Two loud cracks reverberated off the stone walls as the two women appeared at exactly the same time; both had drawn their wands, eyes darting around feverishly for any sign of another human being, and stowed them away again before the echoing had ceased. Without even a simple glance toward the other, the two of them began walking toward the water’s edge. Stopping beside the deep, clear pool, the taller of the two removed her wand.
“Just to be sure,” Narcissa said, ignoring Bellatrix’s smirk. “Homenun revelio,” Narcissa whispered, and of course, nothing happened.
“Come on, we can’t waste our time! You know they’ll be here soon,” Narcissa said nothing; puting her wand away again she plunged feet first into the pond’s watery depths.
The surprisingly warm water was perfectly clear under Narcissa Malfoy’s eyes; she could see every detail of what laid under its sinister depths, and it was not at all a pretty sight. Wand in her hand, she began to whisper incantations, almost songlike. In fact, it almost sounded as if she was speaking parseltounge… But neither Narcissa Malfoy nor Bellatrix Lestrange was a parselmouth. Long dark hair swirling in her face, Narcissa turned over and spread her arms out wide. Her companion as well was performing characteristic flips and turns, all the while the same enchanting spell slipping from her mouth. Narcissa looked at her, admiring the way she stood still momentarily, limbs drooping around her and hair swirling like blood; you could almost mistake her for being dead. And just then, in this moment of lost concentration, two more loud cracks sounded from above the water. Bellatrix swirled around so quickly she could have been trying to disapparate. They met eye contact for one second before casting disillusion charms upon themselves. Together the both of them surfaced very slowly, as to not be seen disturbing the water, and watched. Luckily, both of the shorter girls now approaching them were still a good distance away. While Narcissa and Bellatrix strained to stay absolutely still, the two girls drew closer and closer. Their heights were almost matching, and both had shoulder length wavy hair, The one on the left, slightly taller, had almost black eyes, while the shorter one had lighter eyes and hair, and had a sense of second-in-command about her. They had met the water’s edge by then. Both swiveled around so that they were back to back, and then-
“Ready- protego!” the taller one yelled just before throwing herself and her companion into the water. Just then, a bright bluish light was cast over the pool, but this was not at all unexpected. The light now illuminated even more sharply what was on the bottom of the pond. Human hands, limbs, and bodies were lying eerily on the floor. Long dead eyes stared upward, unmoving and glassy. However, the finishing charm had not been cast yet; the bodies would not take action until Bellatrix’s say so. The other two girls’ figures could just be made out at the other end of the pond; luckily, only the deeper end was covered in bodies. Slowly Narcissa and Bellatrix moved toward the two young death eaters, stood beside them, and reversed the disillusion charms. The two girls looked startled for just a second then realized that the two women were their accomplices.
“So… this is the help he said to expect.” Narcissa proclaimed. “We just have a few last preparations to get in order- we should be expecting them to arrive any minute-“
“This isn’t a party, Cissy!” the two young girls stared at them incredulously.
“We already cast the protective charm,” The younger girl said. “We brought someone else, too,” she added. “He said a parselmouth might be of use to us.”
“A parselmouth… How interesting,” Bellatrix pondered, “Well? Where are they?”
“She should be here any minute,” the shorter girl explained. All four of them cast their disillusion charms. Bella and Cissy set off toward the deep side while the younger ones waited in the shallow water.
Sunken to the bottom of the pool, Bella and Cissy stared above at the ghostly blue light. Something bright flashed above the water, and running footsteps could be heard, coming closer and closer, Then, the surface of the water exploded. A foot came in contact with Bella’s face. Bella and Cissy moved back to meet the two young death eaters and the new intruder. They now stood together, four invisible and one not. Apparently, this was the little parselmouth. She had short, blonde curls and the same dark eyes as the other two; she also had a slightly ravenous look about her. Without a word she too made herself invisible, and then, the show began.
The group of three muggles arrived minutes later; teenagers, as it seemed. There were two boys and one girl. Bellatrix, Narcissa, and the three young death eaters took their places, circling the small boat the muggles were now stepping into. It rocked back and forth, threatening to tip over at any second. Silently and slowly the five witches nudged the boat toward the deep water. The three teenagers in the boat seemed slightly tense; probably due to the fact that the five unseen witches were now climbing in, and the boat was very unsteady. By this time they had reached halfway point. Bellatrix, invisible, waved her wand over the surface of the water. Something about the dead bodies seemed even more creepy now that she had done this, but since a certain charm had been cast over the bodies, the muggles could not see them at all. Once something, a hand or a foot maybe, touched one of the bodies, the whole pile of them would come alive. And now, finally, they had met the deep end of the lake. The boat was obviously not meant to accommodate eight people, for it was just an inch away from tipping over.
“Nobody move a muscle,” the muggle girl said. Someone, invisible or not nobody knew, shifted. And then they were all underwater, bodies, live and dead, piling on top of them, and everyone’s disillusion charm had somehow been reversed,
“Stella, NO!” the young death eater’s scream could be heard from underneath the mass of water and bodies, Her companion was being dragged down, dead hands clawing her under…
“You said you’d cast a protective charm around the five of us!” Narcissa screamed to whatever young death eater was listening. All eyes turned to Stella’s companion.
“I- I did-“
“A simple shield charm won’t work, don’t you know anything? Inferi only fear fire!” Bella lectured.
“Bella, this isn’t the time to argue!”
“SOMEBODY SAVE STELLA!”
Narcissa dived under again. Stella was starting to turn blue. A jet of purple light flew inches away from Narcissa’s face- and missed Stella by centimeters, hitting the Inferi clutching her. The youngest, the parselmouth, wasted no time; she grabbed Stella’s arm and yelled “Ascendio!” both of them flew upward, Stella gasping for air. Narcissa swam to the center of the deep end and found herself in the middle of chaos. Jets of light were flying everywhere, live and dead bodies thick in the water. Dead hands grabbed onto Narcissa’s feet, but then-
A hissing sound could be heard underwater- it sounded eerie, like another language. The little parselmouth was doing her job at last…. But Inferi were dead bodies, not snakes… Just then, all of the Inferi’s heads popped off, one by one, and snakes slithered out of their necks. Everyone was looking around frantically, confused- everyone but the parselmouth. Her eyes flashed red, and she met eyes with Bellatrix for one second, before Bella yelled, “Finite incantatem!” Every snake and dead body froze. Somebody’s hand gripped Narcissa’s, but it was mercifully a live hand. “Ready?” Bellatrix shrieked hastily, before turning on the spot, and they all plunged into total darkness.