Chapter 21 - RAGE OF THE HORNTAIL

Hermione POV

Daphne hugged me tightly right after hugging Tracey. Tears of joy in her eyes as Harry accomplished the first task. He did it unscathed as well!

Cedric Diggory had some parts of his face and robes singed by the dragon fire while he retrieved his egg. Fleur Delacour's robes caught fire from a dragon's snort when she put the dragon to sleep. Viktor Krum had been limping slightly out of the arena after a close call when his dragon destroyed the nest of where the egg was being kept. The debris from the destruction almost killing Viktor Krum.

The fact that Harry had not even been touched! That brilliant move with the jump off the broom and back on! I swear, everyone's hearts at that moment, whether or not you cared about Harry getting past this task, stopped for a second. That was an extremely close call!

The rest of us then awaited for the Harry's score to be shown. The judges were currently discussing Harry's performance.

CHING!

A loud snap of metal snapping was heard. I looked over and saw the Horntail violently shake its head and shoot towards Harry up in the sky.

NO! How was this possible! The dragon subduers just came out to reign in the Horntail! Harry!

Harry POV

Shit! The dragon was speeding towards me!

I didn't have time to accelerate and dodge. I didn't have a spare hand to take out my wand either.

There was no way to dodge on my broom! That's it! I can't dodge if I am on my broom...

In an instant, I gripped the broom tightly with my left hand and pulled it out away from my legs to the side. I angled it so that the broom was vertically aligned with my body and not horizontal. I then started to freefall from over a hundred feet above the arena.

RROOOOOAAARRR!

The dragon angrily yelled out as it missed me. I shot faster and faster towards the ground.

I tumbled through the air while gripping my broom in my left hand and the golden egg in my right.

I need to take out my wand!

I quickly threw the egg away from me and pulled out my wand with my now free right hand. I aimed it at the egg and cast a cushioning charm at it. Despite the role reversal of gravity and all the all the factors that could affect my aim as I was freefalling from the sky, I still managed to hit the egg and successfully apply the cushioning charm.

I was now approaching the ground fast. The wind whipping around me as I shot downwards from the sky. I honestly felt like I could have gotten whiplash from the number of times my body was re-orientating itself as I tumbled towards the ground.

Get it together Harry!

I quickly adjusted my body so that I spread out like a muggle jumping jack in the air. I looked like a starfish. Now that my body was in a better position, I non-verbally casted an arresto momentum and landed on a large flat piece of rock in the arena.

That was close! Just eight or ten more seconds later and I wouldn't have slowed down in time. I got be a pile of splattered goo...

By the time I landed, the dragon had already cycled around and was shooting towards me. Its jaw was open and an orange light was forming within its mouth.

Dammit! I have no choice! Getting onto my broom and dodging was not an option. The dragon would arrive soon, and at that range, I don't think I can outfly the fire breath following the lunge.

I dropped my firebolt on the ground and gripped my wand tightly. Right before the dragon was about to crash into me. It extended its wings out and halted its momentum. The Horntail now floated above me as in unleashed a torrent of fire at me.

Then, like I had practiced multiple times of when I cut the incendio flames from opponents in duels, I waited as the fire rushed towards me. Knowing that I needed a lot more power this time behind the spell to split the fire to my sides. I felt a tug in my gut as I poured a lot of energy into slicing the flames in two. I slashed my wand out and pointed it at the flames. The bright orangy-yellow flames split apart and went to my left and right, crashing onto the jagged rocks behind in the arena.

I could still feel the burning heat next to me! Damn, if I had been hit! The fire seemed almost as hot as lava!

Whilst the flames were still burning on the rocks behind me, I quickly began the incantation for the firestorm charm as the dragon seemed slightly shocked that I wasn't turned into fried chicken. I utilized the hot fire created from the dragon to quickly create a large patch of fire and hurled multiple fireballs at the dragon.

I have to go on the offensive now! Or else if the dragon lunges, I am done for!

RRROOOOAARRR!

The dragon managed to dodge a few but was still hit by a couple of the blazing hot fireballs. Parts of its body caught fire before it took off high into the sky and began flapping its wings quickly, trying to fan out the flames.

I then raised my arm above my head and began doing large circular motions, using my entire body.

The dragon was distracted for now!

The fire quickly spread into a ring around the circular arena. The flames grew large and an orange hue covered the entire stadium. The flames violently swirled around the arena.

The dragon was now up and moving about in the sky. The roles had reversed. Previously it was I who was up in the sky and probing the dragon on the ground. Now the dragon was up in the sky and probing me on the ground.

As the flames reached its high, I unleashed an enormous barrage of fireballs at the Horntail in the sky. It looked like fireworks shooting up to the sky. The Horntail then did something incredibly strange. Instead of even attempting to dodge the barrage. It curled up into a ball and wrapped its wings around the ball like shape that it formed. The Horntail began to freefall down from the sky like a meteor. The Horntail dived straight through the barrage of flames. It dived through so fast that the flames, while burning the Horntail slightly, didn't have time set in and light upon its skin.

After diving through, the Horntail sprang out of its ball-like form and extended its wings. Catching itself right before hitting the ground. After stopping itself from crashing and gliding for a brief moment above the ground, it landed with a crash onto the floor. The Horntail then pounced forward, jaws open, eyes with complete rage.

Reacting quickly, I stopped the incantation for the firestorm charm and pointed my wand at several large pieces of jagged rock to my left side. I felt a tug in my gut as I lifted the rocks and banished them hard at the dragon pouncing towards me. The dragon's eyes widened as the large rocks sped towards him.

With a loud crash, the dragon was sent spurring to my right. It crashed hard into the side of the arena wall. It was now quite far away from me. I was about to cast fiendfyre at the dragon.

Yeah! This Horntail is one tough motherfucker! I can't give it time to get up! The time used to build up the firestorm from scratch and hurl fireballs would take too long... It might give the dragon another chance! This wasn't like when the dragon previous provided fire for me to hurl at it!

Just as I was about to shoot out the cursed fire, a giant ball of white energy hit the dragon. The dragon then went limp and its head crashed down onto the rocks. I quickly lowered my wand and stopped the spell.

I looked up into the stands at where the ball of white energy had come from. I saw Dumbledore, with his wand extended out, pointing at the dragon. His long white beard bellowing from the wind.

Phew! Just in time... I guess I gave Dumbledore the opportunity to subdue the dragon! That was a close call!

The previous loud, crazy and ecstatic arena now became deathly quiet.