The Nightmare Man

Chapter One

The weather was calm and sunny. People milling around along the beach enjoyed this pleasant day. They weren't wizards and witches, merely Muggles who took a day to enjoy the nice summer.

People liked to think they would get some sort of warning before danger came. Either they would get it days beforehand, perhaps even weeks or months. It was fine with a few minutes. Just as long as there was some sort of sign that said: Please, do run because things are going to get fucked in just a little while.

But nothing came. One moment everything was just perfect, and in the next things went very wrong. The sun disappeared behind sudden clouds and a strong, cold wind swept past them all. Summer turned to near winter in an instant, and then creatures rose from the sea.

People screamed. The creatures were clearly humanoid; they walked upright, had clearly a head, torso and arms and legs. They moved with determination but seemed to have no troubles with the water. They shied away from the light though, and lifted stick-thin arms to protect their misty eyes.

They were Inferi, and they moved with a frightening speed towards the screaming Muggles.

-o-

Albus hadn't seen Inferi this ferocious since the open war. Everyone in the Wizarding World knew the war wasn't over, the war with the Dark Lord Voldemort but it hadn't been an open war for several years.

Yet here they were, an army of Inferi moving like in the old days. Barely held back by fire spells, they advanced further into the country. The Aurors and Albus' Order tried to hoard them in and seal them away but it wasn't an easy task.

In fact, why had they begun to move once more? Voldemort had withdrawn them some twenty years ago and Albus thought those hellish days were over.

But that had just been proved wrong, and so they met in the Minister's office to try work up some sort of plan. With him was some of his Order, including Mad-Eye Moody, Minerva McGonagall, James Potter along with Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

James, Sirius and Remus had only been children last time they even heard of Inferi but Albus trusted their powers. They were strong and all three were Aurors as well as members of the Order.

Fudge seemed preoccupied though, twirling first his quill and then putting it down.

"Inferi," he muttered. "Animated corpses."

"Yes," Albus said. "It's a large army that came out of the sea."

"Why have they moved now?" Remus asked. "Is Voldemort preparing an attack?"

They saw James clench his jaws. His worry was shared by everyone, but they knew no one would be as worried as him about that prospect. Well, him and Lily, his wife.

Sixteen years earlier the war had been more open when a prophecy surfaced, stating the Dark Lord's doom at the hands of a child whose parents had trice defied him. It was revealed the child was none other than the one resting in Lily's womb.

The boy had been born. They named him Harry James Potter, and Voldemort sought to destroy him. An attack when Harry was barely over a year old had more or less destroyed their home, and caused Voldemort to withdraw. The years that followed were near peaceful.