[1] New Beginnings: Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, and the Philosopher's Stone

27: challenges of the trapdoor and the truth

The gears shuddered to a halt and the brain closed. The lid of the box dropped down and Percy was released. He almost fell back but was supported by Harry. "Are you alright?" his brother asked.

Percy cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm fine. What was that?"

"That was a Truth Box, Percy," Hermione said. "I've read about them, but I didn't think I'd ever get to see one."

"What does a Truth Box do?"

"Well, exactly what it sounds like. Only, if you don't tell the truth, it kills you. There are ways to trick a Truth Box, of course, but I read that that's really hard to do and not a good idea at all."

"Well, it's a good thing I'm so honest, then, isn't it?"

"Shut up, Percy. Let's just go." Harry pulled him up and together they walked through the door on the other side of the room, leaving the Truth Box behind.

An unconscious troll greeted them on the other side. It was much bigger than the one they had defeated in the girls' bathroom on Halloween night, at least twice as tall. It also smelled much worse. Skirting past the troll, the three of them entered the next room. As soon as they were through and the door had closed behind them, black flames erupted from the ground, blocking their path back. Purple flames had formed in front of the door leading onwards, blocking the way out that way as well.

In the center of the room was a table. On the table were seven different potion bottles, each one completely unique. Next to the bottles was a piece of parchment. Hermione strode over to the table and picked the parchment up. She read it out loud.

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 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.

"Hm," Hermione said.

Harry turned to Percy. "Reckon this is Snape's puzzle?" Percy nodded. A few minutes passed in which Hermione closely examined each of the Potion bottles. Suddenly she exclaimed, "Got it! I've solved it!" Percy and Harry immediately started paying attention. "Okay. Since the biggest bottle isn't poison and it's a twin to the second on the left, those two are nettle wine." She pointed at each of the bottles as she spoke. "Therefore two of the poisons are to the left of these. The bottle on the very end on the left is poison, these two are nettle wine and won't help you, so the bottle on the very end on the right will send one person back. The dwarf bottle isn't poison, so it must be the one to send someone ahead. And the last bottle is poison," she finished.

"Cool," Harry said. "So who's going forward and who's going back?"

Hermione picked up the bottle that would send someone back. "I should obviously be the one to go back. I can bring Ron to the Hospital Wing and write a letter to Dumbledore. Harry, you obviously need to go forward, and Percy, you go with your brother." They both agreed and watched as Hermione downed the potion, made a face at the taste, and ran through the black fire, back to the chess board and Ron.

"Let's hope that Hermione was right about this," Percy managed to croak out. There was barely enough in the bottle for the both of them. First Percy took some, swallowing about half. Then he handed it to Harry, who drank the rest. They ran through the purple fire, experiencing only a slight tingling sensation before they were through the door and it was closed behind them.

In the last room, there was only a mirror. Stairs led down into the center of the room, forming a kind of pit. The mirror was near the back wall. It wasn't an ordinary mirror, though. It was the mirror they had found on Christmas. The Mirror of Erised. In front of the mirror was a man. He was facing it, so they couldn't see what he looked like. But they knew it wasn't Snape. This man didn't have long, greasy black hair. No, this man was wearing a purple turban.

****

Wow, cliffhanger, oh my gosh. The power went out a while ago because it's been snowing so much, so I decided to finish the book. I don't know when the power will be on again, and looking at it right now, it's kind of pointless to keep writing what I'm writing because you're all gonna see it once it's uploaded.

Hope you enjoyed, please comment any grammar or spelling errors you may find, thanks.

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