Chapter 41: The Lake Vault I

"What did I tell you about not trying to get us killed??" Phoebe asked as they swam away while the merpeople fought off the Giant Squid, "Pissing off the merpeople colony is not going help us in the long-run!"

"It was pissing off the merpeople or missing the chance to save Fred!" Simon shouted back, "I would choose pissing off the merpeople instead of losing the chance to save any of you!"

Simon peered at Phoebe, who was surprisingly silent from his comments. He reached for his wand again and chanted "𝘗𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘦!" before ushering Phoebe to follow him in the direction his wand spun to.

---

Instead of looking like a vault, the Lake Vault did indeed look like a beating heart, increasing and decreasing in size within specific time intervals. The exterior was covered with colourful fauna and emitted a warm and inviting glow.

But Simon knew that the looks of the Lake Vault were deceiving, recalling what Merchieftainess Murcus told him during both their encounters. It was a "living being" that could detect their intentions and filled with traps for those with ill intent. He had explained this to Phoebe on their way to the vault.

"We are just here to save Fred, we are just here to save Fred…" Simon muttered again and again, willing himself to not have any other thoughts that may cause the Lake Vault to act malevolently. Phoebe appeared to be doing something similar, closing her eyes and looking deep in thought.

At the same time, Raze grew in size before swimming around the outskirts of the vault.

"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦…"

"Then let us take a closer look."

---

Blast marks and signs of destruction could be seen along the stone corridors within the vault.

"It seems like someone just dealt with many of the traps not long before we arrived," Phoebe mused, albeit still taking care not to touch anything in the vault as they slowly swam further within.

"𝘊𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨," Raze added as Simon scanned the scenes in front of him. The dealing with the traps appeared methodical and precise, with no scratches on any part of the vault that did not hold any traps. This pattern of behaviour could be found in the first two levels of the vault that they swam through.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind hit all of them as they entered the third level, breaking the bubblehead covering their faces. Simon instinctively grabbed his wand to cast the charms again but noticed the sweet air coursing through his lungs.

"Wait, we can breathe here."

Another blast of air came from above, pushing Simon and Phoebe to one of the stone surfaces within this level of the vault.

"Guess we can walk now too," Phoebe added.

"Which is not necessarily great as before we could swim through parts and avoid making contact with all structures of the vault…" Simon pointed out, "Raze, can you fly in here?"

Raze pulled out the feathery wings he had kept contracted during most of the swim and gave it a quick flutter. "𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘴𝘰. 𝘕𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘵?"

Simon nodded and the occamy took flight, speeding down the winding corridors ahead. Jagged pieces of stone abruptly appeared on the walls, threatening to pierce Raze.

Sensing Simon's reaction, his familiar hissed confidently, "𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺, 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘺𝘹𝘪𝘴, 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳? 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘣𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦."

Raze gracefully shrunk in size and twirled away from the jagged stones.

"𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦."

After this stunning display by Raze, Simon and Phoebe heard many more sounds of various traps activating in the distance. Although confident in Raze abilities, Simon still casted an Impedimenta spell to slow them down for his familiar, who carefully weaved around them.

"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴," Simon could hear Raze mentally respond, "𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳…𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴."

---

Simon and Phoebe made their way past the traps Raze avoided to examine what Raze had discovered. It appeared that the traps in this floor can regenerate and repair themselves quickly even after being avoided or destroyed, unlike those in the other two levels. Thanks to the demonstration by Raze, Simon and Phoebe were able to find their ways around them.

Raze was circling a body which lay crumpled under a flight of stairs. Professor Wiblin was unresponsive on the ground, his eyes a pearly white.

"So Fred was not the only one cursed," Simon noted, "But why did the professor stop here and where is Fred?"

"We have not seen him on the way here so the only possibility would be further up," Phoebe reasoned, "Raze can you fly up to check."

"Actually there is a bit of a problem…these stairs are warded and only beings can use them," Raze explained and Simon quickly translated his familiar's thoughts to Phoebe.

"So this is going to be like the maze quests again after Raze was banned from participating."

"Yes, except we might die," Phoebe added with an edge to her usual calm tone.

Simon gulped and headed to the stairs without a second thought.

"𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦."

---

The figure which resembled Fred but for his eyes was wordlessly casting complex spells in front of a stone door covered by elaborate carvings resembling ancient Chinese calligraphy. His spells shone red, slowly weaving and intertwining with the carvings like threads with the fabric on a loom. Patient. Controlled. With the delicate touch an expert safecracker.

"Fred! Fred!"

A voice echoed in the hallway to the door but the figure chose to ignore these shouts. He was so close. He was not going to let whichever idiots came to find this body derail his plans. The sudden unexpected body-swap made matters unnecessarily complicated already. Channelling magic through the body of a 12-year-old to crack open such an ancient and sentient ward was difficult, even one who seemed to have a surprisingly controlled magical flow from decent practice before Hogwarts.

---

Simon was about to reach out to pat the back of his friend when Phoebe grabbed his hand.

"We don't know how this curse passes onto people. We can't risk touching him!" she whispered before pulling out her wand, "𝘍𝘓𝘐𝘗𝘌𝘕𝘋𝘖!"

'Fred' seemed unsurprised by the sudden attack, continuing his spellcasting with his right hand while his left hand pulled out a stone with carvings on it. Phoebe's knockback jinx sprung off the stone back towards the duo instead.

"𝘗𝘙𝘖𝘛𝘌𝘎𝘖!"

A milky white shield burst out of Simon's wand just in time to envelope both him and Phoebe. The spell deflected against the shield charm and started bouncing around the space. This made it impossible for Simon and Phoebe to move closer to 'Fred' as he persisted with working on the door.

Even though Simon and Phoebe were unsure what spells 'Fred' was casting, it was clear whoever possessed him was trying to open the vault and take whatever treasures lay within.

"Maybe if he gets what he wants he would let Fred go," Phoebe suggested, as she took over shield charm duties to let Simon take a break.

"This isn't the quests! It is not going to end just because the goal is reached," Simon grumbled back, "Plus, we might be wrong what the end goal really is – remember the time George was falling?"

Phoebe recalled the time they mistakenly thought getting the quidditch kit would end the quest and bit her lips, deep in thought.

"Wait, Phoebe, can I take your mokeskin pouch," Simon said, an idea coming to his mind.

"Yeah…why?"

Simon fished out the Fred Weasley voodoo doll Phoebe ordered to prank Fred earlier this month. "𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘴 𝘞𝘪𝘣𝘣𝘭𝘺!"

The arms of 'Fred' fell to his sides like jelly.

"YOU-" their red-headed friend turned to face them, his pearly white eyes dripped with spite.

However, the incomplete chain of spells erupted into a ball of flames before the possessed Fred could even make proper eye contact with them.

"Hold onto this," Simon said, passing the Fred doll to Phoebe before diving out of her shield.

"𝘈𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪!" Simon cried, dousing himself and his surroundings with water from his wand as he tackled Fred's body and turned his back to face the flames. He must had overdone it with the water as he found himself slipping further back than he expected, and his back went crashing into the stone door.

The door cracked open a tiny bit, revealing nothing but an empty chest remaining in the room. Simon gave Fred a quick look but noticed his eyes were closed.

Then, he felt a piercing pain in his head and everything went black.