Headmaster Dumbledore briefly described the cave and its location, then looked at Sean with a perfectly natural expression.
"I think I can go alone."
Sean looked at Dumbledore and said nothing.
He understood—Dumbledore's words were really saying: I'll go ahead and scout it out; if anything happens, at least you'll know.
And at that moment, Sean felt something strange in his head—cool, as if a bee were beating its wings just outside the thin film of his memories—so a few images slipped out.
"You're planning to follow… with a fire dragon?" Dumbledore laughed. He hadn't sounded this cheerful in a long time.
"Yes," Sean admitted.
Dumbledore almost never used Legilimency to probe a student's thoughts. This time, too, it felt less like prying and more like a polite knock.
"It may have defenses, and I don't know exactly what they are—only guesses, and I could be entirely wrong," Dumbledore went on.
"If you want to come with me, then I must warn you in advance: it will be extraordinarily dangerous."
"I understand, Headmaster," Sean said, still calm.
"Good. Then listen carefully. I will take you only on one condition: you must obey any order I give you immediately, without question.
You must understand, Sean. I mean you must obey even if I tell you to 'run,' 'hide,' or 'go back.' Do you agree?"
Dumbledore straightened.
"…."
Sean didn't answer.
Dumbledore looked troubled.
"If I tell you to hide, will you?"
"Maybe…"
"If I tell you to flee, will you obey?"
"Maybe…"
"If I tell you to leave me and save yourself, will you do as I say?"
"No."
"Sean Green!" Dumbledore's voice rose.
They stared at each other for a moment.
"Being willing to resist authority is usually a good thing, but…" Dumbledore sounded a little deflated.
"Nothing will go wrong," Sean couldn't help adding.
"Oh? Did you sense something in the night sky of the Beyond?" Dumbledore asked with mild curiosity.
Sean didn't speak.
"Perhaps. Perhaps those who aren't puzzled by the future all look the same," Dumbledore said, almost dreamily.
"In any case—do you need to bring anything?"
In the end, Dumbledore still agreed.
He knew that whether he agreed or not, he would eventually find the boy in the same place. And, of course, he had anticipated that.
"No, Headmaster," Sean said.
The sky was filled with stars. The air carried the warm scent of grass and the lake.
The old wizard and the young one set off.
The method was still the one Sean knew best: Apparition.
He gulped down a potion. Even though he felt he had probably adapted to Apparition by now, whenever he went to his vault, the same kind of potion would still be sitting there—unchanged, neither increasing nor decreasing, for ages.
Sometimes he felt it wasn't so much his vault as… a shared one.
Though the other two "guests" never took anything.
The moment Sean clasped Dumbledore's hand, his vision warped…
He didn't know how long passed before he smelled the sea and heard the roar of heavy waves.
He looked out at the moonlit ocean and the star-dotted sky. A cold wind ruffled his hair.
He was standing on a tall black rock rising above the water. The surf churned below his feet, foaming as it crashed.
He turned to look behind him.
A cliff towered there, its steep face dropping straight down into darkness. Several huge boulders—like the one he and Dumbledore stood on—seemed to have broken off from the cliff at some time in the past. Everything around them was bare and desolate. Beyond the vast sea and stone, there was no sign of trees, grass, or sand.
"Well?" Dumbledore asked, as though he were asking whether Sean thought it a fine spot for a picnic.
"He brought the orphanage children here?" Sean asked, wand raised to cast light. Dumbledore could see the anger in his eyes.
"Strictly speaking, not here," Dumbledore said.
"Halfway down those cliffs behind us there's a place that can just about be called a village.
I believe they took the orphans there—to breathe the sea air and watch the waves.
But I think only Tom Riddle and the children he bullied ever came to this particular spot.
Come—let's go…"
Dumbledore ended the topic.
They needed to descend into a sea cave, but the entrance lay in the water.
From the way Dumbledore looked, he meant to swim in.
"Are you afraid of water?" Dumbledore asked kindly.
"No," Sean said—almost eager.
But he still opened the Wizard's Book, and the Pukwudgie butler appeared at once—under Dumbledore's intrigued gaze.
With the Pukwudgie's Apparition, they entered the cave easily.
Then they faced the door that barred their way.
"This is only the antechamber—the entrance hall," Dumbledore said after a moment.
"We must go farther in… What blocks us now is a trap set by Tom Riddle, not an obstacle placed by nature…"
Before he could finish, Sean had already cut his own arm. Dark red blood flowed.
At the same time, he felt weaker than he ever had.
Still… he'd survived worse weakness than this, long ago.
"…Does it hurt?" Dumbledore fell silent for a moment.
"It's fine," Sean said.
There truly was no other way to open the door. It demanded the weakening of a wizard.
The door opened.
They stood on the shore of a black lake. The water stretched wide and boundless, with no far bank in sight.
The cave was enormous; even looking up, they couldn't see the ceiling. Far away—near the lake's center—a hazy green light flickered, reflected in the dead, still water beneath it.
"All right," Dumbledore said. "Looks like we need a boat?"
This time he stared straight at Sean, as if expecting him to do something rash.
But Sean simply stayed quietly at the old wizard's side, like he had when they first met.
"I must tell you, Sean—step back. Press yourself against the rock wall. I've found it," Dumbledore said.
Then he closed his hand, grasping something in the air that Sean couldn't see.
Dumbledore edged toward the lake—slowly—and a small boat appeared.
And they were about to board it, to cross to the far side.