Chapter 753: Drinking the Potion (Edited)

Ten minutes later, more or less, the boat docked, and Fish was the first to jump off Dumbledore's shoulders, landing on the soft rocky island before transforming into his human form and running towards the pile of bright green stones in the middle of the island.

Dumbledore, fearing that Fish would be the first to drink from the potion, leaped off the boat and chased after him.

"You promised me, Fish!"

Although he knew nothing unexpected would happen after drinking the Felix Felicis potion, Dumbledore remained uncertain and shouted at the top of his lungs as he ran towards the stone pile.

"Fish is not a man of his word!"

(´ω´)

However, Fish simply stood by the stone basin with his arms crossed, gazing at the shimmering green potion, and made no other movement except for the swaying of his tail behind him, indicating that his master was not in a very good mood.

In fact, if Fish hadn't realized that he couldn't touch the potion in the stone basin, he would have tried a little...

Fish was not going to break his promise; he was just curious to taste it and maybe awaken a spell that could cure the potion.

Harry rushed after Dumbledore, looking at him and Fish suspiciously, a bit confused about what the two of them were talking about.

"Voldemort's Horcruxes are probably hidden here, but this potion can only be emptied by drinking it, nya..." Fish explained to Harry, pointing at the stone pile. "Dumbledore was going to drink it all himself, and Fish was brought here to assist him with the poison, nya."

Fish's tail wagged faster behind him, and a grim expression crossed his face.

"But what if... what if it poisons you all at once?" Harry hurried to dissuade him.

"Oh, I'm sure it won't do that," Dumbledore said easily. "Voldemort wouldn't want to poison anyone who comes to this island; that's what the Felix Felicis potion told me."

But Harry knew that the potion wasn't the answer to everything. Was Dumbledore thinking too highly of Voldemort?

"Professor," Harry reasoned, "It's Voldemort we're dealing with..."

"I'm sorry, Harry. I should have said this: he wouldn't want to kill anyone who comes to this island immediately," Dumbledore corrected himself. "He likes to torment anyone who opposes him. Remember how he treated the other children at the orphanage?"

"And he would be delighted to keep anyone who comes here alive a little longer, to figure out how they could overcome his defenses, and most importantly, to find out why they were so eager to empty the stone basin."

"Nya!"

∑(?ω?)

Fish immediately grasped the meaning behind Dumbledore's words. "Albus, are you saying that if we put the Horcruxes inside, we can bring Voldemort back, nya?"

"It's just a possibility," Dumbledore explained. "After all, I didn't find such an arrangement in the Horcruxes I destroyed before. Most likely, after drinking from the stone basin's potion, the Inferi in the lake will move, trapping anyone who intrudes here on the island, waiting for Voldemort to arrive."

Fish opened his mouth, wanting to say something. Harry also wore a hesitant expression.

But Dumbledore raised a hand to silence them.

"There is no doubt that this potion will prevent me from acquiring the Horcruxes," Dumbledore said.

He and Snape had already analyzed the potion on the stone pillar, and they both agreed that it was most likely a magical potion similar to the one used on Sirius. However, not even Snape himself had been able to develop an antidote for the potion yet, so he had to provide Dumbledore with some regular antidotes and a few bezoars.

Since the antidote couldn't be consumed in advance, Dumbledore took a bezoar and held it in his hand as he continued explaining to Fish and Harry, "It will likely paralyze me, make me forget why I came here, cause extreme pain, hinder my ability to concentrate thoughts, or disable me in any other way. If that happens, Fish..."

He looked at Fish, "Remember what you promised me."

"Fish knows, nya! You don't have to keep reminding me."

Fish said impatiently, wagging his tail behind him to whip the air around.

Dumbledore refocused his attention on Harry, "Your job is the same as Fish's. When I am incapacitated, both you and Fish have to make sure I keep drinking the potion, even if you have to pour it into my tightly closed mouth. Understood?"

Harry hesitated, looking into Dumbledore's blue eyes, green from the light of the stone pillar.

"Do you remember the conditions under which I brought you here?" Dumbledore asked again.

"Why can't I drink the potion?" Harry asked the same question as Fish.

And Dumbledore's response was the same, "Because I am far less valuable than you."

Harry looked to Fish for help, only to find that while he seemed annoyed, he didn't appear too concerned, and he was even in the mood to wink at him...

Could it be because of the Felix Felicis Potion?

The thought arose in Harry's mind, even though he himself had no premonition from Dumbledore, but given how relaxed Fish seemed, either Fish was confident in Dumbledore's cure or had received some kind of revelation.

With that in mind, Harry looked back into Dumbledore's blue eyes, then nodded and said, "Alright, Professor."

Dumbledore nodded in satisfaction, raised his wand, twirled it in the air, and conjured a tall glass goblet. He submerged the glass goblet into the liquid of the stone pillar.

At the same time, Dumbledore swallowed the bezoar he had in his hand, then lifted the glass filled with green liquid to his lips.

"Wishing you the best," he said in a slurred voice, and then emptied the glass.

Fish didn't hesitate to cast a constant stream of healing spells, and the bright green glow surrounding Dumbledore's body overpowered the eerie green glow of the stone pillar's liquid.

Fish's spells, however, were not as effective as they could have been.

Just as Fish's antidote spell didn't work with magical potions like Veritaserum, the toxicity of the green potion was of a mental nature, and Fish's spell could only alleviate Dumbledore's pain at best.

Dumbledore expected it and reluctantly smiled at Fish before reaching into the stone pillar again, grabbing a full cup and drinking it once more.

Harry watched Dumbledore with concern as he drank cup after cup of the liquid, and his condition worsened visibly: tightly closed eyes, pale face, labored breathing, trembling...

Dumbledore was experiencing all sorts of bad things, and although Fish did his best with his healing spells, he couldn't prevent Dumbledore's condition from deteriorating further.

After the fifth cup, he staggered forward and fell onto the stone pillar, his grip on the cup loosening as he fell into the basin.

"Professor, can you hear me?" Harry asked, worried, as he stepped forward to help Dumbledore.

The response was a dry gasp as Dumbledore spat out the bezoar he had swallowed.

"Harry! Keep feeding Albus, nya!" While Harry stood stunned, Fish, in the midst of a full-fledged healing spell, shouted from the side, "Don't waste time! The longer you delay, the worse Albus will feel."

"I know, I know!" Harry gritted his teeth, took the crystal cup already filled in the stone basin, and brought it to Dumbledore's lips.

"I don't want... don't make me..." Dumbledore moaned, "... I don't like it... I want to stop..."

"You... can't stop, Professor," Harry said, "You have to keep drinking, remember? You told me yourself, you have to keep drinking. Here..."

He forcefully pushed the glass towards Dumbledore's mouth and poured the entire potion, then quickly grabbed another full glass.

"No..." Dumbledore continued to moan, "I don't want to... I don't want to... let go of me..."

"It's okay, Professor," Harry reassured Dumbledore as he poured the seventh cup of potion into Dumbledore's open mouth, his hand trembling, "It's okay, I'm here..."

Dumbledore screamed loudly, his hoarse voice echoing through the silent black lake and across the vast cave as he struggled to break free from the stone basin.

But Harry and Fish held onto him with all their strength, never ceasing to pour potion after potion into his mouth.

"No, please, no..."

Dumbledore cried out like a helpless child, screaming in agony. Harry attempted to stop several times, only to be scolded by Fish.

"Do you want Albus to keep suffering?! Keep pouring!" Fish growled through clenched teeth, increasing the frequency of his healing spells. He had a strong opinion of Dumbledore, but once he had set his mind on a goal, Fish became resolute, as was his predatory instinct.

By the time Harry finished the tenth cup, Dumbledore had little strength left to struggle. His eyes closed, he leaned against Fish, his voice more pained than ever: "I want to die! I want to die. Make it stop, make it stop, I want to die!"

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

Dumbledore drank again, but as soon as he finished, he shouted, "Let me die!"

"Finish... just finish this one!" Harry gasped, "Just drink this one... it's almost over... it's all ending!"

Harry had said the same thing many times before, but this time he wasn't lying. The stone basin was nearly empty, the faint outline of a golden box was barely visible. He just had to retrieve one more cup to retrieve it, but before that could happen, he needed Dumbledore to empty the cup first.

Dumbledore drank the last drop of potion from the cup, and then, without making another sound, he collapsed in Fish's arms as if he were dead.

"No!" Harry dropped the cup and shouted at Fish, "Fish! Do something! Don't you have another trick up your sleeve, [Serenity]?"

Just then, a somber voice came from the farthest shore of the lake.

"Accio Horcrux!"