The Black Lake and the Inferi

Ivan tried to lift his hand, but it was stiffer than usual. He waved his wand again, and when he saw that there was nothing stopping his magic, he turned to Sirius and the others with relief.

By now, Sirius and Lupin had drunk the potion, and their faces were so green and blank that they did not look alive.

"Great, they're gone. Looks like the medicine worked!" Lupin said in a hoarse voice, looking at the lake with a stiff expression.

Ivan looked over as well, and in the faint glow of the wand, the pale arm sticking out of the lake slowly fell silent.

Soon, the black surface of the lake was calm again.

However, Ivan, Sirius, and Lupin all felt a chill run down their spines as they looked at the calm lake.

Judging from the number of arms that had just emerged, there were probably over a hundred Inferi in the fluorescent area…

The lake stretched as far as the eye could see, and Ivan desperately hoped that most of the Inferi in the lake had been drawn here, or the number of Inferi would be worse than he had imagined…

Hundreds… thousands… thousands?

Or perhaps…

Ivan could not bear to think about it any longer. It was a number he could not accept.

After calming down, Ivan remembered something and turned to Sirius and Lupin, speaking apologetically.

"I'm sorry. It seems that I was careless and accidentally lit up the lake, alarming them…"

Sirius shook his head stiffly and calmly analyzed the situation. "No, it's not your fault! It's not the light. We're still maintaining the Illuminating Charm and they're not getting close, which means it's not the light that's attracting their attention."

"We must have had too many people coming in!"

Lupin's voice rang out, and he took over from Sirius. "Kreacher told us about the Inferi that accompanied Lord Voldemort and Regulus in the lake, when the Inferi at the bottom were silent."

"So two people are safe, which is the boundary set by Lord Voldemort, an intruder with a victim!" Ivan speculated, pulling memories from his mind.

Voldemort would not want anyone to steal his Horcrux, but considering the possibility of a Horcrux transfer in the future, some restrictions must be relaxed, such as allowing two people in!

If the number of intruders broke through this limit, the large number of Inferi would overwhelm the intruders.

However, thanks to Kreacher, they were able to learn of the situation ahead of time and prepared a potion to seal off their own life force, allowing the Inferi underwater to sense that the number of living creatures on the shore was zero.

'Yes, that's probably it!' Sirius nodded, but then remembered what had happened to Regulus and hesitated.

"I don't think it's safe even for two people to come in, because Regulus was dragged into the water. That means that once someone drinks the potion placed in the centre, the Inferi will get agitated, attack everything that comes near the water, and capsize their ship!"

To face hundreds or even thousands of Inferi on an isolated island in the middle of the lake while being dragged down by a potion, what a desperate sight that would be, not to mention that a normal intruder would have to row out in a small boat and fight the Inferi on the lake!

Ivan was glad he did not have to do something so dangerous.

Though what they are about to do may be more dangerous than that…

As the trio analyzed the cave's restrictions, Kreacher tried to recall how to raise the boat.

The elderly house-elf went round and round until she stopped on the right bank and looked around blankly.

"That ship should be somewhere around here, gentlemen! There's a chance the chain is invisible and Kreacher can't see it!" Kreacher reached out and grabbed at thin air, but it was possible that the ship was too short to reach.

"Aparecium~" Sirius raised his wand and waved it, sending magical waves from the tip of the wand in all directions. The surface of the lake rippled slightly, but nothing happened.

"A spell laid by Lord Voldemort himself will not be so easy to break! Let's look for it!" Lupin shook his head and waved his hand in the air, searching for the chain hidden in the void.

Ivan stepped forward to help, but to no avail, causing him to frown and wonder if they were doing the right thing.

What did Dumbledore do in the original time and space? Grab the chain in the void and pull?

But how should they be caught?

After so many years, Ivan's memory had become fragmented. If he had not learned Occlumency and was able to organize his memories, he would have forgotten everything.

Furthermore, Dumbledore's level of magic was very high, and what he could do, he might not be able to do himself.

No, wait! How did Regulus raise that boat?

Yvonne thought about it and decided it couldn't be that hard. Regulus couldn't be more powerful than they were. She must have missed something.

With a thought, Ivan tried to attach his magic to his hand and continued to explore. A moment later, his palm touched something cold, long, and very hard.

"We've got them!" Ivan called out to Sirius and Lupin, who were still searching, and then pulled with both hands.

Tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink tink.

Ivan tried to step back to pull the boat out, his expression strained, his face changing, and he almost let go when he realized that his magic was being rapidly consumed.

Sirius and Lupin quickly followed Ivan's example, attaching their magic to their hands and pulling at the chain to try and help, but they soon realised that they could not move it at all.

"Don't waste your time, it'll only suck my magic!" Ivan sighed, guessing how the ship worked.

Since he had already lost so much magic, he could not let his efforts go to waste. Ivan tried to pull the chain again, and a large amount of magic poured into the rusty copper chain from where his palm touched it.

When it was almost halfway through, the chain jerked and pulled something out of the dark depths of the lake.

It was a small boat, with a ghost-like prow that suddenly broke the surface of the water. Its hull floated out of the water, glowing green like a chain, and floated towards them.

Curiously, the Black Lake remained calm, as if the ship did not exist and they had imagined it.