Chapter 189: Regulus Black

At the spot Dumbledore's wand pointed to, an outline of an archway appeared on the rock wall, and it radiated dazzling white light. 

"We did it!" Sirius exclaimed excitedly.

But no sooner had the words left his mouth than the outline vanished. Dumbledore frowned slightly, and his gaze fixed on the wall with utmost concentration. 

"Oh… so that's how it works," he muttered to himself. "Crude, but effective…"

He turned back to the group and explained, "I believe we'll need to pay a price to pass through."

"A price?" Lupin asked.

"Yes. If I'm not mistaken—blood," Dumbledore said contemptuously. "The one who set this trap wants to weaken their opponent through such a method. As I said, it's a rather crude tactic."

As he spoke, he conjured a short blade and rolled up his sleeve.

"Let me do it, Professor!" 

Sirius stepped forward and snatched the knife without hesitation. Without a second thought, he made a cut on his arm, and bright red blood immediately began to flow.

Wade opened his mouth to speak but ultimately remained silent.

Inside his magical wardrobe, Wade kept a collection of magical creatures, most of which had been gifted to him by Newt Scamander and Steven Murray. And some were small creatures he had picked up from the edges of the maze.

Many of these were abandoned due to illness, injury, or developmental issues. Whenever Wade found them, he would bring them back to enrich the biodiversity of his wardrobe space.

With magic and the assistance of enchanted automatons, caring for these creatures or maintaining cleanliness was never a problem.

Before setting out on this journey, Wade had considered using one of the larger creatures to provide blood. But upon seeing Sirius's resolute action, he chose not to mention it.

It wasn't that he had no chance to intervene. Sometimes, though, sacrifice and bloodshed can help people confront and ease their inner pain.

Dumbledore did not stop Sirius. Whispering an incantation, he allowed the blood to drip onto the rock wall. The archway reappeared.

In the radiant white light, the stone dissolved, revealing a pitch-black doorway.

"It's done." 

Dumbledore said, pointing his wand at Sirius's arm. The gash healed instantly, leaving no trace of the wound.

Lupin raised his wand and stepped inside, and the light illuminated the cave. The others followed him.

What lay before them was a black lake, and its surface stretched endlessly into the darkness. The smooth, mirror-like water was completely still, showing no ripples or movement.

Only near the shore, where they stood, did the surface reflect the faint glow from the tip of their wands.

The darkness here felt almost tangible, thick and oppressive. Even the light from Lupin's wand seemed subdued, illuminating only a small patch around them.

"A massive underground lake hidden beneath the cliff?" Lupin said in amazement as he slowly moved his wand. "Or has someone used an Undetectable Extension Charm here?"

He found no traces of such a spell in the surrounding area.

"I suspect it's a combination of both, Remus," Dumbledore replied, his gaze fixed on something ahead.

In the center of the lake, something was glowing faintly green, a stark contrast to the enveloping darkness.

"There's definitely something there," Sirius said as he mounted his broom. "I'll fly over and check it out. If it's safe, you can follow."

"Wait, Mr. Black."

Wade stopped him and released an old broom instead.

"Let it scout ahead."

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the broom shot forward. Halfway across the lake, it suddenly stopped, as if caught in an invisible spider's web. Then, it plunged straight into the water. 

Several pale hands emerged from the lake, and they clawed at the broom and dragged it down into the depths.

"Inferi!" (Inferius)

Sirius gasped sharply, and Lupin's face paled as well.

"Is this… Voldemort's army, prepared for his use?" Lupin asked.

His voice unconsciously lowered in the oppressive atmosphere. He wasn't afraid to say Voldemort's name, but the heavy silence seemed to weigh on him.

"An army? I think they should more appropriately be called guardians." 

Dumbledore pondered and said, "They tirelessly guard something for Voldemort, ready to eliminate any intruder."

"How tragic," Lupin muttered. "Even in death, they serve the one who killed them."

Sirius snorted. "That's what happens with those who dabble in the Dark Arts. They're always dealing with corpses and filth, reeking of decay."

Wade said nothing, he intently studied the lake's surface.

To most, the cavern appeared to hold only a tranquil body of water. But Wade could see that the space above the lake was crisscrossed with magic rune patterns, forming an impenetrable barrier. Nothing, not even a small bird, could enter from above.

Yet there was a hidden pathway, one faintly visible to Wade, and it extended toward the glowing green object deep within the lake.

Beneath the lake's surface, aside from the Inferi, there were also extremely potent curses.

These curses not only caused rapid weakening and eventual death for anyone who came into contact with the water but also slowly transformed any body that fell into the lake into another Inferius. 

The complexity of these curses was far beyond Wade's current level of understanding. There were many aspects he couldn't comprehend at all. 

At the lake's center, dense magic rune patterns overlapped and formed a golden pillar of light so intense that it obscured the green glow visible to others in the normal spectrum.

Sirius and Lupin carefully avoided the water and circled around in separate directions to investigate. After returning, Sirius said, "There's nothing else here—just the lake."

Dumbledore seemed to have already worked out how to cross the lake, but he didn't share his conclusion immediately. Instead, he turned to Wade.

"Wade, what have you found?"

"The way through is hidden in the lake," Wade suggested. "But since we have plenty of time, why don't we deal with the Inferi first? Then we can explore the lake's center more safely."

This wasn't quite what Dumbledore had envisioned, but he nodded amiably. "Let's do that, then."

Sirius crouched by the edge of the lake. "We probably can't drain the lake, so how about we lure them out?"

He glanced around and added, "…But we only have three flying brooms left."

"No need for flying brooms."

Wade tapped his wand against his backpack, and a fiery bird emerged. It perched on a protruding rock on the cavern wall, and tilted its head as if curiously observing the group.

"Allow me to introduce," Wade said. "This is my magic partner, Mikael."

Lupin marveled, "Your alchemical skills are getting more impressive."

Dumbledore silently observed the fiery bird, and his blue eyes faintly glimmered. Hearing Lupin's comment, he turned to glance at him thoughtfully. Yet, Dumbledore said nothing.

Wade approached Mikael and whispered instructions. Mikael gathered the flames on its body, spread its wings, and flew out. It circled close to the lake's edge before diving sharply toward the water.

In an instant, two or three pale hands burst from the lake, gripping Mikael's talons like lightning—only to recoil just as quickly, as though they had touched a branding iron.

Sirius seized the brief moment, and aimed his wand to pull two Inferi from the lake.

One was a gaunt man, the other a woman dressed in a soaked nightgown. Their eyes were cloudy, their pallid faces were devoid of any trace of life, and their drenched clothes and hair clung tightly to their lifeless bodies.

The Inferi were forced out of the water and thrown onto the rocky shore by Sirius. Mikael, without hesitation, unleashed a burst of fiendfyre fire, engulfing their bodies entirely.

The fiendfyre fire climbed partway up the walls before retreating, then fully consumed the two corpses. 

Though both products of dark magic, Inferi were particularly vulnerable to fire and light. The cursed fiendfyre flames, even more powerful than ordinary ones, reduced them to ash after only a brief struggle.

The orange-gold flames burned quietly. 

Although the fire Mikael breathed was cursed fiendfyre fire, it didn't take on the form of fiery beasts as some cursed flames did; to the untrained eye, it resembled ordinary firewood burning.

But Dumbledore, of course, could tell the difference. 

He narrowed his eyes slightly, his focus lingering on the firebird, and admiration was evident in his gaze.

Mikael seemed to find the situation amusing. It dove toward the lake and skimmed the water like a skipping stone. 

Its surface heat was only as intense as that of a common torch, so the mindless Inferi beneath the cold lakewater failed to recognize it as their mortal foe. They stretched out their pale hands to grab it, only to be swiftly dragged out by spells cast from the shore and thrown into the waiting flames.

The process of clearing out the Inferi became a mechanical routine. While Sirius maintained his swift and fluid spellcasting, his gaze had grown distant.

Another pale figure leapt from the water, chasing the free-flying Mikael. 

Sirius instinctively cast a spell to pull it toward the shore but suddenly felt as though his mind had been struck by a whip—a soundless explosion echoed in his head. 

He froze, his body stiff, watching the Inferius tumble into the fire. His mind went blank. 

Dumbledore, noticing the change in Sirius, quickly intervened. With a wave of his wand, he stopped the Inferius midair and placed it on the dry rocks nearby.

Lupin's eyes widened in shock.

"It's him…" he said, astonished. "Regulus… How is it him?"

Wade turned to look.

The Inferius bore a striking resemblance to a teenage Sirius. The same black hair, dull gray eyes, and similar features formed a face that could only be described as delicate.

The figure fell to the ground, as if it had lost its target. After pausing in confusion, it began to stagger slowly toward them.

Dumbledore let out a sigh.

Sirius instinctively stepped forward, his lips trembled, as he gazed into those lifeless, webbed-over eyes. He was at a loss for words.

He had known Regulus was dead for more than a year before his own imprisonment. 

The ancient pure-blood families had their ways of knowing the life or death of every member, even though Regulus's body was never found. 

At the time, shortly before Regulus's death, Sirius's father, who placed great importance on bloodlines, had also passed away that same year. 

Their mother, Walburga, unable to cope with the sudden loss of her youngest son, was driven mad by grief after the successive blows.

One day, Walburga sent Sirius dozens of Howlers, sobbing and cursing him while screaming, "Why wasn't it you who died?" That was how Sirius learned that his brother's status had changed to "deceased."

To be honest, though he felt sorrow at the news, he wasn't surprised.

Sirius had always known Regulus to be soft-hearted. Though their family had indoctrinated him with ideals like the "glory of pure-bloods," Regulus's views on the world and war remained naive and simplistic.

He was consumed with ideas of "making pure-bloods greater" but lacked an understanding of Voldemort's true cruelty. Nor was he prepared to become equally ruthless and evil.

Neither Sirius nor Walburga knew the exact circumstances of Regulus's death. 

They speculated that Regulus might have grown fearful of the tasks he was asked to perform and tried to leave the Death Eaters, only to be killed by Voldemort or other Death Eaters for his betrayal.

Sirius never knew if his mother regretted urging Regulus to join the Death Eaters.

After that, the increasingly unhinged matriarch of the Black family shut herself away, refusing to even let her only remaining son visit her.

Sirius, meanwhile, accepted the news with relative ease.

After graduating from Hogwarts, he had joined the Order of the Phoenix and fought on the front lines.

He had witnessed countless comrades tortured or killed, often at the hands of Death Eaters—some of which were even likely done by his own brother.

Sirius had long come to terms with their opposing allegiances—and even with the idea of death.

Yet now, standing face-to-face with Regulus's corpse and watching it stagger toward him under the compulsion of magic, the grief that had been suppressed for thirteen years surged forward like a tidal wave, leaving Sirius gasping for air.

Regulus had reached him now. Up close, the sight of those sunken, lifeless eyes was even more heartbreaking.

"Regulus… What did Voldemort do to you?" Sirius murmured.

The corpse, of course, didn't respond. Its cold, pale hands gripped Sirius's shoulders, steady and unrelenting as it began dragging him toward the lake.

"Sirius!" 

Lupin rushed over, slashing a spell that sent Regulus flying backward. He almost fell into the lake but was intercepted by Wade.

With a flick of his wand, Wade conjured a long rope that bound Regulus tightly from head to toe.

The corpse struggled on the ground.

But Inferi were not especially powerful dark creatures. Their strength came only from their sheer numbers. This one writhed weakly on the ground, unable to break free of the bonds.

Sirius stood motionless, and stared blankly, until Lupin laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Sirius, are you okay?"

"I… I'm fine…" Sirius stammered. "I always knew… I knew he was dead… I just… didn't expect to see him here…"

He snapped back to reality, and felt the blood flow from his aching heart to his frozen limbs, warming his trembling body.

Sirius pushed Lupin's arm away and tightened his grip on his wand.

"Let's keep going."

He looked at the rippling surface of the lake and the pale hands reaching out from the water. He spoke in a calm, unfamiliar voice—even to himself.

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