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Ch 21 The Black Dread Part 2
🕑 Added 2023-05-01 14:47:10 +0000 UTCThe moment they appeared in the clearing where they had set up the tent, Celine shook off his hand and stumbled away from Sirius, and raised her wand, still shaking from the adrenaline. It took her a moment to realize that it was him before she collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath. Sirius leaned against a nearby tree, his wand still clutched tightly in his hand.
The two of them sat there in silence for a few moments, trying to catch their breath and calm their nerves. As the rush of the moment began to subside, Celine looked up at Sirius with a mixture of relief and concern in her eyes.
"You survived?" she asked, her voice still shaking from the adrenaline.
"I did," Sirius replied, letting out a deep breath and slumping to the ground, and asked after a moment, "So tell me? What insanity took hold of you that you decided to fight against that monstrosity instead of instantly Apparating away, like any sane Wizard?"
"Hey!" Celine protested, "It wasn't like I had a lot of time to think about what to do, a-and most of the dangerous situations I've been in my life have mostly been in some kind of a tomb or an ancient ruin, places where there is almost always an Anti-Apparation ward around, so my body instinctively took action and I started casting curses at the big guy,"
Sirius raised an incredulous eyebrow, "So your first instinct when you encounter a dragon is to attack it?"
"Shut Up! Don't make me sound stupid," Celine pouted, her cheeks turning slightly red, "And It's not like it was my first time facing a dragon. Granted, the last time I was on a team but at least I was able to hold up my own against its attacks so I thought I could handle myself... but I guess this dragon was just a particularly tuff one," she finished, her tone self-deprecating.
"Did you even know what kind of dragon it was?" Sirius asked, to which Celine shook her head.
"Well, that explains your suicidal bravery," he muttered to himself, before explaining to her, "That was an Ancient Black Dread, one of the most dangerous dragons in wizarding history. It's said to be the only dragon in history that could go toe-to-toe with a Basilisk, thanks to its powerful magical resistance which was so good that it could resist the deadly gaze of the serpent,"
"R-Really," Celine shivered as she thought about how close she had come to death today, "But how come I've never heard of it,"
"Well, that's because they were thought to be extinct...Well at least until a few hours ago," Sirius said while conjuring a cup and filling it with water to drink, "Their hides were used to make the best magic-resistant armor, making them worth a lot of money, so a lot of greedy and suicidal wizards hunted them for gold and glory. While most of them died foolishly; the remaining wizards were powerful enough that they hunted them to extinction,"
Sirius conjured another cup of water and levitated it toward Celine, who took it gratefully. , "Well not that it was a bad thing, since it seems the Black Dread's favorite dining place was human villages and that it would destroy one village at least every few months,"
Sirius had done an extensive amount of research on various Dragon species and how to defeat them in a bid to help Harry in the first task. And despite his absence during the main event due to this sudden trip, he had left clear instructions with Kreacher on how and when to give Harry the tools from him that would help him easily clear the First task if he wasn't able to find a way himself first.
"If you knew all that why did you stay and fight instead of apparating away immediately," Celine asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Didn't you notice that the Dragon seemed to be in some kind of hibernation before we disturbed it," Sirius asked and Celine's eyes widened as she nodded, "But Dragons don't do that naturally like other animals such as bears. And one more thing I noticed was that the Dragon seemed to be restricted to a fixed area and wasn't able to move beyond that..."
"I didn't notice that at all..." Celine said thoughtfully, "But now that I think about it, It did seem suspicious,"
"So I thought that it was deliberately put there by someone to guard something so I had wanted to thoroughly scan the area to see if there was anything there like a ward or something,"
"So! Did you find anything," Celine asked in anticipation.
But Sirius shook him with a sigh, "No, I checked quite a few times but unfortunately there was nothing in the area that would seem like a hidden clue or ward or anything magic related at all... Well except for the giant magical flying lizard,"
"Ugh..." Celine collapsed back onto the ground, feeling depressed, "You got my hopes up for nothing,"
Sirius snickered a little at seeing her antics, feeling a bit lighter he said jokingly, "Maybe we'll come back to hunt the dragon if we can't find anything else in the forest. How about that?"
"Yay!" She said sarcastically, raising her hand limply with fake enthusiasm, "Can't wait for it,"
...
The Great Hall of Hogwarts hummed with activity as students, teachers, and ghosts went about their business. The enchanted ceiling, which promised a sunny day with its light blue hue, beckoned those who wanted to bask in the last bit of sun before winter fully set in. The long wooden tables groaned under the weight of a sumptuous breakfast spread, featuring crispy bacon, perfectly fried eggs, succulent sausages, and warm toast.
At the Gryffindor table, Ron lounged at the end, reading the Daily Prophet instead of Hermione for once. Harry and Hermione sat opposite him, eating and brainstorming ideas about the Golden Egg.
"Listen to this," Ron said, clearing his throat. " 'Harry Potter, the boy who lived, has once again triumphed over evil. This time, he faced a fearsome dragon and emerged victorious, thanks to his quick thinking and bravery and Gal-Gallan-G-Ga"
"Gallantry! Ron," Hermione corrected helpfully.
"Yeah Yeah, Gallan-Whatever," Ron said rolling his eyes, before he turned to Harry with a smirk, "But the point is that, it seems that they are once again praising you to the high heavens here. Completely changed their tone from a week ago, eh?"
Hermione snorted derisively. "Of course. Now that he's gone and defeated a dragon, he's no longer a tragic teen who cries himself to sleep over his parents," she said scathingly, snatching the paper from Ron and scanning the rest of the article.
"Listen to this," she read after flipping a few pages. "Tiberius Ogden said, 'I was there at the stadium and I can tell you it was nothing short of legendary for a 14-year-old boy to take on a dragon like the Horntail by himself. I don't care what anyone says, he deserves to be the Triwizard Champion more than anyone else, underage or not.'"
"And Griselda Marchbanks said, 'I think the spell he used was nothing short of a masterful creation. If I'm not mistaken, it was a completely new spell, which is a remarkable feat. It's been a long time since anyone brought innovation to the wizarding world.'"
"Alright, Hermione, I think that's enough," Ron said, a teasing lilt in his voice. "If Harry gets any redder, people will start mistaking him for me,"
Harry blushed and said, "I am not turning Red," before he turned to Hermione, "Besides they've got it all wrong, don't they? I didn't do much at all. It was all Hermione's work, not mine. All I did was stand there and cast a spell that any bumbling fool with a wand could do. The real genius is Hermione, who worked day and night to create the amazing spell that made it all possible," he ended with a proud smile.
Hermione shook her head with a gentle smile, "You don't have to sell yourself short, Harry. If it had been anyone else, I don't think they would have even been able to go halfway through that spell. The refined spells we learn in class are much easier to cast than the crude magic I modified for you. For example, when I tried casting that spell, I was barely able to cast a bubble 1/10th the size of the massive one you created,"
"But—"
"And not to mention," Hermione spoke over her boyfriend, "Most of the people in the hall wouldn't even be able to scrounge up the courage to stand in front of the Dragon and not run away scared immediately and I know for sure that I could count the number of people in this hall who could learn that spell to that level of Mastery in under a week on one hand,"
"But I would have never been able to do that without your—"
"Alright!Alright! Enough with the praises already," Ron rolled his dramatically, "Let's just say that both of you worked together to defeat the dragon," Harry and Hermione both embarrassingly smiled and nodded before Ron continued with a shiver, "Besides Hermione, you even skipped homework to work on that spell. Homework! I still get nightmares about your scary red eyes when you made the choice of choosing your boyfriend over Homework,"
"Shut up, Ron," Hermoine blushed and hit him from across the table.
"Ouch—Stop it, you crazy witch,"
Fortunately for Ron, someone interrupted them before he could get beat up anymore.
Lavender entered the hall and made her way towards them, smiling. "Hey, guys," she greeted them before standing behind Ron. "Hermione, Professor Vector needs to see you right away."
"Oh, crap! I forgot," Hermione exclaimed, hastily standing up with her bag in hand. "Bye, Harry. Bye, Ron. Thanks, Lavender." She kissed Harry on the cheek before rushing out of the Great Hall.
"And Harry," Lavender turned to Harry, "I was supposed to give you this," She passed him a small piece of paper.
Harry took it in confusion and opened it to find familiar handwriting.
"Dear Harry,
I hope this message finds you well. If you have a moment to spare, I would be delighted to have a cup of tea with you in my office.
P.S. I have recently acquired a taste of Chocolate Frog,"
"Who is it, Harry?" Ron asked after Lavender started talking with her friends nearby.
"It's Dumbledore," Harry said keeping the letter in his pocket, "He's asked me to come to his office,"
"Why? What does he want?" Ron asked
"Don't know," Harry said standing up after finishing his orange juice, "I'll see you later, Ron,"
Harry left toward the Headmaster's office hoping that this time he wasn't called in because of something bad.
