Chapter 309: Where Did the Horcrux Go?
As Dumbledore's words ended, he picked up the silver cup nearby, which he had retrieved from his personal pouch, its sides etched with fine patterns. He first poured a little less than half a cup of the potion into the silver cup; the pale pink liquid gently swirled at the bottom. He then reached for the jade-green potion in the stone basin, his palm nearly touching the liquid surface.
Just then, Dylan reached out and placed a hand on Dumbledore's shoulder, while his other hand tightly grasped the wrist holding the cup, the force of his grip strong enough to make Dumbledore pause slightly.
"Professor, we still shouldn't be so reckless," Dylan smiled at Dumbledore. "We have no way of knowing what specific effects this potion will have. What if..."
"I mean, what if something happens to you after you drink it? With no one to lead Hogwarts, I imagine the entire wizarding world would descend into chaos."
Dumbledore glanced at Dylan. He stopped trying to dissuade me, why is he starting again? Looking at his tightly grasped wrist, the old Headmaster sighed softly, his gaze turning to the stone basin: "But this potion cannot wait. Look closely."
He gestured for Dylan to look at the edge of the stone basin. The jade-green liquid was indeed seeping outwards at an extremely slow rate, flowing along the basin's carvings. Once it reached the stone slab, it quickly evaporated, leaving behind faint green marks.
"It is automatically draining away. If we wait any longer, the Horcrux might vanish with the potion. Someone must drink it now."
"Actually, there is someone else we can try." Dylan didn't release his grip.
Dumbledore frowned, thinking Dylan was going to insist on taking the risk himself: "You? No, I've already said, your future..."
"It's not me, either." Dylan cut him off, his gaze shifting to the lake surface beside the island. The black water was like solidified ink, and even the green light could only illuminate its shallow surface layer. "I'm talking about the Inferi—aren't there many Inferi in the lake?"
"Inferi?" Dumbledore paused for a second, then shook his head, his finger lightly tapping the basin's edge, his tone reflective. "I'm afraid not, Dylan. Think carefully about the stages of the trap Voldemort designed."
"The rock wall required fresh blood to open—the goal was to weaken our bodies."
"The boat across the lake required a large consumption of magic to carry two people—the purpose was to deplete our magical reserves."
"In this final stage, the target must be the soul."
He paused, his gaze drifting to the faint black shadows beneath the water: "But the Inferi's souls are incomplete. Their souls are forcibly locked in their bodies by Dark Magic. They cannot naturally dissipate or perceive normally, acting only on instinct. I highly doubt this potion can be absorbed by them."
"If we merely pour the potion into their mouths, it would likely be no different than pouring it onto the ground. The potion would eventually flow back into the basin or dissipate with the Horcrux, rendering it useless."
"While avoiding unnecessary sacrifice is right, how can we be sure whether it will work or not without trying?" Dylan's tone was decisively resolute. He released Dumbledore's wrist, turning and walking toward the edge of the island.
Dumbledore was about to object, but he saw Dylan squat down, reaching out his right hand, gently touching the lake water with his fingertips. The water was icy cold and instantly made one shiver upon contact with the skin. But Dylan was long used to it.
"Splash—"
A violent commotion immediately arose beneath the water, as if something was swimming rapidly. Immediately after, several pale corpses climbed out of the lake. The one at the front was an old man, his face covered in wrinkles, his lips long turned purple. His tattered clothes clung to his body, covered in lake-bottom mud. Following him was a woman, her hair wetly plastered to her cheeks, her hands still held in a forward-clawing gesture.
Lastly, there was even a child, a small body curled up, their fingers tightly clutching a piece of broken wood—clearly having tried to hold onto driftwood to survive when drowning, only to become an Inferius.
Dylan looked at the Inferi and paused. The style of their clothes suggested they were Muggles. Clearly, they were local Muggle residents. After their death, not only were they denied rest, but they were also transformed into Inferi by Voldemort's Dark Magic, forever trapped in this lake, with even death becoming a form of torture.
Dylan's gaze swept over the Inferi that had just crawled ashore, finally settling on the one resembling an old man at the front. He raised his wand, and a faint Holy Light immediately wound around the tip, shining with a clear radiance in the darkness. The old Headmaster eyed it with interest.
The next moment, the light slowly left the wand, snaking toward the old man Inferius as if alive, tightly wrapping around its limbs and torso, firmly pinning it in place. The old man Inferius, restrained by the Holy Light, instantly lost the ability to struggle, remaining motionless on the shore.
Dylan manipulated the Holy Light, gently lifting the Inferius off the lake shore, suspending it in mid-air away from the water. Just then, a deep "gurgling" sound came from the bottom of the lake, like countless people agonizingly hissing underwater. Following this, the entire lake surface began to shake violently, and countless Inferi arms stretched out from the black water, twisting and clawing frantically.
Some Inferi had even lifted half their bodies out of the water, seemingly enraged by the capture of their companion, desperate to surge toward Dylan.
Dylan's eyes sharpened, and he let out a cold snort. He firmly waved the hand holding the wand downwards. Instantly, countless streams of Divine Radiance poured from the wand tip. These lights spread rapidly across the lake surface near the island like a surging tide. The pure white light masses violently intertwined and churned on the water. The previously calm black water now looked like a boiling nuclear explosion site.
Every stream of light that landed caused a ripple on the water. Any Inferius attempting to cross the light barrier and approach the island was instantly entangled upon contact with the Holy Light. Their pale bodies instantly blackened like charcoal under the impact of the radiance, covered in fine cracks.
Some Inferi even emitted a dull cracking sound as the first stream of light struck them, and when hit by subsequent streams, their entire bodies disintegrated, breaking into pieces that fell back into the lake bottom, remaining motionless.
"Professor, I've brought an Inferius over." Dylan maintained control of the Holy Light, ensuring the old man Inferius was firmly bound and unable to move, while also ensuring its body was not harmed, as he turned to Dumbledore. His gaze swept over the Inferi that had been destroyed on the lake: "I think when these Inferi are completely destroyed, their fragmented souls will find release. Perhaps they will even thank me."
With that, Dylan stepped forward, flicked his wand, and gently used his magic to pry open the old man Inferius's tightly shut mouth. He then looked at Dumbledore, signaling that the old man could begin feeding the potion. He was well aware that these Inferi had been handled by Voldemort with incredibly cruel Dark Magic.
They were killed, and their bodies were already decaying. However, fragments of their souls were forcibly locked inside their bodies by the Dark Magic, unable to leave. These Inferi could only watch helplessly as their bodies were transformed into monsters, unable to control any actions. Their residual consciousness, stripped of the body's protection, was constantly eroded and tormented by the cold atmosphere and Dark Magic energy in the lake.
For them, every second of existence was unbearable pain. But from the moment Voldemort transformed them into Inferi, their fate was sealed, leaving no room for choice.
He was very familiar with this process because he also controlled a group of Inferi. However, unlike these Inferi, the ones he nurtured were mostly cockroach Inferi or those of rats.
"You can begin." Dylan maintained the position of holding the Inferius's mouth open and nodded to Dumbledore.
Dumbledore immediately picked up the prepared silver cup and once again scooped some of the jade-green potion from the stone basin. He then carefully brought the cup to the old man Inferius's mouth and slowly poured the potion down, simultaneously murmuring a spell to ensure the potion smoothly entered the Inferius's body and wasn't choked out.
The jade-green potion slid down the Inferius's throat into its gut, eventually reaching its stomach. Almost the instant the potion entered its body, the old man Inferius's body began to tremble violently. Its limbs convulsed under the Holy Light's restraint, as if enduring extreme pain. Even its previously vacant eyeballs began to slightly rotate. It seemed the fragmented soul inside was undergoing a massive shock, potentially on the verge of collapse at any moment.
Dylan and Dumbledore watched the stone basin intently. They saw that the level of the jade-green potion in the basin did not increase at all; instead, it maintained its previous slow drainage rate. This clearly indicated that the Inferius's body was capable of absorbing the jade-green potion, and their attempt was not futile.
Seeing that the jade-green potion in the stone basin did not flow back, Dumbledore and Dylan both instinctively breathed a sigh of relief. If they could solve the problem with an Inferius, there was no need for a live person to risk enduring the potion's torment.
"Keep pouring." Dumbledore spoke first. He picked up the silver cup and scooped out more potion from the stone basin.
"Then go ahead, Professor." Dylan replied, still using magic to stabilize the old man Inferius's head, ensuring it wouldn't shake away from the cup.
Cup after cup of the jade-green potion was slowly poured into the Inferius's mouth. Each pour caused the Inferius's body to tremble violently, as if the fragmented soul inside was being repeatedly torn apart by the potion. Dylan watched the occasional flicker of pain in the Inferius's eyes and looked away.
Dumbledore also noticed, pausing his scooping motion several times, his eyes full of hesitation. For a moment, he even considered abandoning this method. However, when the two saw only the last cupful of potion remaining in the stone basin, they gritted their teeth and poured the last of the potion into the Inferius's mouth.
Immediately after the potion was poured, the outline of a metal object was revealed at the bottom of the stone basin. It was a locket, its surface engraved with intricate patterns, resting quietly at the very bottom of the basin.
Dumbledore's eyes instantly lit up. He immediately put down the cup and cautiously reached out, taking the locket from the stone basin. But as soon as he held the locket, his brow furrowed tightly. His fingers repeatedly rubbed the locket's surface. The joy on his face was gradually replaced by doubt.
"Wrong." Dumbledore's voice held a note of disappointment. He looked up at Dylan: "I don't feel any aura of Dark Magic on this, let alone the unique fluctuation of a Horcrux. I'm afraid... we've been tricked by Voldemort again."
Dylan silently raised his wand. An orange-red flame ignited at the tip. The flame slowly enveloped the old man Inferius. As the flames burned, the Inferius's body gradually turned to ash. A faint, translucent wisp of soul floated out from the ashes. A subtle smile actually appeared on the soul's face before it gradually dissipated into the air, finally finding release.
Dylan watched the direction the soul disappeared, paused for a few seconds, then turned to Dumbledore: "Even if it's not the Horcrux, let's open it first."
"Maybe there's a clue hidden inside. Voldemort wouldn't go to so much trouble to set up all these traps just to make us run an errand."
Dumbledore didn't act immediately. Holding the locket, he first scanned it twice with his wand, then leaned in to smell it, repeatedly confirming there were no hidden spells or dangerous mechanisms. Still cautious, he instructed Dylan.
"Step back a few paces, stay further away."
With that, he raised the Elder Wand and used the tip to gently pry open the locket's clasp, while softly casting the Shield Charm, preparing for any sudden event. But the anticipated danger didn't appear. The locket's clasp was smoothly opened. It was empty inside, with only a neatly folded piece of paper lying at the bottom. This was indeed just an ordinary locket, with no special properties.
Dumbledore took out the paper and slowly unfolded it. A few lines were written on the paper in somewhat hurried ink:
"To the Dark Lord:
When you read these words, I will be long gone. But I must let you know that I discovered your secret—the secret of you splitting your soul and making Horcruxes. I have stolen the true Horcrux and will find a way to destroy it as soon as possible. I willingly face death for a single purpose. I hope that when you meet your true opponent in the future, you will be utterly destroyed and never again pose a threat to the world."
Dumbledore handed the note to Dylan, allowing him to read it carefully. Then he sighed softly, his voice full of helplessness: "It seems our trip was in vain after all. More importantly, we now have no way of knowing whether this person truly succeeded in destroying the real Horcrux..."
Dylan took the note, quickly scanned it, and said, "From the tone, this person addresses Voldemort as the Dark Lord, so they are very likely a Death Eater."
"And to know this secret of Voldemort's, they must have been deeply trusted by him at one point. It's highly probable that they are a member of a deep-rooted Pure-blood family."
...................
AN: For early access to advanced 80 chapters on P-a-treon:
Join now: P-a-treon/Chaos_God
(Just remove the- hyphen to access normally)
Thank You so much For your Support and for Reading!