Chapter 408: Arrival (45)

Headmaster Dumbledore briefly described the cave and its location, then looked at Wizard Sean Green with a natural gaze:

“I think I can go alone.”

Wizard Sean Green looked at Dumbledore but said nothing.

He knew Dumbledore’s words were like saying:

I’ll go ahead to scout; if anything unexpected happens, you’ll know about it.

At that moment, Wizard Sean felt something strange in his head—a coolness, as if a bee were flapping its wings against the membrane of his memory, and he released some images.

“You plan to use… a dragon to follow?”

Dumbledore smiled; he hadn’t been this cheerful in a long time.

“Yes.”

Wizard Sean admitted.

Dumbledore rarely used Legilimency to probe young wizards’ thoughts, and he did so no differently now—he knocked like a guest.

“It may have defenses I don’t know about—only guesses, possibly entirely wrong.”

Dumbledore continued,

“If you’re willing to come with me, I must warn you beforehand: it will be extraordinarily dangerous.”

“I understand, Headmaster.”

Wizard Sean remained calm.

“Good. Listen: I’ll take you on one condition—you must obey any order I give without question.

Understand this, Wizard Sean. You must obey even commands like ‘run,’ ‘hide,’ or ‘go back.’ Do you agree?”

Dumbledore straightened his back.

“…”

Wizard Sean did not answer.

Dumbledore looked troubled.

“If I told you to hide, would you?”

“Maybe…”

“If I told you to flee, would you obey?”

“Maybe…”

“If I told you to leave me and save yourself, would you do as I say?”

“No—”

“Wizard Sean Green!”

Dumbledore’s voice rose.

They stared at each other for a moment.

“It’s always good to resist authority, but…”

Dumbledore sounded deflated.

“Nothing will go wrong.”

Wizard Sean couldn’t help adding one more sentence.

“Oh? What did you sense in the night sky of the Borderlands?”

Dumbledore asked, slightly curious.

Wizard Sean said nothing.

“I hope so. Perhaps those unconfused by the future all look the same.”

Dumbledore looked distant.

“Do you need to bring anything?”

Dumbledore finally agreed.

He knew no matter his answer, he’d still find the young wizard somewhere.

Of course, he’d anticipated this.

“No, Headmaster.”

Wizard Sean said.

The night sky was filled with stars. The air carried the warm scent of grass and the smell of Black Lake water.

The old wizard and the young wizard set off.

The method was still Apparition, familiar to Wizard Sean.

He gulped down the potion, even though he believed he’d likely grown accustomed to Apparition—but when arriving at the vault, he still saw the potion quietly placed there, unchanged for long periods.

Sometimes he felt it wasn’t his own vault, but more like a shared one.

Though the other two guests never took anything.

Wizard Sean’s vision began to twist the moment he took Dumbledore’s hand…

After an unknown length of time, Wizard Sean smelled the sea and heard the roar of waves.

He gazed at the distant sea under moonlight and the star-strewn sky; a cold breeze brushed his hair.

He stood atop a tall black rock jutting from the sea, waves churning beneath his feet, foaming.

He turned his head to look back.

Behind him rose a cliff, its sheer face plunging downward, dark and indistinct.

Several large rocks, like the one Wizard Sean and Dumbledore stood on, seemed to have broken off from the cliff’s face long ago. Around them, barren and desolate, there was not a single tree, no grass or beach—only the vast sea and rocks.

“What do you think?”

Dumbledore asked, his tone as if inquiring whether this was an ideal picnic spot.

“He brought the orphans here?”

Wizard Sean asked, his wand glowing; Dumbledore knew the anger in his eyes.

“More precisely, not here.”

Dumbledore said,

“Halfway up the cliffs behind us, there’s a place barely worthy of being called a village.

I believe they brought the orphans there, to let them breathe the sea air and watch the waves.

But I think only Tom Riddle and the children he tormented ever came to this place.

Let’s go…”

Dumbledore ended the subject.

They now had to descend into a cave, but its entrance lay beneath the sea.

From Dumbledore’s expression, he intended to swim down.

“Are you afraid of water?”

Dumbledore asked kindly.

“No.”

Wizard Sean felt eager to jump in.

But he still opened the Wizard’s Book, and Puckidge the butler appeared at once—under Dumbledore’s intrigued gaze.

With Puckidge’s Apparition, they easily entered the cave.

Then they faced the door that trapped them.

“This is just the antechamber, the entrance hall,”

Dumbledore said after a pause,

“We must go further… The barrier before us is not nature’s doing, but Tom Riddle’s trap…”

Before he finished, Wizard Sean had already slashed his arm; bright red blood flowed out.

At the same time, he felt weaker than ever before.

But it was still bearable—he’d been weaker for much longer.

“Ah… does it hurt?”

Dumbledore fell silent for a moment.

“It’s fine.”

Wizard Sean said.

The door had no other way to open—it required weakening a wizard’s strength.

The door opened. They stood on the shore of a vast black Black Lake, its surface boundless, with no sight of the far bank.

The cave above them was towering; they could not see the ceiling. Far off, near the Black Lake’s center, a faint green glow shimmered, reflected in the lifeless water below.

“Well, it seems we need a boat?”

Dumbledore stared directly at Wizard Sean, as if he were about to do something without warning.

But Wizard Sean simply followed the old wizard quietly, just as he had when they first met.

“I must tell you, Wizard Sean. Step back, press against the rock wall—I’ve found the spot.”

He said, clasping his hands together, gripping something Wizard Sean could not see.

Dumbledore slowly moved toward the Black Lake’s edge, and a small boat appeared.

And now, they would row across to the other side.