Danger lies ahead, safety behind, and among us are two who can lend you a helping hand.
But first, you must drink from them. Among the seven, one will lead you forward, and another will take you back through the door.
Two of us hold nothing but plain nettle wine. Three are killers, quietly waiting in our ranks.
Make your choice—unless you plan to stay here forever. To help you drink with confidence, here are four clues:
First, no matter how cleverly the poison hides, it always lurks quietly to the left of the nettle wine.Second, the bottles at both ends hold different contents—neither will help you go forward.Third, as you can see, all seven bottles are different, but among the giant and the dwarf, no death awaits.Fourth, the second from the left and the second from the right appear very different, but when tasted, their flavors are strangely alike.
This riddle on the parchment is quite the mental exercise for many wizards who lack logical thinking.
But for sharp minds like Voldemort and Hermione, it's no problem at all.
"Hermione! Come take a look—what does this mean?"
Right now, the studious Harry Potter fully revealed his lack of logical training, though he was also glad Hermione had come along.
Had Hermione followed Harry's earlier suggestion to help Ron and report to the professors, he would've been stuck here alone.
'Maybe if I spent more time, I could figure it out myself!' Harry thought as he stepped aside to let Hermione examine the parchment.
Hermione carefully read the content and then looked at the potion bottles.
"Obviously! This is a challenge set up by Professor Snape. So Snape can't be the one you think is trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone."
Rather than identifying the correct potion immediately, Hermione first shared her reasoning—just as Regulus Black had told her. The current obstacles were set up by the four Heads of House. Fluffy was merely an extra deterrent meant to scare off timid students.
"Hermione! Snape is inside stealing the Philosopher's Stone, and here you are saying it's not him."
Harry stubbornly clung to his belief and couldn't accept Hermione's conclusion at all.
"Fine! I won't argue with you. This is the potion that allows you to pass through the fire."
Now in Ravenclaw and having received guidance from Regulus Black, Hermione had grown more composed. She no longer cared to bicker with an impulsive boy like Harry.
"Hmm? Why is there only half a bottle?"
Harry noticed that all the other potions were full—except for this one, which was only half-filled.
"Of course, because Snape already drank his potion and went through!"
Hermione responded with slightly exaggerated sarcasm. Clearly, Harry still didn't get it—if Snape had designed this challenge, why would he need to drink from his own bottle at the checkpoint? He would have prepared his own potion long ago. The fact that this bottle was half-empty meant someone else—an outsider—had already drunk from it. And the remaining amount was just enough for one person to pass through the wall of fire.
"I'll go on ahead—what about you?"
Harry, completely missing Hermione's sarcasm, felt even more convinced that Snape was the culprit. Still, he hadn't forgotten about his companion's safety. After all, no one liked being stuck in a corridor filled with flames.
"I'll drink the potion that sends me back. I'll return with a professor to support you as soon as I can."
Hermione took out the return potion and shook the bottle as she spoke.
"Alright! Then I'm going on ahead."
Harry downed the half-bottle of potion in one gulp and nearly froze from its chilling effect. Shivering uncontrollably, he managed to pass through the wall of fire—but the potion's effect was limited. The moment he stepped beyond the flames, the cold vanished instantly.
He glanced back at Hermione, then pushed open the door and headed for the final challenge.
Shortly after Harry left, Regulus Black, having gathered up the entire wizard chess set, arrived at the same location.
As he opened the entrance door, the walls of fire on both sides extinguished instantly—a mechanism designed to allow entry, but also a potential security flaw.
"Regulus! You're here!"
Hermione leapt into Regulus's arms like a little koala hugging a tree.
Regulus Black held the little girl in his arms and kissed her deeply.Although Hermione had always been proactive in helping Harry Potter, there were still moments of worry—uncertainty about when the assistant professor might appear, or when danger might strike.
But the moment Regulus Black appeared, all those worries vanished. Hermione felt completely at ease.
"Ah! Why is Trevor here?"
Just as Hermione leapt into Regulus Black's arms, Neville's pet, Trevor, jumped onto her shoulder.
"Ribbit… ribbit…!"
"Trevor's here to help. I brought him."
Regulus Black supported the little girl with one hand and ruffled her fluffy hair with the other.
"I don't believe you! You must've taken him from Neville. Oh right—you went to Gryffindor after we left!"
Hermione thought for a moment and immediately exposed Regulus Black's lie, though she grinned playfully, clearly unbothered.
"Alright, alright—you're sharp. The truth is, I thought Trevor might be useful, so I brought him along."
Regulus Black had no intention of returning Trevor. Even if he did, Neville probably wouldn't dare take him back.
"What could Trevor possibly be useful for?"
Hermione was puzzled. What could a young wizard's pet possibly do? The little girl, still lacking in imagination, was full of doubt.
"Actually, Trevor is quite useful—he's a Fire-Eating Toad!"
Regulus Black, still holding Hermione, walked over to the small table in the room. Instantly, the two walls of flame reignited with a roar.
"Hey! Wait—we could've left!"
Only now did Hermione realize that the flames behind them had gone out, meaning they could've escaped. How could she have forgotten?
It's all the assistant professor's fault. The moment she saw him, she completely forgot about everything else. Hmph—totally his fault…
After gently setting Hermione down, Regulus Black glanced at the parchment, then began pouring all the potion bottles into Trevor's mouth.
Hermione was stunned—completely speechless. Was this what he meant by asking Trevor to help? Letting him drink all the potions?
There was one antidote, two bottles of nettle wine… but three of them were poison!
Regulus Black, of course, knew exactly what Hermione was thinking. But now wasn't the time to explain.
On the small table, Trevor—now filled with a mixture of fire-resistance, alcohol, and frost—was undergoing a dramatic transformation. A layer of frost coated his body, followed by a second wave of cold, and then a third.
At the moment, Trevor was just about ready for hibernation—but the alcohol in his system kept him from falling asleep.
With a flick of Regulus Black's wand, Trevor's belly suddenly inflated like a balloon. A strange suction came from his mouth. The flame walls on either side of the room were drawn inward, transforming into two fire dragons that spiraled straight toward Trevor's wide-open mouth.
The two blazing fire serpents surged endlessly, and it seemed it would take some time before they were completely swallowed. The firewalls in this place were designed to regenerate themselves and could burn for days on end without issue. But under Regulus Black's method, they were burning away at dozens of times the normal rate.
"Hermione, do you really think Professor Snape would leave the real potions here?"
"As a Hogwarts professor, I don't believe he'd intentionally harm students who stumble in."
"Smart. Now, the next question—what do you think the so-called poisons here really are?"
"Freezing potions! Just like the frost we saw forming on Trevor earlier."
"Exactly. These 'poisons' are actually byproducts of brewing fire-resistance potions—and they all have antidotes."
"Nettle wine! So it's nettle wine."
Regulus Black's impromptu lesson had excellent results—Hermione quickly understood how the challenge was constructed.
Professor Snape needed to block intruders while still offering a sliver of hope to get through—and he couldn't actually hurt anyone.
Considering all these requirements, the seven remaining potions formed a complete cycle. Two of them could help someone pass through either side's firewall, while the so-called poisons would freeze a person and protect them from the flames' heat. Even the antidote to the freezing effect—nettle wine—was left behind for immediate use.
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