"Alright. First let me see what's actually wrong with you."
Arthur grabbed Lockhart's forearm.
Magic flowed in. At the same time, his mental power spread out, combing through Lockhart's body inch by inch.
"Don't resist," he reminded him.
Only then did Lockhart relax.
Arthur let his magic run a full circuit through Lockhart's body. A moment later, he'd found it.
To put it bluntly: Lockhart's magic channels were clogged.
His magic flow was broken in several places, so the spell never got the right amount of power at the right time. That was why every spell he cast "technically worked"… but always looked pathetic.
The funny part?
The casting gesture for Obliviate was the only one whose channel hadn't been affected.
So in a way… Lockhart's talent was actually pretty good.
His channels were blocked in multiple places—that's just one step above a Squib—and he could still force spells through. For a Ravenclaw graduate, he'd actually done well to get even that far.
"I've got the picture," Arthur said. "You have two choices. One: I fix the hidden damage and you go back to being a normal, competent wizard. Two: on top of fixing it, I boost you and make you stronger."
Lockhart narrowed his eyes. "What's the price for the two choices?"
"No difference," Arthur said, very calmly. "Either way, you pledge yourself to me—and you never betray."
Lockhart choked on that. If the price was the same… only an idiot would pick the weaker option.
"…But," Arthur added, "the second option is my first time trying it on a person. So, there's some risk."
What he meant was: he wanted to engrave System "Skill Runes" on him.
Every person could take five runes. Arthur had never tested it on a human—which meant Lockhart would be the first lab rat.
In truth, Arthur had wanted to test them on Draco. But Draco still hadn't replied. Arthur didn't know if the boy hadn't made up his mind… or if Lucius had shut it down.
Lockhart thought for a long time.
In the end he gritted his teeth and chose Option Two.
He was tired of living on lies and Memory Charms. And if he was going to serve someone anyway, he might as well raise his value so he didn't get tossed aside. A man who dealt with people for a living understood that principle perfectly.
"Good. Then take off your clothes and lie down," Arthur said.
Lockhart shivered.
…Was he supposed to give that kind of loyalty too?
Arthur saw his expression and rolled his eyes. "Take off your shirt. Lie face down. I'm treating you."
"Oh." Lockhart hurriedly stripped to the waist and lay on the desk.
He still looked nervous.
"Relax," Arthur said. "Even if you die, I can bring you back."
That… did not relax him.
His face went white at once. But it was too late to back out now.
Arthur pulled out his rune-engraving knife and started cutting.
Since Lockhart's channels were blocked… Arthur was just going to open a bypass.
The process, though, was… not gentle.
To Lockhart, every stroke of the knife felt like he was being dissected without anesthetic.
Arthur had to silence him with a Tongue-Locking Throat-Seal charm. Otherwise half of Hogwarts would have thought Myrtle had brought friends back to haunt the castle.
Once the blocked channels were opened and magic could circulate freely again, Arthur paused.
Now came the important part: what runes to engrave.
This was his first subordinate. He couldn't let him die on first deployment.
So Arthur chose a defense set.
Lockhart had just let out a sigh of relief when—
scrape.
Arthur picked the knife back up and began carving the real runes.
This time, the pain hit so hard Lockhart blacked out.
Engraving runes on a human was not the same as putting them on a shotgun. On a person, it was like opening new magic channels inside the body. Way harsher than just clearing old ones.
Arthur's defense set went like this:
Base Rune: "Faith's Guard."
Effect: can block one fatal hit.
Cooldown: 2 days.
Advanced Rune: "Divine Blessing."
Effect: on activation, casting speed and movement speed +25%.
Advanced Rune: "Holy Impact."
Effect: calls down a bolt of lightning on the enemy.
Cooldown: 1 second.
Arthur had no idea why a lightning strike had gotten mixed into the defense tree. But hey, free DPS.
As for the final defense rune, he didn't engrave it. All it did was halve Faith's Guard's cooldown. Not very exciting. It's not like Lockhart was going to get fatally stabbed every day.
Arthur thought for a bit and added two more base runes.
Base Rune: "Vitality."
Effect: Life +1.
What's "+1" in human terms? Arthur didn't know yet. But being harder to kill is never a bad thing.
Base Rune: "Power Shot."
This was the one he'd engraved on a shotgun before.
On a person, it became: spell power +35%.
That way, he'd kept his promise—Lockhart wouldn't just be fixed, he'd be stronger.
When he was done, Arthur inspected the lines carefully.
There was a noticeable difference between human-runed and item-runed targets.
On a person, engraving a rune was exactly like opening a fresh magic route. Once the route was open, magic flowed in on its own. The rune activated immediately.
That meant:
Passive-type runes would stay always on.
Active-type runes would sit there fully charged, ready to fire with just a thought.
The only downside was: some of Lockhart's magic would now be locked up feeding the runes.
But that was fine. Lockhart had always had a lot of magic. That was the only reason he could still cast with clogged channels.
And there was another perk: witches and wizards in this world were bloodline casters—and with age, their magic deepened.
So as long as Lockhart didn't die, when he was old he might actually have Dumbledore-level magic reserves.
Especially now that his channels were cleared—and he had Arthur's backing.
While Arthur was musing, Lockhart slowly came to.
"…a strange ceiling…"
"Wake up. You're face down. That's the floor," Arthur said dryly.
Lockhart had clearly passed out from pain.
He lay there for a while, then pushed himself up and felt.
His eyes lit up.
His whole body felt light—like he'd just taken off wet robes he'd been wearing for years.
"Try a spell," Arthur said.
He wasn't worried Lockhart would attack him. What, did Lockhart think Arthur hadn't left backdoors in the rune nodes?
Lockhart grabbed his wand.
"Lumos."
The tip flared—steady, bright, and clean. No wobbling, no sputtering.
His breathing hitched. "It… it worked. Properly."
"Then try something stronger."
"Expelliarmus!"
A clean, red jet snapped out, straight, powerful—not the half-dead, limp sort he'd been throwing for years.
Lockhart stared at his own hand, completely dazed.
"I…" He swallowed. "I can cast again."
Arthur crossed his arms, satisfied. "Good. From now on, you're mine."
Lockhart didn't argue.
To be honest, he'd earned more than he'd paid. His body was clear, he had layered defenses, a nigh-instant lightning strike, boosted spell power, and even a life-buff. This was better than any healer at St. Mungo's.
Arthur, meanwhile, was quietly taking notes in his head.
Engraving on people: ✅
Runes autoload with magic: ✅
Passives stay on: ✅
Acts like opening a talent tree: ✅
He couldn't help it—this felt exactly like raising a character in a game.
Give them a class.
Give them skill points.
Give them survivability so they don't die and waste your investment.
Then send them out to make you more famous.
Lockhart was his first cultivated unit.
Next time, he'd try it on Draco.
And if Hermione's Animal Communication Charm went public, Lockhart would be the perfect PR mouthpiece—handsome, loud, influential.
Arthur's faction plan was starting to look very promising.
Visit my patreon for more chapters
Advance 30+ Chapters Available
patreon.com/WhiteDevil7554