Harry Potter: Reunion with the Enemy

Lancelot and Draco suddenly said the answer almost at the same time: "8191."

"So fast?" Harry seemed to have no clue yet. After all, the Sphinx had only asked the question for less than two minutes.

"Numerical puzzles usually have some basic rules, but sometimes you may need to take a few more turns." Lancelot saw the Sphinx nodded approvingly and agreed to leave together, so he drew out his wand and untied the chain that bound it, and the chain quickly spread out into several sections.

"Maybe it's because I worked on so many math assignments with Alex before - it opened my mind." Draco waved his hand. "The answer is the product of the first two numbers and their sum, which is the third number, and so on."

"If you are interested in solving puzzles, I have a lot of puzzles in stock." Sphinx stretched out his lion claws, as if confirming the freedom he had just gained. "I like to give people puzzles the most. Intelligent creatures should play with intelligent people."

Harry shook his head noncommittally. He was not sure if he liked playing these strange puzzles and reasoning games. He quickly returned his attention to this room. If they wanted to bring the Sphinx back to its homeland, they would probably have to unlock these doors first and go to Egypt. What was behind the door was still a mystery. Was it directly connected to the desert? Or was it inside the goblin stronghold? Harry tried a series of spells such as Alaho Open with almost no hope, but the stone door did not move at all.

Lancelot was obviously thinking the same thing.

"Did you see how the goblins opened these stone doors, Sphinx?" Lancelot walked to the edge of the circular room and carefully observed the patterns on the doors one by one. The edge of the broken stone door was painted with some waves and fish. "If this means the ocean, does this door lead to the underwater dungeon that was burned down last time?"

"The fairies would write some strange characters on these doors, and then press their palms on the middle of the doors, and the doors would disappear." Sphinx recalled, "But I am sure that the stone door to Egypt was written in the fairy language of the word Egypt, because when they imported me from my hometown, my name tag had corresponding translations of English and fairy language. As a literate intelligent creature, I have a certain impression of all the words I have seen."

Lancelot returned to the door with the pyramids, the Eye of Horus and other iconic patterns. "Let me think, Egypt, that's how it should be written." Lancelot took out the goblin's claws and wrote the words on the door. The goblin's claws left golden marks where they passed. The moment the palm pressed against the characters, fine lines on the stone door lit up and went out. Just as the Sphinx said, the door gradually disappeared.

The group held their breath and waited for what would appear behind the door - the imagined sandstorm and workshop did not appear, and there was only darkness behind the door.

"Let's go, let the Sphinx follow us and pay more attention to the surroundings." Draco pulled Harry towards the passage.

"I'd better go ahead and explore the way. I have more experience." Lancelot flashed and walked in front of the two people. As he passed by, he curiously touched the Sphinx's fur with his hands. It was not as soft as he imagined. It felt like dry straw. "Is this what a lion feels like?"

"Before, the goblins would just walk in - carrying what they wanted to transport." Sphinx reminded. "I just look like I have a lion's body. I am a completely different species from ordinary lions. Of course, I have never touched them. We can have a friendly exchange if we have a chance."

Lancelot stepped into the door cautiously. He did not sense any danger. Soon, everyone walked into the passage. The pitch-black darkness was illuminated by the tips of the magic wands that lit up one after another.

"Nowhere in particular, but we are moving." Harry broke the silence, he felt a familiar pulling sensation. Compared to the rapid compression of Apparition, or the feeling of being hooked by the stomach and thrown away like a portkey, the squeezing feeling in this passage was much more comfortable. Draco obviously felt the same way, "I guess, if it is really a passage for transporting goods, it won't damage the goods, or be thrown away and break anything."

Light soon appeared at the end of the passage, and sandstorms blew at the exit. Harry quickly cast Disillusionment Charm on the others and his expression became serious.

"Temple," Lancelot muttered, being the first to recognize the huge building in front of him.

The tall ochre stone pillars are covered with densely packed exquisite reliefs and hieroglyphs.

Because he often went to explore temples in the desert when he was a child, Lancelot knew that the layouts of these Egyptian temples were similar. They were arranged along the central axis, with gatehouses, open-air courtyards, colonnaded halls from the outside to the inside, and the temples and sanctuaries at the deepest part.

"This is the Temple of Horus, which symbolizes royal power in our Egyptian Muggle mythology." Lancelot looked up at the tall statue and recognized the temple. "The temple in the distance that is crowded with tourists is the Temple of the Sun God."

"Have I heard of the name Horus, Harry?" Draco knew very little about these Muggle myths.

"It feels very familiar to me too. The Muggle sun god? Apollo?" Harry obviously wasn't very proficient in it either.

"Apollo is a god in ancient Greek Muggle mythology. Strictly speaking, he does not belong to Egypt. In fact, these gods are the products of the early wizards who were not yet isolated from Muggle society. The spells invented by wizards also brought great changes to the lives of Muggles in those days. In the early days, before Muggles, wizards and goblins were isolated or hostile to each other, many things were accomplished through cooperation. In ancient Greece, the relationship between goblins and wizards was better." Lancelot tried to knock on the stone walls with his goblin claws.

The temple they entered was beside the Nile, and seemed to be enchanted to keep tourists away - or there was no other way to get in. There was no one here, and no sign of goblins. But another temple not far away was crowded with tourists taking pictures and chattering. Some of them were riding flying carpets, and Harry was sure they were not Muggles, but they obviously couldn't see the existence of this temple.

Harry and Draco followed Lancelot all the way into the temple. Some of the things in the temple clearly did not belong here, such as huge silver statues that looked more like European style, huge ornaments inlaid with gems, and some things that looked like workshop tools.

"This may be a transit point, because old man Andre also said that it is under the pyramid. This is obviously not a pyramid." Draco looked up at the tall, oppressive ochre stone pillars, trying to understand the mystery of this temple.

Lancelot searched the temple carefully inside and out, and finally used his goblin claws to knock out another stone door deep in the temple, the same as the one in the rotunda of Gringotts.

"This might be the door to the workshop," Harry said to Lancelot.

"I think so too, but there is a problem now." Lancelot gestured on the stone slab with his goblin claws, "The goblin language door lock here is not the Egyptian word. I tried Horus, but it didn't work either."

"I'm afraid I can't help you here." Sphinx also stood behind Lancelot. "I have never been here. Could the code be hidden in the temple?"

No one answered, and everyone obviously felt that the possibility was not high.

Draco suddenly spoke up, "You just said how often goblins use the passage?"

"A week or a month," replied the Sphinx.

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A few days later. In the rotunda at the bottom of Gringotts Lake.

"Is the Sphinx dead?" one goblin asked another, pointing to a rotten, faceless corpse lying next to the chains.

"Looks like he's dead. Let the house elves up there clean him up." Another goblin showed a disgusted look. "These are being shipped to the Egyptian workshop today."

inside the channel.

"Do you feel that something has come in with us?" said the goblin.

"It's a snake. It's dark now, I can't see it." Another goblin replied, "It's okay, I used a detector on it, and the magic sensor didn't sound any alarm. Gringotts is getting more and more dirty."