The Nightmare Man

Chapter Thirteen Part Two

"We can rebuild it," Lucian said.

"No. Not all things can last forever," he said and turned to the two of them. "Cheer up, lose those gloomy expressions of yours. I'm about to introduce my manor to my children. What do you say?"

"All of them?" Elise said.

"All of everything," Harrison said. "The Inferi, the Dementors… perhaps I can find something else to wake up. Or maybe I'll make something to wake up the Light with."

"The Inferi… they haven't moved in many years."

"That's why it'll be interesting to see how many of them have made it. Who has waited for me?"

Elise and Lucian looked at each other.

"Please don't say you'll invite the Inferi to our rooms," Lucian said.

"Or yours. They will destroy the sheets on the bed…" Elise continued.

"And the rugs…"

"Not to mention all the clothes if they end up in our wardrobes…"

"Which to be honest, they will end up there because you just had to make Inferi that want to explore. That's unnatural."

"That's interesting. Anyone with a little energy and imagination can make a dead man or woman walk again," Harrison said. "It takes a bit more to make them curious."

"It's still unnatural."

"Yes, and that's the whole point."

Harrison remembered the looks when people realized his Inferi wasn't just dead bodies walking. They wanted to find out more and explore, brave the sun's harsh lights to see how it felt… in his opinion, that made them seem more human and in turn, those Inferi frightened people more.

If there was something people had always hated, it was monsters that appeared human.

"Shall we go back then?" Harrison asked, fishing for his gloves and tugging them on. "You two aren't dressed for the weather."

"And you've been without your gloves for too long," Lucian said. "Come on."

Harrison didn't look back at the ruins as they left.

-o-

It was a rather chilly morning that Voldemort made his way to Harrison's manor with two Death Eaters, one of them being Lucius Malfoy, the other Rabastan Lestrange. He wasn't sure how the Nightmare Lord would feel about him bringing anyone other than Lucius but the wards didn't stop him and when Elise appeared in the hall after their arrival she didn't mention it.

"Is Harrison busy?" Voldemort asked.

"He's outside. Bit of a bad timing actually if you wish to speak with him right now."

"Why's that?"

"He's calling them."

"Them?"

"The children," she clarified.

Rabastan and Lucius looked at each other, then at him and finally at Elise but Voldemort had an idea what she meant and merely turned to walk outside. He passed the garden with the dark trees and now saw great lumps, slowly moving. Here and there he spotted a rotten arm, fingers gripping the trunk of the tree or moving like a slow spider up and down.