The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part Two

The Stone Basin

When nothing did, he turned back, moving carefully to disturb the water as little as possible. "Come on Kreacher." He held out his hands to catch the elf.

Kreacher whimpered, but he rolled onto his belly and slid back so his bottom half hung over the ledge, his arms gripping onto the stone, his legs flailing for holding against the wall. Regulus plucked him down and pulled the elf into his chest. "I've got you." 

Kreacher nodded.

Regulus's arms wrapped around Kreacher's small body and Kreacher held onto Regulus tightly as Regulus moved through the ankle deep water. The waves coming in were becoming stronger with each inward push. The smell of stagnant water assaulted Regulus's nose, brine and algae and a heavy mildew scent mingling together with something else... The water ripped against itself, and Regulus could feel the exhale as the cave seemed to breathe water - in and out - the current dragging against his legs.

Despite all that, the inside of the cave was rather beautiful, Regulus couldn't help but admit it. The light shone against the walls and the cave seemed to glitter back at him a bit. He ran his hands over the stone and looked down at his palm. Specular hematite, he thought. Geological glitter. 

Just the shape of the cave was enough to make it breath taking, with the staggered pillars that climbed the walls. High above, bats hung from the ceiling. They moved restlessly, some stretching and flapping open their wings as they started awakening for the night. Regulus felt rather uneasy, seeing them up there. He'd never been terribly fond of bats. 

The water was up to his mid-shin now.

The stone started moving upward, though, and Regulus was climbing upward, one arduous step at a time, the weight of the water that had soaked his clothes and shoes making him move slower. Soon, he was climbing up out of the water, and he put Kreacher down onto the ledge above to make use of his arms as best he could, the pain in his left bicep echoing through his nervous system. Kreacher put his hands on Regulus's arm and wrist as he pulled himself up, as though even Kreacher's entire body weight could possibly help to brace Regulus's.

The air in the cave was getting harder to breathe, stuffier. It was still cool, but felt hotter because of the lack of breeze, and Regulus paused once he'd gotten up the ledge and he shrugged off the coat that was his outer layer, folding it neatly. He reached into the pocket, removed the locket, which he hung around his neck, and turned to lay the coat down on a stone to one side. Kreacher stared at the locket as it hung, heavy and large against Regulus's chest.

He looked around, examining the area they'd found themselves in. The cave sort of tapered down here until the ceiling met the floor and it appeared to be the back wall. 

Kreacher whispered, "Master has reached the back of the cave, and look, nothing is here!" Kreacher said, and his ears raised slightly. "Kreacher can take Master home now and we can never talk of this nasty cave again!" 

Regulus shook his head. "No, Kreacher." He paused, looking around. Regulus pressed his palms to the wall, feeling for some crevice he could not see. The shadows from his wand cast funnily across the jagged pillars and it was possible that something was blending into the walls, some narrow space to slip into... There didn't seem to be anything.

Regulus kept feeling. He'd been through here once, so he knew somewhere in this cavern there was a rock wall that turned into a door.

"Oh what was the spell," he murmured, trying to recall Professor Flitwick, talking about a charm that revealed places where magic had left it's trace in the natural world. It was similar to the one which revealed hidden persons... "Revelio... oh what's the second bit." Regulus knocked his fist to his forehead. It was a latin-based spell... not magus, no it was the other... "Revelio medeis?" he tried, rapping his wand against the stone. He tried changing the emphasis so it came out made-us instead of mede-us, and again so it was me-ade-us and ma-dee-is.