Harry Riddle || Harry potter

Chapter 33: Icy Fire And Fruit

"Oh – Merlin," said Harry, pulling his wet robe over his nose. Their being wet didn't help with the sickening smell that permeated throughout the room – if anything, it just seemed to magnify it.

Eyes watering, they saw, flat on the floor in front of them, a troll even larger than the one they had dealt with on Halloween, out cold with a bloody lump on its head.

"I'm glad we didn't have to fight that one," Harry whispered, cautiously stepping over one of the ugly monster's massive legs. "Come on, I can't breathe."

He pulled open the next door and they both quickly made their way through it, grateful to be away from the smell but wary of what lie ahead.

"So what - what do we have to do?" Neville asked, mystified.

Harry glanced first at the large fire pit that blocked the exit to the room, then at the other that had sprung up at the entrance, and back at the table that held what looked like several different types of plants.

"We-we don't have to w-walk through the fire, do we? I don't want to be burnt!"

"I'd say," Harry cut in, "that we'll have to find the plant that can protect us from fire."

"But didn't Professor Sprout already have an obstacle?"

Harry glanced at him sharply. "Explain."

He shrunk back. "Well - well, first there was the-" He made an encompassing motion with his arms. "The dog. Hagrid. Then the Devil's Snare. Professor Sprout. Catch the key, Professor Flitwick. Or maybe Hooch, I'm not sure. Transfigured chess pieces. McGonagall."

"The water?" demanded Harry.

"I don't know," he said earnestly. "Maybe . . . Dumbledore? Or - or maybe no one. Maybe it was just there and it - it was a convenient challenge. It was hard enough, wasn't it?" He shook his head. "But what I'm trying to say is that all of the professors are protecting this, so why would there be two for one?"

Harry bit his lip. "It would be Snape's turn," he eventually said. "But Dumbledore doesn't trust Snape."

"Why not?" demanded Neville.

"Because he's a Death Eater," said Harry bluntly.

Neville jerked back as if he was slapped. "A - a-"

"So, a potion really would've worked the best," he continued thoughtfully, walking over to the table and carefully looking over all of what sat on the table.

There were three weed-like plants, one black, one green, and one blue. One orange chopped-up plant was in a Petri dish. A purple flower sat next to something akin to yellow grass. A pink leaf sat next to a piece of parchment.

"But they had to settle for something different."

Harry cautiously raised the parchment up off the table. It read:

Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,

One of us will help you, which you'd do well to find.

One among the seven will let you move ahead,

Another you would taste will take you back instead.

Two among our number are purely cuisine,

Three of us are killers, deadlier than morphine.

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 victual's left side;