HP and the Curse of the Inferi

I was doing research on inferi for a plot bunny I had going and came across what I was sure was an April fools joke (and it is). Still, marginally funny link, but in the hands of a good author I think it has potential. Basically, Harry in the year after Deathly Hallows, goes back to school to finish up. Ron says that he keeps seeing Fred at Hogwarts. Harry has even seen Dumbledore more than once. Hermione doesn't believe them of course, and Ginny is... well, who cares really.

The point: Dumbledore, Snape, Remus, Nymphadora, Bellatrix, Voldemort... etc etc. all come back as Inferi and rush Hogwarts' walls. Perhaps Ginny gets her brains eaten in a spectacular way. Harry tells the students to use fire against the inferi and Ron gets burned alive. Of course, then he becomes an inferi too.

Meh, I think it would be lulz, or horrific depending on the author's take. I've never seen someone use inferi post-DH.

Do this.

 

Heh, Voldemort's demise plagued the land with the foulest of dark magicks raising the fallen wizards, friends and foes alike, to the last act of the darklord against his fated enemy?

Still, it would look better than the "Voldemort dies and dark-mark takes everyone with him." This would at least make sure he could fuck up Harry's life again.

Some inferi/wizard breathen like the Grindelwald we see on 'A Black Comedy' would be better.

 

Meh, dumb idea. Inferi =/= zombies in the HP world; no super strength or speed, no brain-eating as far as we know (otherwise they wouldn't have just stayed in that cave). Plus, only Voldemort got off on making inferi, and with him now dead...

That being said, I immediately thought of an insane George being the one to raise them from the dead. Fred because that's his better half; Voldemort as a twisted method of selling more U-NO-POO; Bellatrix 'cause he likes fucking dead chicks, etc etc. It'd be a cool short fic I guess.

 

lol, that's a little perverted JustBlaise. I ship George/dead!Bellatrix as well.

Who says Voldemort couldn't come up with a super special way to make even more powerful inferi? Or like you know, as a result of the Battle that took place on Hogwarts ground, every person that died has come back to life with a thirst for magical blood. Or something. It's just a thought for some one who wants to write a lulzy, gorey one-shot or small story. I don't think it would work on a week in, week out basis though.

 

I had an idea like that, but mine was more hardcore horror than humor. Kind of a dawn of the dead at Hogwarts. Voldemort would be behind it and obviously it would all go wrong and you'd get students trying to escape the school as their classmates try to eat them. An unlikely pair would be the only survives and then in the final chapter Voldemort would enter the school with several death eaters, clearing out all the inferi, well until something drips on his robes, and he looks up in time for zombie!Harry Potter to land on him. Death eaters scatter and are quickly overwhelmed, the story ends with the zombies shuffling towards the now unsealed entranced.

 

This would be a pretty funny idea in the right hands. Reminds of the movie 'Fido,' where a kid keeps a zombie as the family pet. One of the weirdest movies I've ever seen.

But it might be funny to see an HP fic where Harry defeats LV or Dumbledore or whoever and he keeps them around as an inferius, doing menial chores like weeding the garden and serving drinks. Quite the humiliation.

 

How are zombies or Inferi supposed to present a threat to a wizard? Not really a problem for a humor fic, but some of the suggestions here seem to be verging on serious.

 

I like it. In my opinion, it's a cool way to finally end the series. But in the end, that's all it is, an idea.

 

Pretty cool idea. I've been looking to write a few one-shots as a way to help improve my writing, so I might try my hand at something like this.

 

I agree, it'd be great to see a few fics that use more inferi. Never rly see a lot of them. Only good fic. i read which talks about an army of inferi (even though they don't last very long) was in "A second chance at life" or it was prolly the sequel "Changes in a time of war" where voldy uses them against the vampire lords. Other than that, the only time ive seen inferi get 'used' is in that cave and they don't rly do a lot there.

 

My fic (sig) uses Inferi a fair bit - I think of them less as zombies and more as thralls. Got my take on them from the Sabriel series - the more of them there are the weaker they are, as they power is spread over more corpses, but like one or two from a powerful wizard could be lethal.

 

Im sorry... but, for fucks sake... Upper case 'I''s, really not rly, probably not prolly. The only thing that gets me more than that is when people type 'iunno' instead of 'I don't know'.

On topic; I read a Harry Potter/Dawn of the Dead crossover a while back that was pretty good that reminds me of this idea. Used inferi instead of zombies and Harry and company were holed up in Hogwarts. I'll see if I can find it.

Edit: Coudnt find the fic. I found one that blew, but Im relatively sure it isnt the one I read. Either that or my tastes have changed over the years. Sorry...

 

@Agnostics Puppet: hmfh, it wasn't that bad ... I actually went over the whole thing once to take out the 'biggest' spelling errors. It's that damn MSN-speech breaking through. Always writing half words and incorrect abbreviations when chatting. None the less, I'll work on it thank you for bringing it to my attention and also, you have my apologies.

@twisted: I think i'll try your fic. then, looks like something fun.

 

Ah, I probably overreacted myself, but whenever I see someone type like that, I get this urge to grind my teeth.

Twisted's fic is awesomesauce. Read it anyway.

 

That's the law of conservation of ninjutsu you're thinking of. Predates Sabriel, I assume.

 

Necromancy is an interesting idea to play with. Inferi aside, what's considered Necromancy? Is it just animating bones like you might a suit of armor? If that's the case, I can't see how it would be anything but amoral, a faux pas; disrespect towards the dead: the only reason why it wouldn't be taught or widely used.

But to reanimate "thoughts", spirits, etc. I think it's unlikely any HP wizard can do that intentionally, as then it would be easy revive anyone from the dead (just put their spirit into another body or perhaps even an inorganic fixture... of course there are the paintings). So the only undead possible by even the darkest wizard is just the restoration of dead tissue and animating it to do a particular thing, it shouldn't have any thought or spirit that existed before it died. Thus that would mean Necromancy can't even exist in HP (as it does in other universes). At best it's a scare tactic - the undead have no special abilities or advantage other than the fear factor, and aren't any easier to transfigure or amass than any other animal or creature.

 

If you'll recall, we already have an example of necromancy in HP with the Resurrection Stone. In fact, with the introduction of that it seems rather illogical that a suitably talented person could not bring the soul back from the dead and fix it into a body; specifically a soulless one that has been Kissed by a Dementor.

 

I have to say, I'm so glad that there'll never be another Harry Potter book.

 

Which is why I don't care to mention it. I'm no Taure, but the fact necromancy isn't even mentioned by the teachers (dark arts? I'd be more concerned if my students were going into graveyards and raising the dead!) means 'true' necromancy is either impossible or a waste of effort.

 

True, though if we go by that argument half of what Dumbledore and Voldemort were capable of would be 'impossible'. There's also the fact that the Resurrection Stone has been in the possession of the Gaunt Family for who knows how long, and they were ignorant of its true nature. So it's possible that it simply hasn't been done because there hasn't been the chance to work out how.

If I recall it right Voldemort's unaided flight was held in the same regard before he proved it possible.