Chapter 212: Challenges to be Addressed

"Kreacher, Regulus, that year..." said Sirius sadly.

"Yes, Master Regulus was drinking this green liquid here." Kreacher wiped away his tears and said, "This should have been done by Kreacher. That was what the Dark Lord asked Kreacher to do, but young Master Regulus disagreed. He let Kreacher go home alive. He drank the potion himself. How good and kind he was..."

Speaking of which, Kreacher suddenly burst into tears.

Ever since he set foot on this island, tears had been swirling in his eyes. Now he heard Dumbledore's assessment of Regulus, and remembered what had happened, and finally he couldn't help but cry. He chastised himself and hit his head against the floor.

The scene was a mess, and Sirius and Hermione rushed to stop him.

"Professor!" looking at the out of control Kreacher, Harry was filled with panic. He hesitated a bit and kept asking, "But if, I mean, if some of us were to drink this liquid, what would happen? would it be poisoned?"

"Oh, I doubt it would work like that," Dumbledore said easily. "Lord Voldemort wouldn't want to kill the person who came to this island."

Harry blinked. He couldn't believe it - was this more Dumbledore's insane determination to see the good in everyone?

"Sir," Harry said, trying to keep his voice reasonable, "sir, this is Voldemort we're dealing with..."

"I'm sorry, Harry; I should have said that he wouldn't want to immediately kill the person who came to this island," Dumbledore corrected himself. "He would want to keep them alive long enough to discover how they managed to penetrate so far through their defenses and, most important of all, why they were so determined to empty the pond. Don't forget that Lord Voldemort believes that only he knows about his Horcruxes."

Harry tried to get him to speak again, but this time Dumbledore held up his hand for silence, frowning slightly at the emerald liquid, evidently thinking hard.

"Without a doubt," Dumbledore said at last, "This potion must act in a way to take the Horcrux. And based on Kreacher's description, we can infer that it could paralyze the user, make him forget what he's here for, create so much pain that it distracts him, or otherwise incapacitate him. "

"He'll feel like his internal organs are on fire, he'll want to drink water, and the only place around with water is this lake." Ivan added, "But the lake is full of Inferi, and it's also under black magic..."

"What if the magic changes the water?" asked Harry.

"It won't work. Voldemort has planned it. There's only one way to get water on this island. If you don't believe it, we can try." Ivan pulled out his wand and said softly, "Aguamenti!"

Clear water came out of the end of his wand and fell to the ground. The water splashed, but disappeared in an instant.

The water that fell to the ground evaporated at an astonishing speed. And, there seemed to be an invisible force from the base of the ground to the top. The water at the end of the wand in Ivan's hand was flowing out, rapidly returning at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Aguamenti, Aguamenti!" he shouted hurriedly.

He increased his magic output, but it didn't work much. The water at the end of his wand grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared completely.

He could feel an invisible force preventing him from using this magic.

Harry looked in surprise at what was happening in front of him. He tried it with his own wand as well, and the end result was exactly the same as Ivan's.

"Good reasoning, good reasoning." After watching Ivan and Harry's experiments, Dumbledore admired, "The thoughts of both of you are very good. This is probably the essence of Voldemort's design. To get the Horcrux, you have to drink the potion in the stone basin. After drinking the potion, you will be very hot and thirsty, and you will want to drink water. But, we just saw that spells like Aguamenti have been banned here. There is only one way to get water and that is the lake. And people near the lake will be swept away by the Inferi, as happened to Regulus..."

Everyone listened to Dumbledore's description, and the horrible images flashed back into their minds. All of their faces looked very grim.

Looking at this eerie, shadowy island, surrounded by the repressive silence of the black lake, and the floating bodies that emerged from the lake from time to time, fear stirred deep within each of them.

They thought of Regulus, the handsome 18-year-old. He drank the potion inside the stone vessel and was dragged into the lake by the Inferi. He drowned in despair and became one of them.

For the past 13 years, his body had been submerged in the dark, cold water of the lake without rest. That was the truth of his death.

The feeling of infinite sadness gradually took over, and everyone was silent.

In the darkness, there was only the odd moan coming from Kreacher every now and then.

"In this lake, Regulus..." Sirius said sadly.

"We'll find it. First of all, I want to get those guys out of the lake." Dumbledore pulled out his wand and turned his head to Kreacher, who had just calmed down. "Kreacher, please tell me where Regulus was dragged from into the lake."

"Here, sir!" Kreacher wiped away his tears and went to a spot.

"Very well, when you're ready. get your wands out!" Dumbledore said, "Sirius, you and Kreacher are responsible for finding Regulus; Ivan, Harry, Hermione, you three can stand behind me and help me deal with those Inferi."

Everyone concentrated, clenched their wands and looked at the lake nervously.

They would have to face the Inferi, which would definitely not be a pleasant experience.

Ivan tightened his hand around his wand, and his heart beat like a drum. He saw Harry and Hermione standing beside him trembling slightly, faces pale and bloodless.

For them, facing thousands of Inferi at the same time was too much pressure.

Just thinking about it was suffocating.

This was definitely a scene that would not be seen in school. Except for the three of them, none of the young wizards would experience it.

It wasn't just about their age. In fact, facing thousands of horrible and bloody Inferi at the same time was also a very difficult challenge for trained Aurors or active wizards like Sirius, and Dumbledore shouldn't be able to handle this by himself.