Dysfunctional

21 - Lessons and Malfoys

Tuesday, August 13

The days following Ollivander's kidnapping, the Ministry had started issuing leaflets along with the Daily Prophet.

The purple leaflet had a few simple rules to follow, which when Harry thought about it, weren't really useful at all. For example, it had nothing on what to do when a Death Eater did come knocking.

Sirius and Harry had discussed it over breakfast as they agreed on a simple set of questions, mostly for the sake of humouring each other. They did not have any pressing matters that required them to leave the house, so it turned out to be a fun way to get to answer each other's questions and play 'who knew the other best'.

True to Harry's word, his Transfiguration work had gotten better and better. It now took only a couple of seconds to transfigure an object into iron.

"Why iron though?" asked Harry, tossing aside the spoon that had turned to solid cast iron. "Why not gold?"

Sirius was lounging on the armchair as he read a book with one hand and idly stroked Hedwig with the other, who was perched on the armrest with her eyes closed and seemingly basking in Sirius' ministrations. Harry had noted that Hedwig always seemed to be very affectionate to Sirius, nipping his finger or perching on his shoulder.

So was Buckbeak, thought Harry. Sirius never once bowed to Buckbeak, even though Harry had to, but he knew Sirius and Buckbeak had lived together for two years, so there was bound to be some trust and friendship there. He realised something suddenly. Merlin, even Crookshanks! Maybe, Sirius had some strange pull over all magical creatures. That was worth a thought for another day, Harry decided.

Sirius looked up, raising an eyebrow. "I'm amused you even ask that. Iron is a lot stronger than gold."

"But Dumbledore enchanted the gold statues to take the hit, didn't he?" pointed out Harry.

Sirius looked contemplative. "As far as I know, only goblin-wrought metal is stronger than regular iron. The Fountain of Magical Brethren was goblin-wrought which might explain why it could withstand the curse."

"And goblin-wrought metal can't be conjured," said Harry glumly. That explained it.

"Yes, so iron has to do," said Sirius with a nod as he went back to his book which on closer inspection turned out to be on Inferi.

"Is that book about the Inferi that was mentioned in the leaflet?"

"Yup, I've heard about it during the last war, but I never really knew anything about it other than the fact that they are corpses."

"What?" Harry was sure he had misheard.

"Inferi are corpses that are enchanted to do a wizard's bidding," said Sirius with a grimace.

Harry's expression contorted in disgust when Sirius saw the look on his face and nodded. "Sounds vile, doesn't it? Enchanting a corpse is Dark Magic. A corpse doesn't really become alive but the enchantment is enough to carry out the wizard's commands. I've heard Voldemort killed enough during the last war that he created an army out of them."

Harry still looked revolted. "But how does one kill something that's already dead?"

Sirius smiled. "That's exactly the reason I found this book up in the library. It says in here," he said rifling through a few pages before stopping to read, "that an Inferius thrives in cold, dark places and naturally loathes light and heat, like most of the other Dark creatures."