Notes: Bit of a delay, due to holidays and working on some other stories.

Harry Potter and the Inferi Complex
A Fantastic Beasts/Harry Potter Crossover by
Nate Grey (xman0123-at-aol-dot-com)
Chapter 7: Eaters of Death

NOW

Borgin and Burkes had played host to a wide variety of customers down through the years, but there was generally one rule of thumb that tended to serve the proprietors best: question the product all you like, but never ask about the customer. For the most part, there was simply no reason to: Borgin and Burkes did not deal in people, so they weren't concerned with the quality of their customers. And, too, with the type of products typically handled in the shop, customers did not appreciate personal questions. Many of them didn't care to be questioned at all, but the shop did have one standard: they preferred to be the ones taking advantage, and not the other way around.

On this night, Mr. Borgin was waiting for a special customer, who had requested a special order. In truth, it was not as if the items had been difficult to obtain. They had actually been in the shop for years, but due to limited interest and the rather specific nature, they had been purchased and then returned several times. Being caught with some of the items would have been difficult for anyone to explain or defend.

Of course, Mr. Borgin fully planned to make it seem as if the items had been very, very difficult to obtain. He already had a fake story prepared, ending with the great lengths he'd personally had to go to, and how that would impact the asking price.

The story slipped completely out of his head when the enormous, heavily scarred man lumbered his way into the shop at the agreed-upon late hour. Mr. Borgin had been in business long enough to know a born and bred killer when he saw one. His own pains would not be a factor at all in this sale. Unless one considered his desire to avoid suffering said pains if the sale went bad.

"Got what I asked for?" the large man grunted as he reached the counter.

"Indeed, sir," Mr. Borgin answered. He brought up the pile of worn books from behind the counter. "A complete set of textbooks from the average final year at Durmstrang. Very difficult to obt-" He paused, and then corrected himself. "Very difficult to master in these parts, I'd wager. Mind you, this set is rather dated, and their curriculum may have changed considerably, but-"

The customer reached into his heavy cloak, pulled out three small jars, and placed them on the counter. "Like we discussed. Inferi parts. Hair, skin, teeth."

"Sir is quite talented, to get his hands on such a rare find in these times," Mr. Borgin commented. "Perhaps I could interest-"

"No. Got what I want." The man swept the books into a small bag, which in no way changed its dimensions to accept the comparatively larger books.

Mr. Borgin's eyes widened. Undetectable Extension Charms were not easy, and also generally weren't legal. He'd used several to conceal certain items at times. If the man in front of him could use such a charm, and was already dealing with Inferi, he was not a wizard to be trifled with. In fact, the sooner the man left the shop, the better. "I certainly hope sir is pleased with his order?"

"Very." The large man turned and lumbered out of the shop without another word.

Mr. Borgin sighed and relaxed slightly, then picked up the jars with a small grin. Technically, making an Inferius was not beyond him, but he would rather not bother. Inferi parts were useful in certain Dark potions, but raising an Inferius just for that was more trouble than it was worth. And disposing of them afterward was even more of a nightmare.

Although she had never been a fan of shopping in Knockturn Alley, Lily could now appreciate why it was both successful and necessary. It was, for example, perfectly natural for suspicious hooded people to be skulking about Knockturn Alley at all hours of the night, where anywhere else that would have been a cause for concern that might need to be investigated immediately. And even if those hooded persons in Knockturn Alley were up to no good: what could you expect? It was Knockturn Alley. They were certainly in the right place, and in all likelihood, anyone who interfered with them was probably the one truly out of place.

More importantly, no one would look too closely at two pale, hooded people who perhaps didn't smell of roses.

Lily had hesitated about all four of them going out together, but in the end, there was no better solution. Transfiguration was required, which presented two issues.

First, Lily and James had found the second limit of their current forms: they could not alter their bodies. James had retained his skill as an Animagus, but that was the only transformation allowed. Not even Sirius could change them in any way, which hopefully meant no one else would be able to. That provided some protection, but it also meant that they absolutely had to hide their faces.

Second, even without a wand, Sirius was their best resource. With little else to do in prison, he had practiced altering his body, and could manage it with very little effort now. Still, a wand could only help. Unfortunately, Sirius did have some ethical issues with stealing from Ollivander's. Fortunately, there was a wandmaker in Knockturn Alley, or at least a shop that sold wands, though the quality was hardly comparable.

New glasses for Harry were also a concern. The best option would have been for Sirius and Harry to go to Diagon Alley, disguised, in broad daylight. It was pretty much the only way Harry would ever be able to have that experience. But there was always a chance to run into a Ministry official who might be on the lookout for either Sirius, or simply suspicious activity. And without Lily and James nearby to defend, it might not go so well. So James had proposed the dubious ideas of either trying to make glasses for Harry themselves, or enchanting some goggles until they could.

Also a concern was the state of Harry's magic. Lily had been trying to teach him some basic spells, but either because he had no previous training, or because something else was wrong, Harry could not seem to produce so much as a spark. He insisted, however, that he had done magic before, though he hadn't meant to. Lily's hope was that, advanced though they would be, something in the Durmstrang textbooks would click for Harry. But in the meantime, they would "collect" a handful of wands, and hope a few of them produced results for Harry and Sirius both.

So they each had their assigned tasks this evening. Sirius would obtain the wands and Durmstrang books. James and Harry would at least get some goggles from a Quidditch supply shop. And Lily... would stand guard. For some reason, Lily was the more powerful of the two revived Potters, in terms of both magical and physical strength. That had not been the case before, but it was an aspect of their return that James attributed to whoever had brought them back. Someone, he said, thought Harry needed a mother more than a father. And he would have been insulted, if that mother had been anyone but Lily.

Lily had another perspective, which she hadn't shared with James. She had noticed that James retained more of his original personality than she did. He was... more alive. Or less dead. And combined with his being less powerful, Lily thought he was meant to the be parent. She was meant to be the protector. She hadn't liked that, but if it meant they could be with Harry, and he was safe and happy, she would accept it. And she would be the best protector she could possibly be.

But Lily was so focused on protecting her family, that she wasn't particularly remembering to take care of herself. So when the hooded man appeared in the alley a few feet behind her, she did not realize he was there until she heard him whisper, "Imperio!"

Harry was trying on his sixth pair of goggles when he noticed that his father had finally stopped commenting on how they looked. He glanced over and immediately realized why. "Dad?" he murmured softly.

James was perfectly still for several tense seconds, before he finally blinked and looked at Harry. "We should wrap things up here, son. Your mother's found something."

"Something like what?" Harry asked. "And how do you know?"

"She told me just now. We have this... bond, I can't explain it. I can tell what she's thinking, sometimes. And she's thinking we should hurry. Found a pair you like yet?"

"Yes," Harry lied, immediately stuffing the last pair of goggles into his pocket. He wasn't about to lose his parents again.

By the time they returned to the alley where they'd left Lily, Sirius had also returned. Lily was waiting patiently in the alley, as she was supposed to... but with a dead body lying at her feet, its neck clearly broken from the severe angle of the head.

Harry immediately ran to his mother, being careful to avoid the fallen body, and hugged her tightly. Lily stroked his hair tenderly.

"What happened, Lils?" Sirius asked.

"This man tried to put the Imperius Curse on me," Lily replied. "I haven't decided if he knew who I was, or that I was dead. I thought it better not to ask, in case he knew my voice. Anyway, the curse didn't work on me." Almost as an afterthought, she added, "So I killed him."

Sirius bent down to examine the body and winced. "I think we may have a problem. Or a couple of them."

"I shouldn't have killed him?" Lily asked. There was no guilt or regret in her tone, only curiosity.

"You will never hear me say that," Sirius said firmly. "You have every right to protect yourself, especially from people like this." He reached down and removed the mask from the man's face. "This man was a Death Eater, and worse, I know this face. His intentions were not good. But we don't know if he was acting on his own, or if he was sent. I suggest we leave now. Can't say this is the way I wanted to start off using this wand, but so be it." He pointed his new wand at the body, which turned into a rock.

"Handy," James commented as he picked up the rock. "How did you think of that?"

Sirius smiled grimly. "Prison is many things, James. If you're willing to keep your ears open, and manage to keep your lunch down, it's a learning experience. If nothing else, I'm a better criminal now than I was when I went in. Now, let's get moving."

"You go ahead with Harry, Sirius," Lily said. "We'll follow."

Sirius looked at her sadly, knowing what it must have cost her to trust Harry to anyone else. "I won't let anyone touch him, Lils."

She nodded. "I know."

Sirius offered his arm to Harry. "Side-Along Apparition isn't hard, Harry. It can be hard on the stomach, though."

Not liking the sound of that, Harry secured his new goggles over his face first.

"Not a bad idea," Sirius commented. Then Harry seized his arm, and they were gone.

"They'll be fine," James said, taking Lily's hands. "There's no one I trust more with our son."

Lily shook her head. "I'm not worried about Sirius. I'm worried about how many others are after one or all of us."

James leaned in and kissed her softly. "Was it hard, breaking that man's neck?"

"No," she murmured against his lips.

He stroked her hair. "Can you do it again?"

She gave him a mildly offended look. "Of course."

"Then they're the ones who should be worried." James smiled, but there was no light in his eyes as he stared at his wife. "Because I would have ripped his head clean off."

Lily's lips twitched. "Don't be silly, James. There wouldn't have been anything clean about it."

James gestured to the ground, and a large hole appeared. He kissed Lily one more time, then dropped into the hole. She followed a few seconds later, and the hole closed up behind her, as if they'd never been there at all.

"What do you mean, you lost Goyle?!" Lucius Malfoy spat.

"What I said," Crabbe said. "We were supposed to meet at my place. He never showed. He's been late before, but never by this much."

"So maybe the fool got lost."

Crabbe shook his head. "Watch this." He wrote a brief message on a piece of paper, sealed it in an envelope, clearly printed Goyle's name on the envelope, and handed it to the eagle owl sitting on its perch near Lucius's desk.

The eagle owl blinked at Crabbe, and then simply dropped the letter.

"So he's dead," Lucius concluded.

"Most likely. Unless you've got that bird trained so that it only-"

"No." Lucius frowned. "We need to know how he died, and where the body is."

"He mentioned picking up some things in Knockturn Alley."

Lucius scoffed. "We may never find him, then. In that place, someone may have sold his corpse for a Knut by now."

Crabbe hesitated. "Should I...?"

"Yes, yes," Lucius said impatiently, waving him away. "Might as well look. And see if his family knows anything, while you're at it. I'll hold off on reporting this until we have more information."

Crabbe hurried out of the study, and Lucius leaned back in his chair, cursing softly. It wasn't so much that Goyle was valuable, but he was a fellow Death Eater. And a known one. If it was an Auror, that wasn't so surprising, and once they knew the party responsible, Lucius could strike back in a most painful way. But if it had been anyone else, they needed to know who was suddenly feeling heroic, so that person could be dealt with before they started to think that Death Eaters took such insults lying down.

Technically, there was nothing to worry about in the matter of Goyle's death. Yet. But somehow, Lucius couldn't shake the feeling that he should be very, very worried. And the last thing he wanted was to tell Regent that a Death Eater was dead, and he had no idea why or how. He already had more bad news to deliver.

His gaze moved to the recent newspaper clipping, which declared that Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley had tragically perished in a gas explosion that consumed only their house, and left few remains to identify. For a Death Eater, that was actually very good news, since, with no other living relatives, it weakened the blood protection on Harry Potter considerably. The bad news was the message scrawled in black ink across the article, which stated emphatically, "IT WASN'T US. POTTER LIVES."

Sirius was officially worried about Harry.

At first, he thought maybe Side-Along Apparition had been a little rough on the boy, and that was why Harry had been so quiet since Knockturn Alley. But now, Sirius realized it was more than just that. Certainly, a Death Eater attacking Lily had reminded Harry that he'd lost his parents once, and that it could happen again. At the moment, Harry clearly would have preferred to spend time with his parents, even if it involved nothing more exciting than simply sitting between them. But, at Sirius's insistence, Harry was reluctantly reading the Durmstrang books on necromancy instead.

Although, it was only after James and Lily found Harry reading that they quietly pointed out a troubling fact.

Thanks to the interruption, there hadn't been time for anyone to even attempt to enchant Harry's new goggles. Harry still had them on as he was reading. So either Harry could also read without them, or he had instinctively enchanted the goggles himself. Sirius wasn't sure which possibility would amaze him more, but he hadn't wanted to disturb Harry by pointing it out. He was half-hoping that Harry would realize it himself. It would be harder to deny that way.

After nearly three and a half hours of nonstop reading, Harry put the books aside and slowly walked over to the three of them. "Guys," he said slowly, tears in his eyes, "I think something's wrong with me."

Lily immediately hugged him. "Harry, you're our son. That's all that matters."

"Mum, you don't understand. Sirius was right, but I was right, too."

"About what, Harry?" Sirius asked.

"I was right, when I said I didn't do this. Or didn't know I did it. But, Sirius, you must have been right, too, because..."

"What, son?" James asked.

"Because, these books that Sirius got for me. All the information in them, about necromancy? I-I know it. All of it. It bored me. And the one thing I keep thinking is... it's not advanced enough."

The three adults stared at Harry in silence.

"But I've never read a single book on necromancy before now," Harry insisted. "Where would I even get one? I don't know how I know any of this!"

"I think we can help you there, Harry," said a voice behind him.

Harry whirled around, stunned, as a tall, hooded shape in a black cloak walked out of the darkness. There was no mistaking the voice, or the mismatched eyes. "Bones! Y-You're-!" Harry trailed off at once, realizing he must sound mad to his family, talking to someone who wasn't there. But when he turned to explain himself, Harry got an even bigger shock: his family was all staring at Bones.

They could see him.

He was really there.

And he wasn't alone.

"Harry! Is this your family? They look really nice!"

Harry gaped at the short, white-cloaked figure bouncing excitedly beside Bones. "Sahara?! What are you doing here?!"

She grinned at him. "You're so silly, Harry! Of course I'm here! Bones is part of your magic, and now, so am I! I'm your super special spirit guide into the world of the Astutes, and I'll never leave you alone, I promise!"

Sirius coughed. "James, Lily... do either of you know what's going on here?"

"No," James admitted as Lily shook her head, "but Harry seems to know them, and they look... friendly?"

"I-I don't understand," Harry muttered as he walked up to Bones and Sahara. "Bones, I didn't think you were a real person."

"I'm not a person, Harry," Bones agreed. "I told you, I'm your magic. Sahara is a person, but the one you're seeing now isn't really her. We're both representations of your magic, so we can appear to you. The only reason your family can also see us, is because you've shared your magic with each of them. And you needed them to see us, so they could understand. I'm the reason you know advanced necromancy."

"But why? How?" Harry asked desperately.

Bones sighed. "Remember that I told you, you wouldn't like where the rest of me came from? I think it's time you knew. The Dark wizard who murdered the Potters also tried to kill you that night, Harry. But when he did, Lily's sacrifice protected you, the Killing Curse aimed at you rebounded, and hit him instead. A piece of his soul latched onto you. Tainting you, I'm sad to say. It altered your magic. It gave you some of his power and knowledge. That's how we know necromancy. Because he did. Does."

Harry stared at him in horror. "Wait. You say that, like he's not...?"

Bones shook his head. "He's not dead, Harry. Lying low, perhaps, gathering his strength, but he's still out there. And we are going to do everything in our power to protect you."

"Yes!" Sahara agreed eagerly. "Because we're your family, too!"

Harry lowered his head. "I'm sorry, Sahara. I didn't trust you before. But since you're here with Bones, that means-"

She patted his shoulder. "It's okay, Harry. I understand. It's hard to trust. It was hard for me, too. But the man who opened my heart refused to give up until he succeeded, and then he welcomed me into his family. So the least I can do is help you until you're ready to see me as family, too!"

Harry smiled hesitantly. "In that case, I guess I should introduce you both. Come and meet my family. We've got a lot to talk about."

"I don't think this is working," Zephyrus finally admitted after an hour had passed with no luck.

"Harry isn't talking," Sahara agreed.

"Or he's talking in a place where my winds cannot reach him," Zephyrus countered. "His power is untested. Perhaps I am simply a bad match."

"Maybe you should write to him." This from Newt, who had done his best to be quiet, to allow the pair to concentrate, but clearly wanted to help out.

"That is not a bad idea," Ariana murmured. "We don't know where he is, and we need to make contact. Perhaps simply asking for a meeting would work."

"I don't know," Zephyrus disagreed. "Even Sahara's success with a confrontation was limited at best."

"You're both overthinking this," Sahara said. "I'll just ask Harry if I can come over and play."

"He could still say no to that," Zephyrus reminded her.

"Could he? You never have."

Zephyrus shifted uncomfortably. "Yes. Well. That's not really relevant."

Sahara grinned. "Isn't it? Harry took my card, and let me hug him. He was polite. Even if he doesn't want to hang out, he'd write back and say so. I have faith in him."

"Sahara, you barely even-"

"Don't question the power of our friendship!" Sahara snapped, sticking her finger in his face.

"I doubt a friendly letter could hurt much," Ariana offered. "Go ahead, Sahara. Any response should make it easier to track Harry."

Smirking triumphantly, Sahara whipped out a quill and parchment, and soon scribbled out a brief letter.

Harry!

I thought I'd write and see how you're doing. Did you figure out those things that were bothering you? Are you feeling better now? Would you like another hug? I can't wait to see you again! Would you like to get together soon? Just name the time and place!

Hugs and kisses from your friend,
Sahara

"All done! Now I just need someone to deliver it." Sahara shoved her hands into her pockets, and came up with two overflowing handfuls of sand. Narrowing her eyes, she allowed the grains to slip through her fingers, watching the sand swirl into a large, lumpy mound. She carefully began to shape it with her hands, until the definite form of a long-necked vulture emerged.

"Broader wings," Newt said abruptly. "And shorter tail feathers."

Sahara blinked. "But the neck's okay?"

"Yes. Here, look." Newt sat down beside her, and for the next several minutes, they debated on various details. Newt's changes seemed to center on actual features the bird might normally possess, but Sahara kept trying to add things she thought would make it happier. The vulture ended up a bit larger overall than it should have been, but Newt kept any further comments to himself and stepped back.

Sahara added the final touch: a grain of red sand that she pressed into the vulture's breast. It came to life at once, proudly stretching its wings to their full length. "You look very nice," she assured it, presenting the letter to the vulture. "Now, remember: you'll stay with Harry until he writes back."

The vulture bobbed its head once, as if agreeing, and seized the letter in its beak.

Sahara smiled and stroked the bird's neck. "Have a safe trip."

The vulture made a muffled response around the letter, then launched itself into the sky.

THEN

Each new Astute was assigned a room when they first joined the Astute Office, unless there were special circumstances. This room became their home, in that they remained there, and usually received lessons there, until their instructor deemed them safe to interact with others. So in some ways, it might have also seemed like a cell. To avoid that idea, the rooms could be modified magically to suit the occupant's tastes.

The way that process was supposed to work, was that the new Astute requested the changes, and then they were implemented by older Astutes.

No one told Sahara this, or at least, that was the excuse that Ariana provided when Sahara illegally expanded her room to the size of a gymnasium, filled it with sand, and even created a miniature sun that she hung just below the ceiling.

Newt Scamander received an angry letter, chastising him for teaching a child such advanced magic.

He wrote back, calmly, and explained that, from what he had seen, Sahara had been able to create anything out of sand when he first met her, and had likely been doing so long before she met him. And when Newt said anything, he was not exaggerating. Sahara's favorite hobby was making "sand zoos": a seemingly endless collection of miniature, living sand animals. Mostly, she kept them in her room, but it became a common occurrence to find them wandering the corridors as if they owned the place. They were not dangerous, just supremely annoying in that they could instantly reform if destroyed, and went straight to Sahara to report said destruction, which resulted in her giving the guilty party very dirty looks for some time.

Ariana was asked repeatedly to help Sahara observe the rules. But the thing was, if Ariana pushed too much, she would cease being Sahara's friend, and then no one would be able to get Sahara to listen. And it was easier to talk Zephyrus into it, since he was better at droning speeches and rule observation. Sahara liked him despite that, somehow. But then, so did Merrily. Maybe he was just a natural big brother figure.

As became a trend with Sahara's progress, she advanced quickly, but was held back in the interest of her further development. Technically, she was safe to interact with others fairly quickly, but was kept in her room about a month beyond that point, in the hopes that she would behave herself better. It only seemed to make her more eager to get out, however, and filled her to bursting with anxious energy, which meant even more sand animals. By the time she was released, a whole flood of animals rushed out before her. But instead of immediately spreading everywhere, they patiently waited outside the door until Sahara emerged.

"Don't worry, guys," she told them. "I'll tell you everything I saw when I come back tonight."

The flood of animals obediently returned to her room and shut the door behind them.

Ariana never complained about the sand animals, and they had never once purposely bothered her. The only real complaint she had was more of a wish. A week after they'd first met, Sahara had given Ariana a carefully sculpted glass bird. It in no way resembled any bird that could be found in any known desert, so it was unusual enough that Sahara would make it at all. But a great deal of effort had clearly gone into the bird's design, and Ariana kept it on her person at all times. Sahara refused to reveal where the inspiration for the bird had come from, no matter how much Ariana asked, and would only say she wanted Ariana to figure it out for herself. All Ariana knew for certain was that Sahara never gave another glass figurine to anyone else. And that was enough meaning, for her.

Continued in Chapter 8: We Wear the Mask

People are not who they first appear to be.

Endnotes:

In theory, a wizarding school like Durmstrang would in some way limit who has access to their textbooks, considering their negative reputation, what they reportedly study, and how irritable Karkaroff was about people learning more about them. If they didn't, there would probably a lot more Death Eaters, and they'd be much more of a threat in a fight against teenagers, what with detailed instructions on advanced magic within easy reach. Assuming, you know, they could read. If it was that easy to get Durmstrang books, Hermione would probably have had a whole set stashed somewhere to use for DA meetings. Or maybe borrowed some old ones from Krum.

You decide if Transfigured Sirius gave Borgin actual Inferi parts, or objects Transfigured to look like them.

Goyle's Imperius would not work on the Potters for two distinct reasons. First, they are largely immune to, or incompatible with, most spells. Second, their wills are extremely focused, so even if Imperius could impact them, they could easily resist it. Technically, whether Goyle was aware Lily was an Inferius or not, his thinking she could be controlled would not be baseless. But if he had known, he would have been better off targeting the wizard responsible for reanimating her.

Sirius should recall several current Death Eaters from their time as Hogwarts students in the past. Normally, the Potters would as well, but their memories aren't exactly perfect.

You probably have an idea who Regent is already, based solely on the fact that Lucius reports to them... but I might surprise you yet, if only a little.

Much of Harry's magic use is subconscious at the moment, which will change with Sahara's help.

Harry trusts Sahara now because her presence with Bones proves that she is linked to his magic.

There is a reason why Zephyrus cannot hear Harry's voice, more on that next time.