Witcher at Hogwarts

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Dumbledore frowned, his fingers gliding over the rough surface of the cave walls. His movements were slow and deliberate, searching for something hidden within the stone.

At last, he paused, pressing both palms firmly against a section of the wall.

"This is it," Dumbledore murmured, "there's a concealed entrance here."

Drawing the Elder Wand, he tapped the rock face lightly. The seemingly solid stone rippled like water, and an archway gradually materialized, bathed in a dazzling white light that spilled into the cave.

"We've found it," Dumbledore said, glancing back at Ethan and Sirius. But before he could continue, the light dimmed, and the archway faded away, seamlessly merging into the rock wall.

Dumbledore's expression tightened with surprise.

"Tom is still as clever as ever," he muttered.

"Give me a moment; I need to think," he said softly, returning to the rock wall. With his hands clasped together, he studied where the arch had appeared.

Ethan and Sirius stood silently behind him, anxious not to disrupt his thoughts. After several tense minutes, Dumbledore finally spoke.

"It's a small but cunning trick of Tom's," he said, a hint of frustration in his voice.

"The entrance requires blood to open."

The words had barely left his lips when Sirius and Kreacher stepped forward, arms outstretched, their voices overlapping in a rush of determination.

"Use mine!" Sirius insisted earnestly.

"My brother went through this. I want to understand what he felt. A little blood is nothing!"

"Kreacher's blood will suffice!" Kreacher shrieked urgently.

"The master and the wizards should not bleed! Kreacher has plenty of blood!"

But Dumbledore gently refused both offers, smiling slightly.

"This is a matter between a teacher and his student," he said, pulling a silver knife from his pocket. He rolled up his sleeve, preparing to cut his wrist.

"Dumbledore—" Sirius began, intending to stop him.

"I think I might have a suggestion," Ethan, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up.

"This reeks of one of Voldemort's traps," Ethan said calmly.

"The blood sacrifice at the entrance is meant to weaken the intruder, leaving them vulnerable when they face the Inferi. There's likely a curse attached—Voldemort's signature move."

Dumbledore listened thoughtfully, nodding in agreement.

"Indeed, Tom always had a fondness for curses and tricks that play on more than just the physical."

Sirius turned to Ethan, his expression a mix of curiosity and hope.

"Do you have a better idea?"

"Let me try," Ethan replied, stepping forward with quiet determination. His mind raced through possibilities as he approached the rock wall.

Reaching into his bag of magical treasures, Ethan rummaged momentarily before producing a disc etched with intricate patterns—the Eye of Nehaleni.

This artifact could pierce through any illusion or magical barrier. The Eye of Nehaleni once belonged to Geralt, and it was gifted to him by his old lover, Keira. Its value was immense and deeply personal.

Geralt had lost the Eye to Ethan in a fierce Gwent match at the Toussaint Wine Festival. After sobering up, Geralt tried to reclaim it, but Ethan refused.

Since then, Geralt had repeatedly attempted to win the Eye back through Gwent, only to lose more crowns with each attempt.

Geralt had furiously denounced Ethan as a "little **** who forgets his roots."

Ethan stood before the stone wall and gently pressed the Eye of Nehaleni against it. The moment the artifact touched the wall, the surface transformed. The once smooth stone churned like boiling water, causing the shapes of the arch and the wall to shift and exchange rapidly.

After a fierce struggle, the wall seemed to be burned with numerous holes before finally vanishing, revealing a dark doorway.

"Looks like we're here," Dumbledore said quietly.

Ethan peered inside the archway, which opened onto a vast lake. The lake stretched out so far that, with his witcher's keen eyesight, Ethan could not see the far shore. He knew, however, that the lake was likely teeming with terrifying Inferi.

The cave was immense, and the ceiling was lost in shadow when he looked up. A hazy green light glowed eerily in the lake's center, its reflection undisturbed on its calm surface.

An unsettling, sticky darkness seemed to permeate the cave.

Sirius cast "Lumos," producing a flickering light that illuminated only a small area around them. The rest of the darkness seemed to absorb the light, leaving their surroundings shrouded in gloom.

"Let's move," Dumbledore said softly.

He drew his wand and cast a similar illuminating spell, brightening the path ahead.

The four of them advanced cautiously toward the lake. Despite the lighting spells, they moved as though blind, their footsteps echoing oddly off the cavern's walls.

They walked in silence, navigating the narrow rocks beside the lake. The scene remained unchanged: a rough, icy rock wall on one side and a boundless, lifeless black lake on the other. The green light in the center of the lake remained fixed, unwavering.

Ethan felt a sense of suffocation; the cave's strangeness was palpable.

"Regulus died in a place like this?" Sirius's voice sounded hollow in the darkness.

"Yes, Master Regulus," Kreacher's mournful weeping echoed through the cave, its sharpness adding to the eerie atmosphere.

"Enough of the crying, Kreacher!" Sirius snapped, his frustration evident.

"Dumbledore, what should we do now?" Sirius asked, turning to the wise wizard for guidance.