In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Chapter 355: Dragon Disaster

Hoss dashed fast.

He sprinted out of the Forbidden Forest and ran across the lawn at the edge of the Black Lake, just as Jon had taught him, the Aurors who were guarding the castle didn't even notice anything, it felt like a night breeze blew through, and then that doors of the castle swayed slightly.

Hoss had actually been to Hogwarts Castle when he was young, when Hagrid had first met him he was having serious health problems, so Hagrid had carried him to the castle in a panic to find Slughorn, the then Professor of Potions, to ask for some healing potions from him.

So upon entering Hogwarts Castle, he didn't wander around like a headless fly at all.

Instead, he quickly found a deserted store room on the ground floor and simply crashed through the door of the room. At this time, the students and professors of the castle were basically gathered in the upper towers, and no one noticed his movements.

The contents of the storeroom were a mess and Hoss took the clothes that Jon had taken off and found a corner, using his mouth to dig a small pit out of the pile of stuff and then threw the clothes in.

After doing this, he cocked his mouth with a somewhat humane goofy grin, then ran off again, back the way he had come and dashed out of the castle as Jon had said, but he didn't go back to the Forbidden Forest, instead, he ran straight out of the gates of the Hogwarts campus and turned into a gust of wind in the direction of Hogsmeade village.

That's what Jon had asked Hoss to do, he had tied the kite to Hogwarts Castle!

Just over a minute after he had left the castle, the dragons from the Forbidden Forest flew over the edge of the Forbidden Forest, right above the heads of the journalists and referees.

Matthew's face turned utterly grim as the dark shadows enveloped the entire night sky.

He angrily grabbed the dragon trainer by the collar and denounced furiously.

"What did you say before the tournament! You gave assurances to the Confederation and the tournament team that absolutely nothing would go terribly wrong with the dragons! But what has happened this evening!"

Snape, who was representing Voldemort, also grimaced, his already pale, paper-like face looking even bleaker at this point.

He turned his head first to look at Jon, the boy who had caused countless people to suffer so much, just shrugged his shoulders innocently.

Snape said nothing, and then he turned his gaze back to Dumbledore, the vacant stare and gloomy countenance making him look like a large, dark bat ghost come to life.

"It better not be you guys messing around."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Jon interjected with some displeasure, "Mr Snape, there's something I haven't had a chance to report to the panel of judges yet, and you're jumping ahead and pinning the blame on us. I found that someone had hidden some potion made from dragon eggs liquid inside the Golden Snitch, and it was that potion that caused these dragons to go mad. And on that golden snitch I clearly saw the dark mark of the British Ministry of Magic's Death Eater Guards, do you have any explanation for this?"

Hearing Jon's words, all eyes were instantly focused on Snape.

Matthew also frowned tightly as he first turned his head to look at the Middle Eastern wizard, only to find that his face clearly showed some panic after Jon's words, which couldn't help but make him think of something that his secretary had reported to him a few days ago.

It was only at last that he looked at Snape.

"Do you have any explanation for that? Mr. Snape."

After Matthew had communicated with Dumbledore on the wagon before, he didn't care who won or lost this Triwizard Tournament in the end, he just wanted all three tasks of the tournament to end normally, without any more mess in between.

But it was clear that neither Voldemort nor Dumbledore would let him have his most simple wish.

Snape didn't care about the stares he was getting and didn't bother to explain when a loud bang came from the direction of Hogwarts Castle, causing his entire body to freeze!

All eyes looked in the direction of Hogwarts Castle, the swarm of dragons had split into two, the ones that were not so big such as the Peruvian Vipertooth Dragons, and the Norwegian Ridgeback Dragons had crashed directly in front of the doors of the castle!

While the other huge dragons, highlighted by the Ukrainian Ironbelly Dragons, began to rush towards the towering towers of the castle!

The direct impact of these dragons did not cause much damage to the main body of the castle, but it did cause it to tremble violently!

In the tower, the vast majority of the students had not yet reacted to the sight of the dragons flying from the direction of the Forbidden Forest.

They looked in the direction of Cedric's gaze, and at first, it just seemed that the dragons were flying in the wrong direction and that each one was getting bigger and bigger!

Finally, as the moonlight shone on the scales of those dragons, reflecting a dazzling light, a girl let out an ear-piercing scream!

An Antipodean Opaleye was fixated on the tower they were in, and the huge dragon body wasted no time in slamming into the cobblestone ancient walls of the castle's surface!

The huge fangs were close at hand, and the roar of rage shook everyone's eardrums, no matter who they were they could feel its tyranny!

Many of the half-blood students were so shaken by the impact that they could not stand still and fell to the ground.

Their faces were filled with terror and panic as they screamed and cried and scrambled towards the castle, no one dared to face the frenzied dragon for even a second.

Cedric made no move in the crowd.

His face remained as calm as ever, his gaze fixed on the pupil-less, bloodshot eyes of the Antipodean Opaleye, as the students who continued to flee around him brushed past him like waves across a reef, which lapped at it without being able to change a single thing.

Cedric suddenly smiled.

His smile was as gentle as ever, but there was something inexplicable in that gentleness.

Sympathy for the "mudbloods"?

Sympathy for Jon and the Witching Horizon?

What is there for them to feel sympathy for a group of free, equal people?

A group of slaves who don't even know they are slaves should be the ones to be pitied.

***

On the Astronomy Tower.

Barty Jr. had been the first to notice the anomalies in the trajectory of the dragons, even a few seconds before Cedric.

The Astronomy Tower was the highest place in the entire Hogwarts castle, and from there, one could see almost a third of the Forbidden Forest, and every movement of the dragons was under the surveillance of the professors.

But no one had sensed anything unusual about the dragons wandering around the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

They were all guessing that the little mudblood under Dumbledore had probably run out of steam and was desperately clinging on to the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, trying to find the judges so that they could find a solution without the need to forfeit the first tournament task.

However, the first moment that the swarm of dragons strayed away from the Forbidden Forest, Barty Jr. sensed that something was wrong!

His face instantly turned pale, and he quickly took a pocket watch out of his pocket and looked at the time.

It was exactly eight o'clock, the exact moment when the forbidden forest had been freed from the restrictions, allowing the champions the freedom to end the first tournament task as they see fit!

Just by glancing at the time, he could probably guess what was likely to happen next.

"Amycus! Go seek out every single Professor in the castle along with the Aurors stationed down there and gather them all up! Is that clear! All of them!"

His yell startled everyone on the Astronomy Tower, the Professors looked at him with surprised faces and even Amycus, who had been given the order, looked at Barty Jr. with a puzzled expression.

Barty Jr.'s face was as grim as if water could drip out of it, and he pulled out his wand and stared at Amycus.

"What are you waiting for!"

Amycus dared not to linger any longer, everyone knew that while Voldemort was away from this castle, it might seem like Snape was at the helm of everything, but in fact, the only one who could really call the shots on these pureblood Professors would be Barty Crouch Jr!

Amycus scrambled towards the outside of the Astronomy Tower, and before he could even make it to the door, shadows completely loomed over his head!

Two Ukrainian Ironbelly Dragons had chosen to fly together right over the entire Hogwarts castle!

Their enormous size, combined with wings that when unfurled were big enough to cover half the sky overhead, completely cut off the castle from the sky!

At this point, there were still many Professors who hadn't reacted, and they all looked overhead in shock, wondering why the dragons that had previously been properly in the Forbidden Forest as their tools to hunt down that little mudblood would suddenly descend on Hogwarts to deal with them!

But the actions of these dragons were not something that could be stopped by their lack of reaction.

A dazzling golden-red glow flashed in the gaping maws of two Ukrainian Ironbelly Dragons!

Barty Jr. kicked the Alecto beside him who was still open-mouthed and looking incredulously into the sky.

"Use the General Counter-Spell! Now! If you all don't want to die!!!"

His yell finally brought everyone here back to their senses as the dozen or so Professors on the Astronomy Tower raised their wands in their hands and, under the command of Barty Junior, used the General Counter-Spell!

The effects of each man's spell all connected into a single mass, weaving a great blue web over this Astronomy Tower, and just as the fiery dragon's breath gushed out of the Iron belly's mouth, gold and red met with light blue!

The dragon's breath failed to break through the defences formed by the professors, but the dragons that had come from the Forbidden Forest to Hogwarts Castle weren't just the two Ukrainian Ironbelly Dragons!

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