HP: Fantastic Beasts And The Right Way To Use Them

The icy liquid flowed through his body like frozen fire. Looking at the black flames burning around him, Harry forcibly suppressed the terror in his heart and quickly rushed through the flame-filled corridor.

When his vision returned to brightness, Harry raised his head and immediately met three terrifying skulls staring down at him.

Swallowing nervously, his eyes filled with instinctive fear as he couldn't help but step back several paces.

Those three monstrous creatures that resembled lions but possessed distinctly human heads were constantly assaulting his nerves, causing countless waves of primal fear to surge through his heart.

He remembered that when he was in the Muggle world, he had heard classmates mention a phenomenon where people would feel instinctive terror when seeing creatures that looked human but weren't entirely human.

That phenomenon seemed to be called the uncanny valley effect, right?

Steadying himself, after discovering that the three monsters didn't seem to plan on eating him directly, Harry observed their bodies more carefully.

Lion bodies with human faces. He seemed to have seen this in one of Dudley's encyclopedias. They were called Sphinxes, weren't they?

The book had recorded that Sphinxes were mythological creatures from ancient Egyptian legends. They often blocked passing travelers and asked them riddles, cruelly devouring those who couldn't answer correctly.

He hadn't expected such creatures to actually exist in the real world!

Forcing himself to calm down, Harry began to have second thoughts.

If three Sphinxes were guarding here, no one should be able to pass through, right?

How could someone who couldn't even get past that three-headed dog possibly defeat these three legendary Sphinxes?

Thinking this way, maybe Headmaster Dumbledore's protection was quite perfect after all?

But just as he was about to turn back, he suddenly heard faintly from behind the door behind these three Sphinxes, a terrifying laughter echoing through the stone chamber.

That laughter was so hoarse, so bone-chillingly cold, that just hearing a bit of it made Harry's hair stand on end.

Someone who laughed like that must be a very frightening person!

His expression hardened with newfound determination. Without any hesitation, Harry stepped forward again and met the gazes of the three Sphinxes.

If someone had already gotten through, the Philosopher's Stone might be in serious danger!

Although he remembered that encyclopedia mentioning that Sphinx riddles could only be answered by the wisest of people, and he didn't consider himself such a person, having come this far, he had to at least try!

Even if the consequence of failure was death...

Seeing that the young wizard in front of them seemed ready for the challenge, the leftmost Sphinx yawned boredly and lazily recited their opening lines.

"I'm called Sphinx."

"I'm called Finx."

"I'm called Ks. Let's just get to the questions."

After speaking, the three Sphinxes looked at each other, nodded listlessly, and Sphinx stepped forward, speaking with obvious boredom.

"One plus one?"

It was even too lazy to finish reciting the complete question, but for such a simple problem, it didn't matter whether it was completed or not.

"Huh?"

Harry, who had been concentrating intently, was obviously stunned and looked at the Sphinx before him in complete disbelief.

Wasn't it said that Sphinx riddles could only be answered by the wisest of people?

Wasn't this question a bit too simple?

Thinking this, Harry opened his mouth, preparing to give that obvious answer.

But just then, his gaze suddenly sharpened with realization.

Wait! He seemed to remember a former Muggle classmate mentioning that besides its normal interpretation, 1+1 was also one of the most advanced mathematical problems in existence!

Countless brilliant mathematicians had devoted their entire lives to this problem but still couldn't solve this legendary riddle!

Could it be that the Sphinx before him was asking about that impossible problem?

As expected of a legendary creature. The questions it asked were truly sophisticated!

A trace of gravity flashed in his eyes. Harry's back was gradually soaked with cold sweat as he recalled his experiences in the Muggle world, but no matter how desperately hard he thought, he couldn't remember the specific content of that mathematical conjecture.

Meanwhile, Sphinx, looking at the boy with the increasingly grave expression, felt extremely puzzled.

Evans had indeed said that wizards' mathematical abilities were poor, but surely not to this ridiculous extent?

The difficulty really couldn't be lowered any further!

After pondering for a long time, Harry seemed to finally make up his mind. He raised his head to meet the Sphinx's eyes with desperate courage.

He couldn't remember the content of that conjecture, and even if he could remember it, he definitely couldn't solve it.

He could only try his luck with a desperate attempt.

"Equals... two?"

After speaking, he quickly closed his eyes, his body trembling slightly as he waited for death to arrive.

Looking at the young wizard's trembling appearance, confusion flashed in Sphinx's eyes.

Hadn't he answered correctly? Why was he still so frightened?

Did they really look that scary?

Shaking its head with boredom, asking such simple questions was simply insulting to the complex question bank it had memorized.

Fortunately, this young wizard had answered correctly, so it didn't need to lower the difficulty further.

Otherwise, it really wouldn't know what to ask.

"Correct answer!"

"Eh?"

His body stopped trembling. Harry looked up in surprise at the Sphinx that seemed somewhat dejected.

It really was just ordinary 1+1?

But before he could process this revelation, the next two questions followed in quick succession.

"Two plus two?"

"Three plus three?"

Answering all the questions in complete bewilderment, watching the three Sphinxes step aside from the door behind them, Harry felt an extreme sense of unreality.

These were the questions that only the wisest people could answer?

Could he actually be a genius?

But the current situation obviously didn't allow him to think more about this. Burying those confusing doubts in his heart, Harry rushed to the door.

That terrifying laughter still echoed in his ears, sounding almost hysterical.

The voice didn't sound like Snape, as he had guessed, but more like that hoarse voice he had heard at the bathroom door before.

Wait, if he had been laughing the whole time, could it be that he had already obtained the Philosopher's Stone?

This terrifying thought immediately made Harry's heart tighten with dread. He quickened his pace, rushed to the door, and pushed it open with trembling hands.

With a loud creak, a somewhat spacious room came into Harry's view.

Then he saw a hooded figure both laughing hysterically and caressing a tall, magnificent full-length mirror, moving as if trying to polish every tiny corner of the mirror surface clean.

Harry, seeing this bizarre scene: "?"

This wasn't quite what he had imagined would happen.

In his imagination, shouldn't he be seeing a major villain holding the Philosopher's Stone triumphantly and showing him a cold, menacing smile?

Although the person before him looked quite frightening too, it somehow lacked the dramatic atmosphere he'd expected.

The next second, that person suddenly crouched down and began caressing the base of the mirror with both hands lovingly.

The strange feeling grew even stronger!

"Master, someone has come in. It's Potter." Suddenly, a somewhat timid voice sounded from behind that person's head.

That voice felt incredibly familiar to Harry, and after the voice sounded, the person caressing the mirror slowly turned his head, revealing the sinister, terrifying, twisted face under the hood.

The moment he saw that face, Harry couldn't help but step back two paces. All those previous strange feelings completely disappeared, leaving only surprise and fear in his eyes, plus some deeply hidden anger.

He remembered this face. Since that Christmas day, he would occasionally dream of such a face, along with that fleeting green light.

Later, after various inquiries, he had been able to roughly deduce who this face belonged to.

Voldemort.