Hogwarts: School of the Dead

by Falcon's Jade

"Ron, you can't have a school without students, and there are no students here – just the dead, the walking dead, and the handful able to fight them." Witness the beginning of the wizarding world's zombie apocalypse.

This story is inspired by: Zombieland, 28 days later, and High School of the Dead.

Summary: You can't have a school without students, and there are no students here – just the dead, the walking dead, and the handful able to fight them. Witness the beginning of the zombie apocalypse!

"What did you do, what did you do?"

"What have you done? Oh Merlin, what have you done!"

"The spells don't work! It's not doing anything! We have to get out aaacccccckkkk!"

"We have to apparate! Get out now!"

"Wait, take me with you! Please aaarrrgggghhhhh!"

"Don't touch aaaaiiiiiiii!"

Z.Z.Z.Z

Harry Potter stared out to the Hogwarts grounds. He was not looking at the lake, or the Forbidden Forest, or even the Quidditch Field. He was simply staring blankly at the blue, cloudless sky. It was a beautiful day, a faint wind kept the sun from becoming unbearable, and if things were normal there would have been plenty of students outside enjoying the good day.

But things were not normal, the fact that Harry Potter was standing out here instead of being in class was already a tip off. He knew Umbridge would probably use this as an excuse to give him detention but somewhere along the way he felt as if he had already reached the breaking point. With Dumbledore gone, most if not all the teachers restricted, a disastrous date with his crush, the ministry doing their utmost to discredit him and the behaviour of those at the school cumulated by the censorship and barricade between Hogwarts and the rest of the world…Harry felt sooner or later, he was going to snap.

And slaughter Umbridge, and Snape, and whoever else got in his way or caused him a little grief. Oh second thought that might mean his friends, so probably not.

He needed to get his temper in check, as much as he thought they deserved it, his friends had been giving him frightened looks too often this year. As for his acquaintances that had turned to out to be quite annoying, well, they never did anything that deserved his mercy…on another note, there was that girl Luna Lovegood, who despite her quirks seem to honestly believe in him.

Luna had a habit of telling him odd things, but she had been quite straightforward with her declaration that she believed him and his claims that Voldemort had returned. Other declarations she made had been vague, and sometimes it was questionable who she was directing it to, or even if she meant it seriously. As someone who had been quite calm and almost kind to Harry throughout the whole year, Harry knew the girl had earned more then a simple acquaintanceship from him. So when she told him to get out his Omnioculars and use them more often, Harry had done so. After all, they had been sitting in his truck since the Quidditch World Cup, and he saw no harm in taking them out again.

He had pocketed the Omnicoulars unconsciously, now, he wondered how Luna knew about it. They hadn't known each other before, perhaps Ginny or someone else told her that he had been at the Quidditch World Cup with them? Almost in a mindless trace the Boy Who Lived took out the wizard version of binoculars out. He had not been paying much attention to his surroundings or the Hogwarts grounds, too busy lost in his thoughts. With them in his hands, it was automatic that he raised them up and peered through the glass. The scene changed, the sight presented to his eyes was now that of the Hogwarts gates.

Normally Harry never paid attention or went far enough to the gates of Hogwarts, he only passed them when they were open for obvious purposes, such as when the term started or when there was a Hogsmeade trip. The fact that the gates were now locked and bolted could be a regular thing, or maybe it wasn't but now was due to Umbridge's control of the school. The gate wasn't what caught his attention though, the man behind it was. He was clearly a wizard, dressed in casual black robes, not a student but an adult. With the close-up the omnicoulars gave him, Harry could see that the man was clearly ill. His skin was grey and clammy, his mouth partially opened in a groan, and his eyes seemed to have rolled up his head. However, he was clawing through the gates, making what appeared to be insistent bangs and clanks as he mindlessly bumped against the metal bars again and again.

How odd, had the man been a student Umbridge and her Inquisitional Squad would have probably handed out a week's worth of detention for disturbing the peace or something. Harry continued to watch the man dumbly hurt himself for a few more seconds before shifting his gaze away and sure enough, saw Umbridge approaching, Argus Filch and two Slytherins flanking her; likely Inquisitorial Squad members. Umbridge was saying something, but from his position at the balcony Harry couldn't hear her.

At the courtyard, Umbridge glared at the wizard repeatedly colliding with the gates. Her voice however remained her usual pitched-high and fake friendly, "Hem-hem, what do you think you are doing? Who are you and what are you doing here?"

The wizard wasn't looking at her, his eyes were rolled up his head. He continued to bump his head against the gates, but at Umbridge's voice, let out a moan. Umbridge scowled briefly before continuing in a simpering voice, "Are you a relative of a student? I am sorry to say that you must submit an application for approval before you may visit!"

Another groan, the continuous thud of the wizard hitting the gates, and Umbridge's voice grew sweeter – which meant she was getting angrier, "Warrington! Why don't you show this gentleman here the application and a copy of our rules?"

The Slytherin nodded and approached the gates, hands retrieving from his robes several sheets of parchment. He thrust an arm through the gates as he held the application at the wizard's face. "You see this, sir? While the previous headmaster may have allowed lax enforcement, we believe that…" he never got to finish.

"ARRRRGGGGHHHHHH! AAARRRRRR! AAAKKKKKKK!"

The wizard had seized Warrington's arm and slammed him against the gate, but the collision wasn't what sparked the shouts. With a roar the man lunged towards the Slytherin and sank his teeth onto the boy's shoulder. Warrington began screaming and hollering in pain, desperately trying to escape, but the wizard's hands held on as he continued to chew on the boy's shoulder, uncaring of the blood that began to spurt as he hit an artery.

"Stupefy! Stupefy! Damn it, stupefy! Why isn't it working?" The other Slytherin shouted as his spells simply went through the attacker. Filch hurried forward and physically pulled Warrington away from the gate and the mad wizard. He succeeded, but not before allowing the wizard to leave several more bloody marks on Warrington's arm. Both student and caretaker collapsed to the ground. Filch was quickly up, marching to the gates and yelling at the man outside. Umbridge and the other Slytherin crowded around the bleeding boy, "Warrington? Warrington!"

The boy was bloody, twitching, and his arm was a mess. He didn't seem to respond to his friend's cries, rather his gasping faded almost quickly, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Then he lay still, and his friend grew even paler. "He's dead! Warrington's dead!"

"Nonsense!" Umbridge shrieked, "That's impossible, he only suffered a bite! No student of mine is going to die now, not when I've finally began to make things right!" She bent down besides Warrington and began shaking him, "Wake up! Wake up! Enervate!"

Warrington's hand twitched, and a victorious smile spread across Umbridge's face, "See? I told you, he's getting up now! We are going to…!" The hand suddenly shot forward and grabbed Umbridge by her fluffy pink cardigan, a stretched open mouth following.

Behind the Omnicoulars, Harry's eyes widened as the screaming and bloodbath began. Warrington was one of the larger Slytherins, despite practically missing one arm the rest of his body was more then enough to make up for it. His hand tore at Umbridge's clothing and skin, Harry could almost imagine hearing the sounds along with Umbridge's screams. The other Slytherin was again launching spells at his former friend, but they had no effect. Filch turned around, eyes wide as he watched the scene. Behind the gates, the wizard stranger continued to moan and hit the gates, only now his mouth and hands were covered in blood.

And he was hitting harder, as if stronger, like the taste of fresh meat had rejuvenated him. Only his skin remained grey and ill looking, a trait that Warrington now shared.

Harry had seen enough, shoving the Omnicoulars back into his robes, he turned and sprinted down the hallways towards where he knew his friends were. Arriving quickly, he slammed the door to the Charms classroom open. His fellow fifth year classmates looked up at him, among them Ron and Hermione. At the front of the class Professor Flitwick, seated atop his usual stack of books, frowned slightly.

"Mr. Potter, your friends told me you were ill and I can accept that, but disrupting the class deserves a few points deduction!"

"I apologize professor, but this is important." He paused, half if not more of the class already believed him insane or an attention seeker so he wasn't sure if he should even tell them what he had seen. On the other hand, if he left them clueless Harry didn't think he would ever be able to forgive himself. Remaining purposely vague, he said, "There's a man outside the gates, he seems to be trying to attack a student that was on the grounds but he also seems to be…using magic I haven't seen before. I understand another professor might have already subdued him, but I thought I should notify you if not."

Flitwick frowned, "Well Mr. Potter, I understand your concerns since it is class-time and most adults would be teaching classes…" he took a quick glance at the clock, deciding it was almost dismissal time anyways he nodded. "Very well, lead on Mr. Potter, but if I find you lying there will be consequences. Class dismissed." There was a scramble as everyone in the class packed their things, Hermione and Ron were exceptionally fast and they quickly caught up to Harry as he lead the professor outside.

"Hey mate, what's going on?"

"Harry, what type of magic was it that you didn't recognize?"

Harry however was walking quickly, and Flitwick was forced to jog in order to keep up with the boy. Now that none of their fellow classmates were going to be listening in, Harry finally spoke. "We need to hurry, I'm sorry professor but the man who attacked the student seemed to have already succeeded. I didn't stick around to find out what was happening, the attack was simply physical and non-magical but it was afterwards that shocked me."

"What!" Despite the short breaths he puffed out, Flitwick was no doubt angry. "Mr. Potter, why didn't you tell me a student was already attacked?"

"It was too late because I think whatever magic was being used has already been set!" Harry answered as they hurried down the corridors. "I don't know what happened! There was this man at the gate, and the student – the Slytherin Warrington – approached and suddenly the man bit him! Filch managed to separate them and pull Warrington back…"

"Argus, the caretaker was there?"

"Yes, but the bite wasn't a simple bite. The man all but gorged a hole Warrington's arm! Warrington collapsed and grew so still I thought he looked to be dead, but suddenly he stood up!"

"So Warrington was okay after all?" Ron asked as they rushed around another corner, "He only had an injured arm?"

"No, this is where I think the magic began, because his skin turned all grey and suddenly he was the one biting people! And spells against him didn't work…"

"He bit someone? And had grey skin when he supposedly came back from being dead? After being bit by someone else?" As a muggle-born Hermione was starting to pick up what Harry was implying, her eyes were wide. "That's impossible! Real inferi don't work that way!"

"Inferi?" Ron yelled and Flitwick squeaked. Both instantly stopped running, so Hermione and Harry were forced to halt too. "You're saying you saw Inferi, mate?"

"What is Inferi?" Harry asked, Ron and Flitwick face palmed, but Hermione was always ready to answer a question.

"They're corpses who have been reanimated to allow them movement and other life-like characteristics, but that's the thing, they have to be reanimated by a magical user manipulating them. While biting is one of their fighting tactics it certainly isn't a way to turn others into them, the only way to increase inferi numbers is to have more magic used to reanimate them."

"But that's what I saw!" Harry protested, and was again glad none besides them would be able to hear him and declare him insane. "This man, grey skin and rather dead looking, bit Warrington on the arm, not even magic could distract or touch him. Then Warrington became still, and suddenly he got up and attacked Umbridge!"

There was another pause, Ron broke it by carelessly saying "That toad got what she deserved."

Hermione and Flitwick turned to him, mouths opening to say something, but suddenly a loud voice cut from the castle.

"H-help!" It was a girl's voice, except so loud it sounded as if she was there besides them. "T-this is from the Hogwarts Greenhouses! We're being attacked by what Professor Sprout says are Inferi! There's an inferi attack on the school! Except fire only slows them down, FIRE ONLY SLOWS THEM DOWN! We're being attacked! HOGWARTS IS BEING ATTACKED!!"

The group froze, staring at each other in dawning horror as they heard the girl desperately try to make an announcement, perhaps using some sort of charm to strengthen her voice so that she could be heard throughout the whole school. Harry couldn't believe it, didn't he just saw the first few of these 'inferi'? They were already spreading to the greenhouses?

"DON'T GET BITTEN BY THEM! IT TURNS YOU INTO INFERI TOO! Oh Merlin, Merlin…they've all gone insane!" The girl's voice choked, she was sobbing hysterically. "They just ripped out her arm! THEY RIPPED OUT HER ARM AND ARE EATING IT!"

Harry felt sick, listening to the girl cry as she watched who might have been a friend get attacked and eaten by the zombies. He didn't recognize this voice though, was it an older or younger student? Which house did she belong in? Which class was professor Sprout supposed to be teaching right now?

"Oh Merlin, help us! Please, we're being attacked! Where's Dumbledore? Where's the ministry? Someone please come, help us! Help…!" The voice suddenly began screaming wordlessly for a few more seconds, the sounds made Harry want to hurl. "No, no! Let me go! Please! Professor Sprout! Help me! No, no! We're friends Connie we're friends don't eat…!" She was screaming and crying and begging, some of the sounds she made were little more then the gurgles of someone who could no longer make any audible words. Just as it seemed as if they were going to hear the long drawn out moment of a girl being murdered, suddenly her voice disappeared when her magic could no longer carry it.

Hogwarts castle sat in a stiff, horrific silence.

And suddenly a fresh wave of screaming and yelling began. Doors were suddenly flung open as students suddenly flooded the hallways in blind panic, pushing and shoving each other out of the way. Hermione quickly grabbed onto Harry's and Ron's hands, and that was probably the only reason they didn't lose each other when the students swarm around them. Flitwick wasn't able to move quick enough, and he was swept up in the crowd of running students.

"We have to get to the dorms!" Ron shouted.

"Everyone will be heading there!" Hermione shouted, "Including the inferi!"

"But all our things are there! And if Harry's right and magic doesn't work, we need to grab something that might!"

"Ron's right!" Harry shouted, the screaming crowds made it hard for them to hear each other. "At the very least, our brooms are there! Inferi can't fly, can they?"

"Fine!"

The three of them kept a tight grip on each other as they tried to navigate through the running students. It was more difficult than it looked, people were pushing and shoving and yelling at each other. Spells were even being cast in an attempt to be able to move better, but the spells were really only creating more chaos. Harry wondered how Filch would react to this before remembering, with a chill, that Filch had been one of the first to contact the outsider and was probably now one of those terrorizing the students in the greenhouses.

Harry suddenly jerked to a halt, pulling Hermione and Ron with him. The two stumbled, turned to look at him, but Harry's voice was gone. Eyes wide and pupils dilated, Harry pointed to the stairs where they had been about to run towards.

Two students in green trimmed robes were kneeling by a third. The victim was no longer screaming, one lifeless hand stretched out by one of the attacker's head. The other hand was removed from the body, the second attacker chewing on the fingers gruesomely, his teeth and cheeks caked in blood. Ron gagged.

"Merlin…the inferi…"

As they watched in horror, the dead victim began to twitch. The closer one backed away slightly as his former victim began to slowly sit up. Their skin had also turned grey, and while the injuries inflicted on the body caused some hindrance, the former victim began to slowly stand up and let out an unearthly groan. It seemed to be adjusting to its body before it began to, almost painfully slowly, turn towards Harry's direction. It stretched out its hands, as if beckoning, or rather to grab, and began to lumber towards them.

"Stupefy!" Ron shouted. The spell went to the zombie, disappeared, and nothing happened except get the zombie moving faster.

"I told you, magic doesn't work! Protego!" The faint shield appeared several feet in front of them, and the zombie…moved right through it.

Ron shook his head, "If it's inferi, it'll fear fire! Incendio!" The zombie went up in flames, and…only slowed down, it was still moving; if anything, the flames seem to be slowly being absorbed in. Ron and Harry paled as they recalled what the announcement had told them, fire wouldn't work. Harry was seriously considering transfiguring something into a weapon to smash the zombie with that didn't require getting too close to the flames when…

"Diffindo!" Hermione shouted, and whether through luck or good aim or sheer power, the spell took the zombie's head off. The head continued groaning for a bit more even as the body collapsed, twitched briefly, and became still. The fire died off, and that was when the three realized the other two zombies were also moving towards them. This time Harry and Ron knew what to do.

"Reducto!"

"Sectumsempra!"

Or at least, they thought they knew what they had to do. Hermione shook her head, "You have to remove the head! Diffindo! Diffindo! Diffindo!" The triple explosion of such strong magic gave Hermione a slight recoil, but she was rewarded when two headless bodies collapsed. The heads moaned briefly as they rolled to the side, and became still.

Hermione let her back hit the wall as she took long, shuddering gasps. Ron and Harry let her catch her breath for only a few seconds before both of them grabbed her hands and bolted back up to the Common Room, this time more wary of their surroundings. They passed through hoards of running students and their grey-skinned counterparts, but hardly stopped to engage any in battle. It made them sick to their stomachs to see their fellow students like this.

"They can't be inferi, or at least they can't be regular inferi if they're not afraid or affected by fire!" Ron was saying as they dodged a grey skinned Hufflepuff.

"I think we've already learned enough by know they're not inferi!" Harry replied as they hurried down a corridor. "You saw them! They were turning others into them!"

"Except for a cutting curse, and only if aimed to the head, do they stop! Magic…it's not doing anything!" Ron shuddered, "What's going on here? Is it You-Know-Who? It's said he tried to make an inferi army during the First Wizarding War, is this his latest plot?"

"Somehow, I really doubt it," Hermione said grimly. She and Harry exchanged looks, judging by what they've seen…surely, Voldemort would not make an army out of something that any muggle who had seen the right movies knew how to defeat?

They hurried on, and things began to get slightly easier as they got closer to the Gryffindor dorm room since the people seem to be running in the same direction. They reached the portrait, which was already opened, the Fat Lady's eyes wide as she watched the students stumbling and scrambling to get in as they called out passwords. Just as the three of them climbed in, the Fat Lady began to scream, "They're here! They're here!"

Harry turned around, and saw them: three Gryffindor seventh years, grey skinned and unfocused eyes. Before he could do anything, one of the Gryffindors near the portrait turned around and slammed it shut. There were shouts instantly, both from the Common Room and from outside.

"What are you doing?" Dennis Creevey shouted as he rushed forward, "My brother was still outside! I saw him coming in!"

Katie Bell stopped him, tears in her eyes, and she didn't need to say why. Moments after the voices outside had been screaming and begging the Gryffindors to let them in, they began screaming in pain as the moans and groans of the attackers became more obvious. In the deathly silence of the Common Room, everyone heard the tearing of cloth and the sick squelch of what may be exposed organs. They heard the sounds of blood splattering the walls, the wails and the groans and the satisfied grunts. They listened to the screams and pleas, they heard a few victims cry out last messages and curses to those in the Common Room who had sacrificed them.

And then, silence, the screams and sounds of tearing flesh was gone.

Everyone stared at the portrait for who knows how long, breathing heavily, a few quietly sobbing. Finally, Ron tore his gaze away and shakily stood to his feet.

"I-I am the Gryffindor Prefect, for those who don't know me, I want you all to arrange yourselves into groups based on your year level so I can see who's present."

There was shuffling as everyone obeyed, almost mindlessly. No taunts or teasing about Ron's authority, and as the groups began to form Hermione swallowed. "So…so few of us?"

Harry's heart clenched, he could see in each year group someone was missing. He hoped that those who weren't present also found someway to barricade themselves, and were not wandering around the hallways with grey skin.

Z.Z.Z.Z

They had barricaded themselves in a classroom, pushing all the desks against the doors and windows. Ginny Weasley had suggested they transfigure some of the smaller objects into something else so they could also use them to further reinforce the blockade, but as Michael Corner pointed out, the last thing they want was to exhaust themselves further.

"Nothing's working! The spells aren't doing anything! Magic is completely useless against them!"

"We have to fall back! Conserve our strength and make a run for it!"

It was initially a group of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, all about the same age, and all DA members. Initially Ginny Weasley and Michael Corner had stuck together during the chaos, and gathered their friends in a group. By Ginny's side there had been Neville, and by Michael's were his fellow dorm mates Terry and Anthony Goldstein.

"Look out, Anthony behind you!"

"That was close! Thanks, ugh…I didn't know Inferi still bled so much!"

The three of them didn't know how long they planned to stay in that classroom, maybe when they finally caught their breath, maybe when things outside had calmed. No one voiced it, everyone was too busy gasping and panting for breath. They had recognized that most spells against the enemy failed, so as soon as they were inside the room they wasted no time sending the desks against any entry points, draining their magic.

"Terry! Terry, over here, it's Michael! Are you okay? You're bleeding all over!"

"Aha…aha…aha…no, this is Emily's blood, remember that cute little first year? I tried to save her but…but…"

No one wanted to say when they would have to go out and face the terror again, the three DA members were splattered in blood. From the inferi or the living they couldn't tell, but the blood was definitely that of a Hogwarts student, of a classmate. When basic spells didn't work, they had tried some of the more advanced and destructive spells. Blowing up the zombies had proved effective but quite messy, not to mention bloody, and were exhausting their magical supply. Seeing each other covered in blood was also wrong on so many levels that they had decided to just run.

"Fire did slow them down," Terry had said as they dashed down the hallway, "but when they're running full speed at you, that isn't too helpful."

"Most of the time they seem to be moving rather slowly, but they are somewhat able to sense when one of the living is nearby," Anthony added as he quickly steered them to the right, for he saw their grey-skinned classmates on the left. "When that happens, by hearing or smell we don't know, but there would be a gradual increase in their speed."

"I saw one chewing on a cat," Terry shuddered, "So their prey isn't just people, it does seem to be any living thing." They turned a corner, too late someone else was already there, and Terry ran right into the person. Before they knew it, a grey hand grabbed Terry's face, and the Ravenclaw boy began to scream.

Initially, they were supposed to be a huge group, they had found Michael's friends, they were supposed to be able to look out for each other. Only they hadn't, they weren't good enough, as useful as the DA had been for training them against fellow wizards, it was only useful in training their stamina for something like this.

"Run! Before I lose it and kill you all myself! Run!"

"Terry! No, Michael let me go! Terry!"

"It's too late Anthony, he's already been bitten!"

"What kind of friend are you? You'll just let him die?" Anthony tore himself out of Michael's and Ginny's restraints. He rushed forward, multiple curses hitting the zombie and when that didn't work, accio'ed Terry's body towards him. The crazed look in the boy's eyes told Ginny he was already lost, and she pulled Michael away before he could see Terry transform, but they both heard it when Anthony began to scream and beg Terry to let him go. Ginny's vision blurred as she felt tears gathering in her eyes, while she was not particularly close to the Ravenclaw boys, she had still considered them as part of the team in the DA. As she ran, pulling Michael with her, she saw Neville standing by the doorway of a classroom. He waved her over, and she, so relieved at seeing a friend who was obvious not cursed with grey skin, ran inside the classroom.

Neville had originally been so overwhelmed at the chaotic crowds that he had just tried to go wherever the strongest force seemed to be pushing him. By the time his feet were no longer in danger of being trampled over, he had realized he was too far from the Gryffindor Common Room, and he had began to start seeing the grey-skinned attackers. He tried to fight them, not realizing it wasn't his spells missing but the fact that they were ineffective against the zombies. During that time, he witnessed Ernie Macmillan's attack, death, and transformation. It took until Ernie launching himself atop of Neville before the Gryffindor blew Ernie's head off. After that, Neville had simply covered his ears and ran blindly off, it was astounding that he didn't get attacked again.

He did trip over a dismembered arm, which brought his senses back from his horror. Deciding to find somewhere to hide and rest, he saw Ginny and Michael – like him both were covered in blood – but Neville had been so relieved to have good company that he didn't say anything.

Now all three were seated on the ground, trying to clinically assess what they had seen of their latest enemy and not dwell too hard on the fact that they had just seen their friends murdered.

"…And they increase their numbers through something like lycanthropy, it's the bite. Unfortunately, that is not a fact, we don't know does it have to be through teeth alone that the curse spreads, or if there only needs to be an exchange of bodily fluids like blood." Michael looked grim, "If the latter, a scratch alone by our enemies would be enough to turn us into one of them, or if we manage to get their blood onto a wound…."

Everyone's eyes widened as they stared at each other, all of them thinking: It was a bad idea to be blowing up the zombies after all. The three were quickly checking themselves, the zombies had gotten quite close in some of their encounters, if they managed even a scratch on them it was all over. None of them made any loud exclamation, and Neville dared to hope, "I guess none of us are going to be zombies soon?"

"Hard to say," Michael's expression was becoming grimmer and grimmer, "This is again probably a biased observation and not a fact, but have you noticed it takes longer for the people to become inferi the further along the line goes?" At their looks he continued, "The first few quickly lost their wits after their bites. They were bitten, they screamed and fell, then they got up and began attacking. The next wave of the cursed took longer, the victims were bitten, they screamed and fell, but the time for them to get up is greater. The newer attackers seem to have time to sit down and chew through them before the curse sets in the victims' body and they become inedible."

All three winced, the image of their classmates chasing and eating each other still fresh in their minds. The blood and horror of the situation was too much.

"Well," Ginny said. "We should at least be able to see some warning symptom when someone's skin starts turning grey, or if they suddenly collapsed and died. I just want to say though, if I am attacked, I'll want one of you to kill me before any of my family sees me wandering around with grey skin and dead eyes."

"What?" Michael's grim voice changed to one of horror, "No! You can't ask us to kill you when you haven't been anything but nice to us!"

"If you won't kill me, Neville has to! I'll rather die as myself, instead of dying as one of them, and having everyone's last memory of me as a crazed lunatic groaning for blood!"

"You…" Michael stared at the girl in front of her, for a moment speechless in front of her righteous fury, but wasn't that part of what had appealed to him in the first place? Her determination and fire, and she was right, no one deserve to be remembered by their loved ones as a blood crazed semi-inferi. Steeling himself, he nodded.

And then, he began to choke and retch.

"Michael!" Ginny cried as the Ravenclaw boy suddenly spat out blood. He gagged, choked, tried to draw in air but only ended up with a hacking cough. The Gryffindors made to surround him, but Anthony threw a hand out.

"Stay back!"

The others froze, watching in terror as the boy again gagged and spat out blood. "M-Michael?" Ginny whispered, terrified. "You…you're sick! We should have brought you to Madam Pomfrey! Oh, why didn't we think of that before we rushed here?"

Neville, if possible, went paler. "You…you're not…you didn't have any injuries! No bites! Why are you spitting blood? It's something accidental right, did you eat something wrong earlier?"

In a laugh that sounded more like a gurgle made underwater, Michael shook his head, "Please you two…I thought we were discussing this just a second ago."

Neville's hand began to shake, his wand was still pointed to the ground, but he remembered it, the feeling of casting that magic against his Hufflepuff friend Ernie that blew the boy's head off, and the state he had been afterwards. To be asked to do it again was something he didn't think he could do again.

"Those times those…things attacked, whether because a friend or I blew them up, I was often shouting or yelling." Michael glanced down at himself, like most Ravenclaw boys his uniform had been pristine only a few hours ago; now they were sloppy and ripped in some places, and splashes of blood soaked his robes. "Even if my body doesn't appear to be injured…it's just as likely that some of their blood landed in my mouth those times I was too close." It was disgusting, knowing he had swallowed the physical aspect of this curse. He drew in another breath, only to start another hacking cough.

"Michael, don't talk…"

"Ginny, you said so yourself," and even in his haggard, sickly expression a bright glint entered his eyes. "No one wants, or deserves, to be remembered as a crazed lunatic groaning for blood. Neville," the eyes moved from the redhead t the boy standing behind her. "You probably don't want to try killing me when my blood is likely going to infect the two of you. You might as well try to kill me now, and see if I can die as myself without any attached strings."

Neville didn't say anything, his eyes wide and hands sweaty. Michael gave him a weak smile, "Come on Neville, you've become one of the strongest DA members. Besides, aren't you a Gryffindor? Bravery, recklessness…able to stick to decisions and stand up for yourself or anything you value. If you value the teamwork we had at the DA, if you did value our friendship, I ask you to please kill me now." The boy choked, but this time it also sounded like a sob, "I'm sorry…but I don't want you to kill me Ginny, far be it to let you have your last memory of me as inferi, I don't want you to remember me as the one you killed."

The tears Ginny had been holding finally fell, rolling down her cheeks and leaving a lump in her throat. She hadn't even thought of that, when she asked Michael to kill her should she receive the curse; it had been a cruel request, asking her boyfriend to take her life. She wanted nothing more then to run forward and embrace him, but Michael had told her to stay back, and if he was cursed the blood he was choking up now would curse her too.

Neville stepped forward, he was breathing heavily and still sweating, and the trembling seemed to have gotten worse. Raising his hand, he pointed his wand towards Michael. The Ravenclaw boy didn't even flinch, he stared bravely up to Neville's eyes, and his smile seemed suddenly more genuine. Merlin, Neville never thought he'll be able to cast this spell, not unless it was Lestrange at wand point.

He remembered his fourth year classes with the imposter, the lecture he had given about the Unforgivables. You had to mean it, or they were little more than flashes of light. Neville would try something else, but they were messy or could give Michael pain, and the brave boy had suffered enough. Neville swallowed, trying to still his hand, knowing he was running out of time. Michael's eyes stared back up at him, and Neville willed his magic to work, to grant his ally and friend his last request.

"Avada Kedavra!"

There was a flash of green light, a rustling sound, and Michael's body fell to the side. He laid perfectly still, somehow he had managed to close his eyes when he saw the green light, but the smile remained on his face. His dark hair framed his almost-peaceful expression, and with his body sprawled to the side it was as if the Ravenclaw had simply gone for a nap. One could almost ignore all the blood splatters that had soaked the boy's robes and surrounded him on the floor.

Neville mentally noted he had managed the spell, but it was never a thing he would celebrate. His wand clattered to the floor as he, too, sank to the ground. Michael's eyes were going to haunt him for the rest of his days, and he squeezed his own shut, as if trying to erase that terrible image.

He felt a sudden weight beside him, and his eyes snapped open. Ginny was hugging him, sobbing openly, and all Neville could do was hold her close. At least, he thought to himself, Michael's eyes would haunt him and not her. Her memory of her boyfriend should not be tainted.

Michael's hand suddenly twitched.

And Neville tensed, half hoping it was only because he was too weak to cast the spell properly, but his brain was already drawing other conclusions. The curse was already in Michael's body, and the body had reached the stage where it went through death, it was time for the next step.

The hand twitched again just as Ginny realized Neville had became rigid, she saw where he was looking, and turned around to see for herself. Michael's hand twitched again, and his other hand joined it. The Ravenclaw's skin colour was also distinctly off, it was turning grey. Ginny choked back another sob, "No, please no…"

The image of Michael simply taking a nap disappeared when with a soft moan, the boy's eyes opened. At least, his eyelids did, his pupils remained mostly rolled back. His legs gave a weak spasm as with another groan, the Ravenclaw boy slowly began to sit up.

Neville and Ginny watched as their friend, now their enemy, began to stumble to his feet. He swayed slightly from side to side, as if just learning to walk again. Though his eyes were dead and unseeing, it was as if the head thought it could still see, for Michael seemed to be surveying the barricaded classroom before turning to the two students sitting on the floor. Extending a hand out, he took a step towards them.

The Gryffindors stood up almost as slowly, though the tears continued to roll down her cheeks Ginny knew what she and Neville had to do. Most magic did not work, and while they could always blow Michael up as well, that risked spreading that cursed blood everywhere. As one, Neville and Ginny separated, one moving to the window and the other towards the desks barricading the doors. Ginny took a glance outside the window, they were not on the highest floor but they were certainly high enough in Hogwarts castle. With a flick of her wand, the window opened. On the other side of the room, Neville pointed his wand to the desks, and one instantly shot up into the air and crashed into Michael. It propelled the boy across the room right into the window, where both student and desk smashed through.

Ginny looked out the window and there, below them, was Michael with the desk on top of him. While the killing curse had left no mark on his body, being pushed out the window to the ground below certainly had. His neck, along with all his limbs, had been snapped.

The two Gryffindors in the room waved their wands and cleared up all the blood. Ginny sealed the window shut as Neville double checked the barricaded doors. Both collapsed against each other and finally allowed themselves to grieve, for their loved ones and their friends, for Ravenclaw house as they had witnessed the deaths of the three most well known fifth-year boys.

Z.Z.Z.Z

At another wing of the castle, another group of Ravenclaws stared in horror.

"Roger, Roger please don't tell me…" In retrospect expecting an answer out of the grey-skinned former Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain was an exercise in futility. Roger Davis moaned loudly, the formerly handsome boy looking horrifically disfigured without his nose and a large chunk of his neck missing. His fellow Ravenclaws all backed away from him, all terrified with one exception; Luna Lovegood seemed to be staring out the window blankly, as if bored.

Then, the Ravenclaw boy Grant Page, Quidditch Keeper, tripped over his feet and crashed against the wall, causing a commotion as the many tiny portraits rattled their frames. The noise triggered something, and Roger pounced.

Grant began screaming as the sick sounds of flesh being devoured echoed across the corridor. The other Ravenclaws stared in horror for a few seconds before Ravenclaw Beater Duncan Inglebee spotted one of Filch's ladders nearby. With a cutting spell he earned himself a roll of wood, which he began smashing against his captain. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'M SORRY FOR THIS! Forgive me captain!"

"Wait, you're going to kill Grant too!"

"Cho, stay back! It's too late for him anyways!"

Cho Chang fought, but her heart wasn't into it, and the second Ravenclaw Beater Jason Samuels easily held her back. Tears were running down her face as she watched her fellow Ravenclaws and Quidditch teammates kill each other like this. When Roger's friend and fellow Chaser had suddenly attacked him, Roger had to physically fight him off before kicking him down the stairs. They had intended to take Roger to the nurse to see his bloody nose, before the third Ravenclaw Chaser had appeared and tried to attack Cho. Roger, probably because of his captain status or something else, had jumped in the way. The neck injury had them levitating Roger's body as they rushed to the nurse, but half way through Roger began moaning and now…

Even as Duncan beat Roger senselessly and violently, screaming his apologies, Roger continued to bite and chew on his Quidditch Keeper; Grant himself had already stopped screaming.

A warm hand suddenly touched her own, and Cho turned to where Luna was standing. "We should get going."

"What? You can't expect us to leave…"

"They will be coming soon," Luna said almost airily, and not a moment too soon. Cho saw more grey-skinned students lumbering into the corridor, perhaps attracted by their screaming.

"Duncan!" She cried, the Ravenclaw Beater turned, saw the newcomers, and blanched.

"Let's go!"

"Duncan, behind…!" Cho never got to finish, while Roger had been beaten into little more than a pulpy and bloody mess Grant had Roger acting as a shield. Now, the grey hand of the Ravenclaw Keeper launched itself at Duncan and grabbed him down. A spurt of blood shot through the air as Grant's teeth bit into Duncan's arm.

"Accio!" Jason summoned the wooden makeshift bat Duncan had used earlier, "Get back! I've been trained to hit these things!"

"Bludgers and people are two different things!" Cho cried.

"Then help me!" Jason shouted back in reply. Before Cho could say anything, Luna cast another spell on the ladder and two more ladder parts came towards her. With another flick, they turned longer and slimmer, pointed at the end like a spear. Wordlessly she handed one to Cho, and like earlier it was just in time as their attackers suddenly launched themselves at them.

Jason found himself swinging his bat-like weapon to keep Duncan and Grant at bay. Although they tried moving closer, they always fell back when Jason's weapon struck them. Luna wasn't using her weapon as offensively, rather she was using it swing out of the way of her attacker's swipes. Cho however, quickly found herself grappling her weapon with Graham Montague himself, the Slytherin Quidditch captain. She tried desperately to shove him back, but his grey hands continued to try grabbing her. A finger brushed against her neck.

Any other time, Cho would count it lucky that Montague didn't manage to scratch her. However, it just so happened that today she had found a necklace Cedric Diggory had once given her. She had worn it partially as a tribute to happier times, and in an attempt to cheer herself up after her disastrous and potentially traitorous date with Harry. As a result, the hand that brushed against her was akin to someone trying to grab the necklace away, Cho's eyes widened in shock before narrowing in anger.

"Don't you dare!" Without warning she swung the pole upwards, knocking Montague's head up. She wasn't finished, the spear was suddenly striking the boy's body in every direction as she all but smacked a rival Quidditch member down. Montague's head was flying in every direction and his hands could barely stop her assault. A few seconds later Cho's crazed attacks finally ceased, and that was because Luna had taken the time to sneak up behind the former Slytherin and stab her spear through his heart. "Luna…"

"This will probably just slow them down," Luna said, almost seriously. "We need to decapitate them."

"But we got them through the heart!" Jason cried. "Look! Grant and Duncan are no longer moving!"

"We need to make sure they cannot continue to bite other people," Luna answered. Cho pointed her wand at Montague's head, despite all the anger and frustration he had caused her in their Quidditch games she never thought she would resort to doing this. "Diffindo!"

The girls looked away before they could see Montague's head fall off, and to their horror witnessed Grant and Duncan seizing Jason by his feet and pulling him down. Jason yelled as Grant opened his mouth disproportionately wide and took a bite of his knee. "What are you doing? Run before I go after you myself!"

"Reducto!"

Jason and Cho both screamed as Grant and Duncan, along with Jason's leg, were blasted apart. They looked back at Luna, the youngest in the surviving group stood with flecks of blood on her robes, but remained as calm as ever. Walking forward, she knelt down to the traumatized Ravenclaw Beater, "I'm sorry for the pain you must be feeling right now, but I had to pry them off you. It appears I am too late, they have already bitten you."

"Ha…ahaha…" Jason stared up at her, "I…can't feel…"

"Be grateful that you are numb," Luna didn't even glance at the side to where the heads were, most of them still had that gaping-mouth expression but some looked like they had been screaming in pain. "You know what must be done, if you don't want any of your friends or family to see you as some quasi-inferi, if you don't want to start attacking your teammate and friend Cho."

Jason looked over Luna's shoulder at the Ravenclaw seeker, Cho was crying and like Luna, her clothing was flecked with blood. They had been together in the Ravenclaw Quidditch team for some time now, and Jason remembered vividly how their captain had tried to protect them. Roger had jumped in the way of an attacker, Jason would kill himself if he dishonoured that memory by attacking the team. He squeezed his eyes shut.

"Do it. If you ever see my family, you can tell them I died trying to do the right thing."

Luna nodded solemnly, "I don't think I can successfully cast the killing curse, but I will try to make this as painless as possible."

Cho felt as if she should protest, she had witnessed in the span of hours her whole Quidditch team being wiped out, but it was Jason's decision. She watched silently as Luna stood up and took a few steps back, "Reducto!"

The spell was messy but aimed true, as the headless one-legged body collapsed Cho thought about the indignity of it all, having to die in the hallways or becoming some quasi-inferi under some sick person's control or lack thereof. No respect for the body, nothing to give for the family…oh Merlin.

"Tell his family?" Cho suddenly cried, "What if whatever is happening here, is happening outside Hogwarts as well?"

"Don't drop your weapon," Luna warned, "If we want to see how the outside world is doing, we can try sending an owl out or go off the school grounds ourselves. Either way, we'll have to go through more of them."

Within minutes the two Ravenclaw girls were running down the halls of Hogwarts castle.

Z.Z.Z.Z

Justin Finch Fletchy looked around at the carnage around him.

For a moment, he was tore between running to rescue fellow students and the urge to run from this school and never look back. This was insanity, this was unbelievable, he'd seen and heard of such scenarios before, but it was always on TV and with the knowledge that it was all acting. Now he was being attacked by hordes of unknown beings, controlled only by their own primal instincts and not by the Ministry or the Dark Lord. The Ministry wouldn't have done this to Umbridge, and the Dark Lord certainly wouldn't have caused some of the more prominent Slytherins to become like this. The infection was spreading and now students were attacking each other in blind hunger.

Hogwarts was facing its own zombie apocalypse.

---

And there you have it!

***Once again, this story is inspired by: Zombieland, 28 days later, and High School of the Dead***

The reason the word 'Zombie' never appears until the end is because most of the Hogwarts students do believe that they are some type of inferi, and except for muggleborns or perhaps a few half-bloods no one else knows what they really are. The origins of this zombie 'curse', among other things, would all be explained later.