Chapter 83 Don't ask me for such exciting things anymore
Seeing this, Harry couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth slightly.
Although this wasn't an official match, casting magic on himself before getting on a flying broomstick felt a bit awkward.
"Hermione, have we learned this spell?"
"It seems... we haven't.
I listened carefully in every class, but no Professor has taught this spell."
"This is a medium-difficulty defensive spell.
If all goes well, you should have the chance to learn this spell in a few years."
"But you, how do you know it?" Ron asked.
"I taught myself!" Aaron said as a matter of course, "I can go into the Restricted Section whenever I want, isn't it normal to teach myself one or two spells?"
"Then can you teach us?" Hermione looked at Aaron, hoping he would give a positive answer.
"Nonsense, of course... not.
I don't have that much free time, and besides, with your current magic reserves, learning this spell would be very difficult.
If you really want to learn it, you should go find Professor Flitwick next semester!"
With that, Aaron grabbed the flying broomstick and swung himself onto it.
As soon as he mounted the broom, thousands of keys began to stir violently, flying erratically and much faster around the room.
A large portion of them circled Aaron on the flying broom, their wings beating so densely that it was incredibly annoying.
The few people guarding the door felt a pang of anxiety; finding a single key among such a dense swarm was already difficult, and now the difficulty had increased severalfold.
Aaron ignored the keys' harassment, constantly searching for a unique key in mid-air.
"There." Harry pointed to a key in the upper left corner and shouted, "It must be that one; its wings are broken, and it's much older than the other keys."
Aaron's eyes lit up, and he immediately controlled the broom to chase after it.
Instantly, all the brooms followed, forming a thick torrent of keys in the room, chasing closely behind Aaron.
After flying around the pillars in the room for more than half a minute, Aaron got closer and closer to the old key.
With a creaking sound, he grabbed the correct key, but before he could relax, he felt his heart skip a beat.
The sound of flapping wings became sharper and more piercing; the remaining keys suddenly accelerated, their aggressive tips all aimed at Aaron, piercing towards him like arrows.
"Holy crap!"
Aaron didn't know if the defensive spell he, an Advanced Magician, cast could block so many arrows.
But he didn't dare to gamble! If he couldn't block them, he'd probably be lying in a hospital bed for the entire summer.
Without time to think, he controlled the broom to dodge while tearing off the two transparent wings of the old key in his hand and throwing them down to the three below.
He couldn't be blamed for being cruel; if the key still had wings, it could still fly, and he didn't want to search for it again in a swarm of keys that had increased in danger by several levels.
"Catch it, and be quick about it."
Harry caught the key, quickly turned, inserted it into the keyhole, and twisted it hard.
Click!
The door opened, and the three immediately slipped inside.
Seeing this, Aaron controlled the broom to hover overhead for a while, then descended rapidly.
As soon as he passed through the exit, the three decisively slammed the door shut.
Bang! Bang! Bang... countless thudding sounds came through the wooden door; it was the sound of keys embedding themselves in the door, incredibly dense.
Aaron couldn't help but swallow; he certainly didn't think his flesh and blood body would be harder than wood.
Although he had a spell protecting him, taking so many hits, the consequences were truly hard to say.
"How exciting!
But don't ask me for such exciting things in the future."
The three nodded in unison, then walked towards the next room.
After opening the door, the inside was pitch black, with nothing but a corridor and dense stone statues.
"I don't like it here, not one bit," Hermione said uneasily.
"It's just like a graveyard," Harry said.
"Now you're scared, what were you doing before?
But it's definitely not a graveyard here, unless Hogwartsdoesn't want to continue operating; in the Wizarding world, ghosts and graves are completely different things." Aaronrolled his eyes, then took out his wand and muttered, "Lumos."
The tip of the wand emitted a bright light, illuminating a section of the dark room.
Giant black and white chess pieces appeared before the four, and they had indeed walked onto a chessboard.
On the opposite side were white pieces, and on this side were black pieces.
"This is a chessboard, Wizard's Chess." Ron took a step forward, and four rows of flames appeared on each side of the board, illuminating the room brightly.
"It's obvious.
We can only pass after winning this game, but our side is at a disadvantage, missing two pieces." Aaron pointed to the two empty spaces at the corners of the board, "A Bishop, and a Castle."
"Can't we just go straight through?" Harry asked, "That door doesn't have a key."
"You're truly a genius." Aaron gave him a smile and slowly walked towards the white pieces.
Just as he was about to pass through the middle of the pieces, a row of white pawns all drew their long swords, blocking the path completely.
Aaron immediately retreated, leaving the part of the board where the white pieces were, and the pawns sheathed their swords.
"See? Do you think the Professors are bored and just want to make the checkpoints look fancy?"
"I take it back," Harry said with an embarrassed laugh, "But how do we play this game?"
"It's simple, White has one more Knight than Black.
As long as one person takes on the role of a Knight, the game can begin." Aaron said, "I'm not interested in this kind of chess, so don't count on me."
Hearing this, Harry and Hermione both looked at Ron; among them, only Ron was decent at chess.
"Leave it to me!" Ron looked at the empty saddle of the black Knight, and couldn't help but swallow.
"What about the remaining Bishop and Castle then?" Harryasked, "Do we also need to act as pieces?"
"That shouldn't be necessary; as long as your chess skills are good enough, you can win even without these two pieces.
After all, our opponent won't think, they'll just simply aim to capture pieces, so their skill level shouldn't be very high."
The two looked at Ron again, their eyes filled with hope.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't look at me like that.
White's skill level might not be high, but my skill level isn't necessarily that strong either.
Missing one or two pawns, I could still put up a fight, but missing two major pieces... spare me! I don't have that ability."
"So that means we still need to fill those two Black piece positions." Harry's expression was solemn, "Aaron, you see..."
"You guys do your best, may the spirit be with you." Aaronsaid directly, then withdrew from the chessboard on his own.
"You... this... is this not..." Harry's mouth twitched, feeling quite speechless.
Hermione and Ron were also a bit dumbfounded; pulling out before even being assigned, surely he wasn't joking.
"Don't worry about it, it's fine."
"It's not that..."
"Stop, Harry.
I know what you want to say, but I don't want to be a chess piece, and I especially don't want to be a chess piece on this chessboard."
"What do you mean by that?
Although I can't compare to you in terms of academics, I'm quite skilled at Wizard's Chess; as long as the pieces are complete, the chances of winning are very high."
"Is that so?
Then I ask you, this expert, to protect them well." Aaron said meaningfully, "This is proper Wizard's Chess; you wouldn't think those white pawns' swords are made of foam, would you?
If you win, it's one thing, but if you lose, there might be a risk to your life.
Let me state beforehand, I'm not scared, otherwise I wouldn't have come to the trapdoor alone late at night, nor would I have helped you in the previous stage.
If it truly comes to a point where we have to fight for our lives, my resolve will absolutely not be lower than yours, but to put my fate in someone else's hands, I truly cannot do that.
Let alone that I am far from being at the point of life-and-death camaraderie with this person."
Upon hearing this, Ron turned his head and looked at the white pieces, falling silent.
"Go on, Ron, this stage is all up to you."
"But what if..."
"There is no 'what if'; I no longer have a choice.
And we've already come this far, we can't just give up now, can we!" Harry said, patting his shoulder, then walked to the Bishop's position.
"I believe in you too." Hermione said solemnly, "But you must play seriously, without a single mistake."
After saying that, she walked to another corner of the chessboard, filling the Castle's position.
"You guys..." Ron's nose felt a bit sore.
Aaron, not to mention, was from Slytherin and was not originally part of tonight's plan; helping them this far could be said to be the utmost benevolence and righteousness.
But Harry and Hermione, knowing the danger, still chose to trust him, which deeply moved him.
Ron took a deep breath and climbed onto the black Knight's back, acting as the Knight.
He was going all out this time; even if he lost, he couldn't risk Harry and Hermione, these two special black pieces.
"Wait!"
Just as he was about to start the game, Aaron, outside the board, suddenly called out to him.
"What's wrong?"
"Protego, Protego, Protego." Aaron cast three spells on the trio in a row, then spread his hands, "This is all I can do.
With this spell, even if those swords really cut down, it can withstand some damage, and there won't be any danger to your lives."