Pity the Gelth
Alright, I don't own anything that you recognize. Don't sue. The Doctor belongs to the BBC. The Gelth belong to the BBC. Anything Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.
This story takes place after "Carriovile".
Chapter One.
James Sirius Potter was bored. He had managed to convince his parents that he could watch over his two younger siblings while they were out. Harry was at a conference for the Ministry for the next week, and Ginny was visiting her friend Luna Lovegood, and helping her out while Luna was pregnant. He had thought that this would be great, that they could get up to mischief and do things that they normally wouldn't. But all Albus wanted to was read, and Lily was more interested in her summer assignments.
He sighed, and decided to go out for a walk. He left number 12 Grimmauld place, and started off for the park down the street. Harry kept commenting on how the street had changed over the last two decades, with a park, a store, and a funeral home nearby. James thought that living near a mortuary was neat. Even if his mother and brother thought that it was creepy, and always stayed on the other side of the street when they had to pass it. James could remember daring Lily to go in, when she was ten. She had done it, and been caught by the manager. Harry had grounded both of them for two weeks. James still thought it was worth it, hearing Lily scream. She thought the old man was an Inferius. He had felt bad at the time, but looking back, it was hilarious. Even Lily thought so, now.
The mortuary was an old place. Once it had been the home of a rather wealthy man. This man had lived in Cardiff, until his wife died. He had taken the body back to London and had buried her in the cemetery three blocks away. When the man died, he left the building to the city. And fifteen years ago the city had finally decided to do something with it, and they turned it into a funeral home. Until recently it had been the only other building (besides Grimmauld) to have gas lighting, but the muggle officials had recently decided to convert the site for electricity.
He was just past the building now, with trucks and workers starting to set up for the renovations. An old woman was walking slowly from the doors, staggering as though she was drunk. James noticed that she was awfully pale.
"Can I help you, ma'am?" He asked politely. She didn't respond, and continued to walk, heading towards him. James repeated his question, and still didn't get an answer. She had walked past him, and was now drawing up to where 12 Grimmauld place was. James was getting nervous. The old lady looked familiar somehow.
Lily opened the front door, and looked around. James called her name, and she turned her head towards him, and saw the old lady. Lily screamed.
"What the hell are you making that noise for?" James asked.
"That's Ms. Jones, from down the street!" Lily told him, as she began to search her pockets frantically.
"Yeah, so? That doesn't mean you can just scream at the sight of her," James had overtaken the old woman and took another look. It was Ms. Jones. No wonder she had looked familiar, she had lived in the neighborhood for as long as James could remember.
"James, she died last week!" Lily was yelling at him, as she usually did when he was being particularly dense. "AHA!" she exclaimed, digging her wand out of her pocket.
"She WHAT!?" James yelled. There was a large flash of light that went right past his head, and he felt a rush of hot air blow past his head. The spell struck the old woman square in the chest.
"What are you doing?" Albus asked curiously as he stuck his head out of a window on the second floor.
"Trying to get rid of an Inferius-," James interrupted partway through Lily's explanation.
"What makes you think she's an Inferius?"
"She's dead, and she's walking. Therefore, Inferius. Except the spell didn't work!"
And indeed it hadn't. Ms. Jones hadn't reacted at all to the spell, other than to stop moving forward. But she was still alive, if that is the correct word to use. James cast a heat spell, one that his Defense against the Dark Arts teacher had taught him the year before. It was meant to sever the link between the dark wizard and the corpse that they had reanimated. But the old woman took no more notice than she had the ball of light that Lily had cast.
James was stunned. That spell should have worked. His teacher had given him full marks when they had practiced it in class, and he didn't think that he could have messed it up. Lily leapt off the stoop, and was now standing next to him.
"What are we going to do?" she whispered, suddenly sounding very much like his baby sister. James had no idea. But before they could do anything more, the corpse threw its head back and screamed, a bluish gas escaping from its mouth and disappearing. The body slumped to the ground. There was silence.
"Is it dead again?" Albus asked from his window.
"I think so," James said, but he didn't sound very sure.
"Well, make sure."
"And how am I supposed to do that? Poke her with a stick to see if she moves?" There was silence from above, and then…
"Sounds good to me. Need a stick?"
"Oh, for heaven's sake!" James exclaimed. He knelt down next to the body, and put his fingers on the corpse's throat, ignoring the disgusted noises that his siblings were making.
"No pulse, she's dead again."
"What are we going to do?" Albus asked from his lofty perch. "Cause I think the neighbors may notice a dead person in the street."
James levitated the body.
"We'll take her back to the morgue. Coming Lily?" His sister shuddered, and shook her head emphatically. James shrugged, and walked down the street, the dead body of Ms. Jones floating behind him.