Hogsmeade weekend and Halloween passed. The month of November began, and the temperature began to drop gradually. The first weekend was the first Quidditch match of the season: Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw.
It was Ravenclaw's victory by a good margin. After the previous disastrous year, they managed to get up and start the season on the right foot.
On Sunday, the second weekend of November. The Gryffindor vs Slytherin match was played. A match that was eagerly awaited by all of Hogwarts.
James didn't pay much attention to quidditch. He had his hands full, and he had bad news since Halloween ended.
First of all, not even a thunderstorm happened, so he was still having to utter the Animagus charm twice a day. Toby had already lost because of the nighttime explorations of the forbidden forest, so he had to repeat the whole process.
Secondly, he had to use the whole weekend to brew potions with Snape and Gwen. So, they were unable to continue exploring the forbidden forest.
James, nor Sirius, nor any member of the group thought it would be so difficult to find the entrance to the vault. The previous entrances were much easier to find after deciphering the riddle of the scroll.
Thirdly and the most disturbing news of all was that they had spies following their footsteps and their nocturnal activities. This news they learned thanks to Diana Greengrass, Gwen's new and trusted friend, and also because they saw their pursuers patrolling the castle late at night.
Diana told them that on the last day of the Hogsmeade visit, the most promising Slytherin students with pure bloodlines were invited to a private room at the Hog's Head Inn.
This inn is located one or two streets away from the main street. It is known for its low price, at least relative to the Three Broomsticks Inn.
Diana, several other Slytherin students, and a few Ravenclaw students were invited there by a mysterious person who hid his face with a hood and a spell that made his face blur when candlelight or daylight hit him.
From what Diana told Gwen after this infamous meeting, the hooded person gave the students from large families a mission. To investigate about the cursed vaults, James and his friends have information about them and are after the treasures in the remaining vaults.
Diana was very surprised when she heard this as the other students, who were listening to the hooded person. Several things closed in on her as she learned of this.
First, who were the people behind the Meddler the Hogwarts paper that first talked about the vaults and found the location of the fear vault and the ice vault.
It made sense that James, Sirius, Lupin, and so on were behind this newspaper since it talks about gossip and school news, and no one up to this point knew who was responsible.
What would the Slytherin students gain by assisting in this mission? Possible entry into the ranks of the Death Eaters led by the Great Dark Lord that all supremacists idolize and more so Slytherin teenagers.
For Slytherin supremacist students such as Anastasia, Rabastan, Lucius, etc. Voldemort is a hero who carries out his ideals and puts the mudbloods, half-bloods, and blood traitors in their place. He is purging the magical world of the filth that pollutes it.
All the participants in that secret meeting in Hogsmeade agreed to follow the instructions of the hooded person. All, except Diana, who was neither against, nor in favor.
"We must warn Dumbledore! It's dangerous for a death eater to be in Hogsmeade!" shrieked Peter, who was in his dormitory with the other marauders.
"Not only is there a death eater in Hogsmeade. Eustace and his little group of dark wizards are there too," commented James with a relaxed expression as he set up a tall tower of cards. The cards moved and were arranged by themselves as if by magic.
"How are you so sure?" asked Lupin, a little surprised by James' calmness.
"There's only one way the death eaters could have found out about the vaults. Through Eustace Burke. In the Azkaban attack several months ago they must have released him. Since he is a useless one-armed maniac he wants to join the death eaters and must give the vault treasures in exchange. His companions must also want to join the Death Eaters and must be from normal families, so they must be cannon fodder," James explained calmly.
"Have you deduced that much already?" asked Toby, looking at James in surprise. The others were surprised as well.
"Simple deduction. It's not hard to make those connections. Death Eaters want troops in their ranks, but their hierarchy is strict. Eustace knows I wiped his memory when I defeated him, as I didn't have time to add memories to that bump in his head," James said, looking up. A card flew lightly to the top of the tower.
"Stop showing off your wandless magic. What are we going to do now?" said Sirius, looking at the large ten-foot tower in front of his eyes.
James sketched a faint smile and with a simple wave of his hand caused the tower to disarm. The cards began to fly in circles, sorting themselves out in a few seconds and landing on James' bedside table.
"We will continue our exploration of the forbidden forest as before. They have no idea that the vault is outside the castle. We just have to be more careful and not get caught," James replied, standing up and stretching.
"We won't tell Dumbledore that criminals are staying in Hogsmeade?" asked Peter with growing fear. This was already getting very dangerous.
"No. The treasures in the vault will be for us," said James without a second's hesitation. Then his invisibility cloak flew to him on its own, and he passed it to Sirius.
"You four will go under the cloak. You will follow me. When I come out through the Fat Lady's portrait there will most likely be one or more students lurking around, and they will follow me," James said, adjusting his robes.
"Shall we get rid of them?" asked Sirius with a grin. It would be good to sweep the floor with those supremacists. He like James, hated supremacists as weird as it sounded.
"Before that, we'll go to the Slytherin common room. Gwen, Snape, and Regulus most likely won't be able to get out because of their housemates," James said, and as he finished a cold smile formed on his face.
"Once we get there, we'll attack them. Hopefully, Filch will give them long, hard punishments," he added.
"I'll finally get to beat those supremacists to a pulp!" exclaimed Sirius with a big grin and clenched his fist tightly. He'll be able to take out the stress of not finding the vault and having to take so many antidotes because of the poisonous insects and fungi in the forest.
Lupin smiled slightly and touched his hand to where he kept his wand. He was looking forward to this duel. It wouldn't be the same as facing insects or creatures of the forbidden forest. He wanted to see how far he was compared to older Slytherin students.
Toby and Peter both showed a determined look. Exploring the forbidden forest so much at night caused them to greatly improve their magical skills, and besides the training James gave them was no joke. They weren't afraid to face older students. Peter was more afraid of an adult dark wizard or a giant Ice Golem than a student a little older than him.
"They'll never think Diana ratted them out," Lupin said as he walked with the others to the now-empty common room.
Thanks to Diana, they knew the identities of the students who wanted to spy on them and know about the vaults. They were: Rabastan Lestrange, Anastasia Nott, Evan Rosier, Lucius Malfoy, Mark Selwyn, Amycus and Alecto Carrow, Luke Mulciber, Dylan Avery, and Emma and George Parkinson.
"Our great spy. They made a big mistake inviting a Greengrass to their secret meeting," James said, shaking his head and thinking that the death eater was either very stupid or thought very highly of his Dark Lord.
Diana's family was known for remaining neutral in all conflicts in the British magical community. No matter how popular and famous the Dark Lord like Grindelwald was. They did not choose sides. Perhaps he thought that since Diana was young and displayed such ideals, though not as extreme, she would take Voldemort as some sort of hero to follow.
On the other hand, Diana was very popular. She is friends with almost her entire household, so they do not see it odd that the girl is friends with Gwen. Another misunderstanding since at this time both girls became close friends.
"Before we leave. Wouldn't it be better to get rid of the rats following us before we go to the Slytherin common room?" asked Sirius, looking at James.
"It's a better option... We won't have to face everyone at the entrance to the Slytherin common room," said James with a hand on his chin. This way was better for facing them and not fighting at a numerical disadvantage.
"We'll do that. Follow me closely, and when you notice me attacking, come out and attack yourselves as well," James said, and the others nodded as they wrapped themselves in the invisibility cloak.