A/N: Okay, so I really love the next Gen. This was really fun to write, so I hope you like it just as much as I did!


Title: The thing with Inferi

Summary: Rose and Albus are training to be Aurors and are sent off to go quell a bit of Dark magic. But not exactly 50 Inferi. All woken up by Albus. Why, oh why did Rose always get herself into these things?

Word count: 1,401

Genres: Humour, Action

Characters: Rose W., Albus P.

Warnings: Inferi


FOR HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

House: Ravenclaw

for august auction:

Day 26/ Auction 3:


"What do you mean there are a bunch of inferi in there?" Rose screeched at her cousin while she finished setting up a bunch of classic wards around their designated camping spot and started to unpack the tent.

"Exactly what I said!" Albus screamed back as he hurriedly started packing up his stuff. "There are a bunch of inferi in there!"

Rose whacked him on the head with her wand. "So, It's a bunch of inferi! We can handle them."

"But there are like, 50 inferi!"

"So, as long as they're motionless we can easily dispel them!" Rose huffed as she continued to cast the lost couple of spells.

"Well," Albus looked slightly meek, "That's just the thing… They aren't quite as motionless as you'd like them to be."

"What?" This time Rose screeched even louder than before, a skill she had inherited for her Gran. "Inferi stay motionless as long as there is not a Dark Wizard specifically controlling them from a close distance, or they are not provoked by an action meant to set up a defensive system," she perfectly recited from their Sixth-year text book, "Don't tell me there was a Dark Wizard in there too!"

"No?" Albus squeaked.

"Oh my god," Rose deadpanned, "You didn't!"

"Ummm…"

"You touched something you weren't supposed to touch."

"Yes."

"And then all the Inferi started moving."

"Yes."

"And now they're all rushing out of that cave and after us."

"Yes.

"Then why didn't you say sooner!"

Rose grabbed her bag and flung it over her shoulder. Albus did the same thing and was preparing to run away when Rose grabbed his collar.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?"

"Running away? So as to not get eaten by Inferi?"

Rose groaned: "Oh Sweet Merlin on a broken broomstick, how did you even get into Auror Academy?"

"Because I had good grades?"

"Not the time for jokes Albus, we both know your grades were at the most passable."

"Then because of my dashing good looks?"

A couple of Inferi started to pool out of the cave, their disgusting rotten flesh and empty eye sockets making them even more repulsive than the picture in the textbook.

Albus cowered, "Can we leave now?"

"NO! There is a Muggle village close by, we can't leave them because otherwise they'll attack them!"

"Oh my god!"

"Yeah, if you hadn't touched them, we would be fine!"

"You know what, how about I Disapparate and go find help?"

"While I fend off 50 inferi all by myself? Wow, thanks Albus." Thankfully, the light of the sun had stalled them. Rose had never fought Inferi before, but she knew from others' experience that Inferi that lived in caves were often stalled by the light of day.

Albus huffed, "Fine." And they both started to cast protection spells around themselves as more and more Inferi started to pool out of the cave.

Rose and Albus were both in their third year of Auror training. It was customary to send the little Thirdies, as they were called, on terrain experiences, all on their own without extra help from trained Aurors and see how they would do. Generally, when very minor Dark magic was signalled, they were sent off for a week in twos or threes and in that short time they were expected to discover the source of Dark magic, eradicate it and come home. The quicker you came back, the higher the grade you got.

Just yesterday, a tiny bit of Dark magic had been detected around the small village in the middle of Yorkshire and Rose and Albus had immediately set off the next morning. Rose dearly loved her cousin, and even though he was generally quite rubbish at all things spell-casting and knowledge or Dark creatures, he had quite a knack for finding Dark magic, without even having to do anything. It had seemed like a good idea to take Albus with her, so that they would find whatever it was even quicker and get top grades, thinking that she would probably be able to control whatever it was with little to no help, but now… She kind of regretted it. Minor Dark magic was perhaps two or three Inferi. NOT 50!

"Ready?" Albus called out to her.

"As always." And they both started firing a ribambelle of spells in the creatures' direction. Stunning and petrification spells had effect on them if cast with enough force but was generally not considered a bad technique, as it quickly tired out a person. The only real spell that had effect was Incendio as their bodies were generally very dry.

Voldemort had been very clever to put them in a lake, making them too humid to burn up. But, thankfully, the Dark Wizard here had not been intelligent enough.

"Incendio!" Rose screamed at the first bunch in front of them. It burst into flames, but Rose didn't have the time to savour her victory as another came up.

"Incendio!"

"Incendio!"

"Incendio!"

But no matter how many spells Rose and Albus seemed to cast, they were rapidly overpowered by the sheer number of corpses. Goodness, how many had the Wizard defaced?

"Rose! We're not going to be able to manage them all!"

"Yes, I know!"

Suddenly, Albus' face lit up: "Rose, what about fiendfyre?"

Rose quickly shot a spell on an Inferi that had creeped up on Albus from behind.

"Fiendfyre, are you crazy? Do you know how destructive that thing is?"

Albus frowned and agreed, but clearly fiendfyre had to be the answer as they were both now exhausted.

"Okay, I have a plan!" Rose shouted back at him as he carefully dodged a flaming creature.

"Thank goodness! I knew I could count on you!"

"Yes, you'd better give me all the credit when we get back!"

"As if!"

Rose ignored him and explained her plan in shouts: "We're going to push them back into the cave, and cast the fiendfyre in there, after having sealed of the entrance with Anti-Fire charms!"

"You're a genius, Rose!"

"Yes and you love me, now come on!"

They both began to advance on the inferi running them back into the cave, which was actually a lot harder than one might imagine, as the corpses preferred the fresh air and light of sun for some reason. After a humongous effort to get them out of the way and in the cave, Rose screamed out to her cousin.

"Cast the fiendfyre, now, Albus!"

"On it!"

And at the moment Albus launched the fires of hell upon the Inferi, Rose brought up the strongest Anti-fire wards she could think of. Albus began to run away, but Rose knew she couldn't leave the fire quite as large, so she waited a couple of moments, until she was fairly certain the Inferi had all burned away and began to press against her wards moving them into the interior of the cave, reducing the fiendfyre progressively. The cave wasn't quite that large, which made Rose wonder how they could have managed to fit in 50 Inferi, and it was thoroughly burnt. Finally, when Rose had managed to reduce the fiendfyre to barely the size of the flicker of a flame, she doused it with water from her bottle.

She stepped back out of the face, to find her cousin all covered in soot, probably her own look too.

"Whatever it was the Inferi were protecting, I hope it was worth it," she grumbled at her cousin before taking a bite of a cereal bar.

"Well, dear cousin, you're lucky I took it with me before you burned down that cave," he replied as he produced a particularly old looking book.

"Oh my god, Albus! You shouldn't be touching that with your hands, what if it's cursed?"

"Rosie, always such a spoil-sport."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's go!"

"We are going to get Os for this, I'm sure!"

Rose lifted the wards she had placed and cleaned the area up a litte. "Hopefully, and you'd better remember that all the credit has to go to me!"

"No way! Who was it that found the Inferi?"

"Yeah, who was it that set them all on us?"

"But, who was it who said that fien-"

He was cut off and they both Dispparated, leaving a quiet forest ground where no one would have ever guessed there had been any Dark magic.