Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

“Kreacher, Regulus, that year…” said Sirius sadly.

“Yes, Master Regulus was drinking this green liquid here.” Kreacher wiped his tears and said, “This thing should have been done by Kreacher. That was what the Dark Lord asked Kreacher to do, but young Master Regulus did not agree. He let Kreacher go home alive. He drank the potion himself. How good and kind he was…”

Talking about it, Kreacher suddenly burst into tears.

Since he stepped on this island, tears had been spinning in his eyes. Now he heard Dumbledore’s evaluation of Regulus, and remembered what had happened, he finally couldn’t help but burst into tears. He punished himself and banged his head against the ground.

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

“Professor!” Looking at the out of control of Kreacher, Harry was full of panic. He hesitated for a while and continued to ask, “But if, I mean, if some of us drank this liquid, what would happen? Will he be poisoned?”

“Oh, I doubt that it would work like that,” said Dumbledore easily. “Lord Voldemort would not want to kill the person who reached this island.”

Harry blinked. He couldn’t believe it. Was this more of Dumbledore’s insane determination to see good in everyone?

“Sir,” said Harry, trying to keep his voice reasonable, “sir, this is Voldemort we’re facing…”

“I’m sorry, Harry; I should have said, he would not want to immediately kill the person who reached this island,” Dumbledore corrected himself. “He would want to keep them alive long enough to find out how they managed to penetrate so far through his defences and, most importantly of all, why they were so intent upon emptying the basin. Do not forget that Lord Voldemort believes that he alone knows about his Horcruxes.”

Harry made to speak again, but this time Dumbledore raised his hand for silence, frowning slightly at the emerald liquid, evidently thinking hard.

“Undoubtedly,” he said, finally, “this potion must act in a way that will prevent me from taking the Horcrux. And based on Kreacher’s description, we can infer that it might paralyze the user, cause him to forget what he is here for, create so much pain that it makes him distracted, or render him incapacitated in some other way.”

“He will feel that his internal organs are on fire, he would want to drink water, and the only place around with water is this Lake.” Evan added, “But the Lake is full of Inferi, and it is also under black magic…”

“What if magic changes the water?” Harry asked.

“It won’t work. Voldemort has planned it. There is only one way to get water on this island. If you don’t believe it, we can try it.” Evan took out his wand and said gently, “Aguamenti!”

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

The water that fell to the ground was evaporated in an amazing speed. And, there seemed to be an invisible force from the bottom of the ground up to the top. The water at the end of the wand in Evan’s hand was pouring out, quickly returning at a speed visible to the naked eye.

“Aguamenti, Aguamenti!” He hurriedly shouted.

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

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

Harry looked surprisingly at what was happening in front of him. He also tried it with his own wand, and the final result was exactly the same as Evan’s.

“Good reasoning, good reasoning.” After seeing the experiments of Evan and Harry, 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 taking the potion, you will be extremely hot and thirsty, and want to drink water. But we have just seen that spells such as 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 dragged into it by the Inferi, just like what happened to Regulus…”

Everyone listened to Dumbledore’s description, and the horrible images recurred in their minds. All their faces looked really gloomy.

Looking at this eerie, gloomy island, surrounded by the silence of the repressive black lake, and the floating bodies that emerged from the lake from time to time, the fear deep inside everyone was awakened.

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

For the past 13 years, his body had been immersed in the dark, cold lake water 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 a strange whimper coming out from Kreacher from time to time.

“In this lake, Regulus…” Sirius said sadly.

“We will find him. First of all, I want to bring out those guys in the lake.” Dumbledore pulled out his wand and turned his head to Kreacher, who had just calmed down. “Kreacher, please tell me from where Regulus was Dragged into the lake.”

“Here, sir!” Kreacher wiped her tears and went to a place.

“Very good, when you’re ready. Take out your wands!” Dumbledore said, “Sirius, you and Kreacher are responsible for finding Regulus; Evan, Harry, Hermione, you three can stand behind me and help me deal with those Inferi.”

Everyone concentrated, clenched his wand and looked at the lake nervously.

They will have to confront the Inferi, which will definitely not be a pleasant experience.

Evan tightened his hand around his wand, and his heart was thumping like a drum. He saw Harry and Hermione standing next to him shaking slightly, with pale and bloodless faces.

For them, facing thousands of Inferi at the same time was just 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, bloody Inferi at the same time was also a very difficult challenge for trained Aurors or operating wizards like Sirius, and Dumbledore shouldn’t be able to handle this on his own.