AN: So here is the next chapter I hope you all enjoy it. It took me a while to write this one but I quite like it all the same. I hope you all enjoy it too and leave a review at the end.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
( - )
(Last Time)
"Ohh, that was so close!" Ludo Bagman's voice boomed out, heard even above the shouts and screams of the crowd. "Fortunately the boy's still alive, though it looks like he'll be feeling it in the morning. Unfortunately though he was not able to collect his egg and so has failed the first task and will receive no points for it!"
Cho winced as she heard that, her eyes fixed on the two dozen wizards and witches now flooding the arena. Most of them subduing the dragon using a variety of spells to force it to pass out, more than a dozen wizards having to work in perfect synchrony to do such a thing. Meanwhile another witch and wizard were around Cedric's still smoking body, one of them putting the boy's body in stasis as the other levitated him and began to move him towards the medical tent, where an anxious and angry looking Madam Pomphrey could be seen waiting impatiently.
"Well anyway, once the dragon keepers have moved the Swedish Short Snout back to her enclosure we can get out the next dragon and get underway!" Ludo Bagman's voice echoed out again, gaining less cheers this time as a number of the students couldn't help looking as Cedric's body was rushed into the Medical Tent. The sudden seriousness and danger of the tournament becoming apparent to many of them.
( - )
Chapter 4
( - )
(With Harry, in the Champion's Tent)
Letting out a sigh of boredom, Harry put both of his hands on his head and leaned backwards in his chair, kicking his legs out as he did so.
Shutting his eyes, Harry then just listened as he heard the roar of the crowd as Bagman loudly explained what the next task and what they would be face. Much to the spectator's pleasure, as Harry could hear them going wild.
After the cheering had quietened down a bit, Bagman then introduced the first Champion, Cedric, officially starting off the first task of the Tri-Wizard tournament. Leading to the very pale Cedric leaving the tent to face off against his dragon, the Swedish Short Snout.
Whilst Harry merely listened on in interest, paying attention to Bagman's commentary as he gave a blow by blow account about what was happening. Causing Harry to internally wincing as he heard the loud shriek and screams coming from the crowd, when the Hufflepuff took a nasty hit. Listening in Harry immediately knew Cedric was not doing well, still the fact that he was trying to put up a fight at least showed that the boy was brave, even if he wasn't all that sensible.
Opening his eyes as he heard another chorus of screams and cries of shock, followed by the roar of the Swedish Short Snout, Harry assessed the other two people in the tent, Krum and Fleur. A part of him curious about how they were holding up, because last time around he'd been so wrapped up in his own impending doom that he hadn't noticed whether the others were just as stressed and nervous as he'd been.
Looking around Harry instantly noticed that Fleur had begun to visibly tremble, the French Veela having taken a seat like Harry. Only she was leaning forward, her hands clenching the arms of the seat in a white knuckled grip as she kept sending the exit to the tent nervous glances. Flinching every time the dragon roared or the crowd screamed.
Krum meanwhile was looking as calm as ever, though whether or not that was a façade Harry wasn't sure. After all the only thing he could see of Krum was his profile as he leant against one of the tent's poles and seemingly checked his nails.
To Harry it looked too nonchalant, but then again Harry didn't really know the Bulgarian, so he was unable to tell whether he was pretending or not. After all as a Quidditch star Krum was likely used to stress and pressure, then again trying to compare a Quidditch match to facing off with a dragon, was like comparing a House Elf to a troll. There wasn't much comparison.
Looking away from Krum, Harry once again closed his eyes as he heard Bagman's booming voice once again sound out over the near deafening noise of the snarling dragon and watching crowd, an impressive feat in and of its self.
"Ohh, that was so close! Fortunately the boy's still alive, though it looks like he'll be feeling it in the morning. Unfortunately though he was not able to collect his egg and so has failed the first task and will receive no points for it!"
"Well looks like Diggory's gone 'Hufflefluffed' it." Harry commented, idly surprised that Cedric didn't even manage to finish the task this time. Pushing that aside for now, Harry instead opened his eyes and looked over to the haughty French girl. "Looks like it's your turn."
Fleur paled as she heard that, but also seemed to gain a bit of fire as she saw the amusement in Harry's gaze.
"No, not at all. Maybe you should be the one worried little boy?" The Veela suddenly said in accented English.
"Me worried? I would need to be unsure of my imminent victory to be worried, and that's just not the case. Though then again maybe again that's because I'm not likely to surrender the first chance I get." Harry replied back cheerfully, a smile on his face as he saw the sour look she sent him at the comment.
"Ha, it is because she's French, I get this joke." Krum suddenly spoke up a slight smile on his face, as he saw the sour look Fleur was sending Harry.
Fleur huffed in response to this, before she got up and glared down at Harry. When she got a smile in response though, she just huffed again, before she turned and stormed away once the cannon blast sounded, her fear overridden by outrage.
"Good! Use that anger, vent it on the dragon!" Harry called after her, a slight grin on his face. It looked like Fleur was as easy to rile up as he remembered. Not that they had known each other well, but they had met a number of times over the years, and each time Harry would manage to piss her off in some way. Which would only fuel her anger the next time she went to fight.
Harry didn't get a response to that comment, though he did hear the crowd cheering as she stepped outside into the arena, followed by an even louder cheer from the crowd, and the loud roar from the Welsh Green, a more placid dragon compared to the other three, though still dangerous if riled up.
Glancing around the rest of the tent, Harry once again tried to work out what was going on by the sound he could hear. To start with he could hear the cheers from the crowd, though they sounded slightly muted compared to before. Which might have been due to Diggory's catastrophic failure.
After that he could then hear the deep growl from the dragon, followed by what seemed to be singing. A soft, sweet lyrical music sounding out, dulled by the canvas walls of the tent, but still vaguely audible.
Hearing it Harry smiled slightly, assuming as he did so that the French Veela was using a vocal enchantment. Which was basically done by pushing your magic into your voice and then using the vibrations from the sound, and the lulling quality of the music to cast an auditory illusion, manipulating your targets senses and the chemistry of their brain.
It was a tricky piece of magic, but it was a damn effective one if cast correctly.
Feeling his eyelids grow heavy, Harry guessed she was casting a sleeping enchantment. Not that this surprised Harry, after all Veela had a natural disposition towards this type of magic, due to their passive aura, or allure. The only problem with this technique though, was that it required a certain amount of time to become fully effective, which meant that for battle it was not all that useful.
Shrugging off the passive effects of the magic, Harry instead listened in once more. Noting as he did so, that the noise of the crowd had dulled, no doubt a partial effect of the magic she was using. Eventually the roars of the dragon also grew faint, as it too succumbed to sleep.
However what happened next was quite amusing, as a round of laughter suddenly followed, caused by what Harry knew to be the dragon snoring fire over her, burning her robes before she could get her egg and complete the task. Fleur apparently completing this task as easily as she had previously, even if it involved having her skirt set on fire.
"And Miss Fleur Delacour has gotten passed her dragon in just twenty seven minutes, using a well woven sleeping charm to do so. A good performance, and one that I think the judges will appreciate!"
Bagman's voice boomed out again, causing another cheer from the crowd. Louder than before, as Fleur victory somewhat eclipsed Cedric's loss.
"She did good." Krum grunted as he finally pushed away from the tent pole and moved into the centre of the tent, his wand in hand as he readied himself for his turn.
"She did alright and used her time to prepare well. She was just lucky she picked the most placid of the dragons, I doubt any of the other three would have just sat around and allowed her to do that." Harry commented, not holding back in his judgement. After all Welsh Greens were well known for being quiet and introverted, very rarely interacting with humans as they instead kept to themselves. So not at all like the loud and outspoken Welsh humans, not that Harry was complaining as they were a barrel of laughs back in the day.
"Still." Krum replied.
"Yeah, she did well, now it's your turn." Harry allowed, before he shot Krum a grin.
"I am confident." Krum commented gruffly, not looking at Harry now as he instead stared at the tent flap.
About five minutes later there was another loud boom as Krum was called to the arena to face his dragon, the Chinese Fireball, a very serpentine dragon, and one which was capable of excreting a flammable gel from its scales, which allowed it to set itself on fire at will.
For Harry this dragon was the second most dangerous in the tournament, after the Hungarian Horntail of course. Mainly because it was neither as big nor as aggressive as the Horntail, plus it lacked the venomous spines and teeth, as well that the range of its fire was half of that of the dragon Harry would be facing. Not that Harry was competitive or anything, it was just that his dragon was the toughest one.
"Potter." Krum grunted before he turned and marched out of the tent.
Harry nodded in response.
( - )
(With Daphne)
"Come on when is the next match starting?" Tracey complained as she stood up and looked over to the entrance of the arena.
"It'll be starting in a minute Tracey, they just have to bring the new dragon in." Blaise replied, rolling his eyes as he did so. The girl could be so impatient sometimes.
"I don't get why you're getting so antsy about it?" Daphne commented as she too looked into the arena. Watching as a group of two dozen wizards took the now fully stunned Welsh Green out of the arena and to its enclosure deeper within the Forbidden Forest.
"It's because that last fight was boring." Tracey complained, getting an amused glance from Blaise as she did so. "Especially compared to Diggory."
"Is that because Diggory got hurt?" Daphne asked, thinking back on the way Cedric had not only failed to finish the task, but had also had to be stretchered off covered in burns.
"No," Tracey replied, a shocked look on her face. "That'd be just mean. No, I just found his fight more interesting, all the French Champion did was sing."
"It was a sleep enchantment, a pretty powerful one actually." Daphne replied, somewhat sticking up for the other Veela. Plus she was quite impressed with what she had done. In fact it was something that she herself knew, was not something she would be able to easily replicate, not right now anyway.
"You're telling me, I mean did you see how fast the first three rows all fell asleep." Tracey giggled, a smile on her face as she remembered how embarrassed and put out they had been when they awoke to find the match over.
"All but Snape." Blaise commented as he looked over to the other two.
"That's because he used Occlumency to block out the girl's enchantment." Daphne replied easily, knowing as she did that the three Headmasters/mistress and Barty Crouch had done the same. With Bagman being the only one of the judges to nearly fall asleep, much to his embarrassment.
"Yeah, but even so it was boring, all she did was crouch behind some rocks and sing. The dragon only really tried to attack her at the end, and even then it was a bit shit." Tracey complained loudly, a few of the other Slytherins around them nodding as they heard her comment.
Daphne rolled her eyes at that, "Well what did you expect? It was a Welsh Green."
"Ooh, they brought in the new one!" Tracey suddenly cheered as she stood up, gaining the attention of the others as she did so.
Looking down at the arena, Daphne soon found what had caused Tracey's excitement. The next dragon, the Chinese Fireball was being brought in, and just looking at it Daphne could say she was impressed.
The dragon was very long and looked a lot more serpentine than the other two dragons, with the Fireball being nearly sixty feet long, with a thin compact body. On top of that the dragon didn't have any legs, though it did have clawed arms and a pair of short wings protruding from its back.
Half slithering and half crawling into the arena, the dragon let out a huge bellowing roar, golden coloured fire springing forth from its jaws as it did so. Twisting round the dragon then tried to use its long body to snap at some of the surrounding wizards, only to find that they had already retreated behind the protection.
Letting out another roar, the dragon instead turned towards the nest, its yellow eyes gleaming as it moved towards it. Revealing its face to the crowd, with the face in question looking quite squashed compared to the Welsh Green, which looked a lot more like a dragon was supposed to look. This one though looked a bit stranger, as it had a beard of red spikes and large spines protruding from its brow.
"Damn that's one ugly dragon!" Blaise commented, his face scrunched up as he saw the dragon crawl to the nest, before it snaked around it, protectively surrounding the eggs with its long serpentine body. "I kind of feel sorry for whoever's facing it."
"Looks like its Krum." Tracey replied as she heard the cannon sound out, and saw the slouched over Bulgarian enter the arena. The crowd erupting as he did so, the professional Quidditch player getting the biggest cheer so far as he walked into the arena and glared at the dragon.
"Let's see how he does, I've heard that Durmstrang covers lesser Dark Magic alongside the other usual subjects. It'll be interesting to see what he can do." Daphne commented, quite interested to see what the older teen would come up with. After all her own repertoire of spells was quite decent, bolstered as it was by the Greengrass Family library, but she would still be interested in seeing what he could do. Maybe even learn something from it.
Almost from the moment Bagman shouted go, Krum was on the move. Darting forwards quickly and sending out a jet of orange magic from his wand as he did so. The spell catching the dragon by surprise as it struck it in the eyes, causing it to let out a loud roar of outrage, before it followed this up with a stream of golden coloured fire, which struck the spot Krum had previously been standing. With the Bulgarian having already moved, sprinting off and dodging behind some nearby cover mere moments after launching his initially attack.
Instantly Daphne realised that Krum was a lot more prepared for the task than Cedric had been. The spell had been aimed at the dragon's eyes, its weak spot, which not only showed his aim but also his knowledge. On top of that he'd also predicted the dragon's response and had reacted accordingly. It was an impressive, if aggressive start to the task.
The rest of the crowd seemed to think so too as they erupted into cheers at the sight.
Darting out from behind his cover, Krum then sent off an explosive hex. The blast of magic shooting passed the dragon and striking a craggy area behind it, exploding on impact and showering the blinded dragon in shards of stone.
Twisting around the dragon responded by releasing a jet of golden flame, which it then followed up by unleashing a devastating tail swipe, its body partially uncoiling from around the nest and lashing out at the area Krum had blasted with magic. As it did this though it also swept it over the area Krum actually was, forcing the Bulgarian Champion to blow a hole in the ground just ahead of him, which he then dived into, to avoid the sweeping tail.
Letting out another roar the dragon then released yet another spray of fire, bathing a twenty metre area of the arena in fire as it sought to burn its attacker alive.
Seeing this Krum leapt out of his hole and darted forward again, sending another exploding hex flying past the dragon, not even trying to hit it as he lacked the brute magical force, or knowledge of the type of spells that would be required to break through a living, breathing dragon's hide.
Twisting around again the dragon released another blast of fire, roaring its outrage as it did so and leaving an opening for Krum to rush forward and grab the golden egg. The Bulgarian showing a surprising amount of speed and athleticism as he hit the floor and rolled, knocking the egg from the perch but not quite managing to hold on to it, the egg instead just lying on the ground several feet from the fake ones.
Not that Krum went back for it, not immediately at least, as he instead scrambled for cover as the dragon somehow sensed his presence in the nest and twisted around. Its nostrils flaring as it tried to sniff the intruder out.
Peeking out from behind his cover Krum sent off another blast of magic, the same exploding hex as before, not even bothering to fight the dragon head on, not with a pissed of magical creature like this. Isn't wasn't categorised as an XXXXX level magical creature for no reason after all.
Turning to the sound of the noise as before and releasing another maelstrom of fiery death, Krum waited a few moments before he turned and ran, grabbing the golden egg as he did so. Unfortunately for Krum though the dragon by then had seemingly learned from its mistake, because as it turned to the noise, it also lashed out behind it with its tail.
The massive muscled limb striking the ground and shattering it as it did so, before it swept along the ground. Clipping Krum in the side as he tried to run, the blow sending Krum flying off of his feet and smashing into the ground twelve or so feet away. A gasp of pain leaving Krum's mouth as he somehow managed to keep a hold of his prize, despite the slight blow from the dragon having shattered his shoulder and broken a half dozen of his ribs.
Moments later the dragon handlers once again swamped the arena as they released a volley of some twenty stunner at the beast, the entire arena flashing red as the barrage hit the raging dragon. The force of the multitude of spells sending the dragon crashing to the ground, but not quite robbing it of consciousness as it used its two arms to push itself up, setting its entire body on fire as it did so. Another volley of stunning spells put an end to that though as the dragon handlers once again set about containing the dragon, using dozens of water charms to extinguish its flames and more stunners to keep it sedated.
Whilst this was happening, two medics had gone to Krum. One of them stunning him, whilst the others petrified him so he wouldn't cause any more damage to his mangled body. The pair of medics then went about levitating Krum and taking him over to the pissed off looking Madam Pomphrey, who looked less than impressed with the type of task Dumbledore and the judges had chosen.
"And Mr Krum gets the golden egg, and in an impressive time of twenty five minutes!" Bagman's loud voice boomed out as the crowd surged to their feet and let loose cheers and shouts as the dragon was removed from the arena, along with the now blissfully unconscious Krum, who was still clutching the golden egg to him.
"He took a pretty nasty knock there are the end, but seems to have come out alive and with the best time so far!" Bagman continued, almost jumping up and down in excitement as he did so. "Now we'll get to see how Mr Potter will deal with his dragon, the fearsome and terrifying Hungarian Horntail!"
"That was pretty impressive." Blaise said lightly, a slight smile on his face as he saw the now pacified dragon being removed from the arena.
"It was a more aggressive approach than the other two." Daphne commented, her brow furrowed as she too looked down at the arena. "But it was very risky."
"He still managed to pull it off though." Tracey replied enthusiastically, before she turned to Daphne. "Do you reckon he'd be willing to give me an autograph if I asked?"
Daphne looked amused as she heard that, before she rolled her eyes. "It's always worth asking."
"You might want to wait until his bones have been fixed though." Blaise added on dryly.
Tracey grinned at that.
"So Potter is the next one up, and he's facing a Hungarian Horntail." Daphne suddenly spoke up, catching the attention of the other two.
"Is that a bad dragon to get?" Tracey asked curiously.
"It certainly isn't a good one, they tend to be very aggressive and very deadly." Daphne replied, before she shifted in her seat as she saw the group of wizards were bringing the dragon in question into the arena. "And it looks like you're about to see it."
Tracey twisted around as she heard that, before she instantly took a sharp intake of breath.
Not that this surprised Daphne as the dragon they were looking at was huge. About fifty feet long and standing nearly forty foot tall, the Horntail was a veritable mass of dark black scales. It had the look of a more traditional wyvern like dragon. With it having huge clawed legs, a long, black scaled tail and vast wings with a greyish membrane, which also acted as the dragon's arms.
The most intimidating thing about the dragon was not it size though, no, it was the fact it was covered from the tip of its tail to the crest of its head in fiercely sharp looking, venomous spikes. Its tail looking like some massive, crude mace and it head holding a crown of jagged spikes, some of which were as tall as a full grown man.
A few minutes later, the dragon handlers quickly retreated behind the protection. None of them sticking around for long as the Horntail was unleashed. The creature in question letting out a devastating roar which caused the stands to shake, before it followed this up with a stream of fire from its mouth, the blast of flames being far more intense than the other three dragons fire as it shot out across the arena. The flame tinged with hints of blue as it covered everything it could in fire, the dragon's yellow eyes gleaming viciously as it then twisted around and sent another blast of fire in the other direction.
"Well," Tracey began, her voice coming out a bit feebly. "It looks like Potter's dead."
"He had a good run," Blaise added in, attempting to act nonchalantly, though the slight bead of sweat running down his forehead gave him away.
"Maybe." Daphne muttered a frown on her face, before she took her violet eyes off of the dragon and instead looked to the other stands. Noticing as she did, that the realisation of just what Potter would be facing had settled in on some of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Houses. "We'll have to wait and see what he'll do."
"Really?" Tracey asked in surprise. "I mean you do know that that who Boy-Who-Lived thing was a fluke don't you? The guy's not at all exceptional, he's just an average fourth year, who's about to be eaten by a dragon."
"I wonder about that." Daphne muttered, before she pushed her silvery blonde hair behind her shoulder and leaned forward in her seat. Not expanding on her statement as she heard the cannon suddenly sound off, and a hush descend upon the crowd.
( - )
(With Harry)
"Looks like it's finally time." Harry muttered to himself as he stood up, rolling his right shoulder as he did so and gripping his Holly and Phoenix feather wand in his hand. A part of him lamenting that he wasn't able to use his Elder one, after all he had wielding that wand for decades now, it was far more familiar to him than his old Holly one was.
Unfortunately though it was also the same wand Albus Dumbledore was currently welding, and was quite distinctive looking. Meaning that if Harry was to waltz out onto a public stage like this one and use it, well, it may lead to some very awkward questions being asked. Ones which Harry had no intentions of sharing.
A few seconds later the cannon sounded out for the fourth time, and Ludo Bagman's voice rang out once more.
"And now we have the last Champion, Harry Potter, who will pit his magic and skill against the ferocious and formidable Hungarian Horntail!"
Harry rolled his eyes as he heard that, even the dragon had a better introduction than him.
Still though, Harry proceeded to exit the tent and enter the arena, ignoring the dazzling sun shine that nearly blinded him after his two hour stint of waiting in the tent as he did so.
Upon emerging from the tent, Harry was also beset by the roar of the crowd, with surprisingly the vast majority of the crowd cheering him on, though there were a few boos as well. Mostly coming from the Slytherin and Hufflepuff stands, though not as many as he had expected.
Raising his hand Harry gave a single wave and a dashing smile to the crowd before he turned his focus onto the ruddy great dragon in the front of him. The giant beast snapping and snarling as it crouched protectively over a nest of blackish dragon eggs, with a single golden one glinting on the top of the pile.
"Hello beastie." Harry muttered, the fingers of his left hand twitching, even as he raised his wand, ready to leap into action at any moment.
"And now let the last round, of the first task begin!" Bagman boomed out, his magically enhanced voice echoing around the arena.
Unfortunately though this had the negative effect of also startling the pissed of momma dragon in the centre of the arena, spurring it on to open its cavernous mouth and spew a torrent of blue tinged flames at Harry. A great cone of fire shooting out at him, spreading out as it did so until a veritable wall of potent dragon fire, nearly thirty feet wide rushed towards him.
"Well shit." Harry muttered as he saw the trigger happy dragon's reaction, ignoring the chorus of screams he could hear from the crowd as he instead whipped his wand up in a single smooth motion. Smiling as he felt the warmth of his magic rushing through him, as the ground ast his feet responded to it, rising up in a large dome like wall in front of Harry.
A perfect shield for Harry to hide behind as he took a step forward and allowed the wall of fire to flood past him.
After it died out though, he once again leapt into action, slashing his wand through the air, causing his shield to explode forward, as a dozen sharp shards of rock hurtled towards the dragon. Following this up though Harry then jabbed his wand forwards in a single thrust, transfiguring the rock into metal as he did so.
The hurtling rock like spires swiftly turning into steel spears in mid-flight, which then proceeded to pepper the dragon's head. Eleven of the spears clattering harmlessly off of the beast scales, none of them able to pierce the dragon's tough hide. The twelfth spear though managed to glance the dragon in the its right eye, slicing through its piercing yellow orb and turning it into a blood ruin.
Unsurprisingly this made the dragon flinch backwards in response to the sudden lancing pain and partial blindness, a deafening roar of rage and pain issuing forth from its jaws.
Taking advantage of the dragon's reaction, Harry then took another step forward, swinging his wand out again, the end of it glowing red as he then proceeded to weave through a number of complicated looking wand motions, leaving behind a red trail of magic as he did so.
In response to this the earth around the dragon reacted to his spell. As more than two dozen thick, metal chains erupted from the earth, the heavy, black barbed chains striking like snakes as Harry directed them, like a conductor might an orchestra.
One of the chains lashing around the dragon's snout as four others wrapped around its wings, the rest proceeded to bind the dragon's legs, tail and body. The metal links making a grating sound as the barbs scraped against the dragons thick scales.
In response to this, cheers of surprise and exclamations of shock rose forth from the crowd, not that Harry paid them any mind though.
Instead Harry whipped his wand to the side and thrust his hand forward. The palm of his left hand striking against the glowing red rune he had drawn in the air previously, whilst wielding his wand to transfigure the trains. The Norse rune for 'bind' flashing golden as Harry's palm struck it, the rune then moulding itself to Harry's forearm in response, even as glowing golden symbols appeared on the very single link of the multitude of black chains.
This was spellbinding, a nifty little trick Harry had mastered. One which allowed him to bind a spell in place with a rune, which could then be used to shape and control said spell, the rune acting not just as an anchor, but also as a focus for the magic. Meaning that Harry could control and manipulate the spell with his left hand, whilst leaving his right hand, his wand hand, free to cast another spell.
It was Harry's way of compensating for his inability to master spell chaining. A technique both Voldemort and Dumbledore excelled at, the skill allowing them to chain nearly a half dozen spells together in simple fluid wand motions. Harry meanwhile had never been able to chain more than three spells together. Which is why he had learned and alternative, spellbinding, instead, an esoteric rune based technique, and an incredibly deadly one if used right.
Gritting his teeth as he felt the slight pull on his magic, Harry then twisting his rune covered left arm around, and clenching his hand into a fist. The action causing the chains around the dragon to suddenly let out another grating sound as they twisted and tightened, several of them shifting around and pinning the beast in place.
Ignoring the deep thrumming anger he could feel coming from the dragon and the groan coming from a number of the chains as the dragon continued to struggle, bringing its colossal strength to bare as the thick, black chains began to strain, several of the links already cracking or near breaking point.
Seeing this Harry once again swept his wand up and round, manipulating the earth once more as he did so, causing two huge fists of rock to erupt from either side of the dragon. Each of the fists slamming on either side of the Horntail's head with a loud crunching sound. The impact from this breaking a few scales and cracking some of the dragon's spikes, but not causing any serious damage.
Then again that was not Harry's intention, as he instead flicked his wand again, bringing his left hand down as he did so to ensure the dragon remained bound. In response to this the rock fists both merged together, forming a three, foot thick rock helmet that covered the dragons head and most of its neck, cutting off its air supply as it did so.
Frowning in concentration Harry then took a knee and flicked the tip of his wand against the ground. The reason behind the action soon becoming apparent as the rocky ground quickly gained the consistency of water. Which meant that within moments the dragon's colossal weight dragged it down. Harry's chains helping in the process as he forcibly submerged the bound dragon under the now watery earth, its rock bound head sinking faster than the rest of it.
Soon after that, when the dragon had completely disappeared from view, Harry once again tapped his wand onto the ground. His eyes flashing, before he once again transfigured the consistency of the ground, turning back to its previous solid state. The dragon now entombed within.
Releasing his control of the chains, the golden runes now fading Harry's left forearm, Harry then slammed his left hand into the ground, channelling magic through it as he did so, causing the ground around his hand to indent as a circle filled with some complicated runes in it etched its way into the ground. The circling glowing golden as it did so, before its effect became apparent as Harry transmuted the earth from rock to iron.
"Well, that worked." Harry muttered as he then stood up, a slight smile splitting his face as he heard the roar of the crowd. His green eyes twinkling as he looked around and saw that all of the stands were now cheering, even the Hufflepuff and Slytherin ones. Their previous animosity momentarily forgotten as they saw the performance he had put on.
Grinning at that, Harry then jogged towards the nest, running over the now iron plain in front of him. Ignoring the flood of dragon keepers who ran into the arena to save their dragon as he did so. Harry's attention instead on the nest as he waltzed over to it and grabbed the golden egg.
After which he then turned to the stands and thrust it triumphantly into the air. The crowd once again erupting into cheers in response to his action.
"And Mr Potter gets the egg, and in the fastest time yet of eighteen minutes! What an upset, the youngest Champion now leads the pack!" Bagman's voice boomed out, the man practically jumping up and down as he continued his commentary. Mostly just describing the transfiguration aspects of Harry's match, to the crowd, taking great pleasure in extolling the virtues of his performance as he did so.
( - )
(With Cho)
"Holy shit did you just see that!?" Michael Corner suddenly shouted, his voice almost getting lost in the cheers and clamour of the crowd.
Cho though, who at the time had been on her feet cheering along with the rest of her House, had heard. Which is why as the crowd quieted down as the victorious Harry Potter was ushered to the medical tent by a number of angry dragon keepers who were attempting to free the Horntail, she decided to answer.
Turning to the boy next to her, Cho sent him a large grin. "He kicked arse is what he did!"
Michael rolled his eyes as he heard that. "Yeah I get that much, I'm just trying to work out what he actually did."
"Transfiguration mostly, simple but effective." Marietta sniffed out, a slightly disgruntled expression on her face at how Harry had so clearly outclassed the other Hogwart's Champion.
"Not all of it was transfiguration though." Lisa Crawford, another girl in Cho's year corrected. The curly, brown haired girl sending Marietta a dismissive look before she turned to Michael and explained what she had seen. "Potter used a technique called spellbinding. It's not often used as it is pretty tricky to learn, but Potter obviously has a knack for it."
"Yeah I've heard of that. It's all based on drawing runes in the air with magic and binding spells to them isn't it?" Cho spoke up, her dark eyes once again on Harry her lips curved up in a smile. "I wonder where he learned how to do it?"
"There are a couple of books about it in the restricted section of the library, Potter probably read those. I mean you've heard how much he wanders around the school at night, he probably found some way to sneak into the library." Lisa replied, not sounding that bothered about Harry's rule breaking.
"Well good for him, he definitely crushed this task!" Cho replied enthusiastically.
"But if he broke into the restricted section of the library, then he broke the rules, he should be punished!" Marietta replied scandalised that no one else was reprimanding the misbehaving Gryffindor for his actions.
"Yeah but he wasn't caught, so who cares?" Cho replied with a shrug and a quick smile.
Lisa rolled her eyes in response to that. "Of course you wouldn't care."
"Well getting in trouble is part of what makes school fun." Cho replied with another quick smile.
"Cho!" Marietta exclaimed.
"Oh leave her alone you silly cow." Lisa sighed out, already sick and tired of Marietta. Sometimes she wasn't sure why Cho and herself still hung out with their year mate, though that might be because the three of them were the only fifth year girls in Ravenclaw.
Cho rolled her eyes in response to that as she heard Marietta huff, her gaze instead going down to the cheekily grinning Harry Potter as he cheerfully waltzed into the medical tent. Seeing this Cho couldn't help but smile fondly.
( - )
(With Daphne)
There was an intense look on Daphne's face as she watched Potter leave the arena. The performance he had just given was impressive to say the least, far beyond what was expected of a fully trained adult wizard, let alone a fourteen year old.
Looking back at the arena once the cheerfully smiling Harry left, Daphne instead watched as the dragon keepers tried to extricate the Hungarian Horntail. A number of them having to use gouging spells to get to the dragon, all of them working feverishly to free the beast before it suffocated.
When the match had started none of them had thought this was how it would go. In fact there were some who thought he wouldn't have lasted ten seconds. With Draco Malfoy having put ten galleons on it, money that he was about to lose as well as the other fifty he'd put on Potter failing in the first task. An expensive day for the foolish boy, then again only morons gambled that much money on something that wasn't a certainty.
"That was impressive." Daphne muttered, her gaze not leaving the wizards it the arena as they still struggled to get through the now metallic ground, the iron somehow resisting their attempts to transfigure it as they instead had to excavate the ground. Fortunately though the dragon was trapped only five or so metres below the ground, so through the combined effort of the handlers they were managing to get to it in a timely manner.
"Impressive? That was insane!" Tracey replied, her voice a little more high pitched than usual. "I mean did you know Potter was capable of that?!"
"Of exactly that? No." Daphne replied, her lips curving upwards as she did so. "Though I had assumed he was stronger than average, after all you heard the rumour of the fight with the troll and his duel with Quirrel in first year? As well as how he slayed Slytherin's Monster in our second year?"
"Yeah, but they were just rumours, unsubstantiated ones too. Like those bullshit story books that are written about him!" Tracey exclaimed.
"Well obviously there was at least some truth to the rumours." Blaise replied, an intense expression on his face. "What do you think Daph?"
Daphne smiled as she heard that. "I think Potter's suddenly gotten a lot more interesting."
( - )
AN: So what did you all think? I hope you liked it and leave a review.
Personally for me one of the things that irritated me the most about the canon books were how few characters were developed throughout the seven books. Don't get me wrong I can understand they didn't want to introduce too many characters and that JK filled out some of the details later on in Pottermore. But for me I think some of the other Hogwarts students should have been developed in greater details, especially ones that ended up in pairings. Hopefully though in my story I will do a good job with my characters, both the good ones, the bad ones and the average ones.
Other than that I hope you enjoyed the story.
Hopefully update soon.
Greed720.