Help from Snape

Tuesday, March 6, 1973.

It had been a couple of days since James had joined Regulus and Gwen in classroom 11 on the second floor. 

Regulus had already gotten the ingredients needed for the potions that would protect them from the cold and handed them to James.

Now, it was time to brew said potions. These days, the cursed ice continued apace and was already on the verge of completely freezing the corridor and moving on to the next area on the fifth floor.

Rumors of the temporary closure of Hogwarts were growing louder and louder. James had to act as soon as possible. At breakfast that day, James decided to head to the Slytherin table to talk to Severus Snape.

These days, he concluded that he would need Snape's help to brew the Protego Glacialus potion, as he was not to create just one. He had to make a large batch, and they were a very difficult potion. 

As for why not asking him for help in potions class was because he didn't want to involve Emily in the matter. Mostly because Gwen told him that she didn't want to involve Emily in this very dangerous task.

"Hey, Snape," James called out to Severus, who had his back to him eating breakfast.

Snape turned around and as usual had a grumpy, unfriendly expression. Surprise could be glimpsed in his eyes. It was rare for James Potter to call him at breakfast. It was the first time it had happened.

"What do you want?" asked Snape with a grimace. He noticed the look on everyone's faces at the Slytherin table. 

Antonin Dolohov was a friend of Snape's if it could be called that. Along with Evan Rosier, they eyed James with caution and some hidden fear in their eyes.

A little further away at the Slytherin table was Rabastan and his gang, who seemed more numerous than before. They too were watching James.

"I found a book that details very well about the last potion that Professor Slughorn spoke about. It will be very helpful for our paper and next exhibition," commented James.

"And?" said Snape impatiently. He didn't like being watched so much especially not when all the Slytherin students at least from the second year hated James.

"Well... The content of the book is complex and..." said James as he snorted heavily. 

"I need your help," he finished the sentence. He never thought the day would come when he would ask Snape for help. Snape himself had a face rarely seen on his face.

"Whoa. I never thought the day would come when you would ask me for help," Snape said with a crooked grin that made James want to punch, but he restrained himself.

"We're in the same group. It's not strange at all. Professor Slughorn made the groups that way so that the relationship between both houses would improve. We should follow his teachings," James said calmly. He wouldn't let himself be embarrassed. 

"Yes, of course...' said Snape, a little confused by James's speech.

"If you want our grade to be the best go to the library today when classes are over," said James, and quickly turned back to his table.

"Did you talk to Snape?" asked Sirius as James sat down at the table and started eating his breakfast as if it was nothing.

The other marauders looked at him strangely as well. 

"Yes. Don't you guys talk to your group members?" asked James, ignoring the strange looks.

The marauders couldn't object to that logic.

...

When classes ended, James and Snape found themselves in the library. Luckily, Snape had decided to attend and didn't ignore him. They sat in a secluded spot so they could talk comfortably.

"Show me that book," Snape said impatiently, trying to hide his excitement. He liked potions. He liked any book with detailed and complicated information.

"Here you go," said James, pulling a rolled-up parchment out of his robes and passing it to Snape, who took it with a raised eyebrow.

"This is not a book."

"I copied the information onto the parchment so I wouldn't have to search or borrow the book all the time," James replied.

Snape thought no more of this and unrolled the long scroll to read it. After a few minutes, he looked up and looked at James.

"This doesn't talk about the Oblivion Potion," said Snape, looking at James with narrowed eyes.

"Oh really? What is he talking about?" asked James playing dumb and pissing Snape off.

"Protego Glacialus Potion. A magical mixture specifically designed to counteract the effects of cursed ice. It protects the drinkers and prevents them from being frozen when in contact with the cursed ice. Why are you showing me this?" asked Snape, looking suspiciously at James.

Snape as well as the entire school was aware of the cursed ice that was spreading through the castle.

"What do you think?" asked James.

"Stop playing mysterious, Potter," said Snape angrily. He'd had enough of James asking question after question instead of answering.

"I want you to help me brew a batch of these potions," said James.

"What for?"

"I suppose you're aware of the cursed ice that is freezing Hogwarts bit by bit, right?" said James, and Snape nodded.

"Well, I happen to have information on the cause of all this, and I want to stop the curse of the cursed ice," said James and Snape was silent for several seconds.

"The professors and the headmaster can't stop the curse, and will you succeed? What information do you have exactly?" asked Snape.

"The culprit of all this trouble is Eustace Burke. The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor," said James, who sounded convinced. He then began to tell Snape the story of how he found out about this.

He told him a story with truths and lies. For one thing, on one of his night outings, he caught Eustace and Allan having a highly suspicious conversation. So he began to follow the Hufflepuff boy. 

He didn't tell her that he wore an invisibility cloak, if not that he used a disillusioning charm, and given the skills he displayed it wasn't hard to believe. Then the story is the same. Except for the ending.

He told him that he didn't enter the vault, nor did Regulus or Allan. The person who went in and released the curse was Eustace. The professor was to blame for everything. His story had some loopholes, but all in all, it rang true.

The best thing to do was to blame it all on the bald bastard. That way, he would be off the hook. And Snape wouldn't be able to charge him with the professors.

In case Snape doesn't want to help him and decides to leak this information, James will erase his memories before he does. 

"Are you telling me that there is an ice vault with treasures behind one of those corridor walls?" asked Snape, who was still processing this whole story.

"Yes. To be precise some hidden stairs that lead you down to an ice corridor. In that corridor is the door to the vault. I didn't go any further as I could have been discovered," said James, who was very good at lying unless Gwen was listening to him.

"If you know all this. Wouldn't it be best to tell Headmaster Dumbledore?" asked Snape.

"Yes. I could do that, but I want to keep the treasures," lied James blatantly. He already had the treasures in his possession.

"What treasures? According to your story, Professor Eustace has already entered the vault. He must have looted all the treasures," said Snape, who wasn't planning to trust this story 100%.

"A portion of the treasures. Or that's my guess. The bald man didn't fully explore the vault. Only part of it," said James.

"Why do you think that?" asked Snape.

"Because of this," said James, pulling an ice key out of his pocket and dropping it on the table in front of Snape.

"This key belongs to Professor Eustace. I stole it from his office. He must have gotten it after he broke into the vault. There's something he skipped, but now he can't go back because of the cursed ice," James explained.

"How did you get into a professor's office?" asked Snape.

'Tsch, Why is he asking so many questions,' thought James, annoyed, but his face remained unchanged.

"Professors these days are on duty in the corridor on the fifth floor. They have schedules to keep. By sneaking around, I found out when Professor Eustace was on duty and took advantage of that day to get into his office. It wasn't too hard. He didn't have much protection," James explained quickly.

"You did break the school rules, huh?" said Snape as the thought crossed his mind if he should charge him and get him punished and lose points. He pushed that thought aside. It would be too much work to do that. Besides, that, in this last little while, he didn't dislike James as much as he had in the beginning. He still disliked him, just a little better than before.

"Just to seek the truth. Professor Eustace is a criminal. He threatened a student to look for a vault," James said with a fake smile.

'Then why do you want to keep the treasures?' thought Snape.

"I understand why you want to brew these potions. Why would I help you?" asked Snape.

"I will give you a share of the treasures if you help me. You can accompany me to the vault or not. If you do you will see with your own eyes the treasures and know that I did not deceive you. If you don't want to risk it, I will. When I return from the expedition, I will give you a share of the treasures," James replied and Snape was silent in thought.

"Most likely, the vault upon releasing such a powerful curse will have objects dedicated to the dark arts," added James, trying to tempt Snape. He knew he liked the dark arts. Slytherin students generally liked them.

"Fine. I will. I'll accompany you to the vault. We'll see if what you say is true," Snape finally replied. A slight smile formed on James' face.

Snape in addition to being tempted by obtaining obscure objects that even a DADA professor coveted, also wanted to stop the curse of the cursed ice. He didn't want Hogwarts to be temporarily closed and have to return home. He didn't like it there. He'd rather be at Hogwarts.

Besides, what year 12 boy wouldn't like an exciting adventure with great treasures? As much as he was a somewhat gloomy Slytherin he still had thrills.

Luckily, Snape didn't continue with his interrogation and delving into James' story which had some gaps. Such as where he got the recipe for the potion. If Snape had asked him he would have told him that he stole it from Eustace just as he took it.

That same day in the evening Snape and James met in the Potions classroom to brew the potions batch.

James also called Regulus to act as an assistant. He had told him earlier that he was supposed to lie about the part where the two of them went into the vault, and it was his fault that the ice curse was released. 

For the next three days, they were brewing potions. More than four hours a day. They managed a batch of eleven potions. With two for each person, James believed that would be more than enough. So they would have three left over in case in a hypothetical case they had to go back or something.

The expedition shouldn't last long, but it's best to be prepared. Lest they run out of effect when they are inside the vault.

"In two days, we'll go on the expedition. On that day, there is Professor Sprout standing guard. We'll meet right here at midnight," said James as he pocketed several potions.

Three people nodded and put away their two potions each. Unlike the other days, Gwen was in the room mostly to finish talking about the expedition.

They chatted a while longer and said their goodbyes, 'I hope tomorrow goes well...' thought James worriedly. He wished it was all as easy as going and getting the door closed, and that way the curse would stop.

He didn't want to fight any more dangerous opponents, as he didn't want Gwen, Snape, and Regulus to be in danger. In a battle to the death, the slightest mistake could lead to a fatal outcome.