Chapter 204: Traces of Magic

"Kreacher, please let me hold your right hand. After I count to three, take us with the apparition to the cave." Dumbledore looked around, murmuring, "Now put your hand on my arm, all four of you. There's no need to hold on too tightly, I'm just guiding you."

There was a strange scene in the room. Sirius, Ivan, Harry and Hermione put their hands on Dumbledore's arms. On top of that, Dumbledore held Kreacher's right hand.

"One... Two... Three...," Dumbledore's voice just fell, and Ivan felt like he was spinning.

He had the same feeling he had when he traveled back in time to Salazar Slytherin's room.

Ivan couldn't breathe, he felt as if he had been forced through a very tight rubber tube, every part of him was being compressed without resistance.

And then, just when he thought he must be suffocating, the invisible tube burst open, and he was standing in the cold outside, breathing fresh, salty air.

Ivan could smell the salt and hear the waves. He looked up, and found himself standing on a high outcropping of dark rock, with the waves rolling and foaming beneath him

A light, cool breeze ruffled his hair. In the distant sky, the winter sun, with its dim, warm temperatures, was shining down on him, making him feel comfortable all over his body.

Then he turned his head and looked back. An imposing cliff was behind them.

A few large chunks of rock, like the one at their feet, seemed to have broken off the cliff face at some point in the past.

It was a bleak, stark sight, sea and rock with no tree or grass or sand to relieve it.

"Hermione, are you all right?" Ivan said with concern, propping Hermione up standing beside him. She had just appeared for the first time in her life.

"I'm fine, Ivan, did we just experience the apparition?" Hermione rubbed her ear and said, "Well, it's like suddenly being put into a tube and forced to compress into a liquid..."

"The sensation takes a little getting used to. When you get older, you can pass the Apparition Licensing Exam." Dumbledore said slowly, "We should be in Destiny, what do you think of this place?"

He asked, looking carefully at the cliff.

It looked as if he was asking their opinion on whether it was a good place for a picnic.

"If it were summer, it would be a good place for a picnic." Harry shook his head, his face mixed with emotions of tension, excitement, anxiety, etc.

Then he noticed Sirius, standing next to him, not looking so good.

"How are you feeling, Sirius?" asked Harry hurriedly. "You look a bit..."

"Pretty bad, huh?" Sirius's pale face was very ugly. He said disgustedly. "I just remembered some bad things. Azkaban has a cliff too. It was the only view you could see from the narrow window of my room."

"Azkaban!" was the first time Ivan heard Sirius mention the place.

"That's right, it was almost exactly the same, the dark sea and the black rocks are infinitely desolate, and no one would go there, except the Dementors who were ready to throw the dead from there..." said Sirius.

"Oh, Sirius!" After hearing that, Ivan, Harry and Hermione were worried. They went up to hug him.

"I'm fine, it's all over!" Sirius' fragile side went back into hiding. He was immediately back to normal. He said aloud, "Kreacher, is this where my brother died back then? where is the cave?"

"On the cliff over there, young master!" Kreacher pointed toward the steep cliff, and they hurriedly looked that way, but saw nothing.

"I don't see anything, why don't you take us straight to the cave?" asked Harry.

"Kreacher can get in, but he can't get you in, there's magic in there to stop Kreacher from doing that!" Kreacher looked anxiously and said, "Master Regulus left here."

"Yes, it is Tom Riddle's magic that prevents others from entering the cave through Apparition, but he neglected house elf magic, which is kind of his style. He always forgot about those I consider lesser than him." Dumbledore said briefly, and asked again, "How do you feel, Ivan?"

"I agree with Harry, this is a good place to camp," Ivan said.

"It's really a good idea; it gives me a lot of inspiration, very magnificent!" Dumbledore pondered for a moment, and quietly said, "If I remember correctly, there should be a village nearby. In the summer, they usually bring the orphans here to get some sea air and watch the waves."

Harry and Hermione looked puzzled at Dumbledore. Only Ivan knew what he was talking about.

"Riddle had certainly been here before he went to Hogwarts," Dumbledore looked carefully at the bare cliffs. "It is perfect that no Muggle can reach this rock unless they are good mountaineers, and that ships cannot approach the cliffs, as the waters around them are too dangerous. I imagine Riddle went down; magic would have served better than ropes. And he brought other small children with him, probably for the pleasure of terrifying them."

They walked a few steps forward to the very edge of the rock.

Ivan saw a series of jagged niches that made footholds leading to rocks that lay half-submerged in the water and closer to the cliff.

It was a treacherous descent. The lower rocks were slippery with seawater. Ivan could feel patches of cold salt spray hitting his face.

"Where's the cave?" Sirius asked Kreacher again.

"It must be right here, we must be close, we can...," Kreacher looked anxiously at them, muttering the entrance to the cave, but Ivan saw nothing but the black rock and the raging waves.

"This way, I already sense their position." Dumbledore said suddenly.

He pulled out his wand. "Lumos," he said, as he reached the rock closest to the cliff wall.

The next second, a ball of red light flew out from the end of his wand onto the dark surface of the water a few feet below where he was crouched; the black rock wall beside him was also illuminated.

"See?" said Dumbledore quietly, holding his wand a little higher to control the light.

Below the surface of the water, Ivan and Harry saw a fissure in the cliff where the dark water swirled.

It was well hidden behind the large rock, and with the reflection of the sea. If not for Dumbledore's guidance, it would have been impossible to notice.

"Professor, have you been here before?" Harry wiped his eyes and asked in surprise.

"It's my first time, like you," Dumbledore stood up.

"But how did you see the fissure?" asked Harry.

"Don't look at it with your eyes, Harry!" whispered Dumbledore. "With the mind, magic will always leave a trace, sometimes very obvious, I could feel the magic of the fissure, it was more obvious than candlelight in the dark."