67 Dumbledore’s little test part 2

We walked down a narrow corridor which only served to echo our footsteps. There was a gentle and rhythmic dripping of water trickling down the side of the walls. I have no clue where the water is coming from, neither do I know how this place can be an actual thing on the THIRD floor. I mean how thick is the separation between floors to accommodate such a thing. But there could be magic involved, like compressing space like in a suitcase? who knows.

We continued down the narrow corridor, "Do you hear something?" asked Hermione. I stopped walking and so did the others, and as soon as the echoing of our footsteps stopped the fluttering of small wings could be heard. It was the Key trial.

We walked into the spacious room that was brilliantly lit, its ceilings arching to the heavens themselves. The sound seemed to be made by the dozens of keys with wings flying about like a school of fish. On the opposite side of the chamber, a smaller wooden door could be seen which was obviously locked. There must be a spell in the door since Alohomora didn't work upon trying it out. Naturally, I knew it wouldn't, but I had to keep up the act for appearance's sake.

"What do you think we have to do?" asked Ron as he stared at the large group of flying keys.

"Well, seeing that the lock is worn out, rusty and big, we should be looking for a key with those specific characteristics," I said calmly.

"There's nothing in here except a broom and a bunch of flying… keys! Oh! So it seems one of them fits the lock on the door," said Hermione. I nodded in acknowledgement. Harry and Ron both looked at the broom and then at the flying keys.

"Flying a broomstick to get the key I assume?" said Ron as he looked at Harry.

I smiled and pulled out my wand before aiming it at the key I wanted. "Accio" I said mildly. The key that was struggling to fly in the air was suddenly halted for a moment before coming down quickly and landing in my hand. It seems that the key trial was only meant to test the trivial skill of flying a broomstick. I shook my head slightly before walking towards the wooden door. Upon slotting the key into the hole, it went in like a glass slipper and opened with a *creak*.

A room that was originally pitch black suddenly lit up with flame-lit candles on the sides of the walls, illuminating a black and white checkered designed floor. Stone pieces were aligned on either side of the board shaped to fit a certain medieval look. The only difference was that one set was white while the other was black. Naturally, this was the fourth test. The chess game.

"Chess?" said Ron as he looked at the similar yet different design. We got closer and Harry attempted to walk by only to be stopped by a black chess piece. "Do we have to play to get across?" asked Harry. The stone statue nodded before remaining still like before. I really wanted to learn this spell. It would be so cool to have an army of stone statues battling or even metal ones.

Snapping out of my fantasy, I could hear Ron giving orders on where to stand. I looked on in slight amusement before shaking my head and walking towards the black pawns. I stood about 10 meters away before pointing my wand in front of me.

"Tom, what are you doing?" Asked Ron in annoyance.

"Making this game a lot easier," I said with a grin. "Bombarda Maxima!" I spoke. The originally perfectly carved statue exploded into hundreds of pieces. But the explosion was bigger than I thought and blew up the surrounding 5 pieces. Harry, Ron and Hermione stared on in shock and realisation.

I continued until all the pieces were destroyed except the king. I saw it get down from its stone throne and take off its crown and throw it on the floor. It almost looked indignant about how I did it, but it was probably my imagination.

"Blowing stuff up as usual I see," said Hermione as she stood beside me staring at my masterpiece. "What can I say, it was a quick and easy solution," I shrugged while answering before walking towards the door that led to the next trial.

"Ready?" I asked Harry, Ron and Hermione who were behind me. They nodded and got ready for whatever was behind the door.

As we walked through the door, we were hit by a foul odour that threatened to suffocate us, we covered our faces with our cloaks. But the smell was like a curse, it seeped through the cloak and made our eyes water. In the middle of the big room was a mountain troll similar to the one that was set loose inside the castle during Halloween. But this one was asleep or knocked out, by professor Quirrell, nonetheless. I was curious about what his connection was with trolls. was it simply an interest or did it go deeper? It was a question I probably wouldn't get an answer to.

We hugged the rim of the wall and shuffled across in order to not startle the troll awake. I was not confident in winning without using Drak. It was tense for a good minute since the wall was long and our movements were slow to minimise sound. After what seemed like forever, we finally arrived at the door through which we all rushed in.