It was only as he poured the potion as the root system of the tree, that Brent started to question his decision. I mean, come on--a tree? Asleep? This wasn't just any tree, though. This was a magical tree that could sense a human being's presence and pretty much beat them to a pulp if it wanted to. Brent's moment of uncertainty was erased and replaced with another wave of confidence. He had to have confidence in this competition. It had been one minute into the first round when he'd been assured that IMPS wasn't for the weak.

As he sensed another movement of the branches, Brent paused in the pouring out of his solution and glanced up. Was the tree...wilting? DEAR MERLIN, HE'D KILLED IT! The Headmistress was going to duel him to his death and hang him in her office along with all those other artifacts she kept in there! He stood straight and tall and upon a second inspection, he noticed that the tree still gave off the appearance of a very healthy willow. Oh, thank Merlin, it was alive!

But what was it doing? It was moving and had a slight sort of shake to it, but it was most definitely not attacking him. It almost seemed calm. Had it been the ingredient he'd added to help with nightmares? Or maybe it had been the ginger that was supposed to make the draught stronger? A better question was--why was he pausing to think this through when this was literally his chance?! Brent corked the vial and dropped it in his pocket just in case they were supposed to keep a sample of it for later on in the challenge.

...and then---HE MADE A RUN FOR IT---Silver Shield Spell and Fianto Duri still in place. He knew enough about the history of this tree to know where he needed to go. The Willow actually dated back to the 1970s, where a man by the name of Remus Lupin would use it to secretly transform himself into a werewolf. It was a really cool piece of Hogwarts' history. Brent just hoped a werewolf didn't come as a package deal during his encounter with the passageway today.

Thanks, but no thanks. He was good.

As he reached the thick trunk of the usually unruly tree, Brent paused and realized he needed more light. He ended the Silver Shield Spell and Fianto Duri with a quick "Finite!", then he pointed his wand at the roots stretched out beneath his feet and cast "Lumos!" to give himself the light he needed. It was just the basic light spell, no Lumos Duo or anything that would give him an overly bright light. He had no idea what he was about to encounter, and he didn't want to call too much attention to himself. He shined the light of his wand around the roots until he was able to see it---the hole. This was the passageway the directions at the very beginning of the challenge had told him to make his way to. So this was it. This is where he needed to go to proceed with the challenge. He gave a soft sigh, a little uneasy at the fact he was about to plunge underground and into who knew what.

Pointing his wand light ahead, he slipped into the hole and moved through the passageway.