As I hurried along the low, damp passage-way I felt something large and slimy plop onto my shoulder. I tried to flick it off my shoulder, but it had a consistency that was perfectly reminiscent of troll bogies and it simply stretched into a long, gooey thread. Wiping my hand on my cloak with an involuntary "Ugh!" I resolved to take a shower the second I returned to the Shack. Assuming, of course, that I wasn't eaten alive by an inferi.
Keeping one eye on the Marauder's Map, I let my thoughts drift to my friends and comrades infiltrating the party at Malfoy Manor. I was a little disturbed, but not terribly surprised that Antonin had kept hairs from as many colleagues as he could get his hands on, calling them "his little insurance policy". He hadn't been able to find a hair for Yaxley, but at this moment Tonks should be morphing into Bellatrix. I had no doubt that she would be able to play her role to perfection.
The plan was relatively simple. Hermione figured that Sirius, Tonks, Remus (by marriage) and Andromeda would be allowed through the blood wards. Sirius, Tonks and Remus would disguise themselves as partygoers.
Sirius would empty a flagon of Bellicose Brew into the drinks being served, in order to ramp all the partygoers' testosterone levels up to the point where they'd be spoiling for a fight. At that point, "Bellatrix" (Tonks) would pick a fight with Rowle over his sister. I was trusting to Bellatrix's advanced state of intoxication to prevent her from realizing that her doppelgänger was wandering around the party. I suspected that Tonks might also get some sort of twisted therapeutic value out of taunting Rowle into starting a fight with her. I could only hope that I would be back in time to witness the fireworks.
Meanwhile, Antonin would confound Yaxley in the hopes that he would inform Lestrange of Malfoy's plot to kill him. Sirius (disguised as Travers, who would be abroad) and Remus (disguised as Snape) would go around the party airing every feud and secret that Antonin had been able to think of. I suspected that the knowledge that Malfoy had been plotting to off Lestrange would be especially explosive.
I suppose people must have confided all sorts of secrets in Antonin due to his being the strong silent type, because he seemed to know about rivalries and, as my chavvy muggle cousins liked to say, beef between all of the death eaters. Or maybe they were just a bunch of skull-wearing drama queens.
Regardless, we could only hope that these three separate instigators would allow factions to form and the whole party to dissolve into chaos. Privately, I wasn't sure whether it would be enough of a distraction to both destroy the inferi and kill Voldemort, but it was the best plan I'd been able to come up with. As I stalked down the passageway, I fretted over whether my charts and diagrams had accurately conveyed the plan to everyone. Fred had said it reminded him of Oliver Wood's quiddich diagrams, but I wasn't sure if that was good or bad.
As i wound through the tunnel, I started to hear muffled, wet shuffling sounds. With another shudder of disgust, I realized that it was the sound of hundreds of slowly rotting feet milling around aimlessly. I inched around the final corner and met with a shimmering, opaque barrier.
I groaned. We weren't sure what sort of wards might be on the cavern, only that they were somehow keyed into certain families. I'd optimistically thought that perhaps they would simply dissolve at my approach, but that didn't appear to be the case. I raised my wand and tried a fairly lackluster "finite incantatum".
Nothing resulted, which wasn't terribly surprising. I started throwing curse-breaking spells of increasing complexity at it, but if anything the stupid barrier seemed to flow even brighter. A light sheen of sweat was breaking out on my forehead. What if I couldn't get in? What if I failed the others?
I forced myself to take a deep breath and think. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration occurred to me. I knew of one other instance of old Snakey-face creating wards, and those had required a blood sacrifice. I pulled the jack-knife out of my boot and pricked the tip of my finger. No sense in over-kill, since I was going to have to deal with thousands of inferi as soon as this barrier came down.
I held my finger out, the shockingly red blood swelling at the tip. I was still reluctant to physically touch the barrier, so I flicked a drop of blood in its general direction. A second later, the shimmering barrier started to sparkle as it fell to pieces like wet tissue paper. I gave a whoop of triumph, and began adjusting the pack I wore on my back. I'd decided to use some muggle methodology for this mission, since I didn't trust fiendfyre in such an enclosed space. It also gave me no small amount of enjoyment to imagine Voldy's army of inferi toasted by a muggle invention.
I pulled up the gas mask from around my neck and pulled the straps tight. Next, I opened the valve on my flamethrower and adjusted the straps nervously. I stuffed my wand down the front of my shirt and held the nozzle end in both hands. Harry and I had practiced on a lonely stretch of beach near Shell Cottage, but I was fairly certain that using it in battle conditions would be a bit different.
As the last of the barrier came down, I took one more deep breath before cautiously advancing down the clammy stone tunnel. The sound of shuffling was even louder now, and ahead of me I could just make out the passage bending sharply to the right. The torches in the wall were spaced so far apart as to leave long shadowy stretches between their dancing light.
At the corner, I peeked around and saw that the tunnel opened into a huge chamber with a ceiling so high that it faded into shadows. I had an impression of a writhing mass, something like an ant-hill, and tried to avoid looking too closely at any of the greyish-green bodies. I was irrationally afriad that I might recognize one of the rotting faces.
The inferi must have been confined to the chamber by some sort of charm, since they were milling about aimlessly inside but none spilled into the passage. Setting my feet in a wide stance, I didn't wait even a moment before I pulled the trigger. The inferi nearest to me started catching fire, and began flinging themselves in all directions, emitting a low disconcerting moaning. I backed up quickly as one of the flaming monsters came towards me, stumbling with arms outstretched just like a zombie in a muggle horror movie. I frantically doused it again with the flame thrower as I skipped backwards, and its legs finally gave out just feet from me. It slid sideways and even as I watched the body started to fall to pieces as it burned. A shin fell forwards while the bulk of the body toppled back, a hand flying off to the side and the head rolling back towards the flaming inferno.
I couldn't see anything but a mass of flaming bodies, and had no idea what was happening with the inferi beyond the front row. My eyes were watering from the acrid smoke and I wished that I'd had the foresight to bring goggles. Suddenly, a pair of inferi burst from the mass, both barely on fire. I pulled the trigger in a panic and gave them both a spurt of fire right across the head. They stumbled back, and one blundered off into the smoke. The other, however, shook its head and rushed me again, its hair crackling audibly as it burned.
I pulled the trigger on my flame-thrower again, but to my horror it was empty. I backpedaled quickly, yanking my wand from my shirt and screaming, impedimenta!
The inferi was blasted back, knocking into two flaming companions and finally sinking into the mass of bodies. I gave a coughing gasp of relief and tried to think of a spell that would allow me to see. The thick, black smoke was causing my eyes to water furiously.
With a sudden flash of inspiration I cast a bubble-head charm. My eyes were still watering, but suddenly I could see in front of me. Granted, all I could see was fire, but at least I could see that. I took several more steps back and grinned savagely. All I had to do now was wait around to make sure they'd all burned to a crisp.
I won't lie. As the last of the inferi dissolved into piles of smoldering ash, I definitely play-acted the part of a gunslinger from one of my uncle's favorite black-and-white muggle films. Dramatically holstering the flame-thrower, I turned and swaggered out of that cavern with a final victory whoop and didn't look back.
I strode quickly up the tunnel, so exhilarated that even the dripping slime mold couldn't dampen my spirits. I was feeling so cocky as I emerged through the trick painting into Severus's old office that I almost forgot to check the marauder's map before leaving his chambers. It was a lucky thing I did, since Slughorn was patrolling the hallway outside at just that moment. I had no doubts that the little coward would have turned me over to the Dark Lord for some brownie points.
Once he had passed, I set off at a run for the front doors. Now that my task was complete, my mind turned to my friends and husband at Malfoy manor. If the timing had worked as I anticipated, they should have managed to start a brawl by now and be gathering their forces for the final attack. I was desperate to reach Malfoy Manor and help them.