When the light cleared, Harry was faced with the terrifying site of two sphinxes staring him down. Two stories tall with giant claws that could rip him in two, they grinned down at him in unison.
"It has been many years since a wizard approached our gates." They said together and Harry was suddenly reminded of Fred and George Weasley. "What is your purpose here young one?" The sphinxes asked again. Harry blushed a little under the scrutiny of the magical beasts. He may have come to except his situation with Draco but that did not mean he was ready to announce it to anyone that asked.
"I-um-well, you see…"
"Yesssss?" The sphinxes questioned impatiently. Harry grimaced.
"I am here to rescue my mate!" Both the magical creatures looked at each other in alarm and then settled their glazes back on him.
"Oh dear. A Veela intended, are you? Well, what a pity, we were just starting to like you and now we'll have to kill you."
"What?" Harry yelled, panicking as the two sphinxes rose from their seated positions. He scoured his mind for a way out of this mess. Remembering what Ny'awen had told him he gulped.
"Wait!"
"Yes, little mortal? Do you have a last request before death?" Harry nodded, trying to appear as brave as he was trying to be.
"I challenge you to a riddle game." The sphinxes stared at him in amazement but soon their looks of surprise melted into looks of menacing glee.
"Riddles, you saw?" They inquired lightly. "We accept. What are your conditions?" Harry knew that the sphinxes were giving him a handicap by allowing him to pick the rules of game play but at this moment he didn't care. He was going to use this advantage to it's fullest.
"First one to get a riddle wrong loses. If I win, you will let me pass through this gate unharmed, you will let me exit with my mate without trouble, and you will not tell anyone of our passing. If I lose, I won't put up a struggle and you can kill me without any mess. Deal?" Both magical creatures nodded, pleased smiles stretching their otherwise pretty faces into ugly masks.
"Then let the game begin," the two half-lions echoed.
"We will begin," the sphinxes said. "Here is the first riddle: What is so fragile that when you say its name you break it?" Harry could already feel the claws sinking into his flesh. Why did he ever agree to this? He was horrible at riddles. His forte was action, not logic. Never before had Harry been in more need of Hermione. What would she do in this situation? Think it through Harry, take your time, its just a simple question. Yes, something like that. Let's see, fragile and talking breaks it. What is broken by sound? Silence!!!! That's it! Harry turned back to his adversaries confidently.
"Silence. The answer is silence." The sphinxes looked slightly miffed but other than that didn't seem to bothered by his small victory.
"That is correct. Your turn, young one." Harry began to rack his brain for riddles, once again falling back on a memory of Hermione. Once she had bought a book of riddles in Hogsmeade. He remembered flipping through it briefly. Aha! He remembered one now. Hermione had made him try to figure it out.
"Alright," he said. "I have a riddle. Until I am measured, I am not known. Yet how you miss me, when I have flown." The sphinxes stared at him and Harry filled with pride at his success, absolutely sure he had beaten the two fiendish creatures. That is, until they started laughing at him.
"The mortal wants to play a riddle game with us," they cackled. "Yet, he uses the oldest riddle, the riddle that all know the answer to. The answer, foolish boy, is time." Harry nodded dejectedly. He couldn't let them get to him, his riddle may have been thwarted but he still hadn't lost.
"Our turn," the sphinxes purred. "Some will use me, while others will not, some have remembered, while others have forgot. For profit or gain, I'm used expertly, I can't be picked off the ground or tossed into the sea. Only gained from patience and time, can you unravel my rhyme?" Harry was dead meat. The other one was relatively easy but this was gibberish as far as he was concerned. Some will use me? Power? No, that's not right. No one ever forgets power. Profit…money? No, that doesn't work either. You can pick up money. What's only gained from patience and time, can be used, remembered or forgotten. Memories? No, but close, something to do with the mind…knowledge? Yes! That sounded right, though he wasn't positive.
"Knowledge," he inquired tentatively. The sphinxes looked furious as they nodded. Harry let a grin light up his face. He could do this, Draco would come back with him whether these she-lions liked it or not.
"My turn," Harry said in a sing-song voice. Ah, if looks could kill he would be dead ten times over. Hmmm, he needed a riddle that wasn't quite so obvious, something that needed real consideration. "Okay, how about this. The more there is the less you see. What is it?" The sphinxes furrowed there brows, clearly not expecting to actually get a challenge from Harry.
"Darkness?" Damn. That was right. He hadn't expected for that to be that easy. It was only a matter of time before they asked him a riddle he couldn't figure out. He had to make sure that he tripped them up before they could trip him up.
"Yeah, that's right." Twin grinned stared maliciously down at him.
"Our turn, then, little mortal. This old one runs forever, but never moves at all. He has not lungs nor throat, but still a mighty roaring call. What is it?" Runs? Well, nothing that I know of roars when it runs…unless, water? Yes, water runs but it doesn't always roar. That's only when its white water. A waterfall? Yes, that luckily and very surprisingly easy…
"A waterfall?" The sphinxes nodded their heads grudgingly. Harry's grin widened.
"Next riddle then." Okay, here was his chance. He had to knock out the competition in one blow. It has to be something that a sphinx wouldn't know. Something modern! They've been guarding this gate for hundreds of years.
"What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?"
"What are you talking about? What are these objects?" Harry smiled at the sphinxes. "I'm not going to tell you. Answer the riddle or forfeit." The sphinxes stared at him for several minutes an Harry thought that they might be considering eating him anyways.
"Very well. We do not know the answer."
"The answer is that they were all invented by women." The sphinxes nodded and stepped aside for him to pass. Slowly the gate creaked open and he stepped inside.