The room was semi-dark but in it it had- she didn't know.

"I don't like this," Hermione said, her voice shaky as they advanced. "I don't like this at all."

"Where are we?" asked Harry.

Rosalyn only had one suggestion. "A graveyard?"

"This is no graveyard," Ron said, moving forward, futher and further towards whatever was waiting for them. "It's a chess board."

As soon as he said those words, torches around the checked board flared up and illuminated the room, it was indeed a chess board.

"There's the door!" Rosalyn said, pointing at a wooden door just across the room, past the white pieces.

But they should have known it wouldn't be that easy.

As they tried to get to the door, in between the white pawns, they put their swords out, crossing each other and blocking the road to the door. When they moved back the swords went away. It made Rosalyn growl in despair. "Now what do we do?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Ron, the chess nerd, said. "We play our way across the room, is that right?" he asked a bishop, who nodded.

He stood in front of them, starting with, "don't be offended or anything, but none of you are very good at chess-"

"We're not offended, but tell us what to do," Rosalyn answered.

Ron started giving out orders on where to stand. "Harry, take the empty bishop space, Hermione, you'll be the queen side castle, Rosalyn, you can be the queen. And as for me... I'll be a knight."

Harry, Hermione and Rosalyn took their places as Ron mounted the horse that was missing a knight. Rosalyn smiled slightly, he was really in his element here.

"What happens now?" Hermione said.

"White moves first in chess," Ron said, and as he said that, a white pawn slowly moved two spaces forward.

Hermione suddenly wondered. "Ron, you don't suppose this is going to be like... real wizard's chess, do you?"

Ron looked braced, and from the knight he said. "You there, D-Five!" A black pawn moved forward, and the white one that had moved previously took out its sword and smashed their pawn to pieces.

Hermione winced and so did Rosalyn, and Ron answered the former's question. "Yes Hermione... I think this is going to be... exactly like wizard's chess," Hermione's eyes widened.

And the game commenced. Ron yelled at pieces and had to make some sacrifices. The air was thick with dust and rubble was everywhere on the floor. Ron was in his element on the chess board, however. Rosalyn had never been very good at chess, never. Bill had taught them both when they were young, but Rosalyn was too hap-hazard, too rash, too easily bored to play chess. Ron was much more focused, and they both knew it.

"Castle to E-Four!" Ron was shouting.

More crumbling, more dust, more rubble. It went on, Rosalyn sighed, she was really not of much use, but once, just one time, she was.

"Ron! Hermione would get crushed if you did that!" She called at him. Ron was attempting to make a good maneuver, but Rosalyn's warning stopped him, because she was right. The white queen would crush Hermione if she was involved.

So Ron gave up with that. And he continued to kill and sacrifice. Hermione winced, Harry was wondering whether this was all safe and Rosalyn was covering her ears.

"Pawn to C-Three!"

That very pawn got its head smashed off, exploding across the room. Next, the white players moved their queen. Ron was playing tactical, and decided to sacrifice the castle that wasn't Hermione. The queen slowly rotated to face the castle before drawing her sword and stabbing the castle into oblivion. Rosalyn felt sorry for the castle as she ducked to avoid the rubble. But then again, she thought bitterly, he's already done this once tonight.

A bishop. The other knight. Another pawn. All added to the list of sacrifices that was growing bigger and bigger.

Ron was going for tactics, which made the queen smashed up another pawn, she's vicious, Rosalyn thought. And then she turned round to face them. And that's when she realised what they were doing, what Ron had got them, or himself, into.

"Wait a minute..." She started.

"There's no other choice, Rosie! Once I make my move, the queen will take me, and then you're free to checkmate the king!"

"NO!" Harry, Hermione and Rosalyn all shouted.

"You can't! There must be another way!" Hermione cried desperately.

"That's chess! There's sacrifices! And do you want to stop Snape from getting that stone of not?" Ron snapped. "Look, Rosie, you and Harry have to go on! Not me, not Hermione, you two!"

Rosalyn sighed and locked eyes with Harry, who was feeling the same way she was. Slowly, very slowly, the two of them nodded.

Ron gripped the horse's handles and put a brave expression on his face. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and shouted. "Knight to H-Three!"

Slowly, he began to move. Rosalyn bit her lip hard to stop herself screaming for him to stop. Ron looked more scared than she had ever seen, even when Fred turned his teddy into a spider.

The knight reached his space, and Ron said that one word in a shaky voice.

"Check."

The trap was set, the queen was ready. She turned round to face him, her faceless face showing malice and no mercy. She advanced. Ron was almost wailing with hopelessness. Finally, she came too close for comfort.

BOOM

The sound resonated and echoed all around the chamber as Ron was thrown off the horse.

"RON!" Rosalyn heard Harry shout, she went to move, and so did Hermione, but Harry pointed at them and yelled. "No! Don't move, we're still playing!"

Rosalyn sighed, and, with a deep breath, walked forward. She reached the king, sword still in hand, and shouted the word that made them surrender. "Checkmate!"

The king released his sword and it dropped quickly to the ground with a crash. Rosalyn swallowed in the building up saliva in her mouth. They had won, but at what cost?

She ran to Ron, Harry and Hermione not far behind, when she got there, she thumped onto the ground beside him, looking at him.

"He's unconscious," she informed the others. "Look, we have to go on, all of us, but we'll come back and get him, I promise."

"But I don't-" Hermione started.

"It's not finished yet," Rosalyn reminded her. "We've had the mutt, that's Hagrid's, and the devil's snare was probably Sprout, McGonagall must've transfigured the chessmen, so we've still got-"

"Snape," Harry answered, "And Quirrell. I wonder what they've done."

Hermione was still doubtful, but Rosalyn convinced her. "Look, Hermione, you have to come with us, we may be brave, but you're smart, and together we can defeat Voldemort."

Hermione looked scared as well as apprehensive, but she nodded, trusting her best friend to the end of the world.

They crossed the chessboard and made their way to the door.