[X] Stand on the footprints and try to figure out the riddle
"Huh," Pansy said upon stepping into the room and looking around, noting that there were no obvious enemies in the room. No spiders. No dementors, nothing except--
"Sarcophagi, huh?" Selina observed, with Pansy blinking as she took in the presence of the rectangular stone boxes lining the walls, which now that she thought about it, looked a bit like coffins.
"Wait...are you saying there are inferi in those things?" she hissed, her face a mask of horror. "That they're going to jump out at us as we go in?"
"No...I'm not sensing anything dangerous about them," Selina commented. "Not yet, that is. Could still change."
"I thought Mopsus was supposed to give you a warning about this stuff."
"Oh, it does, but its not perfect, especially if there is no immediate danger," the veteran adventurer informed them. "Or if there is danger behind you and danger before."
"Huh, I see."
Aside from the sarcophagi, the only things of note in the room were an ornate altar of obsidian against the far wall, and a remarkably clear pool of water in its very center, no deeper than waist high, and three meters across. At the very center of the pool, one could see something like a blade - a long dagger, or perhaps a sword, gleaming with golden light, with the hilt just beneath the surface.
"Can you grab that?" Pansy asked, her voice hushed. "Something that shiny and obvious has to be important, right?"
"Or, its a trap, but might as well try," Selina replied, reaching out with the telekinetic abilities granted to her by Mopsus, though try as she might, she couldn't get a proper grip on the item. It was as if it wasn't there, as if what they were seeing of the item wasn't really there - some kind of optical illusion, maybe. "There's something around the pool though."
That something turned out to be runic letters carved in silver. The letters were grouped into five short phrases, with the phrases separated from one another by footprint shaped imprints wrought of lighter-colored stone.
"Draco, can you--"
"What clings to you?" the boy translated. "Bear it—you cannot. Accept it—you cannot. But hidden—it is from you. Recite its name." He blinked. "I think its a riddle."
"Might as well see if we can solve it, don't you think?" Selina questioned.
"Are you sure?" Pansy asked. "What if its a trap?"
"Then best we know now, as opposed to in a future run."
"That makes sense..." the expedition leader noted. "I guess we should stand on the footprints?"
"But there are five sets of footprints, and only four of us," Lily pointed out.
"I can use Mopsus to push own on the set we aren't standing on," Selina offered, with Pansy nodding.
"Let's do it."
So the group moved to stand on the imprints, stepping onto the footprints one at a time, with the runes between the footprints beginning to glow.
"Huh."
But that was not the only change to occur, as lines of golden light began to unfold across the lake, shooting from footprint to footprint to form...
"...a pentagram?" Lily murmured.
One with the sword in the very center, no less.
"Speak its name..." Pansy muttered. "Any ideas, anyone?"
She tried to shift her foot to see what would happen only to find that she could not, and that on the set of footprints closest to hers, Selina seemed to be trembling, her eyes closed as she fought to stay standing.
"It could be your shadow," Lily offered. "Or your reflection, I guess."
"Are you sure it isn't something else?" Draco asked, trying to lift his leg and finding that he couldn't, even as Selina grunted, as if her leg was threatening to buckle from a sudden tug. "Maybe - your family's crimes?"
"Or the lies you tell yourself," Selina grunted. "Your choice, Pansy."
What is the answer to the riddle?
[ ] Reflection
[ ] Shadow
[ ] Lies
[ ] The Sins of the Past