The Nightmare Man

Chapter Fourteen Part Two

They left the Inferi to feed and instead spent nearly an hour digging out holes to them. In the end Harrison had carved out a tunnel underground and Lucian got rid of the earth and warded the place from Muggles and magical people. It wouldn't do them any good if anyone from the Light found the Inferi while they rested.

-o-

Three days before Christmas Eve Harrison found out a rather large group of magical people moved near the field where his Inferi was stationed. His servants were busy with various duties so he went out alone. He put on a black cloak, the same cloak he had sacrificed to make a nest for his children. Now they were stirring, coming out of the cloak as he travelled, all of them easily keeping up with his pace. He smiled at their terrible faces and came to a stop when he saw the group.

He wondered why they hadn't Apparated, or at least used the Floo. From what he could tell they were all magical, they weren't escorting any Muggles. They were a large clump of people moving like idiots. Yes, there were some children there, which is the reason why they should have just used the Floo.

Harrison calculated if they were going to run into the field. Already here he could smell it, and by the way they all fingered their wands, the people had noticed something was wrong.

"Oh well…" he said. "Can't be helped. Children, gather around."

More and more popped out, huddling near him.

"They'll use the Patronus spell," Harrison said and they all reared back. "Yes, I know, horrible spell. I want as many as you can alive. Leave the children though, there's no need to take them."

"Dementors!"

One of the men, an Auror judging by his robes, had discovered one of the Dementors and people began to move. Harrison sighed and moved so he became visible.

"Identify yourself!" another Auror yelled.

"With pleasure," Harrison said. "I'm the Nightmare Lord."

"Get the women and children out of here!" the Auror screamed.

"My darlings… go get them."

The Dementors screeched and charged past him. Harrison moved as well, barely a shadow and delivered a swift kick to one of the Aurors. He felt the crunching of bones beneath his boot and grinned.

The women and children began to run but many of the teenagers pulled out their wands. Harrison spotted a familiar shock of red hair and saw Fred and George. He liked the twins. They were what got him interested in twins in general.

Maybe he should steal them? Upsetting Molly Weasley was fun. She got so… emotional about things. She didn't seem to be here though. Oh well… he could spy on her or something.

He was distracted by a couple of Aurors and had already killed two of them before he remembered he wanted them alive. Harrison jumped over their corpses and knocked out the next three with his magic. He lost the twins in the crowds and whirled around in time to stop Kingsley Shacklebolt's spell hitting him.

"Hello there," Harrison said. "It's rude to attack from behind."

"You've done it before!" Shacklebolt said.