Chapter 17
Bella's POV
The Cullens, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I were going to Dumbledore's office.
Suddenly, Emmett started humming. Immediately, I recognized the tune. "Emmett, stop humming the song 'We're off to see the Wizard'!"
He scowled but complied.
"I had a vision of Voldemort," Alice explained along the way. "Well, actually, it was two. The first was very brief. He realized you'd discovered his Horcruxes. He decided to check on them. The second was a bit later. He was in this…cave. It was near the ocean, I could tell. Not much else…Anyways, there was this lake in the cave. He crossed it in this little boat, and then was on this tiny island in the center. There was this stone basin with a glowing potion in it. A locket with a serpent upon it was laying in it…I think that is a Horcrux…"
She suddenly froze mid step, her amber eyes unfocused.
"Vision," Jasper explained to my friends, who looked confused.
Alice suddenly unfroze, and began cussing.
"What?" Rosalie asked.
"Dumbledore!" Alice exclaimed. "He went to the cave! He arrived there before Voldemort, but….not by much. Dumbledore had the Horcrux, but he…he was delusional. Weak…And Voldemort…he-he k-killed him!"
"We need to stop Dumbledore!" Rosalie said adamantly.
At that, we took off, to Dumbledore's office. The gargoyle guarding it spoke before we could guess the password. "No one can go up. Dumbledore has gone away for a few hours, and none are to enter."
"He's gone!" I shrieked. No. He couldn't be…Dumbledore is smarter than that. He would have brought someone else for back up… "Already?!"
"He just left minutes ago," the gargoyle replied, annoyed.
Then I realized. The cave…he went to a cave…
Voldemort used to terrorize two other children from the orphanage, before he came to Hogwarts, in a cave…That's it! That's where he went.
And I…I had to follow.
Without a word of explanation, I slipped away from our little group wordlessly. Thankfully, none of them noticed. They were preoccupied with what to do.
I ran flew down the halls. Everyone else was at dinner…The halls were empty.
But, as a precaution, I cast a Disillusionment Charm on myself.
The front doors were still unlocked, because curfew was hours away. I slipped through them quietly.
Several members of the Order of the Phoenix and several Aurors were guarding the front gate of the school: Kingsley Shacklebolt, Hestia Jones, and Dedalus Diggle as well as an Auror I recognized to be Dawlish.
Easily, I slipped past them, out of the Anti-Disapparition barrier.
When I did, I Apparated swiftly to the cave with a faint pop.
I was surrounded by cool darkness and fresh, salty air.
I nonverbally cast a spell, and the tip of my wand lit up.
I went to the edge of the outcrop of rock I stood upon. The outcrop was connected to a high cliff. Water was gushing into a fissure in the rock of the cliff. I guess I can't Apparate directly into the cave.
Swiftly, I removed the Disillusionment Charm and took a deep breath before diving into the icy, dark water. Clutching my wand tightly, I swam the best I could into the fissure in the rock. After several agonizing minutes swimming in the sub-zero water, my feet found the bottom of the rock. Stone steps were carved into the rock. Exhausted, I weakly clambered out of the freezing water, shivering. Water streamed from my soaked, heavy robes and cloak. I felt a cut on my forehead, by my eyebrow, sticky with blood from a rock I must have grazed.
I coughed badly and loudly.
Weakly, I held my wand aloft and thought, Lumos. The wand's tip erupted in light once more.
I continued to cough, trying to get the water from my lungs.
I surveyed the room. It was an antechamber, I guessed. The farthest wall looked suspicious. I could sense magic on it. Upon closer examination, I saw what looked like stains of blood upon it, like someone had purposefully wiped blood onto it…
Carefully, I put my hand to the bloody cut on my face and wiped some of the blood onto the stone.
At once, the blood spattered rock crumbled, revealing doorway into darkness.
I saw a lit wand far up ahead.
I shivered, and suddenly coughed violently, when I heard a voice.
"Bella?"
A/N: OMFG. I went to the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie premiere last night!!!! IT ROCKED!!!!!! LOVED IT!! BEST HP MOVIE YET!!
WARNING: THE REST OF THE CHAPTERS ARE MAJOR SPOILERS FOR HPHBP BOOK & MOVIE, AS WELL AS THE DEATHLY HALLOWS!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!
I won't delete, my story, okay?
If you like my story, review.
IF I GET 20 REVIEWS IN AN HOUR, I'LL UPDATE TODAY!!!!!
