The first Sunday of the new semester.

"Gildero, I'm not going to waste any more time on Voldemort's Horcrux hiding ground," Dumbledore called Lockhart to his office, "You're going to go with me today to break the last barrier." ”

"I don't guarantee ......," Lockhart paved the way first, "but I can go and see it first." ”

"That's good. Dumbledore nodded, "Hold my arm, I'll take you there." ”

――

There was another slight discomfort, a sea breeze blowing in his face, and the strong smell of the sea burrowed into Lockhart's nose, and he could hear the sound of the waves. They came to an outcropping reef on the surface of the sea, where the cold sea breeze was blowing Lockhart's hair and Dumbledore's beard, and the waves were rolling and foaming beneath his feet.

In front of them stood a cliff, the steep rock wall that fell straight down, and it was so black that they couldn't see their faces clearly.

"In a cave at the bottom of this cliff," Dumbledore introduced, "it was at first covered in a concealment charm, and the entrance was not visible, but the breath of dark magic revealed the location of the hole. ”

Dumbledore led the way to the edge of the rock, where the many jagged crevices on which to step on, leading to the massive pebbles that were half-exposed around the cliffs below.

"Originally, it wasn't supposed to be flightless, but the no-fly magic was broken by me a few months ago," Dumbledore's body lifted off the ground under the mana's power, "Follow me." ”

Using a flying charm, the two flew directly into the half-buried pit under the cliff. After landing on the ground, Dumbledore took the lead and walked towards the stone wall on the other side of the pit, and with a slight fluctuation of magic power, he actually walked directly into it, this stone wall was just a way to obstruct the eyes. They entered a black crevasse.

"Fluorescent flickering!" Dumbledore raised his wand and illuminated the pitted rock walls on both sides, showing traces of spell attacks, "There used to be a few quite powerful protective spells here to prevent people from entering, but I broke them all of them, and now only the last one remains, I can't figure out how it works, and I don't dare to force my way in." ”

Dumbledore took the lead, and the crack turned into a dark tunnel: "It's going to be flooded at high tide, so let's hurry." ”

They walked forward one foot at a time, and finally reached the deepest part of the cavern, where Dumbledore pointed his wand at a dark red wall and said, "This is it, but I don't know why I can't open it." ”

Lockhart pretended to walk up to the wall and observe, it revealed a cold aura that made people feel very uncomfortable, and the defensive magic on it was quite advanced and could not be figured out in a moment.

But Lockhart knew what to do.

"This wall is clearly intended to weaken visitors. "Judging by the spell above, I guess you need to put blood on it, and then it will open." ”

"You can see it so quickly!" Dumbledore was visibly surprised by Lockhart's speed, "yes, it's a bit complicated, but I can also see that it needs blood to turn it on." ”

"You can see it, so what am I doing here?" Lockhart asked curiously.

"At first, I got some animal blood from the outside, but it didn't work, so I guessed it needed fresh blood, so I brought in a chicken to get blood on the spot. Dumbledore told Lockhart, "but it still didn't work." ”

"Maybe it needs the blood of a wizard with magical powers?"

"That's what I thought, too. Dumbledore nodded, "So I tried my own blood too, but I still can't open it." ”

"How is that possible?" said Lockhart in surprise, trying to remember what he had seen, and it was indeed Dumbledore who had opened it with his own blood.

"Don't worry, Gidero, you can think slowly. Dumbledore reassured.

"Why did you keep that illusion spell at the door?" Lockhart couldn't think of a reason, so he casually asked, "Since the other spells have been broken." ”

"Because the protective magic has been broken, I'm afraid that someone else, including Muggles, will accidentally break in. Dumbledore explained, "Why, is it the cause of the illusion charm?"

"Maybe we can go back and see. Lockhart and Dumbledore returned to the entrance, taking a closer look at the illusion spell in the doorway.

Dumbledore looked at it for a moment, and suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "That's right, Gildero, you guessed it right, it's the ghost of this illusion." ”

Lockhart hurried over to study the enchantment on the wall, and after a minute, he could see the doorway: "This illusion spell is just a façade!

"That's right, if you're right, the blood of any wizard who walks past this spell can't be used to open that stone wall. Dumbledore took out his wand: "Divided." ”

The Great Wizard is the Great Wizard, and the surging spells that burst out of the stone wall cleanly and neatly shattered the entire stone wall, including the illusion spell and detection magic attached to it, and the rubble was thrown into the sea, and the hole was widened a lot.

"I'm definitely going to be able to open that stone wall now. Lockhart confidently told Dumbledore.

Sure enough, when Dumbledore smeared his blood on the stone wall again, it began to shake and move to open a door, revealing a small world inside.

"It worked!" said Dumbledore happily, healing his wound with his wand and lighting it up, striding inside.

Lockhart lit his wand and stepped inside, and they were greeted by a very strange sight: they were standing on the shore of a large black lake, the lake was so wide and endless that Lockhart could not see the other side in the distance. The cave they were in was so high that they couldn't see the roof of it when they looked up. In the distance, as if in the middle of the lake, a hazy, green light flickered, reflecting in the dead water below.

Except for the green light and the bright light emitted by the two wands, there was a completely dense darkness that could not be dissolved, and the penetration of these bright lights was not as strong as outside, and the darkness here seemed to be denser and thicker than the ordinary ones.

"Let's go ahead," Dumbledore reminded, "be careful, there's something strange in that water." ”

The two walked around the shore, Lockhart following Dumbledore. Their footsteps echoed as they stepped on the narrow rocks of the lake. They kept going, but the scene around them did not change in the slightest: the rough walls of the cave on one side, and the boundless, mirror-smooth black lake on the other, with a mysterious green light shining in the center of the lake.

"It seems that there is a way to get through," Dumbledore said firmly, "and it's rare that you've arrived, and we have to get this done today." ”

"I'm casual. Lockhart shrugged, "How did you get there?"

Dumbledore pointed his wand at the lake: "Left and right separate." ”

The mirror-smooth surface of the lake seemed to be torn apart by some tremendous force, and a huge amount of water began to surge in both directions, and as if blocked by an invisible wall of air, it hung steadily in the air, revealing a road to the bottom of the lake that led to the center of the lake. - Dumbledore actually used magic to accomplish Moses' feat!

The two of them looked down at the bottom of the lake that had been separated, and a piece of white flowers was writhing below.

"It's a corpse. Lockhart recognized it.

"That's right, quite a few. Dumbledore shook his head, "It doesn't seem to be possible to fly here, the corpses will pounce on it, and you can't walk past the bottom of the lake." ”

"It would be nice to kill them all. Lockhart didn't understand why he was thinking about it so much, "No amount of Yin Corpses can pose a threat to a wizard of our level. ”

"No, no, no," Dumbledore shook his head, "I need to keep this place intact, not to mention how long it will take to kill them all." Next time, I'd like to bring Harry over to get the Horcruxes. ”

“...... Why bother. Lockhart grumbled that he was in a hurry to get the Horcrux he had hidden out in a reasonable way.

"You don't understand, Gildero. Dumbledore shook his head, "There are some things that are time for Harry to know, you want to involve him and train him...... Let him become more mature and give him a sense of honor in fighting the enemy...... And then you can guarantee ...... When the last moment came, he was ready. ”

Lockhart listened to Dumbledore's words that suddenly became incoherent, and sneered in his heart: "Are you ready?

Lockhart had always disagreed with Dumbledore's practice of arranging the fate of others, which was simply treating people as pawns, and no one had the qualifications to do so, even if the chess player himself had the consciousness of sacrifice. Obviously, there are so many excellent Aurors who are willing to make efforts to defeat Voldemort, but Dumbledore does not want to, but he is superstitious about the power of the prophecy and insists that Harry deal with Voldemort, which is as paranoid and unreasonable as an old fool.

But then again, Harry, as a Horcrux, really can't completely kill Voldemort if he doesn't "die" once. Lockhart can only choose to watch from the sidelines, after all, he has already made a mess of the normal plot, and if he intervenes, he will not be able to deal with Voldemort himself.

"Okay, so how do we get there?"