Cursed Gringotts mine cart

Cursed Gringotts mine cart
Object information
Location	Gringotts Wizarding Bank (formerly) Egypt
Usage	Transportation
Owners	Gringotts staff

This mine cart was one of several used for transportation by Gringotts Wizarding Bank. In 1992, it fell through the air and crashed in the Egyptian desert through unknown means. It was also cursed so that anyone who approached it while motivated by greed would be transformed into a sphinx. However, those who were not motivated by greed could safely approach the cart, where they would be confronted by an abnormally large sphinx that presented them with a riddle that had to be solved to break the curse. The mine cart's curse was broken by Jacob's sibling in 1992.

History

In 1992, various people in Egypt observed a Gringotts mine cart falling through the air, although no one was able to locate where it had actually crashed. Gringotts tasked William Weasley with investigating the mine cart and securing it so that it could be returned to the bank. However, Bill was prevented from approaching the mine cart by a sphinx that seemed to be guarding the mine cart.

During Bill's investigation, ROCC agent Jacob's sibling was sent to Egypt through the Door Portkey at the ROCC offices, which dropped them in front of Bill's base camp at a desert oasis. As they explored the camp and the surrounding area to determine where they had ended up, they discovered documents indicating that the camp belonged to Bill as well as the Gringotts mine cart sitting on top of a nearby hill. Theorising that they had been transported to Egypt and figuring that a Gringotts mine cart would not normally be found there, they attempted to approach the mine cart to investigate if it was related to their case assignment.

However, as soon as they did so, a sphinx jumped out from behind the mine cart and prevented them from getting close to it. Finding themselves unable to get around the sphinx, Jacob's sibling decided to return to the ROCC for further advice. At the ROCC offices, Jacob's sibling conferred with their fellow agent, Vega, and their managing supervisor, Crescent Flump about their case, finding that, unlike their previous case, Flump had not been previously assigned Jacob's sibling's current case. Jacob's sibling theorised that the sphinx was guarding something within the mine cart. Vega offered to help Jacob's sibling further research Egypt, while Jacob's sibling decided to visit Gringotts to both ask why one of their mine carts had ended up in Egypt and where Bill was.

Upon arriving at Gringotts, Jacob's sibling managed to find Griphook and convinced him to tell them about the Egyptian mine cart. Griphook confirmed that a Gringotts mine cart had been lost in Egypt and that Bill had been tasked to retrieve it, although he refused to tell Jacob's sibling how the cart had been lost or if anything was inside of it. Griphook suggested that they speak to Bill if they wanted to learn more, although he would not tell Jacob's sibling where Bill was. Jacob's sibling informed Vega of the situation, who suggested that they might be able to find Bill at the Egyptian Marketplace, offering them a key as a Portkey that could transport them to the Marketplace.

Jacob's sibling used the Portkey to travel to the Egyptian Marketplace, where they questioned a vendor if they had seen Bill. At that moment, a wizard stole one of the vendor's sundials. Jacob's sibling pursued and cornered the thief, who threatened to smash the sundial if they got any closer. However, at that moment, Bill arrived and used the Summoning Charm to retrieve the sundial, although his surprise at Jacob's sibling's presence allowed the thief to escape. Bill explained that thieves were typically exceedingly rare at the Marketplace, but had recently become much more common. Jacob's sibling explained that they had travelled to the Marketplace through a Portkey and that they were looking for Bill, with Bill in turn asking Jacob's sibling to meet with him at his base camp.

At Bill's base camp, Bill explained his investigation of the Egyptian Gringotts mine cart and his interaction with the sphinx. Bill claimed that rumours were starting to spread that the mine cart held some sort of treasure and that there was a curse involved. Worried that treasure hunters would soon follow the influx of thieves and Curse-Breakers that had begun to investigate the mine cart, Bill asked Jacob's sibling to help him secure the mine cart and keep an eye out for any potential treasure hunters, to which Jacob's sibling agreed.

After returning from Egypt, Jacob's sibling learned from Barnaby Lee and Merula Snyde that Corey Hayden was planning on visiting Egypt to help restock the Hayden family shop with antiques following the exposure of Eris Foxglove's forgeries. Jacob's sibling met with Corey, who informed them that they were planning on visiting the Marketplace and that they had heard rumours of an artefact in the nearby desert. Jacob's sibling returned to Bill's base camp through the Door and informed Bill that the rumours about the mine cart's location and its supposed treasure had already spread to England. Returning to the mine cart, which was now being guarded by multiple sphinxes, Bill claimed that none of the witness reports he had gathered had identified where the mine cart actually landed, with Jacob's sibling realising that someone must have discovered the mine cart's location and spread the rumours, although they were unclear on what their motive for doing so would be.

Jacob's sibling and Bill decided to visit the Marketplace to find Corey in order to learn about from where they had heard about the mine cart. However, in the process, they ran into Diego Caplan, who invited them to catch up at the Marketplace's café. In the process, Jacob's sibling and Bill learned that Diego was working as an assistant to a treasure hunter, with both of them being aware of the rumours of the mine cart's treasure. Upon returning to the ROCC, Jacob's sibling informed Flump that three of their friends were in Egypt and had become aware of the mine cart. Deciding that this represented a conflict of interest, Flump temporarily removed Jacob's sibling from field work to both protect the ROCC and Jacob's sibling's identity as a ROCC agent. Flump tasked Jacob's sibling with continuing to research the case while Vega filled in for them in the field.

Jacob's sibling updated Vega about the current status of their investigation and created a Portkey to enable them to travel to the mine cart. Meanwhile, Jacob's sibling researched sphinxes with Liz Tuttle, finding that wild sphinxes without treasure to guard usually kept to themselves, but would occasionally decide that something was worth guarding even without prompting from a human. Vega eventually returned from the field and informed Jacob's sibling that, while observing the mine cart in their fennec fox Animagus form, they had only encountered Bill despite an increase in treasure hunters at the Marketplace. They also revealed that several more sphinxes had appeared at the mine cart, preventing them from sneaking close to the cart even when in Animagus form.

With no sign of either Corey or Diego around the mine cart, Jacob's sibling attempted to convince Flump to allow them back into the field, only to find that Flump had already reinstated them as a field agent and allowed them to return to Egypt. Jacob's sibling travelled back to the Marketplace and met up with Vega, who showed them a poster warning of the nearby desert being overrun with sphinxes. After conversing with locals and confirming the increase in sphinx activity, they ran into Corey, whose plans to source new artefacts for his family's shop from the desert had been dashed by the increased sphinx abundance. After talking with Corey, Jacob's sibling and Vega returned to the desert oasis, finding that it had become overrun with sphinxes and that there was no sign of either Bill or any treasure hunters.

One of the sphinxes attempted to get Jacob's sibling's attention and, after they solved its riddle, they realised it was actually Diego, who had been transformed into a sphinx. The two theorised that Diego had been transformed as a result of a curse on the mine cart, although they wondered why neither Jacob's sibling, Vega, or Bill had been transformed as well. Jacob's sibling suggested that the curse might be a form of Transfiguration spell, so Vega wandlessly attempted to untransfigure Diego using the General Counter-Spell, although they were unsuccessful. In order to determine if something was blocking Vega's spell, Jacob's sibling asked Vega to keep an eye on Diego while they travelled to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to consult Professor Minerva McGonagall regarding transfiguration curses.

Jacob's sibling met with McGonagall in the Transfiguration Classroom at Hogwarts and questioned if she had ever heard of people turning into creatures through means other than self-transfiguration and how they could be returned to normal without the use of the General Counter-Spell. McGonagall offered to send some books that could help to Jacob's sibling's flat and suggested that they should also check the Ministry of Magic Archives for any rare books that might contain more information. Jacob's sibling visited the archives and asked Elton Elderberry for any information he might have regarding transfiguration curses, with Elton also offering to send some files on the matter he had found to Jacob's sibling's flat.

Jacob's sibling read through the books and files at their flat before being confronted by Ruby Honeysuckle, who, upon learning the situation, suggested that Jacob's sibling use an advanced Untransfiguration spell specific to their problem and offered her help with research. After a brief discussion, Ruby was able to provide Jacob's sibling with a formula that could potentially restore Diego to normal. Jacob's sibling returned to Egypt and explained their potential solution to Vega. However, they soon learned that Diego had wandered off when Vega had accidentally taken their eyes off of him while sneezing. The pair were eventually able to locate Diego after observing several sphinxes, and Jacob's sibling was successfully able to use Ruby's spell formula to return him to normal, although he was temporarily still stuck speaking in rhymes.

While Vega stayed back to keep an eye on the remaining sphinxes, Jacob's sibling brought Diego back to the Marketplace's café so that he could recover. While there, they learned from Diego that he had been sent by his boss to confirm the rumours of treasure in the desert and had found the mine cart. However, when he got close to the mine cart to see what was inside of it, he had instantly been transformed into a sphinx. Diego's story led Jacob's sibling to realise that the mine cart's curse was turning people into sphinxes, although they and Diego both realised that they would have to do more than untransfigure all of the sphinxes to break the curse.

Deciding to return to the mine cart for further investigation, the two reunited with Vega and discussed the mine cart's curse. Knowing that he could be untransfigured again if needed, Diego offered to approach the mine cart once again to see if he could see anything that would help Jacob's sibling break the curse. However, this time, Diego remained human when he approached the cart. At that moment, a giant sphinx appeared and offered the three a riddle to solve. Jacob's sibling attempted to answer the riddle, but they were incorrect, being forced to fight off the sphinx for long enough to allow them to retreat with Vega and Diego.

Realising that they had to solve the sphinx's riddle in order to break the curse, Jacob's sibling met up with Tulip Karasu and Talbott Winger at the Former Student Centre to attempt to figure out the riddle's solution. However, after a brief discussion, none of them could solve the sphinx's riddle. In an attempt to keep their identity as a ROCC agent secret, Jacob's sibling explained that they had received the riddle from a "treasure hunter" they had met out in the desert, to which Tulip expressed her disgust that someone would both give impossible riddles and steal objects out of greed. Jacob's sibling suddenly realised that the answer to the sphinx's riddle was "greed," suggesting that they and Bill hadn't turned into sphinxes when they approached the mine cart because they were not approaching it in pursuit of treasure like Diego was. With this information in mind, Jacob's sibling returned to Egypt to find Diego in an argument with Bill over Diego's career as a treasure hunter. Jacob's sibling was able to settle their argument and explained their theory about the sphinx's riddle and the curse to both them and Vega.

The group realised that Diego had not been transformed into a sphinx the second time he approached the mine cart because he sought to help Jacob's sibling rather than find the treasure like he had the first time. They returned to the giant sphinx and answered its riddle with "greed". With its riddle correctly answered, the giant sphinx turned to stone and crumbled away while the surrounding sphinxes were reverted back into humans, indicating that the mine cart's curse had been broken. Bill suggested that Jacob's sibling should have the honours of checking what was inside the mine cart, although they were surprised to find that the mine cart was completely empty.

Jacob's sibling and Vega returned to the ROCC and reported the results of the case to Flump, although Jacob's sibling was still confused as to why a giant sphinx and a curse would be guarding an empty mine cart, asserting that the curse seemed to be linked to the sphinx rather than the mine cart itself. Flump asserted that the answer would be a matter for a member of the Cursed Objects Division to find, offering Jacob's sibling the rest of the day off as a celebration of the completion of their case. Jacob's sibling later checked up on Diego following his return to London, finding that he still had a habit of rhyming following the breaking of the curse, but that St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries had assured him that he otherwise had nothing to worry about.

Appearances

• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (First appearance)