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A Song of Lightning and Fire
Arc I: Magic
Part V: The Triwizard Tournament
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Finding Cedric was easy, he was always surrounded with a group of people, and as a fellow introvert, Harry felt really bad for him whenever the older boy plastered a smile on his face.
After a few hours of stalking Cedric under the Invisibility Cloak, Harry and Ginny finally got their chance. He was coming out of his Arithmancy class now, probably heading towards Transfiguration.
Yes, they'd broken into Sprout's office to get his schedule.
Cedric had friends around him as usual, though, but this time, Harry had had enough. He aimed his Wand at Cedric's bag. "What are you doing?" Ginny asked him in an alarmed whisper.
He ignored the question and cast Diffindo.
His aim held true and the strap of Cedric's bag was severed clean. His bag fell to the ground, and his books scattered near his feet.
"Oh," Ginny said, sounding quite impressed. "That's one way to do it, I guess."
"Well, I am a Slytherin," he said, brushing some imaginary lint off his shoulders as they made their way towards Cedric. Ginny hummed in acknowledgement.
"It's alright," they heard Cedric say as he was picking up his fallen things. "I can go myself."
"What if one of the Durmstrang boys Hexed you, though," A Seventh Year Ravenclaw asked worriedly, touching Cedric's arm and causing the boy to stiffen ever so slightly.
"I'll be fine," Cedric said firmly, taking the girl's hand off of his arm. "I reckon I can take down some thug."
"If you're sure…" she trailed off when she saw Cedric's annoyed look and nodded, scampering away with most of the rest of her friends.
"Bloody hell, she's annoying," one of Cedric's friends said. His name was Lucien, if Harry remembered correctly.
"Yeah, well, can't do anything till this all blows over, can I?" Cedric asked rhetorically.
"Hm," Lucien muttered, obviously disagreeing with him.
Harry glanced at Ginny, who nodded, promoting him to take the Cloak off, which he did. Cedric jerked and swore while Lucien let out a scream as he jumped back. Harry and Ginny would have been rolling on the floor if the reason for their meeting wasn't so grave.
"What are you two doing here?" Cedric asked, putting a hand on his chest and breathing heavily.
"We need to tell you something about the First Task," Ginny said. "It's important."
"Look, if you know something, keep it to yourselves," Cedric replied quickly. "I don't want to know."
"The other Champions know it already," Harry said. "Their School Heads will have told them by now."
"It doesn't matter," Cedric insisted.
"It does if you can die," Ginny told him.
Cedric blinked as Lucien looked on in concern. "There's risks in this Tournament," Lucien said. "Cedric knew that when he entered his name into it."
"This isn't just any risk," Harry said. "You need to get an egg from a Mother Dragon."
Cedric, who had successfully managed to get everything back in his bag, dropped it again. Lucien went really pale and started sputtering out some random gibberish that Harry didn't even bother trying to decipher.
"Are you sure?" Cedric asked, seemingly looking for any denial from them.
"Absolutely," Ginny said. "We've got no reason to lie to you."
"We do want Hogwarts to win, after all," Harry added.
"And the others… the other Champions… they know?" Cedric asked.
"We saw Maxime and Karkaroff there," Harry said. "I doubt that they wouldn't tell their Champions."
Cedric nodded, seemingly in agreement with their reasoning. "And how do you know about the Dragons?" He asked.
"Not relevant," Harry said. He and Ginny had long since agreed that there was no need to mention Hagrid in relation to Dragons in front of anyone else.
"Look," Ginny said when Cedric opened his mouth again. "We wanted you to have the same information that the others do. You seem like a good guy, and if there wasn't a risk of you fucking dying, we wouldn't have bothered coming. So, you either take the information and start preparing for it, or you don't believe us and go in blind. It's your choice."
Cedric nodded and took a deep breath. "This is fucked up," he said a few minutes later.
"Not arguing with you there," Harry said, shrugging a shoulder.
"You can quit you know," Ginny said, seemingly taking pity on the older boy. "There's an exit clause."
Cedric shook his head. "I don't want to be a quitter."
Harry nodded in understanding. He knew that feeling very well. The feeling that you needed to prove yourself to everyone…
"Just saying," Ginny said in explanation.
Cedric gave her a small smile. "Thanks," he said. "I better go find Cho and tell her all this. Lucien-"
"I'll tell McGonagall you aren't coming," Lucien responded. "Thanks guys," he added to Harry and Ginny as he sprinted towards his class.
"Don't tell anyone about this!" Harry called after him, receiving a two fingered salute from Lucien in return.
"Merlin, I'm starting to regret entering," Cedric said with a chuckle.
Harry smiled sympathetically. "I reckon the attention isn't easy either."
"I swear I feel like throwing myself out of a window every single time a girl smiles at me in a suggestive way," Cedric said, shaking his head. "They all know I'm with Cho. They all know I'm happy… but still… Fucking hell."
Harry was even happier now that he wasn't selected as Champion. This would have been a nightmare for him to handle. Not to mention the extra attention that he did not need.
"Thanks by the way," Cedric said. "As much as I don't like that I'm practically breaking the rules… I mean, a Dragon…" he trailed off, shaking his head.
"It's alright," Ginny said, grimacing. "Merlin knows I'd be panicking until I couldn't take it anymore."
Cedric chuckled. "Yeah, but both of you have experience with this don't you?" He asked.
"Some," Harry said. Memories of the Trolls, the Acromantulas, the Werewolves, and the Basilisk flashed in his mind, and he was forced to reconsider his stance.
"Okay, maybe a little more than some," he amended, causing Ginny to snort.
"Any advice?" Cedric asked.
"Don't panic, and don't lose focus," Ginny said.
"Use your Magic as best as you can," Harry added, remembering his own fights. "Know your limits, know your strengths, and… if it comes between you and the Dragon, don't be afraid to kill it."
Cedric's mouth fell open incredulously at the last one, but the bell rang just then. "Cho should be getting out now," he said, seemingly debating between staying and going.
"Go," Harry and Ginny told him.
"Right," he muttered, taking a deep breath. "Thanks. Seriously, if I live through this…"
Harry and Ginny just waved him off, and he nodded and thanked them again before he rushed off to the Grand Staircase.
"Potter, Weasley," they heard.
Both of them froze and turned around, coming face to face with Professor Moody, who was watching them with a blank expression. "Follow me," he said in an emotionless voice.
Harry and Ginny decided not to test the man, and followed him. Professor Moody led them to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and then into his Office where he gestured for them to sit down in front of his desk.
"So…" Moody began, sitting down behind his desk. "That was a pretty honorable thing you did. I'm sure he'll be grateful for it."
Harry and Ginny looked down at their hands. He should have known they'd get caught in an open corridor, without any Privacy Charms… honestly, it was a miracle that they'd been able to even finish their conversation.
"I wasn't able to see you through your Invisibility Cloak," Moody said as though they were talking about the weather. "Want to explain why?"
Harry was confused for a second before he assumed that Moody's Magical eye must be able to see through Invisibility Cloaks. But then why not his…?
"I don't know why sir," Harry said.
Moody looked at him for a long moment before he nodded in acceptance. "I'll be honest, my first reaction was to interrogate you thoroughly about where you found the information from," Moody said. "But now… after Diggory mentioned your prior confrontations… I think I'd like to ask a favor so to speak."
Harry looked at Moody and noticed Ginny do the same out of the corner of his eye. "What favor?" She asked.
"All three of us know that the You-Know-Who will sabotage this Tournament somehow," Moody said, causing Harry and Ginny to blink in surprise. "Yes, I know that he's not dead. He was always scared of Death, and he strutted around far too comfortably to be at any real risk of dying."
"What do you want from us?" Harry asked blankly.
"Help," Moody said, apparently not interested in beating around the bush anymore
"What sort of help?" Ginny asked.
"Dumbledore put me in charge of security for the Triwizard Tournament," Moody began. "And there's a big chance something will go wrong on the day of The First Task. I think you both know it. What I need from you is for you two to be available for help in the unlikely event that Dumbledore fails."
"Dumbledore won't fail," Harry said confidently, Ginny nodding firmly alongside him.
"If it were a Dark Wizard, I'd agree with you," Moody said. "As it is, a fully grown Mother Dragon who's trying to protect an egg is far more dangerous than any Wizard, Dark, Light, or otherwise."
"There will be Aurors," Ginny pointed out. "You don't need us."
"But I do," Moody insisted. "The Aurors won't be much use against a Dragon either."
"Why us, though?" Harry asked. "There's literally thousands of people you can ask. Experienced ones."
"I can't trust any of them," Moody said. "You two, I can."
"Why?" Ginny asked.
"You can't be Imperiused, you're against the Dark Arts, you're far better at Magic than I've ever heard anyone be," Moody listed off on his fingers. "Need I say any more?"
"What do you want us to do?" Ginny asked after a while.
"Like I said, just help if the need arises," Moody said. "Help the people get out, and help contain the Dragon if it attacks and you want to help more."
Harry but his lip, furrowing his brow in concentration. On one hand, he would never turn away anyone asking for help, especially if they were innocent, but then, on the other hand, he didn't want to fight anymore. He just wanted to be… normal.
Looking at Ginny, he knew even before he turned to her, that her resolve to help the others would win out. She was the type of person who went out of her way to help someone else… even a group of strangers.
"I'll help," Ginny said. "But only to clear the people away. You lot can fight the Dragon."
Harry sighed as she and Moody looked at him for an answer. "I was hoping this year would be comparatively normal," Harry confessed, and Ginny gave him a tight smile. "But I'm with Ginny. I won't fight, but I'll help get the people out."
Her smile brightened, and Harry felt his chest monster roar in approval at him. Moody nodded at their decision. "Very well," he said. "I hope nothing happens. But, if it does… well, I wish you good luck."
Harry bowed his head and stood up as Ginny thanked Moody. Harry and Ginny made their way to the door, but Harry couldn't help but feel like Dumbledore wouldn't have sanctioned something like this… he always seemed more concerned with keeping both of them out of life threatening situations, then why…? Of course.
"Dumbledore won't know about this meeting, will he?" Harry asked as Ginny was about to open the door.
"No," Moody said after a while as he seemingly thought it over. "Not unless you choose to tell him."
Ginny raised an eyebrow, and opened her mouth, but Harry just placed his hand on hers and nodded at the door. Ginny- correctly interpreting his gesture- opened the door, allowing them to leave the room.
She then linked their arms, causing Harry's stomach to tingle in a weird way, but Harry managed to avoid stumbling over his feet. They made it to the Room of Requirement, Harry making use of the Marauder's Map to make sure that they weren't being followed.
"What is it?" Ginny asked as soon as they were seated on a sofa in their Den.
"It's Moody," Harry said. "Something's up with the bloke."
"Oh, good," Ginny said, sighing in relief. Harry looked at her incredulously. "I mean," she backtracked. "I think there's something up with him too. I was just afraid I was seeing things because of… well, Grayson."
"Yeah, I thought that too," Harry said with a sigh. "But he's been… I don't know, weird. The whole Imperius Curse thing, and him recruiting you and me, two underage Fifth Years… there's something bigger there, I'm sure of it."
"Should we tell Dumbledore?" Ginny asked after a while, biting her lip.
"He's got enough on his plate," Harry said, shaking his head. It wasn't just that though. He wanted to do something and not screw it all up like last year.
Ginny seemed to know what he was doing, though, and she took his hand and rubbed a few circles on it with her thumb. "It's going to be alright," she said.
It sounded like she was trying to convince both him and herself, but Harry didn't care. It was just too good of a relief to hear those words.
"It will be," he replied.
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The day of the First Task came much sooner than Harry anticipated it would. The past few days had been relatively normal if one did not count the trip to the Forbidden Forest that he and Ginny had undertaken to collect the dew and find two chrysalis of a Death's Head Hawk Moth.
They'd been able to find both of the ingredients- the latter of which ended up being considerably difficult- and they hadn't wasted a second in adding the ingredients to their Portions. They did so in complete Darkness, just to be safe. They then stored the Potion under a tile in the Tower.
It had been four days since that happened- Harry and Ginny had wanted as much dew as possible- and every day since, he'd realized how patient and focused they would have to be for this to work. They couldn't forget their incantations, or they'd have to start all over again, or, one of them would have to.
The Marauders had done this for two whole years apparently. It usually didn't take that long for the Potion itself, but the fact that James, Sirius, or Peter kept forgetting their incantations, or ended up swallowing the leaves in their mouths meant that it would have been a major spanner in their plans.
He and Ginny kept excelling at their classes, and Charms club, so much so that Flitwick nearly had kittens every time they entered a room. Hell, he even taught them a few Charms that weren't taught even at the Charms Club. The Disillusionment Charm was one of his and Ginny's favorites, allowing both of them to vanish from sight. Their movements would cause a ripple through the air, but Harry felt like it was a decent price to pay for stealth. Besides, he always had his Invisibility Cloak on him.
Moody had also taught them a new skill, one that was considerably easier than Harry had ever thought it to be: Apparition.
It took them 9 days- an hour a day- to apparate for the first time, and another 2 to get the hang of it so that they could apparate and disapparate freely without a high risk of splinching.
Moody had been upfront about his reason, stating that he wanted them to be prepared for whatever would come, and since he was recruiting them, the least he could do was provide them an escape path.
Harry appreciated this, but that didn't ease his suspicions that Moody was up to something.
On a sadder note, Hermione had taken it upon herself to free every House Elf. She had started an organisation called S.P.E.W (or sprew, as Ron called it) that focused on the betterment of Elves. The problem with it, was that Hermione had never held a real conversation with an Elf where she didn't accuse them of being brainwashed, something that caused the Elves to shut the door to the Kitchens for anyone who wasn't Harry, Ginny, or Professor Dumbledore.
Right now, Harry and Ginny were lying on the shore of the Black Lake with their feet submerged in the water, waiting for Dumbledore to call the rest of the Students towards the Task.
Harry sighed in worry as he turned his head and looked at Ginny. She was staring straight up at the sky with a blank face. She was worried, understandably so, but it didn't change Harry's desire to lighten her mind.
"Gin," Harry began.
"I'm fine," she sighed. "I'm fine. Just… nervous."
Harry wanted to say something to comfort her, but then, he caught sight of the students, led by Dumbledore, heading for the Forbidden Forest, where a new 'Arena' had been created for the First Task.
They got up and made their way towards the line, joining in near the back, much to the disapproval of the Prefects. Harry couldn't care less about that, to be honest.
As Harry came to find out, the Arena was massive, ever so slightly larger than twice the size of the Quidditch Pitch in both radius and height. It had thousands of seats stretching across the structure, giving it a Colosseum-like feel, much like the Quidditch Emporium, except this one was a full Colosseum, and its centre was lowered into the ground. It was also filled with cliffs, ravines, various boulders, and it had a massive pit in the centre where the Dragon would presumably nest.
Harry and Ginny chose the seats next to their friends and sat down. They felt no guilt in doing so since whatever would or would not happen here didn't have anything to do with him and Ginny.
He was hoping Cedric would be alright, he and Ginny had become rather close to the older boy. He just looked so helpless one night at Dinner, and Harry hadn't been able to stop himself from giving him a few words of encouragement. Ever since then, they'd gone by his table to have a chat every Lunch and Dinner.
They'd already met him in the morning and wished him luck. Cedric said that he just hoped he'd live.
About half an hour later, the Dragon Handlers brought a Dragon out of the gates on one end of the Arena. This Dragon had four legs though, unlike Aries and Artemis, who only had two. The Two Legged-Dragons were actually the more subdued of the lot, contrary to popular rumors. It was the Four Legged-Dragons that one needed to watch out for.
This Dragon was about thirty feet long with Blood-Red scales, and an odd fringe of fine gold spikes around its face, leading Harry to believe that this was a Chinese Fireball. His suspicions were proven correct when the Dragon huffed out a mushroom shaped cloud up into the air from its nostrils. It was a characteristic of Chinese Fireballs to do that when they were angry.
"Blimey, it's mad," Devon said in fascination. "Never thought I'd see a Dragon up close."
Harry agreed with him about the first part, whilst silently pitying whoever was facing the Dragon. Chinese Fireballs were really aggressive. The Dragon was led down into the pit, and Harry was surprised that the head of the Dragon was nearly on par with the ground.
Soon, a cannon went off, and Krum entered the stadium, shielded by a Protective Barrier for now. Harry and Ginny breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't Cedric. "And Ladies and Gentlemen!" The voice of Ludo Bagman boomed. "We now have our first Champion, Viktor Krum!"
Cheers were heard in the stadium, and Krum raised a hand in acknowledgement, his eyes never leaving the Dragon's. "The Champions must face their Dragon- in this case a Chinese Fireball- and get a Golden Egg from its nest by any means necessary. Mr. Krum will begin when the Barrier falls, which will be in thirty seconds, so please wish him luck!"
The audience's response was to cheer even loudly. "That's the spirit!" Bagman boomed. "The barrier will fall in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1, GO!"
As Bagman said, the Barrier fell, and the Dragon immediately released a jet of Fire at Krum, who disapparated away to the left of the Dragon, casting a Bludgeoning Hex on it.
The Hex didn't do any damage besides causing it to stumble a bit. The Dragon raised its paw and smashed down on Krum, causing him to cast a Shield over himself. "Brilliant save!" Bagman boomed. "But will he be able to stand up to the pressure?"
"That's ridiculous," Harry muttered. "Why didn't he just disapparate again?"
"Because the points are assigned depending on how talented you are Magically," Jessica explained. "Karkaroff probably told him to show off as much as he coul- aaaAAAAHHHH!"
Her explanation turned into a scream as Krum's Shield broke, but they later found out that that was only because he Disapparated again, appearing near the Dragon's tail.
"Colloshoo!" they heard him cast.
The Dragon's tail, and its hind legs were stuck to the ground, causing it to swivel its neck around, and release a jet of fire at Krum, who now raised his Wand and whipped it around himself like a lasso.
To their surprise, the Fire actually turned into a tornado around him, causing even the Dragon to make a surprised sound. The Dragon roared again and released another jet of fire, holding it there for a few minutes, causing the Tornado to grow larger and larger once the Fire made impact. Krum was turning Dragon Fire into Gubraithian Fire, Harry realized.
"Ingenious, really," Harry commented.
"What?" Ginny asked.
"The Gubraithian Fire," Harry explained.
Ginny blinked and they turned to Krum again, only in time to see the Fire disappear. They could see about three dozen Viktor Krum's now, and each of them broke off into a sprint as the Dragon climbed out of the Pit to hunt them down.
The Dragon roared, bellowed, and screeched as it ran after the different Krums. Soon, however, its attention was caught by who was presumably the real Krum, sprinting towards the nest.
The Dragon roared and let out a jet of Fire that Krum disapparated to dodge, the disapparition causing the other duplicates to shimmer out of existence
It was just Krum and the Dragon now, and Krum quickly cast a "Carpe Retractum, " on the Golden Egg, causing it to fly towards his outstretched arms.
The Dragon, however, roared in outrage, releasing a mushroom cloud of fire through its nose. Krum cast a Fire Shield Charm to try and Protect himself, and that turned out to be his undoing, for some of the Fire made contact with his skin, causing him to scream in pain.
The Golden Egg crashed to the ground a few feet away from him, but Krum wasn't able to retrieve it as The Dragon immediately sprinted over to him and opened its jaws, but Krum cast what looked like a Conjunctivitis Curse on the Dragon's eye, causing it to fly away as it screeched in pain.
It landed in the Pit and thrashed around as Krum crawled over to the Golden Egg. Unfortunately, just before Krum got the Egg, the Fireball stepped on a bunch of its own eggs, shattering them into pieces.
The Dragon seemed to have known what it had done, judging by the screams of its pain, and Harry's heart went out to her. He wanted to hug the poor thing, just like he hugged his own Dragons, but he knew he couldn't do that.
The Dragon Handlers came out of their stations and began casting volleys of Stunning Spells on the Fireball, which went down much faster than the Horntail.
"And that's it!" Bagman cried. "Krum gets the Golden egg! But unfortunately, his Curse has caused the Dragon to crush its own eggs. That will certainly affect his score!"
"The poor Dragon," Ginny said in a barely audible whisper.
Harry just made a face of disgust as a part of the audience roared in approval of Krum's actions. Harry swallowed his nausea as the wailing Dragon was led away along with its remaining two eggs.
Another Dragon was led into the Arena, and this one was pure white in color, the complete opposite of a Siberian Shadow. It had blue eyes with black slits, it's back had white spines all over it, and its wings were long. It was a Two-Legged Dragon known as an Antipodean Opaleye.
"And now, for the next contestant," Bagman said once the Dragon was led away. "The only female contestant," Harry noticed Ginny scowl at Bagman for the way he said 'female'. "She will be facing an Antipodean Opaleye. Please give it up for Fleur Delacour!"
Once again, everyone cheered like it was the only thing they were born to do. The cheers weren't as intense as Krum's, but they were still loud. The sound of a cannon was heard and Fleur walked out into the arena with her head held high, waving and bowing to the crowd as they cheered louder.
But Fleur's performance wasn't as good as Krum's. She was far more skilled with a Wand, Harry thought, and her arsenal of Spells was a lot more versatile than Krum's, but she was facing a Dragon. No one could blame her for being a bit less… grandiose and being more focused on protecting herself, which she had done more than excellently.
She'd been going on for as long as Krum when she leapt into a ravine as the Opaleye chased after her. The audience gasped as the Opaleye released a jet of red flame after her, but Fleur was apparently one step ahead of the Dragon.
She disapparated out of the pit, and apparated near the nest. The Dragon whirled around, but she just raised her hands to her head, causing the Dragon to cock its head.
"Dear Merlin," Ginny breathed in recognition of the technique.
Indeed, Harry had a similar reaction, only his response was a bit more… internal. It was the beginning to a placating gesture towards a Dragon, a desire to strike a bargain, so to speak. Any Dragon, wild or tamed, would recognize it. Whether or not the Dragon chose to accept it, however, was anyone's guess, but the fact that this was a Dragon from a reserve, meant that it was more likely that it would accept it.
Sure enough, the Opaleye looked like it was considering it, so Fleur took a step closer, and the Dragon responded by hesitantly doing the same. Fleur did so two more times, getting the same response from the Dragon.
Then, she bowed to the Opaleye, who hesitantly bowed back. Fleur walked over to the nest, and the Dragon followed, growling a warning as Fleur got closer and closer.
Fleur simply gave the Dragon a compassionate look and raised her hands a bit higher. The Dragon growled again, but backed off ever so slightly, allowing her near the eggs.
Very slowly, Fleur reached down to pick up the Golden Egg, and held it high above her head. The Dragon came nearly face to face with it, and made a confused noise.
She said something in French to the Dragon that it seemed to understand. The Dragon let her walk out of the nest unharmed, and it followed her over to a point near the exit where Fleur waved to the Dragon as she made her way out of the Arena.
"That was marvellous!" Bagman cried as some of the crowd cheered while the other booed. "Boo all you want, that right there is the strongest form of Magic anyone could have used. Choosing to walk the higher path in the face of your life being at risk isn't easy. As far as I'm concerned, she's already won!"
"I like her," Ginny said, smiling. "That was a nice thing she did."
"I know," Harry said. "I was kind of expecting her to die, to be honest."
Ginny laughed. "Oh, that would have sucked. Are people allowed to meet the Champions later? I want to have a chat with her."
He smiled and nodded. "I think you can go when we're visiting Cedric later," Harry said.
Then, the Hungarian Horntail was brought out, causing Harry and Ginny's good mood to evaporate like water near a fire.
Cedric would be facing it.
"And nooowwwww," Bagman said. "The Final Champion. The Champion of the Host School, the Hogwarts favorite: Cedric Diggory!"
Any part of the stands with a group of Hufflepuffs nearby went absolutely crazy. Cheering, screaming, and absolutely drowning out the few boos that were heard. Some of the other members of the audience almost stopped in their cheering to watch the Hufflepuffs, looking so thoroughly bewildered by their behaviour that Harry almost laughed.
"Diggory will face the Hungarian Horntail," Bagman said. "It is widely considered as the most Dangerous Dragon species, so I'm curious to see how Diggory handles this challenge."
The sound of a cannon was heard again, and Cedric stepped out. He was a bit shy, but he waved at his fellow classmates, and the people he knew. "That's my boy!" Everyone heard Amos Diggory yell proudly.
Cedric's cheeks reddened, and Harry smiled in amusement for a second before he heard the Horntail roar. There was something wrong with it though, Harry knew. It sounded more aggressive than it should have, and it was also looking a bit, dare he say it, mad.
The second the Barrier dropped, the Horntail did something Harry didn't expect. It flew straight towards Cedric, releasing a jet of Fire as it went.
Cedric's eyes widened, and he jumped behind a boulder. The Dragon traced his movements with its fire, though, not allowing Cedric a moment to gather himself.
It kept the jet of Fire going for nearly a minute when Cedric turned around and rapped his Wand against the boulder sharply. The Boulder was launched towards the Dragon, who caught it with its mouth and destroyed it, causing broken pieces of rock to fall near its feet.
Cedric kept waving his Wand, Transfiguring the pieces of the rock into various different animals. Wolves, Beetles, Dogs, Cats, Lions, Elephants, all of them started running around the Dragon, who was simply stomping, burning, and eating anything that came into its sight.
Cedric used this distraction to run towards the nest, Transfiguring more and more animals faster than the Dragon could kill them as he went. He grabbed the Golden Egg without any complications, and the Dragon didn't seem to have noticed this new development, which made it possible for Cedric to almost make it to the exit without getting burned.
Unfortunately, the Dragon caught sight of him as he was nearing the exit, and roared in outrage. The sound caused Harry to shiver in fear. Despite the similarities, this was not the same roar that he and Ginny had heard the other day in the forest. This one sounded a hell of a lot more… insane. Unhinged, even. A look at Ginny's face said that she was thinking the same thing. Something was up.
The Dragon released a jet of fire at Cedric, who didn't stop running. He made it to the end with the Egg, but the Fire made contact with his back, causing him to scream in pain before a Healer relieved him with a Fire Extinguishing Charm.
The Dragon did not like his escape, judging by the way it laid waste to the animals that Cedric had Transfigured. The Handlers came into the Arena to try and contain the Dragon, who's eyes had gone completely red at this point, not a hint of any other color visible in them.
The Dragon roared loudly as the Handlers came near, and released a Jet of fire on them, causing them to dive to the side as more came in to cast Stunners on the Dragon. But the Dragon, apparently, did not care. It just charged straight at them, roaring as it went.
What followed was a very short, completely one sided battle, in which the Dragon had the upper hand. Many of the audience members decided that they should leave now, something Harry greatly appreciated since it seemed that whatever was about to happen, was happening now.
The Dragon won, to absolutely no one's surprise. Most of the Handlers just fled the scene as the Dragon burned their unlucky brethren to a crisp. A few of them stuck around, and even Dumbledore looked ready to jump into the Arena to help, but he was thwarted when the Dragon smashed the Judge's stand with its tail, which would have made the entire structure topple over if Dumbledore hadn't been holding it up with his Wand.
"ALASTOR!" Dumbledore yelled. "I CANNOT HELP, I NEED TO HOLD THIS STAND IN PLACE TO KEEP THE SECURITY ENCHANTMENTS FROM FAILING."
Harry didn't hear Moody's reply, though. He and Ginny had already gotten up. "All of you need to leave," they said in the best authoritative voice they could muster.
Apparently, something like this was what the others had been waiting for. They all stood up and started running towards the exits, which caused quite a few people to stumble and fall, getting trampled by the crowd.
"Help each other, you fucking monsters!" Ginny yelled at them as Harry cleared everyone off of a man that had fallen with a flick of his finger.
Everyone did as they were told, and Harry and Ginny were able to get the people out of their side of the stadium to the exits, and hopefully to safety.
Unfortunately, as they were making their way over to the other side, he caught sight of the Dragon headed towards the very same place, none of the Aurors or Ministry personnel in sight to help.
Harry sighed as he saw no other option but to cast a Bludgeoning Hex at the Dragon's shoulder. A loud crack was heard as his Spell made impact and the Dragon whirled around in surprise.
It roared at Harry, who simply raised two fingers in a salute. "What the fuck are you doing?" Ginny asked sharply.
"You get the people out," he told her, an idea popping into his head. "I'll distract the Dragon."
"What!?" She cried, reaching out to clutch his arm, but he had already jumped off of the railing as the Dragon took to the air.
Harry's Magic protected him from the Fall, and he cast a Disillusionment Charm over himself as he looked at a large Boulder. He imagined himself there as the Dragon released a jet of Fire, and he twisted on the spot, apparating to the top of the boulder as the Fire hit the spot where he'd disapparated from.
Accio, Nimbus 2004, he cast.
He didn't waste much time to cast another Bludgeoning Hex at the same spot on the Dragon's body, and this time, he was sure he'd broken a bone. The Dragon roared and whirled around, sniffing the air for his scent.
He Disapparated again, this time to the top of the stands where he'd come from. He was grateful to see that Ginny was escorting the people out by herself, like he'd asked her to. He felt bad about just leaving her to do that, but both of them couldn't be the bait, and if one of them had to be, then better him than her.
He heard the whoosh of his broom coming over, and apparently the Dragon did too. It sniffed the air and opened its mouth in his direction when a Bat Bogey Hex hit the Dragon. It didn't have any effect, of course, but it managed to divert the Dragon's attention.
He looked across the stands as the broom came to rest beside him. His Disillusionment Charm had started wearing off by now, and she looked at him with a livid face, but it was also filled with determination.
The Dragon flew towards her and she raised a Shield, but as strong as it was, Harry knew it would never last. So, he mounted his broom and flew over the Dragon, managing to cast a Conjunctivitis Curse on its eye.
The Dragon screeched in pain and changed its path to follow after him as he tilted his broom vertically upwards. The climb was easier for him, since he had the lesser mass of the two of them.
Boy, he desperately hoped his plan would work.
As he'd predicted, the Dragon was struggling, but it shot a jet of fire at him, so he had to tilt his broom to the right to dodge it. He raised his Wand in the air and began the incantation for the Tempest Jinx. Invoco fulgur inimicos meos perdere. Invoco fulgur inimicos meos perdere.
He'd been practising it for ages, and he could get the clouds together, and he could form the Lightning in the Sky, but he'd not tried bringing it down without Sirius there.
But the situation was different now. The Dragon would not stop, Harry knew, and not even a dozen Aurors, and three full teams of Dragon Handlers could stop it. It had to die. It was either the Dragon, or everyone else.
The Tempest Jinx worked better the closer one was to the sky, so it was no surprise to him that the clouds formed together almost instantly.
Harry pulled his Broom upwards again as the Dragon sent a Fireball at him. He raised his Wand again. Cito fulgur.
Lightning crackled in the air and struck his Wand, causing him to move downwards in the air due to the sheer force of it. Harry felt dreadfully tired by the effects of the Spell, but he couldn't pass out, nor could he let the Lightning go. Not yet anyway.
He turned back up to the Dragon, only to see that he had a good shot at its chest right now. The Dragon turned its head so that it was looking down at him, and opened its mouth, a glow emanating from its chest and its mouth that was no doubt due to the fire forming in its body.
He gulped down his nausea and aimed his Wand up at its chest, releasing the hold he had over the Lightning.
With a crack, the Lightning Bolt arced through the air, the recoil due to the release nearly causing his Wand to fly out of his hand as it reared up.
The Lightning Bolt struck the Horntail in the chest, piercing the flesh where it struck. Blood and Fire poured out of the hole, the Blood falling to the ground from the sky as the Dragon burned in its own Fire.
Harry watched all of this in a horrified fascination, unable to tear his eyes away from the scene as the burning, dying Horntail fell to the ground.
He was sure that the Horntail's painful cries would forever stay with him.
He realized that they were just above the Arena itself, and there was a very real risk of the Dragon falling on top of more than a few people. He heaved a sigh as he raced down the air, pushing his guilt aside as he sped past the Dragon and jumped off his broom when he neared the stands, calling on his Magic to protect him.
He managed to land behind a railing from where a few people were peering up at him, seemingly frozen to the spot. He ignored them in favor of looking up at the sky and raising both his hands as he reached out with his Magic to slow the Dragon's fall, and hopefully divert it to the centre of the Arena.
His entire body hurt, and he wanted nothing more than to just lie down right there and call it quits, but he couldn't do that, so he kept trying, even though he knew it wouldn't be fully enough.
As he suspected, the Dragon's fall slowed, but it was still falling, and he wasn't able to do anything else but wait for it to come down.
But then, he felt two more forces join his, and then three more, and slowly but surely, they were all able to slow it down. Harry groaned as he slashed his arms towards the centre of the arena, stumbling forward in the process.
He had to hold the railings for support as he watched the burning corpse land in the centre, blood still pouring out of the hole in its chest. He reckoned he would have felt some relief at the fact that it was all finally over, but he was just so tired right now…
He felt a strong pair of hands grab him from behind as he fell, but he didn't care. If someone made this elaborate plan to kill him, they deserved the kill. His head rolled back, and the last thing he saw before he passed out was the concerned face of Albus Dumbledore.
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A/N 2: Aaaandd that's Chapter 52 done! Thank you so much for reading this, and please leave a review if you enjoyed it. Even if you don't normally leave one, please do so now because I really need to know how you find the Dragon fight scene.
This is left on a cliffy, yes. I'm not sorry. Who helped Harry? Why weren't they there before? Is Harry's broom okay? And how the fuck did Dumbledore get free? The answers to these questions and more will be in the next Chapter. Don't worry.
While we're on the topic of the Next Chapter… well, let's just say you're going to like it and hate it at the same time. Haha.
I'll see you in the next Chapter.
Byee!!