Chương 182: Door found
Luckily for Rabastan, Sirius took it upon himself to knock him unconscious. The Lestrange boy put up no resistance. He would rather be defeated this way by Sirius Black than have James act or have Gwen leave him frozen in a block of ice.
Gwen walked towards James and the others. Snape followed her, looking at the mostly Slytherin students with a conflicted look. He was supposed to be Slytherin, but he was joining a group of mostly Gryffindors.
'Am I doing right to follow them?' thought Snape with a slight hesitation. He detested Muggles and always had great envy for 100% purebloods.
Unfortunately for him, his father is a stupid muggle, an alcoholic, and abusive. Perhaps for that reason, he hates Muggles so much. He lives in a run-down suburb of Cokeworth.
99% of the Muggles there are bastards, criminals, and nasty. He also met his crush's sister, Petunia Evans. A very unpleasant girl for his taste.
Snape had previously disliked the Gryffindor students because they were loud-mouthed, boastful, and defenders of Muggles. He had a hostile first encounter with James and Sirius. Which made him categorize them as the two popular golden-born boys who are typical bullies and muggle defenders.
However, that thought changed when he started meeting James at the ice vault incident. As hard as it was to admit, the more the events unfolded, the more admiration he felt for James. Now, his friend.
In the first year, when he started hanging out with supremacists, his relationship with Lily, his best friend and the girl he has a crush on, began to worsen because of his "friendships." However, now, thanks to him hanging out with James and the others, he has started to improve his relationship with Lily again.
"What's the matter, Snape? If, in the next few days, they bother you about being with us, tell me. I'll take care of protecting you," Sirius said with a smirk, putting his arm on Snape's shoulder.
'Yeah, I'm fine with them,' Snape concluded, twitching his eyebrows at Sirius' comment.
"Shut your mouth. I didn't need your protection. I alone can defeat them," Snape said with a faintly confident and disdainful smile. In the past, he would have pulled Sirius' arm out, but now he doesn't mind. He also considered this annoying, blustering boy a friend.
'True nobility is shown by fairness and responsibility,' Snape thought, remembering the words James said in the great speech he gave days ago.
"Why do I have to keep hiding?" asked Regulus, who appeared out of nowhere. He walked out next to Gwen and Snape, but unlike the two of them, he used his invisibility cloak.
"They don't know you're with us. Eustace thinks I attacked you to get the information out of the vault. They better think that," James replied, putting his wand away.
The group of dark wizards that Eustace belongs to, the Death Eater sent to Hogsmeade, and the Hogwarts students who are spying on them only think that the marauders, Gwen and Snape, are together.
Thanks to Regulus being sent to the infirmary by James, the information they have is that they are not allies. This is what James plans to take advantage of.
"Why is it better that they think that?" asked Regulus, who wasn't satisfied with having to hide. He wanted to fight, too.
"Because you'll be our spy, and for that, they better think you're just another supremacist like them," James said with a slight smile, and he began to explain the plan he had for Regulus.
Thanks to Diana Greengrass, they found out about the Death Eater, that Eustace was in Hogsmeade, and that they sent students after them to find out the location of the new vault.
Diana was key to obtaining this information. The girl was able to do so thanks to her pureblood family and the supremacist personality she showed, which was not too exaggerated compared to other people.
Regulus is the perfect spy. He comes from a Black family, and his parents adore him as he displays all the typical characteristics of a supremacist, unlike Sirius, who is the black sheep. They all know this and see Regulus as the true heir. This Sirius doesn't give a damn about.
The only relationship there is between James and Regulus is the handshake they gave each other on Narcissa's birthday, and nothing more. No one made a big deal about it, as Regulus keeps a stoic expression in most situations.
James is sure that the Death Eaters will approach Regulus to recruit him, as he is of House Black and a male heir since Sirius is likely to be erased from the Black family tree.
"Mm, I understand. You'll be training me?" asked Regulus without showing a hint of dissatisfaction as before.
"Yes, to be a good spy, you must learn some crucial spells and have the right mental agility," James replied, and Regulus happily accepted this deal.
Like Snape, Regulus ended up admiring James even more than Severus. At first, he looked favorably on the Dark Lord, but all the events involving James made him change his mind. His idea of nobility and purity was wrong, and thanks to James, he could see it.
Muggles were not to be despised and annihilated. They were weak and powerless beings, while wizards were noble and superior beings. They had to protect them! That was their responsibility!
Regulus was just remembering his previous vulgar thoughts, which made him ashamed. He should learn from James about true nobility and etiquette.
The group stopped wasting time and began to head for the outskirts of the castle using the two invisibility cloaks. It is very rare to possess two invisibility cloaks; this gives them a great advantage in their explorations.
They resumed their exploration where they left off. The only difference was that they were now moving in a single group, as they were in a dangerous area of the forbidden forest and had ruled out many possible places. They had to go more carefully, and it was no longer as effective to split into two groups.
The next day, there was a great commotion at Hogwarts. Filch caught several students unconscious on the floor. The victims had very popular and well-known identities. Lucius Malfoy, prefect of Slytherin and a student from a very important family; Mark Selwyn, another character from an important family, etc.
The most talked about was Anastasia Nott, who was found frozen in a block of ice. A student caught a glimpse of her, as the Slytherin girl was taken to the infirmary by Filch, who was ranting.
It reminded many of the incident where Allan Abbott was found frozen, although this time Anastasia was released after only a day, as it was normal ice.
The culprits were not found despite the professors' interrogation of the victims, who did not open their mouths. That was good news for James and company, as they were not punished.
"They can't tell the professors, or their stupid plan to chase us may be discovered," Sirius said with a grin, looking towards the Slytherin table.
It was odd for so many Slytherin students and some Ravenclaw students to be outside the castle at that time of night. The professors wanted to know what they were doing to violate curfew, but they all kept their mouths shut.
"They wouldn't want to let down the great Death Eater who gave them the mission," James commented with some derision.
The next few days passed normally at Hogwarts. James' routine was maintained with one difference. In the evenings, before they could head into the forbidden forest, they had to face their pursuers.
So, small skirmishes happened in the evenings. So far, James' group has been victorious, as they had surprise attacks on their side thanks to the two invisibility cloaks they possessed and, of course, the martial prowess of James, Sirius, Gwen, and company.
Thanks to the punishments that Rabastan, Lucius, etc. suffered. James and his group had a few nights off, and they were able to go out without the need to fight or sneak away from persecution.
One night on the seventeenth of November, at ten past three in the morning, the group finally found the long-sought-after entrance to the forest vault.
The place was hidden in a clearing deep in the Forbidden Forest, where the trees formed a thick canopy that blocked almost all of the moonlight. The darkness was deep, barely broken by the beams of light emanating from the group's wands.
They came to an ancient, twisted oak tree that stood next to a hawthorn tree, as it said in the riddle. The oak had a thick, knotty trunk, while the hawthorn was thinner and full of thorns. Between them, barely visible, was a narrow stream that meandered westward.
The group followed the stream until the water disappeared into the ground, leaving only a bed of wet stones and fallen leaves. There, under the light of the half moon, they found the sign of the centaur engraved on a rock, almost hidden by the undergrowth.
The entrance to the vault was camouflaged by nature, barely large enough for a person to slip through. It was partially hidden by a thick curtain of ivy and vines tangled around an ancient stone door.
The door had inscriptions in ancient runes, similar to those on the scroll, and was adorned with an intricate relief of a centaur with a bow and arrow.
Right in the center of the centaur relief, there was a small circular hole, the perfect size for inserting an arrow.
James moved closer to the door, inspecting the hole and symbols closely. "The centaur arrow must go here," he said, pointing to the hole.
The smile on Sirius' face disappeared at this comment, "Key? Do we need a key?" he asked with a frown. He had thought they would be able to get in by now, but indeed, the door wouldn't budge no matter how much effort he put into pushing it.
"It was obvious a key would be needed," Snape mused, examining the intricately intricate door with his cold, pale hands.
"We came across the centaurs once. They didn't seem very friendly," Lupin commented.
"They let us go because of our age," Regulus added in a tone of anger. He didn't like the condescension of those beasts.
"Let's just freeze them and steal an arrow," said Gwen, unafraid to face the centaurs.
"Will any arrow do?" asked Toby doubtfully.
"I suppose so, as long as it's a centaur. It must be able to discern between a normal arrow and one made by a centaur," said James.
"Are we going to look for those centaurs now?" asked Peter, yawning, and they all looked at James, waiting for his answer.
"No... It's too late now, and we must go back a long way to the castle. Tomorrow we will," replied James, and they all started back to the castle with their senses alert.
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