Yes—chaos reigned outside the castle.
Footsteps thundered everywhere, mixed with the shrill screams of muggles as they fled at full speed toward the outer grounds of the castle.
Beyond that, Greyback could feel a wave of scorching heat rolling in from not far away… a heat so intense it stirred a trace of fear deep in his gut.
"What the hell is going on?" he snarled, grabbing the werewolf who had come to report by the neck.
"After Gene entered the castle…" the werewolf stammered, voice shaking. "He went to a tower on the inner side of the castle… then he said he accidentally dropped a crystal vial on the floor, and the entire tower caught fire instantly!"
"Then why didn't you come and tell me immediately?" Greyback roared.
"…At first, the fire was small. We didn't think much of it…" The werewolf struggled painfully. "We never expected it to spread so fast. In no time at all, the whole tower was burning…"
"And the muggles?" Greyback asked coldly, finally releasing him and letting him fall to the ground.
"…When the fire started, some kind of strange alarm suddenly went off. The muggles panicked and ran, fleeing the castle…"
"It was just a fire. Why didn't you put it out?" Greyback demanded.
"…We tried…" Fear flickered across the werewolf's face. "Then… Abbot and Jessica went into that tower… and then… we heard a few screams. They were burned to death inside by that strange fire."
"Idiots!" Greyback was nearly beyond words with rage. "They were wizards… wizards… wizards…"
"…Aqua Incantatio, Freezing Charm, Flame-Freezing Charm… two wand-wielding wizards, burned to death by fire?"
Consumed by fury, Greyback ignored everyone else in the hidden chamber. He threw open the skylight in one motion and climbed out.
The last rays of the setting sun streamed into the chamber. The vampires shrieked in terror, retreating and curling up in the corners.
...
Just as the messenger had said, the muggles were fleeing the burning castle.
In fact, most of them had already crossed to the far side of the drawbridge. The few remaining were packed at the bridgehead, pushing outward in their escape. Several uniformed muggles were directing them, keeping the situation from devolving into total chaos.
In just a few more minutes—or at the latest, once night fell—there wouldn't be a single muggle left on the castle grounds.
When Greyback reached the site of the fire, what he saw was completely different from what he had imagined.
The flames were terrifying. They were not ordinary fire, but a kind of magical blaze that grew stronger and more violent with every passing moment. The fire could take on the shapes of monstrous creatures, indiscriminately hunting down and devouring anything that could burn.
"Aquamenti!" Greyback shouted, aiming his wand at the inferno.
The water burst from his wand tip—only to evaporate instantly.
"Damn it… what kind of magic is this?" he muttered.
The demonic flames had already spread across nearly half the castle. The werewolves stationed there were either screaming as they were consumed by the fire or fleeing in blind panic back toward Greyback.
All except one—
Gene.
The always-polite, impeccably mannered werewolf stood calmly amid the chaos, without the slightest trace of panic. And suddenly, Greyback remembered—
The source of this demonic fire was him.
"What did you do?!" Greyback roared.
"Gene" ignored him completely. He leapt powerfully into the air—and in the next instant, transformed into a massive eagle, soaring high above.
"Damn it—fake!" Greyback raised his wand and fired a streak of red light at the giant eagle. It missed; the creature was far too fast.
Another small crystal vial fell from the sky.
Greyback hurriedly dodged aside. The vial smashed against a section of the castle wall, shattering into fragments. From within, yet another mass of demonic fire burst forth, rapidly condensing into a horrifying beast of flame.
And it wasn't just one vial.
With the muggles almost completely evacuated from this side of the castle, the giant eagle showed no restraint, hurling crystal vial after crystal vial down from the sky.
Its movements were astonishingly swift.
In just a few minutes, the entire castle was swallowed by that terrifying magical fire. High above, the giant eagle remained completely unaffected by the inferno below.
Once the castle had been reduced to a blazing hellscape, the giant eagle turned and flew off toward the Black Forest to the east.
...
Greyback led the werewolves in a frantic retreat back into the castle.
As the flames raged unchecked through the structures, they finally managed to catch their breath.
They ran straight into the vampires led by Countess Ilyana. With night having fully fallen, the vampires could finally leave the chamber.
"What's going on?" Miss Ilyana Dracula asked, still completely unaware of what was happening outside.
"No time to explain… hurry… back to the chamber!" Greyback growled.
The vampires obeyed at once. At his command, Ilyana quickly ushered her visibly disgruntled kin back inside.
"What in the world is that thing?" Greyback asked once they were back in the chamber. Most of the hair on his body had been singed away.
"It's… demonic fire…" a werewolf said, trembling.
"It's Fiendfyre," Remus Lupin said. "A cursed flame. An unquenchable fire."
"I don't care what it is!" Greyback roared. "We're getting out of here. Now! Into the secret passage!"
Before the Fiendfyre could spread any farther, the werewolves and vampires swarmed into the passageway. Minutes later, retracing their route, they returned to the sewers where the vampires had once lived.
Greyback shoved a massive boulder into place, sealing the exit of the passage. Only then did he finally let out a breath.
...
After a moment's rest, a werewolf shouted angrily, "Who was it… who disguised themselves as Gene and brought that damned thing into the castle?"
"I don't know," Greyback said grimly. "But we'll find out soon enough. I saw it just before—the giant eagle was heading toward the Black Forest. It wasn't that fast. We'll catch it… and make it suffer the most horrifying torment imaginable."
"Everyone—follow me!" Greyback bellowed.
The sewer exit opened.
One werewolf after another, followed by the vampires, emerged from below.
Some took to the skies.
Others sprinted across the ground.
All of them surged toward the distant Black Forest.