THROUGH THE TRAPDOOR
the stone with one hand. Ron and Hermione’s cheers echoed
around the high chamber.
They landed quickly, and Harry ran to the door, the key strug-
gling in his hand. He rammed it into the lock and turned — it
worked. The moment the lock had clicked open, the key took
flight again, looking very battered now that it had been caught
twice.
“Ready?” Harry asked the other two, his hand on the door han-
dle. They nodded. He pulled the door open.
The next chamber was so dark they couldn’t see anything at all.
But as they stepped into it, light suddenly flooded the room to re-
veal an astonishing sight.
They were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind
the black chessmen, which were all taller than they were and carved
from what looked like black stone. Facing them, way across the
chamber, were the white pieces. Harry, Ron and Hermione shiv-
ered slightly — the towering white chessmen had no faces.
“Now what do we do?” Harry whispered.
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” said Ron. “We’ve got to play our way
across the room.”
Behind the white pieces they could see another door.
“How?” said Hermione nervously.
“I think,” said Ron, “we’re going to have to be chessmen.”
He walked up to a black knight and put his hand out to touch
the knights horse. At once, the stone sprang to life. The horse pawed
the ground and the knight turned his helmeted head to look down
at Ron.
“Do we — er — have to join you to get across?”
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