Chapter 206: The Great Black Lake

"Tell me, Kreacher," Sirius clenched his fist and growled loudly. "How do I get through here?"

"I need blood, young Master," Kreacher pointed to a large, smooth-surfaced rock in front of Dumbledore and said in a sobbing, broken voice, "Kreacher saw the Dark Lord spread the blood on the rock, and Master Regulus did the same at the time. He cut his arm, and then.... "

Sirius stared for a moment, and didn't seem to understand exactly what Kreacher meant.

Behind him, Harry and Hermione's facial expressions were full of unease, staring at the rock in horror, as if something was going to crawl out of it. They heard Kreacher mention blood and couldn't help the many horrible things that came to their minds.

Unlike them, Ivan stepped forward.

He stood behind Dumbledore and carefully watched the rock Kreacher pointed out.

Indeed, from the moment he entered the cave, he sensed that there was a difference in that place, although the rock looked no different from the surrounding rock wall.

However, Ivan could sense that something was wrong. This feeling was ethereal. He didn't know how to describe it, not in the sense of sight or touch, but in the sense that the magic was more abnormal there than anywhere else.

It was as if a normally illuminated light had suddenly interrupted at some point.

"All magic will leave traces, and you should use your mind to feel." Dumbledore whispered, and took a few steps back, and looked to see if Ivan had noticed.

"Use my mind..." Ivan didn't know what to do.

He instinctively sensed that the magical reaction on the rock in front of him was abnormal, but he couldn't tell what the abnormality was.

Dumbledore not only continued to watch, but used his wand to point it at the rock in front of him.

For a moment, an arched outline appeared there, glowing as if there was a powerful light behind the crack.

"You've done it!" Harry shouted gleefully.

He had just felt uncomfortable because of Kreacher's words, but Dumbledore's action immediately raised a glimmer of hope in his heart.

With Dumbledore here, they didn't even want to spill blood on that rock and pass this way.

But before he could taste the thrill of success, the outline had disappeared, leaving the rock as bare and solid as ever, and there was nothing on it.

"Professor?" asked Harry.

"Kreacher is right; we really do need to deliver blood to get through here." Dumbledore looked at him and said quietly, "I thought he was successful, but he's very vulgar."

"I don't understand why we need blood to get through here," Harry said hesitantly. "And, so vulgar, what does it mean?"

"Precisely, Riddle's magic asks us to make a payment; we must weaken to get in, so I said it was very vulgar." Dumbledore sounded scornful, even disappointed, as if Voldemort had not lived up to Dumbledore's expectations. "Once again, Lord Voldemort does not understand that there are things far more terrible than physical injury."

"Yes, but still, if you can help it...," Harry said.

"Sometimes, though, it's unavoidable; we have to deal with the rules of magic," Dumbledore said, putting his unharmed hand inside his robes and pulling out a short silver knife of the kind used to cut potion ingredients.

"No, Professor," Seeing Dumbledore raise his short knife, Ivan, Harry and Hermione ran to stop him.

They all knew what Dumbledore wanted to do, but didn't know what to say. If someone had to bleed, they should choose one of them instead of letting Dumbledore do it.

"Let me do it, I can..." Harry rushed.

But someone was faster than him. Just as they were blocking Dumbledore, Sirius had made up his mind. He quickly ran to the side of the rock. The end of the wand glowed, and a crimson stream gushed from his arm, and the rock wall was splattered with dark, glowing droplets.

"Sirius" Harry turned his head slowly and couldn't believe it. His face went pale, and he ran to Sirius in a panic.

Dumbledore, Ivan and Hermione also rushed over. They saw that the wound on Sirius' arm was very large, and a lot of blood was flowing out of control.

"You should let me do it, Sirius; your blood is worth more than mine," Dumbledore ran the tip of his wand over the deep cut Sirius had made on his arm, and the wound healed instantly.

"No, it must be done for me. This is for Regulus..." Sirius looked up and replied weakly. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine, is that enough blood? If you want, I can do it again."

"I think that's enough." Dumbledore looked at the changing wall and said quietly, "The effect is very obvious."

The glowing silver outline of an arch had appeared once again on the wall, and this time it did not fade.

The blood splattered rock simply disappeared, leaving an opening in what appeared to be total darkness.

"Now, you'd better follow me and get your wands out," Dumbledore said, passing the door. Sirius, Ivan, Harry, Hermione and Kreacher followed him and entered, hastily lighting their wands.

In front of them, it was an eerie sight.

Although they had already heard about it from Kreacher, the actual scene they saw was more shocking than any words or imagination.

At that moment, they were standing on the edge of a large black lake.

The lake was so vast and endless that they could not see the distant shores.

The cavern was so high that the ceiling was also out of sight.

A misty greenish light glowed in the distance in what appeared to be the center of the lake; it was reflected in the completely still water below.

The greenish glow and the light from the five sticks were the only things that broke the otherwise velvety blackness, though their rays did not penetrate as far as they had hoped. The darkness was somehow denser than normal darkness.

It was hard to imagine that they were in the cavern inside the cliff.

Through that archway, Ivan thought they had reached a different space. He didn't know how Voldemort did it. He couldn't imagine how powerful it would be to transform an ordinary cave into what it looked like.

"Kreacher, Regulus' corpse..." Sirius said suddenly, in a strange voice, not his usual shouting, but with a hint of sadness, "Tell me where his body is."

"There's an island in the middle of the lake, young master." Tears sprang from Kreacher's large eyes uncontrollably. He groaned as he wiped the tears away. "Kreacher was there then; Kreacher saw Master Regulus being dragged into the lake by the hands of the Inferi."