The fall was much shorter than they expected, as it stopped quickly when they landed on some weird plant. The four of them took a few moments to catch their breath before trying to get out, but the plant didn't agree with that idea, so vines grabbed their legs, preventing them from moving.

"What's happening?" Ben yelled, feeling his breath quicken as the vines tightened around him.

"Stop moving!" ordered Hermione. "I know what this is- It's Devil's Snare!"

"Oh, I'm so glad we know what it's called, that's a great help," snarled Ron, leaning back, doing his best to stop the plant from curling around his neck.

"Shut up! I'm trying to remember how to kill it!"

"Well, hurry up, I can't breathe!"

Vines began to climb up Ben's arms, stopping him from grabbing onto anything. The wound that was made on his arm at Christmas had already healed almost completely, but immense pain ran through his extremity due to the pressure exerted by the plant.

"Relax! Just stop moving!" Hermione said calmly. She stood perfectly still, breathing slowly until the Snare engulfed her and she disappeared.

"Hermione!"

"Hermione, are you alive?"

"Where are you?"

"I'm fine, just do as I say, relax!"

Ben tried to do it, he tried to breathe deeply, but he was unable to remain calm when he felt himself sinking deeper into the plant. The vines tightened even tighter, going up his chest.

A shriek was heard, and Harry wasn't there anymore.

"HARRY!" Ben cried, losing the slightest calm that he had left. He could barely see anymore, the Snare was already past his neck, going up at breakneck speed.

"BEN! It's okay, just calm down!"

"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare... What did Professor Sprout say?" He heard Hermione say. "It likes the dark and the damp!"

"Light a fire, then!" Harry gasped, panic very clear in his voice.

"Yes, of course, but there's no wood!" Hermione cried.

"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Ron bellowed at the top of his lungs. "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?"

Ben found it rather funny, and concentrated on that soft warm feeling in his chest that he felt whenever he laughed. Before he realized what had happened, he was dropped and hit the ground with a thud.

"Ben!" Harry hurried to check on him as Hermione used some spell to throw some fire on the Snare, freeing Ron from it. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Ben smiled, getting up. "Thanks, mate."

Harry nodded and returned the grin before turning to look at Ron, who had just crashed into the ground besides Hermione.

"Phew!" Ron gasped happily. "Lucky we didn't panic, right, Ben?"

"Lucky Hermione pays attention in Herbology." Harry corrected him.

A soft rustling and clinking sound came from their left, distracting them from their conversation.

"What's that?" Hermione wondered.

"Sounds like wings..." Harry frowned.

They reached the end of the corridor and saw before them a brilliantly lit chamber, its ceiling arching high above them. Hundreds of some small, jewel-bright... things fluttered all over the room.

"How curious, I've never seen birds like these before!" Hermione commented.

"That's because they aren't birds," Harry observed. "They're keys!"

He was right, those creatures were keys with little wings if you looked carefully.

"I bet one of them unlocks that door," the bespectacled boy pointed to a large door on the other side of the room.

"Well, if we have to try them all we'll finish within a year," Ben frowned. "Besides, how are we even gonna catch them?"

"With that," Ron motioned to a broom that levitated a couple of feet away from them.

"Oh, right, didn't see it."

Ron walked to the door, and shook the doorknob, in a failed attempt to open it. He tried the Alohomora spell too, but it didn't work either.

"It didn't work." He turned to Ben and Hermione in defeat as Harry examined the broom.

"Ugh, what do we do now?" Hermione groaned in frustration. "Ben's right, we can't just go checking every single key, there must be over a thousand up there."

"We're looking for a big old fashioned one," Ron exclaimed, his eyes widened in excitement. "Probably rustly, like the handle!"

"Of course!"

"There! I see it!" Harry yelled, pointing at an old-looking key that flied with trouble. "That one there with the broken wing."

He headed towards the broom, but his happy look suddenly turned into a confused one.

"Harry? What's wrong?"

"It's too simple..."

"Well, better for us, then!"

"Oh, go on, Harry! If Snape could catch it on that old broomstick, you can. You're the youngest seeker in a century!" shouted Ron, cheering him on.

"Imagine Snape on a broomstick!" Ben whispered to Ron, almost bursting out into laughter at the idea.

"I would pay to see that!" The redhead chuckled in the same tone.

Harry nodded and grabbed hold of the broom, causing the keys to dart crazily around him. He had trouble getting rid of the keys, but managed to get on the broom.

"Well this complicates things a bit," Ron commented.

He flew up trying to get the keys away from himself until, after flailing around, he finally caught the old and broken key. "Catch it!"

Hermione jumped up to grab it and hurried to unlock the door. She rushed in quickly, followed by Ron, and Ben held the door open for Harry, who flew through it, and slammed it shut behind them.

"Is everyone okay?" The curly-haired boy asked his friends, and caught his breath as he saw them nod.

"Great, then let's continue," said Hermione.

The next chamber was so dark they couldn't see anything at all. However, it seemed to be much bigger than the one before, and the temperature had decreased.

"Lumos," muttered Ben, and a small beam of light came out of his wand. It wasn't much use because, as soon as they took a couple of steps forward into the chamber, light suddenly flooded it, revealing an incredible sight. "Nox."

They were standing right on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which were all much taller than they were and carved from what looked like black stone. On the other side of the board, were the white pieces.

"What do we do now?" whispered Harry, eyebrows furrowed.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" said Ron. "We've got to play our way across the room."

"Oh, wonderful..."

"Okay, well..." Ron took a long time to think, and his friends just looked at him in silence. "Harry, you take the place of that bishop. Hermione, you'll be that castle." He turned to Ben. "And you will be that pawn- I hope this doesn't offend you, Ben, by the way."

"Why would it offend me?" He frowned, confused. The pawn was the less valuable piece, and there were seven other pawns, which meant he wasn't at as much risk as the more valuable pieces.

"Forget it," said Ron. "As for me, I'll be a knight."

The pieces that had been there until a couple of seconds before moved out of the chess as the Gryffindors replaced them.

"White always plays first in chess," Ron told them, peering across the board. A white pawn moved two squares forward. "You there, D-5!"

The black pawn next to Ben followed Ron's instructions and, when it arrived at its destination, the white piece pulled out its sword and sliced the black one violently, throwing pieces of it all over the air.

The game went on, with a lot more chess pieces being destroyed as Ron tried to keep his friends alive, which, so far, had been successful. And, suddenly, Ron began to breathe heavily, his face paler than usual.

"Ron, is everything okay?"

"Once I make my move, the queen will take me. Then you're free to check the king," Ron stated bravely.

"What if it kills you?" cried Ben when he understood what was happening.

"No, Ron, no!" Harry shouted.

"What is it?" Hermione asked, confusion as clear as day in her face.

"He's going to sacrifice himself!"

"No you can't!" She shrieked loudly. "There must be another way!"

"Exactly," yelled Ben, racking his brains for another idea. "I'm sure you can think of another move to win, you're amazing at this!"

"Do you want to stop Snape from getting that stone or not?" Ron interrupted. "Harry, it's you that has to go on, I know it! Not me, not Hermione, not Ben. You!"

Harry nodded slowly, and Ron took a deep breath before stepping forward. The white queen pounced and struck Ron hard across the head with her stone arm, and he crashed to the floor.

"Ron!"

Hermione and Ben began to run towards him, but Harry yelled at them. "We need to finish this before!"

Ben thought it was cruel to leave Ron there, unconscious on top of the rubble, but he knew that Harry was right, so he got back to his place.

Harry walked up to the king without a word, looked up at him and said with a very serious tone, "Checkmate."

The king dropped his sword, and Ben just waited for it to hit the ground before running towards Ron. Harry and Hermione joined him and looked down at his friend.

"What if he's dead?" Hermione asked, her voice breaking.

"He's not, he's breathing," assured Ben, relieved to see his chest rise and fall with his breathing.

"You need to go on, Harry. You need to get the stone before it's too late. Ben and I will take care of Ron, we'll get help." Hermione muttered.

"No, I'm not leaving you three here."

"We'll be okay," said Ben. "And so will you."

"You're a great wizard, you really are," spoke Hermione, causing Harry to look away from Ben.

"Not as good as you," he told Hermione. Ben focused on Ron, feeling like he was intruding in their conversation.

She chuckled, "Me? Books and cleverness. There are more important things. Friendship and bravery... And, Harry, just be careful."

"Goodbye, Ben."

"Goodbye, Harry..." he muttered, forcing a smile as he watched the boy get up and walk away. 

A/N: i feel like people on the fandom don't value ron's sacrifice in this scene enough bro, he was literally twelve and was willing to risk his life for harry to be able to go on and to stop voldemort from coming back 

anyways i love ron sm he's my fav boy<3