The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part One

Not a Drill

The sound of the howling wind on a deeply cold winter night, whistling through a chimney and through the cracks in the shutters is a ghostly sound indeed. But it could not compare with the sound of the inferi's moans and shrieks, echoing through the sewers, through the darkness of long abandoned tunnels of the underground, through pipes and drains... The ghastly wails carried long and far, and any who heard them were chilled to the bone.

Regulus had gotten away from the Death Eaters gathering as quickly as he could, though it was the morning after he'd been transported to Voldemort's summons. He had Kreacher bring him as close to the flat in East London as he dared go - incase someone followed him. He'd run through the early morning downpour all of the way, so that by the time he'd arrived his trainers were soaked through, his robes clung to his body, and the cold had sunk into him so deeply that he felt the shivering in his very bones. "Inferi, loads of them, in London," he gasped as Remus Lupin put a blanket about his shoulders, as Lily Evans handed him a steaming hot cup of tea, as his brother stared blearily from the doorway, as James Potter knelt before him and began asking him questions. He couldn't stop his shaking.

"Are you sure?" James asked, "You actually saw them? Where?" 

"Underground," Regulus wheezed, his teeth chattering. "Sewers, tunnels, pipes -- they -- so many of them -- I --" his eyes found Sirius's, he stared right into them, his wide and his brother's narrowed with worry or suspicion or something. "I hate th-them, Sirius," he said.

Sirius nodded, "I know."

"I h-hate inferius," Regulus repeated.

Sirius stepped closer and sat on the coffee table to one side of where James was kneeling before Regulus. "I know, Reg."

Regulus continued to tremble. Remus rubbed his arms under the blanket and used his wand to send a jet of warm air beneath it, hoping to calm the trembling, though it was now more about the sight of all of those inferi than about the cold.

"But an inferius itself is merely a puppet, really," Remus said, "It does the bidding of a master, but it can't think for itself..."

"He's using them as a distraction," Regulus said.

"For what?" Sirius asked.

Regulus shrugged, "I was late to the meeting."

"Of fucking bloody course you were."

"But he's sending a swarm of inferi - I saw them, I saw them moving south. When I left they were nearing Watford. They're controlled by the Death Eaters, and some by the Dark Lord himself. They're coming through the underground."

"Watford? Were they coming along the Metropolitan or the Main Service line?" Lily asked.

Regulus stared at her dumbly. "I - I dunno, I don't know the muggle Underground."

Remus said, "Either way, at this hour, they'll be rather crowded... all the muggles - going to work..."

They all exchanged glances.

James ran his hand through his hair. "Bloody hell."

The alarms were going off in the Auror Center.

"Bloody Moody," muttered Fabian Prewett, rolling his eyes and grabbing his wand from his desk, which had been half-buried under a good deal of shuffled paperwork. He looked at Gideon, who sat at his own desk across from his twin brother's and shook his head, "One of these days, I swear to Merlin's testicle, I'm not going to respond when he runs these blasted drills."