Harry Potter - Inferius

Harry Potter - Inferius

An Inferius (plural: Inferi) is the dead body of a human reanimated by a Dark wizard. They have no free will, and cannot think; their purpose is merely to serve as puppets of the Dark wizard. They were used by Voldemort in both the First Wizarding War and the Second Wizarding War.

Defence against Inferi

Because Inferi are creatures of the dark, they dislike light and heat. The most effective spell against them is therefore a fire-summoning spell, such as Incendio or Lacarnum Inflammare. Other spells might work against a few Inferi, but might not be useful against a whole army of them. It must be noted that Inferi are resistant to most spells, considering they cannot feel pain and thus resist many attacks whose main effect is pain.

Encounter
* In 1997, Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore encountered an army of Inferi in their attempt to steal one of Voldemort's Horcruxes. Dumbledore successfully repelled them by conjuring a ring of fire big enough to surround both Harry and himself.
* Not exactly counted as a real encounter, but worth mentioning: Mundungus Fletcher was arrested and put into Azkaban because he disguised himself as an Inferius after being caught during a burglary.

Known Victims

* Regulus Black.

Etymology

"Inferius" is Latin for "underneath; below." It could also be a tampered form of "inferus", or "the dead; underworld." As Rowling sometimes changes real Latin words to form some incantations, or names of creatures or people, it could well be that the second meaning is the correct one.