Chapter 10

Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville and Luna rushed through several corridors before stopping to make sure Hagrid wouldn't follow. They found an open classroom and headed inside to catch their breath.

"That was a close one" said Ron.

"Do you think he'll follow us?" Asked Hermione with concern.

"Doubtful, I could hear McGonagall calling him back... I hope he doesn't follow us" said Harry. The thought of Hagrid becoming one of the Inferi was frightening in way too many ways. He closed the door and pushed a desk in front of it.

"Holy shit, guys, look, food!" Ron exclaimed, pointing at a small pile of fruit and pastries piled lazily on a desk.

"that seems a little suspicious..." Hermione began, but they had already started eating.

"Come on Hermione, you know you're hungry!" said Ron, tossing her an apple. She grabbed it but did not bite into it, instead inspecting the classroom. Some of the desks had been knocked over, and some bloodstains were visible.

"It looks like there was a struggle in here" she said.

Harry set down his fire axe to eat an apple while surveying the mess.

"Maybe a couple people came in here to hide and eat, but got bit" He theorized.

"Makes sense, they probably should have thought to barricade the door though" said Luna.

"It kind of makes me feel bad to eat this..." said Neville quietly.

"No use to whoever had it now" said Ron as he double fisted a cupcake and a pear, "This shit's tasty."

Harry looked around the room as Hermione examined the signs of the struggle. The classroom was dark and still, except for the sounds of some creaking somewhere in the castle... "LOOK OUT!"

A house elf burst out of a cupboard and charged towards Hermione.

"Shit!" She screamed, turning to run, but she slipped immediately on the bloodstain, hitting the floor on all fours.

Harry grabbed his axe as several more house elves jumped out of the cupboards.

Hermione kicked the elf away, knocking it on it's back, but it quickly climbed up and reached for her feet. It clamped it's jaw around her shoe and bit in it's little jagged teeth as Harry swung his axe, cleaving off it's head a second later.

"On your left!" Ron shouted while smashing in a house elf's skull with his baseball bat.

Harry spun around and kicked the elf in the face, sending it flying across the room. A third elf charged him and met the front of his axe. The kicked house elf got to it's feet quickly and charged towards Neville straight into the arc of his sword, killing it.

Ron smashed in another house elves skull, but the nail in his baseball bat became caught in it's skull. Two elves rushed towards him, drool spilling out from their jaws. Panicked, Ron stuck his foot on the dead elve's skull and yanked out the baseball bat. He turned to smash in the attackers, but Luna had already put them down.

"Is that all of them?!" He asked.

Luna looked around and nodded.

"Everyone alright? Hermione?... Hermione... oh shit" Ron's expression turned to horror as he saw Hermione beginning to cry.

"Oh god.. Hermione..." whispered Harry.

Luna pushed past Ron with an emotionless expression, halberd raised for the kill.

"Wait! NO!" Hermione screamed, "It didn't get through the shoe! LOOK!" She pulled her shoe off, revealing her foot unpunctured by the bite.

Luna stopped a second before swinging her halberd, a look of relief on her face.

"Holy shit... too close" said Harry.

The group left the classroom and silently and headed towards the entrance to the grand staircase. They reached the last corner, and Neville looked around. His expression was not good.

"I think I found where all the hufflepuffs went..."

Harry looked around the corner. In front of the grand staircase entrance was at least two dozen Inferi, all of them between the ages of eleven and seventeen, all wearing Hufflepuff badges, discolored, and splattered with blood.

"Holy shit... there's no way we can fight past that" he whispered.

"Detour?" asked Ron.

"No, I'll distract them." said Luna.

"What? No, you're crazy. You can't hope to fight them off" said Neville.

"I'm fast. And it won't matter if we pass them now, they might head towards the hospital wing. I can lead them to another staircase, lose them on the second floor away from here. I'm fast." Luna explained.

"You're nuts, they'll catch you" Neville protested.

"No, they'll catch me if I have to look out for someone. I'm very fast on my feet." Luna countered.

"That Halberd will slow you down" Hermione pointed out.

"Right. Here, you need a weapon" She handed the Halberd to Hermione and pulled out a dagger, "Did I mention my Dad was really into self defense?"

"You mentioned he's a bit of a nut, I guess that would make sense" said Ron.

She smiled at him, "Look, we don't have time for this, I'm making a run that way, once the mob goes by, head for the library and clear up whatever stays behind. Trust me, I can handle myself. And I'll want that Halberd back when we meet again."

She looked at Harry.

"She makes a good point. Good luck" He said.

She smiled, gave them all a wink, then headed out.

"HEY FUCKFACES! COME GET ME!" She screamed, then sprinted the other way. The Inferi howled.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville hid around the corner as at least a couple dozen Inferi sprinted by after Luna.

"Coast is clear" said Harry.

"She's fucking nuts" said Ron.

The Hogwarts grand staircase was a large tower full of moving staircases that led to every floor, including the Headmasters tower at the top. What concerned Harry and his friends was on the third floor. The coast seemed clear, except for one staircase which had stopped in midair, starting at the first floor across the tower but ending in mid air. They looked down at it as they climbed the steps to the library. Three Inferi seemed stuck and confused halfway up the steps, unsure of where to go.

"They looked kind of retarded" whispered Ron under his breathe as they looked down at the Inferi.

"Shh, I don't want them to notice us" Harry whispered back.

They reached the landing for the third floor and headed off down the corridor, towards the Library.

"So, say we get there and Madame Pince isn't there, what's the next step of plans?" Asked Neville.

"We'll force our way into the restricted section" Harry replied.

"And if the book not there?" He asked.

"We'll slaughter every Inferi one by one" joked Ron.

"We'll think of something" Harry replied.

They reached the library. It was nearly pitch black inside, except for some knocked over lanterns. While normally searching for a book in the labyrinthine like library was difficult and tedious, searching in the dark with the chance of an Inferi in the next aisle was downright terrifying.

"Alright, let's see if she's at the reception..." Hermione whispered, as they headed towards the center of the library.

Madame Pince was not at the reception desk, and neither were the keys to the restricted section.

"Shit" Hermione hissed.

"Wait... do you hear that?" Asked Harry.

They listened intently. A low breathing sound was audible deeper in the library.

"It's coming from the study area..." They snuck over to the study room.

Aside from a bunch of books being thrown on the floor and a table knocked slightly askew, everything seemed normal.

"I think we could say Madame Pince was bit, she would never let the library get this disorganized" smirked Ron.

"What's that...?" whispered Neville, pointing at what looked like a leg sticking out from behind the askew table.

They crept over until it came clearly into view. A student lay dead on the floor with a pool of blood around the head. Upon closer inspection, they could see it's teeth slowly chewing.

"It's... alive?" asked Hermione with shock.

Harry knelt close to it. He made eyes with the student, who let out a low growl, but did not otherwise move.

"I think he hit his head on the table... maybe broke his spine somehow... fucking unlucky. I wonder what pushed him...?" He was interrupted as an Inferi charged out from one of the aisles towards them.

"Look out!" He hissed. Hermione quickly spun around, unintentionally decapitating the librarian with the halberd.

"Fuck!" She hissed, in shock of her unmeaning decapitation.

"Holy shit... you got her!" said Neville.

"Nice one!" said Ron, patting her on the back. He then smashed the head in of the paralyzed Inferi, "Just putting the fucker out of it's misery..."

"Does she have the key?" Harry asked. Hermione did not respond. He held her arm and shook her a little, bringing her out of shock, "Does she have the key?"

"What... oh, yeah... let me check... got it!" She pulled the key ring off the decapitated librarians corpse.

They quickly found the restricted section of the library a minute later, and soon it was unlocked and they were scanning the shelves.

"Do you know what book to look for?" Harry asked.

"Try anything to do with dark curses... the undead... monsters" Hermione replied, scanning the rows of books.

"That's like every book here" Ron replied sarcastically.

"Don't be a dick" Hermione snapped back.

"Fuck, you're better at this then me, I'm going to keep watch" said Ron, giving up on the book hunt.

"Uh... me too" said Neville, "I'm not good at this library junk" he followed Ron away.

Hermione sighed.

"It's probably a good idea to keep a look out" said Harry.

"Yeah, I know. He's just pissy about Ginny seeing guys. He doesn't get it" she said.

"I'm pretty sure he just hates books" replied Harry.

"No... He's mad about Ginny. Probably because he's never getting laid. Look, Harry, I have to talk to you about something. I know you like Ginny."

"Wha...? No... I'm with Cho... I mean... Ginny's cool and stuff..."

"Harry, I know you like her. I've seen the way you look at her. But you're with Cho. And she's catching on to. And I don't think Ginny really likes seeing you with Cho all the time. You're going to have to make a choice, before you do something stupid. Don't give me that look! I know what you're thinking, but you have to trust me on this one" explained Hermione.

"Alright... maybe I do like Ginny a little. But I don't think now is the best time. Can we talk about something else? Let's maybe find this book?" He tried to sidetrack the conversation, but inside he knew she was on to something.

Fuck, I didn't know I was this transparent. I hope Ron isn't catching on... but what if Ginny is? And Cho? Fuck man, you're with Cho, stop pussy footing around..."

"You see the book anywhere?" He asked.

Before she could reply, Ron rushed over, "Guy's, we got company coming..."

"Inferi?" Harry asked.

"Worse... Malfoy" growled Ron.

Harry grabbed his fireaxe.

"You go, I'll lock the entrance to this section before the Inferi get in. I can find the book better on my own." said Hermione.

Harry nodded to her and rushed off after Ron.

"And don't forget to think about what I said!" She called out as they rushed to the entrance.