The Cave

When Cyberlina arrived at the Headmaster's office, Dumbledore had just finished showing Snape two memories: one belonging to Morfin, and the other his own – from when he first met Riddle.

Dumbledore said to Cyberlina and Snape that he believed Riddle had a habit of collecting things, and guessed that he might also place unusual importance on certain locations that held meaning for him. The Gaunt old house and the Gaunt ring were the best proof of this.

Hearing this, Snape subconsciously looked at Dumbledore's hand – the ring he had seen in the memory was being worn by Dumbledore.

"So, where are we going to find the Horcrux?" Snape asked, recalling the memory and thinking about what the young Voldemort had hidden in the wardrobe. "The orphanage?"

Dumbledore smiled mysteriously and looked at Cyberlina, who had been silent since entering his office. "I think Cyber can answer that question for you."

Cyberlina raised her head, which had been lowered, glanced at the smiling Dumbledore, and replied briefly, "The cave."

Dumbledore tilted his head at her, as if signaling her to continue.

Cyberlina smiled, understanding that he had noticed her unusual silence, but she didn't intend to explain it. She simply followed the topic. "I didn't deduce this from Riddle's memories or anything. I just saw it. Although, I did notice that seaside cave in his memories before, but I didn't pay too much attention to it." Cyberlina sighed softly. "Even if I know everything about his childhood experiences from the little Riddle in the diary, I still don't understand Riddle as well as Albus."

"After all, I've been researching for many years," Dumbledore said with a smile, his tone as if discussing an academic matter. "I don't suppose you'll tell me what you saw either."

"We'll know when we go," Cyberlina replied, her usual smile returning. "Besides, you know I only have fragments of information, not the complete picture."

Snape understood that the place Cyberlina was referring to was the place Mrs. Cole had mentioned in Dumbledore's memory as a place for a picnic, but Dumbledore's memory didn't include the specific address.

"I assume you two already know the address?"

Cyberlina smiled and remained silent.

"Actually, I can only infer the general direction based on the orphanage's location," Dumbledore said with a chuckle. "Severus, if you're willing, could you help us find it?"

"..." Snape had never heard Dumbledore assign a task so politely before. He immediately understood his meaning and said with feigned gloom, "I'm not willing."

"Oh, well, that's a pity. In that case—" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and looked at Cyberlina. "Perhaps you'd be willing to go on a little outing for two, Cyber?"

Cyberlina saw their little exchange and laughed. "With pleasure, Albus."

The two, always quick to act, set off the very next morning. Snape, who realized that the cat was actually Grindelwald, was still in his office. He realized that Dumbledore, as usual, had given him a task without even discussing it – and it was to watch someone.

However, this cat was far too quiet. It was so quiet that Snape began to suspect Grindelwald had already made his escape.

London in December was not particularly friendly in terms of temperature, but this was nothing for two powerful wizards. They walked through the bustling London streets in their not-so-thick wizard robes, under the effect of a Confundus Charm, chatting as they went.

"I thought you would use that magic of yours that's a bit like the Floo Flame," Dumbledore said, Apparating with Cyberlina. He was holding three Muggle lollipops – paid for, of course, by Cyberlina.

"But I haven't been here before, so I can't," Cyberlina said, unsurprised that Dumbledore had seen through the nature of the magic on the first try.

"I thought you were quite familiar with it, given how well you understand the current Muggle world," Dumbledore said, unwrapping a lollipop.

Cyberlina looked at him with a half-smile. "Did you forget that I spent some time in the Muggle world before I enrolled this time?"

Remembering that Cyberlina had secretly returned to her old home before enrolling, Dumbledore felt a pang of annoyance. Now that she brought it up again, her tone was tinged with a strange inflection. "Oh, really? I had indeed forgotten."

He then put the lollipop in his mouth.

Cyberlina raised an eyebrow slightly and said, "Moreover, I've used the Muggle world as a transit point a few times recently to collect things. I have to admit, Muggle transportation is becoming increasingly convenient and not slow at all."

"Muggles... are indeed clever..." Dumbledore mumbled indistinctly.

They continued walking from the outskirts of London – walking with purpose, though without discussion. But when they reached a small village near a cliff, they met each other's eyes and shared a knowing smile.

At the edge of the cliff, Dumbledore offered Cyberlina his arm. Cyberlina naturally took it, and he Apparated them to a black rock below the other side of the cliff.

"It seems we're a bit early," Dumbledore said, looking at the surrounding sea, but his tone held no hint of regret or disappointment.

"Not necessarily," Cyberlina replied. She raised her hands, palms together, and clapped them downwards. The waves hitting the rock grew larger. Then she flipped her arm – her wand slid from her sleeve into her palm, and she caught it just as it was about to slip. Then, with a decisive downward sweep of her arm, the wand sliced through the air. The waves before them suddenly parted, the seawater splitting open to reveal rocks of various sizes below, and the rock they stood on rose higher.

"Perfect control," Dumbledore said, floating with Cyberlina onto the rocks using a Levitation Charm. He looked at the nearly transparent white flames separating the seawater and praised, "Do you need me to award Slytherin ten points when you were a student, Miss Sekerei?"

"Such prompt news, Mr. Headmaster," Cyberlina said with a smile.

"After all, my friends can't join me for Hogwarts' Christmas dinner. Coincidentally, some of them are at another rather lively banquet," Dumbledore winked at Cyberlina. "I've already drafted your offer of employment this morning."

"Really..." Cyberlina smiled and shook her head. "I haven't said anything yet."

"But you already hinted at it last night, before I even knew what was going to happen—" Dumbledore smiled and glanced at the plain, dark purple wizard robe Cyberlina was wearing today. "In any case, welcome back as my colleague, Cyber."

"Alright, Severus is going to hate me again," Cyberlina said, shrugging. She looked at a large rock directly facing the cliff at the end of the watery path, where a crack was shimmering with water. "It seems we still need to wade through some water."

After swimming through the cold seawater, the two arrived at a large cave. The scent of magic filled Cyberlina's senses. She secretly dried the seawater from her body, then squinted as she looked up at the cave walls.

"Impressive talent," Cyberlina exclaimed.

"In terms of magic, indeed it is," Dumbledore said. He dried himself and walked forward, beginning to circle the cave wall. Finally, he took out his wand and tapped a certain rock – but only a flash of an archway's light appeared briefly before returning to its original state.

Cyberlina leaned closer, examined it carefully, and then smiled. "Truly... a child's idea."

"Indeed, it's rudimentary," Dumbledore said softly, having also seen through the trick.

Cyberlina was sure she detected a hint of disappointment in Dumbledore's tone.

Seeing Dumbledore suddenly pull out a short knife, Cyberlina immediately grabbed his wrist and asked, "You're not planning to bleed yourself, are you?"

"Your body is still young, isn't it?" Dumbledore's smiling face held a hint of justification.

Cyberlina was silent for a moment, then took the short knife from Dumbledore's hand with one hand, and with a flip of her wrist, put the knife into a pocket in her sleeve. She then gently tapped Dumbledore's forehead with her fist.

"Stubborn kid."

Then, Dumbledore saw Cyberlina take out a large... jar of blood from a pocket on her person that had been enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm.

"It's a bit of a waste..." Cyberlina said with regret in her voice. "If only I had saved some from Severus's things earlier."

"Since you can carry it with you—" Dumbledore's expression was somewhat complicated as he watched Cyberlina open the jar. "The small problem Rubeus mentioned yesterday… it was caused by you, wasn't it?"

"I got Hagrid's consent," Cyberlina's gentle tone was full of righteous indignation. "Besides, I've cleared Aragog's name. A little blood from me is a reasonable reward."

Dumbledore didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He didn't think that large jar could be measured by "a little," and it was no wonder Hagrid had come to him yesterday afternoon with swollen eyes, crying, and stammering without explaining what had happened, only carefully mentioning Cyberlina's name before falling silent.

But, what did Cyberlina need to do to collect so much Acromantula blood? And Dumbledore didn't believe that she had only collected that little bit for Severus during her long absence.

Dumbledore didn't ask, he just watched Cyberlina measure out the amount and then pour it onto the rock.

A dazzling archway appeared once more. This time, after the light vanished, a dark, gaping hole appeared before the two of them.

Glancing at a spot not far away emitting a faint green light, then looking down at the dark lake surface beneath her feet, Cyberlina narrowed her eyes and uttered a short phrase filled with disgust: "Inferi."

"Your least favorite," Dumbledore said after a few seconds of silence, then looked at Cyberlina earnestly. "You be careful later, there are Muggles living on the cliff."

Cyberlina chuckled. Without dwelling on whether his words were sincere or just teasing, she walked to a spot and reached out into the air from the rock face—a green chain shot out from the water and into her hand. Then, she pulled hard—a small boat appeared on the lake, drawn by the chain, and floated towards her.

"A bit small," Cyberlina made an objective assessment of the rudimentary boat.

"It's his way of thinking," Dumbledore chuckled lightly. "He believes only a very few with powerful magic can see through his tricks and find what he considers a treasure."

Cyberlina looked at the lake surface again, then lowered her eyes to the boat. After a few seconds of silence, she waved her wand—the boat began to shake violently, and the chain rattled along with it, as if resisting something. But this resistance only lasted a few seconds; the magic attached to it quickly succumbed to a more powerful force—the dingy little boat transformed into a size that could seat four people, complete with two clean cushions.

Cyberlina boarded the boat first. After confirming it was safe, she extended her hand to Dumbledore behind her: "Come."

Dumbledore paused, then happily took Cyberlina's hand and sat down on the boat, guided by her strength.

The dim environment, the cool but comfortable temperature, the steady boat, the comfortable cushions—if one ignored the visible bones and misshapen corpses, the two were truly like enjoying a leisurely boat ride on a peculiar but calm lake.

Dumbledore looked at Cyberlina. Her posture was as upright as usual, and she turned her head away from him, looking out at the lake, lost in thought and silent. She appeared extremely calm, yet sparks of white light occasionally flickered from the wand she was gently twirling with her fingertips.

"Cyber—" Dumbledore called out helplessly.

"Hmm, what is it?" Cyberlina turned her head, smiling at him.

"At least wait until you get the item before burning it," Dumbledore advised.

"I wasn't planning on burning anything," Cyberlina laughed. "Don't worry, Albus. I was just wondering where they came from."

Dumbledore froze, then fell silent.

While it wasn't impossible that some lost souls had ended up here, there couldn't be such a large number of bones and corpses that were originally in this cave.

"Impressive dark magic talent," Cyberlina once again affirmed her assessment of Riddle's magic, then chuckled softly. "Albus, did you know, when Sebas found something interesting in a spellbook left by Salazar Slytherin, he discovered a dark magic item that could control Inferi."

Dumbledore's heart leaped. He inquired, "So you suspect Tom he—"

"No," Cyberlina looked at the dark water surface again. "That item… was destroyed a long time ago—destroyed by Solomon."

Dumbledore remembered clearly. The information he had seen at the Ministry of Magic stated that the place where Solomon Salu died was described by Anne Salu as a place "with many destroyed Inferi." And the surrounding villages had indeed experienced incidents of Inferi attacks around that time.

Just as Dumbledore was carefully choosing his words to speak, he heard Cyberlina's light remark: "Albus, you don't seem surprised at all that Sebas would choose to control Inferi."

Instantly, Dumbledore felt the temperature around him drop sharply, and he was certain it wasn't due to the lake water or the corpses.

"You told me about this person before…" Dumbledore said softly. "Sometimes, it's not difficult to infer other things from one or two events."

Cyberlina chuckled lightly, turned her head, and looked at Dumbledore with a beaming smile: "But I never told you about Sebas, Albus."

Dumbledore paused. He tried his best to recall and realized—although Cyberlina often mentioned Anne and occasionally mentioned Sebastian's name, she had never directly told him what Sebastian had done. Most of what he knew about Sebastian came from Ominis, a very small amount of information from the Ministry of Magic, and the rest he had seen unintentionally.

So Dumbledore said, "Alright, Cyber, I misremembered. Mr. Ominis told me… when he was telling me about your school days."

"Is that so…" Cyberlina lowered her eyes, asking no further questions.

Dumbledore also fell silent.

When the small boat bumped against an obstacle and stopped, Cyberlina stood up first, then turned and pulled Dumbledore onto the small island with her.

When the basin of glowing green liquid appeared before them, Dumbledore saw the excited look in Cyberlina's eyes and immediately felt a sense of foreboding. This feeling intensified when Cyberlina produced a glass cup carved with a small snake.

He immediately grasped Cyberlina's wrist and asked, "You're going to drink it?"

"I'm younger," Cyberlina's voice was full of matter-of-factness—just as Dumbledore had been when he was about to bleed.

But Dumbledore had no intention of teasing back at this moment. He said sternly, "You taught me, you can't touch things you're unsure of. You must understand their nature before acting—you have no idea what this liquid could do to you. If it were Tom's style, it would likely cause you immense pain, perhaps even make you lose yourself—"

"I know," Cyberlina interrupted Dumbledore, shaking the cup in her hand, her eyes full of amusement. "And I'm very much looking forward to seeing the methods of that young Mr. Riddle."

Dumbledore's movements faltered, and the grip on his hand loosened slightly. He affirmed, "When Severus and I arrived, I drank it."

"Gryffindor gets ten points," Cyberlina said with a mischievous smile. Then, as Dumbledore's grip loosened, she pulled her hand free and scooped up a cup of the green liquid. "It seems… you even had Severus force-feed you."

"Cyber—" Dumbledore looked at the cup of green liquid, his brow furrowed. He wasn't sure if Cyberlina was telling him that he needed to do the same thing Severus had done.

"Don't worry, Albus," Cyberlina tilted her head at Dumbledore, elegantly swirling the cup. The little snakes on the cup seemed to come alive, emitting a sparkling emerald green light, utterly beautiful. "My self-control is a little better than yours. I won't drink greedily."

With that, she drank the liquid in the cup in one gulp.