The inside of a vault was a circular room with several suits of armor standing near its walls. The entire room was very dark, the only light was coming from the strange column that was in the middle.

“Absolutely amazing…” Penny commented on the interior of the vault.

“There’s something strange about this column…” Bill noticed.

“Maybe there’s something inside…” I assumed.

I approached to take a closer look. The glow started intensifying as I was getting closer. The moment I touched it, it started moving. After a few seconds, the entire column was open and inside, there were two items.

“A book and a broken wand? Not exactly the treasure I was hoping for…” Bill said with a disappointed voice.

“Maybe they’re clues…” I replied.

Not long after, I started hearing the voice in my head. “Find the other four vaults, Dylan… Find my room…”

“Your room? I don’t understand…” I answered. I am fairly sure that’s Jacob’s voice I am hearing.

“You can’t let her get there first! Hurry!” He replied.

“Hey! Hey, Dylan, snap out of it!” Bill yelled at me.

“What? Where is he?” I got confused as the voice stopped speaking to me.

“Who?” Bill asked.

“I heard a voice telling me to find the other vaults. My brother’s voice…” I answered, still unsure about the meaning of his message. “You must think I’m mad like him…”

“I believe you, Dylan,” Penny said with a smile on her face.

“So do I. I could believe anything after this…” Bill added.

“What did he say?” Penny questioned me, curious to know what I’ve heard.

“He said I need to find his room, and that there are four more vaults, and we have to find them before her…” I explained.

“Who’s her?” She asked. Sadly, I didn’t know the answer to that question…

“This just keeps getting stranger…” Bill commented.

“It has to be his wand. I have to take it…” I pointed out. I slowly took out the items and checked them out. I gave the book to Bill while I was examining the wand.

“What does the book say?” Penny asked.

“Nothing,” Bill replied. “It’s just scribbles and drawings. By an artist who appears to have been quite mad…”

“Do you think it’s a clue to the location of the next Cursed Vault?” I assumed.

“All I know is we need to get out of here before we get caught,” he answered.

“You’re right. We can talk more when we’re out of this corridor. And work out how to find the next Cursed Vault…” I agreed with him.

All of us rushed out of the vault, eager to leave the place. Both the corridor and the staircase suddenly started feeling less cold than before. Apparently, whatever we did there stopped the ice from spreading further.

***

The training grounds were very lively. Just one day following our adventure, the cursed ice disappeared entirely from Hogwarts. The flying class today was just like any other so far… almost like any other. I could notice from the start that Merula was giving me a weird look. Well, weirder than usual, to be fair… Could it be that she knows something about my recent adventure?

While we were doing the maintenance of our brooms, she was gazing at me all the time. Her stares were so cold, so emotionless… I can’t really describe it. I couldn’t say if she was angry at me or just disappointed for some reason. Every time I scrubbed or polished my broom she was glaring at me. I could feel the tension rising like something was boiling inside her… I felt that she could explode at any moment. And all the time, she would not say a word…

Then we started practicing the summoning of our brooms. Apparently, the tension that was rising inside her was stronger with every passing second. It was especially noticeable since no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t get her broom to raise to her hand. At first, she started slowly stretching her arm and calmly saying the word “Up” but for some reason, it wasn’t working. She tried it several times, but no matter what she did, her broom wasn’t reacting. The most she managed to do was to slightly raise it above the ground level. I could notice her temper rising. Then, she aggressively stretched her arm forward, and with a voice filled with anger yelled “UP!” Suddenly, her broom rose from the ground way faster than she expected. It went straight past her hand and landed right on her face with a loud bang. The sound was so intense that all of the students, as well as Madam Hooch, snapped for a moment.

The force of impact was so strong, it knocked Merula off her feet stronger than any Knockback Jinx I’ve ever seen. Shortly after, I could hear her crying in pain. I looked at her and noticed that her face was all red and there was blood dripping from her nose. She appeared seriously injured. I quickly approached to help her get back on her feet, but she rebuffed my attempt and tried to stand up on her own.

“Quickly, someone, take Miss Snyde to Hospital Wing. Mr. Edwards, how about you? Make sure to tell Madam Pomfrey what happened,” Madam Hooch said with a stern voice.

Once again, I helped Merula get up. This time, she wasn’t complaining. I assumed she was in huge pain, judging by her cries. I took her hand and we quickly left the Training Grounds.

It took us some time to reach the Hospital Wing. She was holding her right hand over her face, but I could notice that she was in a lot of pain. She wasn’t even hiding it. I felt partially responsible for what happened. I guess she was frustrated by something I did and that led to this…

As we entered, I could notice that all of the beds are empty. There was no one in the Hospital Wing.

“Madam Pomfrey?” I yelled. “We need your help! Merula got injured during the Flying Class.”

However, she was nowhere to be seen. I guess I’ve no time to lose.

“Please sit on this bed,” I pointed to one of the nearby beds.

Merula didn’t complain and sat there. I could still hear her cries. I guess I have to do something about her injury.

“Could you please move your hand and let me take a look at your nose?” I asked her.

She looked at me with her tearful eyes and replied sobbingly. “It’s all your fault…”

“I am sorry if I did something to aggravate you. I never meant for you to get hurt…” I said. “But I have to do something about your injury. Madam Pomfrey isn’t here and we can’t just wait for her to come back…”

I took out my wand and tried to remember the incantation for the Healing Charm. Her eyes suddenly fixated on me and her expression changed from anger to worry.

“What… are you planning… to do?” She asked while still sobbing.

“Don’t worry, this will only take a moment,” I replied.

Reluctantly, she moved her hand. I could notice that her nose is probably broken. Hopefully, this will help… I pointed my wand toward her face and uttered the word “Episkey!” while making a circular motion with my hand.

I heard a clicking sound as I cast the spell and immediately after, the bleeding from her nose stopped. Not just that, but all the traces of the impact from the broom handle disappeared as well.

“Are you all right?” I asked, still unsure if the spell worked as intended.

She carefully touched her face, trying to check if everything is fine. Then, she gave me a curious look. “The pain is gone… How… When did you learn this spell?”

“Madam Pomfrey taught it to me a while ago, but I didn’t have an opportunity to use it, to be honest. I’m glad it worked,” I answered to her with a smile.

“Still, this is all your fault…” She gazed at me with an angry look.

“But what did I do to anger you so much?” I asked, curious to know what is the source of her anger.

“You went to the Cursed Vault and didn’t tell me about it…” She replied. “And you promised to tell me if you do…”

“I am sorry about that, but there was no time… The ice was spreading all over Hogwarts and we had to act quickly…” I tried to explain.

“That didn’t prevent you from inviting that half-blood Hufflepuff to tag along…” She angrily interrupted me. “And of all others, you had to choose her! I am the most powerful witch at Hogwarts and you still decided to go with her…”

“I…” Suddenly, before I had the chance to explain myself, the door opened and Madam Pomfrey entered the Hospital Wing.

“Miss Snyde, Mr. Edwards, what are you doing here?” She asked.

“Merula got injured during the Flying Class, so I rushed her here, but there was no one in the Hospital Wing…” I explained.

“What happened to her?” She questioned me.

“The handle of her broom struck her face while we were practicing, so Madam Hooch asked me to take her here,” I replied.

She approached and looked at Merula. “It appears she is fine. Did you do something?”

“Well… Since you weren’t here, I decided to use the Healing Charm… Just as you taught me before…” I said, still a bit nervous.

“Well, it appears that the spell worked,” she said while examining Merula’s face. “It was the right thing to do.”

“Thank you, Madam Pomfrey,” I replied.

“Still, I should inform you that Professor McGonagall wants to have a word with you. She awaits you near the Headmaster’s office,” she said. “Apparently, it has something to do with your recent ‘adventures.”

I could notice Merula grinning slightly at me when Madam Pomfrey said that. I guess she is happy knowing I am likely going to get punished for my tampering with the Cursed Vault…

“Good luck, Edwards,” she said, still grinning wickedly at me.

“Miss Snyde, you should stay here for a while. I want to make sure you’re all right,” Madam Pomfrey addressed her. “As for you, Mr. Edwards, you’d better not keep Professor McGonagall waiting.”

I simply nodded and started walking toward the door. I guess that’s it. I am in serious trouble now…

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