Sunday, February 25, 1973.
About a month had passed since James and Regulus broke into the ice vault and stole the chest.
James didn't use much of the treasures. The book he was able to flip through a bit. He already had a lot to take care of in his routine. He couldn't add a book with hundreds more pages to study.
The ice necklace had a powerful curse, and he did not touch it at this time. He would only use it in future research, and for that, he needed free time which he did not possess.
His routine remained with little change. He continued to study the intermediate transfiguration book. In the Room of Requirement, he studied and practiced Defense Against the Dark Arts books. He also spent time training his telekinetic ability.
His telekinetic ability was key to defeating the ice knights. Both for attacking and defending. Not only could he make things float and send them flying. He could also change the direction of arrows slightly with his mind and even stop the knights with an invisible force. Sort of like an Immobulus charm. Very handy.
In addition, he could do this while casting spells with his wand. This made him very effective in combat, as he could stop a person with his mind and cast a spell with his wand.
It was difficult to do both at the same time, but it was a matter of practice. Telekinetic ability was like a muscle. And since he exercised it so much in the vault fight it improved a lot. It seems that pushing the skill to its maximum fatigue pushes your limits.
Before he could lift in the air about five swords of about 4kg each. Now, he could lift eight swords of the same weight. In other words, he gained 12 kg overnight.
In total, he could move about 32kg with his mind. He could carry it from here to here and send it flying at a high speed. He could not lift eight swords at the same time and use his wand at the same time. That was more difficult.
On the other hand, he was already close to succeeding in casting his corporeal Patronus. A great achievement, although if he had only dedicated himself to training the Patronus he would have achieved it much sooner.
He was studying and practicing three main axes: Transfiguration - Defense Against the Dark Arts - and Telekinetic Ability.
He then spent less time creating a charm for his contact lenses to protect him from Lumos Solem, and practicing his offensive and defensive spells to achieve greater mastery.
As for the ice vault, James didn't go there again. He noticed that Eustace was very angry these days. He most likely realized that someone had stolen his treasures.
James didn't understand why Eustace was looking so hard for that vault. The objects didn't look like much. The best thing would be the book. For a professor working at Hogwarts, it would be very foolish to risk his job and reputation for such objects. Especially since Eustace threatened to kill a student's grandmother.
'Perhaps what he was after was the key,' thought James. In the chest was an ice key. He didn't know exactly which door it opened, but the door had to be in the vault. Hidden in plain sight, since he didn't see it when he fought to the death against the knights.
He had no plans to return for the time being, as it would be dangerous. Eustace might be standing guard, waiting for the people who robbed him to return. And it would not be good to fight to the death against an adult dark wizard. He would rather avoid the risk for the time being.
Today was the start of the second Quidditch match. The day was horrible. It was pouring rain, very cold and windy. Luckily, it was not Gryffindor's turn to play.
Quidditch matches at Hogwarts are played no matter what the weather is like. Something James doesn't understand. We are talking about teenagers riding broomsticks over 10 meters high at dangerous speeds. Add to that bad weather, and there's a good chance of an accident.
In Muggle sports, the match is postponed to another date. But wizards are very picky. In this respect they should learn from the Muggles, James thought.
Luckily, Gryffindor was not playing. Today's match was Slytherin vs Hufflepuff. If the weather helped it could happen that Slytherin would lose by some accident.
Arriving at the dining hall he sat down with his friends to eat breakfast and then go watch the quidditch match in the middle of the storm. It wouldn't be a pretty experience, plus he wouldn't see anything because of the rain and wind, but it was a tradition to watch the matches.
However, there was something odd about the breakfast before the match. All the teachers were gathered together. Including Headmaster Dumbledore.
When Dumbledore saw that the dining room was already full he got up from his seat and looked at everyone. He cleared his throat and spoke in a serious tone different from his usual relaxed tone, "Good morning everyone. I hope you are enjoying your breakfast. As you know today would be the long-awaited quidditch match, although the weather is not good it is always nice to watch a great quidditch match. However, I regret to inform you that today's match will be suspended until further notice."
When he finished making his announcement, all the tables began to murmur and talk about it. It was unheard of for a quidditch match to be canceled. They had waited a long time, and even though the weather wasn't on their side, no one liked to miss a good match.
'Did they realize how dangerous it is to play in these conditions?' thought James a little surprised.
"Quiet, please," said Dumbledore, raising his hand slightly, and the hubbub died down.
"Thank you. I know this is bad news for everyone. Especially for the team members who trained hard. But the decision has been made," added Dumbledore.
"Headmaster, why is it canceled? 'We've played in worse weather," asked a Hufflepuff boy, and several people nodded in agreement.
'There are already some rumors. Sooner or later it will come out,' thought Dumbledore, looking with his blue eyes at the entire student body.
"The more gossipy students and those keeping up with the rumors at Hogwarts may suspect something. Hufflepuff second-year student Allan Abbot was found frozen in a block of ice, head to toe, two days ago. Near the fifth-floor corridor that is located between the art and music classroom," said Dumbledore in a solemn tone.
The large dining hall again exploded in murmurs even more than before. The professors looked at Dumbledore in surprise. They thought he would keep this fact a secret as much as possible until they could cure the student.
"Is that the best decision Dumbledore?" asked McGonagall, taking advantage of the fact that all the students were talking and creating murmur.
"I don't know about the best, but the most sensible yes. We can't hide the fact that there is a danger from the students. Besides, they will find out sooner or later. Rumors are already spreading," replied Dumbledore, who looked tired.
'I knew it!' thought Xeno as he rose from his seat at the Ravenclaw table.
'This will make great news for the weekly paper. We should get a new issue out now. I must talk to Sirius' thought Xeno as he wrote like a madman in a small notebook.
'Allan was frozen?' thought James with a shocked expression. He looked over at Regulus, and their gazes met. Regulus didn't seem to be surprised, though he did seem to be saddened. He seemed to be aware of this news.
Why had Allan returned to the vault? On Eustace's orders? If that was the case and the idiot was frozen, how did they find him? Perhaps Regulus saved him or Professor Eustace, the latter he doubts.
'This is bad... If Regulus saved him he'd have to explain himself, and the school would know about the vault,' thought James. He didn't want to give back the treasures that almost cost him his life.
"Why so surprised?" asked Sirius in an annoyed tone, looking at James' shocked expression.
"What? Everyone is shocked. No one knew what someone was frozen from," said James quizzically.
"No one? Do you even listen to us anymore when we talk to you?" said Sirius, getting more and more annoyed.
'Mm? Why does he seem so annoyed with me?' thought James. He seemed to have forgotten a couple of conversations with the marauders.
He was so immersed in studying this last while that he might have paid little attention when conversing with them. He usually responded with monosyllables and barely contributed to value.
Seeing Sirius and Lupin's scowls of annoyance he began to reminisce about the previous days. The time he had free time to do nothing had dwindled to about thirty minutes on weekdays.
"Now I remember... Xeno had gathered information from some students who saw that a student was taken to the infirmary and was frozen," James said.
They didn't know which student he was, or how he ended up frozen in a block of ice, but the rumor was that.
By this time Sirius and the others had already started up the "illegal" school newspaper business. Xeno the Ravenclaw student was in charge of writing the paper with the most interesting topics. Sirius was in charge of selling them.
In the early days the business was not very successful, but little by little it took off, and now they had regular customers who bought the paper every week.
Although James came up with the idea for this business, he did nothing else. He paid little attention and didn't read the newspapers even though he had been given the first one they printed. He didn't have the time or energy to launch a school newspaper business at Hogwarts.
"You should pay more attention when someone talks to you," Sirius said, annoyed as he looked away from James.
Sirius understood that James wanted to study and train like crazy, for reasons unknown to him. So, in the times that his best friend was free he tried to do the activities of the marauders. Playing the occasional simple prank, loitering around the castle, wasting time, or planning an illegal business to make money. The typical stuff.
But now James in the times he had free didn't even pay attention. He seemed to be in another world, rambling on about complicated spells or theories none of them understood.
'It's hard to keep a balance,' James thought. He was the one who wanted to have a normal life and waste time with his friends the most, but he couldn't. He had already put in enough time in his first year.
"Silence. Thanks. I know it can be scary, but that's the way things are and you should know that. From now on it is forbidden to go to the corridor on the fifth floor between the art and music classroom. It is dangerous. A very cold, spell-resistant ice is spreading for unknown reasons," Dumbledore explained.
'Allan wasn't frozen inside the vault...?' thought James with more surprise than before. From the news Dumbledore had given, he thought that idiot Allan went back into the freezing corridor and then into the vault. Not that the fifth-floor corridor was freezing.
"Filch and the professors will see to it that no one steps into that corridor. If they are found trying to go there they will be punished. It is for your safety. Classes will continue as normal. The professors and I will solve the problem. That is all. Go on with your breakfast," said Dumbledore as he left the Great Dining Hall followed by all the professors.
They were heading down the corridor to try and find a solution.
'Don't tell me Regulus and I caused this?' thought James with a bad feeling.