BOOM—
The explosion that erupted from Harry's final curse was beyond anything that should have been possible. The very air seemed to ignite as raw magical energy tore through the clearing with the force of a natural disaster, creating a shockwave that rippled out from the point of impact like the birth of a new star.
The sound was indescribable like thunder, like the screaming of tortured metal. It resounded through the Forbidden Forest with such intensity that sleeping creatures miles away startled awake.
Amid this earth-shaking noise, the transfigured dragon released what could only be described as a death cry—a piercing, mournful roar that seemed to contain all the anguish of a creature facing its final moments.
The massive shockwave that followed swept over everything in its path with merciless force. Adrian was also forced to instinctively raise his arm to shield his face as debris and superheated air splashed over him.
Cedric, positioned much closer to the epicenter of destruction, was lifted from his feet and hurled backward like a child's discarded toy. His hastily conjured Iron Armor Charm was instantly covered in a spider web of glowing cracks.
For a few seconds after the initial explosion, the entire clearing was shrouded in a thick, choking cloud of smoke and pulverized stone that made it impossible to see more than a few feet in any direction.
The pungent smell of burned magic was in the air, mixing with the earthy scent of churned soil and the metallic tang of destroyed enchantments. Particles of dust and debris continued to rain down from above like deadly snow, pattering against the leaves and forest floor.
When the smoke and dust finally began to settle, revealing the aftermath of Harry's abnormal assault, both Adrian and Cedric found themselves staring at a scene of devastation that belonged more in the aftermath of a war.
The magnificent Norwegian Ridgeback had been almost completely obliterated by the force of Harry's final attack. The creature had lost nearly half of its massive body, with a huge, horrifically bloody crater where its center chest had once been. The wound was so wide that it seemed to go completely through the beast, creating a tunnel of destruction that revealed the forest outside.
Even if this had been a genuine dragon rather than a transfigured one, there would have been absolutely no hope of survival from wounds of such size.
The dragon's remaining portions, no longer held together by the unifying force of the transfiguration spell, began to twist and deform in disturbing ways. Within moments, it crumbled away, collapsing into a scattered pile of broken rocks and stone fragments.
However, despite the spectacular nature of this transformation, neither Adrian nor Cedric could spare even a moment's attention for the pile of mundane rubble.
Their eyes were fixed with growing alarm upon Harry, who remained frozen in the exact position he had occupied at the moment of casting his devastating final spell.
Harry stood like a statue, his wand still extended and motionless as it pointed toward the space where the dragon had met its destruction. His entire body was rigid with tension.
Most disturbing of all was his facial expression, which remained locked in that same mask of savage satisfaction that had appeared during his magical frenzy. The lightning-bolt scar on his forehead continued to flicker with an eerie red light, like a burning ember, making him appear almost demonic.
"Eldra," Adrian frowned as he communicated with the Tree of Wisdom, "what's happening to Harry?"
[Name: Harry Potter]
[Status: Magical Outburst]
'Magical outburst?'
Adrian was slightly stunned. He was certainly not unfamiliar with this phenomenon.
Magical outbursts were indeed a common occurrence among young wizards, typically manifesting during moments of intense emotional agitation, physical danger, or psychological stress. They represented the unconscious and uncontrolled release of raw magical energy, usually serving as a child's first indication that they possessed magical abilities.
In many ways, these episodes were considered an essential and natural part of the journey toward becoming a fully trained wizard.
However, there was a crucial problem with this diagnosis that made Adrian's confusion entirely understandable.
Although Harry was certainly still young in Adrian's eyes, he was clearly and definitively past the typical age range for magical outbursts. Such episodes almost always occurred in children between the ages of seven and ten, when their magical cores were still developing and their control mechanisms had not yet fully matured.
By the time a young wizard reached Hogwarts age, they should have long since developed sufficient natural control to prevent such releases of uncontrolled magic.
For a student who was already in his fourth year at Hogwarts—someone who had been successfully casting controlled magic for years to experience such a violent magical outburst was almost unheard of.
Adrian's gaze was drawn inevitably back to Harry's forehead, where the scar had finally begun to fade back to its normal pale appearance. The eerie red glow was slowly dimming, like embers dying in a cold hearth, but Adrian was absolutely certain that he had witnessed that unmistakable crimson glow just moments before.
The answer to this mystery was becoming obvious.
The bizarre and dangerous occurrence that had just taken place must inevitably be connected to Voldemort. More specifically, it was likely related to the soul fragment that the Dark Lord had unknowingly embedded within Harry during his failed attempt to kill the boy as an infant.
Adrian's initial hypothesis was that Voldemort's Horcrux had somehow managed to influence or corrupt Harry's mental state during the intensity of combat, amplifying his natural aggressive instincts and magical abilities to dangerous levels.
After only ten seconds, Harry finally began to emerge from his trance-like state. The ferocious expression of savage satisfaction that had been on his face slowly melted away, replaced by an expression of bewilderment and horror.
He blinked several times rapidly, his eyes gradually refocusing on his surroundings as if he were waking from an unusually vivid and disturbing nightmare.
As consciousness returned, he began to experience the consequences of his excess magical use—intense dizziness that made the world spin around him, accompanied by nausea so severe that he had to clench his jaw to prevent himself from being sick right there in the clearing. His legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed to his knees.
Recognizing the signs of magical exhaustion and potential collapse, both Adrian and Cedric abandoned their observation and rushed to Harry's side.
"I... what happened to me?" Harry's voice was hoarse, rough and strained as if he had been screaming for hours. He looked around the devastated clearing with confusion and alarm, looked at the broken stone fragments scattered everywhere, the scorched ground, and Cedric's wary gaze.
Almost instantly, memories flooded back in his mind, and his face turned pale.
"Do you remember what just happened?" Adrian asked with gentle concern.
Harry nodded hesitantly. His face showed a mixture of disbelief and dawning horror as he processed what his restored memories were telling him.
Including the lingering sense of euphoria that remained faintly in his mind.
But still...
Were these really his memories?
Had he actually performed these terrible things?
"Harry, you completely transformed into a different person just moments ago," Cedric said carefully. He paused for a moment, searching for the right words, before continuing slowly: "You became very... very frightening."
"I can imagine," Harry replied with difficulty. "It's almost impossible to believe. I have no understanding of what happened to me, and I certainly don't know why I did those things. All I remember is wanting to defeat that dragon, and then I started casting those spells, and then..."
His voice trailed off as he struggled to put the inexplicable transformation into words that made any kind of rational sense.
At this moment, the aftereffects of excessive magic use began to manifest. Harry felt unbearable stabbing pain in his brain. His trembling fingers touched his temples, where blood vessels were still throbbing. Each throb made him furrow his brow.
"Drink this, Harry. You'll feel much better quite quickly," Adrian said with concern, producing a small vial of potion from within his robes and pressing it gently into Harry's shaking hands. "Don't worry too much about what just happened. You simply experienced a magical outburst."
"Magical outburst?" Cedric repeated with obvious surprise, his eyebrows rising toward his hair. "But those only happen to very young wizards, children who haven't yet learned to control their magic..."
"That's true in the vast majority of cases," Adrian nodded thoughtfully while carefully choosing his words.
"However, adult wizards do occasionally experience magical outbursts as well, though it's quite rare. While Harry isn't technically an adult yet, this certainly isn't the first such case in magical history. There are documented cases of even fully mature wizards experiencing magical outbursts again during periods of extreme emotional instability or psychological stress."
Harry lifted the vial to his lips and took a sip of the headache-relieving potion. Almost immediately, he could feel some of the crushing pain beginning to recede, and a bit of natural color started to return to his previously ashen cheeks.
"Is this... is this a bad thing?" he asked weakly, his voice still strained but no longer quite so hoarse. "I feel like something wasn't quite right with me during that time."
"You're going to be perfectly fine," Adrian assured him, reaching out to steady Harry's still-trembling shoulders with gentle hands. "All you need right now is proper rest and recovery time. Sleep through the night, and by tomorrow morning you'll be back to your normal self."
Only when he heard this reassurance did Harry finally allow himself to release the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, his shoulders began sagging with relief.
In truth, Adrian wasn't entirely certain what long-term effects this magical outburst might have on Harry's development as a wizard or on his general wellbeing. The connection to Voldemort's soul fragment added layers of complexity that made any predictions extremely difficult.
However, one thing was worth noting—those wizards in history who experienced magical outbursts after reaching adulthood were all very famous great wizards with exceptional magical abilities.
Clearly, this wasn't a coincidence.
After nearly five minutes of careful rest and recovery, during which Harry slowly sipped his potion and focused on regaining his composure, the "magical outburst" status finally disappeared from Adrian's vision.
However, when Harry tried to evaluate his current condition, he discovered that he didn't feel any different than he had immediately after the episode.
To test his current situation, he tried to cast a simple lighting charm. But as soon as he tried to channel magic through his wand, a sharp spike of pain shot through his brain with enough intensity to make him gasp and nearly drop the wand.
Obviously, he had used too many spells in quick succession and had temporarily lost his ability to cast magic.
"So... do we count as having passed your training exercise?" Harry asked suddenly, turning toward Adrian with a mixture of exhaustion and curiosity in his voice.
"Well... of course you do."
Adrian looked around at the devastation surrounding them and found himself momentarily at a loss for words.
While it was true that the spectacular results had been achieved through an uncontrolled magical outburst rather than skillful technique, Harry's fierce and overwhelmingly powerful performance had still far exceeded anything Adrian had anticipated when designing this training scenario.
Walking carefully through the debris field, Adrian made his way to the pile of rubble that had once been his transfigured dragon. After a few moments of searching among the broken stones, he located what he had been looking for—a dull gray egg.
He lifted the egg and walked back to place it in Harry's hands.
"This belongs to you now, as a reward for successfully completing the training," Adrian said with a small smile. "Although it isn't actually a dragon egg, it's still worth quite a few numbers of Galleons. You and Cedric can split the earnings between you."
"Just give it to Harry," Cedric interjected with a complicated expression. "I didn't really do anything significant during this exercise. He defeated that dragon completely single-handedly."
Harry accepted the heavy egg with both hands, examining it with growing curiosity despite his exhaustion.
"What exactly is this?" He couldn't help but ask, turning the mysterious object over in his hands.
In response, Adrian stepped forward and lightly tapped the egg's surface with the tip of his index finger.
In an instant, the egg began to change slowly. The gray-black color started to fade away, eventually transforming into a gorgeous silver-blue hue with a delicate metallic sheen on its surface. Besides that, its shape also became a perfect sphere.
"This is an Occamy egg," Adrian explained. "They're extraordinarily precious and valuable—the shell is composed of pure silver, making it worth a considerable fortune even without considering its magical properties. Unfortunately, the creature that would have hatched from this egg has died, so it cannot be brought to life. But the shell itself remains extremely valuable to potioneers and magical craftsmen."
Harry nodded slightly, but for a moment didn't know where to put this egg that was larger than his head.
Just then, the Occamy egg suddenly shrank, becoming only the size of a fist.
"Occamy eggs can change size according to their environment," Adrian added, "even if it's a dead egg."
Harry tucked the cool silver egg into his pocket. Despite its reduced size, it retained most of its original weight, creating the sensation of carrying a small bag filled with Galleons.
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