Harry Potter: Returning from Hogwarts Legacy-Chapter 290

When Harry Potter snapped out of the dizzying whirl of Apparition, he found himself standing on a jagged outcrop of rocks.

The roar of crashing waves filled his ears, and the briny tang of seawater clung to his nostrils. Looking up, he saw a vibrant sunrise hanging on the horizon, slowly rising above the sea.

"It’s a bit cold," Sirius Black muttered, pulling his cloak tighter around him. After all, it was winter. Even with the warming influence of the North Atlantic Current keeping the sea from freezing, the air remained bitterly chilly.

Harry turned to survey his surroundings. Behind him loomed a towering, sheer cliff, its outline faint in the darkness.

The massive rocks around them, including the one beneath their feet, looked as though they had tumbled down from the cliff above.

The area was utterly desolate—no grass, no trees, not even a grain of sand.

"I’d say he was a clever one," Sirius remarked again. "Look at this place. I doubt even seagulls or albatrosses would come here to nest, let alone any people."

"If I were Voldemort," Dumbledore mused, "I might have made the same choice."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "That said, I’ve only heard fragments of rumors about this cave. What lies inside, we’ll need to explore for ourselves."

"About what?" Sirius asked, curiosity piqued.

It wasn’t just Sirius; even Veratia Grindelwald turned to Dumbledore with an intrigued expression.

Who didn’t love a bit of gossip?

"Just rumors, not necessarily true," Dumbledore said, scanning their surroundings. "I heard from someone that there’s a valley-like area halfway up the cliff behind us. I believe that’s where Tom took those orphans under the pretense of ’smelling the sea air’ and ’watching the waves.’ No, it had to be there. Apart from the rarest and most skilled mountaineers, no Muggle could reach these rocks."

"They couldn’t come by boat either—the waters around here are too treacherous for them," Dumbledore continued. "I suspect Tom used a rope to climb down, though magic would have been easier. He brought two children with him, perhaps just to revel in their fear."

"When did this happen?" Veratia asked, frowning. "Was it after he came of age?"

"No, to be precise..." Dumbledore’s brow furrowed, and he let out a sigh. "It was before he even started at Hogwarts... when he was just over ten years old."

At Dumbledore’s answer, Veratia let out an involuntary gasp.

She could scarcely believe that Tom had been so malevolent at such a young age.

"It seems he truly was born wicked," Veratia said, looking at Dumbledore with confusion. "I still don’t understand why you, Headmaster, thought you could redeem him. You must have known that Voldemort was conceived under a love potion, incapable of understanding love. And let’s not forget, his evil nature was evident even as a child. What we should have done was snuff him out in his cradle."

"Everyone deserves a chance at redemption, Miss Grindelwald," Dumbledore replied, steadfast in his belief. "Even someone like him."

"Is that so?" Veratia said with a cold laugh. "How many have suffered because of your saintly ideals? How many families were torn apart because of your leniency? I truly can’t comprehend it. If it were up to me, he wouldn’t have made it out of that orphanage before I drowned him in this very sea with a single spell."

To everyone’s surprise, applause broke out nearby. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Sirius regarded Veratia, this young woman who was technically his senior by generations, with newfound respect. Her ruthless decisiveness... well, it made her quite the fitting match for Harry.

"I must admit, you’re right, Miss Grindelwald," Sirius said, nodding approvingly. "Drowning him in this sea would’ve been the kindest mercy we could’ve shown him!"

Dumbledore chose to ignore their exchange. This debate could go on endlessly, and he was weary of it.

He felt exhausted and had no desire to convince anyone further.

Tired. Done. Let it all burn.

Perhaps they were right after all.

"Let’s move," Dumbledore said, redirecting the conversation. "This isn’t their final destination. That cave up ahead is one Tom discovered when he was eleven. When he decided to hide a Horcrux, this was likely the first place that came to mind."

He gestured for them to follow along a precarious, slanting path of shallow stone hollows carved into the rocks, leading down toward massive boulders half-submerged in the water, closer to the cliff.

The path was slick. The stones, perpetually soaked by seawater, were coated in a slimy, slippery film. Touching them with a hand was bad enough; stepping on them with boots was worse.

Sirius cast an Anti-Slip Charm to prevent anyone from sliding into the water.

Waves crashed against the rocks beneath their feet, and Harry could feel fine, icy mist spraying his face.

The area was dim, likely due to the rocks blocking the light.

"Lumos!" Dumbledore intoned, and his wand flared with light, casting countless shimmering reflections across the wet rock walls.

"See that?" Dumbledore pointed ahead. "There’s a set of steps. If we cross them, we’ll reach the cave’s entrance... but there’s one small issue. Do you mind getting a bit wet?"

"Wet?" Harry asked, frowning, unsure of what Dumbledore meant.

Why would they need to get wet?

"Oh, the entrance to the cave is submerged in seawater," Dumbledore said casually, as if it weren’t him who’d have to swim. "To get through, we’ll need to dive."

"I mind," Veratia said before Harry could respond. "But I have a better idea—one that doesn’t involve us turning into merpeople."

With that, she drew her wand and looked at Harry.

"Harry, do you remember the spell I taught you?"

"What spell?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"Fifth year, second term," Veratia prompted, guiding his memory. "When we went to rescue Fiona..."

Harry’s eyes lit up with recognition. That time, the poachers’ camp had been at the bottom of a lake. Veratia had taught him a spell to drain the entire lake, wiping out the poachers without breaking a sweat.

He remembered clearly the look of sheer terror on the poacher leader’s face when they strolled into their hideout, perfectly dry.

With that memory in mind, Harry drew his wand.

Holly wood, phoenix feather core.

The ruby at its tip glowed with an eerie light.

"Together," Veratia said, standing beside Harry. They aimed their wands at the water in the cave’s entrance.

Ripples formed at the mouth of the cave, and then a massive column of water surged upward, spiraling into the sky before crashing into the sea nearby.

The water dragon grew fiercer, showing no signs of stopping.

"It seems Voldemort put some protections on this place," Sirius observed. "Maybe he’s got a twisted sense of humor, wanting us to swim through rather than use magic..."

As he spoke, the water spout’s diameter began to shrink.

It grew thinner and thinner until, at last, it was reduced to a mere trickle.

"Well, I could be wrong," Sirius admitted quickly. He wasn’t one to cling to a wrong idea, especially not in this case.

"Not bad," Harry said with a grin. No matter what magical protections were in place, a powerful enough spell could brute-force through them.

As the saying went: strength could overcome any obstacle.

"Impressive," Sirius said, giving Harry and Veratia a genuine thumbs-up.

He didn’t know about Harry’s absorption of the Philosopher’s Stone, but he could sense the immense magical power radiating from his godson’s spell.

Even James, let alone their entire Gryffindor graduating class, couldn’t have matched a fraction of Harry’s magical strength.

"Let’s keep going," Dumbledore said to the group.

They descended along the cave’s walls, the darkness illuminated only by the light from Dumbledore’s wand, which was enough to make out the surrounding stone.

Climbing upward, they finally reached the true entrance to the cave.

Stepping onto the stone platform, Dumbledore raised his wand, carefully inspecting the walls and ceiling.

"This must be an antechamber," he said softly. "We need to go deeper... Now we’re facing obstacles set by Voldemort himself, not just natural ones."

"So the water back there—wasn’t that Voldemort’s doing?" Sirius asked, frowning.

"Perhaps, perhaps not," Dumbledore replied cryptically, employing his signature vagueness.

He approached the cave wall, gently brushing his hand along the stone, muttering strange words no one else could understand.

Dumbledore circled the wall twice, touching the rocks as much as possible, occasionally pausing to trace a specific spot with his fingers. At last, he stopped.

He pressed his palm flat against the wall and turned to Harry and the others. "Here. The entrance is hidden by Voldemort’s magic."

With that, he stepped back and pointed his wand at the stone.

Moments later, a glowing arc appeared, radiant and dazzling, as if a powerful light source lay beyond the seam.

"Looks like you did it, Professor," Sirius said with a grin.

"Not quite," Dumbledore replied. He drew a small silver knife from his pocket and, with a swift motion, sliced his palm. Blood welled up from the wound.

He pressed his bleeding hand against the wall. The glowing seam trembled violently, and moments later, an entrance wide enough for two to pass side by side appeared.

"As I suspected, a price must be paid to pass through," Dumbledore said.

He withdrew his hand and tapped the wound with his wand.

Miraculously, the cut began to heal at an astonishing speed.

"There might be a better way, Dumbledore," Veratia said, frowning. "I can sense that offering your blood weakened you slightly... I’d appreciate it if you’d warn us before doing something like that. After all, you’re not just Hogwarts’ Headmaster—you’re also, in a way, my junior."

"I understand, Miss Grindelwald," Dumbledore said, unbothered and even slightly amused by her words. "But sometimes, such measures are unavoidable."

"How do you know unless you try?" Veratia replied softly.

Dumbledore nodded at her, then glanced at the wall and the now-open door. "Let’s proceed. If my guess is correct, this is where Voldemort intended to hide Slytherin’s locket... and where Regulus met his end."

Sirius’s throat tightened. Though answers were near, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of nervous tension.

It was understandable. Anyone facing the prospect of seeing a loved one’s body would feel the same.

The passage started narrow, barely wide enough for two to walk side by side, but after a few steps, it opened into a vast cavern. At its end, they found themselves standing on the shore of an immense black lake, so large they couldn’t make out the opposite bank.

The cavern’s ceiling stretched out of sight, and a faint, misty green glow shimmered in the distance, reflecting off the perfectly still lake surface, as though emanating from its center.

The green light, along with the glow from their wands, pierced the velvety darkness around them, though the wandlight didn’t reach far.

For some reason, the darkness here felt heavier, denser, almost suffocating.

"This is where the Horcrux is hidden?" Sirius asked cautiously. "It doesn’t exactly feel welcoming, that’s for sure."

"I can’t imagine an eleven-year-old Voldemort daring to come here," Harry said, looking around. "Let alone planning to harm two of his fellow orphans with such premeditation... Veratia’s right. Some people are just born evil, and nothing can change that."

As he spoke, the distant green glow suddenly flared, casting an eerie, sickly green hue across the lake’s surface.

"That island in the lake’s center is where Voldemort hid the false Horcrux," Dumbledore said, pointing to the small island. "And he concealed Inferi at the bottom of this lake. I don’t know how to draw them out, but I do know how to retrieve the Horcrux."

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