Chapter 32: Potion Riddle, Mirror Of Erised, and Another Talk (1/2)
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The link is also in the synopsis.
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In Snape's obstacle room, Quinn stood in front of the potion table that held seven potion vials.
The room had two handles; one entry and one exit. A purple fire covered the room's entrance, and jets of black fire blocked the exit.
This all was part of the room's defense, the enchanted fires trapped a person inside, and the potions on the table contained the antidotes to both fires.
Quinn looked at both the fires before shrugging and walking to the potion table, 'If I cannot solve the puzzle, then I would just try to undo the charms on the fires.'
Quinn was sure that he could figure out the charms on the fires. It would take time, but Quinn could do it, and a good puzzle was always welcome.
Quinn conjured a barstool in front of the table and sat on it while picking up the parchment. The parchment contained the riddle for the antidotes that allowed Quinn to pass the fires without harm.
The riddle 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 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 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.
] [Image in the paragraph comment.]
From the first half of the riddle, Quinn deciphered that one bottle will move him ahead (line 3), one will send him back (line 4), two hold nettle wine (line 5), three hold poison (line 6).
”There are seven bottles: three are poison; two are wine; one will get me safely through the black fire, and one will get me back through the purple fire,” said Quinn as he continued to decipher the riddle.
From lines nine and ten (9-10), Quinn deciphered,
”There is always poison to the left of nettle wine.”
From lines eleven and twelve (11-12), Quinn cracked,
”The bottles on either end of the line contain different contents, but neither will move you forward.”
The next two lines, thirteen and fourteen (13-14) revealed,
”The smallest (dwarf) and largest (giant) bottles do not contain poison.”
The last two lines (15-16) spoke to Quinn,
”The second from the left and the second from the right is housed in different-sized bottles, but they hold the same contents.”
Now, Quinn had all the clues from the riddle, and he could start solving the potion identities.
”First, let's set the with unchangeable constants,” Quinn said as he numbered the positions from our left to right.
[1] - [2] - [3] - [4] - [5] - [6] - [7]
”Now, insert the constants: the elements second from the left and second from the right are identical, though in different-looking bottles, and poison will always be to the left of nettle wine,” said Quinn, but he stopped just before marking things.
”There are two possible ways to arrange these bottles, depending on whether [to nettle wine bottle's left side] means from our left or from the wine bottle's left. But both arrangements ultimately lead to the same end solution of the puzzle,” said Quinn as he finally marked the potions.
First combination,
[1 - Poison] - [2 - Wine] - [3 - x] - [4 - y] - [5 - Poison] - [6 - Wine] - [7 - z]
Second combination,
[1 - Wine] - [2 - Poison] - [3 - x] - [4 - y] - [5 - Wine] - [6 - Poison] - [7 - z]
Quinn smiled as he noted, ”Whichever way I do it, I satisfy the requirement that the elements second from the end (Position 2 and Position 6) hold the same contents (2 - Wine, 6 - Wine; or 2 - Poison, 6 - Poison), and I also satisfy the requirement on either end. Poison will always appear to the left of the wine, depending on whose left I am using.”
Quinn began swinging his legs as he continued to solve the riddle.
”Okay, so now that I have positioned the poison/wine sequences (the constants), we now have three bottles remaining. One is poison, one moves you backward, one moves you forward. Poison cannot be in either giant or dwarf bottle. The bottle on one end of the line cannot hold the same contents as the bottle on the opposite ends. And neither of the bottles on end will move you forward.”
”Now, I am going to use that [nettle wine's left] means our left. Poison is always on nettle wine's left, so we can erase the second combination,” noted Quinn from clue number one.
[1 - Poison] - [2 - Wine] - [3 - x] - [4 - y] - [5 - Poison] - [6 - Wine] - [7 - z]
”The second clue says that bottles at the ends have different contents and won't help me move forward, which means that it can't be poison and won't be the forward potion,” said Quinn, so he noted. ”That means it can only be the backward potions! Alright!”
[1 - Poison] - [2 - Wine] - [3 - x] - [4 - y] - [5 - Poison] - [6 - Wine] - [7 - Backward]
”Finally, (3 - x) and (4 - y) can either be poison or forward potion,” clapped Quinn and finally used the third clue that says that dwarf and giant potions don't have poison.
While the books didn't show the readers the layout, but Quinn could see the layout, and (3 - x) was the shortest bottle and thus the dwarf bottle.
”If it isn't poison, then it is the forward potion, and the remaining (4 - y) is the remaining poison,” solved Quinn, and the final result was as follows,
[1 - Poison] - [2 - Wine] - [3 - Forward] - [4 - Poison] - [5 - Poison] - [6 - Wine] - [7 - Backward]
Quinn folded the sheet of paper and pocketed it. He took out two vials and poured the contents of the forward and backward potions into them.
He placed the now empty vials back on the table and looked to see if they would fill themselves up, but nothing happened.
Quinn shrugged, ”I will break one leg of the table, so it would seem that the potion drained when the table broke.”
He walked to the black fire and chugged down the forward potion. He pocketed the bottle and walked forward; he braced himself, saw the black flames licking his body, but couldn't feel them — for a moment he could see nothing but dark fire — then he was on the other side, in the last chamber.