"... It's almost my turn."
Watching Fleur Delacour, her face ghostly pale, walk out of the tent, Cedric couldn't help but swallow—though he considered himself well-prepared, there was no way around it. The opponent they were about to face was, after all, a fully grown, nursing fire dragon, and no one could guarantee that they could definitely defeat a fire dragon...
... should there be no one?
"Are you sure you're ready?"
Harry patted Cedric on the shoulder, though he wasn't faring much better himself, with his legs trembling uncontrollably.
"More or less, but it's a bit easier than I imagined..."
Cedric shook his head, flicking his long black hair to one side, "But what can we do? We're already sitting here."
"Yeah, we're all sitting here..."
Harry nodded, but then he paused slightly, as his tense emotions didn't stop him from catching the key point in Cedric's words, "Wait, what do you mean, easier than you imagined?" The boy instinctively raised his voice, and the other champions remaining in the room subconsciously looked up.
"?"
Because he hadn't been mentally prepared beforehand, Krum, whose teeth were chattering from nerves, widened his eyes.
Cauliflower wore the same expression. He would perform after Cedric, being second to last among all the champions, while our savior, Harry, was very fortunate to become the "axiom," successfully drawing the most challenging Hungarian Horntail among the nine fire dragons—
As Mr. Scamander put it, "the most temperamental little darling."
"Oh, I thought we had to defeat a fire dragon..."
Cedric scratched his nose and looked down at the Swedish Short-Snout perched on his fingertip and hiccupping, saying with some helplessness.
"?"
"But during lunch, you said you were ready..."
Harry blinked, feeling for a moment as if he couldn't even understand his own words.
"It's more or less like you thought..."
"Finally!"
Cedric nodded, but before he could finish speaking, cheers erupted from outside the tent... Fleur must have succeeded—aside from Yamamoto, who appeared first, cheers followed the performances of everyone else, leading those in the tent to speculate whether the short person from the Magic Institute had failed.
Then there was a moment of silence, waiting for the judges to score Fleur... "Okay, which number was this again?" Ludo Bagman's voice came, "Thanks, thank you for the reminder, Dumbledore, this girl from Beauxbatons is our fifth champion—"
And so, thunderous applause... then, the sixth whistle blew.
Cedric took a deep breath, stood up, then patted Harry on the shoulder. The two didn't speak, and he walked out with steady steps.
"Next up is the sixth contestant, hailing from Hogwarts, Cedric Diggory!"
Cedric held his wand pocket, stepping on the somewhat damp soil, and pushed open the nearby fence, "How's your preparation?" William stood by the gate, watching the black-haired boy enter the arena, and asked softly.
"Uh... pretty sure."
Cedric pulled out his wand, holding it in his hand, and the tension on his face disappeared. He smiled, his voice loud—
But at that moment, the surrounding cheers reached a climax, and figures from all directions were shouting his name. The boy blinked and nodded at William.
"Good luck."
William waved his wand, and then, not far away, a burlap sack lying on the rock suddenly burst open, and a silver-blue fire dragon emerged from it—apart from the obedient Norbert, the rest of the fire dragons made their entrance in this manner. Uncle Newt had stayed up two nights to create these bags capable of holding fire dragons—
Although tiring out the old man this way was a bit unethical, the effect was indeed very good—
"Roar—"
This Swedish Short-Snout was about three-quarters the size of a normal Norbert, but its wingspan was broader. It quickly spotted the "dragon egg" it needed to protect, and the maternal instincts of a nursing dragon, combined with the innate territorial awareness of a fire dragon, made it perceive Cedric, who had intruded into its safe zone, as an enemy—
But then, its dull yellow eyes glanced behind Cedric, a trace of confusion flashing in its eyes.
A certain Great Druid quickly stepped back two paces to avoid affecting the fire dragon's judgment.
At this moment, Cedric also finally saw his opponent. Staring at the distant fire dragon, he tightened his grip slightly on the wand with his fingers.
In the next moment, the stones on the ground began to roll, and one by one, oil-slick glossy hounds erupted from underground—of course, they only appeared to emerge. In essence, these hounds were actually those very stones on the ground—
"... a very delicate transfiguration spell! As before..."
Even Bagman momentarily forgot to commentate until a principal behind him reminded him, and then he suddenly snapped back to reality.
"Minerva, it seems you've taught a good student."
Dumbledore, after reminding Bagman, looked down at the elderly woman sitting at the front of the podium. She was tense, but upon hearing Dumbledore's words, she seemed to hesitate for a moment before finally turning her head and nodding gently—
Why don't I remember Cedric's Transfiguration being so impressive… Professor Meow was momentarily puzzled.
"Go—"
In the center of the field, though these hunting dogs needed no command, Cedric still dramatically said "go," his black cloak billowing in the wind, making him appear both imposing and stylish—
Hmm, the youth shows promise...
Hearing the screams of the young girls behind him, William nodded. Indeed, as his first disciple, Cedric not only perfectly grasped but even seamlessly integrated all the essentials he had taught him.
Winning or losing isn't important; looking cool is a lifetime pursuit—
As those dozen or so hunting dogs closed in on the Fire Dragon, it clearly fell into a state of panic. This was partly due to instinct and partly because of Cedric's Confundus Charm. The dragon opened its mouth wide, and dazzling blue flames instantly swept across most of the field—
And then, stopped right in front of Cedric.
Feeling the heat almost setting his hair on fire and hearing the worried gasps from around him, Cedric nodded slightly.
Hmm, very good, pretentious act complete, time to get down to business.
He waved his magic wand gently, controlling the black hunting dogs to continue pouncing on the dragon one after another. His other hand moved as well, swinging forcefully in the air— "Accio Armor!" The boy raised his magic wand toward the sky, and then the attention of everyone in the audience was drawn—
A second, two seconds, three seconds...
No one knew how much time had passed when, just as everyone lost patience and the dragon had dealt with all the hounds, eating a mouthful of rocks — finally, a jingling clanging sound echoed in the sky. A set of Hogwarts Castle armor, shattering into pieces, flew over and then... scattered all over in front of the boy.
"..."
Cedric's expression froze, then he quickly squatted down and started to put the armor on himself. Soon, as the dragon spat out the pebbles, an Ironman appeared in the center of the field, holding a broadsword nearly as tall as himself. As the helmet closed, dark red stripes flowed all over him—
"Fire Resistance, Stability, Giant Strength, Rock, Frenzy..."
William just glanced and saw a dozen different but interconnected magic runes. Even though the overall drawing was a bit rough, for a beginner who'd been learning for less than half a year, it was graduation-worthy for William—
In the whole school, only William and Hermione could draw better than Cedric.
The former doesn't need explaining, and the latter had already sneakily studied for a year and a half using a Time Turner.
But obviously, the other spectators didn't understand this. Even Bagman's tone sounded doubtful, "Well—now our Mr. Diggory has armored himself, though he seems a tad clumsy in movement... Perhaps there's some mystery to this armor? He's approaching the Fire Dragon, and then, flames... Referee! What's the referee doing?!"
The referee did nothing.
William sat on the sidelines, watching the Ironman engulfed in blue flames, even yawning.
Then, the Fire Dragon kept spewing fire for another two and a half minutes—
Almost burning itself "out of fuel" and leaving most of the nearby people speechless, just as most thought Cedric must have turned into a "clay-baked chicken," those with sharp eyes had already exclaimed when a red-hot broadsword suddenly appeared above the Swedish Short-Snout's head.
"Bang—"
The broadsword swung horizontally and then smacked down hard, with the metallic clang echoing in the air as it collided with dragon scales. The fierce Fire Dragon couldn't catch its breath, slumping to the ground, and coughed out two or three puffs of black smoke from its nose.
The deep red armor charged out of the smoke, raising the broadsword again, "Bang Bang Bang—"
Those who'd just exclaimed fell silent, as the audience watched an Ironman relentlessly hammering the Fire Dragon, thoroughly speechless.
Before Cedric, the other champions either ran around chaotically being chased by the dragon or tried using spells to lull the dragon. The most "ferocious" was the champion from Uagadou — but no matter how outrageous, it wasn't as bizarre as the scene unfolding before them.
How can someone hammer a dragon like that?
Seriously, that dragon looks so pitiful, it's practically going to cry from being beaten, can someone save it?
Finally, in response to everyone's heartfelt wish, William intervened. He stopped the overzealous Cedric and pointed to the dragon nest not far behind— the Swedish Short-Snout, swatted uncontrollably, also slumped to the ground, continuously sneezing, and looked at Cedric with a gaze filled with terror.
What the heck is this?!
Does anyone realize how much of a shadow this series of beatings will cast on a dragon baby just twenty-eight months old?
"Oh... almost forgot."
So, regaining his senses, Cedric stuck the broadsword into the ground and skipped over to retrieve the Golden Egg from the Fire Dragon's nest.