A Hogwarts Mystery: Beyond the Vanished Stairs

 "Well, that explains why Ben was in this corridor," Rowan said. She looked up the Vanished Stairs in awe. "Where do you think it leads?"

 Maya returned the knife to its owner. "Probably to a Cursed Vault," she muttered. "No, it must lead to a Cursed Vault. A Spatial Pocket would explain how no one found them over hundreds of years... Jacob must have been the first person to ever make any progress."

 Rowan bounced up and down with excitement. "We just discovered an unexplored section of Hogwarts! Do you understand how amazing that is?!"

 "You're right, Rowan," Maya replied. She was starting to grin, too. "But we need to be careful. 'The Ice Knight stands guard beyond the Vanished Stairs', remember?"

 Maya and Rowan climbed up the stairs. Once they had passed through, the glowing threads of the Space-Sewing Charm mended themselves and sewed the arch back together. The stitching was perfectly visible from inside, though.

 Rows of torches illuminated the staircase arctic blue, except they weren't burning like normal torches. Instead, each torch was topped with a shard of ice that glowed bright as fire. Despite the lighting, the fog rolling around and over their feet was so thick that Maya and Rowan couldn't see the treads. When they reached the top, they were met with another winding set of stairs that confirmed Maya's suspicions; the place had been enlarged with an Extension Charm. Each step of the new staircase was closer to the size of a landing.

 "This place is absolutely amazing," Maya whispered as she gawked at the suits of armour flanking each platform, standing between the glowing ice torches. They seemed older than the ones she usually saw in the castle, and they weren't moving either.

 Rowan shivered, though still grinning. "And cold... Unnaturally cold. The east corridor was toasty compared to this—it feels like it's already starting to slow down my body and mind."

 "We need to keep moving. My brother could be close..."

 Maya didn't like the cold, but she pressed onward. While she couldn't see the treads, the level of soft crunchiness made it feel like they were covered in snow, not frost.

 Rowan eyed the suits of armour suspiciously. "Didn't you say that there was a suit of armour in one of your visions last year?"

 Maya nodded. "Yep. I heard Jacob say that the curse would be unleashed and the vault would open right before I saw it. And in that vision, I also saw Hogwarts being covered in ice. The person in the armour could have been the Ice Knight..."

 "Did that armour look anything like... like this?" Rowan asked.

 Maya squinted. "I think so? You have to realise I got that vision about a year ago, so I can't recall all the details. But the one from my vision did have a sword, and I don't see any swords here." She gestured at the plentiful shields, spears, maces and whatnot. 

 "What kind of sword?"

 "...A longsword," Maya replied after a short pause. "Two-handed."

 "So, assuming that the Ice Knight is at the end of these stairs and we have to 'steal his heart', I might be able to charm him with my extensive and formerly-pointless knowledge of mediaeval weaponry?"

 Maya shrugged. "It's worth a shot. ...By the way, do you ever get the feeling that you're being watched?"

 "Ha ha. Very funny," said Rowan dryly.

 "I'm serious, Rowan." Maya looked around. "I get it really often, but we're the only ones here... right? I don't hear any voices..."

 Rowan looked a bit worried after hearing that, but she said, "I'm sure your mind is just playing tricks on you. Come on, let's—"

 Clang!

 Rowan jumped—she'd accidentally kicked something. The fog parted slightly as a head—no, just a helmet—rolled through.

 "It must've come from over there." Maya pointed at a pile of collapsed platemail. But why did it fall over?

 And then—

 Jacob strode through the Vanished Stairs, snow crunching beneath his feet, maple wand held aloft. It had been some time since he'd shaved his head, so some of his hair had grown out into short curls. He was dressed in warm winter robes and had a wide, eager grin on his face. Behind him was a brown girl with large glasses and a pale, lanky, mousy-haired boy, both of whom were similarly dressed.

 "I can't believe it," he said, failing to contain his excitement. "This is incredible! Duncan, Liv, look!"

 "Wow." Liv's eyes were wide with amazement. "Alright, you've managed to convince me that this isn't one of your elaborate pranks."

 Duncan snorted loudly, and sheathed the knife he was holding. "For the record, mate, I believed you from the start."

 "No you didn't."

 "Yeah, I thought you'd gone barmy for a hot minute," Duncan admitted.

 "Can you blame us, though?" Liv said sarcastically. "You were polishing the trophies because you were in detention for one of your pranks, and suddenly you see a coded message in your mind. Duncan, despite being in the exact same place at the exact same time doing the exact same thing, does not. You memorise the entirety of said message and decode it, into Gaelic of all things, and then translate that into a message about the Cursed Vaults. And I'm supposed to assume the story is true?"

 Duncan shrugged. "Eh. This bloke's the 'genius of the century'—he's done crazier things."

 "And I know it sounded crazy, that's why I didn't tell my mom." Jacob let out a short laugh. "But anyway, who cares about that? We're about to find the Vault of Ice! The first of the five Cursed Vaults! Liv, you owe us five Galleons."

 "Hey! I wasn't being serious!"

 "And neither was I when I said I'd eat a live slug if you beat me in that exam," Duncan reminded her. "But I did anyway, so you'd better cough up."

 Liv glared at him, furiously digging coins out of her pockets. "I vividly remember telling you not to eat that slug. But you, being the graphorn-headed dunderhead you are, insisted on swallowing the bugger. Just watching was enough to make me sick to my stomach!"

 "Serves you right! You beat me by half a point, and only because you talked Flitwick into agreeing with you!"

 "Oi!" Jacob shouted down. "Can we get back to the erumpent in the room? Namely, the room itself? Cursed Vault, people! There's treasure up ahead!" He was already much further up the stairs than his friends.

 Duncan and Liv jogged to catch up with him. Jacob could tell that although they were downplaying it, they were excited about the new area too.

 "Hey, let's stick together!" Duncan called out with a grin. He caught up with Jacob and slung an arm over his friend's shoulder. "Wouldn't want Liv to get lost."

 Liv pointedly ignored him. "Hate to rain on your parade, Jacob, but we might not even find any treasure. Big, secret vaults like these often held powerful artefacts too. Even if we do find something, it could be dangerous instead of valuable."

 "Or both," said Duncan hopefully. "And if anyone says that the real treasure was the adventure all along, I'm going to hex you."

 Jacob chuckled. "Maybe you can take some of that armour," he said. "It might fetch a hefty price in Knockturn Alley."

 "You know, that's not a bad idea."

 Duncan headed towards one of the suits of armour, but being the clumsy wizard he was, he tripped over his feet and knocked over the entire thing. The helmet rolled away...

 The vision faded as tears started to spill from Maya's eyes. She'd just seen her brother for the first time in years. He looked so happy...

 "Maya? Everything alright?" Rowan asked worriedly. Fog rolled around the fallen helmet near her feet.

 Maya took a moment to wipe away the icy tears. The cold air rushed into her eyes in the short moment she lifted her goggles, further pushing her to be quick about it. This was no time to cry.

 "I just had another vision," Maya said, causing Rowan to gasp. "Jacob was here. He had two friends with him—Duncan and Liv... I think that's short for Olivia." She vaguely remembered them from that one Christmas seven years ago.

 Rowan's chin was already in her hand. "Olivia? I don't recall hearing about an Olivia... Was there anything else?"

 "Yeah... yeah, loads of things, actually," said Maya with a start. "Olivia mentioned that Jacob saw the same message I did while he was serving detention in the trophy room. He knew it sounded mad, so he didn't tell anyone besides his friends. He must've deciphered more than we did... He said they were close to finding the Vault of Ice, the first of the five Cursed Vaults."

 "The Vault of Ice..." Rowan echoed. "The first of five? So not only are there five Cursed Vaults, there's a specific order to them too? I wish I could read the rest of that message..."

 Maya mumbled a small "sorry" and squinted at the pile of armour. Then it hit her.

 "Duncan knocked that over!" she exclaimed. "I was questioning why it fell over, and then my vision showed me the answer!"

 "So your question about the armour must have triggered your vision!" Rowan squealed. "That's incredible—let's see if we can trigger another!"

 "I've got to find him," Maya muttered. "Just gotta ask the right question..."

 They searched every nook and cranny, Maya asking every question she could think of. What happened here? Where's this fog coming from? Did they find treasure? Did they sell the treasure? But no more visions came to answer them. Maya and Rowan just travelled deeper and deeper, climbing higher and higher as the air got colder and colder.

 They continued moving forward and upward until they reached the end of the stairs. There was no Ice Knight, but another archway. And beyond that archway, there was...

 "I can't see nothing in this," said Maya. Whatever was beyond the archway was obscured by a dense wall of fog. It appeared to be the source of the fog rolling and swirling on the treads. But just standing near it made one thing abundantly clear—it was much colder than the stuff surrounding their feet.

 "I have an idea."

 Rowan removed her scarf and dampened one end with a Water-Making Spell. Holding onto the dry end of her scarf, she swung it through the mist like a whip. There was a sound of crystals forming, and the multicoloured scarf reemerged. It was frozen solid, and from the way it looked like a misshapen hook, it must have frozen within milliseconds of touching the fog.

 "Yup. It's freezing. I don't think we can walk through this, Maya."

 But Maya already had her wand out—she'd had an idea of her own. "We don't have to. Flipendo!"

 The fog parted, having been pushed aside by the force of Maya's Knockback Jinx.

 Rowan whistled. "And here I thought I looked cool."

 "Oh, you did," said Maya reassuringly. "Watch your step..."

 The archway led to another set of stairs just like the last one, except there was no more fog. Instead, smooth and shiny ice covered every step. Luckily, none of it was glowing, so it was safe to walk on. Maya kept her eyes peeled for anything that Jacob and his friends might have left behind or sword-wielding Ice Knights, but long, bladed weapons continued to be conspicuously absent. Nothing seemed out of place, either. Aside from that one suit of armour, Jacob seemed to have done a good job at hiding the evidence of his venture.

 Hidden evidence...

 Maya halted her search for a moment. "Hang on, I want to try casting Revelio around here. Maybe that will give us some answers."

 "Brilliant! I can't believe I didn't think of that sooner," said Rowan. She started examining one of the torches, rubbing her chin thoughtfully as Maya put away her wand, reached for her bag, and...

 Maya's fingers slipped right off the flap on her mokeskin bag. "Huh?" She pried at the flap again, but it was stiff as iron.

 "What's wrong?" Rowan asked.

 "I—can't—open it!" Maya grunted in frustration as she continued to wrestle with her bag.

 Rowan blinked. "You can't open it? What do you mean you can't open it? You're supposed to be the only person who can open it!"

 "I know!" Maya punched the bag angrily, but it refused to turn back into the soft mokeskin she was familiar with. "Ow! It must be the atmosphere or something; too much unfamiliar magic in the air."

 Rowan lit up for a split second. "How positively enthralling—but also quite inconvenient. We won't be able to use any of those advanced spells."

 "Or potions," Maya grumbled. "Wish I hadn't put my gloves in there... Note to self: You have pockets. Use them."

 Maya continued to look for something that would trigger a vision, but her luck was as rotten as an egg that had been left out for a month. She'd started to lose the feel of her fingers, but the thought of her brother made the cold just bearable enough for Maya to ignore her lack of gloves.

 Thankfully, she had her friend.

 "Maya, check this out." Rowan pointed at an iron fixture on the wall. "This sconce is empty."

 "Huh. That's odd," said Maya. "Where's the torch?"

 Rowan snapped her fingers, giving her a momentary resemblance to Yekaterina. "I know! Someone must have taken it!"

 Duncan was still rubbing his head where he hit the cuirass. Jacob was trying hard to hold in his laughter, but Liv was making no such effort. She snorted and snickered, occasionally glancing over her shoulder at Duncan before breaking into another fit of chortles.

 "Give me a break, Olivia." Duncan scowled at the witch. "You know I'm clumsy."

 "I do—and it never gets old! Ha!"

 "She thinks it's endearing," Jacob chimed in. "Alright, Mr or Mrs Ice Knight, where are you..."

 Duncan muttered something about stupid, worthless armour. "Pieces of scrap metal... I expected goblin-wrought silver."

 "What are you hoping to find, mate?" Jacob asked.

 "Oh, I dunno, at least something that'll bring in loads of Galleons," answered Duncan. "But something that could help with my inventions would be a dream come true."

 Liv grinned from ear to ear. "How about a new ingredient that will revolutionise potion-making?"

 Duncan nodded earnestly. "That's it! You know me too well, Liv. What are you hoping to find?"

 "...As someone who didn't believe in any of this until a good half hour ago, I'm pulling a blank."

 "Come on, don't be a bore," Jacob insisted. "Dream big! It can be anything!"

 "Oh, alright." Liv thought for a moment, tapping her foot on the tread. "Hmm... I suppose nothing's better than a good book."

 Duncan stared at her incredulously. "Seriously? Your idea is a bloody book? Are you trying to be a stereotypical Ravenclaw?" 

 "Fiddlesticks, Duncan, you think I'm talking about any old book?" Liv exclaimed. "I'm talking about ancient tomes that contain the secrets of the universe, sacred knowledge now lost to time! Documents that make the stuff in the Restricted Section obsolete!"

 Jacob nodded with a grin. "That sounds more like it. Still very Ravenclaw, though."

 Liv crossed her arms. "Hmph. You say 'Ravenclaw' like it's a bad thing."

 "What about you, Jacob? And don't you dare say that you're just in it for the adventure," Duncan said darkly. "I will hex you."

 "Alright..." Jacob paused, since Duncan had preemptively struck down his first answer. Then it clicked. "I suppose the thrill of discovery is enough for me."

 Duncan was stunned. Then he made a face like an angry gnome. "You know what? I reckon I'll hex you anyway."

 "Oi! I didn't say 'adventure'! You ought to give me credit for that!"

 "How about a gift for your dear baby sister?"

 Duncan's tone was sarcastic, but Jacob quite liked that idea.

 "Wow. I'm actually ashamed that I didn't think of that first. Let me know if either of you see a cute bauble lying around."

 Duncan facepalmed. "I don't know what I expected."

 Liv, having lost interest in the previous conversation, was admiring one of the torches. "You know, these torches are quite fascinating. Especially these shards... They're like Gubraithian Fire, but ice."

 "Gubraithian Ice?" Duncan suggested. "I suppose they have been glowing for centuries after the caster died."

 "Maybe we should take one," said Liv.

 Curiously, Jacob turned to look at her. "As proof? I was thinking that the treasure in the vault would be better."

 "No, to study. It's no book, but it might have other functions and I want to know where the light comes from. Maybe we could even recreate this 'Gubraithian Ice'," said Liv, the pale blue light reflecting off her glasses. "Besides, didn't you say that the Vault of Ice would be guarded by a Curse of Ice? This might help us know what to expect."

 Duncan rolled his eyes. "Whatever it is, I'm sure we can handle it. Well, at least Jacob can. But yeah, I second the notion of taking a torch back to the hideout."

 "You just want to see if you can weaponise it," Jacob chided. "And frankly, so do I. The more it can help defend against You-Know-Who, the better."

 "Oh, look at you," said Duncan in a sing-song voice. "All those private lessons with Dumbledore have got you thinking like a leader."

 Sometimes Jacob regretted letting Duncan and Liv in on that secret. This was one of those times. "Just transfigure the torch into something less conspicuous."

 "Yes!" Liv cheered. She pulled the torch out of its sconce. "Woo hoo!"

 Jacob shook his head and grinned. They were getting close to the central vault, he could feel it.

 "Wait till Pip hears about this."

 "...But I didn't," Maya muttered.

 Rowan's eyes shone with curiosity. "What did you see this time?"

 "Er... Olivia took the torch to study it," said Maya, trying to describe what she had just seen. "Duncan mentioned a hideout, but I have no idea where it is. Jacob said... 'The more it can help defend against You-Know-Who, the better.' They might have weaponised the torch."

 "That's... concerning," said Rowan with furrowed brows. "What did you mean by you 'didn't'? I assume you weren't talking about taking the torch."

 Maya tapped her finger against her lip. "Right before the vision ended, Jacob said, 'Wait till Pip hears about this.' But I never did; he never told me he found a Cursed Vault. He didn't even write about it."

 "Odd," Rowan commented, obviously lost in a torrent of thought.

 "I know," replied Maya. "Something must have happened when he reached the Vault of Ice—something big."

 Rowan pursed her lips. "It's just a hypothesis, but... Maybe your brother had something to do with R, just like Ben."

 "If R was threatening him, it would explain a few things," Maya mused. "Like him suddenly leaving with no explanation. He could be just trying to protect us... But if R made Ben's parents disappear, why am I still here?"

 Rowan sighed, letting out a large amount of steam. She wiped her glasses and said, "If we stack a bunch of hypotheses on top of each other, there's no end to the possibilities. We should just stick to the evidence for now. Such as—wait, what's wrong with your fingers?"

 "Huh?"

 Maya looked at her hands—her caramel skin had turned dark and stiff. Her fingertips were now raven-coloured, and a small gradient was stretching down each of her digits.

 "Curse marks," Rowan said faintly. "Oh my goodness, they're on your nose and ears too."

 "It's not just me. You've got them too." Maya's eyes widened as she noticed the blackening on Rowan's face. Her darker skin tone had prevented Maya from noticing until then.

 That was bad.

 Rowan was starting to panic. "What do we do? What do we do, Maya?! Dark magic is accumulating in our bodies!"

 "Calm down! Let me think..."

 Maya looked back at the marks on her hands. She remembered the various pamphlets she'd picked up around Diagon Alley as a child. There had been quite a few on curse marks and how to identify and treat them.

 "Um, judging from the disposition of the marks, the dark magic is in the air and being transferred through our skin. That means the dark magic should also be able to leave through our skin. The discolouration should disappear over time as long as we don't stay here for too long. So we'll be fine if we hurry to the end and head back out immediately."

 Although those words didn't seem to do much for lessening Rowan's fear, the witch was still able to nod in agreement.

 Now that they knew time was running out, Maya and Rowan made haste as they climbed the Vanished Stairs. Their sea green and periwinkle nightgowns were now frosted with tiny crystals. They passed through another archway, but it didn't lead to another staircase. Instead, it opened up to a long, narrow hall. There were no more suits of armour lining the walls, but the torches of ice were gleaming extra bright as if to make up for their absence. Giant cracks filled with opaque white ice stretched across the stone walls like magical scars.

 Maya wiped her goggles—there was a light coming from the other side of the hall.

 The cold was now mind-numbing and their breathing was laboured. A quivering puff of steam was all that appeared whenever they exhaled. Inhaling cursed air couldn't possibly be good for their lungs. Maya and Rowan ran through the hall, coming to a stop in front of a small staircase leading to a set of giant doors. Formations of ice like the ones that had trapped Ben surrounded the doors without obstructing the way. There were no visible handles, but there was a massive snowflake, at least fifteen feet tall, keeping them shut tight.

 "I've got the feeling this will be different," said Rowan through chattering teeth. "Dangerous..."

 Gritting her teeth, Maya replied, "Of course it'll be different. This must be the Vault of Ice." She was absolutely certain of it.

 Rowan rubbed her hands against her arms, trying to generate some more heat. "Wh-what should we do, Maya?"

 "I don't care how dangerous it is," Maya growled. "This could lead me to my brother."

 She marched forward, and—

 It was pitch black. Maya couldn't see a thing, but she could hear a voice...

 Go away...

 Something clicked and scuttled around in the darkness. It was hungry, whatever it was.

 Go away...

 The darkness lessened. Maya could make out the form of a tall, thin, dark-robed figure...

 The Dark Mark...

 Skin white as bone, glaring eyes red as blood...

 Letting out a cold, high laugh...

 And the voice roared,

 GO AWAY!

 Maya's vision ended abruptly, but her head was still ringing. She felt like she'd been dunked in water, only for some invisible force to yank her out headfirst. She coughed—her throat was sore too. She must have screamed rather loudly.

 Rowan tentatively removed her hands from her ears. Her expression was pained and fearful.

 "Are you alright? Maya, what did you see?"

 "...Loads of things," said Maya. Her knees felt weak. "Darkness. Pitch black. Something was... scuttling around. And there was a voice, saying, 'Go away... go away...' Jacob's voice. ...I think."

 Well, it sounded like him. He'd just never taken that sort of tone with her before, let alone yelled.

 Rowan shuddered. "This one sounds a lot more threatening than your last two visions..."

 "It gets worse." Maya steadied herself. "The last thing I saw was You-Know-Who. Laughing."

 It took a moment for Rowan to process that.

 "We should go, Maya." She looked at the giant snowflake nervously. "This strange coldness, the dark magic, this entire place... I think it's having a bad effect on us both."

 Maya faltered. Rowan had a point, but...

 She looked back at the door—

 It was pulsating with light. The torches gleamed as ice grew out of their shards, covering the walls. Magic swirled in the centre of the giant snowflake like a condensed blizzard.

 "It's enchanted!" No sooner had the words left Rowan's mouth than the blast struck her square in the chest.

 Maya screamed as her best friend toppled and rolled down the stairs. Rowan was still breathing, but...

 We need to get out of here!