Seaside Cave-
Harry could smell it, the salt in the air, and hear the rushing waves; a light, a chilly breeze ruffled his hair as he looked out at the moonlit sea and the star-strewn sky. He was standing upon a high outcrop of dark rock, water foaming and churning below him. He glanced over his shoulder. A towering cliff stood behind them, a sheer drop, black and faceless. A few large chunks of rock, such as the one upon which he and Dumbledore was standing on, looked as though they had broken away from the cliff face at some point in the past. It was a bleak, harsh view, the sea and the rock unrelieved by any tree or sweep of grass or sand.
"What do you think?" Dumbledore asked him.
"They brought the kids from the orphanage here?" He wondered who could not imagine a less cosy spot for a day trip.
Dumbledore answered his question, "Not here… There is a village of sorts about halfway along the cliffs behind us. I believe the orphanage took the children there for a little sea air and a view of the waves. No, I think it was only ever Tom Riddle and his youthful victims who visited this particular spot. No Muggle could reach this rock unless they were uncommonly good mountaineers, and boats cannot approach the cliffs, the waters around them are too dangerous. I imagine that Riddle climbed down here with magic serving him better than ropes. And he brought two small children with him, probably for the pleasure of terrorizing them. I think the journey alone would have done it, don't you?"
"But his final destination and ours lay a little farther on… Come!"
Dumbledore beckoned Harry to the very edge of the rock where a series of jagged niches made footholds leading down to boulders that lay half-submerged in water and closer to the cliff. It was a treacherous descent and Dumbledore, hampered slightly by his withered hand, moved slowly. The lower rocks were slippery with seawater. Harry could feel flecks of cold salt spray hitting his face.
"Lumos…" Dumbledore muttered, as he reached the boulder closest to the cliff face. A thousand flecks of golden light sparkled upon the dark surface of the water a few feet below where he crouched; the black wall of rock beside him was illuminated too. "You see?" Dumbledore asked quietly, holding his wand a little higher. Harry saw a fissure in the cliff into which dark water was swirling in like a vortex, "You will not object to getting a little wet?"
"I don't suppose so…" Harry replied with a tired sigh.
And with the sudden agility of well-built men, Dumbledore and he slid from the boulder, landed in the sea, and began to swim with a perfect breaststroke towards the dark slit in the rock face, Dumbledore with his lit wand held in between his teeth. Harry pulled off his cloak, stuffed it into his pocket, and followed. The water was icy. Taking deep breaths that filled his nostrils with the tang of salt and seaweed, he struck out for the shimmering, shrinking light now moving deeper into the cliff. The fissure soon opened into a dark tunnel that Harry could tell would be filled with water at high tide. The slimy walls were barely three feet apart and glimmered like wet tar in the passing light of Dumbledore's wand. A little way in, the passageway curved to the left, and Harry saw that it extended far into the cliff. He continued to swim in Dumbledore's wake, the tips of his numb fingers brushing against the rough, wet rock.
Then he saw Dumbledore rising out of the water ahead, his silver hair and dark robes gleaming. When Harry reached the spot he found steps that led into a large cave. He clambered up them, water streaming from his soaking clothes, and emerged, shivering uncontrollably, into the still and freezing air.
Dumbledore was standing in the middle of the cave, his wand held high as he turned slowly on the spot, examining the walls and ceiling.
"Yes, this is the place!" Dumbledore confirmed at last.
"How can you tell…?" He asked in a whisper.
"Don't you feel it, my boy? The magic cascading within the walls of the cave, the known magic…?" Dumbledore spoke simply.
He watched as Dumbledore continued to revolve on the spot, evidently concentrating on things that weren't so obvious, yet clearly visible to his enchanted glasses.
"This is merely the antechamber…" Dumbledore spoke after a moment or two.
"We need to penetrate the inner place… Now it is Lord Voldemort's obstacles that stand in our way, rather than those natures made…"
Dumbledore approached the wall of the cave and caressed it with his blackened fingertips, murmuring words in a strange tongue that he couldn't understand. He was sure that they were spells in some language. Twice Dumbledore walked right around the cave, touching as much of the rough rock as he could, occasionally pausing, running his fingers backwards and forwards over a particular spot, until finally, he stopped, his hand pressed flat against the wall and spoke, "Here…! We go on through here. The entrance is concealed."
"You've done it, professor!" He exclaimed through chattering teeth, but before the words had left his lips the outline had gone, leaving the rock as bare and solid as ever. Dumbledore looked around.
Dumbledore did not try any more magic, but simply stood there staring at the wall intently, as though something extremely interesting was written on it. He stayed very still; he did not want to break Dumbledore's concentration. Then, after two solid minutes of utter silence, Dumbledore said quietly, "Oh, surely not. So crude..."
"Professor, I think it's obvious. Blood as a sacrifice to enter further…!"
"As I said, it's crude." Dumbledore looked at him surprised, but then nodded as he spoke sounding disdainful, even disappointed, as though Voldemort had fallen short of higher standards that were expected.
"The idea of this, as I am sure you've gathered is that the enemy must weaken him or herself to enter. Once again, Lord Voldemort fails to grasp that there are much more terrible things than physical injury."
"Yeah, but still, if you can avoid it…" Harry said offhandedly as he has had experienced enough pain already so he wasn't keen for more.
"Sometimes, however, it is unavoidable!" Dumbledore exclaimed, shaking back the sleeve of his robes and exposing the forearm of his injured hand.
"Professor…!" He protested feigning concern, hurrying forward as Dumbledore raised his knife.
"I'll do it…" He offered to the aged headmaster who had brought him here for some reason, and he wanted to contribute. But Dumbledore merely smiled. There was a flash of silver, and a spurt of scarlet; the rock face was peppered with dark, glistening drops of blood.
"You are very kind, Harry." Dumbledore, now passing the tip of his wand over the deep cut he had made in his own arm so that it healed instantly. "Your blood is worth more than mine, Harry. Ah, that seems to have done the trick, doesn't it?" The blazing silver outline of an arch had appeared in the wall once more, and this time it did not fade away. The blood-spattered rock within it simply vanished, leaving an opening into what seemed total darkness. Dumbledore walked through the archway with Harry on his heels, lighting his own wand with a 'Lumos' hastily as he went.
An eerie sight met their eyes: They were standing on the edge of a great black lake, so vast that Harry could not make out the distant banks, in a cavern so high that the ceiling too was out of sight. A misty greenish light shone far away in what looked like the middle of the lake; it was reflected in the completely still water below. The greenish glow and the light from the two wands were the only things that broke the otherwise velvety blackness, though their rays did not penetrate as far as Harry would have expected. The darkness was somehow denser than normal darkness.
"Let us walk!" Dumbledore said quietly, "Be very careful not to step into the water. Stay close to me."
He set off around the edge of the lake, and Harry followed close behind him. Their footsteps made echoing, slapping sounds on the narrow rim of rock that surrounded the water. On and on they walked, but the view did not vary: on one side of them, the rough cavern wall, on the other, the boundless expanse of smooth, glassy blackness, in the very middle of which was that mysterious greenish glow. Harry found the place and the silence, oppressive and unnerving, even though he was aware of everything in here.
"Professor…?" He asked finally, "Do you think the Horcrux is actually here?"
"Oh yes." Dumbledore replied, "Yes, I'm sure it is. The question is how do we get to it?"
"Couldn't we just try a Summoning Charm?" Harry said, very sure that it was a stupid suggestion.
"Certainly, we could." The headmaster sounded disingenuous, stopping so suddenly that he almost walked into him, "Why don't you do it?"
"Okay!"
"Accio Horcrux!" He spoke the spell out loud.
With a noise like an explosion, something very large and pale erupted out of the dark water some twenty feet away; before Harry could see what it was, it had vanished again with a crashing splash that made great, deep ripples on the mirrored surface of the water.
"What was that?" He asked knowing very well what it was. He didn't have to see it to know what it was; he had memories of Voldemort building this place.
"Something, I think, that is ready to respond should we attempt to seize the Horcrux."
"Did you think that would happen, sir?"
"I thought something would happen if we made an obvious attempt to get our hands on the Horcrux. That was a very good idea, Harry; much the simplest way of finding out what we are facing."
"But we don't know what the thing was?" Harry expertly feigned ignorance, looking at the sinisterly smooth water.
"What the things are, you mean?" Dumbledore corrected him, "I doubt very much that there is only one of them. Shall we walk on?"
"Professor…?"
"Yes, Harry?"
"Do you think we're going to have to go into the lake?"
"Into it…? Only if we're very unfortunate…!"
"You don't think the Horcrux is at the bottom, do you?"
"Oh no... I think the Horcrux is in the middle." And Dumbledore pointed toward the misty green light in the centre of the lake.
"So we're going to have to cross the lake to get to it?"
"Yes, I think so..." Dumbledore replied in an obvious tone.
"Aha…" The headmaster stopped again; this time, Harry really did walk into him; for a moment he toppled on the edge of the dark water, and Dumbledore's uninjured hand closed tightly around his upper arm, pulling him back. "So sorry, Harry, I should have given a warning. Stand back against the wall, please; I think I have found the place."
His enchanted glasses could see the traces of magic leading into the water, he was sure that Dumbledore had seen its aura too.
"Oho…" Dumbledore spoke sounding happy, seconds later. His hand had closed in midair upon something Harry could not see. Dumbledore moved closer to the water; Harry watched nervously as the tips of Dumbledore's buckled shoes found the utmost edge of the rock rim. Keeping his hand clenched in midair, Dumbledore raised his wand with the other and tapped his fist with the point.
Immediately a thick coppery green chain appeared out of thin air, extending from the depths of the water into Dumbledore's clenched hand. Dumbledore tapped the chain, which began to slide through his fist like a snake, coiling itself on the ground with a clinking sound that echoed noisily off the rocky walls, pulling something from the depths of the black water. Harry gasped as the ghostly prow of a tiny boat broke the surface, glowing as green as the chain, and floated, with barely a ripple, toward the place on the bank where he and Dumbledore stood.
"Professor is this boat safe…?"
"Oh yes, I think so. Voldemort needed to create a means to cross the lake without attracting the wrath of those creatures he had placed within it in case he ever wanted to visit or remove his Horcrux from this cave."
"So the things in the water won't do anything to us if we cross in Voldemort's boat?"
"I think we must resign ourselves to the fact that they will, at some point, realize we are not Lord Voldemort. Thus far, however, we have done well. They have allowed us to raise the boat."
"But why have they let us?"
"Voldemort would have been reasonably confident that none but a very great wizard would have been able to find the boat." Dumbledore spoke, "I think he would have been prepared to risk what was, to his mind, the most unlikely possibility that somebody else would find it, knowing that he had set other obstacles ahead that only he would be able to penetrate. We shall see whether he was right."
Harry looked down into the boat. It really was very small. "It doesn't look like it was built for two people. Will it hold both of us? Will we be too heavy together?"
Dumbledore chuckled at him completely oblivious to the fact that he was acting, "Voldemort will not have cared about the weight, but about the amount of magical power that crossed his lake. I rather think an enchantment will have been placed upon this boat so that only one wizard at a time will be able to sail in it."
"But then…?"
"I do not think you will count, Harry. You are underage and unqualified. Voldemort would never have expected a sixteen-year-old to reach this place. I think it is unlikely that your powers will register compared to mine. Voldemort's mistake, Harry, Voldemort's mistake... Age is foolish and forgetful when it underestimates youth. Now, you first this time, and be careful not to touch the water."
He mused to himself rather amusedly, "Words to live by, Dumbledore. Words to live by…"
Dumbledore stood aside and he climbed carefully into the boat, all the while suppressing his inner magic so that it won't register as Dumbledore had surmised the enchantments placed on the boat, the last thing he wanted was to be attacked by the Inferi.
Dumbledore stepped in too, coiling the chain onto the floor. They were crammed in together; Harry could not comfortably sit, but crouched, his knees jutting over the edge of the boat, which began to move at once. There was no sound other than the silken rustle of the boat's prow cleaving the water; it moved without their help, as though an invisible rope was pulling it onward toward the light in the centre. Soon they could no longer see the walls of the cavern; they might have been at sea except that there were no waves.
Harry looked down and saw the reflected gold of his wand light sparkling and glittering on the black water as they passed. The boat was carving deep ripples upon the glassy surface, grooves in the dark mirror.
And then Harry saw it, marble white, floating inches below the surface. "Professor…?" He started out loud and then he continued, "There are bodies in here!" His voice sounded much higher than usual and most unlike his own.
"Yes!" Dumbledore replied placidly, "We need not worry about them at the moment."
"At the moment…?" Harry repeated, tearing his gaze from the water to look at Dumbledore.
"Not while they are merely drifting peacefully below us." Dumbledore continued, "There is nothing to be feared from a body, Harry, any more than there is anything to be feared from the darkness. Lord Voldemort, who of course secretly fears both, disagrees. But once again he reveals his own lack of wisdom. It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more."
"But one of them jumped!" He said, trying to make his voice as level and calm as Dumbledore's, "When I tried to summon the Horcrux, a body leapt out of the lake."
"Yes." Dumbledore replied, "I am sure that once we take the Horcrux, we shall find them less peaceable."
"However, like many creatures that dwell in cold and darkness, they fear light and warmth, which we shall, therefore, call to our aid should the need arise. Fire, Harry." Dumbledore added with a smile, in response to Harry's bewildered expression.
"Oh right…" Harry said quickly.
"Nearly there…" Dumbledore cheered. Sure enough, the greenish light seemed to be growing larger at last, and within minutes, the boat had come to a halt, bumping gently into something that Harry could not see at first, but when he raised his illuminated wand he saw that they had reached a small island of smooth rock in the centre of the lake.
"Careful not to touch the water..." Dumbledore instructed once again as Harry climbed out of the boat.
The island was no larger than Dumbledore's office, an expanse of flat dark stone on which stood nothing but the source of that greenish light, which looked much brighter when viewed close to. Harry squinted at it; at first, he thought it was a lamp of some kind, but then he saw that the light was coming from a stone basin rather like the Pensieve, which was set on top of a pedestal. Dumbledore approached the basin and Harry followed. Side by side, they looked down into it. The basin was full of an emerald liquid emitting that phosphorescent glow.
"What is it?" asked Harry quietly.
"I am not sure!" Dumbledore dragged out loud, "Something more worrisome than blood and bodies, however..."
Dumbledore pushed back the sleeve of his robe over his blackened hand and stretched out the tips of his burned fingers toward the surface of the potion.
"Sir, no don't touch!"
"I cannot touch." Dumbledore smiled faintly. "See? I cannot approach any nearer than this. You try."
Staring, Harry put his hand into the basin and attempted to touch the potion. He met an invisible barrier that prevented him from coming within an inch of it. No matter how hard he pushed, his fingers encountered nothing but what seemed to be solid and flexible air.
"All this 'pretending to be surprised at everything' is such a slog." Harry wondered to himself tiredly, he had no choice but to act this way with Dumbledore, he had to be careful.
"Out of the way, please, Harry." He raised his wand and made complicated movements over the surface of the potion, murmuring soundlessly. Nothing happened, except perhaps that the potion glowed a little brighter. Harry remained silent while Dumbledore worked, but after a while, Dumbledore withdrew his wand, and Harry felt it was safe to talk again.
"You think the Horcrux is in there, sir?"
"Oh yes." Dumbledore peered more closely into the basin. Harry saw his face reflected, upside down, in the smooth surface of the green potion. "But how to reach it…? This potion cannot be penetrated by hand, Vanished, parted, scooped up, or siphoned away, nor can it be Transfigured, Charmed, or otherwise made to change its nature." Almost absentmindedly, Dumbledore raised his wand again, twirled it once in midair, and then caught the crystal goblet that he had conjured out of nowhere. "I can only conclude that this potion is supposed to be drunk."
"What…?" Harry asked out in shock, "No! That's insane!"
"Yes, I think so too. Only by drinking it can I empty the basin and see what lies in its depths."
"But what if all of this is just a ruse, what if it kills you…?"
"Oh, I doubt that it would work like that." Dumbledore answered easily, "Lord Voldemort would not want to kill the person who reached this island." Harry couldn't believe it. Was this more of Dumbledore's insane determination to see the good in everyone? While he knew that the potion wouldn't kill the person drinking it, it would only severely incapacitate them, but still, he had to wonder what was going on inside the Headmaster's head.
"Sir…" He started, trying to keep his voice calm, "…this is Voldemort we're…"
Dumbledore interrupted him, "I'm sorry, Harry; I should have said, he would not want to immediately kill the person who reached this island."
Dumbledore corrected himself. "He would want to keep them alive long enough to find out how they managed to penetrate so far through his defences and, most importantly of all, why they were so intent upon emptying the basin. Do not forget that Lord Voldemort believes that he alone knows about his Horcruxes."
Dumbledore's reasoning made sense. Harry was about to speak again, but this time Dumbledore raised his hand for silence, frowning slightly at the emerald liquid, evidently thinking hard. "Undoubtedly…!" He said, finally, "This potion must act in a way that will prevent me from taking the Horcrux. It might paralyze me, cause me to forget what I am here for, and create so much pain I am distracted, or render me incapable in some other way. This being the case, Harry, it will be your job to make sure I keep drinking, even if you have to tip the potion into my protesting mouth. You understand…?"
Their eyes met over the basin, each pale face lit with that strange, green light. Harry did not speak. Was this why he had been invited along so that he could force-feed Dumbledore a potion that might cause him unendurable pain? Seemed odd, why make him do it?
"You remember…" Dumbledore asked, "…the condition on which I brought you with me?"
Harry hesitated, looking into the blue eyes that had turned green in the reflected light of the basin.
"But what if…?"
"You swore did you not, to follow any command I gave you?"
"Yes, sir…!" Dumbledore didn't have to convince him much, he was more than glad to force-feed the potion.
"Well, then…" Dumbledore began, shaking back his sleeves once more and raising the empty goblet, "…you have my orders."
"Why can't I drink the potion instead?" He asked not really wanting to drink, but he had the antidote with him that he could take later, so he didn't mind taking the responsibility.
"Because I am much older, much cleverer, and much less valuable…!" Dumbledore said coolly, "Once and for all, Harry, do I have your word that you will do all in your power to make me keep drinking?"
He didn't need to be asked twice, but he still feigned hesitance, "All right, but…" Before Harry could make any further protest, Dumbledore lowered the crystal goblet into the potion.
"To your good health, Harry…" And Dumbledore drained the goblet.
"Professor…?" He asked sounding anxious, as Dumbledore lowered the empty glass, "How do you feel?" Dumbledore shook his head, his eyes closed. Harry wondered whether he was in pain. Dumbledore plunged the glass blindly back into the basin, refilled it, and drank once more.
In silence, Dumbledore drank three goblets full of the potion. Then, halfway through the fourth goblet, he staggered and fell forward against the basin. His eyes were still closed, his breathing was heavy.
"Professor Dumbledore?" He called out, "Can you hear me?"
Dumbledore did not answer. His face was twitching as though he was deeply asleep, but dreaming a horrible dream. His grip on the goblet was slackening; the potion was about to spill from it. Harry reached forward and grasped the crystal cup, holding it steady. "Professor, can you hear me?" He repeated loudly, his voice echoing around the cavern.
Dumbledore panted and then spoke in a voice Harry did not recognize, for he had never heard Dumbledore frightened like this.
"I don't want… Don't make me... Don't like…want to stop…" Dumbledore groaned in pain.
"You…you can't stop, Professor! You've got to keep drinking, remember? You told me you had to keep drinking. Here…" He forced the goblet back toward Dumbledore's mouth and tipped it so that Dumbledore drank the remainder of the potion inside.
"No..." He groaned, as Harry lowered the goblet back into the basin and refilled it for him. "I don't want to...I don't want to… Let me go!"
"It's all right, Professor."
"Make it stop, make it stop." Dumbledore kept groaning in pain.
"Yes…yes, this'll make it stop!" He lied and tipped the contents of the goblet into Dumbledore's open mouth. Dumbledore screamed and the noise echoed all around the vast chamber, across the dead black water.
"No, no, no, no, I can't, I can't, don't make me, I don't want to…"
"It's all right, Professor, it's all right!" He forced another dose of the poison.
With that, Dumbledore sank to his knees, "Please make it stop."
"This will make it stop, Professor." Harry lied yet again as he tipped the seventh glass of potion into Dumbledore's mouth.
The eighth goblet was at hand, "Here, drink this, drink this, you'll be all right." Once again Dumbledore obeyed him, opening his mouth even as he kept his eyes tight shut and shook from head to foot. And now he fell forward, screaming again, hammering his fists upon the ground, while Harry filled the ninth goblet.
"Please, please, please, no... Not that, not that..."
"Just drink, just drink…"
Dumbledore drank like a child dying of thirst, but when he had finished, he yelled again as though his insides were on fire, "No more, please, no more..."
Harry scooped up a tenth goblet full of potion and felt the crystal scrape the bottom of the basin, "We're nearly there, Professor. Drink this, drink it!"
He supported Dumbledore's shoulders and again, Dumbledore drained the glass; then Harry was on his feet once more, refilling the goblet as Dumbledore began to scream in more anguish than ever, "Make it stop, make it stop, I want to die!"
"Drink this, Professor. Drink this…!"
Dumbledore drank, and no sooner had he finished, he yelled, "KILL ME!"
"This one will!" Harry lied as he had to.
"Just drink this... It'll be over...!" Dumbledore gulped at the goblet, drained every last drop, and then, with a great, rattling gasp, rolled over onto his face.
"Professor…?" Harry dropped the goblet into the basin and pulled his wand out and muttered, "Rennervate…"
Dumbledore's eyelids flickered, "Sir, are you…?"
Dumbledore interrupted him with a low moan, "Water."
He gave a short wave with his wand and a white bowl came into existence. He then spoke, "Aguamenti!" And the bowl was immediately filled with water.
He knew that the moment the goblet touched the potion within the basin; it would become impervious to other conjuration spells, so he had conjured a bowl of his own and filled that with water.
"Sir, here…!" He softly spoke as he placed the bowl on Dumbledore's lips and tipped the water over.
Dumbledore's breathing steadied a little and he reached into the basin for the goblet, hoping that there's no more potion in it. He was disappointed when he felt the liquid as he grabbed the goblet. But then, his hand grazed on something solid within the basin. He placed the goblet beside Dumbledore who was now stirring up, he stood up and he looked into the basin and noticed a golden locket lying curled within it. He reached his hand in and pulled out the metal chain and inspected it carefully. It looked authentic on the first glance, but before he could open it and check, he was interrupted.
The moment he pulled the locket out, he heard it, a splash, he looked around into the darkness and noticed that the water was no longer calm and smooth, it was churning. He was very much aware of the danger they were in, he had no intention of letting himself be swarmed by Inferi.
"INCENDIO…!" He yelled out loud and he expelled a huge jet of flames into the water. He slowly traced the fire by the corners of the small island protecting them from the Inferi.
A hand touched his shoulder, he snapped back fully intending to curse, but noticed that it was Dumbledore, "Good thinking, my boy."
He helped the headmaster to stand up straight, holding his weight within his hands. Dumbledore spoke softly, "Let me make things easier."
With that, Dumbledore pointed his wand at the fire, and suddenly the fire started shimmering down in smaller flames, then it turned purple in colour as it once again grew in size, but bigger than ever before. And then a huge wind blew down as the purple flames started spreading across the lake in all directions roaring loudly like a lion.
Without another word both of them climbed back into the boat, he accelerated the speed at which they moved by expelling huge winds from his wand, using it as a propeller to move the boat. Dumbledore rested inside the boat as they wordlessly moved back to the shore. There he made the blood sacrifice, banished the water within the secondary chamber and led Dumbledore out through all the obstacles. In the end, all it took was a few minutes to get out.
Astronomy Tower-
Harry watched from under the Invisibility Cloak as Dumbledore extracted everything out of Malfoy's mouth. The whole story about how Malfoy got the idea from Montague, and how he fixed the Vanishing Cabinet allowing the Death Eaters to enter the castle undetected. How Madam Rosmerta was under Draco's Imperious Curse, how it was her that tipped Malfoy off from Hogsmeade, and how they planted the trap.
He wasn't paralyzed anymore, although Dumbledore did catch him off-guard when he was 'bound' by Dumbledore's wandless 'Petrificus Totalus', however, the headmaster still seemed to think that he was paralyzed, so for the sake of pretence, he kept the farce going.
And finally, it was at hand, the moment he was sure would come, the moment he was waiting for. With all the, 'find Severus' that Dumbledore was demanding from Rosmerta and with the 'Severus is on my side' that he was telling Malfoy, it was obvious to him that Snape was in on the plan.
And finally it came, from Snape himself, "Avada Kedavra…!"
And that was his cue; he heaved the heaviest Legilimency attack on Dumbledore's Occulumency defences at the exact moment Snape shot the Killing Curse. Dumbledore's Occulumency barrier was something he can't ever hope to penetrate through on his own, not with Voldemort's Legilimency skills, not with Narcissa's Legilimency skills; as such he needed an advantage, something substantial, like a Killing Curse.
A jet of green light shot from the end of Snape's wand and hit Dumbledore squarely in the chest. Dumbledore was blasted into the air, for a split second he seemed to hang suspended beneath the shining green light of the Dark Mark on the Sky, and then he fell slowly backwards, like a great rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight.
Harry felt a pain as if his head was splitting open in two, he could see images from Dumbledore's eyes, as the man fell down the Tower plummeting towards the ground. The images, the noise and the memories were flooding into his head, and it came at a full halt as Dumbledore's body reached the ground below.
In Pursuit-
It took him a few minutes to recover, but now, Harry was swiftly hurrying through the castle in order to catch the fleeing Death Eaters. The Order was defeated, unsurprising; killing the leader and the most powerful member of the group tends to destroy morale.
In the distance, he could see the Clock Tower Courtyard, within which he could see Black Cloaks fluttering away at great speeds.
He sent a blasting hex, which missed the fleeing Death Eaters by a wide margin as it impacted a nearby pillar and created a huge enough crack on it. However, the hex wasn't meant for the Death Eaters, it was merely meant to gain their attention, which it did. Fenrir Greyback stopped to fight him and delay him as the rest of the Death Eaters fled.
He had no intention of being delayed by Greyback, he raised his hand and made a pulling motion as if he was pulling an invisible rope, and as soon as he did it so, the pillar behind Greyback collapsed and fell forward right on top of the werewolf. His feat of telekinesis caught Greyback so off-guard that the Lycanthrope failed to protect himself. As he sprinted past an immobile Greyback, he pointed his wand, "Inflamarae…" And the collapsed structure was instantly engulfed by hot blue fire, effectively burning the Lycanthrope under it to certain death.
Seeing that Greyback couldn't stop Potter, both of the Carrow siblings, Amycus and Alecto split off from the herd to fight him. The Carrow siblings faced a sprinting Harry within the structure of the Wooden Bridge.
What Harry did was unexpected, "Diffindo…" A spell so powerful that neither of their shields spells stopped the approaching blade of pure magic. The spell cut the entire Wooden Bridge in half. He was running halfway inside, as the top half of the bridge from where he shot the spell from was pushed down the ravine by a powerful pulse of invisible force, and with that, so did the severed pieces of the two Carrow siblings, as Harry proceeded forward running on top of pool of blood dripping down into the ravine, down the cracks in the floor.
Harry reached the Sundial Garden at the end of the Wooden Bridge. He was on high ground; he surveyed the fleeing pack of fools carefully. Draco and Bellatrix were at the very front, Yaxley and Snape right on their tail, then Thorfinn Rowle and behind him were Jugson and Avery.
It was obvious that the remaining members had no intention of fighting him; they were sprinting towards Hagrid's hut. He raised his arm and pointed his wand as he took aim with one eye closed, with that he spoke coldly, "Bombarda Maxima..." His aim was accurate, the blue spell came to halt right on the ground in between Jugson's and Avery Snr's feet, and the resulting blast completely engulfed both of them within the split second, as the whiplash of the blast pushed all the others down to the ground.
Rowle, Yaxley and Snape were the ones to recover as they regained their senses and stood together intending on fighting him together. They couldn't believe it Potter had killed five members of their team in a matter of minutes. It was obvious to them that Harry Potter was both unhinged and dangerous.
All three of them stood side by side looking at different directions searching for him, and all their eyes found him as he walked straight through the burning flames unscathed, and as he walked through, the fire burning behind him took shape and morphed into a giant Phoenix made out of the fire, howling with a screeching pitch, "CAAWW…" The force of the scream alone could be heard miles and miles away.
Rowle being the dimmest of the three did something unwise, "Die, you fucker…" He shouted as he ran towards him intending on getting a kill shot.
The fire behind Harry came down, spiralled and morphed as it surrounded Rowle. The flames were force-fed into Rowle's mouth, nostrils and ear, and within moments Rowle was burned inside out. The Death Eater fell down dead as parts of his body started turning into ash.
Yaxley being wisest of the bunch looked at Snape for a moment and he turned around and ran towards the gates past Hagrid's Hut. As Hagrid was on the ground with a broken leg, thanks to Bellatrix, who's Cutting Curse was toned down thanks to Hagrid's magical defences as a half-Giant.
And it was at hand, he faced off against Snape, he stopped walking as he called out, "COWARD…"
Snape roared back, "Your father would never attack me unless it was four on one, what would you call him, I wonder?"
With Yaxley running away in the distance, he spoke mockingly, "A winner…!" Harry smirked as he replied.
"What…?"
"My mother chose him, Snape." Snape's smirk dimmed, "She never saw you as anything more than as a former friend who drifted away into darkness. My father knew it, all her friends knew it, and even Dumbledore knew it. Why do you think Dumbledore made my father the Head-Boy along with my mother as the Head-Girl?" With that, Snape's face sported a look of pure horror, "They were meant to be together it was obvious to everyone but themselves until they did find each other in the end."
"My mother was never a trophy that you wanted to make yours, she was Lilly Evans Potter. You're a failure Snape, you always will be!" He finished having reached into Snape's mind.
And he taunted, "How's that for Legilimency?"
"AARRGHHHH…" Snape roared in anger and in tears.
'SNASH…' Snape never even had a chance to move.
In that split-second, a dagger came through his midsection from behind his back. The Potioneer stood there in shock as he looked down and noticed the sharp tip of the dagger covered in blood protruding out just below his chest. He coughed up blood and staggered as the wound and pain registered in his mind. In pain, the Potioneer fell to his knees.
Snape's eye fell on the boy in front of him, at that moment, Harry disappeared before his very eyes, and then he heard a whisper. It was Potter standing behind him, "I'm really going to enjoy what happens next!"
"Wait, please…, please…!" Snape begged in fear, "There's a…larger game afoot… You…don't…understand!"
The last thing Snape heard was Harry's uncaring voice coolly replying, "I understand!"
Potter grabbed Snape's jaw with his right hand and the top of his head with his left, and 'TWIST', he snapped Snape's neck. And it was done, Dumbledore's plan was now uprooted as a whole, no more manipulation or anything of that sort, he finally came to terms with the fact that all that's left was Voldemort.
With that, he set his sight on the remaining of the fleeing Death Eaters, Yaxley, Malfoy and Bellatrix, who were all already past the gate as they disapparated away.
Two Hours Later-
He was sitting alongside Hagrid on the steps of his hut. Madam Pomfrey had just finished bandaging Hagrid's wounds; the matron had come to the hut as Hagrid couldn't walk up to the castle. Fang was lying beside Hagrid, slobbering all over the stone floor.
Having absorbed a small part of Dumbledore's mind and having stolen most of the wizard's memories', he was suddenly feeling more benevolent yet equally arrogant in his serenity. He suppressed his feelings and slowly tried to regain his sense of self as he usually would do after stealing memories from others.
After spending two hours in his mind, his opinion about Dumbledore had changed. The old Headmaster truly believed that by manipulating everything and everyone that he was making the world a better place. He couldn't help but think that Dumbledore was naïve thinking that he was making a difference when most of his work has only caused problems for others.
To his surprise, he learned from the aged Sorcerer's memories that it was obvious to Dumbledore that he wasn't the same Harry Potter. Dumbledore knew about the Horcrux in his head and the possibilities of how it could be manipulating him. The headmaster just didn't care as long as he did exactly what Dumbledore wanted him to do. The only worry the man had was the certainty that he wouldn't follow Dumbledore's perfectly laid-out plan after his death. That's where Snape's role in all this came in.
Dumbledore's plan was simple, have Snape secretly manipulate him and have Snape make him destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes and then by the time all the Horcruxes are destroyed, he would be convinced that dying at the hands of the Dark Lord which would result in the Dark Lord's own death in the end. But he had other plans, with Snape dead; Dumbledore's entire long term plan was now up in smoke.
Suddenly, he snapped out of his haze, as something was warning him to concentrate on the present and listen to Professor McGonagall's argument with the Aurors of the DMLE, but he really couldn't help but muse on the things he has learned in the past hours. So he forcefully calmed himself and started listening into the ongoing argument.
"Mister Potter is a student of Hogwarts. As the acting Headmistress, I cannot allow you to arrest a minor without permission from his magical guardian." Minerva protested vehemently with almost all the teachers backing her up.
The lead Auror spoke back equally adamantly, "Minor or not, Mister Potter has committed a crime. We have orders, Headmistress McGonagall."
Minerva replied strictly, "And I have my duty to the children as the Headmistress. I cannot allow this…!"
"Our orders are a matter of law enforcement; it comes directly from the Senior Undersecretary, authorized by the Minister of Magic himself. Please stand aside!"
Minerva was quick to retort, "And I take orders from the Hogwarts Board of Governors, the Ministry has no authority to punish Hogwarts students for offences that happen inside school grounds, especially something that happened during an act of terrorism by Death Eaters. As Headmistress, I cannot and I will not allow this at any cost!"
The lead Auror just smirked as he held his hand out behind him, and one of the other Aurors placed a rolled up piece of parchment into his hand. He broke the red wax seal and handed the document to McGonagall.
The Auror spoke with a condescending grin, "We have appraised the situation to the Board of Governors and they unanimously agree with us. You'll find all twelve signatures and seals."
The professors all thought along the same lines, "Impossible."
The Auror's smug expression only grew as the professors' realized that they could do nothing to protect Harry Potter. "We now have operational authority here. Do not make us use force, I suggest you all stand aside and let us do our jobs." And slowly, the Professors were forcefully parted by the Aurors; at last, they stood aside collectively to review the contents of the parchment.
The group of Aurors moved forward as they noticed that their target was sitting on the steps of the hut along with the half-giant man. The Lead Auror ordered to his subordinates, "Seize Mister Potter and relieve him of his wand."
The two Aurors in the back moved from the back and approached him. Hagrid who was sitting beside him looked at him in a mixture of rage, fear and despair. He smiled knowing that Hagrid really did care about him.
Harry stood up and walked forward as the Aurors reached him and grabbed him by his arms on either of his sides. Just as the one on the right reached for his wand that was in his hand, in that split second, he dropped the wand and jerked his arm back. In a flash, he clenched his fist and punched the man on his left straight on the throat, incapacitating him instantly. Harry fluidly recoiled his arm back and elbowed the Auror on his right, straight on the bridge of his nose, with that he grabbed the staggering Auror's jaw from beneath and he pulled him down slamming the Auror headfirst into the ground.
The Lead Auror and the professors stood in shock as they noticed the crack on the ground below where the Auror's head rested. The other Auror was on his knees gasping for his breath. Harry who was on crouching on the ground on one knee slowly stood up as he grabbed the wand that he had dropped on the ground. As soon as he stood up, he kicked the choking Auror on the side of the head, to which the Auror collapsed instantly.
The Aurors immediately drew their wands and took battle stances in standard formation. The teachers and the Aurors noticed something evil, the smile on Harry's face and the manic gleam in his eyes, it wasn't fear or anger it was mania.
Within a split second, a big flash of light engulfed them all, as a powerful bolt of Lightning descended down out of nowhere and struck in between the Aurors. All five of them were thrown away in force. The professors watched in disbelief as their eyes couldn't follow Harry's movements. All they felt for the next few moments was the whiplash of air and deafening noise that kept them rooted in place.
Within seconds, all five of them were incapacitated; the Lead Auror was dead, he had a fist-sized hole in his head. The other four were gravely injured, but still alive. Minerva and the others watched in horror at what Harry had done to the men.
Harry slowly walked towards the Auror he had knocked out with a kick, who was now recovering, "I have a message that I would like you to deliver. Tell Umbridge and tell Voldemort, that the War they wanted has just begun!" The last thing that the Auror saw was the Stunner spell being shot in his face.
None had a word, none of them had anything to say, all they could do was silently watch as Harry Potter, the next Dark Lord in the making, slowly walked away and disappeared into the Forbidden Forest. Watch as they all saw the barrier around Hogwarts being cracked open and the loud noise of someone Dissaparating away.