Chapter - 49 : The Unwanted Champion part - 3

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(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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Bagman opened the neck of the purple bag and held it out to Fleur. "Ladies first."

The blonde reached a shaking hand into the bag and pulled out a miniature model of a Welsh Green dragon with a number two around its neck. Krum chose next and pulled a Chinese Fireball with a three, then Cedric pulled a Swedish Short-Snout labeled with a one. And then finally it was Harry's turn, he calmly reached into the bag and drew a Hungarian Horntail with the number four strung around its tiny neck.

"Well, there you are!" Bagman said "You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you in a moment, because I'm commentating. Mr. Diggory, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right? Now… Harry… could I have a quick word? Outside?"

Bagman pulled Harry aside and tried to offer him help with the task, but Harry refused his offer and quickly returned to the tent to relax until his turn.

Cedric, as per the number around his mini-dragon's neck, went first and, from what Harry could tell from the crowd's shouts and Bagman's comments, attempted to pull off several dangerous maneuvers that eventually led to a victorious, if not somewhat crispy, success.

Next went Fleur who tried to charm her dragon into submission, and then Krum who seemed to have the easiest time retrieving his egg with the conjunctivitis curse, although he accidentally squashed several of the dragon's eggs in the process.

After the applause following Krum's success had died down, a whistle pierced the air and Harry exited the tent on somewhat shaky legs.

The enclosure was an enormous, ovular space dotted liberally with rocks and surrounded on all sides by bleachers where hundreds of students sat looking down at him. On the far side of the arena sat his target, a shining golden egg surrounded by a clutch of cement colored eggs and guarded by a monstrous, scaly black dragon glaring at him with glowing yellow eyes.

Harry kicked the ground and noted that the enclosure floor had been covered in sand. Perfect, that meant less work for him.

Slowly, he approached the dragon, wand in hand and a determined glint in his eye, when he was a good hundred yards away, he stopped and pointed his wand at the dragon. "Irritus Crey."

Immediately, a dozen small, vaguely humanoid creatures, that stood no higher than his knees, erupted from the ground and ran at the dragon with high pitched cries of war. Some managed to climb upon the dragon and begin pulling irritatingly at its scales, but most didn't even make it fifty yards before the already angry dragon began spitting fire at the little creatures. They melted into puddles of insubstantial slime upon contact, but Harry wasn't worried about them.

"Cendia Trell." The fire gushing from the dragon's maw surged backwards and, at his command, raged around the Horntail in an enormous fiery maelstrom, a quick twirl of his wand accelerated the wind to insane speeds, whipping the sand covering the ground into the inferno surrounding the dragon, and then he used one last spell. "Glassus."

A pure beam of silver light leapt from his wand and into the fire, it lit the entire arena for several long seconds before, with a blinding flash, it disappeared. Harry, the audience, and the judges watched as slowly the wind died down and the fire puttered out, leaving in their wake, an enormous dragon encased in a thick layer of sparkling glass.

There was dead silence as everyone watched and waited. Nothing happened, the glass held firm and the dragon remained trapped, and that was all it took for applause so loud it almost knocked him over erupted from the audience. Harry calmly passed the dragon and collected his egg.

"Look at that," Bagman practically screamed. "Look at that, our youngest champion just pulled off the greatest feat the Triwizard has ever seen. Bravo, Mr. Potter! Bravo!"

Harry walked calmly back to the tent, egg clutched firmly under his arm and with the screams and cheers of hundreds of students following behind him.

"It seems you, for once, were correct, Potter," Harry was gratified to see Snape's eyes were wide with shock. "You did have a plan."

"And was it, in your humbling opinion, glorious?"

Snape's eyes flickered to where the dragon handlers had rushed out to attempt to free the dragon without injuring it, so far they were unsuccessful. "Perhaps."

It took almost a quarter of an hour to free the dragon, and another ten minutes to subdue the infuriated creature and move it from the enclosure so Harry could receive his score.

Madam Maxime, Crouch, Bagman and, to his everlasting surprise, Karkaroff, gave him perfect tens, but Dumbledore, the crotchety bastard that he was, gave him an eight. But he hardly let that bring him down, he was in the lead, but more importantly, he was still alive.

"You did it! Oh Merlin, you did it!" Hermione launched herself at Harry and wrapped him in a rib-cracking hug. "Oh, Harry I'm so proud, I knew you could do it!"

"Yes, your confidence in him was quite evident this morning at breakfast," Neville teased, then reached out to clap Harry on the back. "Great job, mate."

"You did remarkably well, Potter," Draco praised him.

"Remarkable enough for you to start calling me by my first name?"

"As if."

Harry childishly stuck his tongue out at his blonde friend. "It was nothing much," he told his friends as they continued to congratulate him. "I only did what we practiced."

"Yeah, but doing it in practice is a lot different than doing it when faced with a two ton, fire breathing dragon," Blaise refuted.

"Okay, it was awesome," Harry conceded and plopped down under a tree beside the lake. "Now, do you want to hear what the clue for the next task is or do you want to spend the rest of the day waxing poetics about how epic I am?"

"Let's hear it then," Draco said, settling down beside him.

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Loving the story so far? There's a whole world of magic and mystery waiting for you with over 85+ chapters still to come! By supporting my Patreon.

You not only get early access to new chapters but also exclusive content, behind-the-scenes insights, and special perks just for fans like you.

Join us on this enchanted journey and help shape the future of the tale. Your support makes all the difference—discover more and become part of the adventure today!

http//patreon.com/Kun_kanshi

(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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