A magical journey that begins at Hogwarts

"Nonsense, of course...it won't work."

I don't have the time for that, and besides, with your current mana reserves, it would be very difficult for you to learn this spell.

If you really want to learn, you should go see Professor Flitwick next semester!

After saying that, Aaron grabbed the flying broom and flipped himself onto it.

As soon as he mounted the broom, thousands of keys began to stir violently, flying wildly and erratically around the room at a much faster speed.

A large portion of them were circling around Aaron on the flying broomstick, the sound of his wings flapping so densely that it was incredibly annoying.

The people guarding the door felt a pang of anxiety. Finding a key in this dense cluster of keys was already difficult enough, but now it was several times harder.

Aaron ignored the harassment from the keys and continued searching in mid-air for a key that was different from the others.

“There,” Harry shouted, pointing to a key in the upper left corner. “It must be that one. It has a broken wing and is much older than the other keys.”

Aaron's eyes lit up, and he immediately took control of his broom and chased after them.

Instantly, all the brooms followed, forming a thick torrent of brooms in the room, closely chasing Aaron.

After flying around the pillar in the room for half a minute, Aaron was getting closer and closer to the old key.

With a creaking sound, he grasped the right key, but before he could relax, his heart skipped a beat.

The sound of flapping wings became even sharper and more piercing. The remaining keys suddenly sped up, their aggressive tips all aimed at Aaron, shooting towards him like arrows.

"Fuck!"

Aaron didn't know if his defensive spells, cast by a high-level mage like himself, could stop so many arrows.

But he dared not gamble! If he couldn't stop it, he'd probably have to spend the entire summer in a hospital bed.

Without thinking twice, he dodged while controlling the broom, and tore off the two transparent wings from the old key in his hand, throwing them at the three people below.

You can't blame him for being cruel. If it had wings, the key could fly again. He didn't want to search for it again in a group of keys where the danger level had increased several notches.

"Catch it, and you'd better be quick."

Harry caught the key, turned around quickly, inserted it into the lock, and then gave it a hard twist.

Click!

The door opened, and the three of them immediately went inside.

Seeing this, Aaron controlled the broom to hover in the air for a while before rapidly descending.

As soon as he passed through the exit, the three of them immediately closed the door.

Bang! Bang! Bang...

Numerous clanging sounds came through the wooden door—the sound of keys being hammered into it, particularly frequent.

Aaron couldn't help but swallow hard; he didn't think his flesh and blood could be harder than wood.

Although there was a protective spell, the consequences of taking so many hits were hard to predict.

"That was so exciting!"

"But don't ask me to do anything so exciting again."

The three nodded in unison and then walked toward the next room.

After opening the door, the room was pitch black, with only a passageway and a dense array of stone statues.

“I don’t like it here, not at all,” Hermione said nervously.

“It’s like a graveyard,” Harry said.

"Now you know fear, why didn't you do this earlier?"

"But one thing is certain: this is definitely not a cemetery, unless Hogwarts decides to close down. In the wizarding world, ghosts and graves are completely different things." Aaron rolled his eyes, then took out his wand and chanted, "Flash."

The tip of the wand emitted a bright light, illuminating the darkness in the room.

Giant black and white chess pieces appeared before the four people, and they walked right up to a chessboard.

The pieces on the opposite side are white, and the pieces on this side are black.

“This is a chessboard, Wizard's Chess.” Ron took a step forward, and four rows of flames appeared on the four sides of the chessboard, illuminating the room.

“It’s obvious.

"We need to win this game to advance, but we're at a significant disadvantage here, missing two pieces." Aaron pointed to two empty spaces in the corner of the board, "One for a bishop, and one for a castle."

"Can't we just go straight through?" Harry asked. "There's no key to that door."

“You’re really smart.” Aaron gave him a smile and slowly walked up to the white piece.

Just as he was about to pass through the middle of the chess pieces, a row of white pawns drew their long swords and blocked his way completely.

Aaron immediately retreated, leaving the white piece's position on the board, and the pawn put its knife back.

"I see. Do you think the professors are just bored and want to make the levels more fancy?"

“Never mind,” Harry chuckled. “But how do we play this game?”

"It's very simple, White has one more knight than Black."

"The game can begin as soon as one person mounts up to act as the knight," Aaron said. "I have no interest in this game, so don't count on me."

Upon hearing this, Harry and Hermione both looked at Ron, as he was the only one among them who played chess quite well.

“Leave it to me!” Ron swallowed hard as he looked at the empty back of the black knight.

“What about the remaining bishops and castles?” Harry asked. “Do we also need to be pawns?”

"This shouldn't be necessary. As long as your chess skills are decent, you can win even without these two pieces."

After all, our opponents don't think strategically; they only focus on capturing pieces, so their skill level can'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 isn't that high, and my skill level isn't necessarily that strong either.

I can still fight even if I'm missing one or two pawns, but if I'm missing two generals...

"Let me go! I don't have that ability."

“That means we still need to fill in the positions of these two black pieces.” Harry’s expression was grave. “Aaron, what do you think…”

"Keep it up, I'm with you," Aaron said directly, then left the chessboard on his own.

“You…is this…” Harry’s lips twitched, speechless.

Hermione and Ron were also dumbfounded. They hadn't even made any arrangements yet, and they were already leaving. They were sure this wasn't a joke.

"No need to worry about it anymore, isn't that great?"

"Not this..."

"Stop, Harry."

I know what you're trying to say, but I don't want to be a pawn, much less a pawn on this chessboard.

"what do you mean?

While I may not be as good as you academically, I'm quite skilled at Wizard Chess. If I can complete my pieces, my chances of winning are very high.

"is it?

"Then I ask that you, as a master, must protect them well." Aaron said meaningfully, "This is a proper wizard's chess game. You don't think those white pawns are made of foam, do you?"

If we win, that's fine, but if we lose, there might be danger to our lives.

Let me state upfront that I'm not scared, otherwise I wouldn't have come to the trapdoor alone late at night, nor would I have helped you at the previous checkpoint.

If it really comes down to fighting tooth and nail, my resolve will be no less than yours, but I simply can't hand over my fate to someone else.

Not to mention, my relationship with this person is far from being one of life-or-death bonds.

Upon hearing this, Ron turned to look at Bai Qi and fell silent.

"Go for it, Ron! This is all up to you."

"But what if..."

"Unless something unexpected happens, I have no other choice."

"And we've come this far, we can't just give up now!" Harry said, patting him on the shoulder before walking to the bishop's seat.

“I believe you too,” Hermione said solemnly, “but you must be serious and not make any mistakes.”

After saying that, she walked to the other corner of the chessboard and filled in the position of the castle.

“You guys…” Ron’s nose tingled with emotion.

As for Aaron, he's a Slytherin and wasn't originally part of tonight's plans. Helping them this much is already more than enough.

But Harry and Hermione chose to believe him despite knowing the danger, which truly moved him.

Ron took a deep breath and climbed onto the black piece's horse to act as a knight.

This time, I'm going all in. Even if I lose, I can't risk using Harry and Hermione, these two special black pieces.

"and many more!"

Just as he was about to begin the game, Aaron, who was outside the chessboard, suddenly called out to him.

"what happened?"

"Armor protection, armor protection, armor protection." Aaron cast three spells on the three of them in a row, then shrugged. "That's all I can do."

With this spell, even if those knives actually come down, they can withstand some damage and won't be in mortal danger.

Chapter 84 The Power Beyond the Chessboard

"Thank you, that's a big help."

Ron said with a sigh of relief, and Harry and Hermione also breathed a slight sigh of relief.

In this potentially life-or-death game, what they need most is a sense of security, and this curse happens to provide them with some protection.

"Okay, I'm going to start."