Violet watched the Sphinx warily, waiting for her next move. She wondered what the next riddle would be.

The sphinx looked at Egypt appraisingly and then approached her, eating the eggs she provided whole. She paused to lick her paws, glancing up occasionally as she was aware that every eye was on her.


"Riddle two:

Brute strength and force cannot get through, but this with gentle touch can do.
So man in the street would stand, were this not a tiny friend at hand."



The sphinx looked at the humans expectantly.

James was stumped as he stood there looking at the creature. He played the riddle over in his mind carefully. The first had been easy enough this second how ever was something different. He glanced around the break room "Anyone have any ideas?"

"Er..." said Violet. "Well, I think it's something like wealth or luck," she suggested. Then something came to her. "Oh! Or...a key?" she asked.

The sphinx smiled its enigmatic grin at the violet-eyed one.


"Excellent. A key... needed to allow me entrance again.

Riddle three:

There is but one thing that will return me to cages...

Who hisses like bacon
Was made with an egg,
Has plenty of backbone, but lacks a good leg...
With layers like onions, yet still remains whole,
And is long, like a flagpole, yet fits in a hole.
One such with great power is known to all here--
This one, from on high, makes you quiver with fear."


The sphinx glanced around the room and settled down on her paws, relaxing as she waited for her riddle to be solved.

Egypt listened to the last riddle, her mind was thinking of a million things at once. She looked up at at the Sphinx, "Is is a snake?" She asked grasping at straws with that answer.

" A snake...maybe.. " James said softly One such with great power is known to all here-- This one, from on high, makes you quiver with fear."
Known to all here?? snake?? the clues in the riddle twisted around in his head for a minute. " Slytherin??.. From on... The minister?!"

She glanced at the man when he called the Minister a snake. That was mighty bold of him, she thought as she tried to hide the small smirk on her face. She never liked to speak ill of anyone and she wouldn't have said that in a million years.

The sphinx nodded encouragingly to Egypt, then walked over to James and sat in front of him, lowering her head deferentially.


"Very good. Only for the Minister shall I return without resistance to my enclosure."

These wizards were good at riddles. Pity... She was still hungry.

Oh brother, she thought. The Sphinx wanted to see Minister Cooper? Egypt nodded to the Sphinx. "I will see if the Minister will see you." She said walking quickly out of the break room heading toward the lifts up to level 1

Violet smiled when she got the second riddle. She watched as the other wizards solved the third one. "All right, but how are we going to get the Minister to come up here?" she wondered aloud.

Teal plowed into the crowded break room after getting an urgent letter from Jack, concerning the Goblins at Gringrott's wanting the sphinx back. He didn't bring out his wand, he knew the sphinx wasn't going to attack him unless he used force upon it first. And even if it did, a sphinx wasn't going to pose a huge problem for Teal, he knew how to handle them.

He nodded towards everyone else and walked up to the sphinx in a cautious, respectable manner. He wracked his brains for a moment, the sphinx had a name that they called it in Gringotts, hmmmm. Ah, yes the creatures name was Kubra. He stared into the sphinx's malicious eyes and gave it a warm expression. "Your court case has been completed Kubra, and Gringott's is expecting you back to guard the Dolohov fortune." he said in a serene way, making it seem like there could be no higher honor than to guard the ancient fortune. "If you could just come with me, I'll take you back." he said, standing his ground.

Violet looked at the department Head desperately. "You can help us?" she said. "The creature will not back down." Vaguely, she wondered if Teal would have more authority over the sphinx than the rest of them. Probably. But would the sphinx back down?

Ana walked into the break room to come face to face with a sphinx. her mouth dropped open as she absorbed it in all its majestic stance, and she could barely tear her eyes away from its golden orbs.

She had never seen a sphinx. Oh, sure, she'd seen pictures of them, studied them, and read about them out of her won interest. She admired their strength and intelligence, their beauty and their ruthlessness. Sphinxes were wonderful creatures, ones whose independence and mysteries left Ana feeling more than awed.

And here she was, standing right in front of one.

Suddenly catching herself at the fact she was gawping, she closed her mouth and walked into the room further, stopping next to a counter and looking around at the other people there.

"Hello," she managed, a small, shy smile curving her lips. Her eyes were, however, still drawn to the wonderful creature every couple of seconds.

Violet looked over at the new arrival. She smiled at the lady, who seemed shy, not that Violet could blame her with a sphinx sitting in the middle of the room, but Violet, too, couldn't look away from the creature for too long. Her eyes snapped back and she resumed watching it warily.

James noticed Teal as he entered and crossed the room. " It seems the sphinx if hungry preferably for eggs." James said. " my self and Ms. Egypt from security over there agreed the least hazardous way was negotiation seeing how there is far to many potential victims should she get angered. and well maybe your authority with be enought o sway the Sphinx but she was pretty determined that the only one with the power to get her to go any where is the minister himself. at least with out force." james said hoping it wouldnt come to the last part for safety reasons.

Once the gates on the Lifts had opened Wyatt walked out and proceeded to check Level Four. He started opening doors like he did on Level Three making sure there was nothing deemed dangerous for the other people in the Ministry. Some of the doors he opened were Offices and he quickly showed them his badge so they knew he was with Ministry Security and he told him that he was making sure the Ministry is cleared of all dangerous creatures that were not bought or owned by the Ministry. WHen Wyatt was done he went back to the lifts and went back down to Level Eight to do some filing and typing for his Department Head.

Realising that currently everyone's atteniton was drawn to the sphinx, Ana returned the smile one woman (Violet, was it? She thought she heard someone call the other witch that) offered her, and leant over to the counter. She fixed herself a quick coffee without looking up form her task, aware that if she were to stare at the sphinx some more, she'd have a growing difficulty with tearing her gaze away.

She picked up her coffee and eased out of the break-room, intending to return top her desk top. At least there things were beginnign to look and be familiar, with no sudden appearances (such as sphinxes) to turn the world upside down.

Not that Ana knew of at the moment, anyway.

Teal turned to James and nodded, "Alright then, if that's the case then we need Brennan here as soon as possible." He said with a frown, looking to the sphinx with a wary eye. He knew sphinx's were very proud, and only would obey from a select few, even if he happened to be Department Head.

"Alright, well one of you, please visit the Minister again. This is getting outrageous." He said with a curt nod to the break room, "I have matters to attend to now." he said, turned around and headed out of the door.

Violet looked around the room. "All right...well..." she said awkwardly. "Who would like to go speak with the Minister?" she asked.

Just remembering something, Teal poked his head back into the break room and looked for Violet Slivermoon. Once he spotted her he walked over to her. "While the sphinx is settle, I really need to speak with you over a few matters if you wouldn't mind." He said with a small, forced smile as he took a sip of his coffee. He eyed her for a second, almost saying 'one second' as he addressed the rest of the room.

"Ok everyone, I am sorry to say that the Minister is a very busy man at the moment." he nodded, looking to his Division Head James. "James, I know you are more than capable of taming the sphinx and returning it to the holding room. This is something I really need you to do for me." he said with a nod, Teal would usually do something like this by himself, but with the convention coming up there was absolutely no time. "And once you finish, please see me in my office." he said, then turning to Ms. Silvachova, he needed to speak with her as well. "Anastasia, please head into your office in the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau, I need to talk to you urgently." he said with a very serious nod.

Teal looked around to everyone else in the room, and eyed the sphinx warily, "Ok, everyone else may help James handle the sphinx but please listen to every word he says, he knows what he's doing." he said with a swift nod, "Ms. Silvachova, I'll be in your offices within the next half our." He said, taking a swig of his coffee, walking back over to Ms. Silvermoon. "Now if you would please follow me to the Centaur Liaison Offices I would love to speak to you Ms. Silvermoon." he said with a kind voice, letting her know that no trouble awaits.

Teal turned around and started to walk for the door, sighing deeply as this had been one of the most stressful days of work in his life.

Violet blinked, confused. What? "All right," she said, looking back at him. She noticed the way his smile was forced and wondered what was wrong. She stood up. "I'm right behind you," she said, still wondering what was up, as teal told her to meet him in her office. She followed him out.

Drago made his way into the break room then paused, waiting for his coworker to follow him in. In the meanwhile, he scouted about for the sight of the coffee and wondered what they had available.

The sphinx was getting annoyed... and hungrier. No one seemed to be taking it seriously, the minister was not being summoned, and she had an empty stomach.

And that one-- the tall one, with dark hair-- smelled good. Like... coffee.

A long, thin line of drool dripped from the sphinx's jowls as she eyed him.

Allison followed behind Drago, quietly inspecting a scratch on the back of her hand she had just noticed. As she dropped her hand to her side and looked up, she was greeted with a rather interesting sight. Some small part of the back of her brain wondered how she had been completely un-aware of this, (probably all that darn research) while the rest tried to figure out what exactly was going on. The fact that the sphinx was staring at Drago just made things a little more strange. “Uh... wow.” She whispered to herself, trying to process everything.