AUTHOR'S NOTE: Time for Freddie's challenge! Hope you're all as excited as she is! As always, please leave reviews. They cheer me up even on my worst of days. Thanks all! 3
Exactly one hour later one of the doors on the wall opened and Akinyi came limping out. It looked like she had sprained her ankle and Madame Garnier hurried over to her. Freddie closed her book and looked down at Ada, who had moved from her shoulder to her lap sometime in the last hour. She hated having to wake her, she looked so peaceful.
"Ada," she said, shaking her gently. "Akinyi just came back, I'll have to go soon."
Ada was awake in an instant, looking bright and alert.
"Il est temps? Are you ready?" she asked, her emerald eyes sparkling in the sunlight as she sat up. "How do you feel? Are you nervous?"
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," she answered, putting the book back in her bag. "I'm excited. And curious to see what challenges I'll face...and yeah I guess I'm a little nervous, too."
"Avoir confiance," Ada said, getting to her feet. "Be confident. That is what you said to me."
"I did," Freddie said, smiling. She got up and brushed the dirt from her robes. "And I will be, don't worry."
The bell rang out and the second door from the left swung open. It was time to go. Freddie picked up her bag and Ada walked with her towards the open door.
"There is nothing to worry about, it will be over soon," Ada said. "And then you can come out and tell me all about it."
"Of course. Don't let Andrei or Dimitri be jerks to you while I'm gone, don't even try to talk to them. Just ignore them. Sit with Madame Garnier, she's nice to talk to."
"Okay," she said agreeably. She stopped short when they reached the door. They couldn't see anything but darkness on the other side. "Good luck, Freddie. Bonne chance."
"I'll see you after," Freddie promised, then steeled herself and stepped through the open door.
As soon as the door slammed shut behind her torches flared to life along the stone walls of the narrow passage Freddie found herself in. The ceiling and floor were brick as well and blocked out any source of light other than the torches. It reminded her a bit of the Hogwarts dungeons and she found that comforting as she started walking.
She walked down the passage for what felt like a long time and she was starting to wonder if she was missing something. Finally she reached the end of the passage and found an old-looking wooden door. The brass door knob had a design on it that Freddie squinted to see in the dim firelight. It was a tree – A wiggentree, she identified automatically. Or some other species of rowan. It's hard to see the details. ...Okay, it's time. Let's do this, Potions Princess.
She took a deep breath and turned the handle. The door was heavy and she had to give it a bit of a push for it to open. When it did she walked through and found herself in the middle of a garden. There were hedges and shrubs that formed a sort of maze. Beds of flowers and herbs were planted along each hedge. She could hear the trickling sound of a fountain and she followed the sound, mentally identifying the plants she saw along the way, trying to match them up in her mind to see what potion she had to brew, but there were too many varieties.
She was still looking for the fountain when she heard a different sound, a high-pitched buzzing noise. She followed the sound to a Boom Berry bush that had several small lights moving around it. As she drew closer she saw that the lights came from a half dozen fairies and it was the sound of their wings she'd been hearing. Fairy wings were an ingredient in a few different potions and she wondered if she'd need to pull the wings off the small creatures. She knew she would if she had to, but she decided to wait until she figured out exactly what it is she would be brewing. If it turned out she didn't need fairy wings, then she might have points taken for harvesting them unnecessarily.
She continued on her search for the fountain. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to be doing, but looking for the fountain felt like the right thing to do for some reason. She rounded the corner of another hedge and the maze opened into a circular clearing. A large stone fountain was sitting in the middle of the clearing...and next to the fountain lay a girl.
Here we go, Freddie thought as she rushed over and knelt beside her. The girl's skin was pale and cold as ice. She checked her mouth for signs of poison, inspected her tongue and smelled her breath. She didn't detect anything unusual, but she noticed the girl didn't seem to be breathing. She put two fingers to her neck to check her pulse. She didn't feel anything at first then finally her heart beat once...twice. She had a pulse but it was extremely slow. This wasn't a poisoning at all.
"Draught of Living Death," Freddie said aloud. She would have to brew the antidote. She put her bag down and dug out her potions kit as well as Zygmunt Budge's Book of Potions. She opened the kit first and made note of the supplies she'd been provided with. She flipped through the book next and quickly found the recipe for the Wiggenweld Potion. The list of ingredients was extensive but she assumed she could find them all in the maze. The potion itself was easy enough to brew, something Snape taught to first years. The real challenge would be in finding all the ingredients. Only a few of them were including in her potions kit.
As she scanned the list of ingredients, the words of Zygmunt Budge appeared on the page, offering advice on nearly each ingredient. The first ingredient listed was Wiggentree bark and next to it Budge said Be sure to use caution when harvesting the bark of a Wiggentree as bowtruckles often make their homes among the branches. They will defend the tree if they think they are being threatened. Bring a peace offering.
A peace offering? She wondered silently, looking around. She could see the branches of a Wiggentree past a hedge at the other end of the clearing and she was almost certain it would be infested with bowtruckles. It would be too easy for her if it wasn't. She thought back to last year's Care of Magical Creatures class, when Professor Kettleburn had taken them into the forest and bowtruckles had climbed all over Daniel. She smiled at the memory. They'd fed them woodlice to gain their trust, but Daniel had said they liked something else too – fairy eggs.
Freddie got up, bringing the book with her so she would have the list of ingredients. She was about to go back the way she came when she realized she'd need something to carry everything in. She dumped the rest of the books out of her bag and slung it over her shoulder. She put the potions kit back in the bag, knowing she might need some of the tools in it. As she re-traced her steps back to the Boom Berry bush she stopped periodically to harvest plants she saw that she knew she would need – dittany, moly, mint.
When she reached the Boom Berry bush the fairies were still floating around it. She knew from Snape's flashcards that fairies laid their eggs on the underside of leaves, but as she approached the bush the fairies began to buzz louder and their little faces grew angry and red. One of them plucked an unripe berry from the bush and threw it at her. Freddie jumped back, avoiding the berry as it exploded, and the fairies laughed. She would need to put on dragonhide gloves from her potions kit before she tried to harvest any of the Boom Berries, otherwise she might accidentally hit an unripe one and lose a finger...but first she needed to take care of the fairies.
She thought about Stunning them, but quickly nixed the idea. Firing a Stunner at a plant that could explode was definitely not a good idea, the fairy eggs would no doubt be destroyed, along with the berries she needed.
Maybe if I just slow them down, she thought, digging her wand out of the pocket of her robes. An Impediment Jinx shouldn't affect the bush...at least I don't think it will. I can't waste any more time on this, it has to work.
"Impedimenta," she said, pointing her wand at the fairies. The angry buzzing sound stopped as the fairies froze in midair, struggling to make their wings move.
"Gotcha," Freddie said triumphantly under her breath. She stowed her wand and knelt beside the Boom Berry bush. She carefully turned over a leaf on the bush and found a clutch of fairy eggs. She used a pair of small shears from her kit to cut the leaf off of the bush delicately so as not to disturb any of the volatile berries. She dropped the leaf into her potions kit so the eggs on it wouldn't get squashed, then she got out the dragonhide gloves and put them on. She only needed 60mL of Boom Berry juice for the Wiggenweld Potion, but she wasn't sure how many berries that would be. She thought 10 would be more than enough so that's how many she plucked, careful to only get dark purple berries that were already ripe and would not explode. She put them in an empty jar from her kit then put it in her bag with the herbs she'd gotten.
Perfect, she thought, feeling pleased with herself. She'd gotten several ingredients already without getting hurt. And now she could go get the bark off the Wiggentree.
She followed the maze of hedges back to the clearing, keeping an eye out for anything she needed that she might have missed on the way. She crossed the clearing, heading for the Wiggentree she'd spotted on the other side, when she noticed there were fish swimming in the fountain. She could see a single lionfish among them, floating near the bottom of the pool. She knew she needed lionfish spines for her potion, but she had no idea how she was going to get the spiky fish out of the fountain. She kept going and considered the problem while she walked towards the Wiggentree. She could try to Summon it, but that might not work, and even if it did she might get stabbed by the spines. What she really needed was a net.
Maybe I can transfigure one, she thought. Out of a branch off one of these bushes or something.
As Freddie approached the Wiggentree she saw that it was indeed crawling with bowtruckles. They climbed down from the branches onto the trunk of the tree, gripping the bark with their long sharp claws, and regarded Freddie carefully as she put her bag down near the tree.
"Hey there guys," she said in a soft, gentle tone. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I have tasty treats for you and then I just need a little bit of bark off your tree, okay?"
She opened her potions kit and took out the leaf with the fairy eggs. She held it out to them in her palm, keeping her hand flat. She could see the bowtruckles sniffing the air but they still seemed reluctant.
"It's okay, I'm a friend," she said gently. "I brought you yummy, yummy fairy eggs. See?"
Finally one of the larger bowtruckles ventured onto her outstretched hand. His leaves tickled as he walked across Freddie's fingers then he stuck his face into the pile of fairy eggs. Suddenly a dozen bowtruckles climbed out onto her arm, dangling from her fingers and the arm of her robes, waiting to have a go at the fairy eggs.
"Man Daniel would love you guys," she whispered, chuckling softly. "I'm sorry I didn't bring more food, I'm in a bit of a hurry."
She put the leaf down on the ground and the bowtruckles followed, jumping from her arm. A few smaller ones who'd remained in the tree scurried down the trunk now to eat. While the creatures were distracted Freddie got a knife from her kit and began to scrape the bark off the tree. She only took as much as she would need, then she bade the bowtruckles goodbye.
She checked the ingredients in the book as she walked back towards the fountain and the girl who lay in a death-like sleep. She had one more ingredient to get, besides the lionfish spines. Budge didn't offer any advice about the lionfish spines, but he had something to say about flobberworms.
An otherwise useless creature the mucus of the flobberworm is used to thicken potions. Flobberworms are one of the most boring animals alive, as all they do is eat lettuce and secrete mucus from both ends of their body.
Lettuce, she thought to herself. I saw a bed of lettuce somewhere when I first came in. I bet there are flobberworms there. They have to be there, otherwise I'm screwed!
Freddie ran back through the maze as quick as she could. She felt like she was taking too long getting everything together and she knew the judges were watching, even though she couldn't see them. It took her less than five minutes to reach the door she'd come in through. To the left of the door, in the shade of the brick wall, was a garden of lettuce. She walked quickly through the rows, checking underneath the plants, until she spotted a slimy substance shining in the sun on some of the heads a few feet away. She jumped the rows and looked under those to find several flobberworms hiding in the shade beneath the plants. They were 6 inches long and they were spitting mucus from both ends.
Freddie knelt in the dirt between the rows and dug an empty jar out of the potions kit. She took the cap off and set it on the ground. She grabbed the nearest flobberworm and held it over the jar, letting the mucus drip into it. It was gross, holding the slimy squirming creature as snot poured out of it, but Freddie kept her face impassive. She wasn't going to let the judges see disgust on her face.
It was taking too long for the mucus to drip into the jar so she gave the flobberworm a gentle squeeze. Juice gushed out of the worm, coating the jar and the ground around it. As soon as the jar was full Freddie tossed the flobberworm aside. She screwed the lid back on the jar and wiped the excess mucus off of it with her robes.
She hurried back through the maze, stopping once to break a stick off of a shrub she thought she could use. She put her bag down by the girl then carried the stick over to the fountain. She laid it down and drew her wand again, ready to try and transfigure the stick into a net.
It took her three tries to get it right and she wondered if that would count against her. It wasn't pretty – the handle was crooked and the net was sort of weird looking – but it should be functional. She knelt on one knee on the raised brick surrounding the water and dipped the net in. All of the fish darted away from the intrusion and Freddie struggled to keep her eye on the lionfish through the swarm.
She thought she had it once but when she pulled the net up out of the water all she'd caught were silver fish. She spied the lionfish as it swam to the other side of the fountain, almost like it was taunting her. She dumped the flopping silver fish back into the water and moved around the fountain. She leaned out over the water and dipped the net slowly so she wouldn't startle it...only to have it dart away again at the last minute.
This went on for a good ten minutes and Freddie was getting frustrated. This was taking way too long, she needed to get started on her potion. She'd tried it fast, she'd tried it slow, but nothing seemed to work. All she'd managed to do was get her sleeve wet and bother a few of the silver fish. She felt panic rising up – what if I can't get this stupid fish? I need this last ingredient! I'll have to forfeit! – and she used her Occlumency to force it away.
Panicking is a waste of time, she told herself firmly. It's not going to solve anything. What I need is a different approach. Okay, think – I could Summon it and risk getting stabbed by the poison spines. I could keep doing this, but it really isn't working. What else? Think Winifred. If I could just drain the water from the pool, then I could reach in and scoop it out with the net. But I don't see any sort of drain or plug or-
"I can dry it up!" she said aloud. She'd just mastered the Drought Charm a few months ago for Flitwick's class. She tossed her useless net away and drew her wand again.
"Arefacio!" she said firmly, moving her wand in a zigzag motion then flicking it upwards. The water in the fountain turned to steam and rose up, evaporating in the sunlight. All of the fish were flopping wildly on the bottom except for the lionfish who sat flexing his spines, his mouth opening and closing. Water was still coming through the top of the fountain, fed by some unknown source, and it wouldn't be long before it filled up again. She thought about grabbing her net again but she already had her wand in her hand and now she had a clear shot at it.
"Wingardium leviosa," she said and when the lionfish floated up, following the direction of her wand, she almost cheered. The Levitation Charm wouldn't have worked through the water but it sure did the job now. She walked back to where she had left her bag, the lionfish floating ahead of her. She directed it to the ground a couple of feet away and released it. As the fish gasped desperately Freddie considered the best way to get the poisonous spines off of it without stabbing herself. She could use her dragonhide gloves and try to break them off, or she could use magic to try and sever them. She opted for the latter and got as close to the fish as she could, pointing the tip of her wand and its body just below the spines.
"Diffindo," she said, making a straight slicing motion with her wand. A number of spines cut off cleanly and fell to the ground around the fish. She moved the dying fish away with her wand and counted the spines. There were 14 of them on the ground and she only needed 10.
"That'll do," she said approvingly and carefully gathered the spines.
Now that she had everything brewing the Wiggenweld Potion was a breeze. She set up the size 2 pewter cauldron that was in her potions kit and got started. She followed the recipe in Budge's book for the most part, using Snape's alterations when she could remember them. As soon as the potion was finished and had cooled enough, she used the ladle from her kit to pour it down the throat of the unconscious girl. Almost as soon as she swallowed the girl took a deep breath. The color returned to her face, she began breathing normally, and Freddie knew that she had been successful. She heard a whooshing sound behind her and turned to see that a door had appeared out of thin air in the middle of the clearing. She turned back around and the girl had vanished. Right on cue, she thought with a smile.
She quickly vanished the remaining potion and cleaned the cauldron with her wand before putting it back in her bag with the potions kit. She gathered her books and dumped them into her bag before going through the door that would lead to her next challenge.