Rosabella's Point of View:
I could smell salt and hear rushing waves. A light, chilly breeze ruffled my hair as I looked out at the moonlit sea and star - strewn sky. I was standing upon a high outcrop of dark rock, water foaming and churning below me. I glanced over my shoulder. A towering cliff stood behind us, a sheer drop, black and faceless.
A few large chunks of rock, such as the one upon which Harry, Dumbledore and I 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?" Dumbledore asked.
He might have been asking Harry and I opinion on whether it was a good site for a picnic.
"Definitely not on the top ten places for tourists to visit." I said.
"They brought the kids from the orphanage here?" Harry asked.
"I could not imagine a less cozy spot for a day trip or ever." I said.
"Not here, precisely. 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. No Muggle could reach this rock unless they were uncommonly good mountaineers, and boats cannot approach the cliffs, the waters around them are too dangerous. I imagine that Riddle climbed down; magic would have served better than ropes. And he brought two small children with him, probably for the pleasure of terrorizing them. I think the journey alone would have done it, don't you?" Dumbledore said.
Harry and I looked up at the cliff again and I felt goose bumps.
"But his final destination - and ours - lies a little farther on. Come." Dumbledore said.
Dumbledore beckoned Harry and I 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.
It was a treacherous descent and Dumbledore, hampered slightly by his withered hand, moved slowly. The lower rocks were slippery with seawater. I could feel flecks of cold salt spray hitting his face. Harry and I held hands as we carefully descended.
"Lumos." Dumbledore said, as he reached the boulder closest to the cliff face.
A thousand flecks of golden light sparkled upon the dark surface of the water a few feet below where he crouched. The black wall of rock beside him was illuminated too.
"You see?" Dumbledore said quietly, holding his wand a little higher.
I saw a fissure in the cliff into which dark water was swirling.
"You both will not object to getting a little wet?" Dumbledore asked.
"No." Harry said.
"Nope." I said.
"Then take off the Invisibility Cloak - there is no need for it now - and let us take the plunge." Dumbledore said.
And with the sudden agility of a much younger man, Dumbledore slid from the boulder, landed in the sea, and began to swim, with a perfect breaststroke, toward the dark slit in the rock face, his lit wand held in his teeth. Harry pulled off his cloak, stuffed it into his pocket, and we followed.
The water was icy. My waterlogged clothes billowed around me and weighed me down. Taking deep breaths that filled my nostrils with the tang of salt and seaweed, I struck out for the shimmering, shrinking light now moving deeper into the cliff. The fissure soon opened into a dark tunnel that I could tell would be filled with water at high tide. The slimy walls were barely three feet apart and glimmered like wet tar in the passing light of Dumbledore's wand. A little way in, the passageway curved to the left, and I saw that it extended far into the cliff. I continued to swim in Dumbledore's wake, the tips of my benumbed fingers brushing the rough, wet rock.
Then I saw Dumbledore rising out of the water ahead, his silver hair and dark robes gleaming. Harry reached the spot before me. Harry rise out of the water a little but he stopped and waited for me. When I reached the spot I found steps that led into a large cave. Harry was waiting a couple of steps up. He reached out a hand and we clambered up the stairs together, water streaming from our soaking clothes.
We emerged, shivering uncontrollably, into the still and freezing air. I pulled out my wand and did the hot air charm to dry Harry's and mine's clothes. I was seventeen now and could fo magic outside of school.
Dumbledore was standing in the middle of the cave, his wand held high as he turned slowly on the spot, examining the walls and ceiling.
"Yes, this is the place." Dumbledore said.
"How can you tell?" Harry spoke in a whisper.
"It has known magic." Dumbledore said simply.
We watched as Dumbledore continued to revolve on the spot, evidently concentrating on things Harry and I could not see.
"This is merely the antechamber, the entrance hall. We need to penetrate the inner place. . .now it is Lord Voldemorts obstacles that stand in our way, rather than those nature made. . ."Dumbledore said after a couple of moments.
Dumbledore approached the wall of the cave and caressed it with his blackened fingertips, murmuring words in a strange tongue that I did not understand.
Twice 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. We go on through here. The entrance is concealed." Dumbledore said.
Harry and I did not ask how Dumbledore knew. I had never seen a wizard work things out like this, simply by looking and touching. Dumbledore stepped back from the cave wall and pointed his wand at the rock. For a moment, an arched outline appeared there, blazing white as though there was a powerful light behind the crack.
"You've done it!" Harry said but before the words had left his lips the outline had gone, leaving the rock as bare and solid as ever.
Dumbledore did not try any more magic, but simply stood there staring at it intently, as though something extremely interesting was written on it. Harry and I stayed quite still. We did not want to break Dumbledore's concentration.
"Oh, surely not. So crude." Dumbledore said quietly, after two solid minutes had passed.
"What is it, Professor?" I asked.
"I rather think, that we are required to make payment to pass." Dumbledore said, putting his uninjured hand inside his robes and drawing out a short silver knife of the kind we would use to chop potion ingredients.
"Payment? You've got to give the door something?" Harry said.
"Please don't tell me we have to sacrifice someone." I said.
Dumbledore chuckled softly.
"Not to worry. No one need be sacrificed but the payment is blood, if I am not much mistaken." Dumbledore said.
"Blood?" Harry and I repeated.
"I said it was crude." Dumbledore said, who sounded disdainful even disappointed, as though Voldemort had fallen short of higher standards Dumbledore expected.
"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 said.
"Yeah, but still, if you can avoid it. . ." Harry said, who had experienced enough pain not to be keen for more.
"Sometimes, however, it is unavoidable." Dumbledore said, shaking back the sleeve of his robes and exposing the forearm of his injured hand.
"Professor! I'll do it, I'm -" Harry protested as we hurried forward as Dumbledore raised his knife.
But Dumbledore merely smiled. There was a flash of silver, and a spurt of scarlet. The rock face was peppered with dark, glistening drops.
"You are very kind, Harry. But your blood is worth more than mine. Ah, that seems to have done the trick, doesn't it?" Dumbledore, now passing the tip of his wand over the deep cut he had made in his own arm, so that it healed instantly.
"I could have done it, Professor. My blood hasn't got some ancient magical protection." I said.
Dumbledore smiled at me.
"Yes but with the effect you have on Harry, let's not risk it." Dumbledore said.
The blazing silver outline of an arch had appeared in the wall once more, and this time it did not fade away. The blood - spattered rock within it simply vanished, leaving an opening into what seemed total darkness.
"After me, I think." Dumbledore said, and he walked through the archway with Harry and I on his heels, lighting his own wand hastily as he went.
An eerie sight met our eyes. We were standing on the edge of a great black lake, so vast that I could not make out the distant banks, in a cavern so high that the ceiling too was out of sight.
A misty greenish light shone far away in what looked like the middle of the lake. It was reflected in the completely still water below.
The greenish glow and the light from our three wands were the only things that broke the otherwise velvety blackness.
Though our rays did not penetrate as far as I would have expected. The darkness was somehow denser than normal darkness.
"Let us walk. Be very careful not to step into the water. Stay close to me." Dumbledore told us quietly.
Dumbledore then set off around the edge of the lake. Harry and I followed close behind him. Our footsteps made echoing, slapping sounds on the narrow rim of rock that surrounded the water. On and on we walked, but the view did not vary. On one side of us, the rough cavern wall. On the other, the boundless expanse of smooth, glassy blackness, in the very middle of which was that mysterious greenish glow. I found the place and the silence oppressive, unnerving. I clutched Harry's hand tightly.
"Professor? Do you think the Horcrux is here?" I said.
"Oh yes. Yes, I'm sure it is. The question is, how do we get to it?" Dumbledore said.
"We couldn't . . . we couldn't just try a Summoning Charm?" Harry hesitantly suggested.
"Certainly we could. Why don't you do it?" Dumbledore said, stopping so suddenly that Harry and I almost walked into him.
"Me? Oh . . . okay. . ." Harry said and had clearly not expected this, but cleared his throat.
"Accio Horcrux!" Harry said loudly, his wand aloft.
With a noise like an explosion, something very large and pale erupted out of the dark water some twenty feet away. Before I could see what it was, it had vanished again with a crashing splash that made great, deep ripples on the mirrored surface. I stared uneasily at the spot where the pale thing had been. Harry leapt backward in shock and hit the wall.
"What was that?" Harry and I asked at the same time.
"Something, I think, that is ready to respond should we attempt to seize the Horcrux." Dumbledore said.
My eyes were reained on the water and I felt my heart hammering against my chest. The surface of the lake was once more shining black glass. The ripples had vanished unnaturally fast.
"Did you think that would happen, sir?" Harry asked
"I thought something would happen if we made an obvious attempt to get our hands on the Horcrux. That was a very good idea, Harry. Much the simplest way of finding out what we are facing." Dumbledore said.
"But we don't know what the thing was." I said, looking at the sinisterly smooth water.
"What the things are, you mean," said Dumbledore. "I doubt very much that there is only one of them. Shall we walk on?" Dumbledore said.
Harry and I looked wide eyed at each other.
"Professor?" Harry said.
"Yes, Harry?" Dumbledore said.
"Do you think we're going to have to go into the lake?" Harry said.
"Into it? Only if we are very unfortunate." Dumbledore said.
"You don't think the Horcrux is at the bottom?" I asked.
"Oh no . . . I think the Horcrux is in the middle." Dumbledore said and pointed toward the misty green light in the center of the lake.
"So we're going to have to cross the lake to get to it?" Harry said
"Yes, I think so." Dumbledore said.
Harry and I did not say anything.
"Aha." Dumbledore said, and he stopped again.
This time, Harry and I really did walk into him. For a moment Harry toppled on the edge of the dark water, I frantically grabbed Harry's arm and Dumbledore grabbed the other and we steadied him.
"So sorry, Harry, I should have given warning. Both of you stand back against the wall, please. I think I have found the place." Dumbledore said.
Neither Harry or I had any idea what Dumbledore meant. This patch of dark bank was exactly like every other bit as far as I could tell, but Dumbledore seemed to have detected something special about it.
This time Dumbledore was running his hand, not over the rocky wall, but through the thin air, as though expecting to find and grip something invisible.
"Oho." Dumbledore said happily, seconds later.
His hand had closed in midair upon something Harry and I could not see. Dumbledore moved closer to the water. Harry and I watched nervously as the tips of Dumbledore's buckled shoes found the utmost edge of the rock rim. Keeping his hand clenched in midair, Dumbledore raised his wand with the other and tapped his fist with the point.
Immediately a thick coppery green chain appeared out of thin air, extending from the depths of the water into Dumbledore's clenched hand. Dumbledore tapped the chain, which began to slide through his fist like a snake, coiling itself on the ground with a clinking sound that echoed noisily off the rocky walls, pulling something from the depths of the black water.
Harry and I gasped as the ghostly prow of a tiny boat broke the surface, glowing as green as the chain, and floated, with barely a ripple, toward the place on the bank where Harry and Dumbledore stood.
"How did you know that was there?" Harry asked in astonishment.
"Magic always leaves traces, sometimes very distinctive traces. I taught Tom Riddle. I know his style." Dumbledore said, as the boat hit the bank with a gentle bump.
"Is . . . is this boat safe?" I asked.
"Oh yes, I think so. Voldemort needed to create a means to cross the lake without attracting the wrath of those creatures he had placed within it in case he ever wanted to visit or remove his Horcrux." Dumbledore said.
"So the things in the water won't do anything to us if we cross in Voldemort's boat?" Harry said.
"I think we must resign ourselves to the fact that they will, at some point, realize we are not Lord Voldemort. Thus far, however, we have done well. They have allowed us to raise the boat." Dumbledore said.
"But why have they let us?" Harry asked.
"Voldemort would have been reasonably confident that none but a very great wizard would have been able to find the boat. I think he would have been prepared to risk what was, to his mind, the most unlikely possibility that somebody else would find it, knowing that he had set other obstacles ahead that only he would be able to penetrate. We shall see whether he was right." Dumbledore said.
I looked down into the boat. It really was very small.
"It doesn't look like it was built for three people. Will it hold all of us? Will we be too heavy together?" I said.
Dumbledore chuckled.
"Voldemort will not have cared about the weight, but about the amount of magical power that crossed his lake. I rather think an enchantment will have been placed upon this boat so that only one wizard at a time will be able to sail in it."
"But then -?" Harry said.
"I do not think you will count, Harry, you are underage and unqualified. Voldemort would never have expected a sixteen - year - old to reach this place. I think it unlikely that your powers will register compared to mine. Rosabella, you may now e of aged but only just. Voldemort will not of expected a barely of age wizard to reach this place either." Dumbledore said.
These words did nothing to raise Harry's or mines morale. Perhaps Dumbledore knew it.
"Voldemort's mistake, Harry, Rosabella. Voldemort's mistake . . . age is foolish and forgetful when it underestimates youth . . . now, you first this time, and be careful not to touch the water." Dumbledore said and stood aside.
Harry climbed carefully into the boat. Harry and I managed to speak on one end of the boat.
Dumbledore stepped in too, coiling the chain onto the floor. We were crammed in together. We could not comfortably sit, but crouched, our knees jutting over the edge of the boat, which began to move at once.
There was no sound other than the silken rustle of the boat's prow cleaving the water. It moved without our help, as though an invisible rope was pulling it onward toward the light in the center. Soon we could no longer see the walls of the cavern. We might have been at sea except that there were no waves.
I looked down and saw the reflected gold of my wandlight sparkling and glittering on the black water as we passed. I could see Harry doing the same. The boat was carving deep ripples upon the glassy surface, grooves in the dark mirror. . . And then we saw it, marble white, floating inches below the surface.
My face paled and my breath caught in my throat.
"Professor!" Harry said, and his startled voice echoed loudly over the silent water.
"Harry?" Dumbledore said.
"I think I saw a hand in the water - a human hand!" Harry said.
"Yes, I am sure you did." Dumbledore said calmly.
Harry and I stared down into the water, looking for the vanished hand, and a sick feeling rose in my throat.
"So that thing that jumped out of the water -?" Harry said, but Harry had his answer before Dumbledore could reply. The wandlight had slid over a fresh patch of water and showed him, this time, a dead man lying faceup inches beneath the surface, his open eyes misted as though with cobwebs, his hair and his robes swirling around him like smoke.
"There are bodies in here!" Harry said, and his voice sounded much higher than usual and most unlike his own.
I knew what was in the lake. Inferius. Corpses animated by dark magic and Voldemort's used them in the past.
"Inferius." I muttered and looked at Dumbledore.
"Yes, but we do not need to worry about them at the moment." Dumbledore said placidly.
"At the moment?" Harry and I repeated, Harry tearing his gaze from the water to look at Dumbledore but I was already looking at him.
"Not while they are merely drifting peacefully below us. There is nothing to be feared from a body, Harry, any more than there is anything to be feared from the darkness. Lord Voldemort, who of course secretly fears both, disagrees. But once again he reveals his own lack of wisdom. It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more." Dumbledore said.
Harry said nothing. I said nothing.
"But one of them jumped," he said, trying to make his voice as level and calm as Dumbledore's. "When I tried to Summon the Horcrux, a body leapt out of the lake." Harry said, making an effort to make his voice calm.
"Yes, I am sure that once we take the Horcrux, we shall find them less peaceable. However, like many creatures that dwell in cold and darkness, they fear light and warmth, which we shall therefore call to our aid should the need arise." Dumbledore said.
"Fire spells, got it." I said, acting determined but really I was terrified.
"Oh. . . right. . ." Harry said quickly. We turned our heads to look at the greenish glow toward which the boat was still inexorably sailing. Harry and I looked at each other, we could not pretend now that we were not scared. Staring into each other's eyes, we grabbed and squeezed each others hand.
"Nearly there." Dumbledore said cheerfully.
Sure enough the greenish light seemed to be growing larger at last and within minutes the boat had come to a halt, bumping gently into something that I could not see at first, but when Harry and I raised our illuminated wands I saw that we had reached a small island of smooth rock in the center of the lake.
"Careful not to touch the water." Dumbledore said again as Harry climbed out of the boat.
Once Harry was out of the boat, he turned yo help me out. I could easily of gotten out on my own but I appreciated the gesture. Things like this was just Harry's way of showing he cared. When I too, was out of the boat, I gave Harry a quick peck on the cheek.
The island was no larger than Dumbledore's office, an expanse of flat dark stone on which stood nothing but the source of that greenish light, which looked much brighter when viewed close to. Harry and I squinted at it. The light was coming from a stone basin rather like the Pensieve, which was set on top of a pedestal.
Dumbledore approached the basin, Harry and I followed. Side by side, we looked down into it. The basin was full of an emerald liquid emitting that phosphorescent glow.
"What is it?" Harry asked quietly.
"Whatever it is, I don't like it." I said, uneasily.
"I am not sure, what it is. Something more worrisome than blood and bodies, however." Dumbledore said.
Dumbledore pushed back the sleeve of his robe over his blackened hand, and stretched out the tips of his burned fingers toward the surface of the potion.
"Sir, no, don't touch -!" I said in a panicked voice.
"I cannot touch. See? I cannot approach any nearer than this. You try." Dumbledore smiling faintly.
Staring, I put my hand into the basin and attempted to touch the potion. I was met by an invisible barrier that prevented me coming within an inch of it. No matter how hard I pushed, my fingers encountered nothing but what seemed to be solid and flexible air.
Harry also tried but was met with the same result.
"Out of the way, please, Harry." Dumbledore said and he raised his wand and made complicated movements over the surface of the potion, murmuring soundlessly.
Nothing happened, except perhaps that the potion glowed a little brighter. Harry and I remained silent while Dumbledore worked, but after a while Dumbledore withdrew his wand.
"You think the Horcrux is in there, sir?" Harry asked.
"Oh yes." Dumbledore said and peered more closely into the basin.
"But how to reach it? This potion cannot be penetrated by hand, Vanished, parted, scooped up, or siphoned away, nor can it be Transfigured, Charmed, or otherwise made to change its nature." Dumbledore said.
I paled.
"Professor? Could it – is it possible it has to be – drunk?" I asked nervously.
Dumbledore stared at me thoughtfully.
"I believe you are right, Rosabella." Dumbledore said and absentmindedly he raised his wand again, twirled it once in midair, and then caught the crystal goblet that he had conjured out of nowhere.
"What? No!" Harry said.
"Yes, I think so. Only by drinking it can I empty the basin and see what lies in its depths."
"But what if - what if it kills you?" I said frantically.
"Oh, I doubt that it would work like that. Lord Voldemort would not want to kill the person who reached this island." Dumbledore said, easily.
I couldn't believe it. Was this more of Dumbledore's insane determination to see good in everyone?
"Sir, this is Voldemort we're -" Harry said, trying to being reasonable.
"I'm sorry, Harry. I should have said, he would not want to immediately kill the person who reached this island," Dumbledore corrected himself.
"He would want to keep them alive long enough to find out how they managed to penetrate so far through his defenses?" I clarified.
Dumbledore nodded.
"Indeed, and, most importantly of all, why they were so intent upon emptying the basin. Do not forget that Lord Voldemort believes that he alone knows about his Horcruxes." Dumbledore said.
Harry made to speak again, but this time Dumbledore raised his hand for silence, frowning slightly at the emerald liquid, evidently thinking hard.
"Undoubtedly, this potion must act in a way that will prevent me taking the Horcrux. It might paralyze me, cause me to forget what I am here for, create so much pain I am distracted, or render me incapable in some other way. This being the case, Harry, Rosabella it will be your job to make sure I keep drinking, even if you have to tip the potion into my protesting mouth. You understand?" Dumbledore said.
Our eyes met over the basin, each pale face lit with that strange, green light. Harry and I did not speak. Was this why we had been invited along - so that we could force - feed Dumbledore a potion that might cause him unendurable pain?
"You remember, the condition on which I brought you with me?" Dumbledore said.
I sighed in frustration.
"If this is what you want from me but why can't I drink the potion?" I said apprehensively.
"You're not drinking it! Professor, let me –" Harry said to me fiercely.
I stared at Harry fiercely.
"Oh, what? So you can drink it and I can't? Double standards much? I'm just as capable as you –" I said stubbornly.
"Over my dead body am I letting you drink that! Ro, this isn't the time to argue –" Harry said angrily.
"Do not tell me when it is the time to argue!" I said fiercely.
"Neither of you will be drinking the potion! I will be." Dumbledore said firmly but had to raise his voice to be heard over Harty and I.
"But, Professor, why can't I do it?" Harry said.
"Because I am much older, much cleverer, and much less valuable." Dumbledore said.
"Once and for all, Harry, Rosabella, do I have your word that you will do all in your power to make me keep drinking?" Dumbledore said.
"Yes. You have me word." I said sorrowful with a pained look on my face.
"Couldn't -?" Harry started to say.
"Do I have it?" Dumbledore cut him off.
"But -" Harry started to protest.
"Your word, Harry." Dumbledore said.
"I - all right, but -" Harry said but before Harry could make any further protest, Dumbledore lowered the crystal goblet into the potion.
For a split second, I hoped that he would not be able to touch the potion with the goblet, but the crystal sank into the surface as nothing else had. When the glass was full to the brim, Dumbledore lifted it to his mouth.
"Your good health, Harry, Rosabella." Dumbledore said and he drained the goblet.
I clutched Harry's hand tightly as we watched, terrified. Our other hands were gripping the rim of the basin so hard that both our fingertips were numb.
"Professor? How do you feel?" I said anxiously, as Dumbledore lowered the empty glass.
Dumbledore shook his head, his eyes closed. I wondered whether he was in pain. Dumbledore plunged the glass blindly back into the basin, refilled it, and drank once more.
In silence, Dumbledore drank three gobletsful of the potion. Then, halfway through the fourth goblet, he staggered and fell forward against the basin. His eyes were still closed, his breathing heavy.
"Professor Dumbledore? Can you hear me?" Harry said in a strained voice.
Dumbledore did not answer.
His face was twitching as though he was deeply asleep, but dreaming a horrible dream. His grip on the goblet was slackening. the potion was about to spill from it. I reached forward and grasped the crystal cup, holding it steady.
"Professor, can you hear me?" Harry repeated loudly, his voice echoing around the cavern.
Dumbledore panted and then spoke in a voice I did not recognize. For I had never heard Dumbledore frightened like this. I wondered if anyone had ever seen Dumbledore this frightened.
"I don't want . . . don't make me. . ." Dumbledore panted.
Harry and I looked desperately at each other vefore we stared into the whitened face we knew so well, at the crooked nose and half-moon spectacles. Harry looked lost but I knew what had to be done. Hating with a passion what I had to do, I braced myself.
". . .don't like. . . want to stop. . ." Dumbledore moaned.
"You. . .you can't stop, Professor. You've got to keep drinking, remember? You told me you had to keep drinking." Harry said.
"Here. . ." I said, repulsed by what I was doing.
Despite my disgust, I forced the goblet back toward Dumbledore's mouth and tipped it, so that Dumbledore drank the remainder of the potion inside.
"No . . ." Dumbledore groaned, as I lowered the goblet back into the basin and refilled it for him.
"I don't want to. . .I don't want to. . . let me go. . ." Dumbledore panted desperately.
"It's all right, Professor. It's all right, I'm here -" Harry said, his hands shaking.
"Make it stop, make it stop." Dumbledore moaned.
"Yes, this'll make it stop." I lied flawlessly, I could lie convincingly without even thinking now.
I tipped the contents of the goblet into Dumbledore's open mouth. Dumbledore screamed. The noise echoed all around the vast chamber, across the dead black water. I felt a tear fall from my eye.
"No, no, no, no, I can't, I can't, don't make me, I don't want to. . ." Dumbledore said in an agonising voice.
"It's all right, Professor, it's all right!" Harry said loudly, as I scooped up the sixth gobletful of potion.
The basin was now half empty.
"Ro, I can do it." Harry said softly.
I shook my head.
"You're not as deceiving as I am. That's not one of your many talents. Just keep doing what your doing. Let'snot make it harder for him then it has to be." I said and I started to walk back over to Harry and Dumbledore.
My hand was shaking and I had to be careful I didn't spill or drop the goblet.
"Nothing's happening to you, you're safe, it isn't real, I swear it isn't real." Harry said reassuringly, though I could tell he was loathing every second.
Every word.
Just like how I was loathing everything I refilled the goblet. Every step I took closer to Dumbledore.
"Take this, now, take this. . ." I said, softly.
Obediently, Dumbledore drank, as though it was an antidote I offered him, but upon draining the goblet, he sank to his knees, shaking uncontrollably.
"It's all my fault, all my fault. Please make it stop, I know I did wrong, oh please make it stop and I'll never, never again. . ." Dumbledore said.
"This will make it stop, Professor." I said, my voice nearly cracking as I tipped the seventh glass of potion into Dumbledore's mouth.
Dumbledore began to cower as though invisible torturers surrounded him. His flailing hand almost knocked the refilled goblet from my already trembling hands.
"Don't hurt them, don't hurt them, please, please, it's my fault, hurt me instead . . ." Dumbledore said.
I gaped at Dumbledore.
"Harry! I think the potion makes you relieve your worst memory! Your deepest regrets or greatest failures! As well as causing pain!" I said desperately to Harry.
"What do we do?" Harry demanded urgently.
"Pray that it stops once all the potion has been drunk." I said hopelessly.
With that revelation, my hands stopped shaking as I was determined to free Dumbledore from the pain. Even if that meant forcing the rest of this potion down his throat. I only played it would stop once Dumbledore had consumed all the potion.
"Here, drink this, drink this, you'll be all right." I said desperately, and once again Dumbledore obeyed him, opening his mouth even as he kept his eyes tight shut and shook from head to foot.
Now Dumbledore fell forward, screaming again, hammering his fists upon the ground, while I ran to basin and quickly filled the ninth goblet.
Harry was doing all he could to soothe Dumbledore.
"Please, please, please, no . . . not that, not that I'll do anything. . ." Dumbledore sobbed and pleaded.
"It'll be over soon Professor. I promise. You've nearly finished." Harry said helplessly.
"Just drink, Professor, just drink. . ." I said as I tipped the goblet into his mouth again.
Dumbledore drank like a child dying of thirst, but when he had finished, he yelled again as though his insides were on fire.
"No more, please, no more . . ." Dumbledore screamed.
I scooped up a tenth gobletful of potion and felt the crystal scrape the bottom of the basin.
"Nearly there! I can see the bottom!" I yelled to Harry.
"We're nearly there, Professor." Harry said, trying to make his voicecas soothing as possible.
"Drink this, drink it. . ." I said, softly.
Harry supported Dumbledore's shoulders as I tipped the goblet into Dumbledore's mouth. Again, Dumbledore drained the glass. Then I was on my feet once more, refilling the goblet as Dumbledore began to scream in more anguish than ever.
"I want to die! I want to die! Make it stop, make it stop, I want to die!" Dumbledore screeched.
"Ro, please hurry!" Harry said desperately.
I ran back with the eleventh scoop of potion.
"Drink this, Professor. Drink this. . ." I said as I fought tears.
Dumbledore drank, and no sooner had he finished than he yelled, "KILL ME!"
I had already ran back to refill the goblet.
"This - this one will!" Harry gasped.
"Just drink this . . . it'll be over . . . all over!" I said and tipped the goblet into Dumbledore's mouth.
Dumbledore gulped at the goblet, drained every last drop, and then, with a great, rattling gasp, rolled over onto his face.
"No!" Harry shouted as I was already on my feet to refill the goblet again. Instead I dropped the cup into the basin, flung myself down beside Dumbledore, and helped Harry heave him over onto his back.
Dumbledore's glasses were askew, his mouth agape, his eyes closed.
"No." I said, shaking Dumbledore,
"No, you're not dead, you said it wasn't poison, wake up, wake up- Rennervate!" Harry cried, his wand pointing at Dumbledore's chest.
There was a flash of red light but nothing happened.
"Anapneo!" I cried desperately.
Nothing happened.
"Rennervate - sir - please -" Harry said.
Dumbledore's eyelids flickered. My heart leapt, and I let out the breath I didn't realise I was holding. I sighed in relief.
"Sir, are you -?" Harry said.
"Water." Dumbledore croaked.
"Water - yes -" Harry panted and he leapt to his feet and seized the goblet I had dropped in the basin.
"Aguamenti!" I heard Harry shout, jabbing the goblet with his wand.
Harry dropped to his knees on Dumbledore's otherside.
Dumbledore raised his head, and brought the glass to his lips - but it was empty. Dumbledore groaned and began to pant.
"But I had some - wait - Aguamenti!" Harry said again, pointing his wand at the goblet.
Clear water gleamed within it, but as he approached Dumbledore's mouth, the water vanished again.
Oh, that's just cruel.
"Sir, I'm trying, I'm trying!" Harry said desperately, but I dont think that Dumbledore could hear him.
Dumbledore had rolled onto his side and was drawing great, rattling breaths that sounded agonizing.
"Aguamenti - Aguamenti - AGUAMENTI!" Harry yelled.
The goblet filled and emptied once more. And now Dumbledore's breathing was fading. My brain was whirling in panic. As a desperate last resort, I snatched the goblet put of Harry's hand.
I flung myself over to the edge of the rock and plunged the goblet into the lake, bringing it up full to the brim of icy water that did not vanish.
"Harry! It worked!" I yelled in relief.
Harry snatched the goblet back and sprinted towards Dumbledore.
"Sir - here!" Harry yelled, and lunging forward, he tipped the water clumsily over Dumbledore's face.
I was about to run over but something held my arm. The icy feeling on my arm had never left. Even after I had removed my arm from the water. Hoping beyond hope I was wrong, I whipped round to look behind me. It was what I feared.
Inferi.
A slimy white hand had gripped my wrist, and the creature to whom it belonged was pulling me, backward across the rock and it didn't have far to go before it could pull me into the lake. I was standing so close to waters edge from when I had filled up the goblet.
At least five of them now had hold for my arm and many more were moving to seize it as other started to grab my leg. I gasped. They were moving so fast and so many of them were coming.
The surface of the lake was no longer mirror - smooth. It was churning, and everywhere I looked, white heads and hands were emerging from the dark water, men and women and children with sunken, sightless eyes were moving toward the rock. An army of the dead rising from the black water.
"Incendio!" I screamed.
It was too little to late.
I managed to get a few off me but I was now surrounded.
Harry had heard me shout and he looked over. His face paled. He shot up and raised his wand. His eyes held nothing but fear.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry yelled as he pointed his wand at the Inferius.
One of them released me, falling backward into the water with a splash. Many more Inferi were already climbing onto the rock, their bony hands clawing at its slippery surface, their blank, frosted eyes upon me, trailing waterlogged rags, sunken faces leering. I casted Incendio a few more times but soon both my arms had been seized and the Inferi had quite a grip for dead people.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry bellowed again, as he swiped his wand through the air.
Six or seven of them crumpled, but more were coming toward me.
"Impedimenta! Incarcerous!" Harry yelled, desperately trying to get to me.
A few of them stumbled, one or two of them bound in ropes, but those climbing onto the rock behind them merely stepped over or on the fallen bodies.
Still slashing at the air with his wand, Harry yelled, "Sectumsempra! SECTUMSEMPRA!"
But though gashes appeared in their sodden rags and their icy skin, they had no blood to spill. They walked on, unfeeling, their shrunken hands outstretched toward me.
I was being dragged to the waters edge. I struggled and I fought. Trying desperately to cast a spell, but it was impossible.
"No!" Harry yelled in agony.
Harry looked terrified as he shot spell after spell.
I knew it was hopeless. Harry terrified emerald green eyes met my own petrified silver ones. I single tear fell down my face.
"I love you! Don't ever forget that!" I yelled to Harry.
Harry looked at me desperately and he shot spells more desperately.
"NO! RO, HOLD ON!" I heard Harry yell as I was dragged into the lake.
I thrashed and fought desperately as the Inferius started to drag me further to further to pitch black bottom of the lake.
But then, through the darkness, fire erupted. Crimson and gold, a ring of fire that surrounded the rock so that the Inferi that had climbing up, hoping to sieze Harry as well, stumbled and faltered. As the water filled my lungs and my air supply ran out, I finally stopped thrashing as I slipped into unconsciousness.
Harry's Point of View:
"NO! RO, HOLD ON!" I yelled as I watched as Rosabella was dragged into the lake.
"Petrificus Totalus!" I yelled and ten Inferius dropped.
"Impedimenta!"
"Reducto!"
"Confringo!"
"Immobulus!"
I shot spell after spell, taking down at least fifty Inferi, bit for every one O took down ten more seem to come. One of them had managed to grab my wrist. I stunned him but all I cared about was diving in after Rosabella, but I wouldn't be able to reach her and get her out if I had all these Inferi trying to drown me.
The darkness of the cave was then illuminated by a crimson and gold ring of fire. The Inferi that had been climbing up stumbled and faltered.
They did not dare pass through the flames to get to the water.
I looked wildly around.
Dumbledore was on his feet again, pale as any of the surrounding Inferi, but taller than any too, the fire dancing in his eyes. His wand was raised like a torch and from its tip emanated the flames, like a vast lasso, encircling them all with warmth.
The Inferi bumped into each other, attempting, blindly, to escape the fire in which they were enclosed. . .
"Did you get the Horcrux?" Dumbledore asked, his voice sounded weak.
"I don't care about the Horcrux! Ro's in the water! The Horcrux is in the basin – it's the locket!" I yelled frantically at Dumbledore.
A clear path to the lake was finally presented. I sprinted to the waters edge and dived in.
Reflected by the fire, I saw something gold glisten in the darkness. I swam down in that direction. I swan fast. Faster then I ever thought possible. I found Ro. I had never felt so angry and determined in my life that a non verbal spell seemed easy now. I stunned all the Inferi holding her and I wrapped my left arm around her waist. I glistening I had seen had come from the golden heart locket Rosabella always wore. I swam furiously to the surface.
When we reached the surface of the water, I panted for breath and I began to swim back towards the rock in the middle of the lake, where Dumbledore was still casting the ring of fire. I hauled myself and Rosabella up onto the rocks, cutting my forearm as it scraped across the rock. I coughed up some water but I didn't care. I turned Rosabella onto her back. She wasn't breathing.
"Ro! RO!" I cried desperately.
I pointed my wand at her chest.
"Anapneo!" I yelled.
Water coughed up out of her mouth but Rosabella remained unmoving. I frantically pressed my index finger and my thumb to the her neck, feeling for a pulse.
There was none.
I threw my wand aside and began pressing on her chest. I render watching something about CPR on the muggle news at one point. I pressed 30 times before, I pinched Rosabella nose and breathed into her mouth. I breathed two breaths into her mouth before I did 30 more chest presses. As I pressed her chest I whispered desperately for Rosabella to wake up.
"C'mon, Ro. Please, Ro. Don't leave me. Please come back. Ro, please. I love you, please come back." I whispered desperately as I felt tears fall down my face and my heart ache as I felt it breaking into a thousand pieces.
The third time I breathed two breaths into her mouth, Rosabella began to move. She spluttered and coughed up bucket loads of water. It seemed like she was coughing up half the like.
"RO! You're okay! Everything's okay! I've got you. Hold on, okay? Stay with me." I said frantically as I held Rosabella in my arms.
Rosabella was weak. Very weak. She was paler then a ghost. Deathly pale. Her eyes had closed but I could feel her heart beating. I was no medical expert but I knew her heart beat was not as strong as it should be, but at least it was beating. Her breathing was frantic, short and erratic.
Dumbledore had beaten back the Inferi and he scooped the locket from the bottom of the stone basin and stowed it inside his robes. Wordlessly, Dumbledore gestured for me to come to his side. I heaved Rosabella up in my arms. Her arms were wrapped loosely around my neck. My right arms was around her waist and my left arm was under the curve of her knees. Distracted by the flames, the Inferi seemed unaware that their quarry was leaving as Dumbledore led me back to the boat. The ring of fire moving with us, around us, the bewildered Inferi accompanying us to the waters edge, where they slipped gratefully back into their dark waters.
I was shaking all over. I thought for a moment that Dumbledore might not be able to climb into the boat. Dumbledore staggered a little as he attempted it. All his efforts seemed to be going into maintaining the ring of protective flame around us. Using only my right arm to hold Rosabella, which was a struggle, I used my left to seize Dumbledore and help him back to his seat.
Once we were all safely jammed inside again, the boat began to move back across the black water, away from the rock, still encircled by that ring of fire, and it seemed that the Inferi swarming below them did not dare resurface.
"Sir, I forgot - about fire - they were all around Ro and dragging her under and I panicked -" I panted.
"Quite understandable." Dumbledore
murmured.
I was alarmed to hear how faint his voice was.
Dumbledore struggled to lean forward as he checked Rosabella.
"Well done, Harry. You saved her like. Her breathing is starting to even out, I think she'll be fine. We'll get her to Madam Pomfrey when we return." Dumbledore said, still in his faint voice.
I looked desperately down at Rosabell, who was still in my arms. Her breathing was, indeed, evening out into a rhythm. A normal breathing pattern. Her heart beat was becoming stronger. I allowed myself to feel a small sense of relief but I was still beyond anxious that she would fade away.
Her heart had actually stopped. No matter for how brief a period, she was actually dead. I had nearly lost her.
We reached the bank with a little bump and I leapt out as best I could while I held Ro, then I turned quickly to help Dumbledore. Agaim,I used my right arm to support Rosabella and my left to help Dumbledore.
The moment that Dumbledore reached the bank he let his wand hand fall. The ring of fire vanished, but the Inferi did not emerge again from the water. The little boat sank into the water once more. Clanking and tinkling, its chain slithered back into the lake too. Dumbledore gave a great sigh and leaned against the cavern wall.
"I am weak. . ." Dumbledore said.
"Don't worry, sir. Don't worry, I'll get us back . . . lean on me, sir. . ." I said at once, anxious about Dumbledore's extreme pallor and by his air of exhaustion.
Holding Rosabella in my right arm and supporting Dumbledore with my left as Dumbledore put his uninjured arm around my shoulders, just as I had indicated.
I guided my headmaster back around the lake, bearing most of his weight. I don't know how I was managing to hold Rosabella and support Dumbledore all at once, but I was snd I just hope that this new strength would last, at least intill we get back to Hogwarts.
"The protection was . . . after all . . . well - designed. One alone could not have done it . . . you did well, very well, Harry . . ." Dumbledore said, faintly.
"Don't talk now. Save your energy, sir. . . we'll soon be out of here . . ." I said, fearing how slurred Dumbledore's voice had become, how much his feet dragged.
"The archway will have sealed again . . . my knife . . ." Dumbledore said.
"There's no need, I got cut on the rock. Just tell me where. . ." I said firmly.
"Here. . ." Dumbledore said and indicated to a certain part of the archway.
I wiped my grazed forearm upon the stone. Having received its tribute of blood, the archway reopened instantly. We crossed the outer cave, and I helped Dumbledore back into the icy seawater that filled the crevice in the cliff, using only my left hand.
"It's going to be all right, sir." Harry said over and over again, more worried by Dumbledore's silence than he had been by his weakened voice. "We're nearly there... I can Apparate us both back... don't worry..." I said over and over again, more worried by Dumbledore's silence than I had been by his weakened voice.
"I am not worried, Harry. I am with you." Dumbledore said, his voice a little stronger despite the freezing water.