Chapter 149: The spectators (Edited)

As a group of unscrupulous onlookers argued, Harry mounted the broom and managed to grab the correct key.

He and Ron steered the broom back to the ground, inserting the key into the lock as they looked at Hermione, who had been less communicative since earlier.

"Hermione, what's wrong with you? You've suddenly gone very quiet." asked Harry as he pushed open the wooden door, revealing darkness.

Hermione hesitated for a moment and decided to tell Harry what she had found, but instead of voicing her suspicions, she cautioned, "Do you think... these levels are a bit... childish? Is this really going to stop Snape, or any other dark wizard who wants to steal the Philosopher's Stone?"

Harry and Ron, who were about to enter, froze as Hermione reminded them that the levels seemed too easy for first years to pass with little effort.

"Snape has already been held back by Fluffy and Quirrell's levels," Ron said, not understanding what Hermione was really saying, "And isn't it better to keep it simple? That way we can get to the Philosopher's Stone first."

"Yeah, and according to Fish, there's a troll up ahead, that thing isn't easy to deal with." said Harry, who hadn't caught Hermione's subtext either.

His comment, however, made Hermione hesitate, feeling as if she had picked up on something, but unsure for a moment.

"Well, Hermione," Harry said as they entered the next room, "I don't know what's troubling you, but isn't the most important thing right now to get the Philosopher's Stone?"

As they entered the room, the darkened room immediately lit up and revealed to them the oversized magical chess set Fish had mentioned.

Ron, who was very good at magical chess, exclaimed once again, "I wish I had a magical chess set like this."

Then he stepped onto the board and looked at Hermione, who was still trying to catch a glimpse of inspiration, "Hermione, can you soften the floor of this board like Fish did?"

Interrupted, Hermione shot him an irritated look, "No!".

"Oh... then it looks like we'll have to play chess to get to that end of the room."

Ron looked bright and cheery, being the best chess player of the three of them, now was the time to show off his skills!

"Hmph! Gryffindors, they're all so fond of the limelight."

Seeing Ron's undisguised glee, Snape shot an undisguised look of disgust.

He thought back to his student days and the two people he hated the most - James Potter and Sirius Black, both always trying to make a name for themselves, and Snape was the one they used to make a name for themselves.

Snape narrowed his eyes and glared at Harry with malice and hatred, and after a few moments of staring, he looked at Dumbledore beside him.

Sensing Snape's stare, Dumbledore said with a smile, "Don't worry, Severus, I won't go back on my word, I'm sure you can handle it."

Professor McGonagall looked suspiciously at the two men who were obviously making a private deal, and frowned without questioning them.

She knew a little about the relationship between Snape and Harry, so she wasn't worried that Snape would turn on Harry, but would at best teach him a lesson.

A lesson for slandering a teacher and breaking school rules to take a risk!

With this in mind, Professor McGonagall turned to Fish.

Fish had just received a lesson from Professor McGonagall and was now grimacing and rubbing her red cheeks, not bothering to pay attention to the conversation between the mean old man and Professor Greasehead.

Until Professor McGonagall gave him that dangerous look....

"Nya!" ∑(●ΦДΦ●)

Startled, Fish took a big leap backwards and looked at Professor McGonagall with a wary look.

"Don't you ever pinch Fish's face again, nya!"(ノ)`Д(ヾ)

Fish protested loudly, covering his cheeks.

"Then don't cause me trouble all the time!"

Seeing Fish's wary look, Professor McGonagall reached out and rubbed her head vigorously.

"I'm not always in trouble, nya!" said Fish, and quickly lowered his head and held up his fingers...

After counting carefully, he held up his hands proudly, "I've only been caught by Minerva nine times since school started, not even two hands!" (●ΦДΦ●)

"Only nine times..." Professor McGonagall gritted her teeth and stared at Fish with a smile on her face, "So, is there anything I don't know?"

"Nya! No... there is no such thing.... Fish is good..."(●3●)

Seeing Fish's obviously insincere expression, Professor McGonagall shook her head dumbfounded, but she didn't really pursue it, because she also knew that it was unrealistic to want to catch Fish completely.

She didn't always catch twins when they broke school rules, let alone Fish.

"Do you still think Weasley is simply showing off, Severus?"

At that moment, Dumbledore suddenly spoke, and Professor McGonagall looked at the board she had constructed, only to see that the game had come to an end, with Ron sending the knight he represented away, creating the opportunity for Harry, the bishop, to checkmate the white king.

"Foolish, reckless and tactless."

Snape pursed his lips in disdain and blurted out three words that Slytherin used most to taunt Gryffindor.

"In my opinion, this embodies Weasley's noble qualities of bravery and sacrifice!" retorted Professor McGonagall, the dean of Gryffindor, immediately.

However, Snape, as before, had no intention of arguing with Professor McGonagall, he simply turned his head and ended the conversation.

"We can't leave Ron here, if Snape comes after, he'll kill him." said urgently Hermione, whose suspicions had diminished a little with Ron's "sacrifice", as she pulled Harry, who was trying to get to the Stone quickly.

"Heh... stupid, reckless and tactless."

Snape let out a small scoff, repeating the three words from before and looking at Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore.

Professor McGonagall shook her head, helpless, as Harry's performance had left her with no room to contradict Snape, but with Hermione to salvage some Gryffindor pride.

And the wily Dumbledore was still smiling, oblivious to Snape's taunts.

Knowing that the next level was a Troll, there was no way Harry and Hermione were going to take an unconscious Ron, so they wrangled him, dragged him into a corner and covered him with the invisibility cloak.

Only after the two left the room did Dumbledore and the others approach.

Snape lifted the invisibility cloak from Ron's body, then smiled and pulled out his wand.

"Ah!"

Ron jumped up with a cry of pain, then saw the familiar, grim face before him.

"Snape!"

"Five points off for Gryffindor, the reason, disrespect for the professor." said Snape slowly and deliberately.

"What, what?"

While Ron was confused, another familiar face appeared beside him.

"Good evening, nya!" (●ΦωΦ●).

"Fish? what are you doing here?" asked Ron.

"I'm here with Minerva and the others, to see how you play chess." said Fish sincerely.

"Professor McGonagall? Professor Dumbledore?"

Ron's head was spinning as he became increasingly confused and realized that, in addition to Snape and Fish, there was also Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall.

"What the hell is going on here?!"

Ron grabbed his head, wondering if he had just been knocked unconscious and was still awake, and if what he was seeing was a dream.