Draco looked grim. He had put in plenty of extra practice and had a fair amount of combat experience.
Rather than defend again, he cast Dark Magic straight in that direction.
"Sectumsempra!" he shouted. A ripple shot from the tip of his wand, sweeping through the dust.
An instant later, half a spear and a knight's head tumbled onward with their momentum, clattering to a stop at Draco's feet.
Watching Draco dispatch a knight so cleanly left Harry feeling rather strange. He opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing.
There was a reason wizards liked Dark Magic. This barely level-three Sectumsempra already rivaled a peak level-four Disarming Charm in sheer destructive power.
Harry had no time to let his thoughts wander.
The smoke cleared, revealing three knights that had not yet been completely disabled.
Behind them stood two enormous chess pieces, a king and a queen.
The two imposing pieces strode down from their chess pedestals, their huge feet leaving craters in the floor as they kicked the battered knights out of their way.
The king and queen swung their longswords in full arcs, crouched to gather force, then leaped into overhead slashes.
Harry and Draco scrambled backward in fright, accidentally colliding with Hermione, who was holding off six pawns behind them.
Hermione called out a warning.
"Hurry up! I can't hold them off much longer!"
Harry's eye twitched at the sight of the two huge craters the king and queen had carved out ahead. His Disarming Charm had barely broken through the Bishop Knight's defenses earlier.
What now?
Had I been a bit too reckless?
The king and queen launched another powerful attack, extending their swords in both hands and spinning like tops. Their longswords whistled through the air at tremendous speed.
Even the slightest brush from those blades