Curse dispelled

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The expedition to stop the ice curse had been a success. Thanks to James' healing skills, no one had serious injuries, and the cuts they had were healed. 

That same night, after learning that there was yet another vault at Hogwarts, everyone returned to their common room. No one had any energy, and although they were curious, they all wanted to sleep peacefully. 

James put away the two old parchments. For some reason, he didn't understand everyone agreed that he should put the scrolls away, even Snape.

The next evening, the peculiar group met in classroom 11 to discuss the new vault and decide what to do next.

"One scroll is a map to be combined with the map Professor Eustace gave Allan. The other scroll is a riddle. It is much longer and more complex than the previous one," Regulus said, looking at the two parchments open on a square wooden table.

Everyone was around the table looking at the scrolls.

"In what you got to read, does it say any information about the new vault?" asked James.

"I read very little. The message in ancient runes is more complex and is combined with strange scrawls. I could only read the name which is the Vault of Fear," replied Regulus with a strange expression.

"Scary," Sirius said with a slight smile.

"Should we look for it?" he added. It had been quite an adventure getting into the ice vault despite nearly being killed by killer plants, incinerated, and by a giant ice golem.

"'For what? To unleash another powerful curse on Hogwarts?' We didn't get any treasure in the end. It's better to leave it locked," Snape said disapprovingly.

This time, he agreed to risk his life to stop the curse since it had been released before, but it would be foolish to release another unknown curse. Besides, it was too dangerous. This time they succeeded, but they don't know if the next vault will be more deadly than the previous one.

"Well... If we get there before the professor we'll get the treasures," said Lupin, trying to dissemble. Snape was the only one who thought they hadn't gotten treasures, but in reality, James and Regulus had already gotten a couple of peculiar objects.

"Actually if we get the treasures..." said James in a serious tone, looking towards Snape.

"What do you mean?" asked Snape in a cold tone.

James decided to tell Snape the truth. Sooner or later he might find out that the story he told him was false and that Eustace never got the treasures and it wasn't him who first opened the vault. 

On the other hand, he no longer thought that Snape would rat him out to the school staff. He was already involved and besides, he didn't think he was that petty. Even though he was from Slytherin and the two houses didn't get along, Snape and the marauders' relationship wasn't like Rabastan Lestrange and his group.

Even Sirius after this adventure began to get along better with Snape, if only a little. They fought side by side, and both almost died.

"So you lied to me. You released the ice curse at Hogwarts," Snape growled, and the others looked at James in surprise. They didn't think he would tell Severus the truth.

"Yes, Regulus too. Don't forget about him," James said. Regulus grimaced but said nothing.

"Anyway, sorry about that. To make it up to you you can choose one of the treasures we found earlier," added James as he pulled out of his wallet the ice chest that guarded the cursed ice necklace and the book.

Snape showed a confused expression. He wanted to look angry and threaten Potter that he might tell Dumbledore about this, but James apologized and was now offering him the treasures as if they were nothing.

"This is what you told me to bring the mirror for," Regulus said, propping the ancient small-sized mirror on the table, and James nodded.

"These are the treasures. There aren't many of them. The other one is Regulus' invisibility cloak, but he's grown quite fond of it. So you can choose from these objects," James said with a wide smile as he told him the information he knew about the objects.

'Well... His lie was no big deal. It contained several truths' thought Snape putting the subject aside. He didn't hate James to the extreme to try and get him expelled. And with the group Slughorn formed in potions, their relationship improved a bit, and now they weren't so hostile, although they never were. They were only hostile because they were from different houses.

Besides, if he snitched on James he would also be snitching on Regulus a student from his house. And from the Black family. It wouldn't be smart to get hatred from this family, nor the Potter family.

What annoyed Snape most about James currently was that he was studying next to Lily in the library. He didn't like to see Lily smiling near him, but he couldn't show.

'Come on, take an object. Don't be shy,' James thought with a kind smile. The moment Snape took it there would no longer be a chance he would want to give him away.

'I'll keep the necklace. I won't be able to wear it though..." said Snape. If he touched the necklace he would be frozen with cursed ice.

James pulled an ordinary case out of his wallet. He had done the test before, and the necklace does not freeze objects. Only humans to freeze them to death. With a cloth, he took the necklace put it in the case, and handed it to Snape.

"Can I read the book? After a few days, I'll give it back to you," Gwen asked, looking at the book on the table. She was very interested in what James said about the book. Especially, the part about the offensive and defensive ice spells.

"Yeah, sure. You can keep it for as long as you need. I already made a copy," said James, taking the book and handing it to Gwen.

"Thanks," said Gwen with a happy smile.

"You copied a thousand-page book?" asked Sirius with surprise.

"I used a quill that copies by itself. All it took was dictation," replied James.

"If you want you can lend them the copy. There are very useful spells," added James, looking at Sirius and Lupin, who nodded. It would be useful to learn a deadly ice pinch spell to deal with enemies.

After chatting some more they each went back to their common room. Three went to Gryffindor, and three to Slytherin. It was rare that a group of Gryffindors and Slytherins had cooperated to save Hogwarts.

In the following days, the cursed ice stopped spreading around Hogwarts. This news reached the ears of all the students, who celebrated happily. The professors were also relieved except for Eustace, who had a suspicious look on his face towards Regulus.

In the following days, Dumbledore delivered the good news. The school staff didn't know how the ice curse had been solved, but they made everyone see that they did it, as they couldn't say they had no idea how the problem was solved.

The cursed ice that covered the entire fifth-floor corridor remained there and it was still dangerous to go near and touch the ice. So Dumbledore and all the professors began to attack the cursed ice and destroy it.

There was no longer a risk of faster expansion. When they tried this before, every time they destroyed the ice it became faster and more resistant. So they stopped trying to stop its expansion, but now nothing happened.

In one day's work, the teachers were enough to leave the corridor as it was before. There was only a lower temperature than in the other corridors and corridor areas.

On the other hand, Allan was cured and one day he appeared at breakfast. All the students greeted him with smiling faces and wishing him a recovery as they saw his pale skin.

In a letter Regulus sent to James, he told him that Allan had no memory of their search for the vault. James was not surprised by this. Eustace had most likely found the opportunity to erase his memories and put false ones on them. Like he had done before. 

He sent Regulus a letter telling him to be careful and not to wander the corridors alone. It would be dangerous for him to run into Eustace or for the professor to be looking for him.

Regulus is the bald man's prime suspect. Thanks to his Black surname he has a shield over him, but he must be cautious. Eustace was encouraged to manipulate and threaten Allan, who also belongs to a pureblood family, though not as powerful as the Blacks.

One piece of good news was that the quidditch matches were rescheduled. This Saturday and Sunday the corresponding matches will be played. Slytherin vs Hufflepuff and Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw.

All the quidditch players were happy about this news including James, Sirius, and especially William, who was jumping up and down like crazy. The other students were also very excited. They were in for a busy weekend. A double date.

James went back to his routine of training and studying. No longer worried about a curse that wanted to freeze all of Hogwarts. 

As for the Vault of Fear, he gave the scrolls to Regulus and told him to be careful. Snape seemed to take an interest in this and was helping him as well. In addition to the ice necklace with the powerful curse, he managed to read the book James lent Gwen.

They took turns with Gwen to read it. Besides, Snape was more interested in the ice curse that was explained in the book. Instead, Gwen is in the offensive and defensive ice spells.

With the help of Sirius and Lupin, they told the whole story to Toby and Peter. They spent over an hour in their dormitory explaining everything to them. Thanks to Sirius and Lupin's help they didn't seem so angry and hurt.

Peter seemed more relieved than angry. James understood this as he was always fearful and more so of deadly situations like in the vault. Toby did seem more hurt, but understanding that James kept the information from them out of concern he forgave him. He was a very understanding and kind friend.

Saturday came and the Slytherin vs Hufflepuff match was played. To everyone's surprise, Hufflepuff won. Amos Diggory, the Hufflepuff seeker took the golden snitch ahead of the Slytherin seeker. 

Hufflepuff, who looked like they would lose by a landslide ended up passing Slytherin by twenty points. The score ended 170 to 90 in favor of Hufflepuff.

Despite this result, Slytherin climbed to the top of the scoreboard with 290 points. In second place was Hufflepuff with 240 points followed by Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. However, they had not yet played their match. 

Gryffindor had 210 points. If they could catch the snitch they would go to 360 points leading Slytherin by 70 points. William and the other team members were very excited and couldn't wait for their match to come. 

James felt the pressure more than ever. The whole team and the entire Gryffindor house were waiting for him to catch the snitch to move into the lead and be one small step away from getting the long-awaited cup.

And they were getting it more than ever. At dinner the day before the match, he received a lot of encouragement from all the students, and even McGonagall gave him a little motivational speech before going to the common room!

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