Once we reach the small island of crystals, we all look at a very upright crystal which contains a small pool of liquid. The liquid itself is transparent with tinges of black to it and on top of the crystal is an open shell.
"Is the Horcrux in there?" I ask and Professor Dumbledore nods, before stating that all of the liquid inside it must be drunk so the Horcrux can be retrieved.
"You both remember the conditions on which I brought you with me? This potion might paralyse me, I may forget why we are here and cause me so much pain that I beg for relief," Professor Dumbledore says to both of us quite sternly, "you are not to indulge these requests. It's your job, both of you, to make sure I keep drinking this potion, even if you have to force it down my throat. Understand?"
"Why can't either of us drink it, Sir?" I ask, trying to find some other way so the Professor doesn't have to take all the supposed pain he's describing. "Because I am much older, much cleverer and much less valuable," he replies, making us both sigh and nod our heads.
Professor Dumbledore grabs the open shell, dips it into the potion and swallows the contents easily. For a moment, nothing happens. But then, he starts violently shaking, his breathing becomes more static and choked as he falls to the floor.
"Professor!" We both exclaim as we drop down and look over the suffering adult, who shoves the shell into my hands. Quickly, I run back to the potion filled crystal and scoop up more of the potion. When I reach Professor Dumbledore, he's still willing to drink the potion, but slowly becomes more resistant and tries to force us away.
Harry ends up taking over and eventually, after all our begging and all the potion is gone, the Headmaster slowly starts to return to normal and asks us for some water.
"Harry," I gasp, reaching into the crystal and I pull out a golden locket. I turn to Harry and when he sees it, he practically jumps over and I hand it to him, taking the shell from him. "Aurora... water," Professor Dumbledore croaks, the potion effects now making him really tired.
I nod my head hurriedly and point my wand at the empty crystal bowl. "Aguamenti," I exclaim, filling the bowl up with clean, drinkable water. But when I go to fill the shell up with it, it doesn't fill up. "Hold on, Professor," I say as I walk up to the edge of the small island and reach into the water, hoping this will actually fill it up.
The large light across the stretch of water disappears, but I take my wand out of my pocket and light it up, so I can see in front of me. I dip down again and lower the shell into the water. Suddenly, a wrinkly and slimy webbed hand forcefully grabs at my wrist. I lurch backwards and clamber back up the crystals, before I point my wand into the air.
"Lumos Maxima!" A large ball of light leaves my wand and when the cave is lit up, me and Harry see the small island surrounded by slimy, wet creatures who look like Inferi. They all start clambering up the crystals and start to surround me and Harry.
"Stupefy!" I shout, firing spells at as many as I can. Harry helps, but when I realise that they're only trying to attack me, it's too late. The Inferi start to overwhelm us both and I feel their tight, drenched hands clasp around my legs, arms and my waist, pulling me down.
"HARRY!" I shout as they start to pull me down into the lake. "AURORA!" He shouts back, jumping forward with his arm stretched out. I try to reach but I can't reach far enough, so I throw him my wand as my body is slammed into the water harshly, the Inferi pulling me down further. I try to fight them off, but their fierce grip is too strong and they start to drown me.
As I struggle against them, a large burst of colour explodes above the water, suddenly making the Inferi scatter. I manage to kick the few remaining ones away and as I swim back up to the surface, I see Professor Dumbledore swirling a large stream of flames from his wand around the room, frightening the Inferi.
I cough up gulps of water and once I make eye contact with Harry, he storms over and leans towards me, his hand gripping a crystal so he doesn't fall in. I reach for his hand and grab it tightly, still coughing up water. He helps me climb back up onto the island and once I've recovered, he lends himself to Professor Dumbledore - almost like a crutch - and we start to make our way back to the Astrology Tower.
-
We arrive back at the Tower and despite us trying to convince Professor Dumbledore to go to the Hospital Wing, he refuses and states that he needs to see Professor Snape, claiming that he's the person he needs instead of Madam Pomfrey.
"Wake him, tell him what happened, speak to no one else," he pants, resting on the steps near the Tower's balcony. We nod and go to find him, but we all distant footsteps far down below, which makes us both spin back around. Professor Dumbledore quickly stands up and orders us to hide downstairs and remain hidden.
"It's imperative you stay below... do as I say Harry. Trust me," he begs. "Come on, Harry," I urge, pulling at his cardigan sleeve. We both make our way quickly yet quietly downstairs, just to see someone walk up a separate winding staircase.
Someone dressed in a black suit.
"Draco," I whisper as we sneakily walk underneath the floorboards that he and Professor Dumbledore are standing on, eavesdropping on the conversation.
"Good evening, Draco," Professor Dumbledore starts, "what brings you here on this fine, Spring evening?" I look through the floorboards as the Headmaster makes up a convincing lie that the voices Draco heard were all his and that he was talking to was himself.
"Draco, you are no assassin," Professor Dumbledore says and that's when it hits me for the first time. My eyes widen in shock as I turn to Harry. "That's what he was 'chosen' for," I whisper, trying to remain as quiet as possible, "Voldemort chose him to kill Dumbledore."