The Black Dread

"Parseltongue/Dragon tongue"

"Normal talk"

'Thoughts'

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ROARRRRRRRRRRRR.

'He didn't die huh? Plan B it is then,' Harry thought as he changed his position.

That was an excellent move as the thirty-meter beast swung its tail at his previous spot, hitting nothing but air.

'Had that hit, I would have probably died instantly,' he mused.

"You dare use the killing curse on me human? You dare assume that you have the required will to banish MY SOUL from MY BODY? I, who meddled with souls long since before your birth! I'm Ozeth! I'm The Black Dread, the last of the Abyssal Reavers. No mortal spell can kill me. NOW BOW DOWN," he commanded.

Needless to say, Harry lived to displease.

"SSecare. SSecare," he cast twice.

'Those are some strong fucking scales, though I didn't expect anything less,' he thought after the two cutting curses hit Ozeth, dealing no visible damage whatsoever.

He tried using other spells, both of darker and more obscure variety, however nothing seemed to work.

'Dragon fire,' came suddenly Ash's hiss in his mind.

Harry didn't hesitate to form a circle with his wand right as the dragon opened its maw.

"Draconis aegis," he cried, materializing a dark shimmer in front of him just in time to meet the sickly red fire coming off the beast's mouth.

'At least it holds,' he thought right before the pressure of keeping up the shield doubled.

"Fuck," he muttered, disapparating both himself and Ash away.

POP.

That turned out to be a mistake as the first thing he saw as he reappeared in the pit, were the dragon flames heading his way…

'Didn't I just apparate away?' he thought confusedly before he disappeared again.

'Okay, something's wrong.'

The dragon somehow managed to pinpoint his location before he apparated in, twice.

After it happened for the fifth time, Harry started growing restless.

'How's he doing this?' he asked his familiars.

'I'd say he either has a magical sense, like me, or he's really able to sense souls,' said Ash.

'It's the latter,' revealed Fawkes.

'Any ideas?' Harry asked while racking his brain out.

'I could teach you how to perform a phoenix flash.'

Harry was about to question Fawkes' intelligence but his shield fell and he was forced to apparate away again and discard plan B.

Considering the speed at which his reserves were draining, it wouldn't be smart to start bombarding the dragon with big and destructive spells.

'Fine.'

Fawkes didn't waste any time, flashing on Harry's shoulder.

'Try to remember this feeling as well as you can, your life may very well depend on it,' said the phoenix, bursting, along with his companions, in a flash of flames.

'That's way quicker than apparition,' Harry mused as he appeared on the opposite side of the arena.

He didn't notice it in Dumbledore's office because his attention was otherwise preoccupied…

Surprisingly, there weren't any flames coming their way yet.

Harry closed his eyes, trusting the phoenix, and tried to absorb everything from that experience.

"Are you joining our dance Fawkes? Perhaps, I should get serious then, for old times' sake," said Ozeth in a raucous voice.

The dragon started spewing his fire with a renewed vigour, causing a multitude of fiery flashes.

After a whole minute of Fawkes simply moving the group around, Harry finally opened his eyes again.

'Thanks for the support Fawkes, though I can take it from here,' he said before engulfing his companions in flames and disappearing.

As Harry appeared in his intended spot, he felt various sensations washing over him. At first, there was an intense heat, searing through his entire body like flames flirting with dry wood. Mercifully, amidst the scorching heat, there was also a strange euphoria, a sense of exhilaration unlike anything he had ever experienced before that balanced the pain out.

'Woah, that was lucky. I didn't expect you to do it perfectly from your first try,' said Fawkes.

Harry gave the avian a mental nod, prompting him to flex his wings and once again take to the sky.

He then performed his just-acquired ability and found himself standing in front of the dragon's face.

'His teeth are looking very pointy from this close,' he observed.

"Infernum pluvia," Harry hissed, instantly conjuring drops of molten lava that rained down upon the dragon's head.

ROARRRRRRR.

The Abyssal Reaver's response was instantaneous.

Even as the lava tried to breach his impenetrable hide, Ozeth lunged forward, opening his terrifying maw.

One didn't have to be a genius to understand his intentions…

Harry's wordless protego fell almost immediately when it met with the dragon barge.

'Fuck, fuck, FUCK!' he inwardly screamed, amidst his phoenix flash.

It wasn't fast enough.

Ozeth would bite his head off before he disappeared.

'That guy, Newton, was pretty smart for a muggle,' Ash said through their bond, confusing Harry.

It was very simple…

For Harry to go backwards, something had to go forward.

Or someone!

Harry watched in horror as the snake propelled itself from Harry's beck, right into the dragon's mouth.

He was helplessly falling back when the flames finally claimed him.

'Ash is dead,' he realised as he reappeared on the other side of the pit, waiting to feel their soul bond breaking.

'Holy fuck, that was scary,' came the snake's voice in his mind.

'What???'

'I know right? I was very fucking lucky to go through his teeth there,' Ash said as he appeared back on Harry's neck.

'Thank you birdie,' he said, nodding at the phoenix that was holding him in its talons.

Fawkes let out a happy trill before he flew again.

"ASH! Thank god you are okay! That was fucking close… I let my excitement from learning to flash get in my head," Harry murmured while observing the clearly annoyed dragon.

'Time to get serious,' he thought and toned down the fury that he felt towards the beast.

"Oh Magic, heed my call. By the ancient rites of conquest, I, as the lord of my house, issue the right of conquest against Ozeth, the Abyssal Reaver," Harry proclaimed and everything stilled.

A cruel and horrible laugh echoed in the arena, breaking the silence and chilling everyone's spines.

"HUMAN! I ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE!" Ozeth barked and Harry felt a connection form with the beast in front of him.

While the dragon bore a gleeful expression on its face, that frightened the few people who looked at him, the crowd had gone ashen.

At first, it was only the lords and some elder wizards that understood the significance of what happened.

However, by the time the aforementioned people informed the rest of the spectators, everyone was looking at Harry with a pale expression.

None, more than the esteemed headmaster.

'MY PLANS!' he thought in extreme indignation.

When two parties established a right of conquest between them, they had to kill each other.

And it wasn't an option, no…

Magic, itself would make sure that by the end of the day, only one of the participants remained standing.

For anyone else, issuing such a thing against a dragon, never mind Ozeth, would have been beyond idiotic.

'I bet you won't be as smug when I perform my ritual,' Harry thought as he looked at the clock.

Five minutes left.

With a deep breath, he flashed away.

'Thank god my boots are made from enchanted dragon hide,' Harry mused as he observed the scales' sharpness.

He was standing on the Ozeth's back!

"Accio sword of Gryffindor," he cast with his wand facing his pouch, grabbing the hilt that came up.

That was a nice little gift he had found inside the chamber after the whole Dumbledore fiasco. Apparently, the sorting hat wasn't happy with the headmaster.

The sword, as always, was a sight to behold, with its gleaming silver blade and the many intricate runes and symbols that were etched along its length. Its edge was razor-sharp, capable of slicing through even the toughest of materials with ease.

However, Harry's plan wasn't simply relying on that.

"I wonder, are you also immune to basilisk venom?" he spewed sarcastically, pushing the sword through Ozeth's back.

ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

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You guys have been on fire lately!

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[https://www.patreon.com/Mr_0ne] -> Chapter 24

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