INT./EXT. GARGOYLE CORRIDOR - LATE DAY
Athena stands at a window, looking out. She brings her fingers to her chest again when...Hermione comes up behind her.
Hermione: Athena. It's time
"Time for what?" Barty asks, but he got no response.
INT./EXT. COURTYARD - LATE DAY
Athena, Hermione and Ron walk.
Athena: Hermione, is the Room of Requirement unplottable?
Hermione: If one wants it to be. Why?
Athena: It would explain why I thought Malfoy was leaving the castle when he disappeared off the Map. He was going to the Room of Requirement
Hermione: Of course, and that explains the Vanishing Cabinet as well!
Ron: No. I got at an owl from dad this morning. The one in Borgin & Burkes? It's still there
Athena: But I'm telling you. I saw it ––
"Sorry we didn't believe you," Hermione and Ron whispered to Athena. Athena waved them off saying that it was fine.
Just then, the twins appear, pass. Athena watches them, a thought forming.
Athena: What if there are two? Vanishing cabinets
Hermione: What if there are?
Athena: I don't know...maybe...they are connected
"Good observation," Moody says. Making many jump since they forgot he was there.
Athena watches the twins vanish around a corner.
Ron: Good luck, mate
Athen turns back to Ron and Hermione, neither able to fully conceal their concern. She smiles reassuringly, continues on.
Athena: As much as I hate to say it, but I don't need luck. I'll have...Dumbledore
James lips curl up in disgust at the old man's name.
EXT. ASTRONOMY TOWER - DYING LIGHT
As Athena trots up the spiralling exterior stairs, she hears voices coming from the topmost level and pauses, peering up through the grid-like floor above: Dumbledore and Snape.
Snape: Have you ever considered that you ask too much? That you take too much for granted? Has it ever crossed your brilliant mind that I don't want to do this anymore?
People look at Snape suspiciously.
Dumbledore: Whether it has or hasn't is irrelevant. I will not negotiate this with you, Severus. You agreed. There's nothing more to discuss
Athena stands poised, peering upward, where Dumbledore squints toward the dying sun and Snape glares at his back. Finally, Snape turns away and –– before Athena can react –– is descending the stairs. Seeing Athena, Snape falters briefly, then continues on without a word. As his footsteps fade, Athena ascends to the upper tier. Dumbledore turns. Smiles.
Dumbledore: Athena. You need a hair cut, my friend
"Not friends," Athena grumbled.
Athena runs a hand through her black, long hair and frowns.
Dumbledore: At times I forget how much you've grown. At times I still see the small girl from the cupboard [Smiling] Forgive my mawkishness, Athena. I am an old man
Athena: You look the same to me, sir...but I do see a wrinkle forming
The immature ones laugh at that.
Dumbledore: Like your mother, you are unfailingly kind and your fathers cheekiness. A trait people never fail to undervalue. I'm afraid
Lily and James smile.
Dumbledore turns then, eyes the fiery sky again.
Dumbledore: The place to which we journey tonight is exceedingly dangerous, Athena. I promised that you could accompany me and I stand by that promise. But there is a condition: You must obey any command I give you –– without question
"I don't like this already," Lily sighed and rubbed her hands down her face, "I've gone into these movies looking eighteen and by the time they finish, I'm going to look seventy."
Athena: Yes, sir
Dumbledore: Understand what I'm saying. Should I tell you to hide, you must hide
Athena nods.
Dumbledore: Should I tell you to run, you will run
Athena nods.
Dumbledore: And should I tell you to abandon me and save yourself...
"DO IT!" The marauders shout, James being the loudest.
Athena's eyes rise, meet Dumbledore's.
Dumbledore: You will do so
Athena hesitates.
Dumbledore: Your word, Athena
Athena debates this internally, then, finally, nods.
Athena: My word
Dumbledore: Take my arm
Athena: Sir, I thought one couldn't apparate within Hogwarts
Dumbledore: Being me has its privileges
The wind gusts and Athena reaches out. Dumbledore's cloak billows and we are tossed into...
EXT. OCEAN - DUSK
Black. Undulating. The sound of waves. We ease up, out of the ocean. A giant wave crashes over a jagged outcropping. As the spray clears...Dumbledore and Athena are revealed. Dumbledore eyes the towering cliff face opposite, the cave.
"Ain't that the same cliff, little Riddle had a picture of in his room?" Barth asks, Bellatrix nods.
Athena: It's there, isn't it?
Everyone sits up straighter and pays close attention.
EXT. CAVE - SAME TIME - DUSK
Athena and Dumbledore materialise. It is quiet here, eerily so, the waves merely distant thunder. As Athena glances about, Dumbledore moves to an archway, passes beyond. Athena follows, finds Dumbledore standing below a towering dome of rock, probing its mysteries with the light from his wand.
Dumbledore: This is the place. Oh yes, this place has known magic [Closing his eyes] Where you stand, Athena, Tom Riddle once stood many, many years ago, when he was but a poor orphan boy with a penchant for cruelty
Dumbledore's wand stops briefly in its arc and his face registers pain, as if detecting some past unpleasantry. He begins to trace his fingers over the surface of the rock.
Dumbledore: One wintry afternoon, he lured two younger classmates to this cave. What happened is unclear. But this much is known: the children were damaged
Everyone looks at the screen in horror and sadness.
Dumbledore begins to murmur in a strange whisper as his fingers play over the rock...then stop. His eyes open. He takes a dagger from his robes and draws the blade across his forearm, speckling the rock face with scarlet beads.
Athena: Sir!
The rock face sizzles like acid and begins to crumble, forming a narrow opening.
Dumbledore: In order to gain passage, payment must be made, payment intended to weaken any intruder
Athena: You should've let me, sir
Dumbledore: Oh, no, Athena. Your blood is much more precious than mine
EXT. ARCHWAY/UNDERGROUND LAKE - NIGHT
Dumbledore and Athena emerge onto the rim of a vast lake teeming with mist. A chill hangs in the air.
Dumbledore: Careful. The water
Athena peers into the lake. It is black as ink.
NEW ANGLE - MOMENTS LATER
Athena follows Dumbledore around the rim of the lake. In the centre, a greenish glow shimmers in the mist.
Dumbledore: It's there. The only question is how do we get to it?
Athena: We couldn't, perhaps, just try a summoning charm, sir?
Dumbledore smiles motions: Be my guest. Athena lifts her wand.
Athena: Accio Horcrux!
There is an explosion and something pale erupts out of the water. Athena nearly sheds her skin. Dumbledore calmly watched it vanish beneath the surface.
Dumbledore: Perhaps not
"That so embarrassing," Athena groaned, making her family and friends laugh.
NEW ANGLE - MOMENTS LATER
Dumbledore leads Athena on. Stops. Takes a step back. He closes his eyes and to Athena's horror walks right to the lakes edge. As the dark water laps over the toes of his shoes, Dumbledore passes his hand slowly through the air, then closes it...as if gripping onto something invisible. Taking his wand, he gives his clenched fist a tap and a thick coppery-green chain appears out of thin air, extending from the water to Dumbledore's hand.
Dumbledore: If you would, Athena...
Quickly Athena grasps the end of the chain and together she and Dumbledore pull, end over end, until the prow of a small boat pierces the surface, green with algae.
NEW ANGLE - MOMENTS LATER
In eerie silence, the boat cleaves the water, ferrying Athena and Dumbledore toward the greenish glow.
Athena: Sir...have you ever taken Felix Felicis?
Dumbledore: Only recreationally. You see, I believe one creates one's own luck
Athena looks down into the water, watches a face skim by beneath the surface.
Athena: Professor...there are bodies in this lake
Dumbledore: Yes
"Oh great," Regulus rolled his eyes, "let me guess, they ain't friendly either."
NEW ANGLE (SMALL ISLAND) - MOMENTS LATER
Here the greenish glow is ferocious. As the boat arrives, Dumbledore steps out.
Dumbledore: Remember...the water
Athena nods, steps out carefully and joins Dumbledore at the source of the glow –– a basin filled with a phosphorescent liquid. Dumbledore extends the tips of his blackened fingers towards the basin, but cannot touch the liquid.
Athena: Do you think the Horcrux is in there, sir?
Dumbledore: Oh yes
Moody, Amelia and the Aurors play close attention, writing everything down.
Dumbledore steps back, ponders the basin. Notes the crystal goblet sitting beside it. Smiled ruefully.
Dumbledore: It has to be drunk [As Athena reacts] You remember the condition on which I brought you with me?
Athena starts to respond. Stops. Nods.
Dumbledore: This potion might paralyse me. It might cause me to forgot why I'm here. It might create so much pain I beg for relief. You are not to indulge these requests, Athena. It is your job to make sure I keep drinking this potion even if you have to force it down my throat. Understood?
Athena: Why can't I drink it, sir?
Dumbledore: Because I'm much older and much less valuable [Taking the goblet] Your good health, Athena
"I hope he dies," James says bluntly, earning a smack round the head by Mia.
Dumbledore dips the goblet into the gleaming liquid and brings it to his lips. Drinks deep. Close his eyes.
Athena: Professor?
Dumbledore shakes his head, silencing Athena, then dips the goblet once more. Twice more he drinks. His hand trembles and he grips the side of the basin.
Athena: Professor? Can you hear me?
Dumbledore says nothing. The corners of his eyes twitch. His hand trembles, savagely this time, and he nearly drops the goblet. Athena reached out, steadies his hand.
Dumbledore: Don't...don't make me...
Athena eyes Dumbledore's anguished face, steels herself.
Athena: You...you can't stop, Professor. You've got to keep drinking. Like you said. Remember
Dumbledore: Noooooo!!!
"Holy shit..."
Athena staggers back, so primal is Dumbledore's plea. Dumbledore's arm goes slack, the goblet clanging dully against the side of the basin. Athena takes a breath, steps forward, places her hand over Dumbledore's, lifts the cup.
Dumbledore: Make it stop...please...make it stop...
Athena: It will, sir. It'll stop. But only if you drink...
Athena, her own hand trembling now, tips the goblet over Dumbledore's lips.
Dumbledore: My fault. It's all my fault...
Everyone raises an eyebrow at that statement.
Athena furrows her brows at that before bringing the goblet up once more. Dumbledore drinks.
Dumbledore: Too much...I can't...take it...I want...to die...kill...kill me...KILL ME, ATHENA!
Athena: What?
Dumbledore: Your word, Athena! Your word!
Athena: No...
Dumbledore: KILL ME! ITS THE ONLY WAY!
"DO IT!" James shouts, dodging Mia's hand.
Athena stands paralysed, unsure what to do. Then...Dumbledore collapses, rolls onto his back. Athena pelts forward, dips the goblet into the basin and kneels by Dumbledore.
Athena: One more. Just one more. And then –– I promise...I'll do what you say
Dumbledore, jaw clinched shut, eyes Athena.
Athena: I promise
Dumbledore's jaw relaxes and Athena pries open his mouth, tips the liquid down his throat. Pain ripples through Dumbledore's face. He tries to speak, Athena eyeing him with trepidation, fearful of what he will request. Again and again Dumbledore struggles and then...his eyes...open. Find Athena.
Dumbledore: Water
A shudder of relief goes through Athena. Grinning, she leaps to the basin. A golden locket now lies at the bottom. Athena snatches it up.
Dumbledore: Water...
Athena: Aguamenti!
Instantly cold clear water rises in the basin.
Athena: You did it, sir. Look ––
Athena frowns. The goblet is empty.
Dumbledore: Water!
Athena dips the goblet into the basin yet again, brings it to Dumbledore's lips...but once again finds it empty. Dumbledore tries to speak, but his lips are cracking, his tongue like sand. He gulps drily for air.
Athena: I'm trying, sir. I'm ––
Athena stops. All is silent...except for the soft lapping of the lake. She considers the ghostly shapes gliding just below the surface. Deciding, she dips the goblet into the dark water. Instantly, the lake begins to churn. Athena backs away, the goblet sloshing in her hand. Faces, pale and haunted, quiver in the roiling water.
Athena tips the water into Dumbledore's mouth. Dumbledore blinks. His tongue probes his lower lip. Athena returns to the waters edge, hesitates, then plunges the goblet into water once more. Instantly, a slimy white hand snags her wrist and Athena is pulled under. The goblet bobs on the surface.
Everyone freezes.
NEW ANGLE - UNDERWATER
Utterly silent. Athena twists madly as hands reach for her, turning her this way and that. Haunted faces float by.
Lily hides her face in James's chest.
NEW ANGLE - THE SURFACE
Athena breaks the surface, gasping for air, blinking, catching a glimpse of Dumbledore slumped against the basin as she is...
NEW ANGLE - UNDERWATER
...pulled underwater once again, into the eerie silence of flailing arms. She shakes free again and again, but there are too many hands, too many haunted faces. We stay under a very long time, feel her lungs burning. Her eyes lose their focus, turning blank. Bubbles trail out of her mouth as her face goes slack. She sinks deeper, in free fall, takes one last look at the shimmering surface above, the last thing she will see...when a shadow shivers briefly and...
...the surface sizzles with red light, like blood, then becomes transparent, revealing Dumbledore, wand pointed directly at the water.
NEW ANGLE - THE SURFACE
Athena breaks the surface, spitting up water, gasping for air. Dumbledore staggers, slumps once more against the basin, weakened by his effort. Athena scrambles up, steadies him and the lake explodes with fire. Athena wheels, watches the bodies in the lake twist in pain.
Dumbledore: Go...
Athena turns, confused. Dumbledore's hand finds her face.
Dumbledore: We have to...go
Athena glances to the boat. Flames lick the prow, darkening the wood, but do not destroy it. She nods.
EXT. CAVE - ENTRANCE
Athena and Dumbledore emerge from the cave. Dumbledore, pale and weak, scans the stars wearily, leans heavily on Athena.
Athena: Don't worry, sir. We're nearly there
Dumbledore: I am not worried, Athena. I am with you
Everyone shares a look.
————————————————————————————————
A/N:
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