Harry Potter and the Tower the Ruin

Chapter Three: Riddles in the Dark

Harry looked from the letter to the box and back. What they mean "beat" the box, do they mean in some sort of game or something. Then Harry remembered "don't try to break the box or you'll be sorry!" What in the hell did they have in store for him then. Well, Harry would just have to find out. He also desperately wanted to know what Ginny had written him!? She had never written him a letter before. Harry might throw up if it was another letter about how sorry she was for him. He'd heard the word "sorry" enough already!

Harry then gathered up his courage, muttering "I'm going to regret this." Harry then drew close to the box which was so plain it was eerie. It was just an ordinary black box, apart from it not having any seams. As he reached the box he remembered that he needed his wand in order to "challenge it".

He remembered the word "Challenges". But if it meant doing magic, should he attempt it. He would get an owl from the Ministry of Magic (MOM) within an hour saying he was expelled! But he had to know. Maybe it wasn't considered magic because he wasn't using a spell! Yes, that was it, if they sent him an owl, he would fight them in court! But was there a magic court? He had never really heard of one. Oh well. He was going to try it!

Harry crept over to the loose floor board in his room to retrieve his wand. As he drew it out, he started to get second thoughts. Was it worth the risk of getting expelled? Finally Harry came to the conclusion that it was. He tapped the box and whispered, "Challenges."

A face appeared on the box. Harry immediately recognized the face as that of Fred Weasley. The face looked up at Harry's and said, "Hello, it seems that you have challenged me to a battle of the wits. You may have what ever is in my possession if you can answer my riddles. You may have one wrong guess on all of my riddles and three on the last. Now, let us begin our riddles in the dark."

Immediately as the box finished speaking the whole room went black. It was sunrise now and his bedroom window faced east. The sun had just a moment ago filled the room and now it seemed like the dead of night with not a trace of star in the sky. Harry immediately began to feel he had made the wrong decision. The silence was broken by the box whispering, "Boo! Ha! Now we begin our little duel. I will tell you five riddles. The first one is a warm up and here it is, 'I have a mouth, but do not eat. I have a bed, but do not sleep. What am I?' you have one guess." The box then began to whistle the theme song to "Jeopardy".

Harry thought and thought and thought. What could it be? He remembered that this was a warm up round. He would just guess. "A grandma?"

"Wrong Answer!" the box laughed. "Now, for the real question. I have four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening. What am I? You have one guess."

"Damn, damn, damn," Harry muttered to himself. "What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the...wait a minute, I GOT IT!" Harry's thoughts were rambling from class he had in the past, especially the ones that were in his old school, when finally he remembered a class he had had on riddles and poetry. You had to think about riddles from the other way around, think about it from the writers thoughts, and as he thought that, the answer popped into his head like Pigwidgeon. "The answer is Man, four legs in the morning, as a child, two legs in the afternoon", as Harry talked he saw something come into his window. It was an owl. Harry's blood ran cold as he finished his answer, "...as an adult, and three legs as an elderly, one leg being a cane."

Then in that moment, the box flashed a brilliant light, turning the small room into an inferno of color, it uttered one word that froze Harry's heart, "INCORRECT!"