Harry Potter: Instant Kill

After leaving Daphne in the chess room, we walked down another long hewn rock corridor. This one was mostly lit by hanging torches that were spaced along the walls evenly, it took 3 minutes to walk through the corridor which slowly shrunk in height until we had to duck our heads.

When the corridor ended we smelt an awful smell permeating from under the door in front of us, it seemed to waft slowly through the air as if the smell was thicker and denser than normal air. We all recognized the smell since we had encountered trolls before during Halloween but this smell seemed on a higher level.

We Harry pushed open the door, a wave of smell escaped which was enough to make Hermione and Grace bring their breakfasts back up. Inside the room living in a den of old furs and large branches was a mountain troll, this one being much larger and older than the ones we fought before.

"Ugh, let's get past this room quick I do not want to throw up again. I feel like I have licked the troll just because of the smell." Grace said through her gags and the robe she was using to cover her mouth and nose. 

Quickly looking over the troll, we could see a large dent in its head from where it was struck and knocked out so we quickly moved through the room and out the next door.

There was no long corridor this time when we entered through the door we saw a singular table sitting in the room covered with potion vials and a slip of parchment. "What do we have here?" Hermione asked while picking up the parchment and reading Snape's Riddle.

It wasn't until I stepped into the room since I was the last that the purple flames rose to block the door we had just come through while black flames did the same but with the door opposite us. "Looks like we are trapped for now," I said while stepping away from the purple flames.

Hermione deducted using her expansive knowledge and the parchment, "We will need to solve this riddle to pass through the flames, One potion will let us through the black while one will do the same but through the purple. 3 are poisons while 2 are wine."

After she stated the obvious part of us needing to solve the riddle to escape she listed the helpful information the parchment contained. "So what is the riddle?" Harry asked looking towards the potion vials.

"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 forevermore,

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 wine's left side;

Second, different are those who stand at either end,

But if you would move onward neither is your friend;

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

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."

Hermione read the riddle aloud while the group all thought it out, Grace was the first to list a key point, "So both the smallest and largest are either wine or an escape." Hermione nodded before adding, "You are correct however we will not know which one until we solve the other parts."

It took only a few minutes for Hermione to solve the riddle while the others added bits of information they had figured out to try to help. "So bad news all around," I said when she finally told us her deductions, "There is only enough in the small vial for one person to progress through the black fire. There is also only enough in this vial for 2 of us to go back."

The others quickly did a count of the amount of people we had coming to the same conclusion two of us would need to stay trapped in this room until the potions were refilled or till we were rescued. "Whoever goes back will need to get help since the thief is ahead of us," Grace said while handing the tiny vial to Harry.

"Well, the choice to progress was easy," I said knowing that Harry would be the one to confront Quirrel. "Who is going to go for help and check on Daphne?" I finish while looking towards Grace, Ron and Hermione.

Eventually after deciding which of us would stay behind using a very scientific method called "Rock, Paper, Scissors", Ron and Hermione drank from the vial. Watching both groups step through the fire was difficult for Grace as she half expected them to be consumed by the flames, "It shouldn't be too long before help arrives." I said while moving over to the black flames and staring at them intently, "I in the meantime will try to figure out a way past the spell craft."

"That is something you can do?" Grace asked with her mouth wide in shock. Not taking my eyes away from the fire to make my ruse more believable I said, "Well it is very high-level magic to bypass the spell and undo the crafting. I have never seen it done however there is a book in the black library that covers the topic."

I knew that the showdown between Harry and Quirrel wouldn't take long and that even if there was a long corridor to reach the mirror room, Harry may have reached there already. "I think I can see a weakness, Give me a moment," I said as I pulled out my wand and directed it at the fire, I then weaved it through the air while channeling my ability to 'kill' the flames.