RAB

It seemed as if an invisible rope was pulling the small boat toward the green light in the center of the lake. The boat was moving automatically, and the solid wood bow cut through the dark water, carving deep ripples on the smooth, glassy surface of the lake, like grooves on a black mirror.

The small boat drifted further and further away from the shore, the rocky cliffs and the figures of the waiting people behind them disappearing into the darkness. Harry and Sirius Black squeezed into the small boat, feeling an inexplicable sense of oppression, as if the cold seeped into their bodies through the boat.

The staff's light reflected on the dark water, where a pale, marble-like corpse lay hidden, appearing and disappearing in a hazy, indistinct way. Its seaweed-like hair and robe floated like smoke underwater.

"Sirius Black, did you see that? That corpse that just jumped out of the water?" Harry looked down into the depths of the lake, his gaze following the fleeting Inferi, a feeling of nausea rising in his throat.

Sirius Black remained calm, his every word and action befitting Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor: "Don't panic, Harry. We've learned this lesson. Inferi, like many creatures that live in cold and darkness, are afraid of light and warmth. Fire Charm are very effective against them."

"..."

A few minutes later, the small boat gently bumped against the rocks. Harry and Sirius Black carefully stepped off the boat, trying to avoid touching the cold lake water. As they turned around, they met the stares of several people House-elf.

"!!"

Harry's eyes widened suddenly. "How did you get here?!"

The group's gazes all turned to the person standing on the far right.

Loren remained calm and said indifferently, "Kreacher brought us here."

"But... but!" Harry stammered, unable to speak clearly.

Ginny glanced at his surprised expression, paused for a moment, and explained in a low voice, "This place is the same as Hogwarts, except that wizards' Apparition are prohibited, but the magic of House-elf is different from that of wizards."

"..."

Sirius Black fell silent.

Memories from just minutes before kept replaying in his mind: how he foolishly found the small boat, showed off his sense of smell, and carelessly devised a plan to cross the lake, every action flaunting his talent as Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor.

I want to transform into Animagus and dig a tunnel to escape from here...

"Professor Black, what do we do next?" Fred glanced at Sirius Black, out of curiosity, wanting to see Professor Black make a fool of himself.

"..."

Sirius Black gradually came to his senses, opened his mouth, but said nothing.

Who would have thought that Voldemort, who was always ruthless, would make such a huge mistake in setting up this cave where Horcrux were hidden, and that the House-elf could move freely in such a dangerous place? No wonder Kreacher was able to escape back safely.

He silently turned to look at the innocent-looking House-elf: "Kreacher, tell me about the situation here. What traps has Voldemort set up here?"

Tears of grief welled in Kreacher's large eyes, and he said in a hoarse voice, "The cursed Potions... to get what's hidden inside, you have to drink the cursed Potions..."

Everyone turned to look at the green light shimmering in the center of the Lake Island.

The Lake Island is narrow, about the size of the Headmaster's office. It is a large, flat black stone slab, empty except for a Stone Basin Stone Basin in the very center, which contains a constantly flashing emerald phosphorescent light.

The group walked into the Stone Basin, formed a circle, and squinted at it.

It was a Stone Basin resembling Pensieve, with a thick base firmly fixed in the center of the island. Inside, it was filled with a basin full of emerald green liquid that emitted Winky phosphorescence. The faces of eight people and a House-elf were reflected on the smooth surface of the green liquid.

Kreacher's muffled voice came from the side, the House-elf's voice filled with despair and sorrow. "Only by drinking it can the thing beneath the Stone Basin be revealed, so—"

"Don't be so clever. You're too old. You might not be able to hold out this time..." Sirius Black said coldly, as he pulled out an exquisite goblet from his pocket, bearing the Black family crest, and was about to dip it into the Stone Basin to scoop out the Potions.

"Don't be impulsive! Sirius Black, what if... what if it poisons you to death?" Harry grabbed his wrist, his face full of worry.

"No, Kreacher drank that Potions before, and he survived perfectly well, didn't he?" Sirius Black broke free from his resistance and dipped his goblet into the emerald green Potions, this time without any resistance. "It will probably paralyze me, cause me extreme pain, make me lose my mind, and make me unable to concentrate..."

Looking at that pale, emaciated face illuminated by the eerie green light, Loren lowered his eyes and gained a new understanding of Professor Black wasn't quite right in the head.

"Can you tell what kind of Potions it is?" Hermione asked Loren beside her in a low voice.

"I'm not sure..."

Loren reached out to touch the liquid, but an invisible resistance prevented him from touching it. No matter how hard he pressed down, his fingers only touched an incredibly hard, transparent wall of air. The light and agile Magic Power that spread out from his fingers was also blocked by the invisible force.

"It cannot be touched by hand, cannot be touched with Magic Power, and cannot be altered with Potions."

He bent down slightly, brought his nose close to the Stone Basin, held his palm a short distance above the green liquid, and gently fanned it in his direction. He sniffed the scent coming towards him and focused on carefully discerning it.

"The technique is crude, mainly involving a combination of various snake venoms... Cobra venom can cause muscle weakness, unsteady gait, and slurred speech... Silver Ring Snake can cause dilated pupils, blurred vision, facial muscle relaxation, difficulty opening the mouth and swallowing, and then this muscle relaxation can spread throughout the body, causing respiratory muscle paralysis, resulting in difficulty breathing, weakness in the limbs, and ultimately, complete paralysis..."

Ginny instinctively took a step back, gripping Harry's arm tightly with one hand. Sirius Black's eyelids twitched a few times as he struggled to suppress the urge to back away.

"The Pit Viper causes dizziness and blurred vision, making it impossible to concentrate and think, leading to fever, nausea, thirst, and even unconsciousness... There's also bat bile... nettle extract, which causes unbearable heat, making the internal organs feel like they're burning, so people will throw themselves into the lake... the venom of the Swooping Evil... the Horned Serpent... the Mooncalf..."

Loren turned to stare at Sirius Black, whose arm was trembling slightly, and his eerie voice echoed in the cave, "Your judgment is correct. It won't kill you, but you will experience pain you've never felt before, pain that even surpasses death..."

"If you can stay rational, you will desperately want someone to end your life, and in the process, you will be terrified of this Potions. Your survival instinct will overcome your reason. You will forget why you came here, and you will resist drinking the potion. At this time, someone will need to force the potion into your tightly closed mouth, understand?"

"..."

You could have just said the Potions wasn't fatal; you didn't need to describe the symptoms so realistically.

Sirius Black's Adam's apple bobbed up and down, his trembling hand gripping the wine glass tightly. He slowly calmed his frantic breathing and said calmly, "As long as I don't die, that's fine. Listen, Harry, if I can't drink anymore later, just pour it down my throat!"

Harry's eyes reddened. "Sirius Black!"

Sirius Black didn't say anything, but stepped forward and scooped out a cup of Potions that glowed with a faint green light. Just as he was about to gulp it down, George reached out and stopped him.

"If the Potions needs to be drunk, and there's no restriction on who drinks it, we have other ideas..."

Fred reached into the Storage Scale and pulled out a wooden cage, saying in a low voice, "We've been raising a lot of Doxy lately to develop Instant Escapism Candy. Some are for extracting venom, and some are for experiments. How about letting these little guys drink it?"

"Oh, that's so cruel!"

Sirius Black condemned the attack with a gleeful expression, then eagerly pulled a Doxy from the wooden cage, pried open its squeaking mouth, and poured poison into it.

The Doxy, a common pest in wizarding homes, has shimmering, Beetle -like wings and two rows of sharp, venomous fangs. Its entire body is covered in thick black fur, and it has two extra arms and two extra legs, vaguely resembling Fairy and also somewhat like a human. Its squeaking and squeaking are enough to send chills down one's spine.

The miniature, grotesque face twitched, its eyes closed, as if it were asleep, suffering from a terrible nightmare. Its muscles began to relax, and it no longer had the strength to close its mouth, so it was forced to pour in more poison.

Fortunately, Doxy can lay up to 500 eggs at a time and bury them underground. They have virtually no natural predators and usually take two to three weeks to hatch. Therefore, no animal rights groups would condemn them for abusing Doxy.

"Squeak..."

The Doxy gasped and groaned, her shrill cries echoing across the silent, black lake and reverberating through the empty Cave, chilling to the bone. She was probably extremely thirsty, gulping down the liquid held to her lips, but as soon as she finished, she screamed again, as if every organ in her body was burning.

Ron stared at the Doxy struggling in pain and shuddered. "This stuff works much better than Mom's deworming medicine."

The others, recalling those days of spring cleaning, nodded in agreement.

After the twelfth cup of poison was poured out of the goblet, a total of four Doxy lay on the ground groaning and howling. They finally saw the object lying in the Stone Basin—

It was a small, gold locket, simple in design and not particularly exquisite. It lacked the distinctive Slytherin serpent symbol and the mysterious, complex Rune, so it couldn't bewitch anyone. The brass casing wasn't indestructible, and there were no magical traces on it. Anyone could tell that it was just an ordinary locket, Regulus's locket.

This second son of the Black family, who followed the Dark Lord after graduation, stood against Voldemort without hesitation after realizing the Death Eater ' wrongdoings. He came from the eternally pure Black family and Slytherin House, yet he always harbored compassion for the weak and the courage to face death.

"It's this one, it's this one..." Kreacher staggered forward and fell to the side of the Stone Basin, pulling the locket out from underneath, overwhelmed with grief.

Sirius Black couldn't wait to turn the locket over. With trembling fingers, he gently opened it. There were no magical traps, no poison, only a folded piece of parchment.

Unfolding the parchment, he read softly in the dim light of the Cave:

"To the Dark Lord: I died long before you read this. But I want you to know that I discovered your secret. I stole the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as possible. I risked my life in the hope that you would be killed when you encounter your true opponent..."

"RAB... Regulus Arcturus ... Black ..."

Sirius Black's lips trembled slightly. A familiar yet unfamiliar face seemed to appear before his eyes, with the same black hair and dark skin as himself. The face always had a sullen and arrogant expression in front of strangers, but the person was small and had no intimidating presence.

"Young Master Regulus!"

Kreacher lay on the Stone Basin, sobbing uncontrollably, trembling all over, with green mucus around his nose.

Just as everyone was immersed in grief, a sickening crunching sound came from the lake behind them. Turning around, they saw four Doxy lying on the ground had somehow crawled to the edge of the lake. Several Inferi had already surfaced. Pale, swollen hands clenched the delirious Doxy spirits and shoved the four weak creatures into their dark mouths.

"Creak..."

Crimson blood mixed with white fluid splattered onto the Inferi's mouth, only to be immediately licked clean by its bloodless tongue.

The lake surface was no longer smooth as a mirror, but was violently churning. A large number of corpses surfaced in the dark water. Everywhere you looked, there were white heads and hands emerging from the murky water. There were men and women, old and young, dressed in different clothes and of different sizes. All the corpses had sunken, sightless eyes, and they seemed like a school of fish that had been starving for a long time, suddenly spotting something, and all of them floated toward the rocks.

"[Petrificus Totalus] "

"[Three Feet Retreat] "

"[Impedimenta] "

"[Incarcerous] "

A series of incantations shot out, and a wave of Inferi tumbled back into the water. Several Inferi staggered and fell, one or two of them bound with ropes. However, the Inferi climbing the rocks behind them simply stepped over them or trampled on their fallen bodies to get to them. More Inferi had already climbed the rocks, their withered hands gripping the slippery stones, their empty, misty eyes staring at them, their tattered, water-soaked clothes trailing behind them, and their sunken faces bearing expressions of contempt.

"[Sectumsempra] "

Unable to contain herself, Ginny unleashed a spell that blasted the foremost Inferi into several pieces, instantly creating a clear gap between the Inferi that were huddled together.

Limbs and torso separated, robes torn to shreds, yet not a drop of blood flowed. Unaware of anything, they continued to advance step by step, reaching out withered hands.