208: The Dragon and New Quest

John had always thought that his encounter with Amoham ended in that forest. 

He never expected to run into it again in the Forbidden Forest. 

And not just Amoham—there were three other dragons with it. 

All of them had been subdued by a group of dragon tamers. 

Among them was a familiar face—Charlie Weasley. 

"They should be fine now. We gave them a sedative. They were asleep the entire way here, and we figured waking up in a quiet night would be easier on them." 

Charlie Weasley spotted Hagrid. They had just worked together to finally restrain the rampaging Hungarian Horntail. 

The four massive dragons lay on the ground like small mountains. 

Hagrid rubbed his hands together excitedly, his eyes filled with admiration as he asked, "What kinds do you have here?" 

"That's a Hungarian Horntail, the smaller one over there is a Common Welsh Green, the silver-blue one is a Swedish Short-Snout, and that one is a Chinese Fireball." 

Charlie explained as he glanced around, noticing Madame Maxime strolling along the enclosure, gazing at the unconscious dragons. 

He frowned. "Why did you bring her here? The champions aren't supposed to know what they're up against." 

Unfortunately, Hagrid—already ensnared in the honey trap—was still gazing dreamily at the dragons. "I just thought she'd enjoy seeing them." 

Well, Charlie could only sigh helplessly. "What a romantic date."

Hagrid hadn't forgotten his original purpose for coming here and asked, "Four dragons in total, so each champion will have to face one, right? What exactly do they need to do?"

"I think… probably just get past the dragon," Charlie speculated, his tone uncertain. "We'll ensure the champions' safety. The dragons they chose are all nesting mothers guarding their eggs. But I can tell you this—this Hungarian Horntail is the fiercest one I've ever seen."

Noticing Hagrid eyeing the dragon eggs greedily, Charlie warned him not to get any funny ideas. They had already counted every single one.

Harry, listening from the side, understood clearly—he was going to have to face a dragon. The realization felt both absurd and nerve-wracking, filling him with unease.

He also needed to hurry back to the Gryffindor common room's fireplace—Sirius had arranged to speak with him tonight.

Although they could communicate via owl, Sirius insisted that some things were better said face to face.

Hagrid, thrilled to be so close to real dragons, was led around by Charlie, excitedly taking everything in.

None of them noticed that there was still someone else present.

John stared at the half-squinting Hungarian Horntail. Even with so many sleeping spells cast on it, it still hadn't fully lost consciousness.

"Connections in high places make everything easier, huh."

Charlie continued talking about how Mrs. Weasley was heartbroken over the stories about Harry in The Daily Prophet. John narrowed his eyes—this kind of privilege was truly enviable.

Madame Maxime had seen enough of the four dragons and was now leading a reluctant Hagrid away.

Once they had all left, John quietly approached Amoham.

He had the Disillusionment Charm on, but at this distance, Amoham could still catch his scent.

Amoham's half-closed eyes seemed to struggle to open wider, but its eyelids were too heavy.

John crouched beside Amoham's head and whispered in Dragon Tongue, ||Amoham, are you okay?||

||Dragon Speaker?|| Amoham weakly responded.

||How did you get caught?|| John was puzzled as to how Amoham had ended up in this situation.

At the mention of this, Amoham's response was full of bitterness. ||Someone revealed what happened in the forest. A group of wizards ambushed me and took me away.||

||I was supposed to go to the Breathless Valley to complete my trial, but now that's impossible.||

Amoham sounded utterly dejected. It had been living freely, only to suddenly be captured and sent to Romania for captivity. A mighty black dragon couldn't possibly endure such humiliation.

Unfortunately, a single dragon alone was powerless—it had ultimately been subdued by more than a dozen Stunning Spells.

[Ding! Challenge quest triggered: Participate in the Breathless Valley Dragon Trial. Rewards: +1 to any stat, Blessing: Unknown.]

"An unknown blessing?"

John was momentarily stunned. He had thought the Gate of Objects was already mysterious enough, but now he was facing something completely unknown.

As he continued his conversation with Amoham, he learned what the Breathless Valley actually was.

The Breathless Valley was the sacred land of dragons. Every great dragon would travel there to undergo a trial and earn their true name.

Just like Amoham—this name was given to it by the Dragon Elders after it passed the trial.

Of course, some dragons were born with names.

For example, fire dragons raised by wizards—those who never completed the trial. Their dragonhood was considered incomplete, and true dragons looked down on them.

Wait a minute, I remember Charlie saying that this batch consists of nesting mother dragons.

John stared blankly at Amoham.

So this was a female dragon? Who on earth names a mother dragon Amoham?

||I was supposed to undergo the Inheritance Trial. I had a chance to become the Dragon King of this era,|| Amoham lamented, devastated that its path to kingship had been cut off before it even began.

Wait.

Amoham suddenly thought of something. Its weak voice grew slightly stronger as it said, ||Dragon Speaker, Amoham begs for your help. Take me to the Dragon Homeland.||

||…Alright.|| John had been wondering how he would get there himself. Now, it seemed like he had found a way.

He said, ||After the first task is over, I'll take you away.||

Right now, he didn't dare to act recklessly. Who knew if Dumbledore was lurking around somewhere, just waiting for him to make a mistake?

The dragon tamers were all highly skilled wizards. Rescuing Amoham alone—without being able to use lethal force—was a tall order.

Just as he finished speaking, he heard a strained voice from the neighboring Swedish Short-Snout.

||Dragon… Speaker… plea…||

The Swedish Short-Snout sounded even weaker, struggling to communicate.

However, John could clearly tell that they were asking for his help.

The other two dragons also spoke up weakly, their voices as faint as a mosquito's buzz. None of them wanted to go back to Romania.

||Sigh.. Alright, but you all must follow my orders.|| Saving one dragon was saving, saving four was the same. John agreed, but he laid down three ground rules—they could not disobey his commands.

He was worried that if all four dragons lost control, things would spiral out of hand.

The four dragons all agreed. It seemed that among dragons, Dragon Speakers held a very high status.

They had no resistance to following a Dragon Speaker's orders.

With the agreement settled, John prepared to leave.

He carefully avoided Charlie Weasley's position and made his way back to the castle.

On the way, he was once again blocked by the ZouWu.

The giant beast flopped onto the ground and started rolling around, forcing John to comfort it again.

After coaxing the big cat, John finally returned to the castle.

Casting the Disillusionment Charm over himself, John headed toward the dormitory.

Usually, this trick worked flawlessly.

But this time, he ran into trouble.

Thump, thump, thump.

A sound echoed through the corridor.

John frowned—it was Moody.

If it were any other professor, it wouldn't be a big deal, but Moody's presence made things tricky.

He hadn't forgotten about that magical eye of his, the one that could even see through Harry's Invisibility Cloak.

Though his Disillusionment Charm was strong, it was nowhere near as overpowered as an Invisibility Cloak.

The thump, thump, thump sounds grew quicker—Moody might have spotted the sneaking wizard—John.

John turned and ran.

Moody's magical eye might be ridiculously powerful, but it had one glaring weakness—his speed wasn't great.

And that just so happened to be John's specialty.

Competing in speed against a disabled man? John had zero guilt about it.

Before Moody could catch up, John had already slipped into the Slytherin common room.

By the time Moody arrived, all he saw was the door slowly sealing shut.

He stood there for a moment, seemingly frustrated that he hadn't managed to catch a future Death Eater.

John, however, hadn't actually gone back to his dormitory.

He stood right behind the common room door, separated from Moody by just a thin barrier.

"It seems like Moody was deliberately waiting to block me."

John narrowed his eyes.

Moody normally patrolled nowhere near the first floor.

It looked like he had been lurking there for quite some time.

John waited for a while, making sure the person outside had left.

...

The Next Day.

John arranged to meet with Cedric.

"Did any professors come to see you today?" John got straight to the point.

Cedric was stunned for a moment before shaking his head. "No. Why would a professor look for me?"

He looked puzzled.

Hearing this, John sneered inwardly.

So much for fairness.

Harry was a Hogwarts champion—was Cedric not one too?

If this was done under Dumbledore's orders, then John could only say that he was even more disappointed in that old man.

"The first task is dragons. You're probably the only one still in the dark about it."

Not bothering with any pretense, John told Cedric everything he had seen the previous night.

It was already tough for an honest person to survive—if he, as a friend, didn't help, Cedric would truly be left clueless.

Cedric was shocked. Dragons?

John smiled slightly, signaling for him to stay calm.

"Don't worry. I'll help you."

Don't forget—there was a Dragon Speaker here!

Though he felt a little guilty about Fleur, Cedric was the only one without any help. 

After explaining everything to Cedric, John went off to class. 

On his way to the Charms classroom, Cedric's bag suddenly tore open. 

He told his friends to go ahead while he stayed back to pick up his things. 

Seizing the opportunity, Harry approached him and whispered, "The first task is dragons."

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