Harry stared at the back of Dumbledore's head as he muttered and hummed while talking to himself about the wards bound to the crystal basin protecting the Horcrux inside. He didn't disturb the man while Dumbledore tried to discern the nature of the wards and barriers. Instead, his eyes were peeled open, and he observed the lake, which was made of a potion surrounding them from all sides. The unnatural stillness of the lake gave him an eerie feeling, and he felt like a hundred eyes were staring at him in hunger from beneath the waters.
'Creepy cave.' Harry thought as he stared around the darkened cave in full alert.
"Simply marvellous! I daresay this is one of Tom's best creations. He has used an intricate pattern of charms and wards interwoven so finely we will have to drain the crystal basin manually to get to the Horcrux." Dumbledore declared with some excitement and a hint of pride.
"Are you seriously complimenting the Dark Lord's skill at this time, sir? He has made our work more difficult, not easy." Harry deadpanned, seeing the excitement in Dumbledore's eyes.
"Ah! You're right, of course." Dumbledore cleared his throat embarrassedly, "I'm afraid this is the most I have been excited about in the last decade. I simply forgot myself."
"Anywho, I believe I have found a remedy to our dilemma. This potion cannot be magically tampered with. So, we must drain it physically."
"Then, I'll simply throw the potion into the lake." said Harry.
"Ah, no. That won't do. I believe the potion must be consumed. Otherwise, it'll just replenish the potion in the basin." said Dumbledore.
"We don't know what the potion will do. It might be poison." Harry warned, showing concern for the well-being of Dumbledore.
Sometimes, he marvelled at his ability to act. Also, he couldn't help but think Dumbledore forgot he had magic. It'd be so easy to transfigure a pebble into an animal and have that animal consume the potion. Even if that didn't work, the snake summoning spell could easily function as a backup, as the spell summoned a real-life serpent instead of a pale imitation of a transfiguration spell.
"I do not think so, my boy. Tom wants anyone who attempts to take his Horcrux alive and captured so that he can interrogate them and learn their secrets. This potion is designed to incapacitate, not kill." Dumbledore deduced with a thoughtful look directed at the potion in the crystal basin.
"But surely, sir, there must be another way." Harry said earnestly.
"I'm afraid not, my boy." Dumbledore said with finality, "This potion might tamper with my senses and chip away at my resolve. No matter what, you must ensure I consume the potion until the Horcrux appears. Even if you have to force-feed me the potion, you must do so because gaining possession of the Horcrux is paramount. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir." Harry agreed with a nod.
"Good." Dumbledore nodded before conjuring a cup into his hand.
Without wasting more time, Dumbledore dipped the cup into the basin and filled it with the potion. He brought the cup to his lips before winking at Harry.
"To your good health, Harry." Dumbledore said before draining the potion in the cup in one go.
Harry watched this with excitement bubbling within his mind. He stared at Dumbledore as the man continued to take three more cups full of potion from the basin and drain them in one go. However, On the fourth attempt, Dumbledore's legs wobbled, and the old man fell to his knees with a painful groan. Dumbledore's eyes were closed, but Harry could see the man's eyes moving restlessly behind the eyelids as if reliving a terrible dream. Dumbledore let out a pitiful whimper reminiscent of a kicked puppy.
Harry saw Dumbledore drop the cup, which he caught and helped steady the headmaster.
From there, Harry took over. He force-fed the potion to Dumbledore just like he promised.
"No! Please stop! Please stop!" Dumbledore whimpered, shaking his head with his ocean-blue eyes becoming dull
"A little more, sir." Harry said, pouring four more cups of potion into Dumbledore's mouth.
"No! Please don't do this to me. I'll do anything. Please, I beg you." Dumbledore whimpered pitifully.
"It'll be over soon, sir. Just one more." Harry consoled the man as he poured more cups of potion into Dumbledore's mouth.
Dumbledore continued to beg and ask for an end in all kinds of pitiful ways as Harry supported the man against his shoulder and fed him the potion.
Harry couldn't discern the potion Voldemort used despite his knowledge of the subject. He theorised that the potion induced nightmarish memories in a loop. As the Dark Lord wanted anyone breaching the cave incapacitated, he suspected the potion was designed to attack the mind. After all, weakening the mind of an enemy was the easy way to cripple a wizard's magical power.
"I want to die! Please, let me die!" Dumbledore sobbed.
Harry was overcome with pity and grief watching an old man like Dumbledore beg so pitifully for death. He was tempted to abandon this pointless exercise and take Dumbledore away from the cave. At the same time, the rational side of his mind kept him grounded in the fact that Dumbledore's time was over. The potion-induced suffering only played a small part in weakening the old man, as death was ensured by the withering curse ravaging Dumbledore's body.
Therefore, Harry hardened his heart and tried his best to weather the painful, pitiful sounds from Dumbledore.
Finally, the last cup of the potion was fed to Dumbledore, and the locket appeared at the bottom of the crystal basin.
"We got the locket, sir." Harry said, plucking the locket out of the basin and showing it to Dumbledore.
Of course, Dumbledore was not in a state of mind to notice the locket was not teeming with dark magic.
"Water. Please, give me some water." Dumbledore moaned.
Harry conjured a block of granite and helped Dumbledore to lean against the solid surface. With his hands now free, he placed the cup on the floor and summoned a jet of water from his wand to fill the cup with clean water.
"Water, sir." Harry placed the cup against Dumbledore's lips.
He poured the water against Dumbledore's lips and helped the man to drink the water slowly. His attention shifted to the lake surrounding their position as he heard the splash of water.
Harry flicked his wand and fired off a bright ball of light that soared over the lake's top layer. As he suspected, he could see rotting humanoid hands breaking out of the top layer of water.
'Inferi.' Harry thought with a scowl.
A foul smell started to seep into his nose, forcing Harry to cast the bubble-head charm on Dumbledore and himself. Just as he finished casting the charm over Dumbledore, his eyes fell on the Elder Wand, lying innocently on the floor. Dumbledore's fingers were barely touching the wand's rough surface.
Therefore, Harry found it all too easy to take the Elder Wand away from Dumbledore into his left hand. He felt a surge of power within his body as his magic bonded with the Elder Wand. Though the cascading effect of his magic took him aback, he was not blind to his surroundings.
Therefore, he was quick to act by firing off a wide-area banishing spell, which blasted away a couple of animated corpses sneaking into his blind spot. Standing up, he turned his wand on the rest of the inferi in the cave.
He jabbed the Elder Wand at the lake and amassed a dense quantity of magic.
"Fiendfyre."
Angry red-hot flames poured out of the tip of the Elder Wand with a roar. The hell flames burned away the inferi trying to claw their way into the rocky platform Harry and Dumbledore were standing. The corpses let out horrible screams and wails as the hellish flames burned away the corpses. Harry thanked his lucky stars for he had the presence of mind to use the bubble-head charm. Otherwise, he suspected the foul odour of burnt flesh would invade his sensitive nose.
The flames pouring out from the top of his wand blasted away any attempts from the inferi to touch the edge of the rocky platform he was standing on. The few inferi that tried to swim close to the platform got a healthy dose of the hellish flames even though they were partially submerged in the lake. The potion in the lake boiled as Harry directed the cursed fire to devour the inferi that dared to break the top layer of the lake. He could see the flames once caught on an animated corpse refused to snuff out even under the lake.
Feeling the power within him surge to the natural maliciousness of the Fiendfyre curse, he strengthened his magic and forced the flames to coalesce into a corporeal form. The angry red flames of the cursed fire converged together and took on the mighty form of a lion.
'Burn them all!' Harry screamed in his mind as he directed the lion at the rest of the inferi.
The amassed cursed fire in the form of a giant lion broke into a sprint with its fiery maw wide open and dived head-first into the lake. The cave was suddenly filled with steam as the lake made of potion boiled and evaporated under the intense heat of the Fiendfyre curse. Harry placed an additional shield charm around himself and Dumbledore as the lake superheated and more fumes filled the cave.
Within the safety of the shield charm, Harry marvelled at the ease with which he was controlling the Fiendfyre curse. He no longer felt the mental strain of keeping an iron-clad hold on the cursed flames.
Instead, he felt like his dominance over the Fiendfyre curse was complete and absolute with the Elder Wand. Usually, certain dark curses that required negative emotions to fuel the spell were challenging to maintain for a long time. But with the Elder Wand, he no longer felt that strain in his mind. He still had his Occlumency shields on his mind, and his will remained connected to the cursed flames, but it felt like just any other spell.
'Fascinating! Is this the true power of the Elder Wand?' Harry wondered absently as he directed the blazing lion to consume all the inferi taking refuge at the bottom of the lake.
The last drops of liquid in the lake became steam, and the cursed fire replaced the lake around the rock he was standing on. After making sure not a single inferi survived his purge, he tugged at the core of the magical power, keeping the Fiendfyre curse. The cursed flames were sucked into the tip of the Elder Wand with little resistance to his will. The cursed flames disappeared from the cave, leaving only steam stuck inside.
"Harry!"
Harry whirled around to see Dumbledore regaining some of his faculties and staring at him with wide eyes.
"You… the cursed flames… How?" Dumbledore stuttered, his blue eyes swirling with slight disorientation and skin sweating profusely, trying desperately to fight off the potion's influence.
Harry calmly looked at Dumbledore, but he refused to utter a single word. The time for words was long gone in his mind. There was only one thing left to do as the fall of Dumbledore would pave the way for his rise as the centrepiece on the board. Harry raised the Elder Wand and pointed it straight between Dumbledore's ocean-blue eyes.
"Legilimens."
He powered through the barely coherent protections surrounding Dumbledore's mind like a raging bull. The potion's influence also helped as Dumbledore's mind laid open before his intrusion. Memories flittered by as he searched after the specifics of the old man's plans and political connections. He smashed through any attempts made by Dumbledore to resist him quite painfully and ruthlessly. Dumbledore was screaming as his brutal legilimens attack tore through the man's mind without care, seeking out every piece of information.
Once Harry ensured Dumbledore's mind was bereft of any defence and incapable of forming one after his assault, he jabbed his Holly wand against Dumbledore's temple. He started extracting memories he found interesting and valuable for the days ahead. He secured memory after memory containing information about Dumbledore's political allies and opponents in the Wizengamot into a glass vial he secured in his Mokeskin pouch.
When he was done, he held in his hands decades of crucial information that could serve his interests in the law-making body of wizarding Britain and even on influential foreign wizards. He also took his time to extract every piece of useful information about magic swirling inside Dumbledore's head, as well as the detailed studies conducted on the Deathly Hallows.
When he was finally done extracting anything useful from Dumbledore, he pulled back from the old man's mind.
"All this… and you never used it to change magical Britain for the better." Harry said with a snort. "Instead, you pampered and allowed to breed the likes of Malfoy and Nott in society, hiding behind a twisted form of pacifism which spat on the sacrifices and pain of thousands. But this ends now."
"Imperio."
Dumbledore became docile under the Unforgivable curse and Harry gained total command over Dumbledore's senses and mind. He raised his wand straight up, gathering his magic for another spell.
"Confringo."
The power of his spell was such that the blasting curse smashed a sizeable hole in the roof of the cave. The seawater rushed into the cave from the hole he blew open at the ceiling. But Harry was unbothered by this fact. He grabbed hold of Dumbledore's shoulder and assumed his spirit form. He flew out of the cave with Dumbledore in the form of glittery grey smoke and apparated away to Hogsmeade.
******
"Why a pretty little thing like ye' out this dark, eh?" the slurred words of drunk Hogsmeade resident made Tonks eye the bearded man out of the corner of her eyes.
"Come with me, lass, and I'll show ye a good time." The drunk placed his hand on her thigh, making Tonks' eyes twitch.
She caught the man's offending arm, twisted it in quick order and slammed the drunk idiot on the counter of the bar. Her glass of firewhisky lay forgotten on the counter as she fished out her wand and placed it against the neck of the drunkard.
"Lay your hands on me again, and you can forget ever seeing all fingers on your hand." Tonks growled.
The drunkard just moaned against the counter. She had the suspicion that the drunkard was enjoying getting beaten up by a woman, so she growled in frustration.
"You ain't gonna get through his thick skull, lass. That man drowned half a bottle of firewhisky and two bottles of butterbeer today. You'll be lucky he even remembers his name." Aberforth said with a snort, eyeing Tonks and the drunkard while cleaning glasses from behind a counter.
Tonks rolled her eyes but let go of her hold on the drunkard. To her amusement, the drunk wizard pinned on the counter was now snoring away.
"You want another pint?" Aberforth offered, taking a bottle of Firewhisky. "It's on the house."
"No. It's time for a patrol on the southern edge." Tonks said, draining her glass of Firewhisky and standing up from her seat after placing a couple of knuts on the counter.
Aberforth just nodded, and Tonks walked out of the bar with her hat tucked beneath her arm while adjusting the gloves on her hands. Once outside the bar, she tucked her pink hair and neatly swept it behind her ears before placing her cap on her head. She quickly put a warming charm and repelling charm on her coat as she stepped into the cold night, starting her patrol of the southern side of the village.
A few minutes into the patrol, she heard the telltale sound of an apparition right behind her back. Tonks whirled around with wand in hand, a stunning spell on the forefront of her mind, but she cooled down once she saw a familiar bright silvery robe and long white beard of Dumbledore.
"Dumbledore!" Tonks cried as she ran towards the hunched-over figure in the dark.
It was then she saw another figure in the dark holding up Dumbledore. Tonks directed her wand at the dark figure and lit up her wand with the Lumos spell.
"Harry!" Tonks gasped in surprise as she took hold of Dumbledore's free hand, which helped to stabilise a tired Dumbledore.
"Oh, hey, Tonks."
"What is going on? Why are you out here at this hour? What happened to Dumbledore?" Tonks asked with wide eyes as she looked back and forth between Dumbledore and Harry.
"We were hunting something that belonged to the Dark Lord. There were protections guarding that spot, and Dumbledore, the stubborn man he is, chose to head right heedless of the danger." Harry replied as they carefully carried the Headmaster through the night towards the castle.
Tonks helped Dumbledore into a wooden plank Harry conjured. Together, they transported Dumbledore by levitating the headmaster straight into Hogwarts while she sent a messenger patronus to Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall.
Ten minutes later, Tonks watched Madam Pomfrey fussing over Dumbledore in a hospital bed. Harry was sitting on another bed with a pepper-up potion in his hand at the insistence of Madam Pomfrey.
"He is not responding to anything. What happened to him?" Madam Pomfrey worriedly asked as she cast diagnostic charms one after the other.
Suddenly, McGonagall came marching into the infirmary out of breath and looked upon the bedridden Dumbledore with stunned disbelief.
"Albus!" McGonagall cried and rushed to his bedside.
"Pomona, what happened to him?" McGonagall asked urgently.
"I do not know. His health is deteriorating, and I have done all that I can to stabilise him, but…"
"But what?" McGonagall asked worriedly.
"He is not responding to my spells." said Madam Pomfrey with a troubled look. "He had been unconscious when Miss Tonks and Mr Potter brought him to the infirmary. He remains unconscious even now."
"Potter!" McGonagall whirled on Harry with a desperate look. "Tell me what is going on? Now!"
Harry started recounting the day's events, and Tonks couldn't help but stare at Harry with her mouth agape. The entire tale sounded like one from the fanciful tales she used to read as a child. But hearing something of the like from Harry's mouth just emphasised how eventful Harry's school life was compared to hers. There was also the sheer incredulity she felt when Harry recounted Dumbledore's decision to consume a potion made by the Dark Lord while Harry combated hundreds of inferi in a dark cave. All of this was in pursuit of a secret special object supposedly capable of weakening the Dark Lord. She couldn't help but imagine how many other stupendous events happened in Harry's life while he was in Hogwarts in the past. Compared to that, her Hogwarts life was boring.
'Of course, I didn't have a murderous Dark Lord after my head, so there is that…' Tonks thought, feeling a surge of pity for her distant cousin.
No matter how powerful or how used Harry grew to situations like this, she felt Harry deserved to be carefree like any other teen in Hogwarts.
"Perhaps, ma'am, we should let Harry rest for the night. He has been through a horrible ordeal. We can ask for more details tomorrow." Tonks spoke up before the two witches could continue the interrogation.
For Merlin's sake, Harry looked like he was about to fall dead any minute and Tonks was not having that happen in her presence.
"Yes… yes… you're right, Miss Tonks." McGonagall suddenly looked disoriented and a touch compassionate as she stared at Harry. "Please go to your dorms, Harry. Straight to bed and sleep as best as you can."
After that, McGonagall swiftly addressed Madam Pomfrey.
"Pomona, can you give Harry a sleeping potion? He'll need the rest after these unfortunate events."
"Yes, yes, of course." Madam Pomfrey promptly ran towards the cupboard and started searching for the potion.
"Miss Tonks, will you be okay with escorting Harry to the Gryffindor tower? I must ask for Severus and Horace's expertise. We have the best potion masters in our school. I'm sure they can find an antidote to whatever potion Albus drank." McGonagall said with an increasingly calm and collected voice as she regained her bearings.
"Of course, professor." Tonks promptly chirped.
She escorted Harry away from the infirmary straight to the Gryffindor tower. The Fat Lady swung the portrait when Harry muttered the password.
"Don't worry, Harry. Everything will be fine by tomorrow morning." Tonks said while hugging him. "Now, go get some sleep. We'll talk tomorrow."
"Thanks, Tonks." Harry muttered before walking through the doorway.
"Don't forget to take the potion." she called out before the portrait swung shut.
"Poor kid. He can't catch a break." Tonks muttered before she walked back to the infirmary and muttered some choice words about Dumbledore.
After all, who in their right mind would take a student out of the dorms at night to fight inferi and traps set by the most dangerous Dark Lord Britain had ever known?
'Dumbledore is surely getting barmy with each passing day.' Tonks thought to herself.