"Are we ready? Do we have everything that we need?" Harry hissed as we met at the bottom of the stairs that led to the Gryffindor common room from the dorms. 

  "I believe so," I murmured softly in return. 

  "Okay. Let's go." 

  We barely took a few steps forward before we stopped when we saw a familiar toad sitting on the coffee table, casually croaking. 

  "Trevor," Ron groaned softly. "Trevor, shh! Go! You shouldn't be here!" 

  "And neither should you," said the voice of Neville. He got up from his seat, giving us a look. "You're sneaking out again, aren't you?" 

  "Now, Neville, don't be a prat. You don't understand —" I began, but he cut me off, raising his fists. 

  "No! Don't you dare call me a prat! I . . . . I'll fight you!" 

  "Neville, I'm really sorry about this," Hermione sighed. She took out her wand and aimed it at him. "Occulus Reparo!" 

  At once, Neville froze. His body snapped together, and he collapsed to the ground like a stiff floorboard. 

  "You're scary, sometimes," Ron commented. "You know that, right? Brilliant. . . . but scary." 

  He shuddered. I rolled my eyes. 

  "C'mon, guys. We don't have a lot of time left," I said. I glanced down at Neville, feeling bad for what we'd done to him. "We're sorry, Neville. But you'll understand soon enough." 

  We all muttered our apologies to Neville before walking out of the Gryffindor common room. Harry threw his Invisibility Cloak over the four of us and we began to make our way to the trap door on the third floor. Finally, we approached the door. I tripped a little as Ron accidentally stood on my foot, causing me to wince.

"Ouch, Ronald!" I hissed. "That was my foot, you idiot!" 

"Sorry," Ron whispered back. 

We reached the door. I took out my wand and aimed it at the door.

"Alohomora!" 

At once, the door opened on my command. We sneaked in and immediately realized that something odd had happened.

"Wait a minute," said Harry quietly. "It's —" 

"Sleeping," I breathed. I glanced over at a harp, which was playing a peaceful tune. "Snape's obviously gone through the door." 

"We have to move its paw," Harry whispered.

"What?!" Ron hissed in horror. 

"You heard what Harry said," I stubbornly snapped. "We have to move the paw in order to get inside to stop Professor Snape!" 

"I know why we have to do that, Chloe," Ron answered, rolling his eyes. "I'm not deaf." 

I rolled my eyes and bent down to help Harry get the paw off the trap door. We squinted, trying to look down into it. But the interior was so dark, we couldn't even see below us. 

"Right," said Harry stubbornly. We turned to face him. "I'm going down there. If anything bad happens, get yourselves out." He suddenly stopped, frowning in confusion. "Does it seem a bit quiet to you?"

"The harp," I remarked, confused as well. "It's stopped playing." 

"Argh!" Ron suddenly exclaimed in disgust. We turned to glance over at him and I wrinkled my nose in disgust as I saw drool running down his shoulder, thick and in globs. "Gross!" 

We glanced up and saw that the dog had awoken. We screamed and didn't hesitate to jump through the trapdoor. Luckily, the four of us landed on something soft, instead of the hard concrete floor.

"Whew!" said Ron with relief. "That was close!" 

"Whoa!" I exclaimed in shock. I began to scramble away as I noticed that the stuff we had sat on was beginning to move around, slithering like a snake. 

I looked around and noticed the others desperately trying to get out of the plant's grip. Finally, Hermione spoke.

"Stop moving, all three of you!" she demanded. "I know exactly what this is! It's the Devil's Snare. If you keep struggling like this, it'll only kill you faster."

"Kill us faster?!" Ron groaned. "Oh, now I can relax!" 

Suddenly, Hermione slipped through the plant. Harry and Ron cried out in shock, screaming her name. 

"Just do as I say!" Hermione insisted. "Trust me!" 

I put all of my concentration on staying still, no matter how hard I wanted to move. If I wanted to get out of this tricky little plant, then I might as well do as Hermione said. She knew a lot more than we did.

I suddenly felt myself slipping from the Devil's Snare's grip and I came crashing to the concrete floor. The boys screamed out my name desperately as well. Hermione repeated her instructions again. Seconds later, Harry came crashing to the ground, clutching at his arm. 

"Are you okay?" I asked anxiously as I helped him up.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine, Rivvy. But Ron doesn't seem to be fine, though. He clearly isn't relaxing." 

"He's not, is he?" Hermione groaned.

I let out a groan of frustration. I've learned a lot in Herbology in the past year. I knew something about the Devil's Snare, though Hermione knew much more quickly than I did. I began to pace up and down, trying to drown out Ron's desperate cries for help. 

"I remember learning about the Devil's Snare in Herbology, and what it likes and doesn't like. I got it! Devil's Snare hates sunlight!" I whipped out my wand and pointed it directly at the Devil's Snare that hovered above us. "Lumos Solem!" 

Ron yelled and came crashing down to the ground. He straightened himself up and gave the Devil's Snare a look of dislike.

"Lucky we didn't panic," he finally commented.

We gave him looks of disbelief. I raised an eyebrow at him, frowning.

"Lucky both Hermione and Chloe pay attention to Herbology," Harry finally commented. 

Everything suddenly went quiet. We listened carefully and I thought I could hear what sounded like wings. What did we have to fight, now? 

"What's that noise?" Hermione whispered.

I glanced over at her.

"You heard it, too?"

"Clearly. It's loud enough," Ron huffed.

"I dunno," said Harry. "But it sounds like wings. C'mon." 

We went into the next room and saw what seemed to be curious-looking birds. I frowned at them, trying to understand what they are. 

"This keeps on getting curiouser and curiouser," Hermione muttered under her breath. "They look like birds!"

"They're not birds," Harry answered. "They're keys! And I bet that one of them fits through that door!"

Ron went over to the door Harry had gestured to and aimed his wand at the lock.

"Alohomora!" he cried out, rapping his wand against the silver, rusted lock. He turned to face us, looking defeated. "Well, it was worth a try." 

"Ugh! What are we going to do? There must be at least a thousand keys up there!" Hermione groaned. 

"We're looking for a large, silver one," Ron noted as he examined the keyhole more closely. "Probably rusty, like the handle." 

"There!" said Harry triumphantly as he pointed to a crooked key. "I see it! Up there!"

He then turned his attention to the broomstick, looking hesitant.

"What is it, Harry?" I asked anxiously.

"It just seems too simple doesn't it?" said Harry. 

"Oh, go on, Harry!" Ron groaned. "If Snape can get past this door, then you can! You're the youngest Seeker in a century, remember?!" 

Harry nodded and took a deep breath. He gripped onto the broom handle, and the keys immediately began swooping down on him. Harry scrambled onto the broomstick and shot into the air. Ron, Hermione, and I waited anxiously until Harry was able to catch the key and throw it right at us. 

"Catch the key!" he said desperately. 

I caught the key and began to desperately try and unlock the door. Ron was getting more and more impatient. 

"Hurry up!" he yelled in my ear. 

Desperately, I managed to unlock the door, and all four of us managed to get inside. We sighed with relief when none of the other keys got into the next room with us. I knew that would be a catastrophe. We straightened up and got a closer look at the room we were in. 

"What's this?" I breathed. 

"Is it a graveyard? Do we have to fight zombies?" Hermione asked nervously.

"No. We don't have to do any of that," said Ron as he looked around. His eyes lit up at the sight around him. "It's a chessboard."

At his comment, the lights from the torches lit up, illuminating the room. Ron looked thoughtful before turning to face us. 

"Right. Harry, you take that Castle. Chloe, you take the other Castle. Hermione, you take the Queen. As for me, I'll take the Knight." 

We got into our positions. I took a deep breath. Hermione turned over to face Ron with a nervous look on her face.

"Ron? Y-You don't think that this is going to be like real wizard's chess, do you?" 

Ron looked thoughtful.

"You, there! Move to D-3!" 

At once, the pawn moved. The next pawn destroyed the black one, which was on our side. I screamed in shock, clearly not expecting the pawn to destroy our piece. Hermione's eyes were wide with fear. 

"Yes, Hermione," said Ron in a faint voice. "I think that this is exactly like real wizard's chess." 

Hermione did not look too pleased when Ron said that. 

The game went on, getting more and more intense. Some of the marble shards from the defeated chess pieces found their way to my face, grazing at it, making cuts into my skin. Finally, the Queen turned to face Ron. I glanced over at him and fear found its way to my face. My heart plummeted into the pit of my stomach as I realized what this was all about.

"Wait a second," I murmured softly, my eyes widening. 

"You do realize what this means. Don't you, Chlo?" said Ron quietly. "Once I make my move, the Queen will take me. Then you're free to Check the Queen." 

"No, Ron! No!" I cried out in horror. 

"What is it?!" Hermione asked anxiously.

"He's going to sacrifice himself for us!" I answered. My voice quavered as I spoke. 

"No, you can't!" Hermione insisted. "There must be some other way!"

"Do you want to stop Snape from stealing the Stone, or not?!" Ron snapped in return. And that got Hermione to shut up. "Harry and Chloe, it's the two of you that have to go on. Not me. Not Hermione. Both of you." He took a deep breath, staring confidently at the Queen. "Knight to H-3." 

The Knight began to move on its own, making its way to the Queen. Once Ron's Knight had stopped, the Queen whipped out her sword and stabbed it into the horse's side, making Ron fall to the ground with a yell. Hermione screamed in shock. She was about to run to his side, but I stopped her.

"No! Wait!" I demanded. Hermione glanced over at me with fear in her eyes. "Don't move! Don't forget. We're still playing." 

Hermione nodded and moved back to her spot. I took a deep breath and moved to my space. I glared mercilessly at the Queen in front of me.

"Checkmate," I spat fiercely.

At once, the Queen's sword fell to the ground. Once we made sure that the game was over, the three of us ran over to Ron's side. I glanced down at my half-brother, whose face was turning slightly pale. Hermione gently held his hand. 

"Look after Ron," I demanded quietly. "Ron's right. It's me and Harry that have to go on." 

"You're really great witches and wizards, Harry and Chloe. You really are." 

"Not as good as you or anything," I said quickly. 

Sure, I grew up in a household full of witches and wizards. I knew some spells before I came to Hogwarts, thanks to Bill and Charlie, who gladly taught me some of the magical things before my first year, but with no wand. 

Hermione laughed, looking down. She clearly looked embarrassed.

"Me? Books, and cleverness. But there's more to that, Rachel. There's friendship, and bravery. Harry, Chloe? Please. Please be careful." 

We nodded. Harry got to his feet and helped me up. Harry pushed the next door open and we found ourselves at a long flight of stairs that went downward to the dungeons below.