Chapter 354: The Last First Task

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 354: The Last First Task

When the smoke cleared, the terrifying result of the shot became apparent.

The top half of the dragon's head was missing, with smoke billowing from the remaining lower portion. It was a gruesome spectacle, but at least it didn't last long. The dragon, clearly dead at this point, collapsed to the ground and did not move again.

The blue stone embedded in the weapon dimmed, turning a dull gray before shattering into dozens of small fragments that disintegrated into dust as they hit the ground.

"You overloaded the arkstone with that shot. Too much power," Neville commented.

Victoria turned to look at him, unable to hide the surprise in her expression at the fact that he understood that much.

"I designed it for a single shot. And something had to be sacrificed to achieve maximum potency..."

"You made that yourself?" Neville asked, impressed. Apparently, there was a version of him that was competent with runes.

A smug smile spread across her face.

"Of course. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a trial to finish."

With the beast already dead, it took her only around a minute to retrieve the golden egg and return to the starting position.

"He wasn't wrong...this is tacky," she muttered, glancing at the egg in her hand.

"Good job!" Professor Silverbell cheered.

"I suppose we're done here... I don't want to stay in this place longer than necessary," she said, her green eyes scanning the few people left in the arena.

With the alternative versions of Harry Potter gone, only Neville remained. He was still seated with his wand touching the ground, maintaining control over the last dragon. Professor Silverbell and Headmaster Dumbledore were the only others present.

Her eyes paused briefly on Albus Dumbledore, her expression shifting to one of disdain before she looked away.

The old headmaster noticed this and wondered what could have caused such animosity.

Victoria's body began to fade, and within moments, she disappeared. Just like the others, her dragon and the nest vanished as well.

The fracture in the sky had shrunk to a barely visible line, easy to miss unless you knew it was there.

"Looks like we've nearly made it through," Dumbledore observed.

"Hey, don't jinx it," Neville huffed.

"All that remains is for you to finish your task. Concluding that should end the Convergence," Silverbell said with a tinge of hope in his voice. He could not be completely sure of that until they actually tried it.

"Right... let's do this quickly," Neville said, glancing over at the nest containing the dragon eggs, including the golden one he needed to acquire.

The egg was protected against summoning charms, but there was another way to bring it to him.

Without moving from his seated position or lifting his wand from the ground, Neville began to manipulate the rocks beneath the nest.

The ground trembled for a moment before the entire nest began to shift on its own.

Moving a bit of dirt and rocks was much easier, and faster than confronting the angry dragon. This had originally been his plan... to restrain the dragon's movements with transfiguration and simply move the nest closer.

It would have been a display of magical prowess impressive enough to attract Voldemort's attention and perhaps make him a little uneasy, while simultaneously not revealing too much about his abilities.

'But things hadn't gone according to plan at all...' he lamented.

Now he needed to find out more about Voldemort's reaction to today's events and any potential change in his plans.

'I may have to rely on Umbridge for that', he thought. She was the most accessible active Death Eater at the moment. Hopefully, her mind will hold another interrogation.

While Neville was lost in his own thoughts, the nest had already arrived beside him.

"Oh? I guess we're done here," he remarked.

The audience didn't even react. This had likely been the least impressive-looking task of them all since they had already been shooked too many times today.

The moment he lifted his wand from the ground and stood up, the metallic chains binding the dragon disintegrated into dust, vanishing into the air.

Neville picked up the golden egg and raised it for the judges to see.

"I have completed the task," he declared in a bored tone.

He was mostly met with silence, as the audience was still trying to process what they had just witnessed.

They had seen dragons appear out of nowhere and four different versions of Harry Potter complete their tasks with absurd displays of magical ability.

Even Mister Crouch stood there, watching and wondering if it was truly over...or if something else was about to happen. Maybe another dragon would appear out of nowhere or more people would enter the arena unannounced.

"Congratulations, Mister Longbottom," Dumbledore said, clapping loudly enough to wake the audience from their stupor.

This seemed to stir the crowd, who soon followed his lead. Applause and cheers began to fill the arena.

"Ehmm... well, there you have it, folks," Mister Crouch finally reacted, picking up the voice-enhancing device and bringing it close to his mouth.

"Neville Longbottom has completed the task in record time... if we only count the last part and ignore that girl who blew up a dragon's head with that strange weapon or... everything else... What was that all about? Oh...sorry about that... Let's move on to the scoring."

"See?" Neville turned to Dumbledore with a smirk.

"I completed the task without any issues. And the dragon is still ali—"

Thud.

The dragon collapsed.

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