Harry could smell the salt and hear the rushing waves; In front of him was the moonlit sea and the starry sky, and the cold breeze blew his hair away. www.biquge.info He was standing on a tall black rock, the sea churning at his feet in countless bubbles. Harry turned his head to look behind him. There stood a high, steep cliff looming in the darkness. The massive rocks around, including the one at the feet of Harry and Dumbledore, looked like they had collapsed from somewhere on the cliff in the past. The scene in front of me was desolate and bleak; There was not a single grass or tree on the rocks, not even a grain of sand.

"What do you think?" Dumbledore asked. It's like asking if it's a good place for a picnic.

"So they brought the children from the orphanage here?" Harry asked, he couldn't imagine a better place to hike.

"Not here, to be exact," Dumbledore said. "About halfway down the cliff behind us, there was a place that could barely be called a village. I believe they brought the orphans there to blow the sea breeze and see the waves. No, I think only Riddle and the two young victims have ever visited. No Muggle could reach the rock, unless they were exceptionally good mountaineers, and the boat couldn't reach the cliff; The water in this area is too dangerous. I guess Riddle climbed down from above; Magic would have been more appropriate than rope. He also had two small children with him, perhaps to enjoy intimidating them. The trip itself was enough to scare them, you say? ”

Harry looked up at the cliff again, goosebumps.

"But his final destination, which is also our destination, is a little bit far ahead. Come on. ”

Dumbledore beckoned Harry to walk over to the edge of the rock, stepping on a set of pitted stone nests as a foothold and descending down to the half-submerged reef, closer to the cliff. It was a treacherous steep slope, and Dumbledore was slightly dragged down by his shriveled hand, moving slowly. The lower reefs are getting more and more slippery by the water.

Harry could feel the salty, cold water splash on his face.

"Fluorescent flicker," Dumbledore reached the reef closest to the cliff. A few feet below where he was squatting was the water, and thousands of golden points of light were reflected on the surface of the sea; The black rock walls next to it were also illuminated.

"See?" Dumbledore said calmly, raising his wand a little higher. Harry saw a crack in the cliff, and the black water was rolling into it. "You're not against getting a little wet, are you?"

"No," Harry said.

"Then take off your cloak of invisibility - you don't need it now - let's jump." Dumbledore suddenly slid down the reef with the agility of a much younger man and jumped into the water, his glowing wand in his teeth, swimming in a standard breaststroke position towards the pitch-black crack in the cliff.

Harry pulled down his cloak and slipped it into his pocket and followed.

The water is cold; The soaked clothes churned around Harry, pulling him down.

Harry took a deep breath, his nostrils filled with the strong smell of salt and seaweed, and he swam towards the shrinking light that was moving deeper into the cliffs.

The crack quickly turned into a black tunnel, and Harry could tell that it would be completely swallowed up by the sea at high tide. The sticky walls on both sides were only three feet apart, glistening like wet asphalt under the light of Dumbledore's wand. The passage bent to the left a short distance ahead, and Harry could see it stretching into the depths of the cliff. He continued to swim after Dumbledore, frozen fingertips skimming over the rough, wet rocks.

Then Harry saw Dumbledore in front of him come out of the water, his silver hair and black robes glowing faintly. Harry arrived at the place and found a set of steps leading to a large cavern. He climbed the steps, exposed to the silent, freezing air, water dripping from his soaked clothes, and he shivered involuntarily.

Dumbledore stood in the middle of the cavern, his wand held aloft and slowly turned in place, inspecting the walls and ceiling.

"Yes, this is the place," Dumbledore said.

"How do you know?" Harry whispered.

"It recognizes magic," Dumbledore said simply.

Harry didn't know if his shivering should be attributed to the chill coming from deep in his spinal cord, or to the magic that made him feel the same chill. He watched as Dumbledore continued to circle in place. Apparently focusing on something Harry couldn't see.

"It's just the front of the chamber, it's a foyer," Dumbledore said after a moment. "We need to go inside...... Now it's Voldemort's obstacles that stand in the way, not just the natural barriers......"

Dumbledore approached the cave wall, rubbing his blackened fingertips against the wall, muttering something strange Harry didn't understand. Dumbledore circled the wall twice, touching as many rocks as he could, pausing occasionally, groping around at individual points before he finally stopped, his palm flat against the wall.

"Here," he said. "We walked through here and on. The entrance is hidden. ”

Harry didn't ask Dumbledore how he knew. He had never seen a wizard solve a problem by mere observation and touch; But Harry had long learned that it was usually incompetent wizards who made loud noises and smoke.

Dumbledore retreated from the wall and pointed his wand at the rock. A moment later, the place revealed an arc-shaped silhouette, emitting a white glow, as if a bright light was shining behind the gap.

"You're ...... It worked! Harry said with a twitch of teeth, but before he could say that, the silhouette was gone. The rock is back to its former bare and hard state. Dumbledore looked back.

"Harry, I'm sorry I forgot," he said; He immediately pointed his wand at Harry, and Harry's clothes quickly became warm and dry, as if they had been roasted on a fire.

"Thank you," Harry said gratefully, but Dumbledore had refocused on the solid cave wall. He didn't try to cast the magic again, just stood there staring at it intently, as if something extremely interesting was written on it. Harry stood silently; He didn't want to break Dumbledore's focus.

After exactly two minutes, Dumbledore said calmly, "Oh, probably not. So savage. ”

"What's wrong, Professor?"

"I'm inclined to think," said Dumbledore, his uninjured hand reaching into his robe and pulling out a small silver knife, the kind Harry often used to cut potions, "we're being asked to pay a price to get through." ”

"The price?" Harry said. "Do you need to give this door something?"

"Yes," Dumbledore said. "Blood, if I'm not mistaken."

"Blood?"

"I said it was barbaric," Dumbledore said, sounding a little contemptuous, even disappointed, as if Voldemort hadn't lived up to Dumbledore's expectations. "I'm sure you can deduce that this idea means that your enemies must weaken themselves before they can enter. Once again, Voldemort failed to grasp that there was something more terrible in this world than physical trauma. ”

"yes, but still, if you can avoid it......" said Harry, who had already suffered enough to care too much about suffering a little more.

"Sometimes, however, it's unavoidable," Dumbledore rolled up his sleeve, revealing the forearm of his injured hand.

"Professor!" Harry objected, and he hurried forward as Dumbledore raised his knife, "I'll come, I-" He didn't know what to say - younger, healthier? But Dumbledore was only smiling. A flash of silver light spurted out, scarlet blood. The surface of the rock was splattered with glowing dark droplets of blood.

"Thank you, Harry," Dumbledore said, slicing the tip of his wand through the deep cut in his arm, and the wound healed instantly, just as Snape had healed Malfoy's wound. "But your blood is worth more than mine, ah, that looks like it's working, isn't it?"

The silvery silhouette of the wall was revealed, and this time it did not fade: the blood-spattered rock was completely gone, leaving a gap leading into complete darkness.

"Follow me," Dumbledore said, stepping into the archway, while Harry hurriedly lit his wand and followed closely.

There was a strange sight before them: they were standing on the edge of a huge black lake, so big that Harry couldn't even make out the shore of the lake at the far end, they were in a huge cavern with no ceiling. In the distance, the center of the lake radiated a misty green light; Reflected on the surface of a stagnant lake. Although the green light and the light from the two wands didn't shoot as far as Harry had hoped, nothing could break the velvety darkness around them. Somehow, the darkness is thicker here than anywhere else.

"Let's go," Dumbledore said calmly. "Be careful not to step into the water. Follow me closely. ”

He set off along the lake, Harry following him closely. The sound of their footsteps on a narrow circle of rocks by the lake echoed. They walked and walked, but the scene before them did not change: the rough walls of the cave on one side, and the darkness of the boundless, smooth as glass on the other. Right in the middle of it was that mysterious green light. Harry found the place and the silence to be depressing and exhausting.

"Professor?" He finally spoke. "Do you think the Horcruxes are here?"

"Oh yes," Dumbledore said. "yes, I'm sure it's here, the question is, how do we get it?"

"Can we ...... Can we try the Flying Charm? Harry said that he believed it must be a stupid suggestion, but he couldn't wait to get out of this place as soon as possible.

"Of course," Dumbledore stopped abruptly, and Harry almost crashed into him. "Why don't you give it a try?"

"Me? Oh...... Okay......" Harry didn't expect that to happen, but he cleared his throat anyway, raised his wand and shouted, "Horcruxes fly!" ”

With a loud explosion, a large gray-white object erupted from the dark lake twenty feet away. Before Harry could see what it was, it had vanished with a burst of water, causing large, deep ripples on the water's surface.

Harry jumped back in shock and slammed into the wall; His heart was still pounding as he turned to Dumbledore.

"What's that?"

"I guess that thing is ready to react as soon as we try to capture the Horcruxes."

Harry turned to look at the lake. Once again, the surface of the water became a sparkling black glass: the ripples disappeared unusually quickly; Harry's heart was still pounding.

"Did you already think that was going to happen, Professor?"

"I think something will happen once we make some obvious effort to get the Horcruxes. That's a great idea, Harry; This is the easiest way to figure out what we are facing. ”

"But we still don't know what it is," Harry said, looking at the ominously smooth water.

"You have to tell what those things are," Dumbledore said. "I very much doubt there could be more. Let's move on, shall we? ”

"Professor?"

"What, Harry?"

"Do you think we have to go into the lake?"

"Into the lake? Unless we're very unlucky. ”

"Don't you think the Horcrux is at the bottom of the lake?"

"Oh, no...... I feel like the soul fragment is in the middle of the lake. Dumbledore pointed to the misty green light in the middle of the lake.

"So we'll have to cross the lake to get it?"

"Yes, I think so."

Dumbledore nodded.

Harry didn't say anything.

His mind was full of water monsters, giant pythons, demons, and horse-shaped water monsters at the moment......

"Aha," Dumbledore stopped again; Harry did crash into him this time; For a moment he fell into the lake, and Dumbledore grabbed Harry's upper arm with his uninjured hand, dragging him back. "I'm sorry, Harry, I should have given you a warning. Please stand back against the wall. I think I've figured out that place. ”

Harry had no idea what Dumbledore meant; As far as Harry knew, this small, dimly lit lakeshore was no different from anywhere else. But Dumbledore seemed to have sensed something special about it. This time he waved his hand not along the rock wall, but in the thin air, as if expecting to discover and grasp something unseen.

"Oh," Dumbledore said happily after a few seconds. His hand gripped something in mid-air that Harry couldn't see. Dumbledore moved closer to the water's edge; Harry stared nervously at Dumbledore, whose buckled shoes had reached the outermost edge of the rock. Dumbledore held his hand firmly in the air, and with the other he raised his wand and struck the tip of his fist with the tip of his wand.

A green thick copper chain immediately appeared in the air, extending from the depths of the lake to Dumbledore's clenched hand. Dumbledore tapped the copper chain, and it slid like a snake in his hand, rolling up on the ground, clanging and clanging echoed over the rocky walls, and in the depths of the black lake, something was pulled up by the copper chain. Harry gasped as a ghostly bow burst out of the water, the boat glowing as green as the copper chain. With a single ripple, the boat drifted towards the shore where Harry and Dumbledore were standing.