Even though Ron kept muttering under his breath, "How can you skip class? This isn't how the script goes! I was supposed to use my amazing Wizard Chess skills to protect everyone and sacrifice myself at the last second to win for us all!"
Tom just scratched his ear impatiently.
[So, are you getting on or not?]
He wasn't the type to follow the plot like some obedient little player. This wasn't one of those games where you open it, sit through an hour of cutscenes, shiver dramatically, then close it with a bored face, right?
"Riding? Why wouldn't I?"
Ron wasn't stupid. Though a bit disappointed about losing his chance to shine, he wasn't bored enough to play Wizard Chess by himself in a situation like this.
So, without disturbing the chess pieces, the group successfully cleared this level and reached the door to the next one.
"How many more levels do you think there are?"
"Probably not too many, right? Professor Flitwick's magic key, Professor McGonagall's chess pieces—Professor Binns probably wouldn't get involved in something like this, and Professor Aurora probably not either. Besides that, the only ones left are probably Professor Snape and Professor Sprout, right?
Oh, right, Hagrid said Quirrell has his own level too."
Hermione counted on her fingers. "So, at most three more levels after this, I think."
By the end she sounded a little uncertain. Even Hagrid, who was just the gamekeeper and not a professor, had his own level. Who knew if the others did?
"No matter what happens, we just keep moving forward, right? After all, Tom will help us."
Ariana said with a smile.
[Yeah~]
As the door opened, a familiar stench hit them in the face.
"Yuck!"
Instantly everyone gagged. "Another troll? Seriously, doesn't Quirrell know any other creatures?!"
Draco said while retching.
Tom felt like he was about to float away—the smell was that bad. He couldn't hold on much longer.
He forced himself to pull out the vacuum cleaner from before and sucked up the stench. As fresh air rushed in, Tom finally let out a long breath.
[Damn it. When I see Quirrell later, I'm making him taste how disgusting this really is!]
Looking at the dung bomb—troll special edition—strapped to his body, Tom said viciously.
"Agreed!"
The young wizards, who had been baptized by the same smell twice, gritted their teeth in agreement.
"But I really don't want to see another troll. Tom, can you make us invisible and just go past?"
[Well—]
"I'll pay extra!"
Harry decisively chose the pay-to-win approach. Hearing that, Tom beamed.
[Of course I'm happy to help!]
With that, he pulled out the bedsheet and draped it over them.
Seeing this, Harry breathed a sigh of relief. Although he knew the troll was no match for Tom, if he could avoid wasting time here, he wanted to.
But that thought only lasted until they entered the room and saw the unconscious troll lying on the floor. Harry suddenly regretted it. "That, about the Galleons—"
[No take-backs~]
"I knew it—"
If he'd known they didn't need to fight the troll, he wouldn't have offered extra money so quickly. Now he was out a fortune!
Harry looked miserable, but didn't say anything else. After all, this money really wasn't much to him—he'd just been poor for so long that it stung a little.
But why was only the troll knocked out?"
Since things weren't so urgent and Ron wasn't knocked out by chess pieces like in the original story, Harry's mood was much calmer than in canon. So he noticed something seemed off.
The first level with the keys required advanced flying skills, and as Gryffindor's Seeker, he fit perfectly.
The second level's Wizard's Chess was Ron's specialty—Ron had never lost to him in Wizard's Chess.
He had a feeling these two levels were custom-made for him and Ron.
Of course, that was just his guess. The normal explanation worked too:
Quirrell didn't skip the first two levels because he knew there was a troll he'd placed there, and the only way past a troll was brute force. So he saved his strength for the first two levels, clearing them properly until here, where he used force.
Shaking his head to clear the random guesses, Hermione's voice came through. "So this bottle lets us pass through the flames ahead and keep going, while this one lets us go back and exit."
"?"
Harry, who hadn't noticed what happened earlier, had a confused look on his face. Only now did he realize the doors ahead and behind were sealed.
The back door had purple flames, and black flames flickered at the front door. Meanwhile, a table in front of them held seven oddly shaped bottles.
[Analysis is spot on, but what's the point?]
Tom gave Hermione a strange look, and on his head, Norbert's little head poked out and chirped twice.
"—Okay, pretend I didn't say anything."
Seeing Norbert, Hermione opened her mouth but swallowed her words.
Yeah, with this little guy around, a little flame blocking the way was nothing. She'd been so excited to say this level needed her, but—
Talk about embarrassing!"
Tom didn't say more either. He just reached out and pressed a finger on Norbert's little head. The dragon closed its eyes in pleasure, and the black flames blocking the way in front of them parted to the side as if they had feet, revealing the door ahead.
[Alright, let's go.]
"Then let's hope for the best from here on."
With that, everyone took a deep breath, passed through the door, and entered the final room.
Just as they expected, Quirrell was standing in the room, looking at the giant mirror in front of him.
"Quirrell, your plot's been exposed. We've alerted Headmaster Dumbledore—he'll be here any minute. Surrender now if you know what's good for you!"
Seeing Quirrell, Hermione gathered her courage and shouted at him.
"Heh, Dumbledore? Let him come if he dares!
Don't think I don't know he's not at school tonight! Otherwise, why would I have dared to kill the unicorn in the Forbidden Forest?"