Soundtrack recommendation:

Journey to the Cave

Drink of Despair

Inferi in the Firestorm

"You're what?!" Griff yelped out loud, when Brooklyn informed him of their mission with Dumbledore, while Harry told Ron and Hermione.

"Yeah, that's 'bout the size of it," Brooklyn responded, rubbing his shoulder, feeling somewhat nervous about all of it.

"So let me get this straight, Dumbledore is having the two of you go with him to a desolate area, to find and destroy a Horcrux, to defeat the maniac dark wizard?" Griff repeated back, and Brooklyn nodded.

"This is crazy, mate. I know it will do good for all of us, but, what if you don't…" Brooklyn quickly covered Griff's mouth with his hand sharply.

"Don't, Griff. We have to do this. We leave tonight. It's the only way, whether we return or not."

Griff felt a small sigh escape him, still worried for his friend, but knew that Brooklyn was usually able to fight his way out of any danger.

"At least let me go with you, mate, for extra protection for your brother," he pleaded. But Brooklyn shook his head.

"No, this is only for me, Dumbledore, and Harry to do. But I have to request something for you. Could you continue to protect Hogwarts while we're gone?" He asked. Griff narrowed his eyes in determination. He wouldn't disappoint his comrade on this one, even if he couldn't go.

"With my life, Brooklyn," he vowed. Brooklyn smiled at his friend, before pulling out something to hand to him, one that he never really used much for another old friend he hadn't seen in ages because of all this.

"Uh, why are you giving me a conch shell?" Griff asked in confusion, making Brooklyn chuckle. "It's from that merman friend of mine I made who I told you about during the TriWizard Tournament, should you need help, blow on it. But you may have to give him something from Una to turn human to help you guys out if there's danger," he suggested. Griff held the shell in his talons.

"Thanks, Brook, good luck," he said, and the two shook hands. Katie also said a tearful farewell hug to Brooklyn, who assured her that they will return (maybe), and then the brothers ventured out to meet Dumbledore in the Astronomy Tower.

Dumbledore turned at their approach. "I'm glad you two came," he murmured. The gargoyle nodded. "We wouldn't want to let you down, Professor," he stated bravely.

But then he had a serious look on his face. "Before we depart, I have requests for you that you two need to follow without question. Can you trust me?" Brooklyn felt a small prick of dread in his skin before nodding.

"Should I tell you two to hide, you hide."

They nodded. "Yes, sir."

"And if I tell you two to flee, will you do so?"

"Yes."

"And lastly, if I tell you two to abandon me and save yourselves, will you obey?"

Harry answered yes, but Brooklyn was more hesitant, a lump of bile caught in his throat at the idea of leaving somebody to die just to save himself, but Dumbledore gazed at him with a most pleading expression that he gave in, reluctantly.

"Y-yes." He mumbled. Dumbledore nodded to them. "Good, take my arm." Harry looked confused.

"I thought you couldn't Apparate within Hogwarts," he said, as Brooklyn nodded in agreement, recalling Hermione's lectures about it. But Dumbledore simply smiled.

"Well, being me has its privileges," he stated simply, making Brooklyn chuckle just a bit. At least Dumbledore still has his sense of humor during these times. He took Harry's hand, who took Dumbledore's, and the suffocating blackness came once again, Brooklyn shutting his eyes tight, trying to ignore the pressure of it on his chest, until in mere seconds, he could feel salty sea spray and cold wind on his face, finding themselves standing on a big rock in the ocean, facing a black cave opening on an island.

Dumbledore turned to Brooklyn. "Are you able to fly us over there, since Alastor was kind enough to give you that flight spell?" Brooklyn tested the distance, and the sizes of Harry and Dumbledore, before nodding.

"It will be a bumpy ride, but I think I can manage," he then said, kneeling down and allowing his friends to climb on him. Harry held onto Brooklyn's shoulders, while Dumbledore held Harry's, and he jumped, the wind lifting his wings, doing his best to forget the cold sea spray hitting his face and concentrate on getting them there, flapping his wings, and grunting every now and then, till at last, his taloned feet and hands hit the wet ledge near the cave, as he panted from the excursion.

Dumbledore smiled proudly. "Well done, Brooklyn," he said, as he slid off his back.

"No...problem...just don't want to do that again anytime soon," Brooklyn panted, hands on his knees after Harry jumped off. The trio proceeded to the closed entrance after Brooklyn caught his breath. Dumbledore traced his hand along it, trying to find an opening, muttering to himself. Harry and Brooklyn glanced at each other in confusion, wondering what he was doing.

"Oh...I should have seen it, it was obvious he would have done something this crude…"

"What?" Brooklyn asked in worry, stomach dropping, scared but curious about what it could be.

Dumbledore glanced at the pair. "It won't let us in until payment is made, by blood."

Brooklyn's eyes went round. Seriously?! He thought in disgust and horror, as Dumbledore pulled out a knife, cut his own blackened hand, and traced it along the stone.

The entrance cracked, and opened up. Brooklyn gulped as they drew their wands, lighting them up, and stepping inside, taking care not to slip on the wet crystal stone.

What lay in front of them was an eerie cavern that harbored a small black/green lake that was completely rippleless, and you can't even see the ceiling above, which freaked the gargoyle out a little, feeling dark magic floating around the place. He now just wanted to find the stupid Horcrux and get out of here as fast as they could!

Dumbledore frowned at the area. "If you still know, this is a place where Tom brought his victims, to terrorize them. But he didn't leave this place unguarded, look in the water."

Brooklyn did while Dumbledore summoned a boat, and nearly screamed, bodies were lying at the bottom of the lake, Voldemort's victims. He wrapped his wings, shivering a little from the vision, as they stepped into the rowboat to get to a small crystal basin in the middle of the lake that was full of clear potion.

Approaching it after docking the boat, Dumbledore and the others looked at the potion. Brooklyn swallowed, unsure of what this potion could be, maybe poison, but the Horcrux was in there, glinting mockingly at them all, as if daring them to drink or touch it.

"It must be drunk," Dumbledore whispered after trying to take the Horcrux, but his hand was stopped by an invisible shield. "All of it."

"You two do remember the conditions of why I brought you here, right?"

The brothers nodded.

"This potion may paralyze me, make me forget why I'm here, and cause me much pain that I beg for relief. You are not to indulge these requests. And Brooklyn, you might have to restrain me if I try to do anything, understand?"

Brooklyn's heart was feeling tight, he didn't like this at all. "But why can't I drink it?" He begged, not wanting to watch his friend in pain. But Dumbledore shook his head.

"Because you're the Guardian of Hogwarts, Brooklyn, I am older, cleverer, and my life is much less valuable than either of yours. Harry, it is up to you that I keep drinking this potion, even if you have to force it down my throat."

Harry nodded, and Brooklyn thought he saw tears in his eyes. His hands clenched tightly, hating Voldemort for everything while Dumbledore took the crystal goblet, filling it to the brim, then lifting it up like a toast.

"To your good health, Harry and Brooklyn."

He then drained the potion in one gulp. Brooklyn stared, watching with fear, as Dumbledore took his second glass. After that one, he shut his eyes, shaking slightly.

"Are you okay?" Brooklyn asked urgently, tail swishing, as Dumbledore shook his head, before taking a third sip of the potion. But on the fourth, it got bad, his breathing grew heavy, and he staggered against the basin, letting out small moans of agony. Harry gasped in fear.

Brooklyn realized that Dumbledore appeared to be stuck in between dreaming and being awake, shaking his head violently, whimpering. This was something that was scaring the gargoyle, he'd never seen Dumbledore frightened like this before.

"Professor!" He shouted, voice straining, while Harry ran to help steady the goblet in his hands. Dumbledore's face was so white, and sick.

"Don't want...can't make me…"

Harry's voice was also shaking, trying to help the Headmaster drink the potion while Brooklyn felt helpless, wishing he could help with what had happened to Dumbledore. Whatever Dumbledore was seeing was bad.

Harry tipped the sixth goblet into Dumbledore's mouth, who suddenly began to writhe, trying to avoid it. "W-want to stop! Make it stop…"

"Help me!" Harry yelled in terror to Brooklyn, who felt frozen in worry and fear in a trance, shook himself and quickly ran to Dumbledore, holding him there, as Harry fed him a seventh goblet down his throat.

"You have to keep drinking like you said, remember?" Harry said.

Brooklyn did his best to hold Dumbledore who continued to struggle, fighting against whatever horrible vision he was seeing right now.

"No...don't want to...let me go…"

"I-I can't let you go, sir. You told me to hold you if it got bad, please stay with us!" Brooklyn begged tearfully, hating what they were doing, having to force feed him that evil potion.

Then Dumbledore seemed to have a big seizure, his face was wrecked with pain after the ninth goblet, tears fell, as he screamed, "It's my fault, all my fault...KILL ME!"

Brooklyn himself felt in danger of crying too, as he did his best to keep it together, and hold onto Dumbledore to keep him from hurting himself physically.

Harry at last came with the last handful of potion. "This...this will make it stop, sir, only if you drink it, it will be over…"

And with that, Dumbledore drank the last goblet, giving a great shuddering gasp, and slipped from Brooklyn's hold to the ground, shaking, eyes closing shut in unconsciousness.

Brooklyn felt like he lost his own voice, a hoarse gasp coming from his own throat as he quickly went to check on him, turning Dumbledore over, putting his ear to his chest and checking his pulse, his heart thumping terribly, making his chest ache. Harry came over, holding the locket in his hands.

"Is...is he?" Harry asked in fear. Brooklyn kept checking for a pulse. To his great relief, there was one, on his neck. He nodded. "Still alive," he whispered hoarsely. Dumbledore then seemed to come to his senses, eyes opening, gazing back and forth between them.

"B-Brooklyn, Harry," he murmured in a weak voice. The gargoyle was trembling, relieved to see Dumbledore still remembering them.

"Water…" he whispered. Brooklyn quickly looked to Harry who nodded, trying to use the water spell in the goblet.

"Aguamenti!" He said, and the goblet filled once again. Harry brought it over, but it dried up. After several more tries, the brothers knew they had no choice, but to get it from the lake.

Brooklyn volunteered to do it, taking the goblet from Harry, gulping again as he began to dip the goblet in the water.

But soon as his hand hit the incredibly icy water, a cold slimy hand suddenly grabbed his wrist. The gargoyle gave a strangled shout of terror, yanking it free and scuttling backwards up the shore, sweat coming down his face, as the most gruesome vision met his eyes: the dead bodies of men, women, and children with cold lifeless eyes coming out of the lake.

Brooklyn continued backing away as they kept coming with outstretched dead hands, pulling out his redwood wand. The brothers began shouting spells, Stupefy, Sectumsempra, etc. but the Inferi were unaffected by their attempts. Brooklyn remained close to Dumbledore, shielding him with his wings, beads of sweat pouring down, continuing to try and shoot spells and kicking at several of them.

That was when he heard a splash, and Harry's screams, making Brooklyn turn sharply, eyes flashing white with panic and fear for his little brother after kicking another Inferi with his foot. He couldn't bring himself to try searching the water if Harry had fallen in. For he didn't see him fall.

Brooklyn felt alone now, even with Dumbledore there with nothing but the horrible thought of Harry perishing from the cold dead choking hold of the Inferi, white hot panic threatening to overwhelm him.

Think, Brooklyn, you have to do something! Stop panicking! The former second in command thought wildly, wracking his brain for any kind of helpful solution to get them out. That's when it clicked, the pamphlet he read, about what Inferi were afraid of: Fire!

His eyes lit up, that could work! Growling threateningly at the enemy before him, Brooklyn raised his redwood wand, and used a spell he was told about by McGonagall to create huge flames of fire bigger than Inferno.

"FLAMMA AETERNA!" He bellowed, waving his wand, enormous waves of fire bursting from it, striking the Inferi on every side, setting several of them aflame. Brooklyn's long white hair ruffled in the hot wind from the fire, he gritted his teeth in concentration. That was when he saw Harry's head come above the surface, and Brooklyn gave a shaky gasp of relief.

Harry joined him, hugging his brother tightly.

"Can you Apparate us out?" Brooklyn yelled above the roar of the flames. Harry nodded, and Brooklyn shouted a second spell to create a path through the flames near the entrance. Harry took hold of Dumbledore and Brooklyn, and managed to successfully Apparate away from that terrible evil place.

Meanwhile, Draco awoke from his sleep, remembering what he needed to do, since the Cabinet was finally fixed. He got up from his bed, going to the Room of Requirement, and awaited for the arrival of the Death Eaters with a small tinge of fear.

In Borgin and Burke's, Demona entered the Vanishing Cabinet with some Death Eaters: Bellatrix, Greyback, and Dolohov to name a few. There was a couple seconds of darkness once the door was closed. Then Bellatrix opened it, revealing the famous hidden room Draco told Demona about. The gargess with her minions stepped out, Draco backing up in fear before running away. Demona gave a cruel grin upon their entrance. She was at last in Hogwarts, their mission almost complete!

Be warned, dear Brooklyn, soon one person you're close to in this pathetic magic school will soon be gone, then I will be more than happy to wipe you away, too...