Chapter 209: Amount of magic

Ivan narrowed his eyes and looked at Dumbledore in amazement.

On the shore of the dark lake not far away, Dumbledore did not turn around. He turned his back on everyone, as if what had just happened had nothing to do with him.

Sirius, Harry and Hermione were wide-eyed, waiting for his next move.

Everything was the same as before, everything became unreal again, and Ivan tried to remember the wonderful feeling and look for traces of magic.

It was not as strong as before, but he could still clearly feel the location of the ship.

Even if his eyes couldn't see it, the magical traces of Voldemort that remained on the ship were still very clear.

Ivan bowed his head and tried to remember this feeling.

Of course, it was one thing to be able to notice the traces left by magic. Identifying this magic and breaking it is another matter.

He concentrated to see what Dumbledore did.

In front of them, holding his hand closed in the air, Dumbledore raised his wand with the other and tapped his fist with the tip.

Immediately a thick copper-green chain appeared out of nowhere, extending from the depths of the water to Dumbledore's clenched hand.

Dumbledore struck the chain, which began to slither through his fist like a snake, coiling on the ground with a clinking sound that echoed noisily off the rocky walls.

The chain pulled something from the depths of the black water. Everyone gasped as the ghostly prow of a small boat broke the surface, glowing as green as the chain, and floated, with barely a ripple, toward the spot on the shore where they stood.

"How did you know that was there?" asked Harry in amazement.

Sirius and Hermione also looked curiously at Dumbledore, and Ivan tried to remember the strong feeling of the magical changes as the chain and boat appeared.

"As I just said, magic always leaves traces," Dumbledore said, as the boat hit the shore with a soft thump, "sometimes very distinctive ones. I taught Tom Riddle. I know his style."

"Is... is this boat safe?" Harry didn't understand Dumbledore's words. He scratched his head and continued to ask, "It won't be..."

"Oh, yes, I think so. Voldemort needed to create a means of crossing the lake without attracting the wrath of the creatures he had put inside, in case he ever wanted to visit or remove his Horcrux," Dumbledore said.

"So the things in the water won't do anything to us if we cross in Voldemort's boat, right?", Looking at Harry's expression, he was obviously worried.

What should they do if the boat got halfway to the island and suddenly sank?

In fact, not only Harry, but Sirius, Ivan and Hermione were equally worried, and a horrible image popped into their minds: the moment they were out of the lake on the ledge, the hands that had just appeared were sticking out of the dark water.

"I think we must resign ourselves to the fact that, at some point, they will realize that we are not Lord Voldemort..." Dumbledore said calmly, "We cannot escape. Don't forget the purpose of our journey. We will definitely have to face them. This is almost inevitable. However, we have done well so far. We have been allowed to raise the ship; we must be able to use it. "

"But why would Voldemort let us do that?" asked Harry.

"Too proud, he only believes in his own strength, this is another of his weaknesses, Harry," said Dumbledore. "Voldemort would have been reasonably sure that only a great wizard would have been able to find the ship. I think he would have been willing to risk what, in his opinion, was the most unlikely chance of anyone else finding it, knowing that he had set other obstacles ahead that only he could penetrate. If there is no accident, it must be the stone altar and the liquid inside to store the Horcrux. I can't wait to see what's inside."

They all gathered around and looked at the ship. It was really quite small.

"I don't understand, Professor,", Hermione said quietly, "this boat, it doesn't look like it was built for us. Will it hold all of us? Five people and Kreacher? Will we be too heavy together?"

Hermione's fears were quite justified. Although measured in terms of surface area, they could barely stand on it, it was common sense that the ship could only hold one or two people at most.

When he heard Hermione, Dumbledore chuckled, "No need to worry about it, Voldemort won't have cared about the weight, but the amount of magical power that crossed his lake. I think a spell will have been put on this boat so that only one wizard at a time can sail it."

"But...," Hermione said.

"We have to risk it." Dumbledore took a step forward, the boat weighed deep into the water, and came to a stop a quarter further from the edge of the ship.

The ship rocked and looked as if it might sink to the bottom of the water at any moment.

Harry and Hermione couldn't help but scream, and Sirius stepped forward and tried to hold Dumbledore back.

But nothing happened. After the swing, the boat gradually stabilized.

"Very well, as I suppose, you can come up. I think it unlikely that your powers will register compared to mine." Dumbledore said, "Be careful not to touch the water."

Dumbledore stepped aside and Sirius approached.

Everyone's heart soared, and they looked nervously ahead. The ship sank a little more, shook a little, and then stopped immediately.

This time, the sinking of the ship could not compare to Dumbledore's sinking when he came up.

If the "weight" of the ship was not measured by weight, but by the amount of magical power, then the difference between Sirius' magic and Dumbledore's was very striking.

To describe it, it was like the space between a tank and a bottle of water.

Next came Harry and Hermione.

The two boarded the ship cautiously, as what was left of it above the surface was so narrow that it looked like it could sink at any moment.

But nothing happened. The boat didn't even flutter, and kept floating steadily, and the boat didn't even move.

It was amazing; Harry and Hermione seemed weightless.

This also meant that, in terms of magical power, the two of them together were not even equal to Sirius, let alone comparable to Dumbledore.

If Sirius' magical power was a bottle of water, Harry and Hermione's magic was more like a glass.