Chapter 206 The Great Black Lake

"Tell me, Kreacher," Sirius clenched his fist and growled loudly. "How can I pass through here?"

"It needs blood, young Master," Kreacher said intermittently, pointing to a large rock with a smooth appearance in front of Dumbledore. "Kreacher saw the Dark Lord sprinkle blood over the rock, and Master Regulus did the same at his time. He cut his arm and then..."

Sirius stared blankly for a moment, seeming not to fully grasp what Kreacher was trying to convey.

Behind him, the expressions on Harry and Hermione's faces were filled with concern, gazing at the rock with horror, as if something ominous was about to emerge from it. They heard Kreacher mention blood and couldn't help but conjure up all sorts of unpleasant images.

Unlike them, Evan took a step forward.

He positioned himself behind Dumbledore and carefully observed the rock that Kreacher was pointing to.

Indeed, from the moment he entered the cave, he sensed a difference on that side, although the rock didn't appear distinct from the surrounding rock wall.

However, Evan could sense something amiss. This feeling was ethereal. He didn't know how to describe it, not in terms of sight or touch, but in the sense that the magic there felt more abnormal than anywhere else.

It was as if a normal light suddenly shattered in a certain position.

"All magic leaves traces, and you must use your heart to feel," Dumbledore whispered, taking a few steps back and watching to see if Evan noticed.

"Use my heart..." Evan was unsure what to do.

He simply instinctively felt that the magical reaction in the rock before him was abnormal, but he couldn't pinpoint the anomaly.

Dumbledore didn't just watch, he used his wand to point at the rock before him.

For a moment, an arc was delineated there, bright and white as if there was a powerful light behind the crack.

"You've done it!" Harry exclaimed cheerfully.

He had just fallen into unease due to Kreacher's words, but Dumbledore's action immediately instilled a glimmer of hope in his heart.

Dumbledore was there, they didn't want to shed blood on the rock at all, and now they could pass through it without doing so.

But before the words left his mouth, the silhouette vanished, leaving the rock as bare and solid as ever, with nothing on it.

"Professor."

"Kreacher is right; we really need to give blood to pass through here," Dumbledore looked at him and said calmly, "I thought I had succeeded, but it's so primitive."

"I don't understand why we need blood to pass through here," Harry said hesitantly. "And, so primitive, what does that mean?"

"Exactly, Riddle's magic demands a payment from us; we must weaken ourselves to enter, that's why I said it's so primitive."

Dumbledore sounded disdainful, even disappointed, as if Voldemort hadn't reached the highest standards Dumbledore expected. "Once again, Lord Voldemort fails to grasp that there are far more terrible things than physical injury."

"Yes, but still, if it can be avoided..."

"Sometimes, however, it is inevitable; we must deal with the rules of magic," said Dumbledore, tucking his uninjured hand into his robes and pulling out a small silver knife of the kind used for potion ingredients.

"No, Professor."

Seeing Dumbledore raise his short knife, Evan, Harry, and Hermione hurried to stop him.

They all knew what Dumbledore intended to do, but they didn't know what to say. If someone had to bleed, they should choose one of themselves rather than allowing Dumbledore to do it.

"I'll do it, I am..." Harry began hastily.

But someone was quicker than him. Just as they blocked Dumbledore, Sirius had made up his mind. He swiftly moved to the side of the rock. The tip of his wand flickered, his arm burst into red, and the face of the rock was splattered with dark, glistening drops.

"Sirius," Harry said, slowly turning his head in disbelief. His face paled, and he hurried towards Sirius in a panic.

Dumbledore, Evan, and Hermione also hurried over. They saw that the wound on Sirius's arm was severe, with blood flowing uncontrollably.

"You should let me do it, Sirius; your blood is worth more than mine."

Dumbledore traced the tip of his wand over the deep gash Sirius had inflicted on his arm, and the wound instantly healed.

"No, he must do it. This is for Regulus..." Sirius looked up and weakly replied, "Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Is this blood enough? If you want, I can do it again."

"I believe it's sufficient," Dumbledore said, gazing at the shifting wall and softly added, "The effect is quite evident."

The shimmering silver outline of an arch had reappeared on the wall once more, and this time it did not fade away.

The blood-spattered rock simply vanished, revealing an opening to what seemed like total darkness.

"Let's go in, it's better if you follow me and draw your wands," Dumbledore said, stepping through the door.

Sirius, Evan, Harry, Hermione, and Kreacher followed suit, hastily lighting their wands.

Before them lay a chilling sight.

Although they had heard about it from Kreacher before, the actual scene they witnessed was more striking than any words or imagination.

At that moment, they stood on the edge of a vast black lake.

The lake was so vast and endless that they couldn't make out the shores in the distance.

The cavern was so high that even the ceiling was out of sight.

A misty greenish light shone in the distance at what appeared to be the center of the lake; it reflected on the completely still water below.

The greenish glow and the light from the five wands were the only things breaking the velvety night, though their beams didn't penetrate as far as they would have expected. The darkness was somehow denser than normal darkness.

It was hard to imagine they were in the cavern inside the cliff.

Through that arch, Evan thought they had entered a different realm. He couldn't fathom how Voldemort did it. He couldn't imagine how powerful it would be to transform an ordinary cave into what this seemed.

"Kreacher, Regulus's body..." Sirius suddenly said, with a strange tone, not the usual shout but rather tinged with sadness, "Tell me where his body is."

"There is an island in the middle of the lake, young Master." Tears welled up uncontrollably in Kreacher's large eyes. He sniffled as he wiped away the tears. "Kreacher was there at that time; Kreacher saw how Master Regulus was dragged into the lake by the hands of the Inferi."