days at Hogwarts

Chapter 555: Are all the people in the Black family like this?
Entering the doorway, Kreacher was still walking in front, and Sirius consciously followed behind.

It was dark and eerie, as if there were non-lethal lurkers hiding in the shadows. Passing through the archway that appeared on the rock, the deeper one went into the cave, the more bizarre the environment became.

"Sirius, are you okay?" Harry deliberately slowed down his pace and asked worriedly.

Sirius shook his head silently and glanced at Kreacher who was walking in front of him. Knowing that there was no danger for the time being, he lowered his head and drew his wand across the wound on his arm that he had cut himself. He cast a healing spell and the milky white light healed the wound quickly, leaving only a faint red mark.

There were some minor aches and pains, but compared to the torture Regulus was going through, they were nothing...

He is a core member of the Order of the Phoenix, the eldest son of the Black family, and the brother of Regulus. However, before Kreacher revealed everything, he knew nothing about what Regulus had done. There was once a child of the Black family who gave his life without hesitation to fight against Voldemort.

If only for the sake of mourning, he had to take Regulus' body back and bring it home, to Black's home.

"[Fluorescence Flashing]"

Seeing that the cave was getting darker and darker and they couldn't even see the way, George and Fred quickly lit their wands.

Two clusters of bright silver-white light immediately jumped on the tip of the wand, but the glittering light failed to illuminate the entire cave. The darkness here seemed to be denser and heavier than ordinary darkness. Seeing this, the others lit up their wands, and seven silver lights pushed aside the dense darkness and illuminated the gloomy and spacious cave.

Their sight followed the direction of the light, and a very strange scene appeared before their eyes. In front of them was a dark and pitch-black lake. The lake was broad and silent, and was filled with a thick darkness that could not be dispersed. It seemed that nothing could float on the lake, and stepping on it would only lead to falling into the bottomless darkness.

A group of people stood on the shore and looked into the distance. They could not see the other side of the lake. They could only see a small, narrow island in the middle of the lake. A hazy green light flickered quietly, and was reflected in the dead lake water below.

Loren stood on the shore, his shoes almost touching the dark lake water, and he felt an inexplicable, piercing coldness that penetrated deep into his heart. He seemed to be able to vaguely sense many malicious gazes lurking underwater, but when he looked down, he could only see darkness.

He blinked, and crystal blue light and shadows floated in his eyes. The lake no longer blocked his sight. What came into his eyes were corpses with a strong smell of death. Every detail on their bodies was clearly visible, and they were staring at them with wide eyes, with terrifying whites of their eyes.

The lake was calm. Even though there was a breeze swirling through the cracks in the rocks and into the cave, making a whistling sound like a low sob, there were no ripples on the water. The gloomy magic of death was so dense that it almost condensed into substance, and the dark lake water exuded a chilling chill at all times.

The Inferi sinking to the bottom of the lake are waiting for the water to mark their targets. Once they come into contact with a living person, countless Inferi will instantly come alive and desperately drag the living person to the bottom of the water, transforming into another lifeless Inferi.

God knows how many bodies are down there. Voldemort wouldn't have sunk all the dead bodies from the last wizarding war...

Sirius still wanted Regulus' bodies, so he probably could only search through them one by one.

Loren looked away calmly. Before he got Regulus' pendant, he was not sure what kind of commotion the destruction of these corpses would cause, so he decided to just follow the steps.

Hermione carefully looked around but found nothing. She turned to look at the house-elf who was leading the way: "Kreacher, is that thing hidden on the island in the middle of the lake?"

"Yes, it is."

Kreacher was trembling all over, his teeth chattering, the cloth on his body was still wet, the cold penetrated his bones. In the past ten years, he had returned to this place countless times in his dreams, but when he actually set foot here, the familiar scene awakened the deep-buried painful memories, and the unprecedented panic made him breathless. He suppressed his fear and answered:
"But...but don't touch the water here."

"We figured it out..." Hermione tapped his body with her wand, and the cloth immediately gave off a lot of white steam, becoming dry and warm as if it had been hung in front of a fire: "Then how should we get there? Tell me how you got there..."

Kreacher bowed low to her, his trembling pupils slowly calmed down, his tone was still a little flustered, but much better: "Boat, there is a boat. The first time Kreacher came here was with the Dark Lord. At that time, there were not so many mechanisms and magic here. The Dark Lord first cast a spell on the island in the middle of the lake, made me drink poison and then left me alone..."

The trembling and shrill voice of the house-elf unveiled the curtain that had been sealed for sixteen years, bringing everyone back to the scene where Voldemort built this place.

The Dark Lord, who was at the peak of his power, built protection measures for his Horcruxes and asked his loyal follower for an elf named Kreacher for testing. A Death Eater named Regulus Black was in a period of confusion at the time and was puzzled by the various behaviors of the Death Eater group, but he had not yet discovered the true face of the Dark Lord. He just thought it was an ordinary job and believed that it was an honor for a house-elf to serve the Dark Lord, so he let the elf closest to him go.

"...Master Regulus said that this is an honor for him and Kreacher. Kreacher must do everything the Dark Lord orders him to do, and then... go home."

For thousands of years, the most outstanding dark wizards had poured poison prepared into the house-elf's mouth. Kreacher's internal organs seemed to be burning in a fireplace, and his blood was rushing in his veins like boiling water, but only the Inferi under the water could hear his cries and groans. He could only watch the Dark Lord set up the magic, board the ship and leave, abandoning him on the island like a waste.

The eight wizards listened to the personal experience of the house-elf. The hair on the back of their necks stood up. The hoarse voice seemed to come from the mouth of a monster waiting for an opportunity underwater. The scene appeared before their eyes. Voldemort's pale snake face disappeared into the darkness, and his scarlet eyes stared coldly at the elf rolling in pain...

"The dead man's hand stretched out from the water, trying to drag Kreacher into the lake, but Kreacher always remembered... Master Regulus wanted Kreacher to go home..."

"Where's the ship?" Sirius asked aloud.

"It's on the shore, but Kreacher doesn't know where it's hiding..."

"How can we find a boat in such a dark place..."

Harry stood on the shore, carefully looking at the lake, then at the ominous green light flickering on the opposite side, "Can we fly over, or go underwater, but those things underwater, those dead hands that Kreacher mentioned, will they attack us halfway?"

"Aquatic dark creatures? Dead man's hands..." Ron asked nervously, "What could it be? Water monsters, water demons, water ghosts, giant pythons and ghosts?"

"It's a corpse..."

Loren held a ray of silver light in his hand and walked slowly around the lakeshore under the glow of the fluorescent light. His footsteps echoed on the narrow rocks by the lake, "Contact with the lake water may cause the Zombies to attack."

"what?"

The twins were so eager to try that they were stunned for a moment, and quickly dropped the stones in their hands and stepped back a few steps. They said unconvincedly, "If it's just Inferi, Professor Lupin has taught us how to deal with them. They are clumsy and powerless creatures, and most spells will not work on them." Loren did not respond at first, but walked slowly along the lakeshore until the people around him gradually caught up with his pace, then he spoke softly, "There are endless and countless Inferi. Those who are dragged into the water will die in despair and become one of them."

Loren's words were like a cold breeze that passed through the empty cave. Sirius's face suddenly turned gloomy. He turned his head to look at the lake that was so calm without a single ripple. He finally understood what Kreacher meant by "Never touch the water here."

There was still no ripple on the lake, and the thick darkness seemed to swallow up all the light. Even though the seven wands emitted pure silver light at the same time, the entire cave still looked dark and eerie.

They kept going forward, but the surrounding scenery did not change at all. On one side was the rough cave wall, and on the other side was the boundless, smooth black lake, with a mysterious green light flashing in the center of the lake. The whole cave was filled with oppressive silence, which made people uneasy.

Ron stared at the calm lake, unconsciously slowing down his pace, and asked in a low voice: "Should we...should we still look for Regulus' body? What about the locket he replaced? Do we have to get it back?"

"Whether it's a body or relics, as long as it's Regulus's, I want him to return to the Black family!"

Sirius glanced at the flickering green phosphorescence in the distance, slowly clenched the wand in his hand, and said with a firm face.

Loren didn't react to this, his expression was calm and indifferent. Although he didn't like the people of the Black family, Regulus was also a guy who couldn't think straight. He didn't have to die, but he chose to sacrifice himself. However, Regulus did sacrifice his life to resist Voldemort, and he was rescued and taken back by them, so he died with peace of mind.

Let's find a place closest to the island in the middle of the lake and let Kreacher teleport them there.

They have to get closer. Kreacher is old and it might be a bit difficult for him to lead so many people.

No one else in the cave said anything, and it was obvious that they also had some respect for the sacrifice of Regulus.

"Now, the most important thing is to find that boat!"

Sirius carefully observed the dark lake, trying to find the boat hidden between the rocks and the lake. He pursed his nose, seemed to sense something, and took a long breath.

The lake water exudes a faint smell of corpses. It is not rotten, but you can smell it. The rock walls are rough, the texture is messy, and it has an earthy smell...

But between the two, there is a faint smell of rust that is unique to metal!

He sniffed and walked along the shore. After a few minutes, Sirius noticed a special place, as if there was a transparent thing like a chain.

Sirius reached out to a rock wall and touched something invisible. He closed his hand and grasped a chain. With his other hand, he held the wand and tapped it lightly: "[Appear quickly]"

Immediately, a thick green copper chain suddenly emerged from the depths of the lake and leaped towards his clenched fist. He tapped the chain with his wand, and it began to slide through his fist like a snake, coiling in a heap on the ground, clanking and echoing loudly against the rock wall.

The other end of the chain pulled something up from the dark bottom of the lake. The bow of a small boat suddenly emerged from the lake like a ghost, emitting a green light like the chain, and floated towards the shore where they stood, hardly causing a ripple.

"Magic leaves traces, and objects leave smells, and my Animagus makes my sense of smell more sensitive than that of ordinary people!" Sirius gave a slightly smug smile and pulled hard. With a slight bang, the boat hit the shore of the lake.

Loren looked up, looked at his brilliant smile, and hesitated to speak.

It seems that not only Regulus is rigid, but this Sirius is also unable to think flexibly...

Hmm? Are all the Black family members like this?
Loren couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

"Is...is this boat safe?" Harry asked aloud.

The resigned Defense Against the Dark Arts professor nodded and analyzed with a serious look on his face: "I think it is safe. Voldemort needs a way to cross the lake smoothly in case he needs to visit or take away his Horcruxes, so as not to anger those guys he placed in the lake."

"So if we take Voldemort's boat across the lake, those guys in the water won't attack us, will they?"

"I think we have to be prepared. Once they find out that we are not Voldemort, they will definitely attack us. However, so far, we have been doing well."

"Professor Black, I have a question!" George raised his hand and asked, "This boat can obviously only carry one person, or two people at most, and there are nine of us including Kreacher. How are we going to get across?"

Miss Know-It-All saw at a glance that this was a classic math problem, but it was very simple. Hermione came up with the answer without much thought: "The boat can only carry two people at a time, and someone must drive the boat back and forth, so there is a person as the boatman, who can only carry one person at a time, and has to go back and forth eight times..."

"Harry and I will go first," Sirius offered, and he climbed into the boat quickly, followed by Harry, who coiled the chain and piled it on the bottom of the boat. They were so tightly packed together that they couldn't sit comfortably, so they had to squat with their knees against the side of the boat.

The boat set off at once, in a silence broken only by the soft rustling of her bow through the water.

Watching them finalize the plan to cross the lake in a few words, and the godfather and godson quickly boarded the boat and set off, Loren pursed his lips, remained silent for a moment, and said faintly: "Kreacher, please take us across."

"Yes, Mr. Morgan." Kreacher said respectfully.

"!!!"

The few people who were waiting for the boat to return looked up instantly, their eyes widened, with wonderful expressions.

(End of this chapter)