Harry dressed in some old jeans he didn't mind getting bloody and stuffed his Invisibility Cloak and a water bottle in his school bag before treading down the halls toward the Headmaster's office. The statue guarding the spiral staircase did not wait for any prompt; the stairs rumbled and began to move the second he approached.
"Ah, good evening Harry. Thank you for coming on such short notice." Dumbledore greeted him. The man was facing away from the door, staring somberly out the window and watching the last of the hazy red and purple clouds disappear into the twilight sky. "I apologize for the poor timing. I understand completely if you would prefer to spend your evening preparing for tomorrow's task instead of joining me on this adventure."
"Bringing Tom one step closer to death sounds like a productive use of my evening, professor."
"There is a very strong chance that the horcrux has been moved and this may all be for naught."
"But you're not one hundred percent certain, which is why we're trekking out last minute regardless, yes?"
"Yes. Are you prepared to leave?"
"Well, I wasn't sure what to bring, but I think I'm good."
"Hm, perhaps I should have warned you to bring your swim trunks from the second task."
"Are we going swimming?" Harry wrinkled his nose.
"I cannot guarantee your shoes will stay dry. We are going to a cave tucked away on the edge of a cliff along the seaside. Tom Riddle visited this cave in his youth, on a summer holiday with the orphanage. It holds much significance to him and it also holds, I believe, the last piece we need to return Tom Riddle to his mortal form."
Dumbledore turned to look at him, his voice low and stern and not remotely whimsical.
"Now before we trek off, I must warn you. This may be very dangerous. Are you certain you wish to come with me?"
Harry responded with equal seriousness. "I slayed a dragon, Professor. I am not worried about whatever traps Voldemort has waiting for us there. I've been able to fight against everything he's thrown at me thus far."
"Very well. Come, let us be off then. The perks of being Headmaster - grab my arm and we shall apparate there."
Harry took hold of the offered limb, minding the burnt appendage weeping a deadly curse. With a twist, they disappeared.
Harry noticed immediately the chill in the air, a bracing wind, and a sting of salt burning his cheeks. They were atop a small cliff, lined with sudden, hidden holes and sharp protrusions of rock.
"This is where they took a bunch of orphans?" Harry complained, casting a quick spell to keep the droplets of ocean water from smearing his glasses. "Honestly, no wonder he turned out weird."
Behind them, a larger, black and cragged cliff face loomed over the horizon, and before them was the empty expanse of churning sea.
"Tom wandered off the beaten path, shall we say. He wanted somewhere secluded where he could terrorize his fellow vacationers. It should be just down here."
There was no path to speak of, just the twisted edge of rock and sea. Harry followed after the old man, their steps slow as they scaled downward at a snail's pace. Gripping the rock with his hands, Harry considered shoving Dumbledore into the sea a good hundred feet below. But the tight grip on his hands on the rock refused to budge for fear he might tumble down after him - and his curiosity of what lay beyond intrigued him even further, so he carried on.
"Here, Harry. Underneath us - the entrance."
Harry risked a dizzying peek over the edge. There, half filled with water, he could make out a hole in the side of the tower of rock. From what he could tell, the little hole was not very large width-wise, barely wider than a human could squeeze through.
"I suppose we will have to swim," Harry mused, grateful he'd taken off his heavy robes for this adventure.
Without any nerves, Dumbledore performed a perfect dive into the water, arising a moment later, his neat silver hair and beard sliding wildly in the water. Harry hesitated, triple-checking his wand was properly holstered on his wrist, and jumped in after.
The water was freezing, but no worse than he'd felt during the second task. He had little love for swimming, he'd discovered this year.
Once inside the tight cavern, there was barely a couple of inches above the water remaining, and Harry craned his neck up to keep a supply of raspy, desperate gasps of air. He knocked his skull on a sharp corner, and he felt a warm trickle of blood falling down his forehead. After a minute or so, the tight opening widened significantly and the floor became unnaturally smooth, rising steadily to bring them out of the water. They entered into a larger cave. It was completely empty and yet, once Harry had finished ensuring he had proper air, could sense it was undoubtedly the correct place.
Darkness suffocated his senses: the thick, cloying taste of blood and flesh on his tongue, the spicy, heady tremor of electricity in the air. A whisper of power swirled around Harry on a soft breeze, beckoning him to head deeper within, to find the source of it all.
"Can you sense anything?" Dumbledore asked, inspecting the walls closely. "This is the first of many puzzles I expect we will uncover tonight."
Harry focused his breathing, trying to taste the undercurrents blowing in the breeze. There was something he recognized in the hum, although it was faint.
"Certainly," He said after a moment. Dumbledore turned to regard him. "There's some corpses, I think. That way, ish." He pointed northward. "It's hard to tell, there's a lot of magic lingering. He used this space as a ritual room at some point, I'm sure of it. It reeks of death."
The space reminded him of their murder basement back home, the stench of years of necromancy and pain bleeding into the foundation. Like a smoker's habit staining the color of walls.