Salt water sprayed her face and waves crashed along jagged rocks and the cliff-face before them. She knew where they were: perched upon one of the rocks in the sea below the cave she saw in her dreams, facing the cave that meant so much to her father. They were here for a Horcrux.

In the cave, Dumbledore's lit wand caused their shadows to dance on the slimy rock walls. They jumped and watched them, flickering violently after Dumbledore lit a torch on one of the walls. The ominous air caused bumps to rise on Diana's skin, creeping up her arms and neck until she shook from the cold.

The cave sunk deep into the cliff, a cavernous expanse that was almost entirely undisturbed.

"Yes, this is the place," Dumbledore muttered as he peered at the walls shining with ocean mist.

"How can you tell?" whispered Harry.

"It has known magic," said Dumbledore simply.

Diana crept toward a dip in one of the walls, shadowed and dark and nearly hidden. She lit her wand, pointing it at the small hole. The wall, slimy and wet with mist, was covered in bright green moss. She pulled some of it to the side, and ran her fingers along an etching.

Behind her, Dumbledore was standing in front of an outline of an arched door. "Surely not," he muttered. "I rather think we a required to make payment to pass.

"Blood, if I'm not mistaken."

"Stop."

Diana's eyes were glued to carving on the hidden wall, tracing the lines with her eyes like a puzzle and running her fingers over the deepest etches.

"It has to be my blood."

Dumbledore was next to her now, and they peered at the wall in curious wonder.

Behind the bright moss, a large, detailed snake was carved, curved into a circle with its tail between his jaws. A large, glittering, purple gem was set as the eye of the snake, reflecting the light of their wands like a mirror.

"It needs my blood," she said, tracing the gem with her index finger. "It can only be opened by Voldemort's blood or Vera's. Or both."

And so, stepping to the stone arch embedded into the opposite wall, she pulled a silver dagger sheathed in leather from her bag and sliced her palm. The blood trickled from the wound and it stung as she pressed it into the stone, the small pebbles digging into her skin and her hands sticking from the wetness.

The arch glowed a magnificent silver, not unlike the color of the memories in the Pensieve. Under the arch, what was once stone was now a open passage into another cavern, one that was significantly larger than the one they were standing in now. Set before them was a gigantic lake, black under the dark ceiling and flowing far into the shadowed cave. The outer banks were hidden in the darkness, and the lake was still, like it was made purely of glass.

"Let us walk," said Dumbledore quietly. "Be very careful not to step into the water. Stay close to me."

They followed him around the edge of the lake closest to them as he examined the water. Their footsteps made loud slapping noises against the ground and it made her increasingly uneasy.

"Professor," said 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."

"So we're going to have to cross the lake to get to it?"

All of a sudden, Dumbledore muttered, "Aha!" His hand clamped around something invisible near the water and he tugged. A thick chain emerged from the depths in his hand, and next came a small boat that floated idly on the surface. Dumbledore beamed in delight, and ushered Harry and Diana into the boat, next clambering in himself.

The journey across was slow and agonizingly quiet. Diana listened to the water almost hum with energy, and she saw shadows deep underneath.

Harry yelled and scooted backward away from the edge of the boat.

"There are bodies in there!" he yelled, and Diana peered over the edge. A pale, blueish figure of a man was floating in the water, and his robes swirled around him like smoke.

"Yes," said Dumbledore, "but we do not need to worry about them at the moment."

"At the moment?"

Dumbledore did not answer, and they once again fell into a foreboding silence. Soon, a green glow emerged from the thick darkness, illuminating the rocky ground of a small island.

"Nearly there," said Dumbledore cheerfully, and they slowly approached the small island.

The light of their wands shone against the wet rock of the little island, and the green glow in the center cast an eerie glow across their faces. They carefully climbed out of the boat, avoiding the water. The green glow was coming from a stone pedestal in the center of the rock, with a shallow bowl rather similar to a Pensieve sitting on top. Dumbledore slowly approached the pedestal, with Diana closely in tow, and Harry in the back. Inside the bowl was a cloudy, emerald liquid that looked like acid.

"What is it?" Harry asked quietly, thought his voice echoed through the cavern as if he had shouted.

"I am not sure," said Dumbledore. "Something more worrisome than blood and bodies, however."

He pushed back the sleeve over his blackened hand and reached toward the bowl.

"Sir, no, don't touch--!"

"I cannot touch," he replied with a faint smile. "See?"

Surely, as if he was touching a glass surface, he pressed his hand to the liquid as if it was solid.

"Out of the way, please Harry--"

"No, Dumbledore," said Diana quickly, "Let me--"

"No," he said. His voice was strong and sure, and she fell silent under his gaze. She knew what it meant.

You're more important to this than I am.

"You think the Horcrux is in there, sir?"

"Oh yes," Dumbledore said.

Diana waved her wand. Before her, a golden goblet appeared in her hand.

"Use this," she said quietly. He nodded at her gratefully and the three circled the pedestal.

"What?" yelled 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?"

"I doubt it," said Diana. "Voldemort would not want to kill the person who reached this island."

"This is Voldemort we're talking about--"

"Exactly, Harry, this is Voldemort. He prizes his knowledge and power over anything else; don't you think he'd be delighted to know how someone could have possibly figured out his little hiding place? Of course, he'd kill them after, but his own arrogance would be the thing keeping the intruder alive, if only for a little longer."

It was silent as Harry frowned and Dumbledore peered down at the emerald liquid.

"Undoubtedly," he said finally, "this potion must act in a way that will prevent me taking the Horcrux. It might paralyze me, cause me to forget what I am here for, create so much pain I am distracted, or render me incapable in some other way. This being the case, 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?"

Diana swallowed thickly. "I understand," she whispered, he eyes glued to the old man in front of her, the man who had become something of a guardian to her. Harry, though, did not speak.

"You remember," said Dumbledore to Harry, "the condition on which I brought you with me?"

"But what if--?"

"You swore, did you not, to follow any command I gave you?"

"Yes, but--"

"Harry," interrupted Diana, "please."

He hesitated, and then finally nodded.

Dumbledore dipped the glass into the basin. Unlike Dumbledore's hand, it sank into the surface of the liquid, filling the golden cup to the brim. He raised it in a toast, and brought it to his lips and draining the goblet.

The apprehensive silence suffocated her as Dumbledore gripped the basin with white knuckles. He did not speak, nor did he do anything else but shakily fill the goblet once more with the emerald liquid, his eyes screwed shut. He downed it whole.

It was still silent as he downed three goblet-fulls of liquid. Halfway through the fourth one, he staggered and fell forward against the basin.

"Dumbledore," Diana gasped, clutching his arms and steadying him. He was breathing heavily, his eyes shut tight, his face scrunched in pain, and Diana had never seen him so weak. "Can you hear me?"

The liquid began to tip out of the goblet, and Diana seized his hand and steadied it before any could spill. "Can you hear me, Dumbledore?" she repeated urgently.

"I don't want . . . don't make me . . ."

"Dumbledore," she whispered, her voice cracking as the old man she had grown to love looked so old, so weak, so scared. His face was white as a sheet under the emerald glow of the basin, and he looked ill.

". . . don't like . . . want to stop. . . "

"Please," she said in a strangled voice. "You can't stop. . ."

Harry took the goblet from his hands and brought it to Dumbledore's mouth. "You have to keep drinking, Professor. . . please. . ."

He drank the remaining potion.

"No," he groaned. Harry refilled the goblet and Diana kept Dumbledore steady. "I don't want to. . .I don't want to. . .let me go. . ."

Diana had never felt so weak, so heavy, as she watched him plead with terror and pain. She had endured sadness, she had endured loss, but watching him like this was nothing she had ever experienced.

"Please, Albus, Please. . ."

Harry tipped the goblet to his lips and he drank.

"Make it stop, make it stop," Dumbledore pleaded.

"This'll make it stop," she whispered, nodding her head to Harry to refill the cup. "This'll help, I promise. . ."

Harry poured the liquid into Dumbledore's mouth. He screamed in agony, the noise echoing through the cave, bouncing off of the walls long after Dumbledore fell quiet. She had never heard a more horrible sound.

"Please," she whispered, a tear running down her cheek.

"No, no, no. . . no. . . I can't. . .I can't, don't make me, I don't want to. . ."

"It's alright, Professor," said Harry urgently as he once again refilled the cup. Diana was paralyzed, tears falling to the floor and her breathing shallow. "It's okay, it isn't real, you're okay. . ."

Dumbledore drank another glass. He began to sob now, and Diana couldn't hold her own sob in. She bit her lip to keep quiet until it bled, the blood tasting salty and bitter in her mouth, but she did not mind.

"It's all my fault," he sobbed, "all my fault, please make it stop, I know I did wrong, oh, please, make it stop and I'll never again. . ."

"This will make it stop," Diana whispered. She took the goblet from Harry and tipped the liquid into the man's mouth as he tried to move away from her, but she had no choice but to grip his head still.

"Don't hurt them, don't hurt them, please, please, it's my fault, hurt me instead. . ."

They fed him two more cup-fulls, and he screamed and cried and hit the rock until his hands bled, and Diana sobbed, her nails digging into the palm of her hand until they dripped with blood, her eyes hot and blurry and her body trembling.

And then Harry filled the last one and Diana tried to hold Dumbledore still.

"I want to die! I want to die! Make it stop. . ."

"Drink this, Professor, drink this. . ."

"KILL ME!" he screamed, his voice echoing like a taunt.

Diana had never ached so much.

Then, she said what she had to, no matter how painful, no matter how horrible, she did what she had to do.

"This one will," she whispered through her tears, looking him dead in the eye as he struggled. "If you drink it, it will be over. I promise, Albus, I promise. . ."

Dumbledore drained the goblet with urgency, as if he was desperate to die. Then, with a great gasp, the goblet clattered to the floor and Dumbledore fell backward, his eyes closed, silent.

"No!" yelled Harry, and Diana's hands shook, trying so desperately to shake him awake, he had to wake up--

His eyes flickered.

"Water," he croaked.

Diana heaved a heavy sigh, resting her forehead over his body like a bow, heaving a single sob, clutching his robes like a lifeline.

"Oh god, oh god. . ." she whispered, her voice cracked and strangled. She vaguely heard Harry trying to fill the goblet with water by magic, but he kept repeating the spell. It wasn't working.

The moment Harry appeared flinging into her vision with a full goblet and Dumbledore drank it, Harry was pulled backward.

Then, men, women, and children were emerging from the once-still water, their eyes lifeless and blind and their bodies pale and wet.

Harry tried Stunning them, but it was no use. There were so many emerging, clutching at the three of them blindly, splashing through the water. Only moments ago, it was silent; now, it was roaring with the sound of movement, the water splashing violently and Harry yelling spells. Diana clutched around the ground next to her for her wand, but she could not find it, she could not feel it--

And then, Harry was pulled into the water by a web of blue, vein-crossed hands and arms, and disappeared, and Diana snapped.

She screamed. It drowned the sound of anything else, the roaring of the water, the screaming of the dead, echoing through the walls, shaking the ground, full of such raw emotion she felt like her feelings themselves would be more powerful than any magic she could've conjured.

Then, there was fire. So much fire, emanating from the walls and trapping any of the Inferi that dared approach. Dumbledore was next to her now, his wand raised and he waved it like a lasso, and strands of fire like whips flung through the air and into the water, protecting Harry, protecting them.

Harry pushed himself heavily onto the island, and Diana's voice faltered, and her tears dripped onto her hands like raindrops. The fire was gone, as were the Inferi.

The cave was still, and so were they.

Diana felt her wand a few feet from her hand, she seized it at once as the three quickly clambered onto the small boat, crossing the lake silently and approaching the other bank.

"Albus, the Horcrux. . ."

"I have it," he assured, his voice faint. "I have it."

The cave was so still, so quiet. Diana felt dead, like the bodies that were trapped now under the surface of the lake. They exited the cave and entered the small entrance.

She glanced at the carving of the snake in the small dip in the opposite wall.

She looked away, and she did not look back.

She did not look back when Harry and Dumbledore held her arm, for the man was much too weak to Apparate them back.

She did not look back when she whispered, "I'll take us back. Don't worry."

She did not look back when she heard Dumbledore mutter, "I am not worried, Diana. I am with you."

And she did not look back when the only thing she heard before they were swept away from the cave was Harry's soft voice muttering, "I trust you, Diana. I know we'll be okay, as long as we stick together."

Maybe, she just imagined it.

But maybe, she didn't.