"Protego!" The instant the white queen swung her sword down, Tris cast a Shield Charm on Ron.
The Shield Charm was a highly sophisticated defensive spell that many adult wizards could not use properly. Even some rookie Aurors struggled with it.
Tris could not use it properly either.
Although Voldemort disliked using such ordinary spells and preferred dark magic, his understanding of magic was still exceptionally thorough.
Having acquired his understanding of magic, Tris was thoroughly familiar with this spell in theory. But a gulf still lay between theory and practice.
For Tris, crossing that gulf might only have required a little time and effort, but he simply had not put in that time.
Over the past few months, completing his schoolwork, practicing Samadhi True Fire, meditating, and doing system tasks had squeezed his schedule so tightly that he had to jog even when going to the toilet.
He also had to research Shadow Magic and Sectumsempra within that limited time, leaving him genuinely unable to devote enough attention to these basic but very practical spells.
Fortunately, his grasp of the spell's fundamentals was solid enough that, even though Tris had failed to bring out its full effect, what remained still gave Ron enough cushioning.
Ron and his horse were sent crashing away together, but the Shield Charm cushioned the impact, leaving him completely unharmed.
"Brilliant, Tris! I knew you wouldn't abandon your big brother." Having fallen off the chessboard only to discover he was unhurt, Ron came over and gave Tris a huge hug.
"But what took you so long?"
"Good thing I took so long. Otherwise, I'd have been on the board too. Could you still have won then?" Tris rolled his eyes.
"Fair point." Ron nodded.
On the board, Harry and Hermione sighed in relief when they