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The following is a fan-based

FICTION

Harry Potter franchise (Movies and Books) are all owned by JK Rowling and Warner Bros.

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One-shot: Logical Defeat

Harry blinked at the creature standing in front of him.

The feline body of the being diverged from the animal denotation only by the smiling head of a woman that was now giving him the most intense of looks.

It was truly a sight. A real sphinx war right before him, keeping silent as she waiting for him to do something and… that worried him more than a little bit.

There was genuine interest, a thirst for knowledge that the Gryffindor had only seen on Hermione when she would find a book she had yet to read or something that gave her more insight over a topic.

The Sphinx's lips parted, her voice surprisingly lacking any form of accent as she spoke directly to him.

"You are the mysterious Harry Potter, aren't you?"

He nodded without much hesitation, knowing well enough that the creature could have easily jumped at him and possibly succeeded in mauling him if he decided to not comply to her request.

The Boy-Who-Lived was confident in his spell-casting, but having a being this fast and so close to him was… dreadful, to say the least.

She continued to give him that strange look, the one a cat would deliver to a frightened mouse, minus the feral hunger and the illogical eyes that a predator like her should have.

"Are you scared of me, little one?"

It was so infuriating, to be mocked without a chance of being able to defend himself.

This very situation was bringing back quite the repertoire of bad memories before his first year at Hogwarts, before he was old enough to formulate ways to avoid getting punished by his uncle and aunt.

'Good thing that I was now dealing with someone less prone to violence.'

The feline-like being finally stopped in her approach, her brow rousing so suddenly as she let out a bored sigh.

"I will not kill you, Mr. Potter," She assured, so genuinely and bluntly. "I think there are enough mortal traps within this maze that my direct application isn't required."

Yet Harry decided to keep his guard up, his hold over the wand only tightening as he felt the pressure starting to get quite fear-inducing within his mind.

The Sphinx sighed again and this time she advanced slowly upon him, Potter's eyes squinting as he braced for an attack, to dodge or-

Purr~

Harry blinked as the creature brushed on his side, pressing her head on his arm in a surprisingly comforting way. It was something the boy had already seen before, back last year when Hermione slowly played with her pet.

He had never approached Crookshanks as he had no true reason to, but the sight of the brunette playing with the purring furball was something that would leave him with an empty sense of self.

It was a strange nostalgic emotion that connected to earlier in his life, when he first held one of the kitty that Mrs. Figg had offered to him during one of the few times she would have him around.

The warm vibration of the small life in his arms sent chills through his bones, but none of those was unpleasant. To hold something loving and caring, to have someone that didn't outright hate him or avoid him.

It was a nice sensation-

"It seems you are a little more relaxed now."

The Sphinx's voice brought him back to reality as he found himself staring right into her eyes, her smile moderated.

"And it would seem my little attempt did work after all."

He blinked. "W-What? Why are you-"

"You are an interesting figure in our society, Mr. Potter. At least in the British branch," She started with a calm but collected voice. "But what makes you truly interesting isn't the fact that you managed to defeat the Dark Lord as a toddler, no..."

Harry frowned, confused as he had his full attention shifted to the train of thought the Sphinx was bringing out to the world for him to listen, the task of the maze forgotten as he found himself endeared to the explanation.

"You were there to stop the monster of Slytherin from decimating Hogwarts' students at the mere age of 12," The womanly voice started to list. "You were there when you faced Sirius Black at the age of 13 and… you accepted the insanity that is this obsolete tournament barely showing hints of fear at the challenges, you braved the tasks before the maze and now you are here… with me."

And while the ominous note at the end of that reply left him once again tense, the boy couldn't help but ponder over the Sphinx's words.

Until now he had stood against unreasonable monsters that wanted to have a piece of him during the tasks and… now he faced something- no, someone that he could hardly get the strength to fight against.

She wasn't trying to actively kill him, and only an act of aggression starting from himself would bring the creature to attack.

This Sphinx wasn't sounding illogical, nor she seemed to be by animal-like impulses and this while situation left Harry to deal with quite the dilemma to face.

Should he interrupt whatever was happening in front of him or… cast away some of his doubt and listen some more about her undeniable common sense?

"Why did you dive into the danger?" She breathed the question dreamily, almost giddily. "Why did you just… accept it all without doubts?"

But as he prepared to answer these questions, he was stopped once more by the magical being.

"And before you reply, I wish to expand on what I wish to know from this last query: Why you, a tired 14-year-old boy that wishes nothing more in life than normality and peace, would accept being thrown in the danger by someone that is way more capable to deal with this kind of danger?"

Harry's mind mounted a protest, trying to argue almost instantly as the question was relayed that this was done to save his friends, to protect them and-

But what if he was the one causing them to be in danger?

What if, because of his sense of mindless heroism and tactful approaches, those he cared for were actively endangered rather than protected?

"Maybe there isn't truly a reason," The feminine voice mused once more, taking a simple but probable guess.

"You can be a hero when someone is in danger of events beyond your understanding… but what if someone was actively pushing you to act upon it? What if…"

"I was being manipulated?" He supposed quietly, his body far too tense to properly hide the little dread he was perceiving through this conversation.

Her toothy smile returned and he flinched at the sight, but not enough to get dissuaded by this last development.

"You think this is the case?" She inquired once again, this time sounding like she was coaxing him in giving out what felt to be the truth.

But what was truly the truth for him?

Was it his fault all along by jumping in dangerous circumstances the moment those happened… without much of a reason? Or maybe there was something far deeper that he had noticed but had so naively denounced for even thinking about it.

His mind wandered back at the headmaster, Dumbledore sounding fairly insistent that he had to take part to this competition, that he had to win… but the boy had never commented about the possibility of just going to lose.

Would it be bad for the 'unofficial' Champion of Hogwarts to lose?

If until the Second Trail a large majority of the school had been cheering for Cedric, maybe it would have been correct for the Hufflepuff to strive to achieve.

"It… It could be possible," Harry ultimately admitted, just a brief aftertaste of bitterness persisting in his throat as he delivered this answer. "But why?"

"Why indeed," The Sphinx pointed out with a curious voice, almost questioning someone else.

Someone that wasn't there.

"Perhaps there are clues that you just are protecting yourself from seeing," The creature pressed on kindly. "Maybe you just don't want to see what you need to see."

But what did he need to see? What was there to look at?

Dumbledore was certainly shady in some instances, but there were some foul situations where he truly looked to be either surprised or impressed by the situation itself rather by his success.

Where did the manipulation stretch? How far did it go if there was truly some?

Despite the lack of true understanding of this predicament, the Boy-Who-Lived merely sighed.

"I suppose… that there is truly a mean to say it for sure," He mustered with a hint of hesitation. "But I suppose this matter could be solved if I think more about it."

"And away from this horrid place," The magical beast hummed in agreement, "Still, I'm impressed by the common sense you seem to have over this frail topic. I commend you for this but...you still have a choice to make now: You either continue this path and see the ruins of your life or… you take a step in another direction."

She hinted at the path on her side that led to the closest exit of the maze, glancing at the boy with with an amused but overall eased expression.

There wasn't much to decide with this logic ruling over his previous wish of winning this competition.

Gone was the need to prove something to people, gone was the interest in maiming himself for the entertainment of others.

And with the Boy-Who-Lived's decision to rush right into the safest and sanest route, destiny itself mended for the sake of alteration and the changes that a single individual decided to make with his lucid choice.

But while Harry managed to unknowingly avoid the dreadful resurrection of an ancient fool, the life of a single student was still lost that very night.

The title of the Daily Prophet of the following day would pass to history, mostly because of the chilling detail that was brought up in its article.

The Boy-Who-Lived backs away from the challenge. Hogwarts Champion, Cedric Diggory, still to be found.

Many would end up speculating, many would try to see a connection between the bespectacled young man's resignation and the Hufflepuff's disappearance.

But there was only one thing that weighed the most in Harry Potter's mind despite the various theories over Cedric's whereabouts.

How much of his life was his and how much was it fabricated by an old man's paranoia and delusion.

AN

This is the polished version of the Oneshot I did for a competition which I sadly had to resign from.

The reason was more about the fact the schedule and the updating plans for the competition didn't match up well. Most of the time I would end up running late with the production of the oneshots and drabbles, but now that I don't have that much pressure about the publication of this chapter, the fact that I now have improved over my capacity to write, and the fact I don't have a words-limiter, I think this should be… better?

For now it will remain a One-shot, but maybe in the future I will ponder over expanding this idea.