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Chapter 292: The First Task
Chapter 292: The First Task
With Harry having given him a heads-up, Cedric wasn't surprised by his opponent today.
And to counter the fire dragon, he had prepared thoroughly from the very beginning.
Once he entered the arena, the competition began.
Firedrake, nestled beside the golden egg, stared intently at Cedric, curious to see what tricks this little human could pull off.
Cedric then, in front of the dragon, extended his wand and cast a highly advanced Transfiguration Spell on a nearby rock.
In the blink of an eye, the rock transformed into a Newfoundland dog.
This brave dog, upon its appearance, bounded over to Firedrake and barked furiously at it.
But even with its tiny pinky toe, Firedrake knew this was a Wizard's diversionary tactic.
It rolled its eyes secretly, thinking, "You really think you can fool me? At least try to hide it a little better when you transfigure things."
Firedrake initially wanted to ignore the noisy dog, but then a mischievous idea popped into its head.
It pretended to be distracted by the Newfoundland, standing up from in front of the golden egg and chasing after the dog.
At that moment, Cedric made a dash for the golden egg!
The Hogwarts students in the stands held their breath, too nervous to cheer. They all hoped that this champion, who had even more support than Harry, would score well.
But even though the crowd was silent, the Hungarian Horntail didn't hesitate to counter.
Just as Cedric approached the golden egg, Firedrake, pretending to chase the dog, suddenly turned and let out a mighty roar.
Cedric was shaken to his core by the roar, but he gritted his teeth and didn't lose sight of his goal. He leaped toward the golden egg.
Firedrake, having successfully scared Cedric, was quite satisfied. However, letting him take the golden egg so easily would make it look foolish.
So, it feigned a dramatic attack, breathing a broad but not very intense flame at Cedric. The flame covered a large area, making it impossible to avoid.
As the flames engulfed Cedric, a wave of gasps echoed through the stands.
Cedric managed to steal the golden egg, but he suffered burns, which would affect his score.
In a real fight, even ten Cedrics together wouldn't get within three meters of the golden egg.
But the competition needed to be entertaining. If it went to such extremes, Sherlock would likely make life difficult for it afterward.
Firedrake, as intelligent as any human, knew when to stop.
The same applied to the next two matches. It changed its dragon form twice to play games with the other contestants.
When facing Fleur, it knew she had some connection to Sherlock. Out of a desire for petty revenge, it burned her skirt, but still allowed her to take the golden egg.
Krum, who appeared second to last, annoyed Firedrake by casting a dark curse right away.
Although it let him pass, Firedrake deliberately crushed several golden eggs, ensuring his score wouldn't be too high.
The last champion to take the stage was Harry, who had drawn the Hungarian Tree Peak Dragon.
When Federick flew back to the arena draped in the fourth dragon hide, Harry also nervously walked out of the tent.
Harry, of course, recognized the dragon. This was the best friend of Sherlock, his current “partner.” Even so, the dragon had no intention of going easy on him.
Instead, it saw this as an opportunity to vent the oppression it had endured over the past few days.
As soon as Harry entered the arena, he didn't hesitate to raise his wand.
"Accio Firebolt!"
He immediately used the Summoning Charm to call his broomstick from the dormitory.
A casual conversation with Bagman the day before had made Harry realize his true advantage.
He was undoubtedly an exceptional Seeker, and no one in Hogwarts could match his skill with a broomstick.
In dealing with the fire dragon, he could fully leverage this advantage, provided he could summon the broomstick to his side.
The Summoning Charm, which he had learned in fourth year, was perfect for this task.
However, Harry's mastery of the charm had been poor initially. Over the past day and a half, Hermione had given him emergency tutoring, and now he was finally confident enough to use it successfully in the competition.
As he mounted the Firebolt, a sense of solid reassurance flooded Harry's heart.
But just as he was ascending on the broomstick, relishing the freedom of flying through the sky, a spiked tail lashed out like a black whip and struck his left arm!
The sharp spikes tore through his robe sleeve and scratched his arm, causing a wave of gasps and sighs from the audience.
However, Harry only drifted a few meters off course before quickly steadying himself.
He ignored the pain in his arm and treated the scene as if it were a Quidditch match, with the golden egg as the Golden Snitch and the Hungarian Tree Peak Dragon as the opposing team.
Feeling as if he were back on his home turf, Harry lowered the nose of his broomstick and dove towards Firedrake.
Firedrake, lying in front of the golden egg, remained unperturbed. It stared at Harry, moving its neck to see how long this human could circle around it.
But it overlooked the fact that the head it controlled had once been severed by Sherlock!
Even though Charlie and the others had done an excellent job, the reattached head wasn't truly regrown.
Before Firedrake could complete two circles with Harry, its entire dragon head began to tilt to one side, as if it were about to fall off.
Frightened, it quickly straightened its head.
If its head really fell off in front of such a large crowd, the consequences would be dire. Sherlock would surely hold it accountable for negligence.
Terrified of losing its head, Firedrake decided not to continue tormenting Harry. It pretended to be enraged, flapped its wings, and took off to chase him, but in reality, it was deliberately leaving an opening.
This allowed Harry to fly into the dragon's lair like a sharp sword and retrieve the golden egg in the shortest time of any of the champions!
(End of Chapter)
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