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.
"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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