While Nathan Clarke had just finished a series of inspections and was lying in his room at the Leaky Cauldron, quietly planning his next steps—
Dozens of miles away from the Leaky Cauldron, in a small seaside village on the outskirts of London.
"A Muggle-Repelling Charm. Extremely subtle—if you weren't lying on the ground and examining it closely, you'd almost never notice it…"
Severus Snape lifted his nose from the ground and turned a stern gaze toward Dumbledore, who was leisurely admiring the rolling sea as though on a casual outing.
"It matches Voldemort's style. Your intelligence was correct, Dumbledore."
"It seems I'm not completely senile just yet—which is certainly good news."
Dumbledore nodded with a smile, then raised a hand and pointed toward the sea.
"And if the next part is also accurate, then the location where that Horcrux is hidden should be…"
His finger suddenly dipped downward.
"Over there."
"Then what are we waiting for?"
Snape weighed his wand in his hand, his eyes narrowing like a hawk locking onto prey—paired with his nose, the resemblance was uncanny.
"I was just about to ask the same question."
Dumbledore laughed heartily. "What are we waiting for?"
With that, his figure vanished instantly with a soft crack. Snape, however, did not Apparate. Instead, he shot into the air like a giant bat, gripping his wand as he flew swiftly along the cliffside, carefully scanning every inch of rock below.
Suddenly, his floating form lurched violently and, without any warning, plunged straight down toward the sea.
Thankfully, after a brief moment of panic, he regained his composure and executed a flawless Apparition midair. With a sharp crack, he reappeared atop a black rock jutting out of the water—where Dumbledore had already been waiting, watching him with barely concealed amusement as Snape panted, shaken.
"You should have warned me there was an anti-flight ward here!"
Snape snarled angrily.
"I assumed you'd place a bit more importance on Voldemort's Horcrux defenses."
Dumbledore shook his head lightly. "Calm yourself, Severus—you're being a little impatient."
"…Hmph."
After a dissatisfied snort, Snape gradually steadied himself. He raised his head and studied the towering cliff face for a moment.
"But this makes inspection difficult. From this distance, it's nearly impossible to identify a disguised entrance. What's your plan now, Dumbledore?"
"If it's difficult from afar, then we simply get closer."
Dumbledore answered calmly, then drew his peculiar old wand and gave the sea a gentle wave.
It was as if an invisible hand had smoothed the ocean's surface. Within seconds, a wide expanse of churning water before them grew completely still, starkly distinct from the surrounding waves. But it didn't stop there—the surface grew flatter, smoother, until the entire sea had transformed into something like a solid floor, neatly "laid" between Dumbledore and the cliff.
With a single thought, he had turned the raging sea into firm land.
"Let's go."
Dumbledore stepped onto the now rock-solid water and walked toward the cliff at an unhurried pace. After a brief silence, Snape followed.
The two raised their wands and began meticulously examining the cliff face inch by inch—though, to be precise, only Snape looked truly serious. Dumbledore retained the air of a man enjoying a seaside stroll.
"Dumbledore."
After only a short while, Snape halted and pointed doubtfully at a fissure near the base of the cliff.
"Could this be a trap?"
"Or are you saying Voldemort really placed the entrance to his Horcrux storage… just like this…?"
He stared at the narrow crevice—one so unobstructed that even an ordinary person could swim inside—and struggled to articulate his disbelief.
"You know, Severus, splitting one's soul does tend to affect one's intelligence to some degree…"
Even Dumbledore looked faintly incredulous after inspecting the crevice himself.
"…Let's just accept it for now. No matter what, our enemy exposing such a glaring flaw can only be a good thing. Wouldn't you agree?"
As he spoke, he parted the seawater within the crevice and began walking inside.
"That's not necessarily true."
Snape muttered as he followed.
"It also makes it easier for some unsavory third party to stumble upon it… If the remaining defenses are just as absurd, and some unknown individual manages to break in, we could lose all information about a Horcrux entirely…"
After proceeding some distance down the passage, they reached a dead end. This time, before Dumbledore could speak, Snape had already drawn his wand and pulled out a pile of instruments and bottles, carefully examining every inch of the rock wall.
"Found it. Here."
After working for quite some time, Snape wiped the sweat from his brow and jabbed his wand at an unremarkable section of the wall.
Instantly, the outline of an archway appeared, radiating dazzling white light, as though powerful illumination lay beyond the stone.
"So it really is this crude—"
Before Snape could finish his smug remark, the archway abruptly melted back into the rock, vanishing as though it had never existed.
"..."
Snape's face darkened as he strode forward, already reaching into his pocket for more powerful tools—
"All right. I understand what this is now."
Dumbledore raised a hand to stop the furious professor.
"I believe there's a curse here—one that compels a wizard to harm themselves. A wizard must injure themselves and spill blood upon the stone for the door to open. It seems my former student wished any intruder to weaken themselves first…"
"Then it's even more primitive than I imagined!"
Snape sneered, conjuring a sharp knife into his hand and rolling up his sleeve as he prepared to stab himself—
"What are you doing?"
Dumbledore's puzzled question halted him mid-motion.
"What am I doing?"
Snape looked up at him in confusion.
"Didn't you just explain how to open the door? Why ask such a question?"
"..."
Dumbledore's eye twitched. After a moment of silence under Snape's increasingly displeased stare, he spoke slowly, as if weighing each word.
"Severus, I was merely explaining the principle behind the door…"
"Then how do you intend to open it? With your own blood?"
Snape genuinely couldn't understand Dumbledore's hesitation. Physical injury was trivial to a wizard—one flick of a wand and it was gone.
Even if the door required an unusually large amount of blood, a single Blood-Replenishing Potion would solve the issue. What was there to be so delicate about?
Dumbledore let out a heavy sigh, clearly abandoning any attempt to reason further with him.
"…Fawkes."
"Whoosh!"
The beautiful phoenix erupted into existence amid a burst of flame.
"Can you get inside?"
Dumbledore gestured toward the wall. Fawkes tilted his head, vanished once more, and reappeared an instant later in a flare of fire, nodding lightly.
"Let's go."
Dumbledore perched Fawkes on one arm and reached out his other hand toward Snape, who stood frozen in place like a stone statue…
(End of Chapter)