Hogwarts fourth floor, in a wide corridor leading to the Charms classroom.
"Zoe is a young witch who loves Transfiguration spells. According to her research, she discovered that the greater the difference between the transfigured object and its original form, the more mental energy is consumed..."
The Sphinx's deafening voice echoed through the corridor, and across from it, Ron stared blankly at the Sphinx's massive body with empty eyes, while the pixie on his head had spirals like mosquito coils in its eyes.
Having gotten into the wrong state earlier and missed a simple 23+45 problem, Ron's mentality had somewhat exploded. He no longer wanted to answer the Sphinx's questions.
As for the pixie on his head, it had probably been talked into a daze by the Sphinx.
Shaking his head, Ron's heart sank to the bottom.
Maybe he'd be trapped here all day?
Professor Kahn's club really was hard to get into.
Bang, smack.
Suddenly, two sounds rang out beside Ron in the empty corridor, making his sluggish brain turn slightly.
Turning his head, he saw George and Fred thrown to the ground in a bizarre posture, bottoms up, struggling to get up.
Beside them was a pure black cloak sprawled on the ground, wriggling.
Behind them, the Sphinx that had just thrown the twins and Little Cloak to the ground glanced at Ron, who was still standing there, and a flash of surprise crossed its eyes that were bigger than lightbulbs.
Why was this young wizard still here? Didn't Evans say to give a simple problem every 15 minutes?
Could it be that he couldn't even solve those simple problems?
That would be too dumb!
Shaking its head and not thinking about such things anymore, the Sphinx turned around and returned to the mist.
It still needed to continue patrolling the castle, looking for young wizards who had stayed in the mist too long.
Hmm, that one who had been walking in the mist for almost half an hour, it had been watching for a long time!
Time to close the net!
Rubbing his somewhat painful bottom from the fall, Fred was the first to stand up. After observing the surroundings and seeing Ron, his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Huh?"
George had obviously also seen Ron nearby, and a smile appeared on his face.
"Oi, Ronnie! You get caught too?"
Seeing the twins' expressions as if they'd discovered something interesting, Ron couldn't be bothered to deal with them and turned his head away on his own.
Seeing Ron's uncooperative expression, George and Fred didn't tease him too much, but instead huddled together to complain quietly.
"Professor Kahn's charm was completely useless! Tsk, two monsters actually work together?"
"Exactly!"
Even Little Cloak nearby raised its corners to join in condemning their Professor Kahn.
While they were complaining, the Sphinx, noticing the new arrivals, coughed twice and said to the newly arrived twins:
"I am Sphinx. Due to your reckless behaviour, you must answer a question correctly before you can leave here!"
"Answer questions?"
A trace of confusion appeared in the twins' eyes simultaneously, but this confusion quickly turned to delight.
They had initially thought being caught by a monster meant failing the assessment, but it didn't seem to be the case?
If they only needed to answer one question correctly to leave, it didn't seem to delay them much?
This punishment wasn't severe! They could try several more times!
With confidence, the two brothers stood up, straightened their chests, and prepared to quickly answer the Sphinx's question, then hurry back to solve more puzzles, get more items, and try to actually catch one of these creatures!
But after just hearing the question, they had to sadly discover that they might not be able to complete these problems easily.
"Professor Snape has acquired 6 crates of potion ingredients. Two crates of dittany cost 304 Galleons and 15 Sickles, one crate of bat wings costs one-third the price of dittany, and three crates of horn powder cost 20% more than bat wings. How much did Professor Snape spend in total?"
George, Fred: "???"
Looking at his two brothers, who were stunned beside him, Ron snorted disdainfully.
He could guess with his feet what these two had been thinking just now.
But they didn't think about it. If the questions were really that simple, how could he have been trapped here for so long?
Shaking his head, Ron didn't bother with the two idiots beside him and focused on listening to Sphinx's riddles.
At this point, he could feel his temples constantly throbbing. The mist's erosion was already quite obvious, and he didn't have much time left.
If another problem like the previous 23+45 appeared, he couldn't get it wrong again.
Five minutes later.
"No good, we can't answer it at all!" Fred, whose head hurt from the buzzing sound, was the first to acknowledge this fact.
They had to think of other ways to leave.
"Did you bring that thing?"
"Of course!"
The two brothers made eye contact, confirmed something, and looked together at Little Cloak floating nearby.
The Sphinx's deafening voice continued to ring out. The giant beast seemed to completely ignore them discussing quietly. It had completely immersed itself in its mathematical artistry.
"Mr Ollivander recently wanted to craft a new batch of wands, but due to Ministry restrictions, he could only obtain wood from one tree..."
Not listening to the deafening voice anymore, George spoke softly.
"Little Cloak, in half a minute, we need you to cover its eyes for at least five seconds. Can you do it?"
After being stunned for a moment, Little Cloak nodded its hood firmly. It slowly floated up, its pure black hem gently swaying, and an invisible magical power began to slowly flow from its abdomen.
Although the gap between it and Sphinx was large, it was only five seconds. Burning through the food it had eaten these past few days wasn't a problem!
Seeing Little Cloak's determined appearance, George and Fred simultaneously reached into their chests and began counting down under Ron's surprised gaze.
Sphinx's voice continued to ring out. About half a minute later, suddenly, a pure black shadow drifted from Little Cloak's robe hem.
Countless invisible magical powers rippled out, and the magic cluster in Little Cloak's abdomen began to rapidly drain, but at the same time, the shadow instantly spread out and surged toward Sphinx, who was reciting problems.
Sphinx, who was mentally composing the next question, didn't react to what was happening at all before the pure black shadow completely enveloped its head.
A flash of protective magic gleamed on its body, but the shadow didn't harm it. It just temporarily blocked its vision.
Seeing Little Cloak's shadow take effect, George and Fred instantly pulled out a bunch of cylinders from their chests that looked like fireworks but were somewhat different in shape.
Throwing the cylinders around, George pulled out his wand and recited a spell.
"Aguamenti!"
Water sprayed from his wand tip, wetting the firework cylinders on the ground. The cylinders' surfaces began to show some burning traces, then rapidly expanded, completely destroying the outer shells in an instant.
Grabbing Ron, who still didn't quite understand what was happening, George and Fred took Little Cloak and ran straight toward the other end of the corridor.
At that moment, Little Cloak's shadow could no longer restrain Sphinx's vision. It dispersed the darkness before it, and its huge eyes looked toward the direction the twins were fleeing, then at the burning cylinders nearby.
The next second, fireworks completely obscured all vision.