The corridors were narrow and the air was strangely damp as they proceeded farther into the labyrinth-like catacombs. Occasionally, a drop of water would fall onto Harry's head, causing him to wince. He wondered how somewhere as dry as Egypt could possibly have enough water to contain dripping caves. Perhaps it had been enchanted that way, to demoralize intruders. In the dim wand light, Harry could make out strange markings on the walls, hieroglyphs he supposed, that almost seemed to glow out at him sinisterly. There were some shaped like eyes that even seemed to follow him as he walked. They had been walking for what felt like close to half an hour when Medo stopped them. The fat Egyptian man cursed under his breath and held a hand out, almost causing Harry to bump into him.

"Muggle got in," he explained, and maximized his wand light so that those behind him could see. There was a skeleton in front of them with three heads, each twisting around in a different direction. The curve of its spine was almost S-like, and it was obvious that the muggle must have died in excruciating pain. There was a pile of dust surrounding the skeleton, but Harry saw a modern watch on his wrist. With further inspection, he saw an iphone on the ground. He stared in horror at the entirely decomposed corpse, and wondered how it could possibly have deteriorated so quickly.

Medo began muttering under his breath, moving his wand in strange combinations that didn't match up with any spells that Harry knew of. He felt Sarah push past him and join Medo at breaking whatever curse had caused the poor sap who had wandered in here to deteriorate and grow extra heads. It was fascinating to watch them work. Clearly, both of them were very experienced, and even though Harry didn't understand exactly what they were doing, he could feel the power flowing off of the glowing runes they drew in the air. Finally, Medo lowered his wand, with a weary look at Sarah.

"Muggles can sometimes reset curses that have already been broken. In places very high in magical power, such as this, it is more likely. I do not know when he entered here, but we have not been back in this area of the catacombs for many months. That curse will stay deactivated for some time, I hope. In the meantime, let us press on."

Harry looked behind him to see how the others were taking this. Haroon appeared impassive, as if he had seen things like this hundreds of times before, and maybe he had, in sharp contrast to Draco, who was recognizable now that the polyjuice potion had worn off, who wore his horror clearly on his face, mixed with disgust and fear. Harry resisted the urge to comfort him. Malfoy would definitely not appreciated that. Instead, he turned back to the front. Sarah stared at him impassively, her harsh features not softened at all in the glow of their wands. Harry found himself wondering again what her life had been like for her to be so scarred. She gave him a half-smile, as if she could guess his thoughts, then turned around to follow Medo into the dark.

"Do you think there are a lot of those curses down here?" Malfoy asked in a high pitched voice. Harry started out of a reverie at the question.

"Err, I don't know. Probably. Why else would so many curse-breakers live in Egypt?"

"I was hoping it was because Egypt's history is interesting." Harry grinned a little. Malfoy was clearly out of his element here, and the sure, cocky man who he had been to breakfast with was completely gone.

"Don't worry, Malfoy, I'll protect you from the scary skeletons."

"Oh fuck off, Potter," Malfoy said, shoving him. Harry tried to avoid touching the unknown symbols as he fell against the wall.

"There are many such curses." Haroon's voice piped up from behind Harry. "But we know how to deal with them. We have been breaking them for centuries. There is no need to worry, Mr. Malfoy."

"I wasn't worried, you blithering sarcophagus," Malfoy retorted angrily. "I was just wondering." They fell into silence as they wandered through the corridors. The passages had begun to split, and ahead of them, Medo and Sarah were choosing the way, carefully marking the walls every time they branched off.

Suddenly, the tunnels opened up in front of them, giving way to a large, well lit room. Malfoy gripped Harry's arm suddenly. The walls were painted gold, with black markings along the ceiling, which curved into a high dome. Higher than should have been possible for being so far into a cliff-side. At the other end of the room, three wooden doors stood out against the sea of gold, intricately carved and painted with scenes of the Egyptian gods. However, what drew his eyes, and caused Malfoy to grab onto him, was what sat in the center of the room.

At first glance, it appeared to be a lion. It had the body of a lion, in any case, but larger than any lion had right to be. A large, tufted tail flicked back and forth behind its golden body, in a hypnotizing fashion. But the lion's head was human. She had long black hair, tamed into two braids on either side of her face. Her eyes were clearly Egyptian, slanted upwards in a way that would have been alluring on a human. Her lips were large and red, and grinning at the intrusive party as they entered. Harry recognized her as a sphinx, although this one was far larger than the one he had faced during the triwizard tournament.

"Guardian," Haroon said, bowing deeply before the creature. Harry followed suit, dragging Malfoy with him and keeping his eyes locked on the sphinx as though he were taming a hippogryph. The Sphinx's smile widened and she extended her head towards them.

"You do not look like thieves," she said in a soft sultry voice. "You look like ministry. I do not always eat ministry." Malfoy's grip on Harry tightened, and he felt nails digging into his arm.

"We are ministry," Haroon explained. "We search for one who commits great evil in this holy place. One that may threaten you as well."

"I may have seen this one," the Sphinx said slowly. "They came seeking a way out and carried no stolen treasure."

"Will you tell us which way they went, Guardian?"

"If you can answer my riddle." Her tone was mischievous and menacing all at once as she folded her front paws together and sunk down onto them.

"We will hear you riddle," Sarah called, her wand by her side, twitching towards the direction of the sphinx.

"If you remain silent, I will let you return the way you came. If you answer correctly, I will tell you what I know and let you pass through one door. If you do not answer correctly, well," she smiled at them pleasantly, cleaning her claws against one another.

"My riddle is thus:

Firstly, this is a word that the vain most love,

what they see in the lake when their face lies above.

Next, What has no mouths but still has six faces,

twenty-one eyes, blind and in different places?

Last, I abbreviate something essential to life,

my one branch forms a 'V' and eleven hydrogens I am rife.

All together, I encompass castles and kings,

tell me the answer and away you shall wing."

The group pulled back to form a circle.

"The first word is me," Sarah said certainly, and Harry found himself agreeing with her.

"Yes, what of the others? Six faces?" Medo asked, face pulled up in concentration.

"Well," Sarah said slowly. "Essential to life with five Hydrogens. That's a chemical. Does anyone know any chemistry?" They all shook their heads. Brilliant,he thought to himself.

"Six faces," Haroon mused. "How many dots does a die have?"

"Brilliant!" Sarah said, giving him a rare smile. "So we have 'medie'. And we miss the last word that forms another word. What was the last clue?"

"Castles and kings," Harry said slowly. "Medieval?" Medo clapped him on the back, and Haroon and Sarah looked impressed. Malfoy's worried face appeared a little less tense.

"Yes! Excellent, Harry," Haroon said, a broad grin on his face.

"Guardian, the answer is Medieval," Medo said confidently. The Sphinx smiled at them again.

"Well reasoned. Your target took the middle path, but the right path will take you to the same place more quickly. He was here yesterday, so I can not say where he will be today." She stood onto her magnificent legs, and stepped to the side of the room so they could pass. As Draco walked by her, she snapped her white teeth together playfully, and Harry felt the grip on his arm tighten to an almost painful level. Although strangely, he found he did not mind much.

They walked through the door on the right, with the goddess Isis painted on the front, and found themselves back in the dark once more.

"Potter, that was excellent," Sarah said in a solemn voice.

Harry grinned sheepishly. "I've been spending a lot of time with a friend who is actually good at riddles." He thanked his lucky stars that Hermione had gone through a riddle phase lately, and that he had retained some knowledge of the basic logic.

"For once I may be glad I have the famous scarhead here to save me," Draco whispered so that only Harry could hear him, and Harry felt a flush of warmth run through him at Draco's words. The taller man still hadn't let go of his grip on Harry, although he had loosened it to a more manageable level. Harry felt himself placing a hand on top of Draco's and squeezing it, although he wasn't exactly sure why. He released it quickly, just in case Malfoy was in a hexing mood.

Harry shivered in spite of himself as they carried on. The underground tunnels were becoming colder the farther in they managed to get. He found himself wishing for one of Hermione's fires in a jar to have with him. His feet were numb and his hands were cold; Malfoy's hand on his arm was the only thing keeping him from freezing it seemed. When they entered another larger chamber, mercifully Sphinx-less this time, Medo called a break for lunch. He handed out sandwiches from his backpack along with bottles of water, and they all sat along the edge of the round, gold room. Medo and Haroon were muttering to each other in arabic, probably deep in conversation about Egyptian history, and Sarah seemed content to sit by herself, closing her eyes as she ate. With no other options, Harry took a seat next to Malfoy, who gave him a haughty nod, as if he hadn't been gripping Harry's arm in fear all afternoon.

"Where do you suppose we'll sleep?" Harry asked, fumbling around for something to talk about.

"The dragon's lair of course," Malfoy drawled, a model of complete relaxation except for his hands, which gripped his sandwich hard enough to bruise the bread and turn his knuckles white.

"Malfoy, have you ever seen a sphinx before?" Harry was curious. He had only seen one because of the Triwizard Tournament, and he realized that they may not be common enough for most wizards to have seen them.

"No," Malfoy said shortly, with furrowed eyebrows. After a moment he continued reluctantly, "I've seen pictures, but they're bigger in real life. And the way she looked at me. As if she wanted to devour me." The blond man shuddered and fell silent.

"I nearly wet myself the first one I met. They feel the need to threaten you to make you more likely to mess up their riddles, I bet. I got lucky both times I've seen them now."

Malfoy sneered. "You didn't get lucky, Potter, you knew what you were doing. You were trained for this. Don't try to make me feel better."

Harry raised his hands in surrender. "I'm not! I mean it. I've never had to deal with a Sphinx in an uncontrolled area before and I was probably as terrified as you-"

"I wasn't bloody scared, Potter. Just, startled. That's all. And if you were a competent auror, you wouldn't have even been startled. I brew potions. The most dangerous creatures I have to deal with are live beetles. What's your excuse?" Harry leaned away, a little stung.

"I got us out of there, didn't I?" Malfoy grunted and returned to his sandwich. Sighing, Harry stood and moved to sit by Sarah instead.

She opened her eyes as he approached and surveyed him neutrally.

"Hello," he said in his most friendly tone.

"Hello, Mr. Potter. Troubles with Malfoy?"

Harry sighed frustratedly. "No, he's just a bit of a git. I can only take so much of him, you know."

"I know," she replied, closing her eyes again.

"What made you decide to come here?" Harry asked politely.

"I lived in Egypt as a curse-breaker for most of my twenties and half of my thirties," she replied amiably. "I suppose I missed it after a while. It has quite a charm that I haven't felt anywhere else."

"How long have you been a curse-breaker? What is the training like?"

"The training is brutal," she said bluntly. "They only allow the best of the best to complete it, for good reason. Life expectancy as a code-breaker is lower than most professions in our world. We train for three years, facing every kind of beast or spell imaginable. Then we apprentice for another year and take your vows to live under the Curse-Breaker's Code. I started when I was sixteen, fresh out of Ilvermorny. I worked with the code-breakers in America for a while, mostly at the Great Arches in Utah. When I was twenty-three, I came out here looking for adventure, which I certainly found. And then I retired to a desk job as a head curse-breaker with the MACUSA. I'm getting too old for adventure."

"What is the Curse-Breaker's Code?" Harry asked, fascinated.

"A set of laws we must abide by," she explained carefully. "Curse-Breakers of all nationalities must follow the same laws so that we don't set anything in motion that we can't control."

Harry had a million more questions. He had never really talked with a curse-breaker before, and he had had no idea the field was so interesting. He wanted to ask more, but Medo was already getting them on their feet to continue their trek. Resolving to ask her later, he fell back in line behind her, with Draco at his back again.