His Goodwitch

Chapter 16: Going down the trapdoor Part 2 and defending the stone

The Potion riddle – Third Person's point of view

The next room was dim. When the duo passed through the threshold a black fire sprouted behind us and a purple flame flared up in front of the other door preventing us from moving forward. Situated in the middle of the room sat a table with seven various unlabelled potion bottles in a row sat upon it. At one end sat a scroll. "Snape's, I was never good at potions for a reason. What do we have to do " asked Harry with puzzlement in his voice? "Not sure yet, let's see what the scroll says" Lizzie suggested moving ahead to pick up the scroll to read aloud. The scroll read:
Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,

Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,

One among us seven will let you move ahead,

Another will transport the drinker back instead,

Two among our number hold only nettle wine,

Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.

Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore,

To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:

First, however slyly the poison tries to hide

You will always find some on nettle wines left side;

Second, different are those who stand at either end,

But if you would move onwards, neither is your friend;

Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,

Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;

Fourth, the second left and the second on the right

Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.

"It is a riddle, this is a test of logic. All we need to do is figure out which one will take us through the purple fire to move onwards" Lizzie informed looking up from the scroll of parchment to Harry. "Which one is it though?  It could be anyone of them" said Harry in frustration scanning the line of seven bottles.

"Give me a minute, I will figure this out" Lizzie requested looking at the scroll and beginning to pace along the table. It takes a few minutes before Lizzie cracked the riddle and begins tying different coloured ribbons to mentally mark them to help her. "These two are nettle wine" Lizzie said pointing to the giant bottle and the second one from the left tying yellow ribbon strips around each of the bottle necks. "Therein two of the poisons sit on the left of these" Lizzie says moving towards the first and fifth bottles tying pieces of red ribbon to the corresponding bottles. "Since we know the ones positioned at each end are different, the left end is poison, both nettle wines have been located, and it will not help you proceed, then the seventh bottle helps you go back" further deduced Lizzie tying a piece of black ribbon to the seventh bottle before double checking the scroll again. "This leaves us with two bottles and we know the dwarf is not poison, so this is the one we must drink to move forward" Lizzie instructed Harry tying a neon purple ribbon piece to the dwarf third bottle in line. "Thus, the remaining bottle must be poison" Lizzie added tying a red ribbon to the fourth bottle which is the third poison in the riddle. (Authors note: Lizzie had the ribbon in her book bag)

Harry just watched Lizzie work before approaching her when she looked like she was done. "You are a miracle worker you know that, as well as a bit mysterious" Harry complimented her before saying "Are you sure this is the right one". Lizzie nodded her head picking up the tiny bottle with purple ribbon and examining it while saying "I am completely sure Harry and it looks like there is enough for two to go on if we take a sip each" before passing the bottle to Harry. "What, you still want to come with me but you'll be in danger" protested Harry moving his gaze from the bottle in his hands to Lizzie. "What are friends for? They are to help each other when needed" Lizzie said shrugging her shoulders. "Alright then, if you are sure. Just stick to me" instructed Harry while uncorking the bottle with a small pop and taking a sip before passing it to Lizzie so she could do the same. Both of them shivered as they sipped the potion as it felt like ice going down their insides. "Come on" Harry said grabbing Lizzie's hand and leading the way forward.