After some deliberation, everyone wrote down their own answers.
The five hands brought their answer sheets together. Though the handwriting differed, they all bore the same answer—"river."
A river could race forward but never walk, had a mouth but never spoke, had a source but never shed tears, and had a riverbed but never slept.
"Correct answer!"
Mao Tuan nodded excitedly.
"Do you want to keep guessing?"
Uther glanced at his clearly interested roommates and said to Mao Tuan,
"Give us another riddle."
They had spent a year at Hogwarts already. This was a good chance to keep it company.
Besides, Mao Tuan was the only Sphinx he could guarantee would not attack them if they got a riddle wrong.
"Some try to hide, some try to deceive, but time reveals all, and we will always meet."
It was obvious Mao Tuan had been saving up plenty of riddles. It barely hesitated before giving them a new one.
"Guess my name as best you can. When I truly possess you, I promise you will know the answer."
After a round of guesses, Klon failed to get it right this time.
The answer was death, while Klon's answer had been the final exam papers.
"Some try to hide, some try to deceive, but time reveals all, and we will always meet... I don't think that answer is really wrong?"
Bernard covered his face and laughed wryly.
"But Klon, your grades are pretty good."
"Getting good grades doesn't mean I like exams!"
Klon said it with perfect justification.
Mao Tuan struggled with it for a while, but ultimately had to admit that, for Hogwarts students, the answer really did fit the riddle. It reluctantly counted Klon's answer as correct.
Apparently, this was quite an open-minded Sphinx. Adam would call it a Kaiming