The Half-Blood Prince | Hermione Granger x Male Reader (Book Six)

29. Harry's Trip

The two of them were standing upon a high rock with water foaming and churning below the two of them.  A towering cliff stood behind them, a sheer drop, black and faceless. A few large chunks of rock, such as the one upon which Harry and Dumbledore were standing, looked as though they had broken away from the cliff face at some point in the past. It was a bleak, harsh view, the sea and the rock unrelieved by any tree or sweep of grass or sand.

"What do you think?" asked Dumbledore.

"They brought the kids from the orphanage here?" asked Harry.

"Not here, precisely," said Dumbledore, "there is a village of sorts about halfway along the cliffs behind us. I believe the orphans were taken there for a little sea air and a view of the waves. No, I think it was only ever Tom Riddle and his youthful victims who visited this spot. He brought two small children here, to terrorise them."

Harry looked up at the cliff again and felt goosebumps.

"But his final destination, and ours, lies a little farther on. Come." Dumbledore beckoned Harry to the very edge of the rock where a series of jagged niches made footholds leading down to boulders that lay half-submerged in water and closer to the cliff, the descent was treacherous.

Once the two of them had arrived, Dumbledore let out almost a satisfied sigh.

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

"How can you tell?" Harry spoke in a whisper.

"It has known magic," said Dumbledore simply, "this is merely the entrance hall," said Dumbledore after a moment, "we need to penetrate the inner place...Lord Voldemort's obstacles stand between us."

Dumbledore approached the wall of the cave and glided his fingers across. Dumbledore walked right around the cave, touching as much of the rough rock as he could, occasionally pausing, running his fingers backward and forward over a particular spot, until finally, he stopped, his hand pressed flat against the wall.

"Here," he said, "we go on through here. The entrance is concealed."

They looked at the wall and Dumbledore pointed his wand at it. An outline appeared and the two could see the white light coming from behind the wall.

Dumbledore stood still, staring and observing the wall. After some time, he spoke quietly. "Oh, surely not. So crude."

"What is it, Professor?" Harry asked.

"I rather think," said Dumbledore, drawing out a short silver knife of the kind Harry used to chop potion ingredients, "that we are required to make payment to pass."

"Payment?" said Harry. "You've got to give the door something?"

"Yes," said Dumbledore, "blood, if I am not much mistaken."

"Blood?"

Dumbledore seemed disappointed. "The idea, as I am sure you will have gathered, is that your enemy must weaken him, or herself to enter. Once again, Lord Voldemort fails to grasp that there are much more terrible things than physical injury."

Dumbledore moved the knife and exposed his forearm, leaving Harry shocked.

"Professor! I'll do it sir! I'm-"

"You're too kind Harry," Dumbledore smiled, "but I believe your blood is worth more than mine."

Once Dumbledore had cut himself, he pressed his blood against a wall. The cave walls began to move and soon, an entrance formed.

"After me Harry." Dumbledore instructed after healing his cut.

An eerie sight met their eyes: they were standing on the edge of a great black lake in a cavern so high that the ceiling was out of sight. A misty greenish light shone far away in what looked like the middle of the lake.