Chapter 386: Peter and the Throat of the Abyss

Bellatrix's laughter echoed through the grim and terrible Azkaban.

"Of all the mortals who have been tried, Bellatrix is the only one who refused to plead guilty; she kept swearing that her master would return." said Dumbledore. He frowned and looked at Bellatrix for a moment, unbeknownst to anyone what he was thinking.

"She is just as I knew her, Bellatrix is a creature of cruelty, and she had no love for anything." Sirius said, "She's just a replica of my mother, always rambling on about the glory of family and pureblood."

Sirius no longer looked at Bellatrix, and seemed determined to ignore her.

"Of course, that was back in her school days," Sirius continued. "She became a Death Eater shortly after graduation, and it is truly amazing that she could defend Voldemort so wholeheartedly, even in the Supreme Court of Wizengamot."

There were hints that Bellatrix had ambiguous feelings towards Voldemort.

Ivan thought maliciously that there might be some sort of secret relationship between them.

Voldemort and his favorite mistress of death... The idea was as uncomfortable as it was intriguing....

As they went along, Sirius introduced him to some famous Death Eaters and other dark wizards.

That strange voice never reappeared.

Dumbledore found no anomalies, so it seemed to be just his own imagination.

Ivan breathed a sigh of relief and walked for about twenty minutes. He couldn't help but ask, "Where is Peter Pettigrew?"

"In a special place, it's called the Gorge of the Abyss, the heart of Azkaban." Dumbledore explained, "Not all prisoners are eligible to be held there. The Ministry of Magic probably thinks Peter Pettigrew is the most vicious prisoner, so he's in special custody."

Hearing her words, Sirius gave a scornful chuckle. "He doesn't deserve it!" he exclaimed.

"He certainly doesn't deserve it. He's not that strong. She's not as strong as Bellatrix." Dumbledore said calmly, "But there's nothing wrong with keeping him in special custody, at least to keep him from turning into a rat and running away."

They crossed the cell through the topmost floor and began to descend the narrow staircase on the other side.

The rotating stone staircase extended downward, seemingly to the deepest part of the earth, straight down into hell.

of the earth, straight down into hell.

The floor was made of primitive rocks instead of bricks, and the temperature was getting lower and lower.

Ivan could hear the sound of the sea, and the cave seemed to extend deep.

He could not remember how long he had been walking, and the fog was beginning to fill the surroundings again.

This fog was caused by countless Dementors, hiding in checkpoints and narrow rocky crevices along the path.

The Dementors hovered there silently, and he didn't know what they were waiting for.

"The gorge of the abyss, I've never been there before!" Sirius said, looking as surprised as Ivan. "All I know is that the Dementors are all from this place, and that's where they came from."

Ivan looked around and his unspoken sense of unease grew stronger and stronger.

His consciousness began to blur, and the scene in front of him was undergoing overwhelming changes.

But when he looked again, he discovered that nothing had happened, and that it was all his illusion.

In the mist, Ivan followed Dumbledore and Sirius to a deep hole in the ground with a bright green light. The number on it was 7.

This was cell 7, where Peter Pettigrew was being held.

He seemed to have lost a lot of weight, like a balloon suddenly deflated, pale and trembling, curled up on an iron bed.

Peter's little black eyes were opaque, and there was no evidence that he was alive.

He lay there, unaware of his surroundings.

When the light of Dumbledore's Patronus shone on Peter Pettigrew, restoring his awareness of the Dementors' influence, his first reaction was to cry.

He cried like a big, ugly child, and then realized what was happening.

He did his best to beg Dumbledore, Sirius and Ivan. He knelt on the ground, and words of remorse were uttered from his mouth. Just as before, he was begging for forgiveness from everyone and hoping to be taken away from here.

Ivan knew he wasn't very sincere. He was just afraid of the Dementors and Azkaban. Pettigrew was afraid that he would continue to be alone and become a soulless monster.

Ivan watched Sirius kick Peter Pettigrew. He rolled to the side like a ball, then began to crawl towards him, kissing his robes and pleading bitterly.

If he could hear what he was saying, Ivan might take pity on him.

But the scene he was seeing now was completely different from reality. As Pettigrew pleaded, the green cave in front of him was collapsing.

Ivan discovered that something in it was glowing, and he pulled the thing out. It was the red badge that Dumbledore had just returned to him.

He seemed to have awakened somehow; the monster on the nameplate seemed to have suddenly come to life.

He just heard strange words echoing in his mind and the changes that occurred in front of him were all the reasons for this nameplate. Ivan felt like his soul was leaving his body.

It was as if the nameplate was a key, opening the way before his soul to fast forward and be taken to unknown realms.

It was as if he was in a dream, where the light was spinning, to be swallowed by the sea. With the light, the whole world seemed to be spinning.

Many Dementors and other horrible demons emerged from the depths of the earth. Everyone looked at Ivan. The writhing, noisy old demons laughed, along with the green-haired imp with bat wings.

Even the dementors had gotten excited.

"Dementors are particularly sensitive to changes in the soul, and they get very excited when someone dies." Ivan remembered what Sirius had told him earlier. They were so excited, was he going to die?!

He pulled out his wand to use the Patronus Charm.

But before he could read the spell, he found that everything around him had disappeared.

The surroundings were calm, and he stood in his place panting violently.

Drawn by the nameplate, his soul had reached its destination.

It was still Peter Pettigrew's cell, but there was no one but Ivan.

Dumbledore, Sirius, Peter Pettigrew and the Dementors seemed never to have existed before.

Where the original iron bed had been, a deep pit suddenly appeared.

It was a sinking path. Although no one told Ivan where it led to, he suddenly understood that from that moment on it was the real Gorge of the Abyss.