Mia Potter was the other Potter. Looking almost identical to her mother, she was a force to be reckoned with. But there was only one person who could reckon with her, and his name was Draco Malfoy.
In which the youngest Potter twin finds herself fa...
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An eerie sight met their eyes.
They were standing on the edge of a great black lake, so vast that Mia 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 Mia would have expected. The darkness was somehow denser than normal darkness.
"Let us walk," said Dumbledore quietly. "Be very careful not to. Step into the water. Stay close to me."
He set off around the edge of the lake, and the twins followed close behind him. Their footsteps made echoing, slapping sounds on the. A narrow rim of rock 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. Mia found the place and the silence oppressive and unnerving.
"Professor?"
"Yes, Harry?"
"Do you think we're going to have to go into the lake?"
"Into it? Only if we are very unfortunate."
"You don't think the Horcrux is at the bottom?"
"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."
Mia did not say anything. Her thoughts were all of water monsters, of giant serpents, of demons, kelpies, and sprites.
"Aha," said Dumbledore, and he stopped again. This time, he was running his hand, not over the rocky wall, but through the thin air, as though expecting to find and grip something invisible.
"Oho," said Dumbledore happily, seconds later. His hand had closed in midair upon something Mia could not see. Dumbledore moved closer to the water; Mia 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 extended 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. Mia 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 Harry and Dumbledore stood.
"How did you know that was there?" Harry asked in astonishment.
"Magic always leaves traces," said Dumbledore, as the boat hit the bank with a gentle bump, "sometimes very distinctive traces. I taught Tom Riddle. I know his style."
"Is. . . . 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."
"So the things in the water won't do anything to us if we cross in Voldemort's boat?" Mia asked, looking at it.
Dumbledore stood aside, and Mia and Harry climbed carefully into the boat. Dumbledore stepped in, too, coiling the chain onto the floor. They were crammed in together, and the boat 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 cave; they might have been at sea, except that there were no waves. Mia looked down and saw the reflected gold of her wand lights 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.
Mia looked down at the water, and her blue eyes went wide.
"What the fuck is that?!" she gasped. A dead man was lying face up inches beneath the surface, his open eyes misted as though with cobwebs, his hair and his robes swirling around him like smoke.
"Nothing to worry about right now," said Dumbledore as Mia looked at him like he was insane. "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.
"We're going to make it back alive, right?" Mia asked for the first time tonight, sounding scared.
"We can only but hope, Mia," Dumbledore said as Mia nodded, looking uneasy, as they approached the island.
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. Mia squinted at it; at first, she thought it was a lamp of some kind, but then she 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 the twins followed. Side by side, they looked down into it. The basin was full of an emerald liquid emitting that phosphorescent glow.
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.
"This potion cannot be penetrated by hand," Dumbledore said, "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?" said Harry. "No!"
"Yes, I think so. Only by drinking it can I empty the basin and see what lies in its depths."
"But what if, what if it kills you?"
"Oh, I doubt that it would work like that," said Dumbledore. "Mia, 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. Mia did not speak.
"You remember," said Dumbledore, "the condition on which I brought you with me?"
Mia nodded.
Before the twins could make any further protest, Dumbledore lowered the crystal goblet into the potion. For a split second, Mia hoped that she would not be able to touch the potion with the goblet, but the crystal sank to the surface as nothing else had; when the glass was full to the brim, Dumbledore lifted it to his mouth.
