Harry Potter 06 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

as he backed away still further he felt arms enclose him from behind, thin, fleshless arms cold as death, and his feet left the ground as they lifted him and began to carry him, slowly and surely, back to the water, and he knew there would be no release, that he would be drowned, and become one more dead guardian of a fragment of Voldemort’s shattered soul …
    But then, through the darkness, fire erupted: crimson and gold, a ring of fire that surrounded the rock so that the Inferi holding Harry so tightly stumbled and faltered; they did not dare pass through the flames to get to the water. They dropped Harry; he hit the ground, slipped on the rock and fell, grazing his arms, but scrambled back up, raising his wand and staring around.
    Dumbledore was on his feet again, pale as any of the surrounding Inferi, but taller than any, too, the fire dancing in his eyes; his wand was raised like a torch and from its tip emanated the flames, like a vast lasso, encircling them all with warmth.
    The Inferi bumped into each other, attempting, blindly, to escape the fire in which they were enclosed …
    Dumbledore scooped the locket from the bottom of the stone basin and stowed it inside his robes. Wordlessly, he gestured to Harry to come to his side. Distracted by the flames, the Inferi seemed unaware that their quarry was leaving as Dumbledore led Harry back to the boat, the ring of fire moving with them, around them, the bewildered Inferi accompanying them to the water’s edge, where they slipped gratefully back into their dark waters.
    Harry, who was shaking all over, thought for a moment that Dumbledore might not be able to climb into the boat; he staggered a little as he attempted it; all his efforts seemed to be going into maintaining the ring of protective flame around them. Harry seized him and helped him back to his seat. Once they were both safely jammed inside again, the boat began to move back across the black water, away from the rock, still encircled by that ring of fire, and it seemed that the Inferi swarming below them did not dare resurface.
    ‘Sir,’ panted Harry, ‘sir, I forgot – about fire – they were coming at me and I panicked –’
    ‘Quite understandable,’ murmured Dumbledore. Harry was alarmed to hear how faint his voice was.
    They reached the bank with a little bump and Harry leapt out, then turned quickly to help Dumbledore. The moment that Dumbledore reached the bank he let his wand hand fall; the ring of fire vanished, but the Inferi did not emerge again from the water. The little boat sank into the water once more; clanking and tinkling, its chain slithered back into the lake, too. Dumbledore gave a great sigh and leaned against the cavern wall.
    ‘I am weak …’ he said.
    ‘Don’t worry, sir,’ said Harry at once, anxious about Dumbledore’s extreme pallor and his air of exhaustion. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll get us back … lean on me, sir …’
    And pulling Dumbledore’s uninjured arm around his shoulders, Harry guided his headmaster back around the lake, bearing most of his weight.
    ‘The protection was … after all … well designed,’ said Dumbledore faintly. ‘One alone could not have done it … you did well, very well, Harry …’
    ‘Don’t talk now,’ said Harry, fearing how slurred Dumbledore’s voice had become, how much his feet dragged, ‘save your energy, sir … we’ll soon be out of here …’
    ‘The archway will have sealed again … my knife …’
    ‘There’s no need, I got cut on the rock,’ said Harry firmly, ‘just tell me where …’
    ‘Here …’
    Harry wiped his grazed forearm upon the stone: having received its tribute of blood the archway reopened instantly. They crossed the outer cave and Harry helped Dumbledore back into the icy sea water that filled the crevice in the cliff.
    ‘It’s going to be all right, sir,’ Harry said over and over again, more worried by Dumbledore’s silence than he had been by his weakened voice. ‘We’re nearly there … I can Apparate us both back … don’t worry …’
    ‘I am not worried, Harry,’ said Dumbledore, his voice a little stronger despite the freezing water. ‘I am with you.’

 
     
— CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN —
     
The Lightning-Struck Tower
    Once back under the starry sky, Harry heaved Dumbledore on to the top of the nearest boulder and then to his feet. Sodden and shivering, Dumbledore’s weight still upon him, Harry concentrated harder than he had ever done upon his