Starry skies and Gardenias

Chapter 104

"Hullo, everyone!" James said as he rushed into the classroom. 

"Sorry we are late," he said. "Got stuck in—"

"—Detention,"  the whole room chorused. Obviously James Potter and Sirius Black were in detention. 

A few seconds later, the door was blasted open and Sirius arrived.

"Here I am!" he announced brightly, as he panted.

The classroom door was closed, and everyone was sitting on either a chair, or a desk, or wherever they found a place to sit at. 

Isabella was sitting in the corner of the room on a chair, scanning through that day's newspaper. She didn't get time to read it earlier.

"Well, we were thinking," James started. "Since the inferi attacks have been increasing, why not learn a way to protect ourselves from them,"

Isabella flipped the page of her newspaper quietly. 

Good. It had worked. She had just managed to slip in a book on inferi on the table in the common room that the Marauders often used, and it would seem that they've decided to go that way, then. 

"How many of us know what an inferius is?" James asked. 

A few hands flew to the air, including Isabella's. 

"Yeah, not to worry," James said airily. "We're here to find out, aren't we?"

Remus handed James a book, and Isabella recognised the book as the one she had left on their table.

"An Inferius," James read out to the class.  " Plural, Inferi, is a dead body, reanimated by a Dark Wizard's spell. Inferi are created through the magical branch of Dark Arts called Necromancy, which is the art of raising the dead,"

"Isn't that a ghost?" a fifth year asked, raising his hand. 

"Nah," someone from the crowd corrected him. "They're not the same,"

"Yeah," James nodded. "Both of them are dead, yes. But a ghost has a consciousness of its own,"

". . .And it is transparent," Lily added. 

"And they are solid," James nodded. "You'd just go right through a ghost—"

"—Not a pleasant experience," Sirius said with a grimance.

"But an inferius, you'd probably just bump into it—,"

"—Don't think that would be pleasant either," Sirius shrugged.

"A ghost is an imprint of a departed soul," Remus said, taking the book from James and flipping through its pages. 

"An inferius is a cursed corpse," he handed the book back to James.

"Luckily, there is an easy way for us to escape if we ever run into one," James said brightly.

"Fun question. What do you think a corpse is most afraid of?" Sirius asked nonchalantly.

There were many stupid scattered answers, including shovels. But one of it caught everyone's attention. 

"Torches,"

"Yep!" Sirius beamed. "They's scared of fire,"

"Or rather they can't stand the flames," James said. "They're likely to retreat when they see the bright, hot flames,"

He opened his mouth to say something obnoxious, but Remus nudged him pointedly, saying that it wasn't the time. So James kept quiet.

"How many of you can produce flames?" James asked. "Not incendio,"