94 Diagon Alley

Very obvious traces. I taught Tom Riddle and know his style. "

"Is this... this boat safe?"

"Oh, I think it's safe. Voldemort needs to have a way to get across the lake in case he needs to visit or take his Horcruxes, so as not to provoke him in the Those guys in the lake."

"Then if we cross the lake in Voldemort's boat, the guys in the water won't attack us, will they?"

"I think we have to be mentally prepared that if they find out we're not Voldemort, they're going to hit us. So far, though, we've gone pretty well. They've allowed us to take the boat Get it from the lake."

"But why would they want us to do this?" Harry asked, unable to shake the horrific image in his mind of how many tentacles would emerge from the darkness as they were far from the shore. out of the lake.

"Voldemort believed that only a very skilled wizard could discover the boat, and his confidence was justified." Dumbledore said, "I think he was ready to take a risk and let others discover the boat. - It seems almost impossible to him, he knows he has some obstacles in front of him that only he can cross. We will see later if he is right."

Harry looked down at the boat. A very small boat indeed. "It doesn't seem to be for two people. Can it bear the weight of the two of us? Will it be too heavy for the two of us together?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "Voldemort doesn't think about weight, he only thinks about how much magical power has crossed his lake. I think the ship may be under an enchantment that only one wizard can ride at a time."

"The-?"

"I don't think you'll be counted, Harry, you're not old enough to qualify. Voldemort never thought a sixteen-year-old would come to this place. I I think your strength is probably negligible compared to mine."

These words made Harry crestfallen, and Dumbledore probably realized it, and he added: "Voldemort is wrong, Harry, Voldemort is wrong...Old people underestimate young people, It's stupid and forgetful... well, you go first this time and be careful not to touch the water."

Dumbledore stepped aside and Harry cautiously climbed aboard. Dumbledore stepped in too, coiling the chain up and stacking it on the bottom of the boat. They were so tight together that Harry couldn't sit comfortably, but squatted down with his knees on the boat's gang. The boat set off at once, and there was silence all around, save for the soft rustling of the bow piercing the water. The boat was moving on its own, without their hands, and seemed to be pulled by an invisible rope toward the green light in the middle of the lake. Soon the rock walls of the cave were out of sight, and they felt like they were on the sea, only there were no waves around.

The boats cut deep ripples in the glass-smooth lake, like grooves in a black mirror...

Just then, Harry saw it—white as marble, floating inches below the surface.

"Professor!" he said, terrified voices echoing loudly on the still water.

"Harry?"

"I seem to see a hand in the water—a human hand!"

"Yes, I believe you saw it," said Dumbledore calmly.

Harry looked down at the depths of the lake, looking for the disappearing hand, a feeling of vomiting welled up in his throat.

"So, that thing that jumped out of the water just now—?"

Before Dumbledore could answer, Harry found the answer himself. The light of the wand swept across the water again, and this time Harry saw a dead man lying on his back a few inches above the surface: his open eyes were misty as if they were cobwebbed, and his hair and robes were like smoke It swirled and floated around his body.

"There are dead bodies in here!" said Harry, his voice sounding sharper than usual, hardly his own.

"Yes," said Dumbledore calmly, "but we needn't worry about them just yet."

"Temporarily?" Harry repeated the word, taking his eyes back from the lake and looking at Dumbledore.

"As long as they just float silently under our boat," said Dumbledore, "a dead body is nothing to be afraid of, Harry, just as the darkness is nothing to be afraid of. But Voldemort doesn't think so, he must be secretly afraid of both things. Once again he has exposed his lack of wisdom. When we face death and darkness, all we fear is the unknown and nothing else."

Harry said nothing. He didn't want to argue, but it was especially scary to think of the dead bodies floating around them and under their boats, and he didn't believe those dead bodies weren't dangerous.

"But one jumped out just now." He said, trying to make his voice as calm and natural as Dumbledore's, "When I tried to use the Flying Charm to gather the Horcrux, a dead body Jumped out of the lake."

"Yes," said Dumbledore, "I am sure that when we go to get the Horcruxes, we will find that they are less quiet. However, like many who live in the cold and the dark Like creatures, they are afraid of light and warmth, and we can turn to them if we need it—fire, Harry." Dumbledore added with a smile, seeing the confused look on Harry's face.

"Oh...yeah..." Harry said hastily. He turned to look at the green light, where the boat was still heading unstoppably. Now, he can no longer pretend that he is not afraid. An endless black lake with dead bodies floating in it... He thought it was a long, long time ago that he had met Professor Trelawney and handed the Flux to Ron and Hermione... He suddenly wished he had been with them back then. Farewell...and, he didn't even see Ginny...

"It's almost there," said Dumbledore cheerfully.

Sure enough, the green light seemed to finally get bigger and brighter, and a few minutes later, the boat lightly hit something and stopped. Harry didn't see it clearly at first, but when he raised his lit wand, he saw them on a smooth rocky island in the middle of the lake.

"Be careful not to touch the lake," Dumbledore warned again as Harry got off the boat.

The island was about the size of Dumbledore's office: a large flat black slate, empty, save for that green light source. Looking closer now, the green light appears much brighter. Harry squinted at it, and at first he thought it was some kind of lamp, then he saw the green light coming from a pensieve-like stone basin with a base under it.

Dumbledore approached the stone basin, and Harry followed. They stood side by side, looking into the stone basin. A pot full of emerald green liquid, glowing with shimmering phosphorescence.

"What is this?" Harry asked softly.

"I'm not sure," said Dumbledore, "but it's something more worrying than blood and dead bodies."

Dumbledore shook the sleeves of the robe that covered the black hand up, and the tips of his charred fingers reached the surface.

"Sir, no, don't touch it—!"

"I can't touch it." Dumbledore smiled lightly, "See? I can't stretch my hand any further. Try it."

Harry stared at the stone basin, trying to touch the liquid. But he encountered an invisible resistance, and his hand couldn't get close to the liquid. No matter how hard he stretched his hand down, it seemed that his fingers touched the air that was extremely hard and indestructible.

"Harry, please get out of the way," said Dumbledore.

He raised his wand and made some complicated movements on the surface of the liquid, muttering something in his mouth. There was no movement, except that the light from the liquid seemed to be brighter. Harry watched Dumbledore silently, until Dumbledore retracted his wand before he felt he could speak again.

"Do you think the Horcrux is hidden here, sir?"

"Oh, yes." Dumbledore stared more intently at the stone basin. Harry saw his face reflected in the smooth green liquid. "But how do you get it? This liquid cannot be stretched in your hand, you can't separate it, scoop it up, or drain it, you can't make it disappear with a vanishing spell, deform it with magic, or otherwise. change its nature."

Dumbledore seemed to be absent-mindedly raising his wand again, twirling it in the air, and conjuring up a tall crystal glass in his hand.

"I can only conclude that this liquid needs to be drunk."

"What?" said Harry. "No!"

"I think so: only by drinking it, can I empty the stone basin and see what lies beneath."

"But what if—what if it poisoned you?"

"Oh, I'm sure it wouldn't do that," said Dumbledore lightly. "Voldemort wouldn't want to poison anyone who came to this island."

Harry couldn't believe it. Could it be that Dumbledore is so absurdly thinking about people's good?

"Sir," Harry said, trying to sound reasonable, "Sir, we're dealing with Voldemort—"

"I'm sorry, Harry. I should say this: he wouldn't want to kill anyone who came to this island right away." Dumbledore corrected himself, "He'll let them Live for a while, figure out how they can get through his defenses, and most importantly, get