Harry's potion dragged the creature's internal structures outward towards the surface of the skin. Originally a medical potion crafted for the use of removing a foreign object such as a tumor, much stronger versions, like the one Harry had, did not differentiate between something that needed to be removed or not. Everything inside was coming outside. It was only legal via technicality, in that everyone who remembered its existence had died many years ago. He aimed for its belly both because that was where the hide was thinnest and also because he hoped the creature's ribcage might bore through and pierce its heart.
After another repetition, the dragon roared, loud and desperate as it stomped over toward the boy, no doubt feeling considerable pain. Harry dove to the side and started a very fun game of hide and seek with the dragon. They'd only been able to test the potion on some acromantula, the largest creatures in the Forbidden Forest, and that had taken an average of two minutes and thirty-three seconds to kill (mama and Hermione had been very thorough in the experiments) and he reckoned it would take at least five for the dragon to go down.
He fired the last bottle, smacking the beast upside the head. Some of the potion got in its eyes, and a stab of pity entered Harry without his permission. He had not wanted to kill the poor thing. Gladiatorial combat was a cruel sport, but he also did not want to be eaten by the dragon either. He'd hoped this method would be quick, but there was no easy way to take down a dragon. He figured it would take at least a dozen killing curses to down such a large beast and that was obviously illegal.
In pain, the beast retreated toward its clutch of eggs. Harry bobbed and weaved between the rocks, winding his way across the arena, edging closer to the beast. He wondered if he could try to get a few cheap shots in while he was close, to make this go faster. Then, fire caught the hem of his robe. The closer he got to the center, the more fire the dragon spewed, so he circled back around to the entrance and the beast eyed him warily from its perch atop the eggs.
That was fine. He was in no rush, he had a crowd to perform for. Man and beast stared each other down. Ludo Bagman was commentating on the match, his words bounced annoyingly off Harry's ears as he focused with all his might on the rush of magic thrumming in his veins. He palmed some of the other bottles in his bag - his emergency ones. He didn't think the explosive was a great idea, but there was a mana-replenishment potion. If he threw his all into it, he might be able to get enough speed to duck under the dragon and get the golden egg before it could attack.
Before he could consider his plan, the dragon made an odd, retching sound, and Harry perked up, wand at the ready. Slowly moving toward it, him and the crowd watched with bated breath as the dragon fussed and growled. It locked eye contact once more with Harry, deep anger and a surprising amount of awareness in its gaze. It reached its snout down, jaws wide, ready to maul him proper in its final moments. Harry raised his wand with a curse ready on his lips - and then the arena was caked in a layer of blood, falling from the sky like fresh snow.
Eviscerated, the dragon crumbled to the earth.
The stadium was dead silent.
Although the body was in pieces, he could definitely make out the ribs, as large and pale as marble columns, torn through the chest cavity and stabbed through the heart. The spine had gone through the other side and bisected the poor thing in half. And not neatly, either. That would explain all the blood.
Harry sat down on a rock, his heart pounded in his ears as he gathered his strength and his sanity. He fiddled around for a dry spot on his robes and wiped the blood off his glasses. He still had his task to complete, however, so after he steadied his heart, Harry stumbled over the remains of the corpse and went to the nest. He walked around all the newly orphaned dragon eggs - oh, hadn't Luna mentioned something about them being an endangered species? He felt like an asshole now, although what had they expected, leaving a fourteen-year-old alone with a dragon? He grabbed the golden egg from the clutch and waved it above his head.
Ron cheered, his shouting in stark contrast to the silent, traumatized crowd. Harry could pinpoint where his family watched due to their noise, and he saw his friends bundled together in a desperate huddle, wide-eyed and in shock. Mama and Sirius were clapping absently and speaking to the Weasleys and Grangers, probably assuring them that he was fine. Although they both looked peaky themselves.
Harry hoped that the trauma bonding of watching him murder the dragon might convince his adoptive parents to stop pretending the other didn't exist.
"Well, how many points did I get?" he shouted at the judge's stand.
The crowd eyed the dragon corpse, its chest a mottled mess of bone and tissue and organ, spewing blood like a geyser as the body twitched with after-death shocks.
"Guys? My score?"
....
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