James followed the freckled boy as he headed towards the entrance to the dungeons, near the Slytherin common room and the potions classroom. At one point, the boy stopped and didn't move anymore.
'Waiting for someone?' wondered James, who was not far behind the boy. With his cloak and his Silencio Barriera a student couldn't detect him.
The freckled boy had a nervous look on his face. He was looking everywhere in fear of Filch or another professor appearing. After five minutes, footsteps were heard coming from a completely dark corridor.
The boy was not surprised by this. It seemed that he knew in advance that someone was coming down that way, and it wouldn't be Filch or another professor.
A boy with short black hair and wearing a Slytherin uniform approached the freckled boy.
The Slytherin boy had a calm aura and a natural haughty look that James was familiar with.
'Sirius' little brother?' thought James with slight surprise. It was rare to see a Hufflepuff student next to a Slytherin. Even more so when it was a Black.
This was Regulus Black. He bore a strong resemblance to Sirius. Only he was shorter and thinner, and his black hair was shorter.
"Allan. Did I keep you waiting?" asked Regulus in a low tone. Unlike Sirius, Regulus seemed to have a much calmer and not-so-rambunctious aura.
"No... Come on. We have to hurry up and figure out the map," said the freckled boy named Allan.
Both boys started walking without realizing that they were being followed by someone very close to them who didn't want to miss the conversation they were having.
"What's the hurry? We're close. I can feel it," said Regulus, who noticed Allan's anxiety.
"Yes, I know... but we've been trying to decipher the message for a long time. I already want to see what we find," Allan said without much conviction which Regulus didn't notice.
"Yes! I've never seen such a complex cryptographic message. I wonder what will be in that vault when we manage to find it," said Regulus with his eyes sparkling. He was always proud of his intelligence, but this encrypted message was quite a challenge for him.
'Vault?' thought James curiously.
From the dungeon, they began to climb heading for the upper floors of the castle. They passed through many moving staircases and dark corridors.
The journey was slow as Regulus and Allan were very careful and quiet. They didn't want to get caught by Filch. Last time, through Allan's carelessness they were caught. Although Regulus was able to escape Allan was saved by Eustace.
After several minutes, they reached the fourth floor. The two boys went inside a completely dark classroom. James got inside before they closed the door.
'What was that?' thought Regulus as he felt a strange breeze pass near him. Not giving it any more thought, he finished closing the door.
'Phew... that was close,' thought James. It almost grazed Regulus. If he didn't have his Silencio Barriera charm, he would have been spotted already.
The room was disused. The dark shapes of desks and chairs could be seen stacked against the walls. An old wooden desk stood near the large dusty blackboard.
"Here you go, Regulus," Allan said as he quickly pulled two parchments from one of the pockets of his uniform. He placed both scrolls on the wooden desk.
Regulus unrolled both scrolls and placed them side by side. From his robes, he pulled out a large parchment that, when unrolled, was almost completely written on. Full of erasures, strange symbols, and many things written on it.
James looked at the three scrolls on the table. The two scrolls that Allan pulled out were much older. He could tell they were in worse condition than the one Regulus pulled out that had barely any imperfections in its skin.
One of the scrolls was what appeared to be a map, and the other was a long paragraph as if it were directions. Moreover, it was written in Ancient Runes.
'Most likely Eustace gave them to him...' thought James, looking at the old scrolls that had a message encrypted in ancient runes. Thanks to Gwen, he had to study Ancient Runes and could read, though not that advanced.
"Enlighten me," Regulus said, pulling a fancy quill out of one of his pockets.
"Lumos," said Allan, waving his wand and pointing it at the table.
Regulus began to work. He looked at the map and the message on the ancient parchment and then wrote something on his parchment. All that could be heard was his quill writing every so often.
Allan did nothing. He was just shining Lumos so Regulus could see. James watched Regulus' process, but couldn't understand much. He wasn't an expert at solving cryptographic messages in advanced Ancient Runes. Perhaps that was one of the subjects the genius Rothschild didn't learn.
"Did you discover anything new?" asked Allan after forty minutes where Regulus didn't say a word.
"Allan. I've told you not to talk to me when I'm working," Regulus said, looking up.
"Answering your question. Yes, I have advanced. Now we must head for a corridor that is located between the hospital tower... and the clock tower on the fifth floor," he added, looking at the map carefully.
"Have you figured out the entrance?" asked Allan eagerly.
Regulus looked at him as if he was looking at an idiot who didn't know that 1 + 1 is two, "No. There must be a symbol somewhere in that corridor that will help me decipher the message further," he explained as he rolled up the maps.
Once in the corridor, they began to search for the symbol that Regulus said was somewhere in that corridor. It took them twenty minutes to find it. It was behind the helmet of a suit of armor in a very small size.
They returned to the disused classroom, and Regulus continued working. James followed them all the way. That night, however, they did not find what Allan so longed for. The vault.
When they both said their goodbyes, James returned to the Gryffindor common room with many questions. It was very late.
Over the next few days, Regulus and Allan continued their search and solving the encrypted message. Although the only one solving it was Regulus. Allan was no help at all.
James watched all of this unnoticed and was able to discover several things. First of all, the freckled boy's name was first-year Allan Abbot. From the way they related, they seemed to be childhood friends with Regulus.
Abbot was the surname of a family of pureblood wizards. They belonged to the Sacred Twenty-eight.
James could tell that Regulus didn't know about Eustace and that Allan had a time limit to find this mysterious vault. He seemed to be on an exciting treasure hunt and was very fond of deciphering complex riddles.
Allan, on the other hand, was becoming more anxious and nervous every day. He knew that the deadline Eustace gave him was approaching.
'Allan is using Regulus,' thought James, watching, as usual, Sirius' brother deciphering the riddle in the disused room while Allan held his wand lit with Lumos.
Today was the last night Allan had to give the DADA teacher what he wanted. He was much more anxious than the previous days. There were dark circles under his eyes and all the while he was asking about Regulus' progress, who was becoming less and less patient.
"Quiet! Let me think. I can't think of every five minutes you're asking me the same question," Regulus said with a frown.
"S-sorry..." said Allan with a bit of fear as he looked into Regulus' grey eyes.
From what James deduced it wasn't too difficult, Eustace's target would be the treasures inside this vault. And he gave the task to Allan (for some unknown reason) to decipher the riddle and find the vault with the treasures.
Although Allan is using Regulus, he seems to have no idea he is being used and thinks he is solving a mystery with his 'friend'.
The time passed in silence. Allan didn't dare disturb Regulus again and let him work quietly. A dirty old clock that stood in the classroom read 2:49 AM.
'I wonder what Eustace will do to Allan if he doesn't comply with what he asked of him...' wondered James.
Would the professor kill the student for not complying with his suspicious task? James didn't believe in this. There were many professors at Hogwarts, and there was Dumbledore.
If Eustace had threatened to kill him it would be as easy as telling Dumbledore. He had to have used a different kind of blackmail, to make Allan obey him so fearfully since it was obvious he was doing all this against his will.
Ten minutes passed, and Regulus put down his quill and looked at the map with a slight proud smile.
"I think I got it," Regulus said. Allan stopped biting his nails, and a smile appeared on his face.
"Really!?" said Allan with great relief.
"Shhh. Don't shout. We can't claim victory until we see the entrance with our own eyes. Come on," Regulus said as he rolled up his parchment and put it away. As he was about to roll up and put away the two old scrolls, Allan stopped him.
"These are mine..." said Allan a little sheepishly.
"Yes, sure," said Regulus, looking strangely at Allan, who put away the two old scrolls.
"Where are we going?" asked Allan.
"Fifth floor," replied Regulus, walking out of the hall followed by Allan and an invisible boy.
'Better that following them every day and breaking my routine has done some good,' thought James with a grimace. Though while Regulus was solving the riddle, he continued to study, but he was going to bed later than usual.