The Fourth Task was probably much less complicated than the previous tasks because there were no clues. It was simply a matter of finding things and then piecing together the clues on them.
Piecing them together was not difficult either. The ancient runes on the five colors of fruit formed a very simple spell.
The spell followed the rules of most spells and could be mastered correctly with just a little rearranging. Jean Gardner, the first to reach the top, took less than three minutes to work out the ancient runic spell in full.
At the center of the enormous sunflower-like bloom atop the Sky-Piercing Vine stood a fruit tree.
It was quite bizarre: a flower grew at the top of a vine, and then a fruit tree actually grew on top of that flower.
The fruit tree looked like an ordinary apple tree, but the apples it bore were unusual. They shone brilliantly with golden light, looking just like the Golden Apples of Greek mythology.
Jean tentatively recited the spell at the golden apple tree. Nothing happened.
She circled the fruit tree again and discovered a small tray at its roots. There were five grooves in it, which looked just right for holding the fruit.
Jean first tried putting in five at random. Nothing happened. She recited the spell, but still nothing happened.
"Looks like there's no taking shortcuts," Jean murmured. Then she placed one fruit of each of the five colors into the grooves, which immediately swallowed them. Jean recited the spell once more.
This time, one of the Golden Apples on the tree glowed faintly, then fell onto the enormous flower.
Jean hesitated, then recited it again.
The young girl had clearly picked up bad habits from Harry and wanted to see whether she could knock down