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Chapter 150: “Shocking news”
🕑 Added 2024-06-02 16:10:13 +0000 UTC“This will be great news!” exclaimed Xeno with sparkling eyes and enthusiasm.
In his hands, he held an old-looking book. He had skimmed through it, but the information in this old book impressed him.
“It will be. Everyone keeps talking about the cursed ice. Now they'll be able to satiate their curiosity,” Sirius said with a smile.
Xeno, Sirius, and James found themselves in an empty classroom in the middle of the night. James with the help of the marauders had finished writing the book about the vaults.
He put together an old-looking book and imitated another type of handwriting. Different from his usual handwriting. He got yellowed pages and was happy with his work to create a book that looked old.
“Where did you get this, James?” asked Xeno, who kept flipping through and reading the information that looked like it was from a reliable source. However, even if it weren't and looked suspicious, he wouldn't care. He had published gossip and much of his reporting was about beasts that no one thinks exist.
“I infiltrated the Forbidden Section. I hope you're keeping it a secret,” James replied with a faint smile.
“Of course I will. I won't rat out my informant” nodded Xeno. It would be good if James would continue to infiltrate the Forbidden Section and bring him more books with secret information.
As for how James infiltrated the Forbidden Section, he didn't give it a second thought. All of Hogwarts knew of James' magical abilities.
Xeno sat down in a chair and began to peruse the book. He was already putting together an outline of what his next big news story would look like in Hogwarts' best newspaper, even though it was the only newspaper there was.
'There's a lot of information. We'll be able to get several issues out,' Xeno thought seriously.
James and Sirius let Xeno read quietly. Thirty minutes later, the Ravenclaw boy closed his book, and his look was serious.
“I never thought there would be such dangerous vaults at Hogwarts...” commented Xeno, then a smile formed on his face.
“This will be the best news yet! We surpassed the previous sales peak,” he added enthusiastically. Although he was passionate about being a journalist it was comforting to see his work rewarded and earning money.
“Yes. I'll finally be able to buy the new Nimbus,” Sirius nodded with a real smile. He would have his new broom by the time before the final match of the Quidditch season. Perfect timing.
“There's a lot less information about the other vault... From what I understood someone opened the vault, and that's why the curse was released causing Hogwarts to freeze. That means there is a culprit at Hogwarts who took all the treasures,” Xeno said with a thoughtful look making eye contact with James and Sirius.
“Exactly. According to the book, many dangers are protecting the treasure. The culprit must be an older student or a professor...” said James with a frown. His acting was good.
“Or several older students who know. If what the book says is true, their next target will be the next vault to seize the new treasures,” said Sirius in a serious tone. His acting was also very good.
That's why the two of them decided to come and tell Xeno about the book. Their performances were perfect, and they were good at lying through their teeth. In contrast, Lupin, Peter, and Toby were not.
“If he does it will release a new curse on the school. We should publish the new issue of the paper as soon as possible, but first I would like to verify if the vaults are real,” said Xeno.
A normal student would have proposed telling this information to the principal and professors, but it didn't cross Xeno's mind. If he did, he knew the school staff would forbid him to publish this and force him to keep quiet. That went against his principles. Hogwarts students needed to know the truth.
“No need to decipher the location of the ice vault,” James said, and Xeno nodded.
In the old book in addition to the vault's information, there was a message in advanced ancient runes. James worked out part of the message and told Xeno that it was about the location of each vault. This was a lie since he planted that message in ancient runes, although the information was true. He made it simpler than the actual encrypted message.
Since the cursed ice had appeared in the fifth-floor corridor it was obvious that its entrance was hidden there. Knowing that it was easy to deduce. Xeno knew there was no need to decipher the message in Ancient Runes. He just had to go there and look for the hidden entrance and see if the vault existed.
“Let's go check it out,” Xeno said as James and Sirius headed down the fifth-floor corridor.
When they arrived, the empty corridor was in perfect condition. There was no longer any trace of it being covered by cursed ice. The school staff made sure of that.
“Let's start looking,” whispered Xeno, heading for an empty wall. James and Sirius had to play dumb and try to look for something.
They spread out covering different walls. They were looking for some moveable brick or something, but they found nothing. After fifteen minutes without success, they came back together.
“All the bricks are firm and look to be many years old,” Sirius commented.
“Yes... Otherwise, it would be very easy to find the entrance,” said James nodding.
“Got it! Let's use the Revelio charm,” said Xeno with a smile. This spell had been taught to them by little Professor Flitwick in Charms class, and one of its uses was for hidden passages.
“That's a good idea. Let's be quick. We don't want Filch to catch us,” said Sirius, and they set to work.
Xeno after a few minutes found the entrance, and a big smile broke out on his face. James and Sirius also managed to put on surprised expressions. An icy staircase was in sight of the three boys.
However, they were not filled with ice which surprised James and Sirius making their performance better. There was a path free of cursed ice.
'Well... No wonder the professors found the entrance after learning that the cursed ice started here,' thought James, looking at Sirius, who also felt the same thing.
If the professors hadn't come up with the idea of using Revelio they would have been useless.
“Be careful. It's cursed ice. If it touches us, it will freeze us,” warned James.
“We must get to the vault. There's a way,” Xeno said excitedly. With these ice-filled stairs cursed he knew the vault was real, but he wanted to see it with his own eyes.
“We can't. Dumbledore and the professors almost certainly found the entrance after removing all the ice from the corridor. Maybe they put some security spell, and we'll get caught if we go in,” said James.
“That's true. Besides, there are no more treasures, and the curse has already been stopped,” nodded Sirius.
It would be dangerous to go back into the vault after the professors had visited the vault.
“That's true. I didn't think of that. I must create the news as soon as possible,” said Xeno, taking a picture of the frozen stairs. It would be the front page.
After returning from his quick expedition, Xeno went back to his common room and stayed up all night writing. The next day he delivered the news to Sirius. In the first news item about the vaults, he only reported the ice vault. Xeno knew they should take advantage of his information and not throw everything into one issue.
Also, they did not know the location of the vault of fear. James and Sirius had told him that they were deciphering the Ancient Runes message with a rune dictionary serving as a translator.
Sirius on the same day that Xeno delivered the news to him began mass production of the paper. Thanks to the fact that they had everything they needed in the room of requirements, it took only one day to have many copies.
The next day they started selling and distributing it. Thanks to the network of employees, they created no one knew about the real creators of the newspaper, so they would be safe if someone wanted to track them down. Above all, the school staff.
They published the location of the ice vault, and it was something the school wanted to keep hidden. So, it would make sense if the teachers and principal wanted to question them.
Breakfast that day was normal like any other. A Ravenclaw boy who was having breakfast with his friends took out a newspaper from his tunic. He opened it and began to read it. He wondered what gossip he would find this time.
'The ice vault?' thought the boy reading the headline with a strange look on his face.
“Oh, I didn't know ‘The Meddler’ came out with a new issue,” commented his friend as he saw the paper in his friend's hand.
The Meddler was the name Sirius, and the others gave their paper. No one knew they were the owners. They gave it this name since they meddled a lot in students' lives by learning about their gossip, love affairs, etc.
There was also a section on beasts and animals that no one believed existed, only Xeno. It was the least-read section. Finally, a Quidditch section that was very popular.
But the most popular section was about gossip and rumors among students, professors, etc.
“Must be a special issue. What new couple did they discover this time? Or is it infidelity?” asked an interested girl. She was very gossipy.
Because of these private issues 'The Meddler' had earned many enemies who wanted to destroy the creators. Above all, the journalist who wrote the articles.
“Let's see what they surprise us with,” said another boy with a slight smile looking at his friend who was still reading the paper engrossed.
Minutes passed, and the mouth of the boy reading the newspaper opened. With one hand he rubbed his eyes. What he was reading was real.
“What's with that face? Give me that,” said the girl impatiently taking the newspaper from his hands and starting to read. Her curious friends approached her and began reading as well.
“The ice vault?” asked the girl in shock.
“That was to blame for Hogwarts almost ending up frozen?” asked another boy, just as surprised.
“A crackpot headmaster created them to guard his treasures?” commented the other boy.
The news moved from one Ravenclaw student to another. It was striking that they were talking about the incident where Hogwarts was almost frozen. Everyone wanted to know what happened. No one imagined that it was such an exciting story.
At the other tables, the same thing happened. Just a couple of students reading 'The Meddler' was enough for the news to spread at a dizzying pace.
Within minutes in the Great Hall, there was only talk of one thing: The Cursed Vaults.
“It must be fake,” said a brainy girl at the Gryffindor's table. She would never believe such a crazy story. How could there be a vault with a giant golem and killer knights at Hogwarts?
“There's only one way to check!” said Gideon, rising from his seat with a big smile. His adventurous spirit was calling him. His brother also stood up with a smile, and they both started walking in the direction of the fifth-floor corridor.
Many students decided to follow them. They had to check if what the newspaper said was true. They were not the only ones. Students from Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff also started heading there.
James and the others gave each other knowing looks and joined the wave of students heading for the ice vault. It would be strange if they didn't follow the crowd.
“What's going on?” exclaimed McGonagall from the professors' table. All the professors noticed the anomaly of many students suddenly leaving the large dining hall.
A short girl with glasses and freckles approached the professor's table and nervously handed the paper to the stern professor, who looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
“I-it's because of this professor,” said the girl passing her the paper. It was good to get along with the professors. What every nerd would do.
“This newspaper again?” muttered McGonagall with a frown as she read the name of the newspaper. Since the paper came out many students complained saying that they had touched on personal issues and fueled gossip. However, the professors could not find those responsible for the paper.
If it had been a normal paper, they wouldn't have minded letting it free, but it always created problems.
'This is not good...' thought McGonagall with surprise and a more serious expression than before.
“What happened Minerva?” asked Slughorn, noticing McGonagall's expression.
“Follow me. It's urgent. The students are heading to the ice room,” replied McGonagall quickly and heading down the corridor of the fifth corridor.
'Why is Dumbledore absenting just at this moment?' thought McGonagall, walking hurriedly.
