"What is your purpose? Why do you want to find the vaults?" asked James, staring at Eustace. He cast two spells on him to stop the bleeding, still, the professor's skin was pale.
"Isn't it obvious? By the treasures," snorted Eustace with a wince.
"You'd be willing to threaten a powerful pureblood family and use unforgivable curses just for a few magical items?" asked James as he pointed the edge of the sword at Eustace's neck.
While the treasures in the ice vault were of good quality they weren't worth it to cast an unforgivable curse and threaten a student at Hogwarts.
If you get caught you could end up in Azkaban. A prison no one wants to set foot in. Prisoners go mad in a matter of weeks, and it's a fate worse than death.
Eustace didn't answer. He just craned his neck in defiance of James. He knew he was a thirteen-year-old boy. He wouldn't be encouraged to murder a person.
"I guess you don't need your other hand. You're going to Azkaban anyway," James said in a cold tone as he raised his sword and pointed it at Eustace's hand.
"A wizard who can't use a wand. You'll have to learn magic without a wand," added James with a slight smile and began to bring the sword down at a great speed.
"Wait!" shouted Eustace, and the sword stopped mere inches from his wrist.
'This bastard really would have cut my hand,' thought Eustace with sweat on his forehead.
Gwen watched this with a bit of surprise, but also with a slight smile. She had long known this cold attitude of James towards his enemies and loved it. However, this time it was a bit more violent as he was about to cut off a person's hand.
"Spit it all out if you don't want to get one-armed," Gwen commented with a chilling smile.
'What is it with these two students?' thought Eustace, looking at James and Gwen's maniacal grins.
"My goal is to find the final vault," replied Eustace.
He didn't want to run out of hands. It would be the worst thing of all. He would become a person who cannot perform magic, as magic without a wand is very complicated, and hopefully, he could learn some weak spells.
Although he lost his dominant hand, it won't be difficult to learn to use his other hand. He knows he will be sent to Azkaban, but he is still hopeful that he can escape.
The British community is going through a turbulent time. Anything can happen. Hope is the last thing to be lost. If he can escape from Azkaban, but he has no hands it won't do any good. He'd rather die than be like a muggle or a squib.
"Are there any more vaults, how many?" asked James. With the others, they had already thought about this possibility.
"There are four in total," replied Eustace.
'That leaves two, not counting this one and the ice one,' thought James.
"How do you get to that final vault?" asked James.
"In each vault, there are two scrolls. One with a complex riddle and one with a map," Eustace replied, and James understood how to get to that vault.
With his free hand, he reached into Eustace's tunic and found two old scrolls. These were the scrolls that Eustace obtained after clearing the vault of fear and that led to the next vault.
Eustace looked at these with resignation. He was so close to his mission. Only half was missing, and he would have succeeded in finding the final vault.
"Tell me about that final vault. What's in it? Who created it? How do you know?" said James, asking several questions at once.
Eustace didn't answer, so James pressed the sword on his wrist making a slight cut.
"Its creator was Dai Ryusaki..." answered Eustace with no other choice.
In five minutes, he told him everything he knew. Dai Ryusaki was a wizard of Japanese origin. He was a professor at Hogwarts and is from the year 1600.
Little is known of Ryusaki's enigmatic life, but he was a great wizard potionist and forger of magical items with powerful effects. It is said that he hid his most powerful magical artifact in the final vault.
That was Eustace's goal. The professor was not alone. He belonged to a small group of dark magicians who aimed to obtain arcane knowledge, and magical artifacts and augment their dark magic.
'A Japanese wizard who created four vaults to hide all his treasures at Hogwarts...?' thought James with an incredulous expression.
"James, we need to get Snape to the infirmary," said Sirius, who had already brought Snape with Lupin. He heard the whole story and was very surprised, but they had to cure the Slytherin boy who was unconscious.
'It's true... At any moment the professors may arrive,' thought James.
"Lastly, why didn't you find the vaults on your own?" asked James, curious. If the bald man had done this, he would never have known about the existence of the vaults or it would have been less possible.
"Because of Dumbledore," Eustace replied with a frown. If it hadn't been for the old headmaster's suspicions, he could have moved freely around Hogwarts and taken care of the vault business himself.
James nodded and cast an Obliviate on him. It erased Eustace's memories of the interrogation and the interrogation the bald man gave Snape. It wouldn't do for a Legilimens to know that they already knew about the vaults.
He didn't have time to implant false memories. Within minutes McGonagall and several other professors arrived along with Xeno.
...
A week passed since the incident in the vault of fear. Professor Eustace was arrested and taken away by several Aurors. He was most likely going to Azkaban after the trial.
It came as a great surprise to everyone that a professor was to blame for everything. Especially when it came to light that the bald man had cast an unforgivable curse on a student.
Even more surprising was that four students stopped him and saved the other student. This was made public. The professors couldn't try to hide it.
Dumbledore was not at Hogwarts and the existence of the vault of fear had already been brought to light by the newspaper "The Meddler."
As expected James, Sirius, Lupin, Gwen, and Xeno were also subjected to questioning, but it was nothing serious. They were only asked how they got there and how they defeated the professor.
They all answered the same. They got there thanks to The Meddler newspaper. James, Sirius, and Lupin said they found a copy while wandering around the school. In this copy, it said the location of the vault and they decided to go after preparing a bit.
Since they were friends and slept in the same dormitory it wasn't unusual for one to have passed the news to the other and they decided to go to the vault together. Why didn't they tell the professors? Because it was an adventure. They could only scold them it wasn't their fault, they were only thirteen.
As for Xeno, Gwen, and Snape, they each found a copy of the paper and decided to visit the vault out of curiosity, adventure, whatever.
They told the events as they happened without lying. The only loophole was that James arrived later, but he gave an excuse, and they had no choice but to believe him.
Why did they bring a camera and a magic voice recorder? Out of curiosity. They wanted to see if the vault was real.
The evidence they got and the Prior Incantato spell made Eustace 100% trapped. He could not escape his crimes. Plus the testimony of James and the others. Above all, Snape, who after regaining consciousness told how the professor tortured him only out of malice (he omitted the interrogation part.).
Prior Incantato was a spell that forced a wand to display an echo of the last spells it had cast. With this, they were able to find that Eustace had cast Crucio. The unforgivable curse on a thirteen-year-old pupil.
"Finally those Aurors are gone," Sirius said, sprawling out on his bed.
"Yes. I don't know how many interrogations they've done on us anymore," said Lupin, sighing with relief.
Their lies were solid and had validity, but they could find the occasional loophole. Luckily as they were thirteen-year-old students they couldn't push them too hard.
In the end, they were the victims who were almost killed at Hogwarts, and they also saved Hogwarts. The only thing they could reprimand them on was that they decided to go to the vault without telling the professors.
"I heard they helped the professors stop the curse from spreading," Toby commented.
"Thanks to them acting fast the curse of the vault of fear didn't have time to spread like it did with the curse of ice," said James.
They didn't know what the curse of the vault of fear would be. Eustace went inside and only retrieved the scrolls to find the next vault. He knew his time was limited, so he did not take the treasures from that vault.
So the professors along with the Aurors had to take care of destroying the cursed core or whatever caused the curse.
'I wonder what treasures the professors have found,' James thought curiously, but he wasn't despondent.
He got the most important thing. The route to the next vault. His goal was now clear. To get the treasure from the final vault. It could help him in his fight against Voldemort and the Death Eaters.
He would see to it that the curses would not spread through Hogwarts. The professors and everyone at Hogwarts thought the matter was over, so he would have a free hand to act.
The only worrying thing was the group of dark wizards to which Eustace belonged. These knew of the existence of the vaults and might try to do something.
"Is Snape still in the infirmary?" asked Lupin.
"Yes. He's regained consciousness. He'll be discharged in a few days," replied Sirius, and they all looked at him with strange expressions.
"What's wrong?" asked Sirius.
"Did you visit Snape?" asked Peter in disbelief.
"I just visited Regulus! He was discharged today, and by the way, I found out about Snape's condition. If it wasn't for him we'd have our memories erased like Xeno!" replied Sirius indignantly.
'I should pay them a visit,' thought James. He knew Snape wouldn't like him visiting him, as if the Slytherin students found out it wouldn't be very good, but he should do it.
Snape, Regulus, and Gwen will be in charge of solving the next riddle. They are the most capable of this task. Although he has basic knowledge of Ancient Runes, he has no time to devote to this task. It is best to delegate.
"Where are you going?" asked Toby as he noticed Sirius heading for the door.
"To study," replied Sirius, and everyone looked at him with shocked expressions.
"I got held up because of the Aurors and the damn vaults! It's a month until exams!" justified Sirius indignantly as he walked out of the dormitory.