James waited patiently in the cold corridor for Regulus to arrive. Everything was frozen, the walls, the floor, the vault door, and even the knight who looked like it would be impossible for him to move.
The knight held a long sword with both of his hands and covered the door as if he were its guardian.
James thought about how strong this inanimate opponent would be. The most logical way to defeat him would be to fight him with fire.
After a few minutes, he heard footsteps, and Regulus reappeared, "Ready. Allan thinks everything went well," Regulus said a little agitated, as he had come running. He still didn't quite trust James. He could have gone into the vault in the time he left. Luckily, he didn't.
"Okay. In the scrolls you deciphered was there more information? Or did it just talk about the location of this vault?" asked James.
Perhaps Regulus didn't tell Allan all the information as he deciphered the message. James had to make sure.
"No. It was just an encrypted message to get here," Regulus replied, and James stared at him trying to find hints of a lie.
"Fine," James said after a few seconds and stopped looking at Regulus, who sighed in relief for some reason.
"How do we defeat that ice knight? We must strategize," commented Regulus, looking at the knight's great sword. He knew that as soon as the knight moved and attacked them their lives would be on the line.
'He's more mature than his age and Sirius...' thought James. Sirius would have said to attack immediately and improvise.
"You'll stand watch from a safe position. I'll take care of the knight," said James.
He didn't know of Regulus' magical abilities and wanted to fight the knight alone without help. When would he ever get the chance to fight an opponent of this caliber again?
Regulus was going to say something, but noticing the look on James' face he knew it was useless. Besides, he wasn't a fan of fighting a frozen knight to the death. He preferred to solve complicated riddles and keep the treasures for himself.
Regulus moved as far away as possible to give James room for the impending battle.
'He must have a proximity range... Let's see when it activates,' thought James, walking calmly towards the ice knight, who was still standing as a frozen statue.
One step, two steps, three steps. James became more alert with every step he took. He had his wand ready to act at any moment. When he was about five meters away, he noticed how the frozen body of the knight began to tremble slightly.
His whole body seemed to be slowly activating as if he had been asleep for hundreds of years. The long, thin sword trembled and shed the frost it had accumulated all this time.
Small blue circles lit up behind the knight's helmet. They appeared to be his eyes watching James intently. His mission was one. To protect the entrance from intruders.
In a matter of seconds, the ice knight got into combat stance and started running towards James at an incredible speed. He had great speed even though he was running holding a long, large sword in both hands.
"Depulso!" exclaimed James, who was alert and not surprised by the sudden stampede of the knight.
Before the flash reached its destination, the knight swung his sword with one of his arms and sliced the spell-like tofu. He did it as cleanly as possible so as not to waste time and run back to his target.
'What the hell?' thought Regulus in alarm holding his wand tightly.
What reflexes and speed must the knight have had to be able to cut through a spell moving at incredible speed? Besides, he was running in James' direction without stopping.
James was surprised for another reason. He didn't know that you could cut spells and nullify their effect. The Depulso thrust effect also worked on objects like swords.
In a few breaths, the knight reached a distance where his sword could kill James. With both hands, he made a direct slash to James' head to decapitate him.
However, James had already started a movement with his wand and exclaimed, "Protego!"
Just in time, a protective barrier was created between James and the knight. The sword hit the invisible shield and resounded against the barrier. That wasn't all, when the sword hit the barrier it also bounced back. It was reflected.
James' arduous training had paid off. His Protego in addition to blocking physical forces and spells could reflect attacks that would knock his attackers down as in this case.
James found that once the spell was successfully cast the sword could not cut through his shield like tofu. In this case, the barrier appeared first.
The ice knight's arm was forced upward, a perfect opportunity to strike back.
"Immobulus!" shouted James and the flash from his wand struck the chest of the knight's armor.
The knight was immobilized. His arm was still stretched upwards, 'His armor is not resistant to spells...' thought James as he watched the knight immobilize a few meters away from him.
A troll's skin to give an example has a higher resistance against control spells such as Immobulus, Petrificus Totalus, etc. James when he faced the mountain troll over a year ago cast Immobulus on it.
But his spell was effective because he targeted a weak area of the troll. Near the face where the skin is much softer, even so, his Immobulus lasted less than ten seconds on the troll.
After about thirty seconds the knight regained his mobility and immediately attacked James. Again aiming for his head. Although the attack was the same as before, the knight's speed was incredible. James had to use all his concentration and reflexes to throw a Protego and not be decapitated.
He even noticed that when the knight's sword hit the barrier of his Protego, the barrier shook.
"Flipendo!" exclaimed James, taking advantage of the knight's outstretched arm from hitting his shield. The Flipendo wasn't very effective. It barely knocked him back a few steps, and that was when James used all his power.
The knight went back on the attack. James defended himself in the same way, and after his Protego reflected it he cast a spell to test its effectiveness on the knight.
'What is he doing...?' thought Regulus with a strange expression, plastered on his face. It looked like James was having a spar against the knight. Instead of defeating him with fire or something more effective.
'Phew... His speed and strength are incredible. If he had more intelligence than a ten-year-old he would be a tough opponent' thought James, who had sweat on his forehead and a smile on his face.
On the other hand, if the knight had resistance against control spells, James could not be sparring against him. He should seriously fight and defeat him quickly.
"Hey, Regulus, what time is it?" asked James after casting an Immobulus on the knight. He had a minute to catch his breath.
"Almost five in the morning..." replied Regulus, looking at a fancy pocket watch he had tucked away in his robes.
"I should get this over with," James muttered, looking at the knight, who was shaking trying to regain his movement and charge at James doing the same attack as always.
'It will be a waste to lose such a good sparring partner...' thought James.
"Diminuendo!" said James, pointing his wand at the ice knight. An idea came to his mind.
The knight as it was hit by the spell began to slowly shrink. Until it was the size of a small rodent.
From his wallet, he took out a small cage that he used to keep mice and practice transfiguration spells. Now, it was empty. He noticed that the little knight was running towards him. He was very slow.
When he got close to his shoe he started to hit it with his little sword.
'How cute. Easy, later we will continue our fight,' thought James, taking the knight and putting him in his new cell. He took the sword away from him to avoid accidents.
"Ready. Let's go into the vault," James said after putting away his new training partner. Regulus couldn't bring himself to ask how James pulled a cage out of a wallet.
'Lucky I ran into him,' thought Regulus, walking beside James towards the entrance of the vault.
If he had wanted to fight the knight along with Allan, there would be two students dead and missing at Hogwarts, as they would be left in this secret part of the castle unfound by anyone.
Regulus did not know Protego. He would have no way to defend himself against the knight and any spells he cast would be cut off by the knight's sword.
As they got closer and closer to the majestic icy door, James noticed how the temperature was getting lower and lower. He felt all his skin freezing. He had been standing in this frozen corridor for so long.
When they were about two meters away, flashes of light shone from the upper corners of the door, attracting the gaze of both boys. In each corner was a symbol incomprehensible to James. The strange thing was that both symbols began to glow brighter and brighter.
James knew that what was glowing from an ancient frozen door would not be any good. They looked like cannons about to fire, "Dodge!" shouted James as he spun around and rolled through the snow.
From one of the symbols shot out a bolt of icy air that hit the spot where James was standing before. He wouldn't have had time to wave his wand and shout the spell, so he had to roll Muggle-style.
Regulus did not suffer the same fate as James. He instinctively covered himself with the arm that wasn't holding his wand, and the flash hit him in that spot.
Regulus' arm began to slowly freeze. Luckily it stopped, and only his left arm froze. However, the attack continued. Beams of icy air kept shooting out at both of them.
James this time was prepared and was able to use a Protego. Regulus leaped forward awkwardly and fell to the ground, but managed to dodge the flash that was headed for him.
"Bombarda!" shouted James loudly and pointed at the door specifically at the upper left corner, where one of the strange symbols that shot icy flashes was.
BOOM!
A small explosion occurred as James' Bombarda hit the door, and his instincts were not failing him. The symbol on the door was destroyed and stopped firing. Before he could fire another Bombarda at the symbol on the right side, he had to use a Protego to protect himself again from the icy flash.
He then cast the Bombarda, and the flurry of attacks ceased, 'That was frantic...' thought James, wiping his robes.
"Are you okay?" asked James, approaching Regulus, who was looking at his frozen arm.
"What do you think? I can't move my arm, and I'm getting colder by the second," replied Regulus, shivering.
"Can you go on?" asked James.
"Yes. I'll go on. I can still use the wand," said Regulus, gritting his teeth.
"I have an unconventional method to melt that ice," said James with a slight smile, and Regulus had no choice but to accept his proposal. A while later Regulus had his arm thawed, but numb. It was better than having a chunk of ice.
James used a Flipendo to break the block of ice that had formed around Regulus' arm.
"When we're done with this little adventure, I'd recommend you visit the infirmary," James suggested, and Regulus nodded.
This time, they made it to the door, and nothing tried to kill or freeze them. James had the door a short distance away. The cold emanating from behind the door seemed to be worse than the corridor.
'We're not just going to freeze our way into the vault, right?' thought James, looking at the frozen door that just looking at it gave you the shivers.