While the sun had been setting as they fled from the British Isles, here it was absolutely dark and their only source of light was from the heavens. The moon was a glowing crescent, surrounded by many stars which could only be seen far from the light pollution cast by the city. Numerous peaks of mountain, capped with snow, rose out to meet them. Meanwhile, the trees provided them with much needed concealment. Below their vantage point, Harry spotted numerous specks of light radiating from the towns below.
A lake adjacent to one of towns caught Harry's eye, causing him to turn to Dumbledore.
"Sir, where are we? Is that the healing spring that you were talking about?"
Dumbledore responded by pulling off his shoes and motioned for Harry to do the same. Were it not for the absolute seriousness that he had seen today, he would have thought that Dumbledore had indeed lost his sanity. Harry complied, trusting the older wizard's judgment. Dumbledore responded while poking and prodding with his wand, shaping the shoes as he saw fit.
"We are at a place which contains incredible history, tracing its roots back nearly a millennia ago. Following my education at Hogwarts, this was one of the first places that I visited. This place holds many secrets."
Dumbledore returned the pair of shoes to Harry. It now resembled the pair of hiking shoes he had seen Dudley's collection of unused gifts.
"Professor, that still doesn't answer my question."
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows in surprise while putting his foot into the pair of transfigured boots.
"Ah, my apologies, Harry. We are on the opposite side of Saint Moritz, the town you see below you, in the southeastern part of the Swiss Alps. The body of water which had drawn your attention earlier is a simple lake."
Harry peered around the embankment, seeing nothing but trees and mountains.
"Are we going down then? Is it below us?"
Instead, Dumbledore nodded in the direction of the trees and tilted his head upwards, seemingly searching for something hidden. He turned to Harry, looking much less stressed despite the events that had occurred earlier, and smiled.
"Like all good journeys that involve self discovery and unknown magic, the hero must often traverse through the mysterious forests or to some foreign land. We will do both."
Their arrival to this serene, majestic place of nature had soothed Harry's fears and doubts. His past worries seemed almost insignificant in this wondrous land. It was almost magical. Perhaps this was one of the secrets that Dumbledore was talking about. But the man's statement about the hero weighed heavily in his heart, causing him to see flashes of his earlier actions.
"Hero, Professor? Is that what I am, what we are? Even after the event at the Ministry, do you still think that I am a hero?"
The twinkle in his headmaster's eyes dimmed and the man placed a hand on his shoulder, reassuring him. Sadness crept into the man's voice.
"So long as you walk the path of the righteous, you will always be a hero even if the people do not understand you. You are the hero the people need, just not the one that they need at this moment. And on the day when they will require your help, you will do so without thought, rushing to their side for that is who you are, a hero."
The words inspired Harry, providing him with much need strength, emotional and physical. Dumbledore squeezed his shoulder and then Harry opened his mouth to respond.
"Thank you, Professor."
Dumbledore smiled, looking very much like the leader of the Order of the Phoenix and not like a headmaster.
"You're very welcome, Harry. Now, we must begin our journey post haste. If our arrival should coincide with the moon reaching its apex, then we will have gained the highest possible benefit from the magic. Which I estimate,"
Dumbledore pulled out a pocket watch that contained twelve hands which was fitted with little planets.
"…will take us approximately two hours and eighteen minutes. In the meantime, I will send Fawkes out on an errand and then we will take action not with our mouths but with our feet."
Dumbledore procured several sealed envelopes from one of his trunks and proceeded to tap each envelope with his wand, causing it to flare with a green color. For a brief second, Harry thought he spotted glowing green writing but it was gone, leaving him with nothing but a fuzzy afterimage. The man then produced what appeared to be two hot peppers from his inside his robe and placed one in his mouth before giving the other to his phoenix. The bird ate the pepper with delight and then took the envelopes in its talons, disappearing with the same flame that had brought the two wizards to Saint Moritz. They turned and stepped into the trees while Dumbledore paused to address Harry.
"Until I am certain that you are no longer susceptible to foreign influence, I cannot return your wand to you. But fear not, you shall not need your wand."
"Why is that, Professor?"
"Because you are with me."
With that, they stepped into the dark and began their quest for knowledge.
-
The trees rustled, giving off the sensation the copse was alive. Thin silvery light from the moon penetrated the leaves and the branches, creating small patterns on the ground. They walked in silence and without wandlight for Dumbledore did not want to alert any who might be watching. After some indeterminate amount of time, they stopped when they abruptly reached a wall of rock leading up to the mountain top. The only way forward would be to climb the steep mountain or to go around it. Dumbledore craned his neck, looking up but it seemed that he was not staring at what was in front of him but rather, he was staring at something beyond it.
His next few words did not bode well for Harry's physical condition.
"Now Harry, we climb."
He gaped at Dumbledore, surprised by Dumbledore's plan. His own legs were sore and his lungs were dry and burning from the cold, thin air. He could not imagine having to climb up the rather vertical rock, let alone image that the headmaster possessed the strength and endurance to perform such a feat.
"Sir, is there any way for us to go around it? I don't think I have it in me to climb that."
Dumbledore walked to the wall and Harry expected him to draw his wand, charm or magic their way up the mountain but once again, he was surprised by the man's actions. The headmaster proceeded to climb unaided as if he was in the prime of his youth.
"Fear not, Harry for as daunting as the task may seem, nothing is impossible so long as we have the will."
Exhausted and worn out from the day's events, his body protested as he took after Dumbledore and felt the cool, hard rock beneath his hand. After half an hour of climbing, he was panting from sheer tiredness. On the other hand, Dumbledore appeared not to be tired at all. It was impossible. As if he had heard Harry's thoughts, the man addressed his astounding strength.
"It is unthinkable is it not? That a man my age should surpass a strong, healthy young man like yourself?"
Once again, the man had no problem projecting his voice and did not even appear to be short of breath. In contrast, Harry could barely draw enough air to respond to the former headmaster of Hogwarts.
"How are you doing that? Did you," he panted and pulled in more air to relieve his burning muscles.
"…cast a spell or enchantment of some sort?"
Dumbledore placed his foot on an out cropping of rock and part of it crumbled, sending debris down at Harry.
"Neither, Harry. There is more than one way to use our magic, to shape the impossible. A wand and incantation is one way for us to manifest our dreams. Yet, there are other methods, unknown to many except in their subconscious where they sometimes find it within their power to achieve extraordinary feats of magic. This, my friend, is true magic. Almost limitless in power and bound only by imagination and belief."
Dumbledore had answered his question but only confused him further and left him with more questions.
"Professor, I don't think I understand."
Dumbledore chuckled, sounding very carefree.
"Do you remember what you told me, at the base of the mountain?"
His hands were raw and Harry was pretty sure that his hands were callused.
"I told you that I didn't have it in me to climb this."
Dumbledore stopped, slowing their progress up the mountain.
"Very good and where are we now?"
Harry looked around them and then looked down towards their starting position. They had not made it very far.
"Maybe a hundred or two hundred feet, why?"
Dumbledore flipped his pocket watch open and pressed a button on the side of it. Whatever he was looking for, it was good because the old man appeared satisfied.
"Would it be inconceivable to suggest that perhaps we have climbed much further than a few hundred feet? Look again, Harry and tell me what you see."
Harry looked downwards again and what he saw was so shocking that he almost lost his grip and would have fallen to his death. Like Dumbledore had implied, they climbed not just a few hundred feet. They were now halfway above the mountain.
"Professor," he gasped, breathless with wonder and shock. "How is this is possible?"
"There are places on this earth that do not follow the rules of nature and science. You may find more or less time has elapsed. At other places, the most damaged man may come to walk once again, healed to the point that even us wizards would find it to be a miracle. In fact, some wizards have reported feeling the presence of god himself."
Dumbledore started their climb once again. Though instead of moving up the mountain, he now shuffled to his right.
"Harry, I must ask. Are you a man of faith?"
Harry pondered the man's question. Sure, they went to church during Christmas and Easter at the Dursley's but he had never given it much thought.
"I suppose I am. Why do you ask?"
Suddenly, Harry felt his hand come into contact with wet rock and immediately stopped. A thin stream of cool water was running down the side of the mountain, running off the top of some peak that he could not see. The water disappeared below him but he did not see it form a body of water of any type. Dumbledore made the first move and crossed over this stream on the side of the mountain. As soon as Harry crossed over, a sensation of lightness and hope entered him.
"Then I must insist that you place your trust in me. For every leap of faith that we take, we find that it only leads us to the next great adventure."
As soon as the words left the wise wizard's mouth, he jumped. Reaching out to grasp the older wizard's robes, anything that would help save the man, he felt nothing but air. Harry yelled, calling the professor's name but the man dropped passed him. Looking below him, Dumbledore was free falling to his end. But maybe, it was possible that this was all part of the plan and that Dumbledore would survive. Trusting that the headmaster was correct, Harry steeled himself and dropped through the cold air.
Wind was rushing around him while his heart began pumping so furiously that blood was thundering in his ears. The mountain grew taller as gravity pulled him downwards but all of a sudden, his body made contact with water and he plummeted deep underneath the surface. Realizing that there was no pain, he immediately swam to the top, guided by a soft light that danced across the surface.
A strong hand grasped his shoulder and pulled him onto dry land.
"You are now standing in the same spot that stood in when I first discovered this wondrous place."
Harry pulled in heaps of air and glanced around him. It was dark out yet everything was visible as if he had somehow gained the ability to see in the dark.
"Professor, the light is strange here. There's something to it. It is as if everything is glowing."
Sure enough, the light the guided him to the surface was the same light that appeared to permeate everything here, from the trees to the rocks and even the water seemed to possess this ethereal glow.
"Very astute, Harry. I must commend your keen senses. The light here behaves much differently than it does anywhere else on this earth. Here, the rules which bind nature are much weaker. Tell me, what else do you see?"
While Harry was observing his surroundings, Dumbledore placed a cupped hand into the water and scooped out and handful of water to drink.
"Ah, this is simply divine. It is perhaps, the cleanest and purest source of water in the world. My deepest regret is that I cannot bottle it and take it with me."
"Why is that?"
"Well Harry, the moment this water leaves this place, it becomes ordinary. No, that is incorrect. It would be more apt to say that it becomes tainted."
Harry drew in a breath, enraptured by this mysterious place.
"Tainted, sir? What does that?"
Dumbledore ladled more water with his hands, drinking as if he was dying of thirst.
"Can you posit a guess, Harry?"
He looked around and noticed something immediately. There was nothing else here except for them. Everywhere he looked, he saw no signs of life except for the trees. Then, he realized what Dumbledore wanted him to see.
"Professor Dumbledore! The water, it's flowing up!"
Sure enough, the stream of water which had been flowing down the side of the mountain formed what appeared to be a waterfall, leading to this spring. But that was wrong. Instead, it wasn't a waterfall. The water was streaming upwards, stretching up the mountain reaching to the stars. Dumbledore began fiddling in his robes for something. The man pulled from his drenched robes, the twelve handed pocket watch.
"Correct once again, Harry. And now it is time. Enter the water with me, if you will."
They steeped back into the spring, Dumbledore leaving his questions unanswered once again.
"Now Harry, have you ever learned how to swim?"
The Dursleys, as terrible as they were, taught him to not drown himself.
"Yes, sir I know how to swim. Otherwise, I wouldn't have made it past the second task in the Triwizard Tournament."
Dumbledore chuckled, peering once more at his watch.
"That was an awfully ingenious use of Gillyweed. Even one unlearned in the skill of swimming would have succeeded at getting to their target. Now, I trust that you are aware of the breathing exercise young children must do to become comfortable in water?"
Harry remembered quite well though it couldn't be called an exercise if Dudley was shoving his head underwater while he had to blow bubbles in it.
"I remember pretty well."
"Then on the count of ten, instead of breathing into the water, I want you to inhale the water."
He thought back to the leap of faith that he made and saw where it brought him. This time he wasn't afraid and when Dumbledore counted down to one, he plunged his face into the cool surface and took in a breath. As the water entered his lungs, all of his fears and worries melted away. Then, the images flashed in his head. All of a sudden, he began to experience it all.
-
They were climbing down the rock wall, him and the other two from the orphanage. They were terrified, thinking that they would fall and hurt themselves. But he had made sure that they wouldn't be hurt. He was special and he wanted to show them how special he was. They entered the cave and then, his vision flashed.
Freak, the chubby boy called him. Dudley and his gang chased him all around school and suddenly he ended up on the roof, leaving the boys confused below. Then, it melted away and Dudley became one of the older boys at the orphanage.
"You're a little freak, Riddle."
It made his blood boil and then they pinned back his arms and began pummeling away. They were in a cold stone room at the orphanage and no one usually came down here. No one would come by to help him. He wanted it to stop. It hurt so much and they wouldn't stop even though he cried out in pain. It was unbearable and he wished that they would feel what he felt and suddenly, the biggest boy let him go.
They were all crying out in pain, falling to their knees with raised arms to defend from some unseen aggressor. He watched, fascinated as invisible blows landed on their arms, face and presumably the rest of their body. He heard something crack and when he turned, blood was oozing from the nose of sandy haired boy. He stepped up to the leader and spoke.
"No one pushes me around. I'm not a freak. I'm special and one day, you will regret it all."
With that, he slammed the heel of his shoe into the boy's temple right as the door flew open.
Another flash and he was in a classroom at Hogwarts, the spring breeze blew through an open window, making Dumbledore's auburn beard fly from the tucked position in the man's belt.
Complex magical theorems decorated the board and he volunteered to demonstrate to the man who he hated so much.
"Mr. Riddle, would you be willing to lend your rather prodigious skill for this demonstration?"
The yew wand whipped in the air, and he did not need to glance at the diagrams, skilled that he was.
"Certainly, Professor. I believe this is an appropriate use of element transfiguration."
The bundle of cloth rose into the air and split itself in half. One half spun and became a glass goblet while the other half became water that splashed into the cup. He twisted his wand and suddenly, glass became metal and water became wine.
"A drink for you, Professor Dumbledore. A toast to the man who defeated the Dark Wizard Grindelwald!"
The other student's materials burst into goblets with pungent wine, awing them with his incredible power and skill. Dumbledore smiled and did not look amused.
"Twenty points to the most accomplished student Hogwarts has ever seen, barring myself of course. That was a most extraordinary display of magic and your NEWT examiner will marvel at you skill on this coming month. Do humble yourself and do not forget liquid to solid transfiguration."
The wine leapt out of the goblets before the students could drink it and formed into wood while the goblets became sharp iron. The headmaster's blue eyes pierced into him and he felt as if all his secrets were laid bare, but anger rose in him and he made sure his Occlumency had not failed. He smoldered at the insult and would use the old man to create a Horcrux one day.
Unexpectedly, the visions ended and Dumbledore pulled him out of the water. The memories were so vivid. It was as if he had lived it. Then he realized it. Despite the disturbing insight into Voldemort's mind, his head felt clearer than ever.
"Harry, what did you see?"
He felt better than ever, empowered even and perhaps healed.
"I saw him, Professor. Lord Voldemort. I saw him in his youth and I saw him at Hogwarts. It was so real, as if I was there and I had lived it. He made…"
Harry trailed off, eyeing the wand that was now in Dumbledore's hand. A thought entered him, maybe it would work. Dumbledore made to respond but Harry cut him off.
"Sir, would it be alright if I borrowed your wand or mine? Just for a minute. I want to try something out."
Dumbledore appeared cautious, his keen gaze met Harry's and suddenly he could sense Dumbledore in his mind so he pushed. The headmaster withdrew his magic immediately and with it, his demeanor changed as well.
"Marvelous! It was rather rudimentary but I must applaud your attempt. Now that I am less worried about an attack on my person, I will no longer hold your wand for safekeeping."
Dumbledore handed him his wand and it felt wonderful. The holly wood warmed his fingers but he was still preoccupied, not sharing Dumbledore's enthusiasm.
"Sir, would it be alright if I performed magic here? Given the saturation in the air?"
The headmaster lost some of his energy and appeared thoughtful.
"You would be absolutely correct in thinking that the magical saturation will hide us from any who would look for us. The Trace itself would not have an effect here, having traveled as far as we have. Though I wonder, where did you come to find such knowledge, Harry? I have not yet begun to instruct you."
Harry pointed the wand away from the headmaster, not wanting to provoke an attack and responded to the man's question with his magic. The rock to his left split in two and half formed a crystal goblet, though misshapen, and the other half formed murky water.
"This is the part where you transfigure the remains into sharp iron and wood, Professor."
He had never seen Dumbledore's face undergo so many transformations but again, the man's features shifted into shock and then into pensive thought. While the man was thinking of a response, Harry asked a few questions of his own.
"Professor Dumbledore, you never answered my question earlier. What is this place? What happened to me under there?"
He inclined his head to the water, where he somehow gained memories of his nemesis.
"Most importantly, where are we?"
Dumbledore snapped out of his reverie and at once, his eyes took on a faint twinkle as thoughts raced in his rather impressive brain.
"I can only posit at what happened to you underneath that water for your response was quite unnatural. I speculate that it is due to the unique bond that you and Voldemort share but I will go into this at a later date. Come, we must set up camp and prepare ourselves to rest. Answers come to us in our dreams and I intend to have many dreams tonight."
The man helped him out of the water and they began towards a wooded area, secluded and easy to fortify. Dumbledore turned to him and answered his most curious question.
"Where we are, Harry is only an educated guess and as such, may be completely wrong. But I believe that we are in one of the many scattered pieces of Eden."