Chapter 340: A Storm Approaches

Disclaimer:

Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 340: A Storm Approaches

"Oh Merlin! You can see everything!" Lyra stared at the French champion, who got a bit too exposed after the dragon burned away her dress while she was in the process of getting away once she got the golden egg.

"Don't look!" Ginny hurried to cover Harry's eyes.

"I didn't see anything, I swear!" Harry said quickly.

"What did she do to the dragon to piss it off so much?" Lyra asked.

"She used some type of bewitching charm on the dragon. I'm not familiar with that one, but it must have been something between a compulsion and the Imperius Curse… she must have forgotten that most magical beasts are very resistant to mind magic, so it wore off very quickly." Daphne explained.

Fleur had managed to return to the champions' tent while carrying the golden egg and covering as much of her body as she could.

"Look, they're giving the scores," Luna pointed at the judges' area.

"Seriously?... She got an eight?" Lyra raised an eyebrow. That seemed like a very high score for someone who barely completed the task.

"They make an average of all the judges' scores," Ginny commented. "And she got a ten from Headmaster Karkaroff." She added with a raised eyebrow.

"And another ten from Mister Barty Crouch Senior…of course. " Daphne huffed.

"I wonder what they liked so much about her performance…." Lyra looked very annoyed.

"Can I open my eyes now?" Harry asked politely.

"What's with him today?..." Lyra could not recognize her brother right now.

'Did my news snap something in his brain? That can't be…' she thought.

While they took away the green dragon, the next champion entered the arena.

" That's the Viktor Krum that my brother Ron won't shut up about...he is always surrounded by fangirls. " Ginny said.

"I wonder if he's also good at using magic," Lyra said.

"He wouldn't be here if his only skill was flying a broom," Daphne added.

At that moment, they were all startled by a loud cracking noise coming from the sky.

"What is that?" Lyra asked.

"A storm?" Astoria suggested.

"It doesn't look like a storm..." Daphne said.

They looked up, but the morning sky was completely devoid of any dark clouds, and no matter how much they looked, they couldn't find anything amiss.

Daphne stared up with a concerned look. She couldn't say what it was, but she had this foreboding feeling that something terrible was about to happen.

"Daph?..." Astoria pulled on her sister's robes.

"It's nothing. I'm fine," Daphne tried her best to offer her a reassuring smile.

The proceedings continued, and Krum's dragon was brought into the arena.

A violent red dragon, who began to spit fire around the moment its mouth guard was released by the handlers.

"Okay, that one looks a lot scarier," Lyra admitted.

"A Chinese Fireball," Luna identified the dragon immediately.

"Let me guess… they love breathing fire," Ginny said.

"Yes! How did you know?" Luna looked impressed.

Ginny rolled her eyes.

Krum was given the signal to begin. His performance went a lot better than Fleur's. He used a Conjunctivitis Curse on the beast, blinding it completely, before sneaking by and grabbing the egg.

He would have gotten an almost perfect score if his spell hadn't caused the dragon to step on several of its eggs, killing the unborn hatchlings.

He ended up with an 8.5 score, which put him in first place for now.

Then it was Cedric Diggory's turn.

The entire stadium cheered for him as soon as he entered.

"Wow… he really is the most popular candidate," Lyra grimaced.

"Of course. This is Hogwarts, and he's the Hogwarts Champion," Daphne shrugged. "At least that's what everyone says," she glanced at 'Harry'.

"Well, for one, I hope he gets burned a bit," Ginny said.

"Ginny, you can't say that…" Harry muttered.

"Why not? It was his housemates who attacked us… why should I care what happens to him?" She crossed her arms.

"But Cedric has never said anything mean to m— Neville…."

"Maybe not him, but that girlfriend of his has said enough for both of them," Lyra added.

"Cho…" Astoria muttered the name. She was one of the few people in the entire school she actually disliked.

"I don't like her much either…" It was rare for Luna to say that about some anyone.

They brought out Cedric's dragon...the Swedish Short-Snout.

It was the smallest one so far, but it looked angrier than the two previous dragons combined.

"That dragon is ready to rip his head off," Lyra said.

"Then for his own good, he'd better have a good plan," Ginny said.

Cedric looked very nervous as he approached the dragon… step by step.

Once he determined he was just outside its range of attack, Cedric tapped his wand on some loose stones and transfigured them into several small animals.

The creatures began to run toward the dragon from different directions, successfully distracting it just long enough for Cedric to sneak behind it.

The audience watched with rapt attention… not wanting to make a noise that could ruin their champion's plan.

But just as Cedric was about to grab the golden egg from the nest, another one of those loud cracking noises resounded all over the arena.

This one was much louder than the previous one.

Cedric, who had been so focused on grabbing the egg, was startled by the sudden noise and let out a short scream.

He immediately realized what he had done and covered his mouth, but it was too late. The dragon heard him and turned around.

Cedric was now trapped at the back of the arena, and the only way out was to circle around the dragon.

"Merlin! He's going to get killed," Daphne said.

"This is very bad…." Ginny commented.

"Bad?… he's bloody screwed," Lyra said.

Charlie Weasley and the other handlers hurried into the arena to save him.

Cedric stared directly at the ugly giant beast, thinking he was about to be killed.

But at that moment, out of nowhere, something fell from the sky and landed with force on the head of the dragon.

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