Part 8

“I swear, Mr. Weasley, I hope when your younger siblings come to Hogwarts they don’t get into such foolish trouble,” Madam Pomfrey addressed him with the serious voice.

“Don’t worry about that, Madam Pomfrey. They are well-behaved angels, every one,” he replied with a cheeky smile.

“Feeling better, Bill?” I asked, still concerned about his health. He seemed very cheerful for someone who was encased in the cursed ice. We never should’ve gone to the cursed corridor on our own. We definitely weren’t prepared well…

“Thanks to you, Dylan. I can almost feel my fingers again,” he answered.

“I’m sorry you got hurt,” I apologized. Honestly, it was my fault…

“Are you kidding? I’ve never felt more alive! We have to go back, and use Incendio to break the Cursed Vault,” he cheerfully replied. “But this time, we should bring more help.”

“I have friends who helped me escape the cursed ice before. They can help us break the curse on the vault,” I explained.

“It’s your turn to be the teacher, Dylan. Train your friends in the skills they’ll need to get past that door,” he suggested.

“I’ll teach Penny and Rowan spells, and teach Ben how to brew Burn-Healing Paste in case anything goes wrong,” I replied.

“…then we’ll enter the Cursed Vault together…” Bill stated before we parted ways.

***

“Thanks for meeting me, Penny. Are you sure you’re up to helping us break the curse on this vault?” She agreed to meet me on the Training Grounds, eager to help with the cursed ice situation.

“Are you kidding? The cursed ice keeps spreading. I don’t want what happened to Rowan to happen to anyone else,” she replied.

“Great. I’ll teach you how to cast Incendio…” I said.

“I already know Incendio,” she pointed out.

“You do?” That came out as a surprise. When did she learn to cast it?

“Incendio!” She pointed out her wand to one of the training dummies and performed the spell.

“Where did you learn Incendio?” I was curious to know this.

“A fourth-year taught me a few months ago. She used it to light a fireplace. But mostly to show off,” she explained.

“I suppose you’re already prepared for the Cursed Vault…” I said.

“I could actually use some help with the Knockback Jinx. I’ve seen you cast it much better than me,” she asked.

“Professor McGonagall said Flipendo doesn’t work on the cursed ice anymore…” I pointed out.

“It could be useful against whatever is inside the vault,” she explained. “Besides, I’ve been fascinated with that spell ever since Merula flattened you with it in your duel.”

“Thanks for reminding me. All right, let’s work on the Knockback Jinx…” Well, that sure brings back a lot of memories.

While we were practicing, I couldn’t help but think about Merula. Penny just reminded me of her while pointing out our dueling experience. I wonder what she is doing… It’s been a while since I’ve last heard from her. I haven’t seen her at all in the past several days. It’s like she disappeared. Could it be that she’s looking for the vaults on her own? No, that’s too reckless… even for someone like her… Still, I was concerned about her well-being. Now that I think of it, I do kind of miss her… Despite the fact that she was far from friendly with me, despite all of the insults and schemes she plotted against me, I still cared about her…

“That was so much stronger than my usual Knockback Jinx! You’re a brilliant teacher, Dylan,” she said excitedly once we were done practicing.

“You’re a great student. Potions might be your specialty, but you also have a gift for Charms,” I praised her. To be honest, she completely deserved it, she was a fast learner and a very talented student.

“Speaking of potions, if we’re heading to a Cursed Vault, I’d better brew my most powerful potion yet…” she replied.

There are only a few more things to take care of before we are ready to head to the cursed vault again. Hopefully, all will go according to plan this time. I would really hate to see anyone getting hurt again, but we have to break this curse in order to stop the ice from spreading…

***

“Ah, Dylan. Thank goodness yer all righ’,” Hagrid greeted me as I was making my way to the Courtyard to meet Bill and Penny and go over the last few things before heading to the cursed corridor.

“What do you mean?” I was curious about this. He seems concerned…

“Yeh haven’ heard? The cursed ice has spread through all o’ Hogwarts!” He explained.

“Professor Sinestra an’ her students are frozen in Astronomy Class! The Ravenclaw Quidditch team is trapped in the Changing Rooms! An’ tha’s jus’ the start. The professors are doin’ their best ter help everyone, but there’s only so much they can do. What with Professor Dumbledore off searchin’ fer that Curse-Breaker an’ all.”

“What Curse-breaker?” Now that’s something new…

“Shouldn’ta said that, should not have said that…” Apparently, that’s not the information he was supposed to share.

“My friends and I will help the professors save everyone, and stop the cursed ice from spreading,” I tried to reassure him.

“It’s too dangerous. Yeh should leave it teh the professors,” he suggested.

“The professors need help too. Don’t worry, Hagrid. We’ll be careful.” There’s not enough time… I got to do something…

“Tha’s very brave of yeh. When Professor Dumbledore gets back, I’ll tell ‘im wha’ yeh’ve done. Good luck, Dylan…” he replied.

***

Bill was standing at the courtyard, waiting for us. I saw Penny just outside and we went together to meet him and discuss our plan for breaking the curse.

“Hey Bill, this is my friend Penny Haywood,” I greeted him as we were approaching.

“Nice to finally meet you, Penny. I’ve seen you at a couple parties, but we’ve never actually met,” he replied with a smile. “Dylan tells me you have a gift for Potions. Are you ready to help us break the Cursed Vault?”

“Absolutely. I brought the most powerful potion I’ve ever brewed,” she answered with a voice full of confidence.

“I have to do this in hopes of finding my brother, but you two don’t have to be here. Thank you for your help,” I thanked both of them, appreciating their willingness to help with the situation.

“Of course, Dylan. I know you’d do the same for me, and I want to stop this curse before it hurts anyone else,” Penny replied.

“Agreed. Besides, I want another go at this door.” I could feel the confidence and eagerness radiating from Bill.

“Let’s go find out what’s inside the Cursed Vault…” I suggested.

We rushed to the West Towers and made our way to the cursed corridor. On the way, I noticed that most of the staircases and corridors are pretty empty. The ice was already noticeable in some parts of the castle. It was spreading quickly. We definitely have to break this curse… it’s now or never…

The air felt colder and colder as we were approaching the vault. Once we stepped inside the cursed corridor, it was almost unbearable, despite the fact that we were prepared this time… The ice is growing in strength.

“This is the entrance to the Cursed Vault…” I pointed out once we arrived near the Enchanted Door.

“This place is unbelievable…” Penny said while looking around.

“Everyone get ready to cast Incendio at the door…” I suggested.

“Spread out, and be ready to dodge when the door blasts its Freezing Charms…” Bill warned us.

We readied our wands and started hitting the door with the Fire-Making Spell. It wasn’t long until it started retaliating with the Freezing Charms. Thankfully, we were ready for it and managed to avoid getting hit. After hitting it several times, we managed to weaken it.

“Now! Cast your spells again!” Bill ordered once the door started crumbling.

We prepared, raised our wands, focused and uttered the word “Incendio” at the same time. Our combined spells hit the door and managed to shatter it down.

“We did it!” I cheered at our success.

“We did something…” Penny looked at the door, unsure about the effects of our actions.

“I just realized, Dylan. This whole time we thought this door was keeping us out of the vault… But what if it was keeping something IN?!” Bill suddenly came to a conclusion.

“Look out!” I yelled as I noticed the door started moving.

The vault opened and we felt the sudden drop of temperature. Immense cold radiated from within it. I could feel my bones freezing slowly. Then, a large figure emerged from the vault. I couldn’t see too clear, but I noticed a large armor moving towards us. It held the large sword in its hands. The first one on its way was Bill who was still quite shocked. The armor swung its sword and a massive blast of ice flew from it and directly hit my friend. He instantly got encased in ice.

“Bill!” I yelled, once I saw what happened.

“I’m f-fine. Help P-Penny…” He replied.

“No, I’ll help you. It’s time to test my first Erumpent Potion…” She said with a voice full of determination as she pulled out a vial from one of the pockets of her robe. She carefully aimed and threw it at the ice knight. The potion hit its target with a large bang and for a moment, our adversary fell on the ground.

“It worked!” She yelled, surprised by the effect of the potion.

However, her victory was short lived. The ice knight stood up and placed its focus on Penny. He quickly swung his sword and a moment later, she was encased in the ice as well.

“Penny!” I yelled.

“I’m okay. J-just f-finish it off…” She replied.

“I’ll try to draw the knight away from everyone!” I said as I pulled out my wand, slowly retreating down the stairs.

Apparently, its focus was now entirely on me. It slowly moved past my friends and followed me all the way down to the bottom of the stairs. I used the opportunity before it got close enough to blast it with the Fire-Making Spell. The sheer impact of my spell made the ice knight stumble, so I quickly used the opportunity to hit it with the Knockback Jinx. Thanks to all the training and practicing, the force of my spell was impactful enough to completely dismantle the icy knight. Once it fell on the ground, I realized it was just an empty animated suit of armor.

I rushed to free Bill and Penny. I carefully aimed at the ice surrounding them and used the Fire-Making Spell to set them free. After a few casts, both of my friends were freed from the cursed ice.

“Now it’s time to see what’s inside the Cursed Vault…” I said once both of them were back on their feet.

The three of us slowly, but carefully went upstairs towards the door that was still open. We were prepared to face whatever may be inside and put an end to this icy curse once and for all…

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