The corridor descended sharply and led them into a brightly lit hall with a high, arched ceiling. The hall was filled with fluttering and circling birds, small and bright as precious stones. On the other side of the hall was a massive wooden door.
Having landed and disembarked from the glider, the boys made sure that the birds were not going to attack them and walked to the door.
"Oh, flying brooms!" Ron noticed a pair of battered brooms leaning near the door.
Potter tugged at the door handle and stated:
- Locked.
He immediately pointed his magic wand at the door.
- Alohomora!
Nothing happened.
- Alohomora! Alohomora! Alohomora!
"Harry, stop it," said Richard. "You can see it's locked tighter than the first door."
"Um..." Ron, clutching the owl and raising his head, remarked, "Guys, I think these aren't birds, they're keys. We need to get on our brooms and catch them."
Richard gave Ron a look that was undoubtedly reproachful.
"Ron, there are hundreds of them," he noted. "Don't be silly. We'll break this door down faster."
"Break it down?" Weasley looked at the massive door doubtfully. "Only if Harry knocks it down with his head," he added ironically.
"He's already not doing well with her," Richard said, taking a steel cylinder out of his bag.
"Hey!" Potter said indignantly.
"Who's going to jump into a fifty-meter hole?" Richie pointed out the near-miss.
Harry became embarrassed and fell silent.
Ron watched in amazement as a bright stream of light burst from the steel cylinder in Richard's hands.
Harry watched this with no less surprise, his jaw dropping to the floor.
"Oh my God!" he exclaimed. "It's a Jedi lightsaber! Richie, where did you get it from?"
"From the same place as all my other gadgets," Rich replied. "The wizards at the workshop managed to stuff some kind of clever modification of Lumos into a metal cylinder. Move aside!"
Richie tried to burn the door, but it didn't work.
"Looks like it's enchanted to the core," Weasley remarked. "We'll have to catch the keys."
- We don't have time for this nonsense.
Richie waved off Ron's words and took a couple of steps to the side. He plunged the light blade into the stone wall like a hot knife through butter.
"Ha!" he said triumphantly. "As always, they reinforced the door, but forgot about the walls."
Within seconds, Richie had cut a circular hole in the stone wall. Then he pulled the robot out of his bag, enlarged it, and, under Ron's astonished gaze, climbed inside the suit. Using his metal arms, he pulled out a heavy stone circle with molten edges.
Having returned the suit to its place, he grinned triumphantly and pointed his hand towards the passage.
- Please, gentlemen.
Harry approached the hole in the wall and stepped back.
"It's hot," he said.
"Okay," Richard sighed, then pointed his wand at the hole. "Aguamenti!"
A stream of water shot out of the end of the stick, like from a hose, hissing as it hit the hot walls of the hole. The air filled with hot steam, and a loud cracking sound, reminiscent of a firecracker, was heard as several stones cracked.
When the walls of the hole cooled, the boys made their way into the next room.
The next room was so dark they couldn't see anything at all. However, as they took a few steps, the room was suddenly flooded with bright light.
All three of them widened their eyes in amazement. They stood at the edge of a huge chessboard, directly behind the black stone pieces, which towered over the three of them, even over the lanky Ron. On the other side of the board stood the white pieces.
Harry and Ron shuddered, and Richard rubbed his chin thoughtfully - the white figures, unlike the black ones, had no faces.
"So what do we do now?" Harry whispered.
"I think the answer is pretty obvious," Ron remarked. "We have to win to get to the other side of the hall. We'll need to replace the pieces with ourselves."
There, behind the white figures, another door was visible.
"Guys," Richard said, drawing attention to himself, "what's with your suicidal tendencies? Are all Gryffindors like this, or is it just you?"
"What do you propose?" Weasley asked.
"Just fly over on a glider, like we used to. And forget about the door, we'll make another hole."
"Sounds good," Potter remarked. "Sorry, Ron, but let's skip the chess game today."
"Merlin!" Ron blurted out. "Why didn't I think of that right away?!"
Some time later, the boys calmly flew over the chess pieces on the glider, which went berserk and tore loose from their positions. They crowded together below the glider. Richard was forced to make a hole at altitude, and one of a larger diameter than before.
This time, Harry Potter showed up. He pulled out his robotic spacesuit and stuck himself to the wall (his ninja suit allowed for this). Ron stuck to the wall behind him, and Richie stood on the edge of the glider. Harry enlarged the spacesuit, which was on the hovering platform next to Richie, then climbed inside and took off.