Oooh, this sounded like so much fun. The only concern was that she had absolutely no idea how to play chess.

Minor detail.

She considered her options. If she worked alone, her best bet was to simply guess when she gets to the chessboard. If she worked with a partner…

She was about to ask the tall boy next to her if he wanted to work together, but Aurora beat her to it. Hmm. Instead, Cat turned to Marina. She didn’t know if her friend could play chess, but figured that her chances were probably pretty good.

She stood, shouldering her bag. “Want to team up?” She asked Marina, her tone bright. “I don’t know how to play chess.” Full disclosure.

Diallo could barely fathom the thought of using the Elixir of Life. He was only twelve, and although he felt "grown" enough, knew there was plenty more experiences to come, but perhaps, maybe not everyone felt that way and when you're even older... he shook his head. Maybe it was from his dad always saying to make the most of what you got going on otherwise your life's a waste. Elixir would be like cheating in a way. But before he could come up with a conclusive thought, they were moving on. Oh, they were going to experience a special room.

Diallo got up and followed the others. He wondered which room he'll get. Either room will give his brain a workout. So with that, he braced himself, and stepped through the door.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Narrator

As soon as you cross the threshold, the door closes and disappears.

You now find yourself in a cavernous stone room, the ceiling rising high above. The room is well-lit by torches hanging all around the walls. And in the center sits a large chess board, each piece almost life-size. The pieces have already been moved into various places, as if a game was in the process of being played and was abruptly interrupted. On the other side of the room, past the chess board, there is another door, currently blocked by a black pawn.

In front of the chess board, there is a sign that reads:

Find the best move for white to checkmate the black king.
If you find yourself stuck and in need of a hint, tap this sign with your wand.

Hearing the door shut, Harvey looked over his shoulder. There was now nothing there as it had disappeared. Shrugging, he turned to take in his new surroundings, which turned out to be quite an impressive room. Despite its vastness, the well lit environment ensured that he see all that was important - namely the ginormous chess set.

“Wow!” Harv breathed, even more impressed when he realised that the pieces were even taller than him. He took his time gazing around at them, but it wasn’t long before he understood that a game had already started. Even without the sign, it was quite obvious that he would have to play. The first year wasn’t quite ready to have one of the pieces attack him, like one had Ron Weasley so he opted to just direct them.

“Queen to E6.”

The door continues to admit each student into one of the obstacle rooms, and the queue continues to shorten.

But there is still plenty of time yet. Whenever you are ready, young students.

As soon as you cross the threshold, the door closes and disappears.

You find yourself in a room a fraction smaller than the size of the classroom. The torches hanging on the stone walls light up the room completely. On the other side of the room, a door appears at the same time as a blaze of black flame rises from the floor. It blocks the door entirely, but it does not spread further or give off any heat.

In the center of the room stands a table with seven potions set in a neat row. Each vial is a different shape and size, and they each contain a different color of liquid: black, green, white, red, blue, purple, and yellow, ordered from left to right.

To the left of the black potion, there lays a roll of paper, where a riddle is written in neat handwriting:

A challenge lies before you, and defeat lies behind.
One of us is the one you seek, the only one of its kind,
The chosen one you need if you wish to move ahead,
The other six bring neither harm nor help, ‘tis a setback instead.
Seven potions stand here from which you must choose,
Decipher and deduce your selection from these three clues:
First, two of the tastes to avoid, the bitter and the sour,
They never feel an empty space, neither do they tower.
Second, the sweet might be a taste you desire,
But they stand afar and they stand higher.
Third, tasteless and tall it is, thin it is not,
The one you need you’ll know, in heart and thought.

The white queen moves to E6, facing off right next to the black king. "Check," a voice, sounding quite similar to Professor Amstern, rings out.

The black queen smashes into the white queen from the diagonal square of D5.

Then the board magically resets to its original setup, the white queen perfectly reformed as if it had never been smashed into pieces.

"Close," the voice says.

Perhaps another try?