The Vault of Ice (II)

With a strong push, Theo manages to open the large doors which slowly swing open offering no resistance once opened.

Theo turns around with a smirk, "Shall we?"

"PROTEGO!" Daphne yells making a shield at Theo's back.

*BOOM*

Theo falls forward as a giant mace made of ice strikes the shield shoving him forward. Behind the fallen Theo stands an eight-foot-tall knight donning silver armor with the magic blue ice coating him. His helmet's visor is down but you can still see glowing cold blue eyes within.

"Incendio" Theo casts at the knight after scrambling back a few feet.

The knight brings up his shield to block the fire. The shield has the exact same rune and snowflake combination on it. As the flames strike the shield ice radiates off the shield just like the door but in a much smaller fashion.

"Protego," Hermione casts protecting Theo as he is the only one in range of the ice.

"Expulso," Daphne casts as Theo's flames fall. A large wave of blue light strikes the shield of the knight pushing it back almost five feet and it is forced onto a knee as to not fall back. Unlike last time no ice radiates off the shield.

Theo stands up brushing the snow off his robes, "Thanks, Daphne."

She gives him a small smile, "Be more careful next time."

Hermione nods, "Seriously," she sighs as she looks at the knight who is slowly getting up taking its time. "Don't use fire unless you know you can hit its body. Who wants to take the front?"

"I will," Daphne says surprisingly even me.

"She is the best at charms," Theo says facing the knight, "I'll take the right."

Hermione sighs, "Then I will take the left."

After finishing their words they back up to near the stairs by me; Hermione stands on the left and Theo on the right. The knight steps through the door with a raised shield and its mace dragging across the ground.

As the knight nears Daphne raises her wand, "Bombarda."

The left foot of the knight explodes shattering the layer of ice on its arms. The knight sways a bit from the impact but manages to stay up as it now marches towards Daphne at a much faster pace.

"Protego," she casts as the knight does not hesitate to swing down its mace down at her head.

*BOOM*

The hall rumbles as this time the shield doesn't yield and instead fully withstanding the impact. There is only a small thin crack running down the center of the translucent barrier.

While the knight focuses on Daphne both Theo and Hermione have gotten to the back of its left and right sides.

"Incendio," "Confringo," My brows raise at Theo's choice of spells as the orange light leaves his wand a stream of fire hits its back from Hermione.

The orange light strikes its back causing a fiery explosion to consume its back shattering the ice around it. Hermione's stream of fire quickly consumes the knight's back, getting into the cracks of the armor.

The knight lets out an odd whaling sound that sounds more like a humming. The normally slow knight quickly turns swinging hard at Hermione.

I ready my wand but Daphne also notices and quickly casts, "Protego!"

The knight strikes the bubble hard causing the translucent barrier to cave in and Hermione to go flying.

Before she can strike the wall I raise my wand, "Levicorpus." Hermione's body stops as I take control of it and softly set her on the ground.

Theo sighs seeing her safe as he raises his wand again, "Incendio."

Just like last time a stream of fire strikes the knights back. The knight wails as the fire invades its armor and begins to leak out of other parts, mainly its eyes.

It falls to its knees as Daphne casts as well, "Incendio."

The knight quickly seems to lose all semblance of life as it lifelessly hunches forward. They both stop as the sack of armor falls to the ground.

They both quickly run over to Hermione while I walk not far behind.

"Are you okay?" Daphne asks as she helps Hermione stand up.

Hermione nods as she smiles at her, "Yeah, thank you."

Hermione smiles at me as well as I get near, "You too Soren, Thank you."

I wave her it off, "It's my job right now."

Theo sighs, "That was close, I knew the vaults would be difficult but that was definitely harder than expected."

"Snape did it himself when he was in his fifth year."

Hermione rolls her eyes, "Well we aren't Snape."

I nod, "Indeed, since you already beat it I'll tell you the secret. The knight has an ice core in its helmet, all you have to do is melt it. Snape destroyed a leg using bombarda maxima then the blasting curse then of course fire. So you guys basically did exactly what you needed to. Congrats."

"That's it?" Daphne asks hopefully.

"Yup, you can go and claim your rewards now."

As they begin to walk into the vault I quickly put the knight's shield into my shroud for further study later. Sid had written about the uses of ancient runes but even in his era, it was basically unheard of to be able to actually use them. That means these vaults probably predate Hogwarts.

If I remember correctly Hogwarts was built here because of the Pensieve. What if the Pensieve and the vaults are connected and the vaults built themselves around the Pensieve naturally, or at least using ancient magic. It is a cool thought I suppose.

Putting off those thoughts for later I follow the trio into the vault. Inside the vault changes from icy blue to a warm yellow. The walls are black with gold trim with a crimson red carpet. In the center is a cage with black glass between the metal.

They all look back at me as if asking for permission but I just shrug. Theo sighs as he reaches out his hand to touch the glass cage and as he does it begins to open. We all step back as to avoid getting bonked on the head by the lowering edges of the case.

As I step back I step on something, looking down I see a broken wand on the ground. 'Oh my, how useful,' I think to myself as I quickly pocket it.

Once the leaflets of the cage are all the way down it reveals a book sitting on a pedestal. The cover of the book is blank but as Hermione approaches letters begin to appear on it.

'The intricacies of the memory charm' it reads.

Theo looks at me confused, "What is this?"

"It is supposed to contain both your clue and your reward, so I assume this is both."

As Hermione touches the book it springs open then it shuts again immediately. Hermione steps back as she holds her head.

Daphne grabs her with concern, "Are you alright?"

Hermione nods slowly, "I just read a book in half a second, my head hurts."

I smirk as I gesture for Theo to step up to the book. As he does the letters change to read, 'A lesson on Lightning'.

Just like Hermione as he is about to touch the book it springs open then shuts again. Theo lets out a grunt as he holds his head and makes his way to the outer wall to lean on it.

I raise my brows at Daphne, "Your turn."

She looks a bit hesitant but nods as she walks up to the book. As she gets close the words change yet again, 'A Charm to Save a Life'. She reaches out a hand and the book flips open and closed once again.

She seems to hold up better than the other two as she just rubs her temples as she steps away. I pat her back as she passes me and leans against the wall.

"My turn I suppose," I say as I step up to the book.