"Now then—be careful! My task is to teach you how to defend yourselves against the most dangerous creatures known to the wizarding world!"
Lockhart stood dramatically beside the covered cage, gripping the black cloth with one hand.
"You are about to face something truly terrifying. But remember—as long as I am here, you will be perfectly safe!"
He lowered his voice.
"And whatever you do… do not scream. That might provoke them!"
The class fell silent.
To his credit—
Lockhart's performance was convincing.
His tone, expressions, gestures—everything was perfectly theatrical. If nothing else, he was a master performer.
Even Lewis couldn't help thinking—
In another world, someone like Lockhart would have thrived as a bard.
Instead, here he was—living off stolen glory.
The entire class held their breath.
"Now… behold!"
With a flourish, Lockhart yanked off the cloth.
The moment it dropped—
The students recoiled collectively, gasping.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
Inside the cage—
Was a swarm of small humanoid creatures, about twenty to thirty centimeters tall, with bat-like wings, mottled brown-red and green skin, long ears—
And something else.
"…Cornish pixies?" one student guessed.
Most of the class relaxed.
"Is that it?"
Only Lewis's face darkened.
That is NOT a pixie.
The color was wrong.
The structure was wrong.
And most importantly—
They had scorpion-like tails.
And digitigrade legs like reptiles.
These weren't harmless pranksters.
These were—
Imps.
Real ones.
Creatures from the Lower Planes.
From the Inferno.
They were malicious, predatory, and lethal.
Sharp claws. Venomous stingers. Shapeshifting abilities.
Servants of devils.
Killers.
Lewis immediately realized—
These things did not belong in this world.
And somehow—
Lockhart had brought them here.
What Lewis didn't know—
Was that the original supplier of harmless pixies had been the smuggler Lewis himself had captured during the Chimera incident.
With no supply left, Lockhart had resorted to a spell from a dubious notebook—
A spell he thought summoned pixies.
In reality—
It was a summoning circle for imps.
Meanwhile, the creatures themselves were clever.
They played along.
Feigning harmlessness.
Lockhart, oblivious, continued grandly:
"Well then! Let's see how you handle them!"
He opened the cage.
That—
Was the mistake.
The moment the door swung open—
The imps revealed their true nature.
Students had expected mischief.
Broken books. Torn curtains.
Instead—
They were attacked.
Claws tore into flesh.
Blood splattered.
Stingers struck heads, raising painful swellings.
Some imps transformed—into spiders, rats, even a small boar—plunging the classroom into chaos.
Screams erupted.
Panic spread.
And Lockhart?
He didn't escape.
As the summoner, he was their first target.
One imp darted forward—
Sting.
He collapsed instantly, poisoned.
He tried to retaliate—
But the imps were faster.
They snatched his wand and flung it out the window.
Then—
Dragged him.
Back into the cage.
Click.
Locked inside his own trap.
Lewis stared.
…Even he hadn't expected Lockhart to be this useless.
An adult wizard—
Unable to cast even a basic spell?
But then again—
These imps were roughly equivalent to second-year students in strength.
Half the class couldn't handle them.
Still—
Things were spiraling out of control.
If this continued—
Someone would die.
Lewis moved.
He spotted a student being torn apart—
Raised his wand.
"Protection from Evil!"
A pale light enveloped the victim.
The imps recoiled instantly, shrieking as if burned.
Every single one of them—
Evil-aligned.
The spell was devastating.
Lewis followed up immediately—
"Ice Arrow!"
Crack. Crack. Crack.
One imp after another froze solid mid-attack.
Fire and poison didn't work well on them—
But cold?
Perfect.
Then—
"Hold Animal!"
Two shapeshifted imps—one rat, one spider—froze in place.
A nearby student seized the chance—
And smashed them into pulp with a heavy book.
Lewis's actions snapped others out of panic.
Students began fighting back.
Hermione fired disarming charms in rapid succession.
Each one knocked an imp out of the air.
Harry cast a Stunning Spell—taking one down cleanly.
Ron—
Had worse luck.
His wand, broken from the flying car incident, misfired.
Instead of a spell—
BOOM.
An explosion.
He and an imp were blasted apart together.
As more students joined the fight—
Lewis knew it was time to end this.
"Magic Circle Against Evil!"
A larger, stronger barrier spread outward.
Like a tightening net—
Forcing the imps into a corner.
Then—
"Banishment!"
Space warped.
One by one—
The imps were expelled back to the Inferno.
A few clever ones smashed through windows and escaped.
The rest—
Gone.
Silence fell.
Then—
Cleanup began.
Lewis had been the first to act.
And the most effective.
Combined with his reputation—
Students naturally followed his lead.
The wounded were sent to the hospital wing.
The rest began restoring the classroom.
Broken desks.
Torn books.
Imp corpses.
All dealt with.
Finally—
Hermione pointed at the cage.
"…What about Lockhart?"
Inside—
The professor lay unconscious.
Lewis glanced at him coldly.
"Leave him."
"Let him stay there and reflect."
After a pause, he added flatly—
"He made this mess."
"He can pay for it."
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