The Carrow family had a long history of mastering Carrow's Bedtime Storybook, a magical book packed with secrets. Almost every Carrow kid was sent into its fairy-tale adventures as part of their childhood training. This wasn't just some wizarding version of Scout camp—it was about forcing family members to "awaken" and hone a unique bloodline ability: Pain Feedback. This rare magic let a witch or wizard draw immense emotional power from their own pain or others', supercharging their spellcasting.
Thanks to the Carrows' strict pure-blood inbreeding policy, this ability had stayed strong through the centuries. But times had changed.
Once, the Carrows were legendary "warriors" in wizarding history, racking up victories when humans fought goblins, centaurs, dragons, and other magical creatures for dominance. But in today's world, where wizards had to navigate a society alongside Muggles, these bloodthirsty fighters had no place. They'd become the poster children for dark wizards.
Unlike the Malfoys, who were savvy enough to adapt as newcomers to the pure-blood elite, the Carrows were stubborn, charging headfirst down their violent path. In a peaceful era, that made them walking embodiments of sin.
By the time Amycus and Alecto Carrow came around, they'd already left a trail of gruesome crimes against Muggles—long before they ever joined Voldemort. Unlike the powerless Dumbledore family (remember Percival Dumbledore, who attacked Muggle boys for bullying his daughter Ariana and ended up dying in Azkaban?), the Carrows had the Sacred Twenty-Eight's backing. Their fellow pure-bloods always had their backs, covering up crimes or pulling strings to get them off in the Wizengamot.
Lockhart didn't feel sorry for the Carrows. Anyone who went against the tide of history was bound to get swept into the dustbin—that's just how it worked. Besides, he wasn't exactly a pure-blood himself, so their sob story didn't tug at his heartstrings.
What did interest him was Amycus Carrow's memories of adventuring in Carrow's Bedtime Storybook. Lucky for Lockhart, Amycus had mastered a lot of his dark magic in there, giving Lockhart access to the family's passed-down "cheat codes" for navigating the book's challenges.
One chapter, The Jewel of Calib, was a Carrow favorite. The Inferi in this scenario spat blood that caused searing pain, perfect for training their Pain Feedback ability. Amycus's aunt had let him in on a secret: if the pain got too much, kill exactly 99 Inferi, then dig at your feet to find a magical conch shell.
Killing 99 Inferi wasn't too hard once you had some lethal spells under your belt. The trick was keeping count—too many or too few, and the conch wouldn't appear. This was the Carrows' way of teaching their wizards to fight with precision and clarity, even in the heat of battle.
Now, Lockhart had to go through the same training.
Problem was, he didn't have the right spells to take down Inferi. His trusty Obliviate worked wonders on wizards but was useless against these dark creatures. His Gray Wolf Pack spell was his best bet, but it needed a forest or at least thriving plants to work.
He'd brought a potted plant, stored in his magical ring, but the harsh environment of the storybook withered it almost instantly.
Pfft!
An Inferius went down as the Demiguise pounced, tearing into its skull. Before it died, it sprayed a massive cloud of blood at Lockhart. Whether it was the pressure in its gut or something else, the mist was so wide he couldn't dodge it.
"Aaahhh!" he screamed, the pain hitting like a thousand needles piercing his skin and muscles. The agony spread inward, like it was stabbing straight for his heart. Stumbling back, he accidentally stepped into a pool of blood left by a Boggart-transformed "Hanging God Corpse" swinging its axe. The pain shot up from his foot, searing through his toes to his skull.
"Grr!" The golden retriever on his shoulder snarled at the Boggart.
"Keep counting!" Lockhart roared, forcing the retriever to focus while he dealt with the mess. Shaking, he raised his wand. "*Scourgify!*"
A golden wave washed over him, cleansing the blood and grime. He yanked his foot free from the blood pool, gasping. "Twenty-seven down!" he shouted, scanning the chaos. As the Demiguise and Boggart racked up kills, over a hundred Inferi closed in, their roars drawing even more from the distance.
A hundred didn't sound like much, but it felt like a suffocating swarm.
He was losing ground.
The Boggart and Demiguise couldn't hold back the tide. The Boggart's massive form was crawling with Inferi clawing at it, more climbing from the blood pools below. The Demiguise's sharp teeth could only take out one at a time, too slow to keep up.
The Inferi started rushing Lockhart.
"*Gray Wolf Pack!*" he shouted, waving his wand. Nothing. The potted plant was dead, its life force gone.
Finally, the banshee floating above stirred. Its head morphed into a rabbit's, arms outstretched as a massive burning stake appeared behind it, binding it. Its cracked, toothy maws opened, chanting an eerie, bone-chilling song.
This was its truest form.
As the song echoed, the seeds Lockhart had scattered earlier sprouted, their roots burrowing into the ground, branches spreading rapidly. The earth's power was awakening. Soon, towering plants brought a flicker of green to this desolate wasteland. One venomous tentacle-vine lashed out, striking back at the Inferi.
Lockhart waved his wand again, and mist gathered in the makeshift oasis. Three gray wolves stepped out, lunging at the Inferi.
No—not just three!
Maybe it was the storybook's magic, or the forest-like environment boosting his spell, or maybe Lockhart had grown stronger without realizing it. Two more waves of wolves followed—nine in total.
The wolves weren't exactly powerhouses. Their bites couldn't snap an Inferius's neck, but they were enough to knock the creatures back. They couldn't stop the sprays of tainted blood, though. Lockhart kept casting Scourgify to clean the stinging blood off himself.
"Grr!"
After what felt like forever, the golden retriever let out a sharp cry, signaling the Demiguise and Boggart to stop. Ninety-nine Inferi—exactly the right number.
The Demiguise couldn't do much now. It zipped back as a blue lightning bolt, circling above Lockhart, ready to dive in if needed. The Boggart lumbered over, its hulking form shielding Lockhart, grabbing Inferi and hurling them like bowling pins.
Lockhart frantically dug at his feet. He'd been careless, not packing a shovel or sack in his ring, so he clawed at the dirt with his hands.
A distant wail made him look up. A sea of Inferi—too many to count—was charging toward him. He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stay calm. Panicking now would ruin everything.
Boom!
The banshee's vines wove a wall between the trees, but the storybook's life-draining aura was rotting it. The Inferi swarm crashed through, tearing a gaping hole.
"Don't kill them!" Lockhart barked, steady as a rock, glancing at the breach while digging faster.
The golden retriever darted to the gap, its golden blur weaving through the Inferi, clawing at their eyes.
Finally, Lockhart's fingers hit something hard. He scraped away the dirt, revealing a massive conch shell, half the size of a football, pearly white with shimmering, multicolored spirals.
"Goldie, back!" he shouted, calling his companions.
The Boggart dissolved into black mist, slipping into his robe's sleeve. The banshee reverted to a golden-haired witch, transforming into a jellyfish-like form and merging into him. The golden retriever leaped onto his shoulder. The Demiguise swooped down, grabbing Lockhart's shoulders and flapping its wings, lifting him into the sky.
Roar! Roar! Roar!
The Inferi army below bellowed. There were so many, even from the air, Lockhart couldn't see their end.
The Carrows never faced this many Inferi when training their kids—this wasn't a test; it was a death trap. Lockhart stayed sharp, gripping his wand tightly. Whoever was controlling the storybook—maybe one wizard, maybe several—was still out there, possibly ready to strike.
The Inferi weren't helpless against his flight. They started hurling their own kind into the air, and even when the Demiguise dodged, they sprayed torrents of foul blood.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
The blood fell like rain. The Demiguise squealed in pain—unlike the Boggart or golden retriever, it was a living creature, vulnerable to the blood's sting.
Lockhart quickly cast Scourgify on himself and the Demiguise, cleansing the grime.
"Dumbledore!" he shouted into the conch, holding it like a phone. "Dumbledore!"
To his surprise, a voice answered instantly. "Wonderful, my boy, you've finally got it!" It was Dumbledore.
No way. Lockhart had used the Carrows' trick to snag the conch, and Dumbledore had beaten him to it? "Where are you?" he yelled, buzzing with excitement.
A dazzling golden light shot into the sky, like a beacon tearing through the gloomy clouds. "Can you see my signal?" Dumbledore's voice crackled through the conch.
"Yes! Yes!" Lockhart shouted. "Hang on, I'll send one back!"
"Boggart!" he called, channeling his fear. The Boggart slithered out of his pocket, climbing to his shoulder and stretching toward the sky. It morphed into a fountain of red blood, sprouting into a twisted blood tree, growing branch by branch.
A Bloodflower Threadworm, a dark magical creature that grew a new blood-tree crown for every life it took. The most terrifying recorded specimen had crowns stretching endlessly into the clouds.
"I see you!" Dumbledore's voice came through.
A blazing sea of fire erupted, surging toward Lockhart. The flames consumed everything, incinerating the Inferi instantly. Even those crawling from blood pools were burned before they could rise.
Even from a distance, Lockhart felt the overwhelming heat, his throat dry as if the whole world were burning.
Fire! The entire landscape was ablaze!
The flames parted, revealing a clear path. Dumbledore strode forward, Elder Wand in hand, commanding the inferno.
Fiendfyre—or something close to it.
So cool. Ridiculously cool.
"Ha ha ha!" Lockhart cackled wildly, dangling in the air as the Demiguise held him. He had to write this down, tell the world: On this day, I teamed up with Dumbledore, and we absolutely slayed!
Unbelievably powerful.
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