A/N: So I forgot to put in the dusclaimer last time, so here it is, I own absolutely positively nothing! Just me otherworldly imagination.

Moving on I would like to thank everyone who Reviewed and Faved and Followed. It really did mean the world to me and I am lad that so far people are liking the idea. Here is my next chapter that will get the ball rolling some more. I was probably a bit more wordy than I had to be at places, but, eh, whatever. I hope that you all like this chapter.

One more thing, there are two unanswered riddles in this chapter. I challenge you readers to answer them in the reviews so that I can give you fake invisible pixel cookies! Yeah, other than that I would love some feedback.


Chapter 2: Reality Marble

Harry groaned as he woke up, not really knowing where he was. He had remembered reading the lines in the pyramid and then a flash of light and falling. It was the falling that had scared him and he could already feel the sore spots on his back from where he had landed. Though, admittedly it was nowhere near as bad as he had been after a run in with Dudley and his gang. Those guys were still young and didn't know how to hit, so most of the time Harry was able to get out without much injury.

Eyes opening, the boy looked around him and what he saw took his breath away. He was in a room of sorts, a hall perhaps, surrounded by the same sand colored bricks that he had become used to seeing in the pyramids. The walls were covered in so many different kinds of writing that Harry was in awe of it. There were the squiggles and hieroglyphs, but also a few others that Harry had never seen before. One of which looked suspiciously like Latin. As Harry looked he could also see gems imbedded into the wall in a pattern that reminded Harry of the runic ward that Bill had called up before he was called away.

But what held Harry's attention was not the writing on the wall, no; it was the creature that sat regally at the end of the hall that had the door. It had the body of a lion but the face was decidedly human. It was a she; there was some grace in the face structure and posture that yelled out female, not to mention the lack of a mane but hair that seemed to almost make one. It was almost like Hermione's hair, only it was straight and golden instead of fizzy. The back half also seemed slender in comparison to the bulk of the front of the creature. Harry knew what she was too; he had heard about them and seen enough statues and carvings in the pyramids of them to be sure. She was a sphinx. A half man, half lion hybrid.

"Good evening young one." She greeted in a deep and rumbling voice, one that sounded like a mix between the rumbling of the earth and melted honey.

Swallowing his nerves, the young boy walked forward and asked "Hi, um…you wouldn't happen to know how I got here, would you?" He knew it was dangerous to ask the creature a question, but at the same time, he knew that he should not have been there at all. And as he already knew that she could speak, his mind didn't see the harm in asking. Either she would help him, or she would kill him. Personally, he was hoping that she would be willing to help him. It wasn't so long ago that he had found himself in a situation similar to this and ended up fight a basilisk. Harry had hopes that it would be different this time around.

The sphinx eyed him for a moment before she sighed and said "It would appear that you accidently stumbled on this place. This is a place only a speaker of the noble tongue could find with ease. Pass the tests, and you will be given a gift. Fail them, and you will never leave here alive. One as young as you should not have been taken here, so for my test I shall be slightly more lenient than I would have been should you have been an adult."

Not knowing how to respond, Harry numbly nodded at the creature before him. His fear and anxiety skyrocketing as he did so. Just looking that this creature the little boy knew that she could probably kill him with one swipe of her claws.

"Answer this riddle, and you are free to pass." She said. And then in a deeper voice she asked:

"What can run but never walks,

Has a mouth but never talks,

Has a head but never weeps,

Has a bed but never sleeps?"

Harry looked at the sphinx when she spoke and thought of the riddle that she had asked him. He knew that she would eat him if he did not answer the question correctly, but he could have sworn that he had heard this one before. Harry took the time to repeat the riddle to himself and thought about before he looked up at her.

"A river," he answered with certainty.

"Very good little one, you have passed my test. You may enter the next chamber." She spoke with a proud glint in her eye. Of course, though Harry was almost thirteen, the sphinx thought that he was nine at the most. He was just that small.

Harry hesitated for a moment at the door before he looked at the sphinx once again. He didn't want to be alone. Ron had been with him on the way down to the chamber of secrets, and Harry had known that Ginny would be there waiting for him in the center chamber. Here there was no guarantee that he would be alone. It was a terrifying thought for the young boy.

"What is your name?" Harry asked instead of the question that he really wanted to ask.

"It has been a long time since I have used a name little one. But the man who put me in here had called me Xevera. I was but a cub when I was placed in here."She answered softly. Her voice was oozing comfort to him for some unknown reason.

"How long have you been in here?" Harry asked as he looked up at her with his large green eyes that begged her to help him and keep him safe. She wanted to curl around the boy and keep him with her. Xevera had never felt this way, but then again, she had never been a mother before. She had been in this place for most of her life.

"Years beyond counting. But time is not the same here as they are out there. The doorway you summoned moved you into a different reality. I do not know how different the time is, but I do know that when you leave it will either be only hours since you left, or it will be days." She said flatly, not wanting to betray any emotion that those words represented. She had longed to leave this place, but knew that she probably never would.

"Would you come with me? I don't mean help me or anything, but I just don't want to be alone." Harry asked in an impossibly small voice. His insecurities were coming out so that he could ask this of the creature in front of him.

Xevera felt her tail flick as she heard him and almost right away she knew that her heart had claimed him as her cub. He was hers, and she was going to make sure that he would make it out of there, even if that meant she would be no more. "Of course little one, I will come with you. But you have to pass the upcoming tests on your own. You may ask questions, but I will not physically help you." She answered the boy with a surprisingly gentile toothy smile. It almost looked feral if not for the sweet edge to it and the softening of the eyes.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief as he started forward again with the sphinx leisurely walking next to him, her head almost at his shoulder.

"Up for anther riddle little one?" She asked as they walked, a slight purring sound coming from her chest.

"Sure," Harry said with a smile as they entered a narrow hallway that would lead to the next chamber that he would have to face in order to leave. Or, at least that was what Harry thought he had to do in order to leave.

"A box without hinges, key, or lid,

Yet inside golden treasure is hid."


Bill and the team had cracked down almost immediately and started to scour the new room without touching anything. It was a small room with an alter in the center that held a large perfectly circular stone that looked to be an emerald, though it was one of the largest emeralds that Bill had ever seen. They all knew that it was a Reality Marble. It was a space set aside that held true the laws of the world, but time and space were contorted through it. It was like its own little world.

They had been looking into this room for over an hour, and they all had been frustrated with how much they couldn't read. Some had even said that they hoped the boy would come back willing to help translate all that was in there. Bill was sure that if he came out alive, he would have no problem doing that, but they needed to get him back alive and well first.

"Parseltongue, no wonder we couldn't crack it. The lines must have been some kind of written version of it. I never thought that was possible." John muttered as he looked at the unreadable language with interest. He had been coming across the lines of the strange language at almost every turn and never before had been able to discern what it was. Part of him had been convinced that it was some sort of early version of Sanskrit.

"Yes and now Harry got himself sucked into a Reality Marble. We have no idea what could be in there." Bill replied as he looked on as well. His worry was very much more pronounced than that of the others seeing as he had just spent time with the kid over the past few days.

"Hey, I'm sure the kid will be alright. And look here, I think that we can send one other person inside of the marble. All that we have to do is touch the reality marble. But only two people can get in at a time. I'm thinking that you should go in seeing as the kid knows you and won't panic." The man reasoned as he pointed to the hieroglyphs that were under the parselscript.

Bill nodded before he grabbed extra supplies and looked at the marble. They all knew that this was dangerous, so Bill had not only his wand, but also Harry's. Mrs. Weasely had made sure that the kids did not have them, but they were on her person just in case. So now he had to give Harry his wand and hope that they wouldn't need it. In his pack were also the supplies that he felt he needed when entering a new place that had never been broken into before. He even had a length of rope on him, though it was shrunk and in the bottom of the bag.

What helped his nerves was the fact that he had known Harry had already been through a couple of interesting things in school, so he knew that the boy was at least a little resilient. Even if they hadn't known any of the details, Bill knew that Harry had saved his sister from the Chamber of Secrets, and that he had done so alone for that most part. Even if he had to do tests, from the writing on the wall the marble as not warded or trapped the same way as the rest of the pyramid had been. That meant that it should be easier to get through for the kid.

Touching the emerald, Bill felt as if he had just activated a portkey as he was thrown into the new reality and fell flat on his back. But he was up and on his feet seconds later as he looked around ready to take out any threat that came near him. To his relief there was nothing, but to his disappointment he didn't see Harry either.

Carefully, Bill did a scan before he walked the length of the hall before he walked forward and through the narrow hall and into the next chamber. What h saw made him pale slightly. There were fresh scorch marks on the walls, but he didn't smell anything that told him someone had been burnt in this place. The underlying heat of the room and the smoldering ashes on the sand told him that it hadn't been long since Harry had been in the room. So he hoped that Harry was alright before he started forward again.

It was a twisting and winding hall that he found himself when he spotted Harry and his horror a sphinx walking next to him and speaking to him as though she had known him for years. Sphinxes were well respected by everyone in the magical world. They were intelligent and could see reason. But they were also feared for the ease in which they could kill and the brutality that they could exhibit as well. Seeing the two converse was very worrying to the redhead.

"Harry!" Bill called out, and was rewarded with a squeak as the boy jumped and whirled around to see who had spoken his name, his green eyes wide with fight and relief.

"Bill!" He sighed when he saw the redheaded curse breaker. Harry was about to walk up to him when Xevera stepped between the two and glared up at the man she had not met before. He had yet to pass her inspection. Also, the little one with the big green eyes had been claimed by her heart. This man was going nowhere close until he passed the inspection.

"It's alright Xevera, this is Bill, he was with me when I accidently fell into here." Harry said when he heard the sphinx growl at the man that Harry knew would help him out of this place. Xevera had been very helpful, but Bill knew magic, and so Harry was sure that with him there things would get easier for him.

"You trust him little one, but I have not tested him. He may go no further until he answers my riddle." She said in her deep voice. Harry was surprised to note that it was colder than the voice that she had been using with him while was with her.

With a reluctant nod, Harry looked towards Bill who was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Harry was conversing with a sphinx and that she was not eating him outright. While they had not been band, sphinxes' were very dangerous magical creatures, and Bill had never met one that seemed as kind as this one was being to Harry. They were the guardians of the pyramids for a reason. And most of the time they did their jobs without question. That meant that Harry had gotten a riddle correct and she had not only allowed him to pass, but had for some reason gone with him as well.

"Alright, what is your riddle?" Bill asked as he focused his attention on the magical creature.

"I know a thousand faces, and count the tailed heads,

Feasting brightly upon the eyes, of many who have died,

Wielding well a mighty power, who hath but humble stature,

Masses fall upon their knees, to scarce behold my only side."

Her voice was deep and cutting as she kept herself in between the man and the boy she had claimed in her heart as her own. Even if he trusted this man, she would not. Not until he proved that he cared about her charge. Then he would be welcome.

Bill's eyes widened as he thought over the riddle that the sphinx had given him. It was not one that he had heard before. In fact, it was not one that he was familiar with at all. But he paused and thought it through. It had faces and tails, power without being something big. It was a thing, that he was sure about. The minutes stretched as he thought about the riddle until finally it clicked.

"A coin" he answered in absolute certainty. His bright blue eyes glinting as he did so. They might not have twinkled like Dumbledore's did, but they were rather shiny and a nice shade of blue that was darker than his mother's or father's.

Xevera looked him up and down, examining him before she conceded. "Yes, that was the answer. You may advance with us." She then turned to Harry was a smile and butted her head against his chest to get him to continue down the winding hall. They still had a path they had to follow. She was going to see her new cub out of this place yet.

"Oh, Harry, here is your wand. I know you're not allowed, but this is a Reality Marble, you can use magic in here and no one will ever know." Bill said as he passed Harry his wand.

Harry looked up at the man with a smile of joy and a blush of slight embarrassment. He was breathing easier than he had been before; after all, Xevera had been berating him on not having his wand during the first test that he had passed. Even after he had explained that he wasn't allowed to do magic outside of school until after graduation, she didn't seem to understand why he didn't have it on him at all times. Harry blamed the twins for Molly's paranoia about teens with wands.

"So, what have you faced so far?" Bill asked as he looked around the hall as they walked forward. His voice may have sounded nonchalant, but in reality he was getting his mind ready for the next test that was going to appear in this place.

"Well, Xevera had me solve a riddle in the first room, and then in the second I had to keep dodging a flame thrower type of thing until I pressed a button type thing along the wall to stop them. Those things were vicious, it was trying to kill me, I'm sure of it. If it wasn't for my seeker instincts, I don't think I would have been able to dodge as much as I had." Harry said with a surprisingly humorous laugh as he shook his head.

Bill nodded at him before ruffling his hair. "Nice, good job, well I am here to help get you through this from now on. I am pretty sure that more than one thing will kill me if you get hurt down here, and I am not going to be explaining this to my mother, just letting you know."

"No! You're going to leave me to face her on my own? I hadn't thought that I was that crazy! And she is your mother, not mine!" Harry said in absolute horror. He still had not gotten used to the Weasely matriarch fawning over him whenever he came. Part of that was from the fact that he had never had a mother figure in his life before. Aunt Petunia never counted as one seeing as they did not share feelings like that with each other.

"Where are you parents, speaking of mothers, I highly doubt that they would be glad you stumbled upon this place?" The sphinx asked as she glared slightly at the two of them with no real heat. It had been bugging her that one as young as her new cub had not been with his parents while finding her and the marble.

Harry sobered almost immediately before he answered "Um, they died when I was very young. I don't even remember them."

Xevera bowed her head when she heard that, and her furry ears drooped back as well. She had only passing glimpses of her own parents and knew how that could affect someone. Even if he was a human and she was not.

"Well, how about another riddle for you?" She changed the subject to try and distract the young boy from any thoughts that would be hard for him. She noticed that the older boy had not commented earlier, and so she knew that he had known something, but not a great lot about it. Bill was looking at the sphinx in surprise as she seemed to be trying to lift the boy's spirit. Never before had he ever heard of a sphinx having a soft spot for a human. It was mindboggling.

"Sure," was the answer Harry gave.

"A hundred arms, a thousand fingers,

But has not eyes to see where it lingers."


A/N: And there you have it. Another chapter done. Please let me know what you think of the riddles, I did have a fun time going through them. I believe that they were probably the reason that I started this fanfic in the first place... So, moving on, there are two unanswered riddles, I am looking for two answers when you review. Thank you all for reading!