“This is the place.” Harry and Dumbledore walked through the cave's opening and out of the storm into what seemed to be just a damp crevice in the cliff face. The ceiling dripped and there were more puddles on the floor than not. Dumbledore made a noise of agreement to himself and then spoke, “This place has known magic.” They stood in the cave facing a wall. Harry could not see where to go next, nor where they necessarily were going, but he trusted Dumbledore.
His socks and shoes were still positively soaking wet from the thrashing waves just outside the mouth of the cave. With every step he took, water sloshed in his trainers violently, so much so that if not for the raging storm outside, he was positive both he and Dumbledore would be able to hear it. He tried to shake some of the water out of his shoes discreetly but to no avail.
Harry looked up at the Headmaster and saw that twinkle in his eye and crinkles around them, but said nothing. Dumbledore studied the wall for a moment, then two. Harry looked with him, trying to find something in which he had no idea what he was looking for.
It was then that suddenly Dumbledore pulled out a muggle pocket knife and held it up to look at. Harry was a bit startled by the sudden movement and brandishing of a weapon he knew all too well from Dudley’s friends chasing him around with one in his adolescence.
Dumbledore then brought the knife to the palm of his hand and sliced into it. Harry’s eyes widened and he tried to interrupt but was immediately cut off by him.
“In order to gain passage, payment must be made,” Dumbledore looked down at his hand and made sure the cut was deep enough to draw sufficient blood. “Payment intended to weaken any intruder.”
Harry furrowed his eyebrows and stuttered for a moment, horrified that the headmaster had no reaction whatsoever to what he was doing. Harry then insisted, “You should have let me, sir…” Dumbledore without missing a beat cut him off once more,
“Oh, no Harry. Your blood is much more precious than mine.” He didn’t quite smile, but the sides of his lips turned up. He looked over to the wall that they had been staring at and dragged his now bloodied hand across it, making the stone begin to rattle and crumble, revealing an even darker entrance to a full-blown cavern. Harry had stepped back on instinct and peered in silently.
“Voldemort would not make it easy to discover his hiding place,” Dumbledore began as he carefully led the way down the crystal steps, wand casting light just as Harry’s. “He would put certain defences in position.” They approached a body of water in which Harry could barely see the beginning, let alone where it ended.
“Careful,” Dumbledore had put his hand out, suddenly warning Harry. He then brandished his wand and a jet of light soared out, billowing into the darkness. For a moment, Harry wondered if it would ever reach anywhere and just sizzle out with no destination. It was then that it soared down and lit up the whole cavern with enough light to see a small island a way across the water. Harry squinted a bit at the sudden adjustment in light.
“Now, how do we get across…” Dumbledore pondered seemingly just to himself, seeing as Harry clearly didn’t know the answer. He was really ill-informed on this whole situation. He can’t really blame the old headmaster, though. Harry had been the one to ask him to come along. Okay, it was more begging and grovelling, but the same thing, right?
Dumbledore stuck out his hand as if he was reaching for the water and nothing happened for a moment. Harry just stood in silence, watching and listening for any indication of something, anything. Then it came.
First, it was a low rumbling noise that could be mistaken for one’s own imagination, then it was obvious it was not. The water started to ripple and churn, sloshing slightly until suddenly a chain launched out of the water and Dumbledore caught it and handed it to him,
“Harry, if you will?” Dumbledore gestured for him to pull the chain, so he did. The chain was clearly holding something heavy and it made him muster up a whole lot of effort to bring towards him. The water was murky and he couldn’t see even the shallow area, even if there was one. He had eventually pulled the object to shore, and surprise surprise, it was a boat with a skull on the front. Riddle was one of the most melodramatic edgy people he had ever had the displeasure of meeting, right next to Malfoy and Snape. Dumbledore gestured for Harry to get in first and he hesitated, then tentatively stepped his trainer in, trying to rock the boat the least amount possible. Dying by drowning before he even left the shore would be a new low, even for him. He stepped in fully and stuck his arms out to keep his balance before settling down on one end of the little boat. Before he could even offer to help the headmaster into the boat, he stepped in gracefully and sat down like it was something he did every day. Hell, given the fact that he hadn't bloody seen the man much since fourth year, he very well could have.
As soon as they were both settled in, the boat moved on its own to its destination. Harry had really no light conversations to make with the old headmaster. He couldn’t just ask ‘How has your year been? Pray to tell, has the cursed ring you’ve been wearing that blackened and shrivelled up part of your hand has been quite a joy.’ Really good conversation. He instead opted to stare anywhere but Dumbledore, which left the water, more water, and even more water.
Harry had a really bad feeling about this cave. This was a given, granted they were in a known trap of Voldemort, trying to steal a part of his soul, but it still nagged at him. There was something off, something unexpected.
Just then, a movement deep in the waters caught Harry’s attention and he searched for it once more, trying to figure out what made the sight. He looked attentively at the waters and saw nothing more as if it was a figment of his imagination. He tried to shake it off. Maybe there were just some deeper diving fish in these waters. Nothing more. Right?
He had no time to linger on that thought because they had arrived at the small island. Harry clambered out and tried to offer a hand to Dumbledore who then refused it and exited the boat as distinguished and gracefully as he had entered it.
Harry sighed and followed Dumbledore only to look back and see the boat disappearing beneath the water. There goes our exit, he thinks sullenly. He wastes no time turning back around and catching up to Dumbledore to reach the top of the mountain of crystals. Diamonds? Quartz? He wasn’t quite sure what they actually were, but no use dwelling on the fact (he hoped.) Before they laid a basin filled with a dark, almost black liquid, aside from it a shell presumably for drinking the mysterious liquid.
“Do you think the Horcrux is in there, sir?” Harry inquired to his headmaster, who now is looking in the basin and examining it closely. Harry hoped he would say ‘No, it’s just over there under that particularly large crystal, why don’t you grab it for me and we head out?’ or simply just grab it out of the liquid and they leave. Harry’s hopes seldom came true.
“Yes.”
Dumbledore responded to his question concisely, leaving no room for argument nor any signs of wanting to elaborate. He brought his hand, all blackened over the bowl and lightly felt the liquid– presumably a potion at this point, right?
Dumbledore then stuck his hand all the way in, and just as fast retracted it and looked towards the shell. For a moment he stared at it then looked up and Harry with a serious look in his eyes, no longer twinking with humour.
“It has to be drunk. All of it. It has to be drunk” Dumbledore looked a bit stunned himself, possibly the most Harry had ever seen the man, granted that wasn’t saying much given the man seemed to know everything.
“Do you remember the conditions in which I brought you with me? This potion might paralyze me. Might make me forget why I’m here,” He looked at Harry with a funny look in his eyes that made him feel that funny, awful, dreadful feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Might cause me so much pain that I beg for relief. You are not to indulge these requests. It is your job, Harry, to make sure I keep drinking this potion, even if you have to force it down my throat. Understood?”
“Why can’t I drink it, sir?”
“Because I am much older. Much cleverer. And much less valuable.” Dumbledore then reached for the shell and filled it with the potion.
“You’re in good health, Harry.” He brought it to his lips and drank it.
His body started shaking and trembling, he breathed heavily and fell to the ground, groaning. Harry tried once, then twice more to call out to him and ground him, but to no avail.
“Professor! Can you hear me? Professor?”
Harry then decisively grabbed the shell and ran up to fill it up with potion. His hands shook while shovelling up the dangerous liquid, but he managed not to spill it as he ran down and gave it to Dumbledore.
He ran up once more and filled it again, ran down, and gave it to his professor, and he refused it quietly, “No, no…” He tried to push Harry away, but he wouldn’t budge.
“You have to keep drinking like you said, remember?” He then gave it to the headmaster, less offering and more forcing. He couldn’t let him down. He promised.
Time and time again he went back and forth, filling, running, putting it down Dumbledore’s throat, then running again. He hated the agony it caused the professor and every time he thought it would be the last, he came back up to find there was more. He wasn’t sure if this was part of the curse or just his imagination.
He brought what he was sure was the last bit of potion to Dumbledore and tried to get him to drink it for him to grab his shoulder and shout at him to stop.
“Stop!”
“It will stop, professor, it will stop, but only– only if you keep drinking!”
“Don’t make me do it!”
Harry forced it down his throat and Dumbledore’s face contorted in agony and anger.
“Kill me!”
He ran back up to the basin, grabbed the locket, and rubbed the pad of his thumb over it. He sprinted back down to the Headmaster to show him only for him to be placid once more. He paused then smacked his lips.
“Harry. Water.”
Harry, frozen in the moment, stared at him, then Dumbledore repeated himself, louder this time.
“Water.”
Harry echoed his command, then went up to get the shell from the basin. He held it in his hands and thought for a moment, then grabbed his wand.
“Aguamenti”
He filled the basin full of water and then smiled. He brought the shell down into the water to get some for the professor, but none came with the shell. He tried once more, then again, and again.
He looked at the basin for a moment, petrified.
This wasn’t done.
He walked down cautiously to the edge of the lake and looked at it for a moment. He still had that gnawing feeling in his gut, but it did not ease after the conclusion of the potion. He timidly brought the shell down to the water and hesitated right before dipping, before he heard Dumbledore ask for more water in the background, then he dipped the shell in.
Immediately, his hand was grabbed aggressively and Harry shrieked. The figure fought with him, trying to drag him under, or rather trying to bring itself above.
Harry scrambled back, trying to shake the creature off of him only to bring it onto land with him.
Harry scrambled back once more, as far as he could before his back hit a large crystal.
The figure used its cold hands to wipe its hair back, then it looked up.
It looked up and smiled at him.
“Oh, thank Merlin, Jamie! You saved me… I thought– I thought I was gone for good!” The figure looked at him sweetly with those oddly familiar eyes. It was like déjà vu, only he was pretty sure he didn't know this… man? Thing? Creature? Just because it looked human, didn’t mean it was. Why did it think his name was Jamie? Who was this Jamie, did he look like him?
Harry’s mind raced a mile a minute thinking of all these questions he had, all the while the man stared at him, smile slowly turning into a quizzical frown.
“Jamie? What’s gotten into you?” He stood up and walked closer to Harry.
Harry looked around and shouted, “Professor, come here, please!”
Harry stood up quickly and his eyes bolted between the incoming headmaster and the water man. He did not like… something about this boy. This man. He wasn’t sure, to be honest.
Dumbledore walked over and locked eyes with the water boy. He frowned and the boy sighed,
“Professor Dumbledore, I’m glad you’re here too. Jamie is acting a bit… weird. Is he okay?” He gestures to Harry accordingly.
Dumbledore paused, then replied, “Mr. Black, I believe you are mistaken.”
The boy’s– Mr. Black?!– face falters and his eyes widen a bit. What do you mean? Is this not James? I think I would know perfectly well if he had a brother or lookalike cousin.”
Something clicked in Harry’s brain.
“Jamie. James. James, Potter?” Harry concluded out loud.
Black looked at him with a lit-up face, “Yeah! James! Are you his long-lost cousin, possibly? Has anyone told you you look just like him?”
Harry paused grimly.
“James Potter was my father. He died fifteen years ago.”
Black stared at him.
“What?”
Harry just stared back.
Black laughed awkwardly.
“Funny joke, you got me!”
Harry stared at him like he was crazy. Where has he been? Obviously, he’s been underwater, but it couldn’t have been that long. He was too young to have known Harry’s father. Black looked no older than eighteen.
“Who are you?” Harry asked the boy.
Black frowned, “Regulus Black.”
Harry frowned back.
“I thought that Sirius Black was one of the last Blacks.”
“You know Sirius? He’s my older brother!” Regulus smiled, then grimaced.
“I mean, he was.”
“What do you mean, he was?” Harry inquired.
Regulus stared at him for a moment, “Mother and Father disowned him not many years ago. On his seventeenth birthday.”
Harry stared at him in horror. And fear.
“What do you mean, not long ago? Sirius hasn’t been seventeen for a long time.”
Regulus huffed, “Okay. Maybe you think two or three years is a long time, but it really isn’t in the long scheme of things, so quit it.”
Harry was stunned. This boy, allegedly Sirius’ younger brother, thought Sirius was what, nineteen? Twenty? He paused, then thought.
“Say, Regulus, remind me what year is it?”
“Um, last I checked it was 1979. Why do you ask?”
Harry whipped his head to look at the silent and observing Dumbledore so fast he might have gotten whiplash. Or shaken baby syndrome. With his luck, he’d still manage to get it.
Dumbledore looked at him with knowing and foreboding eyes.
This was not what he signed up for when he came here.
Regulus huffed, “You didn’t answer my question. You would think that this late in the year you wouldn’t forget the date. Anyway, how did you find me? Did Kreature tell you?”
Harry’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. This was the Master Regulus That Kreature mumbled on and on about under his breath.
“What the fuck.”
Dumbledore looked to Harry and then to Regulus, “I believe this can be discussed after our return, don’t you agree?”
The boys looked at him and nodded in unison. Neither particularly wanted to be in this cave in the first place.
●∘◦❀◦∘●
With a loud crack, the three of them were back in the astronomy tower. Harry had Dumbelore sit down while he took Regulus to find Snape, as urged by the headmaster. He had wanted to bring him to the infirmary, but Dumbledore had insisted for him to leave him there and trust him.
●∘◦❀◦∘●
Okay, Harry hadn’t listened to Dumbledore. He had taken himself and Regulus into the chamber below the tower to observe. He was suspicious and didn’t want to leave Dumbledore alone in this state. Even Regulus who had most likely gathered some tidbits himself agreed with Harry. So they sat and looked up.
Out of anyone, who should show up for Dumbledore but Malfoy. He brandished his hand toward the headmaster menacingly. It took all of Harry’s might not to bound up the steps and tackle him. Regulus looked up at Malfoy and back at Harry, confused. Harry did not provide context.
“Good evening Draco.” Dumbledore seemed to be expecting him. “What brings you here on this fine spring evening?”
“Who else is here,” Malfoy demanded “I heard you talking!”
“I often talk aloud to myself, I find it… extraordinarily useful.”
Harry tried to peer through the cracks to see just what in bloody hell was going on. What was Malfoy doing here on the astronomy tower at this hour? Why was he pointing his wand at Dumbledore?
“Have you been whispering to yourself, Draco?” Dumbledore asked thoughtfully.
“Draco, you are no assassin.”
Malfoy’s voice cracks, “How do you know what I am? I’ve done things that would shock you!”
“Like cursing Katie Bell and hoping in return she’d bear a cursed necklace to me? Like replacing a bottle of mead with one laced with poison? Forgive me, Draco, but these actions have been so weak that your heart couldn't really have been in them.”
“Trust me! I was chosen!” Malfoy pulled up his sleeve to show what only Harry could assume was the thing he was presuming all year; the Dark Mark.
“I shall make it easier for you–”
“Expelliarmus!”
Draco disarmed Dumbledore, his wand flying to the opposite end of the tower with a clatter. Harry watched the exchange in muted horror. He could do nothing for what was to come. Malfoy wouldn't really do it, right?
Harry could see through the cracks Malfoy’s pained expression. Harry had known immediately at the start of the year that something had been up and he had concluded the Mark. Ron and Hermione deemed him mental, of course, but it was obvious from the start, wasn’t it? He didn’t bother Harry. He kept to himself. Mysterious (nearly) lethal events kept popping up time and time again. Knowing what he did now, it all pointed to Malfoy. And he didn’t seem over the moon to do it. Malfoy’s lip trembled and he whipped his head around to the sound of the door slamming open. Harry tried to peer and see who it was but couldn’t see.
“There are others.” Dumbledore looked at Malfoy almost blankly. “How?”
“The vanishing cabinet in the room of requirement.” Malfoy sucked in air through his teeth, “I’ve been mending it.”
“Yes, It has a sister… a twin.”
“Borgin & Burkes. They form a passage.”
“Ingenious,” Malfoy looked at Dumbledore in fear. “Draco, years ago I knew a boy who made all the wrong choices. Please let me help you…”
“I don’t want your help! Don’t you understand? I have to do this. I have to kill you… or he’s gonna kill me…”
Footsteps echoed around the room, “Look what we have here…” Bellatrix Lestrange. “Well done, Draco…” She clicked her tongue.
They engaged in conversation far too light for the situation, Dumbledore and Lestrange. Harry paced around the chamber and gestured for the awestruck Regulus to stay put.
“Do it!” Lestrange urged.
“He can’t do it, just like his father… let me finish him in my own way!” Greyback hissed.
“No!” Lestrange snapped. “The Dark Lord has declared the boy to do it…”
Harry felt a prickling in his neck and turned around to see Snape pointing his wand at him and looking between the two boys in the chamber, saying nothing.
“This is your moment, do it!”
Snape slowly brought a finger to his mouth in a ‘shh’ movement.
“Go on Draco, Now!”
“No.” Snape appeared on the top floor behind Malfoy and Harry caught a glimpse of his face relaxing as he whips around.
Snape slowly paced around the room and eyed Dumbledore. There was silence, and then,
“Avada Kedavra.”
Dumbledore fell off the tower and Harry suppressed a scream. How could Snape betray Dumbledore? He had trusted him!
Screams of laughter filled the room.
It blurred together.
✥ Regulus ✥
He was sitting on the bed of his late brother with his head in his hands. It was hard to think of him as such. It seemed everyone was dead, now.
James.
Dumbledore.
Sirius.
All gone. He was alone. He had Kreature, but he had become nearly unconsolable in his absence. Regulus didn’t know what to do with himself. He still couldn’t make himself face James’ son. He really couldn’t. All he could see was James.