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Chapter Sixteen Through the Trapdoor In years to come, Harry would never quite remember how he had managed to get through his exams when he half expected Voldemort to come bursting through the door at any moment. Yet the days crept by and there could be no doubt that Fluffy was still alive and well behind the locked door. It was swelteringly hot, especially in the large classroom where they did their written papers. They had been given special, new quills for the exams, which had been bewitched with an Anti-Cheating spell. They had practical exams as well. Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple tap-dance across a desk. Professor McGonagall watched them to turn a mouse into a snuff-box--points were given for how pretty the snuff-box was, but taken away if it had whiskers. Snape made them all nervous, breathing down their necks while they tried to rememer how to make a Forgetfulness Potion.

Welcome to Hogwarts! I am Albus Dumbledore. Today is your first day. Today is the Sorting. I will sort you out today. What is your name?

Near the climax of Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone, Harry, Ron, and Hermoine had to get past professor McGonogall's transfigured chessmen in order to reach Quirrel and the philosopher's stone. In order to do so, they had to be the chess pieces and play a life-sized wizard's chess game. Harry was the dark-squared bishop, Ron was a knight and Hermoine was the rook on f8 (in the final position). None of the actors, producers, or directors on set knew how to play chess, so they hire IM Jeremy Silman to compose the game. At the very end of the game, Ron sacrificed himself, so Harry could deliver the checkmate. Tasked with the challenge of creating such a position where Ron would sacrifice himself, Silman came up with the following tactical position: (annotations by Silman). White's last move was Qxd3.

My favorite characters are Snape, Hagrid, Dumbledore and Hermione! (I hated Snape first, but after the 5th book it was my favorite).