Well, here he was. The second task.

Oh mon dieu, he should not think of it like that. Giving him even more butterflies in his stomach was not a good thing at the moment. But he was okay! Stretching out his arms, legs, and every other muscle in his body as he stared at the maze's entrance, he shook out his limbs before rolling his neck and standing up straight.

Out of habit, he patted down any wrinkles in his blue Beauxbatons clothes, jacket, shirt, pants and such, before taking a tiny step forward. Wand with him, oui. Limbs stretched and warmed up, oui. Breakfast down...sorta.

Ready for this? OUI!

With his heart thudding like a hummingbirds, and a deep confident breath, Noel took the final steps forward towards the entrance of the maze, taking care to glance at it in all directions before slowly continuing to move forward.

After a few cautious steps you can see a pale light up ahead. In your current state of mind, you might imagine all kinds of strange creatures waiting for you, but the four-legged thing in the middle of a small, overgrown clearing of sorts is comfortingly mundane and ordinary: a sturdy wooden table. The clearing itself doesn't appear to have another exit. That's odd, but something to worry about later.

On the table, in a row neat as you please, stand five potions. They each emit a faint glow, bathing the clearing in multi-coloured light. In front of them, there is a small piece of parchment. Directly past the table; a tiny door.

It had only been a few seconds of walking before Noel's eyes caught a light up ahead in the maze. His steps became hesitant as he pulled out his wand from the holster on his left wrist, holding it out in front of him in case something decided to attack him.

Moving forward, but keeping his footsteps as quiet as possible, he could see something in the distance; however he had no idea what it was. It was long, he saw that; long and waist tall. It looked hard, and it had shiny stuff on it. A table. Right.

Lowering his wand when he came into the clearing, his cheeks flushed slightly as he glanced around the area, mentally scolding himself for being scared of a table. One could never be too cautious though, especially when something that catches your eye is has a faint glow coming from it. Pausing where he was, at the left side of the clearing looking for a door, he turned his head back to the table, curious on what this was all about.

Looking back to the way he came, Noel walked over to the table, using his wand to pull the piece of parchment closer so he could read it. One to shrink…trust not the phials’ size…Euphoria and pain betwixt…

Heaving a sigh, the seventh year stared at the potions bottles after reading the parchment, taking his time to look at each and every one of them, yet once again, something else caught his attention. Was that a door? He needed to shrink since obviously that was the only way out, but this riddle was making him shake some. Two will make him want to die. Fantastic. Just, fantastic. Sniffing in the clean air, he leaned on the table with his hands, and stared down at this riddle, eyes flickering back and forth from the parchment to the five glowing bottles and back again, calculating each and every little detail in the words.

The one that shrinks is in disguise, it can be found… between euphoria and pain? Which were betwixt. Suffering is the one in tall deep phials, yet the shrinking potion is in disguise. Standing up, he placed his hands behind his head, taking a step back and looking at the two phials he had narrowed it down to. With a surge of adrenaline, he took a step forward and grabbed one of the phials as his final decision.

The green one.

You must be tiny for this trip... It's a Shrinking Potion! And a strong one, too. You become smaller and smaller until the phial itself is taller than you are and the table looms over you like a mountain. Now the overgrown grass has replaced the hedges as an obstacle to struggle through.

But what trip? Which direction? There was no obvious way to the clearing earlier...


To move forward along the path, answer the following riddle:
Old Mother Twitchett had but one eye, and a long tail which she let fly; and every time she went through a gap, a bit of her tail she left in a trap. What is she?

Taking the cap off, Noel drank the potion and it was only seconds later when he started to feel exceptionally bizarre; as if that feeling one got when someone scraped their nails against a chalkboard, except it was all over his body instead of his neck and hands. Blinking rapidly, and taking deep, heavy breathes, his eyes widened in surprise as he looked up and saw the table.

It was huge! Looking around, his legs felt a bit wobbly and fell against a long bendy like green branch before balancing himself up again. Was this grass? And, yes that was dirt beneath his feet, but he had not known grass could be that strong. Or it had that many lines in it. Holding onto the thicker part of the strand of green, Noel looked all around himself, a laugh starting to grow inside him when he realized he was extremely small. "Zis iz too cool…" he muttered to himself in awe, his gaze turning towards what was behind him to see everything. He didn’t poison himself, and some of these grass strands were taller than him!

That is, until he realized he could not see where that door was only moments before.

Where was it? The grin on his face slowly disappeared as he stood still, his eyes being the only thing that was moving. Even his chest was barely moving, however he was still breathing. No worries there! Where was the door? It was this way wasn’t it? If he just moved forward in front of him? Or maybe it was towards the right? He could not search all day in this grass! He had no time to do so!


Old Mother Twitchett had but one eye, and a long tail which she let fly; and every time she went through a gap, a bit of her tail she left in a trap. What is she?

A needle and thread.

The grass is difficult to get through, It's highlands grass, very tough and entangled all over. The hedges high above you are silent now as you creep onwards, but that's no great consolation. Sure, a Blast-Ended Skrewt might not be able to find you, but what if there's an ant colony somewhere behind the next patch of grass?

Somewhere off to your right side, something titters. Oh, that little chuckle is worse than clicking mandibles. It implies intelligence. You whirl around, wand out, just as you hear the unmistakable sound of little footsteps, but there are just more blades of grass in front of you. You begin struggling forward blindly, trying to get to the end of the clearing.

Growling in frustration since he could barely see over the grass, Noel decided to make some educated guess on where this door was based on where he was standing, what he could see from the table and sky, and remembering where he had been previously been standing before drinking the shrinking potion. And he believed it actually was to the right of him, from where he stood.

As he pushed and struggled through the grass, thinking that this was probably what jungles were supposedly like even though he’d never been in one before, he kept his blue eyes peeled and ears open for any unusual things. In other words, he wanted to make sure he was alive and in one piece when he got to wherever this door was. Pushing aside a rather tough piece of grass, his hand seemed to slip, causing the grass piece to fly forward…and hit him in the face. Owwww.

Holding the rather sensitive part of his eyebrow where the slight scar was, he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, hissing before glaring daggers at the dangerous grass piece. It did that on purpose! "Stupide…herbe." He muttered, smacking the green piece with his hand before something other than the sounds of his hand hitting a piece of a grass reached his ears.

Whirling around, his wand already raised out in front of him, Noel searched for the source of noise, his gaze flickering from one place to the other. There was nothing though. Not even a little ant, which would have probably been a big ant to him. He had heard it, and he knew he was not paranoid enough to start hearing things as of yet. Not that he was paranoid in the first place…but he knew that he had heard that little chuckle and what also seemed to be footsteps but, then again, he wasn’t all that sure as well. There was nothing to indicate that he was being followed. No physical evidence as of yet that is.

Frowning, he wondered if perhaps he should cast a disillusionment charm on himself. To keep himself somewhat safe from any wandering eyes that also may be in this grass field from down under. Turning back around, he moved a bit quieter through the grass, his ears still open for any noises.

A door appears! This is a second clearing, with mercifully trimmed grass. It's lit well, too – there's a fire ahead. Standing on top of it is a large soot-stained cauldron. Next to it stands a small table. Both are regular sized, but someone has considerately placed a small ladder next to the table that you can climb to get on top of it.

On the table are a number of phials and boxes - Peppermint, Moonstone, Fluxweed, Pomegranate, Doxy Eggs, Frozen Chizpurfles, Hellebore, Ginger Roots, Spine of a Lionfish, Lacewing Flies, Puffer-Fish Eyes - all carefully labeled. Potion ingredients. The one closest to the ladder has a second piece of parchment attached to it.

It's another riddle. Even if you can solve it, though, how will the ingredients get into the cauldron? The ladder seems to be just a little bit too short. Levitating something into it could work – if nothing gets spilled – but what if the potion needs stirring?

After seeming like a small eternity, Noel’s hand finally bumped into something hard, and it wasn’t a snail shell! Retracting his hand, the Beauxbatons boy looked up to see the door. The door! His eyes widened, glancing around himself to see if this was actually real. It sure felt real. Did he just walk a straight path towards the door? Well, no, the side of the door that is, but still, he had found it.

Hanging his head back in relief for a moment, he went to go pull it open. It was only a second later that he realized that that was not going to happen any time soon. Pushing it open however, worked. So with a sudden energy of strength, he pushed the door open. He had not expected the grass to be so well trimmed, causing the door to open rather quickly and for him to come stumbling into the clearing. Oh. Well then, someone decided to make things easier for him then. Closing the door behind himself, the seventh year’s blue eyes spotted the objects up ahead in the clearing. More potions stuff apparently, the cauldron giving that one away easily no doubt.

Jogging his way over to the large cauldron and table, he licked his dry lips before taking a double glance to the ladder, feeling the heat of the flames wave and ripple over his face and body. Seeing that it led up to the table top, Noel started to climb the ladder, wondering just what in the world he was supposed to do. Make a potion? At his size?! Perhaps something to make him grow back to normal size? Now that would be nice. What would Cosette think of him if he had to stay this size forever!?

Once at the last step of the ladder, Noel climbed on top of the table and stood up straight, placing his hands on his hips and letting out a long breath. Potion ingredients, obviously. Cauldron with a lit flame underneath, ingredients, he could fit the picture together easily enough. Each potion ingredient was labeled he noticed, yet one had an extra piece of parchment on it.

Curious, he moved forward, reaching out his tiny hands to lift up the piece of parchment so he could read it better. When they are caught, throw away, escape, itch all day. That gave him no indication on what he was supposed to do with these ingredients, or what he was supposed to make. He supposed he could go through all the potions he remembered to see what ingredients fit where, but...

"When caught, itch all day." There was a lot of things that you could catch and be itchy all day! Like dragon pox, but you couldn't throw those away. A bug bite could make you itch. But you can't throw away or catch a bug...bite. A bug. Bugs? "What? Fleas?!"

Sighing, he let the paper drop before turning and staring at the cauldron. Was he supposed to make something? Some kind of, de-itching potion? De-flea-ing potion?

The potion popped and bubbled inside the cauldron but gave no indication of being complete.

The potion popped and bubbled inside the cauldron but gave no indication of being complete.

If he expected anything from that little outburst he just did, Noel would have been sorely disappointed. No words appeared on the parchment, no bird swooping down and suddenly talking to him, no rand image in the cauldron appeared to give him instructions, nothing!

Rubbing his face and then letting his fingers slide through his hair, grasping it even with his wand still in his hand, he kept his hands on his head as a sudden shiver ran through him. He kinda wished the heat of the cauldron’s flame would rise up over to where he currently stood at the moment. It definitely was not summer at the Hogwarts school.

Letting out a quick harsh breathe, the Beauxbatons seventh year stood on his tippy toes and peered into the cauldron. It wasn’t finished by the looks of it. Letting his arms drop to his side, he went through every single potion he’d made, trying to figure out which one this looked like. Blinking a few times, he turned around and stared at the ingredients. All of them, went into different potions. Did all of them go into the cauldron? Or just some of them? Aw this task, it was messing with his mind. Not good! Placing his wand in his front pocket, he walked over to the ginger roots, taking one piece out of…the box…

Holy MERLIN this thing was HEAVY! Grunting as he heaved it up, Noel took only a few unsteady steps before dropping it onto the table, letting out a breath of relief. Who knew food was this heavy? Did he just pick up the biggest root in there? Yes, apparently he did. Taking his wand back out, he sniffed in some air before cleaning the root, and slicing it into pieces with a flick of his wand downward. Glancing from the root to the cauldron, he pointed his wand at the roots and one by one, guided a few of them to the cauldron by levitation, and letting them drop into the mixture.

As he glanced back to the other ingredients, Noel took a few steps towards the ladder, and grabbed the top of it before pulling up and walking backward. It was the only thing he could think of to stir this potion, which no doubt, would need some stirring done. Laying it onto the table, with another flick of his wand, the ladder was scourgified and cleaned, before being levitated towards the cauldron much like the ginger root slices had. However, he didn’t dump the ladder into the cauldron.

What genius would do that!? Guiding it down into the potion halfway however, he cast a quick ‘Fixate’ and let the ladder sit there. He could turn it when needed. Now, what other ingredients did he need?

That one, and perhaps that one…Fluxweed? Maybe.

With the ginger added, the potion began to smoke. When the air cleared, the potion appeared unchanged.

Oh, lots of smoke.

Noel's eyes widened as he took a few steps back, stumbling over the rest of the ginger roots in the process. "Pas bien!" he squeaked, regaining his balance and watching the smoke. Huh? His voice, it was all squeaky like. "What? What iz zis?" How come he had not noticed this before? Clearing his throat, his eyes still watching the smoke, relieved that it was disappearing, the Beauxbatons student stood up straight, chest out and head held high. "Noel Laurent."

Squeak!

This was terrible! Not only was he small, but he had a squeaky voice! Like he just sucked in too much helium. Scowling, and coughing to try and get rid of the unattractive voice, the seventh year turned around, and started looking through the ingredients. Peppermint was a no in his opinion, and so was the pomegranate. Spotting the hellebore, Noel paused and chewed on his inner lip, thinking it over.

He had no idea what he was doing. Potions wasn't really his strongest subject. The riddle made no sense either, and it was of no help. Fleas. Fantastic, except there were no fleas here. Just, lacewing flies and chizpurfles that looked sorta like fleas. Hmm. Raising his brows, as if being a little bit shifty at the moment, he glanced towards the hellebore before taking a hesitant step towards the chizpurfles. Noel raised his wand towards the little (or large compared to him at the moment) parasite creature things, and levitated thing, cringing at his voice. Maybe he should just start talking in a purposeful really deep voice. He didn't like this squeaky stuff.

Dropping a few of the chizpurfles into the potion, his eyes were suddenly fixed on the fluxweed. He had thought about adding it in before, but, then he saw the hellebore. Fluxweed was more in the mint family, and he already ruled out peppermint. Because he could. To feel like he was doing something right at least.

So pushing aside the fluxweed with his foot, he levitated the hellebore instead, and dropped it into the cauldron as well. And, with a little guidance of his wand, he let the ladder stir the potion once before turning back around and looking at the ingredients, hands on his hip, and mind starting to go blank.

Eh. Now which ones?

Even someone not afraid of bugs might not like the look of the Chizpurfles much. They're not alive, of course, tumbled on top of each other in a tightly corked phial.

But they're also much larger than usual in comparison, and there's something in that glassy, dead stare of theirs that just, well, creeps you out. And now that you're this small, you can study their bodies much more closely. They certainly look fearsome, and one can only imagine how much worse it would be if they suddenly sprang to life again, all scurrying legs and clicking chitin and... Shudder.

As the hellebore is dropped into the cauldron, the potion inside hisses slightly as if in protest. Apart from this, however, it does not give any indication to whether or not it was a good idea to add it.

A small scrap of parchment, almost hidden completely underneath the phial, catches your eye. Glad for the distraction, you retrieve it.

As he stared at the ingredients, his eyes kept flickering over to those chizpurfles. He could hear the hissing of the potion behind him, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and for a shiver to run down his spine simultaneously. Perhaps it was the combination of the hissing and his intense stare at the chizpurfles that creeped him out some. He could just imagine those little creatures hissing like that.

At him..

Shivering involuntarily once more, Noel moved forward and dug through the ingredients again, knocking over bottles on accident and moving boxes to sift through the ingredients. His eyes landed on a piece of parchment though, that he thought was the previous one he saw when he first got up on the table, but with a closer inspection, it had completely different words written on it.

And just like the other parchment, it made no sense whatsoever. For one, a plimpy didn’t have a tail. However, he had read the riddle, and it was going to bug him relentlessly until he figured it out. Rubbing his eyes, the seventh year sat down and leaned against the box that held the peppermint, laying the parchment in his lap where he could see it properly. Head of a dragon, middle of a troll, hind of a fox, and tail of a plimpy; which, there was no such thing. Trying to imagine just what kind of creature had all these parts was, making him laugh some, and led his imagination to more unique creatures.

Like a thestral, who's skin was like a clabbert and it had a tail of a bunny. No, he needed to concentrate. But...

Oh. It was almost like connect the dots. HA! Take THAT you shrinking potion thing that made his brain all fuzzy! Squeezing his eyes shut, Noel took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his neck with both hands, letting them sit there for a moment as he turned his head to look at the cauldron. Oh. OH! Why did he not add that ingredient in!? Arrgghh. Being small with a squeaky voice, this was the last time he was ever gunna try it. It obviously messed with his brain.

Pushing himself up with his hands, one hand holding his wand and the other dragging the piece of parchment with him, Noel moved over to where the Doxy eggs were. Right near the chizpurfles. Creepy things. Levitating the eggs, he let them hover over until about an inch or so above the mixture in the cauldron, before letting them drop inside.

Like the creature that lays them, the Doxy eggs aren't really bad as such, just... Well. If the grown Doxy is a pest, then its egg is pestilential. In its smell. It would make a compost heap pinch its nose shut. A troll's eyes would water.

Funny how these things don't get noticed until one is the size of a normal-sized goblet. Gives you a new perspective on everything. Perhaps the smell is some sort of defence mechanism or something?

In any case, just as before, there is another hint hidden underneath the box of eggs. Here's what it says:

Noel was beginning to second guess the ingredients he was putting into this cauldron. Or even trust these parchment things that he kept finding. Was he supposed to put those doxy eggs in there? And were they supposed to smell like that?

More importantly, why didn’t he notice the smell until now?

"Se détendre, Noel." He muttered to himself, ignoring his squeaky voice as he let his muscles and body loosen somewhat, shaking out his arms and legs before rolling his neck. The cauldron had not exploded, so that was a good sign, right? He knew blaming the shrinking potion for his nerves and lack of concentration was of no good, but he couldn’t help but feel the pull in his chest tighten more and more. He was getting a bit too anxious at the moment actually.

…it HAD to be the doxy eggs. Their smell, it was stuck in his nose now!

Scowling, the Beauxbatons champion moved over to the box, and started to push it to the edge of the table. No, he wasn’t going to dump it off the side, but he just wanted it away from him. Unlike how close he was to it at the moment. He was had only barely pushed the box away when his feet slipped just a bit. The grip on his shoes was not gripping the table anymore, but (surpriiiise) more parchment. "Sérieux?" he spoke in disbelief, letting go of the box and picked up the parchment instead, his eyes flying across the words.

From the last two parchments, this riddle obviously was involved with one of the ingredients. The ingredient being Fluxweed of course, however, that wasn’t what bothered him and causing the frown to stay on his face. Each ingredient that these past two parchments told him, were ones that he was originally going to put into the cauldron.

So why did he change his mind in the first place again!? And why did he not notice these parchments before hand? They could have saved him some time and actually saved the potion! If it wasn’t already ruined enough as it was. Perhaps it wasn’t ruined though.

Wishful thinking and silent prayers was all he could do at the moment. He had no idea how to recreate the potion, or even knew what was put in it before hand. Letting the parchment drop to the table top, Noel levitated the fluxweed towards the cauldron, and let it fall into the mixture.

The potion tastes terrible. Did you mix it wrong? But even as you fret, you start to grow again. Careful not to bump your head on the table.

As you regain your regular height, the hedges in front of you change as well, pushing themselves apart to reveal a narrow opening. But hang on, something is off. What is wrong with your eyebrows? They itch slightly and just as you're about to rub your fingers against it, they...start growing. Growing, growing and more growing. Until they completely cover your face, making it unable for you to see anything properly without brushing them away from your eyes.

Back to the maze, though, or as much as you can see from it at the moment anyway. Which way will you go?

To move forward along the path, answer the following riddle:

Tear one off and scratch my head, what once was red is black instead. What am I?

Hmm yes, this was actually starting to look like a potion he remembered making a few years back. Even if it wasn’t the same one, he was pretty sure it wasn’t going to kill him. A plus side.

The potion, it was disgusting to put it lightly, but he’d tasted worse before. This one on the other hand, he wasn’t so sure about. It had a weird nasty after taste that he wasn’t expecting, actually making him cough just the slightest that would have been a gag but he held that feeling down quite fast.

On the other hand…well, no. Look at his hand! It was growing! Stumbling back just a bit, he watched his hands grow, but it was only moments later that he realized the rest of his body was growing too. He was growing!

For a split second, he feared that maybe he’d grow too much and end up as a giant! But he was pleased to see that he had stopped at his regular height. This was his original height right? He wasn’t an inch shorter or taller was he?

Blinking his blue eyes, he sucked in a deep breath, seeing if his lungs were working properly as well. Yup, tip top shape! As he blinked, his focus zeroed on the hedges up ahead. They were moving? With his experience with plants in the cave, he was quite cautious of any moving plant, tree, or even leaf nowadays. Nevertheless, it seemed as though the hedge was just making an opening. Well that was nice of it. He was afraid he’d have to go back the way he came! …

…ITCHY!

Why were his eyebrows so itchy- Those weren’t his eyebrows! They were monsters! AAHHHH! Stumbling around, his eyesight disappearing as the hair covered his eyes; he finally stopped and stood still. He knew he screwed up the potion, though he wasn’t expecting THIS! He had a serious hair in his eye now! He needed…he couldn’t think of, anything that would make it the monsters go away. Holding his face, or at least holding the eyebrow hair up away from his mouth so he could breathe, Noel took a step forward, and then another, and another, hoping to bump into the hedge so he’d be able to find his way around, or SOMETHING.


Answer: A Match.

Left, right, left again... The maze seems to stretch out forever. The rustling hedges are with you once more, closing in on all sides. Suddenly you see another flickering light source up ahead. Another potion to brew, perhaps?

No. The next clearing (there are numerous paths leading to it, so any initial spark of pride of having reached this part of the maze before anyone else is quickly extinguished) houses several burning torches, two doors, and, in front of them, a Sphinx. A living Sphinx. Very large, too.

Quick, what did you learn about them in Care of Magical Creatures... Are they aggressive? Are they even carnivorous? The Sphinx is sitting there utterly impassive, watching you calmly. She seems to know exactly what you're thinking – the intelligence in her eyes is almost unsettling – but she remains silent. Waiting.

Noel stumbled and staggered a few times as he walked forward, his hand on the hedges, it being the only thing that was guiding him at the moment. However, he finally figured that if he raised the eyebrow hair, then he’d be able to see at least somewhat clearly.

And be able to get the hair out of his eye! It was bugging him like crazy!

What was also bugging him was the fact that there seemed to be no end to this maze. With his arm raised to keep the hair from his eyes and blocking his vision, and different ways he could go in the maze surrounding him in every way, Noel paused and just…looked around.

Which way?

As he stood and thought about it, part of the eyebrow he was keeping out of his face slid off his arm and back into his eyes again. ARGH! That’s IT! He was CUTTING them off! At least halfway or something until he had time to really fix them. Raising his wand to do just that, it was only luck that he saw the flickering light up ahead. Or perhaps something really didn’t want him cutting off these eyebrows.

Pushing the frustration to the back of his mind for the moment, he lowered his zebrawood wand as he walked forward towards the lights, having a tough job of keeping his vision clear. It was clear enough to see a creature sitting there in front of him though.

Blue eyes widened as he slowed his walk to a crawling snail’s pace. One quick look around the clearing got him the general picture, but his attention was mostly on the creature. The Sphinx. A very large Sphinx.

He was far enough back where he’d have time to cast just in case the sphinx decided to attack but, he was pretty sure it wouldn’t. Not if Noel didn’t threaten whatever. They didn’t like to be threatened. It was, guarding something, oui? Usually sphinxes guarded something. Of course incredibly intelligent creatures would be used for protecting treasures and such. Sphinxes were actually a favorite of his.

Sticking his wand in his front pocket of his blue pants, though still easy enough to access just in case he really did need it, his eyes flickering from one door to the other before settling on the Sphinx, the seventh year took a tiny step forward and stayed just as quiet as the sphinx was too. Quiet was good.

Quiet made him feel safe. No growls and such.

The Sphinx continues to simply regard the young man. Even though, she practically radiates calmness, the way her eyes are always fixated on the Champion makes it quite obvious that she is ready to defend whatever she is protecting. Ready to attack. Ready to kill, should there be the need to.

After another moment of complete silence has passed, the creature finally shows some kind of reaction to the young man approaching her. Her human lips slowly curl into a small smirk, her dark eyes still locked on the boy. "You may pass." And then with a rather intimidating raise of her eyebrows she added, "Or you may not. It all depends on you." A small pause ensued during which she regarded the boy once again, as if figuring out whether he was worth it.

In the end it seems he has proven himself worthy, as the Sphinx raises her head briefly and finally addresses the champion again,

"Deep in the wood in an orchard of old,
An apple tree grows, a sight to behold.
The branches are full and the limbs hand down.
It must be magic, there's none on the ground.

From the twisted old trunk, four branches sprout.
And from each long branch, fifteen twigs stick out.
From each of these, three ripe fruit dangle free.
Tell me the number of pears in the tree."

It seemed like it was taking forever for some sort of reaction from the sphinx, and Noel was becoming a bit anxious. Forcing himself to stand still instead of taking a step back from the sphinx’s unwavering gaze on him, the Beauxbatons student instead put his attention on something else as he stared back. Like his eyebrows. Once he got past here, alive (if he did), he was cutting them. They shall be conquered!

However, the slight lip movement of the sphinx made his eyes widen a bit. Oh? He could pass? Or no, he couldn’t. What a way to boost his confidence.

He listened intently to the riddle being said, making sure it word being said was repeated at least three times in his mind so he was able to remember it.

Four branches, fifteen twigs each branch, and three fruit on each of the twigs. A math question? Well, he definitely wasn’t horrible n Arithmancy, so this should have been easy enough. Staring at the ground as he went through each of the calculations, he finally came up with an answer of one hundred and eighty pears. Wait…pears?

Frowning, he closed his eyes and went through the riddle again. He swore she had said an apple tree in the beginning. And she did, if he remembered correctly. An apple tree grows, but tell her the number of pears on the tree?

"There are no pears." He said, more out of thought than anything, but he realized that sounded more like an answer he was telling the sphinx. Well, it was now that he thought about it. There were no pears on an apple tree; unless some Herbologist created such a tree and he was supposed to take that into account while figuring out the riddle. Noel highly doubted it though.

For a few minutes there is no visible reaction from the Sphinx as the champion finally attempts to answer the riddle. No reaction. Neither positive, nor negative. She is just regarding him with unreadable dark eyes with her head slightly cocked to one side, considering his answer.

Then, all of a sudden, the Sphinx bows her head gracefully before taking a step back. However not to get ready to attack but rather to move out of the way, allowing the champion to pass. If you were to watch the creature, you might notice her inclining her head slightly towards the right door.