A Professor of Magic at Hogwarts

Chapter 399: The Hungarian Horntail

Cedric's premonition was correct. The Australian Protean Eye's nature was relatively mild, but after being provoked by a hawk and then attacked by a leopard, even its good temperament reached its limits.

However, before it could react, a sturdy wizard ran up to its feet. Despite his size, he still paled in comparison to the creature before him.

He extended a hand, seemingly wanting to crush it, but right under its gaze, he transformed into a half-sized African elephant. With a sudden burst of speed, he charged towards the Protean Eye. Long ivory tusks collided with its scales, causing it to veer off course. Then, a sharp pain shot through its wing joints—

He stepped on me!

Uncontrolled, the Australian Protean Eye tumbled down. The elephant exerted more force, first stomping on its head, extinguishing the flames the dragon was about to breathe, then leaping onto its delicate wings and repeatedly trampling them.

Dragon egg? It had long forgotten about the dragon egg. The Protean Eye now only wanted to tear apart this sudden appearance of an elephant piece by piece.

"Elephendi! Withdraw!"

The Valgadu warrior shouted. She resumed her human form, holding the dragon egg from a distance. But Elephendi was trapped. One of the Protean Eye's claws clung tightly to his elephant leg. The magical barrier on the leg flickered incessantly, then rapidly dimmed. The protective spell from earlier was weakening rapidly.

A harpy eagle from the sky swooped down. In the corner of its vision, the boy who had been riding a broomstick alongside a burning phoenix suddenly vanished. Without much thought, in the moment of descent, he transformed back to his human form and quickly cast a spell—

A Blink Hex! Similar to Crumb's strategy, but bolder in execution.

Gasps echoed through the stands. It seemed he was about to crash to the ground—

But at the last instant, he transformed in mid-air. He flapped his arms, morphing them back into wings, grazing the ground as he lifted himself up. He arced through the air, turning his head to observe the outcome.

The effect was meager!

The Protean Eye howled in pain, flames still spewing, yet it still didn't release its grip. Like a nail fixed to the elephant's body. Cedric's group backed away, jubilantly carrying the dragon egg out of the arena.

On the other side of Valgadu, Harry, Ron, and Hermione harassed the Hungarian Horntail with the speed of Firebolt arrows, the blinding of the Lumos spell, and the sacrifice of the golden firebird. After a few steps forward, one of its feet left the dragon nest.

Harry seized the opportunity, using a Phantom Shift—now within the Forbidden Forest, free from the school's influence. His figure suddenly appeared by the Hungarian Horntail's feet. He snatched the dragon egg and pushed off the ground, about to take flight on his broomstick.

Yet, a spiky tail lashed out. Gritting his teeth, Harry held a firebolt arrow in one hand and the egg in the other, using the Phantom Shift once more. Upon his reappearance, he was standing next to Ron and Hermione.

Ron was struggling to aim the light beam into the Hungarian Horntail's eyes, while sweat beaded on Hermione's forehead, her eyes struggling to stay open. "We need to get out of here!" Harry shouted, noticing a bleeding gash on his shoulder. He couldn't recall whether it came from the Hungarian Horntail's tail or was a result of the Phantom Shift's separation—it didn't matter much to him; he was just urging them forward.

The trio retreated continuously. A blue flame streaked from the side, and Ron lunged forward, causing them to tumble into the deep pit they had dug earlier. Their hearts raced as they watched the blue flames pass overhead. "We were so close," Ron muttered.

They waited in silence for a moment. Harry considered looking up. "Don't!" Ron stopped him. "The dragon's gone mad up there. Let's go underground!" So they began to chant the spell for digging, creating a tunnel beneath them. Their progress was swift, and soon they had a passageway.

"Almost there," Ron estimated.

They pointed their wands at the ground. The earth split open to reveal a large hole, and as they looked up, they saw Dumbledore's smiling face peering out from the judge's box.

Harry sheepishly climbed out, covered in dirt. He felt somewhat embarrassed. Were they perhaps the first ones to dig a tunnel?

"You've done well," Dumbledore said. "You're the second team to succeed."

"But Valgadu…"

"Ah, they've encountered a bit of trouble," Dumbledore said.

Back in the arena, the Valgadu champions were indeed facing difficulties. The Protean Eye, still in its elephant form, had a firm hold on Elephendi. What was even more terrifying was that it had freed its head and was targeting its captor.

The scorching flames clung to the wizard's protective barrier like molten lava, emitting a sinister sizzling sound. The other two champions were utterly powerless. They swung their arms vigorously, casting spells one after another, but the Hungarian Horntail shook its head, and the incantations merely bounced off its circular scales like mosquito bites, achieving no effect whatsoever.

The Australian Protean Eye opened its mouth, flames ready to burst forth. This time, the flames were even more vibrant in color, and they seemed to hear the sound of flowing lava—

"Shh!" A blazing red beam descended from above, striking its head directly.

"The security officer has intervened. He deemed the Valgadu champions to be under a threat of death, stopping the dragon. This might affect their score. Valgadu is the second team to retrieve a dragon egg, just behind Hogwarts! However, this mistake could impact their ranking!" Bagman announced loudly.

Others quickly approached the scene. As the red light dissipated, the Australian Protean Eye had fainted, along with the half-sized elephant which was slowly reverting back to its human form. The wizard's skin was singed, bearing a terrifying sight.

"Be very careful. Besides its flames, a dragon's strength is astonishing. Few magical creatures can match it." Bagman belatedly remarked.

"Easy for him to say," Ron muttered discontentedly near the stands.

Three teams remained on the field: Beauxbatons, Koldovstoretz, and Dumstrang. A few minutes later, the situation became clearer—

Beauxbatons' trio, led by Fleur, was the obvious powerhouse. They relied on her unique magic to hypnotize the Welsh Green Dragon, then one member acted as a protector while another discreetly retrieved the egg. The plan was sound, but due to the interference of the Koldovstoretz team in the middle, the Welsh Green Dragon always woke up at critical moments, repeatedly sabotaging their efforts.

Dumstrang's position was relatively better. Krum, with his exceptional reflexes, managed to hit the dragon's eyes twice in a row, sending it into a frenzy. However, they faced the problem of how to recover the shattered egg fragments from under the dragon's enraged feet.

Both teams were grappling with their respective challenges, but the true trouble came from the outside—just as Bagman had said in the temporary tent, champions needed to be vigilant from all directions. They also had to contend with the increasingly expanding tornado of black flames. However, the Koldovstoretz champions in the middle seemed unable to control this magic any longer, yet they persevered.

"Bulstrode, don't stop me!" Viktor Krum urgently shouted, "If I can't get the egg, I'll prevent others from getting it."

Bulstrode's face turned red. He didn't speak, he just silently contended with Krum for magical control.

He knew Krum's course of action was wrong, and he shouldn't make it worse.

As an onlooker, he had seen it clearly. Koldovstoretz's biggest problem was lacking a means to get close to the dragon, and unfortunately, their magic power wasn't sufficient to decisively defeat the Hebridean Black Dragon. The dragon had realized this too, it simply breathed out flames from afar, creating a turbulent swirl of flames mixed with its own, which was becoming increasingly difficult to control. They had long been caught in a dilemma.

At this point, the Hebridean Black Dragon appeared to be at ease, occasionally flaunting a row of razor-sharp but shallow ridges on its back like a show of prowess. Its purple eyes gleamed, observing them intently.

Seeing the situation on the field worsen, Viktor Krum came up with a dubious idea—disturbing the other competing teams.

His choices were limited. The three opposing teams were beyond his reach and had already left the arena. So he could only target the closest two: Beauxbatons and Dumstrang, much to their misfortune.

This was the reason the competition had dragged on until now.

Karkaroff and Madame Maxime were fuming, glaring at the headmaster of Koldovstoretz. His expression remained stern, unchanging for a full ten minutes. Only when the Koldovstoretz team lost control of their magic completely and a rain of black flames began to pour from the sky did he rigidly request assistance.

Dragon tamers and Ministry officials rushed forward, reciting extinguishing spells. The burning flames on the field quickly subsided.

"Alright, the last team has completed the task! Although it's somewhat regrettable, there's no doubt they secured the dragon egg. Moreover, this champion's spirit of sacrifice might offset the points deduction due to the security officer's intervention… She seems to be injured. Please have the staff take her to the tent for treatment. The judges need to confer before scoring."

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