Inferi after Inferi moved forwards, all of them now out of the lake. The humans were almost forced to move backwards...

The Inferi clinging onto the human's (Ronan) back flew back and caught ablaze in a giant ball of bones and flames but it didn't stay that way for long. Some of the water from one of the humans (Emmalyn) caught the Inferi. The bottom half of the Inferi broke away, burnt clothes now laying in a lifeless form on the shore of the lake. There was a pause...

.... and then it started moving again. With no legs, the Inferi dragged itself forward on its half a body, using one arm to propel itself forwards.... dragging..... moooving....

Fling, went the Squid's tentacles, and off the Inferi flew. One landed directly onto one of the humans (Kaysha), toppling her over. It wriggled and writhed at her, as though confused by this sudden obstruction.... but this didn't last very long. There was a sudden flash of sharp nails and the next minute, it sunk those dirty claws down.... down.... and into her very skin.

In all the chaos, another noise joined the fray. The bang of the Blast-Ended Skrewts caused a few Inferi to propel forwards, their skeletal figures flying at a rate that was almost impossible to control. It didn't matter where they landed.... human or ground, it was all the same.

There was a giant spark, a giant BANG!, followed by a particularly loud screech from one of the dead corpses. A large bonfire of Inferi erupted out of the midst and, out of nowhere, one of the heads flew over.... over.... and landed by a human.

One thing was for sure: with the arrival of the Skrewts, the remaining Inferi were distracted.

Ronan not being on the trip was something that flew into one ear and out the other. Why? Because an Inferi had decided to interrupt their conversation.

Typical.

Green eyes widened at the sight in front of him, that made him forget all about the Inferi that were still approaching. While Emmalyn worked on using the Aguamenti charm to help Ronan, Hirsch did the first thing that came into his brain: kicked the Inferi straight in the spot where its gut would be. There was a loud CRUNCH! of bones and, even in the chaos of a situation that they were in, he couldn't help but pull a slightly disgusted face.

The sound of the bones wasn't enough to mask the sound of conversation that was going on near him. The number of times he was agreeing with Ignatius on this very day alone was starting to get surprising. Maybe this was what they needed all along: an Inferi attack that put their lives at risk to bring them together.

Anyways. There was a pause before he turned to the others, especially Chloe, Ignatius and Regina, who were all discussing some sort of plan to create a wall of fire? "Agreed. We need something to distract them while we run up-"

BANG!

What in the name of....?!

Instinctively, Hirsch ducked, covering his head as a particularly loud bang set off. But as much as he tried to cover his head, it didn't stop the sparks from catching onto the part of his clothes that were covering his middle. He frantically started patting away at the sparks, causing sections of his shirt to fall off in tatters. There wasn't a lot of damage, and it was nothing as life-threatening as some of the other incidents here had been, which allowed him to look around for the source of the sound and over at....

..... the Blast-Ended Skrewts?! Confused, he looked over at the new bonfire that had erupted, and then up at Peeves who had, apparently, decided to fight. For once, the Defence Professor was actually glad to see the poltergeist here, which might've had something to do with how helpful he was being. This really was a day of surprises, wasn't it?

And that was when something clicked.

"RUN! UPHILL! NOW!"

They might as well make full use of this opportunity.

And they'd need to grab Kaysha on the way. No way were they losing her to dark magic again.

Emmalyn was safe now. Well, not completely but there was certainly no Inferi attacking her now. Kay knew her relief would not last long because more and more if the creatures were moving rapidly towards them all. But this relief was not disrupted by the Inferi but by something landing directly on her head. She shrieked, for one wild moment thinking that a corpse had jumped on her head. Kay shook her head frantically trying to get the thing off and when that didn’t work, she reached up. What should come away in her hands after freeing her head? A Blast- Ended Skrewt. It was in that moment that she realised Peeves was dropping the thing willy nilly.

There was hardly time to yell at the poltergeist, however. There were dead things to finish off. Kay placed the Skrewt on the ground. “SHOO! Go attack the Inferi. Shoo!’’

The words were hardly out of her mouth when...

What was all that BANGING up at the Castle about? Good gracious! They need to get to the others!

It was at that moment that Kay felt the wind being knocked out of her and she was pushed backwards. It took her a moment to realise that this time it was not a Skrewt but a corpse that had fell on her. It writhed and if Kay hadn’t been so horrified at the ugly, dead thing on her, she would have noticed it was legless.

It was quite a mercy that she had noticed that as yet.

In the chaos, Kay’s wand had been lost. It lay only a few feet away from her, out of her reach. Yet she stretched her hand in an attempt to grab it. At the same time, the Inferi brought its disgusting hands and nail down upon both sides of her face. The nails punctured her skin where they drew blood.

It was a miscalculation on the part of her Head of House...and indeed the Potions Professor and her housemate. The insistence the inferi would kill her wasn’t much deterrent for the girl with limited instincts for self preservation. The fact OTHER’S were also in danger however....that she would go for, so yes, she was sending fire spell after fire spell, dislodging the inferi whenever they got hold of her.

Ronan’s response of finding who controlled them to end the assault was useless, to say the least. Right here in this moment they were being overrrun. At what point would someone slip away and search the entire globe and how soon would that prove fruitful?

Thankfully, Chloe and Professor Noble came up with a better solution, a wall of fire to give them a breather.

And just when she thought she’d seen everything today, Peeves. Peeves was being helpful. Perhaps he’d realised it was more fun to torment the living than the dead. Whatever his motivation, it was exactly the distraction they needed to......run uphill......?

Well this was escalating quickly. One minute she was half scorching herself to free her limbs from the undead and the next she was in real danger of an asthma attack. Was there really any winning today? Not being one to question many things, Jessa turned to run. That was when she caught sight of Professor Stewart. Holy kneazle. Wordlessly, the Ravenclaw sent another shot of incendio tria from her wand, aiming at the inferi that threatened to remove the woman’s face. She didn’t suspect that Hirsch instructing them to run meant leaving behind anyone currently overwhelmed and she wasn’t exactly hopeful about whatever they’d see back up at the castle if that loud bang was any indication of things.

Another she shot at the inferi lunging at her. Merlin’s beard! Just to be sure, she shot another set of fire charms in the muggle studies Professor’s direction just to help her shake her unwelcome attachment before again turning to make a run for it.

This was their only out thus far and she was now painfully aware of her own subjects in her lab that would need evacuating after Chloe’s question of the creatures in the barn—her creature in the barn.

Vdddcjhssdkhfgsjhvg.

She would have to slip away at some point.

Her fighting continued though the yelling and blasting all around. She was free to move, now that the Inferi had been removed from her body. She heard the yell to run up the hill, but at the same time, she noticed an Inferi attack her Professor Stewart. She saw as her body crashed to the ground, Inferi on top, and her arm pierced by nails as the professor reached for her wand.

It took no thought, no hesitation. She would do whatever it took to get the Inferi off. Not her professor.

“NOOOOOOOOO!!” Emmalyn screamed as she flung her body on top of the attacking Inferi, kicking and punching with every ounce of her strength. Once she was able, she wrapped her arms around the Inferi and began to roll to try and pry it off of the closest thing to a mom she had. Her mind stilled in the moment. She flashed back to their DADA lesson with the dark room and the dummy. She knew she could hold on and fight as long as it took for Professor Stewart to be free and grab her wand. She knew they would be okay...they had to be.

Oh, good! They had a plan... although the plan was awfully compromised by the blast-ended skrewt and a poltergeist and a helpful flailing squid. How were they all meant to get up the hill without the inferi stopping them and without leaving anyone behind.

Chloe continued to crack a flaming whip towards the inferi, pushing them back and away from the defenders as much as possible. They all were doing that, but it just seemed like the inferi kept on coming and coming and coming. The Ravenclaw's eyes kept flitting from the scabby undead to the creature-wielding poltergeist overhead, little realizing that there was a second blast-ended skrewt just beside her.

Until it lit her trouser leg on fire. "Blast and bludgers! Aguamenti!." How was she meant to be fighting off inferi when Peeves was 'helping' them by setting them on fire? It was... oh. Chloe dodged another flame from the skrewt before grabbing it by the front end and wielding it like her own weapon.

"Professor Stewart! Get away from her, you undead jerk!" Her skrewt farted fire helpfully in the right direction. Was it enough?

A whirlwind of fire and bodies, both dead and alive, was what this was what this was quickly turning into and even he was losing track of everything. Luckily, he wasn't on fire anymore, and the Inferius on his now pain-filled back was gone, he sent a thankful look in Emmalyn's direction before Peeves decided to add to the chaos. Though, he seemed to be on their side? Also, Blast-Ended Skrewts? Brillant idea and he reached for the one Peeves had dropped to use as his own personal flame-thrower, but apparently Chole had already had the same idea.

What was that thud coming from the castle? That wasn't the Inferi entering the castle, was it.....?

Yep, running sounded good right about now. So, he did start running that direction, sideways so that he could send fire spells in the direction of anyone who needed them.

Old Peevesie let out a cackle each time he heard the large skrewt go BANG! on the ground. He saw it briefly as it was setting fire to Inferi, professorheads, and little squirts alike, and the sight seemed to put the poltergeist on cloud nine.

What did he care if professorheads and little squirts ('cause of all the water spells, see?) got a bit crispy too? 'Twas only fair to spread the fire party around!
Nooo one was left out.

Peeves' attention span really wasn't long enough for this. Things were already getting BOOOORING!

Time to redirect these fire farts with his skrewt. Peeves glanced around carelessly until he spotted what he was looking for: a larger group of professorheads and squirts! He held out his skrewt all butt-out and flew as fast as he could towards the group he'd spotted (Chloe, Hirsch, Noble, Regina, any other squirts still near them), holding his skrewt out in front of him like a battering ram.

"WEEEEEEE!"

He was aiming his skrewt and its fire farts MOSTLY for the dead around that group. Maybe.

The legless Inferi continued to writh on the human (Kaysha) and scratch at her arm. It wasn’t going to leave her but it had no choice.

The Inferi was kicked away by another human (Emmalyn). There was a moment of chaos as arms flew around in the fray, both lifeless and real. Hits, punches, a series of pent up aggression..... Eventually, one of its arms was torn off of its body and forced to fly away. It flew.... and flew.... and landed directly onto another human (Jessa).

But did that stop it? No. This Inferi has a thirst for drawing blood and it had found its next victim. It clawed at the young human (Emmalyn) with its one arm.... its dirty nails scratching at her arm, digging deep....

With the addition of the Skrewts, more fire joined the fray. The scenery lit up as a small tree suddenly caught on fire. It displayed the grotesque figures of the dead in its harsh light. Dirty nails were starting to claw at the Skrewts.... more and more corpses were becoming detached, as if they were literally being torn apart. Bodies, limp body parts and broken bones scattered the ground as the remains of the battlefield that was this scene...

In all the chaos, maybe someone might realise that the number of Inferi at the lake was slowly.... surely..... starting to dwindle....

Shouts of various Fire Spells' incantations, Roderick yelling to run uphill, the Inferi still clawing at her but this time it was at her arms which were also dribbling blood. Yet her wand was out of reach. Someone else joined the struggle and from the scream it was Emmalyn. Whatever the little Hufflepuff was doing bought enough time for Kay to close her hand around her wand. Ignoring the sting in her face and arms. There was Chloe's voice shouting her name and an incantation. The attacking Inferi left her and she scrambled to her feet.

Thank goodness for everyone that had worked to save her.

A tree was on fire giving light to the horror before them. Corpses attacking Skrewts and persons alike, Inferi body parts scattered and Emmalyn...

Emmalyn being attacked.

This sent Kay into a rage. She was tired of these disgusting creatures attacking the kiddos, attacking Emmalyn. "INCENDIO!'' she bellowed at the Inferi but care not to take aim at Lyn. As if that weren't enough, she kicked at it and poked her wand towards its ear with the intention of poking it on the inside.

She continued to fight the Inferi on Professor Stewart’s back, kicking and spinning her body in an attempt to break it free. She let her right hand come free just long enough to grab at one if the Inferi’s arms and she ripped with all her strength, which sent the arm flying and both of them off of the professor enough for her to rise to her feet.

That’s when she felt the razor sharp fingernails digging into her arm, drawing blood and causing her arm to go limp. “Aargh! Ouch!” She was almost certain her arm was broken from the amount of pain, but she was not going to stop fighting. As tears filled her eyes, there was a sudden break in the fight as Professor Stewart blasted her attacker with fire. In that small moment, she managed to jump to her feet and ran to the professors side.

“Incendio!” She screamed and pointed towards what was left of the Inferi. She had other choice words for the horrid creature, but she wasn’t going to let those fly. They would only take time away from burning them back to where they came from. “Incendio!”

She turned quickly to Professor Stewart. “Are you able to run? We have to get back to the castle and help protect the other students. Let's get out of here while we still can.” The numbers of the Inferi at the lake were quickly diminishing and it wasn’t from their supreme skill. They were headed to the castle.

Jessa watched with some amount of detached interest when Emmalyn threw herself in the line of fire spells the Ravenclaw had just sent toward the inferi currently atop the Muggle Studies Professor. It was intriguing, to say the least. She'd essentially been hit by two separate shots of incendio tria and didn't suffer a scratch or seem to notice the flames at all.

Equally interesting was how ineffective her own spells seemed against the inferi in this moment, it didn't even flinch, just fought the young Hufflepuff in physical combat.

It was enough to make her forget the caution to run, but only for a bit.

Peeves, while helping was being reckless and she'd suffered enough burns by this point to know she was done for the night. The scene playing out before her was newly illuminated by the scorching tree. It was then that she found herself being hit by...a hand....? Well then. Without giving it a second thought, Jessa extended her pocket then stuck the hand inside for later.

In the time she'd taken to remain behind, it DID occur to her that the numbers were dwindling. "Wait." For anyone still occupying enough of their senses in the fray to hear her. "I think...I think we're winning." If there were less appearing here then it was indeed time to make her "escape". To be quite frank, those here were handling themselves well and if the inferi were finally coming closer to an end then she needed to turn her attention to Dexter, her not so baby aethonan that could not cast fire charms and was a sitting duck in the stables. She would secure him then find a way inside the castle to secure her own undead experiments.

Solid plan in place, rather than run uphill as Hirsch had suggested, Jessa took off at a sprint toward the stables. She'd nursed the winged horse since before he really knew what his wings were for and while turning him into another subject was a possibility should something terrible happen, she rather liked him alive. Similarly, she needed to secure her hybrids in the greenhouses. Too much work had gone into them to watch them go.

From his position a little further up the hill, Ronan stood taking in all the carnage that had happened. Keyword being had, because it definitely seemed like the battle was indeed over here. Hopefully, the others were having as much luck as they were...? Then again, they probably didn't have the advantage of a poltergeist adding Blast-Ended Skrewts to the fray. I mean, there was only one poltergeist in the school, and he was here. Which, gave Ronan a idea....

He silently Accio'd the Skrewt still in Peeves' hands, grabbing it by the front end once it was close enough. Creature-turned-flame-thrower firmly in hand, he took off in the direction of the school.

Tristan had been so busy battling the Inferi that were latched to him, he couldn't keep track of any of his colleagues or students around him. He was actually close to having an anxiety attack, but he was keeping it at bay. He knew he had to keep fighting. He was also pretty sure he only had one eyebrow now, and was more than certain he had several wounds from the claws of the Inferi. He finally blasted one off with a particularly strong Knockback Jinx sending a quick and powerful Incendio as well, hoping it would burst into flames.

As he was battling the next Inferius off of him, he noticed hoards of inferi going off to different parts of the castle, and his thoughts went to Kalen. Until this moment he figured Kalen was probably safe in the castle with no clue as to what was happening...but then he thought about how stupid of a thought that was and knew that his best friend would be somewhere battling these monsters as well, which gave him a renewed vigor and strength.

As he fought off the other Inferius trying to claw his arms off, he blasted the monster far enough back that, with all his strength, he was able to push kick the monster in the middle of it's chest. Those Mixed Martial Arts classes were coming in handy right about now. For good measure he sent flames at the monster.

He hadn't seen what was happening with Kaysha until it was already over, and when did Roderik, Bartholomew Henry, and Peeves get here? had he been so engrossed he didn't notice? He did notice that there weren't many, if any, more of the monsters coming out of the water. Fantastic! Though the carnage in the grass was making that anxiety crawl up his spine.

Then he heard Roderik shouting to run up the hill. He turned, and ran calling out to anyone that heard, "Uphill everyone. Let's go! Listen to Professor Hirsch!" Tristan made his way over to Kaysha and Emmalyn. He gingerly took Kaysha's left arm and draped it around his neck, swipping his arm under her legs and picking her up with no effort whatsoever. "C'mon, Kaysha. I got you. Lets go Emmalyn." He said with a nod in the direction they should be running, and began running up the hill with Kaysha in his arms. He didn't care if she was able to run on her own she had been through too much, he just wanted to get her out of there.

The humans were retreating. Did they realise that the Inferius were becoming far lesser? This was a good thing. Old Bartholomew was considerably tired now. "Run,'' Bart told the humans. "I'll hold off the remaining Inferius.'' When the humans got away, they would be able to create more defences to properly save themselves. Bartholomew continued to whack very furiously at the closer Inferius.

While waiting for Professor Stewart's response to her question, Professor Wayland came and scooped up the the injured professor and started running up the hill. She didn't hesitate in following, keeping her injured arm close to her body and her wand on the ready. Her mind felt detached from her body and she was thankful her legs seemed to know the way to go.

Up the hill they ran, the destruction all around them unnoticed. She had one focus, get to the castle and make sure her friends were okay. As they got closer, she could hear the shouts of spells being casts and the smell the smoke from the fires. There seemed to be far too much smoke to simply be burning Inferi and she feared the castle was on fire.

"Keep running, sir, I'll watch out behind us!" She didn't want Professor Wayland to worry about having to watch his back while running with Professor Stewart in his arms.

It took practically everything out of Kay to cast that strong Charm to save Emmalyn but Kay regretted nothing since the young girl was safely at her side. Not even when she, Kay, swayed slightly on her feet. The exhaustion and the severe stinging from the blood lines across her face and arms. "Are you alright, Lyn? Did it hurt you?'' Then she was nodding. "Yes, I think so. Quickly. Let's go.'' Unfortunately for her, she had barely hobbled a few steps when she realised that the lack of energy was keeping her back. Thank goodness for Tristan! Before Kaysha knew what was happening, he had scooped her up in his arms and was racing away from the horrific scene.

"Lyn. Make sure she doesn't get left behind,'' Kay told Tristan as she peered over his shoulder. The hand that wasn't already around her neck hung on one of his shoulders. In it, her wand was clenched in case Inferi came after them. A grateful smile was sent to Mr. Henry. He was definitely doing a wonderful job when it came to assisting him.

Oh, there was her brave Emmalyn. "Stay close to us, Lyn.''

There was no escaping: with the close proximity, the Inferi couldn't escape the fire spell shot at it. It burst into a bright ball of fire... but that's not all. The force of the poke caused the already damaged Inferi's head to detach itself from the rest of the body with a giant RIP! The head, still on fire, rolled.... rolled.... rooolled... leaving a trail of fire in its wake...

The Squid's tentacles lashed in every direction, throwing Inferi every which way. Bodies flew, Skewts were thrown about and more bonfires of lifeless corpses lit up the eerie scene. Even the vegetation was suffering.

Legless.... armless... more and more Inferi were getting their body parts detached from their torsos. With all the force of the thrashing, it started raining bones. Body parts and tattered clothes rained down on the remaining humans. It was a reminder of the damage that had been caused, the pain that had ensued.

The Inferi were smaller in number and they were starting to get even angrier.... even more restless....

Noble nodded at the Headmistress, and perhaps was a little surprised to hear Hirsch agreeable to the plan too. What a strange turn of events indeed. Stranger when Peeves turned up with blast-ended skrewts of all things. If the situation wasn't so dire, so real, it might have almost been comical.

Peeves' aim was, quite frankly, terrible, but it was serving as a good distraction. Noble kept his wand arm trained on the lake as he retreated with the others, flames steadily erupting from his wand as a deterrent, and eyes on the lookout ready to help Bartholomew Henry as needed. But as the number of inferi dwindled, the awareness of the searing burn across his shoulder and back grew, the charred fabric tight against the raw and blistered skin. He was also not a man built for running or exercise of any sort. The only running he did was the 22 yards of the wicket when playing cricket with his daughter.

Let it be known...the distance from the lake to the castle was much further than 22 yards. And therefore it didn't take long for the potions professor to gradually come to a halt, breathing heavily as he rested his hands on his knees. He'd be right behind everyone.

He. just. needed. to. catch. his. breath.

Seeing the number of Inferi dwindling down was a nice sight, even if it meant that they had to see the grotesque sight that was the bank of the Lake right now. Burnt bodies and detached body parts didn’t make for a nice sight. It almost made the man glad that he hadn’t had a lot to eat for dinner that night.

He was also glad to see that Kaylah and Miss Walsh were both free and that they, along with the others, were running back. Some students had gone on to other parts of the castle, Ronan and Jessa included, and he didn’t blame them. There was no point staying there, after all, not with Bartholomew trying to keep the Inferi at bay. Besides, he was far too curious about that loud bang to stay exactly where he was.

So, Hirsch continued to run uphill, a little further back than the others but still shooting spells every now and then. Fire lassos, especially, made up the majority of his spellwork. It was only when he was a significant distance away from the dead corpses that he stopped to try and create that wall of fire that Chloe, Ignatius and Regina had talked about. Anyone who was still behind could join in to build up the wall of fire but he wasn’t going to force them to.

The annoying part of this entire battle was his glasses. Whether it was because of the proximity of the flames or the amount of smoke currently in the air but they were fogging up yet again. He raised his left hand to wipe at them and it was only then that he noticed the vague figure of Ignatius, looking as though he had just finished running a marathon.

Frowning slightly, he started shuffling along sideways, looking like a weird 6’2” crab. When he was close enough, Hirsch bent down slightly awkwardly in his attempt to keep the fire wall up. "Ignatius? You alright there? Do you need some help?"

Tristan nodded at Emmalyn as he ran as fast as he could with Kaysha in his arms. Even though she was a second year, she was a very talented and gifted witch, and he wouldn't have anyone else covering him...except maybe an adult but at the moment they were all racing ahead of him to get out of the way before the fire wall was produced.

He was about to answer Kay when she noticed that Emmalyn was just behind them, running with him. "Not to worry Kay," he said with labored breathing, "She's keeping up just fine." Soon enough he made it to the area that the rest of the students and professors had run to, passing Ignatius without a thought, and was soon setting Kaysha down as gently as he could. "You stay right there, and Emmalyn stay with her, please." He quickly stood up looking around for Roderik. It was difficult to see, but he soon saw the Defense teacher and sprinted towards him.

Before he made it to Roderik however, he finally noticed Ignatius having a difficult time making it up the hill, and changed directions with a quick glance and nod to Hirsch. He stopped just next to the older gentleman and asked, "Ignatius, need help up the hill? Or something to drink?" With a flick of his wand he produced a cup and then with a quick Aguamenti, filled it. "Here drink this and breath for a moment." He handed the older man the cup.

Waiting for Ignatius to catch his breath enough to continue, his thoughts turned to the castle and how everyone was faring there. He hoped his friend wasn't hurt to badly, and it was taking his everything not to run towards the castle, but he knew his place was here.

She continued to run behind the two, checking behind them as frequently as possible, but it seemed the Inferi were already beyond their position. She began so slow as they approached the rest of the group, coming to a stop when Profesor Wayland did. She watched how he so caringly placed Kay on the ground and silently thanked him for taking such good care of her professor. Her head nodded when Professor Wayland asked her to stay with Kay. There wasn't a chance she was going to leave her.

Once Professor Stewart was on the ground, Emmalyn rushed to her side. Her wounds looked awful, and she assumed the smell in the air may be burnt flesh, though she wasn’t sure if it was from her own body or the professors. She dropped to the ground to be next to Kay, moving as close as she possibly could without touching any of her injuries.

As she sat on the ground, the lack of movement and attack allowed her adrenalin to stop pumping so hard and she started to realize what all was going on. The pain from her arm was increasing as she became more aware, as was her panic. She was far too young to be in such a situation and shock was setting in. Sweating and shaking, she looked around with terror on her face, hoping someone would tell her what she was supposed to do and that it was all going to be okay.

He felt battered and sore, and was somewhat feeling his status as the second oldest member of staff right now. Talking of which...where had old man Myers got to? Noble glanced around, not remembering seeing the white-haired man since dinner. Hopefully that meant he was looking after the students, his Hufflepuffs, inside.

Breath steadying now, Noble stood up a bit, hands now resting on his hips, only to find not one but two fellow professors rounding on him. "I'm fine," he said gruffly. No, he did not need help up the hill, thank you very much. He had a burnt shoulder and a few cuts and bruises, not a broken leg. He wasn't a priority. "You should be looking after the students, not me," He did take the offered cup of water though, his brow furrowed as he surveyed the lay of the land around him as he sipped at it. It seemed there was a bit of a lull in proceedings, the number of inferi much decreased.

Honestly, he found it unnerving. "So what's our plan now?"

It wasn't long before the Inferi arrived at the Lake, their original starting place. They moved like an army coming in from various directions, an army of the dead with hoards of treasure clutched in their scaly arms.

The scenery was lit with the fires of the past but still they walked. They walked past the fire, past the destruction of the vegetation and even past bones of their comrades. They had what they needed, what they were here for. Nothing else mattered.

The Inferi approached the bank of the lake from every side they could without getting close to the fires. Loud, simultaneous splashes were heard as they jumped straight back into the water. A skeletal hand reached out to grab a gold coin that had slipped out before disappearing underwater again.

There was one last ripple from the surface of the water... and then everything went still. They were gone.

A silvery white platypus glided to the place where Gaston last saw the headmistress. It floated toward her and spoke in the Gryffindor Head's distinct French accent, "Inferi have retreated from the entrance hall. Multiple students hurt, though no life-threatening injuries. At least one student is on the brink of death in the greenhouses. Healer MacMillan and St. Mungo's have been informed." Then as quickly as it appeared, the patronus dissolved.