Flames traced a bright arc through the darkness, burning more than a dozen Inferi lunging at the boat to ashes.
The Inferi's rotting bodies piled over one another, giving off a nauseating stench.
"Petrificus Totalus! Expelliarmus!" Harry raised his wand too. Several Inferi near the stern were struck by his spells and fell into the water.
The creatures let out hoarse shrieks, writhing in the flames, but more Inferi had already clambered onto the gunwales.
Will flicked his wand again and again, weaving a net of fire around himself. Hovering in midair, he had a better view than Harry in the boat and could see the Inferi closing in from every direction.
"Expelliarmus doesn't work on them!" Harry shouted, a trace of panic in his voice. Of course a boy who was not yet fifteen would be terrified by hordes of these zombie-like creatures swarming toward him.
Just then, an Inferius grabbed Harry's ankle. Its icy fingers clamped down like iron pincers.
He kicked desperately, but the hand did not budge.
Will swooped down, pointing his wand at the Inferius. "Sectumsempra!"
An invisible blade swept past, severing the Inferius's arm. Harry hurriedly kicked the detached limb into the Lake.
But before he could catch his breath, three more Inferi climbed aboard from the other side of the boat.
"Merlin's rotten slippers..." Harry muttered. He had never seen anything like this.
The Inferi's rotting faces, hollow eye sockets, and pale arms reaching toward him were real—death he could touch. He could not stop thinking that these were actual dead people, and the thought made his stomach churn.
He instinctively glanced at Will, who was hovering in the air, his wand tracing a perfect arc in his hand as flames shot one after another into the thickest clusters of Inferi.
Each burst