those at both ends are different. So they can't be both wine or poison. But if you move onwards, neither is your friend. What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure," Hermione said. "Perhaps the second and sixth bottles are both poisons. But it could also mean that neither are what we need to get to the next door. Then we know that neither the biggest nor the smallest bottle contains poison. Then it says the second and sixth are the same."

"I guess this answers my question," Harry said. "But that doesn't tell us which one will allow us to go forward."

"Give me a minute," Hermione said.

She re-read the enigma a few times. Harry did too. He was trying to solve the puzzle just like her. Sometimes he tried to say something, but Hermione raised her hand to shut him up. She needed all her mind focused on solving this problem.

"I have it," she said after a long moment. "The smallest bottle will bring us to the Stone."

Harry looked at it. "It's very small. And it seems someone already drank it. We may not be the first to be here. Snape or Quirrell must be on the other side."

That was what Hermione feared the most. If she and Harry could have taken the Stone first and brought it back with them, everything could have gone well. But if someone was on the other side on the fire, it was more problematic.

"There's not enough for two people to get through," Hermione realized. She now wished that she didn't think aloud, for Harry spoke immediately.

"I'll take it. Take the bottle that allows you to go back on your steps. Get back and bring Ron back to the castle. The brooms in the flying-key room will get you out of the trapdoor."

"But Harry, you can't face Quirrell or Snape alone," she protested. "And what if both of them are here?"

"Go to the owlery and send a message to Dumbledore. If I fail, he might be able to stop the thief. If we both go and we die, Ron is doomed as well, and Dumbledore might not know about this until it's too late."

Hermione saw that there was no way of talking Harry out of it. He would go. He had already grabbed the right bottle.

She rushed to him and pulled him into a tight embrace, tears threatening to break. "Be careful, Harry."

"Okay, I will be."

"You're a great wizard, you know."

"Not as good as you," he said, as she broke their embrace.

"Everything I learn is in books, Harry. It's knowledge, nothing more. There are far more important things. That's why you're my friend. That's why I'm in Gryffindor and not in Ravenclaw. You're brave. And you're a good friend. Be careful."

He nodded. "You first."

She took the right bottle to come back and drank it. It tasted like icy water. It was definitely not wine. And she didn't think it was poison for she was still alive.

"It's not poison?" Harry asked, worried.

"No. It's like ice."

"Quickly, before it wears off."

"Good luck, Harry."

"GO! NOW!"

She rushed to the door they came from and got through the fire. The flames licked her body, but she felt nothing. She was back in the room with the horrible smell. She opened her eyes just enough to see the troll again. No mistake, she drank the right one. She hoped she made no mistake and Harry got the right bottle as well. She looked back to Snape's challenge, which she couldn't see since the door was closed again. Hermione ran, hoping that Harry would be fine. She was on the chessboard in no time. It was still half in ruins. She rushed to Ron, who still looked unconscious. Unless he was dead.

Hermione felt his pulse. She sighed in relief. His heart was beating. Ron was still alive. She shook him. "Ron. Ron!"

No reaction. She thought about a certain way to reanimate him that was common among Muggles. She had seen her parents perform it sometimes to save lives. But even in her desperate state, Hermione couldn't bring herself to do this. Ron was still alive, after all. She shook him a little more, without results. So she put one of his arms around her shoulders and proceeded to drag him to the exit.

It was very hard. Ronald was taller than she was, and bigger too. He ate way too much during feasts, and not only during feasts. She progressed very slowly. She gave him blows in his ribs, hoping it would wake him up, again without results. She struggled under his weight. He really was a glutton. How many times did she see him eat and she was disgusted?

"Look," she told him as they reached the room of the flying keys. "I know we're not the best of friends. And what you did on that chessboard was stupid. Stupid but courageous. Now I understand why the Hat sent you to Gryffindor. Know this, however, you stupid fool. I'll never forgive myself if you don't survive. I'll think about you and your death for the rest of my days. And I don't want that. I don't want to think about you for the rest of my life. Not in this way. Harry needs us both. So you better wake up and help save your life."

She hit him in the ribs again, to no effect. Hermione was without breath. She tried to take the broomsticks, but she couldn't carry Ronald and two brooms at the same time. So she continued on her way, only with the unmoving body of Ron, almost carrying him on her back. They reached the room with the Devil's Snare. It was there, right in front of them.

"Lumos!" Hermione said.

Her wand, which she barely managed to get out with Ron's weight on her shoulders, illuminated the place, stopping the plant from attacking them. She couldn't see the trapdoor up their heads. It was certainly closed after they got through.

Hermione laid Ron against the wall, staying close to him so that the Devil's Snare wouldn't approach any of them. She was sweating and breathing heavily. There was no way out. She couldn't drag Ronald on a broomstick. She was already not very talented at flying, so flying with a dead weight...

She wished she hadn't thought that. Ron sacrificed himself for them. Just like Harry was ready to sacrifice himself to save her at Halloween and she was ready to do anything to save him at his Quidditch game, Ron had been ready to do the ultimate sacrifice. She cried. What was she going to do? Harry was alone, facing... someone. She had no idea. Maybe he was dead. And Ron? What if she couldn't get him out of here?

She had to focus. She had to find a way out of here. The logical choice would have been to abandon Ron and fly away. This way, one of them would be assured to survive. She might even get help, maybe from Dumbledore himself, to save Ron, and maybe Harry too. But she couldn't bring herself to abandon Ron alone, here, with the Devil's Snare close. She could bring him back to the room of the flying keys, but it would take time. And time was precious right now.

She had made up her decision to return on her steps with Ron and to fly up in order to get help, but before she could proceed with her plan, the trapdoor opened. She heard a melodious sound coming up from the ceiling. Then a small figure fell from it, and a blazing white light appeared at this moment. It filled the room with a blinding brightness. Hermione had to cover her eyes with her arm. Slowly though, she saw the source of light, a wand, and the person handling it closing in on her. Hermione was about to raise her hand to defend herself, just in case. It could be someone who wanted to steal the Stone.

"Hermione?"

She recognized this voice who called her name as the person landed in front of her and the power of the light receded. Hermione could now see the face of the intruder. It was the last person she expected to see in this place tonight.

I initially wanted to begin with a Ron chapter, but I found that I would only be writing the same thing J.K. Rowling did for the four first obstacles (Fluffy, Devil's Snare, flying keys, chess). So I decided to begin at the very end of the chess game, from Hermione's point of view, giving us a chance to see what could have happened after Harry and Hermione went separate ways. We also get to see how Ron is getting on Hermione's nerves, but also how she's beginning to appreciate him as well in this version where they didn't become friends at Halloween.

Please review.

Next chapter : Harry (tomorrow)