On the Quidditch pitch, now empty of spectators, only the representatives of the wizarding schools stood side by side in rows of four.
Beneath a platform were dozens of dragon eggs of various colors, sizes and shapes. There were four eggs of each race. They were especially eye-catching in the afternoon sunlight, drawing the attention of all the participants.
Everyone looked at the eggs like children who are about to receive their favorite toy. Sometime in their childhood, because of stories about princes, princesses, and dragons, a child had wished to have a dragon and ride on it.
At that moment, these seventeen or eighteen-year-olds seemed no different from children. Since Dumbledore's early morning warning, each of them couldn't wait to get their dragon egg.
Observing the anxiety in the eyes of each contestant, Dumbledore laughed and with a wave of his wand, a purple-looking box flew out of the small pouch at his waist and stopped in front of the platform, hovering calmly in the air.
"Inside this box are numerous tickets, each ticket bearing the name of a dragon race. All you have to do is take a ticket and the egg that's written on the glitter." Dumbledore spoke, his voice very warm, like the late afternoon sun.
"From the first row to the last, please step forward." Dumbledore looked at the first row, the champions of the first round, and nodded to his student, Rose.
The girl seemed more than excited, something he couldn't understand. She was a special class witch, how could she get excited about a slightly larger lizard?
Rose was the first, she appeared on the platform almost instantly. No one noticed, but her eyes seemed to glow with a faint, almost imperceptible light.
With a sly smile on her lips, her hand dipped into the box, rummaged around for a moment, and when she pulled it out, there was a blank note between her fingers.
The note read - Ukrainian Ironbelly.
Looking at the paper, Dumbledore waved his wand and a silver egg with a spine on top flew straight into Rose's hand, a broad smile on her lips.
Back in line, Rose whispered a few words to Cedric and Luna, who looked at their teammate strangely, Cedric in particular giving her an accusing look.
The second of the Hogwarts team was Asterion, who quickly took a piece of paper with the dragon's name on it and showed it to Dumbledore - Hedridean Black.
It was an egg with pale green and purple stripes. It was smaller than Rose's Ironbelly and looked more like a fruit than a dragon egg.
Looking at the egg in his hand, Asterion felt strange, it felt different from Nidhogg, which was normal considering his dragon was an infinitely more powerful cursed spirit.
However, unlike Nidhogg, the dragon egg in his hand seemed alive and had a warmth that was transferred by the touch of his hand.
After Asterion, Cedric climbed onto the platform and pulled out a piece of paper with the dragon's name on it - Hungarian Horntail.
Cedric's face contorted at the sight of the name, and he couldn't help but look at Rose with a look of frustration and helplessness. He knew that cheating would never make up for luck!
Now he had the most aggressive of all dragons on his hands. Cedric looked at Dumbledore with a pleading expression. "Can I trade?"
"What do you mean?" Dumbledore didn't answer and returned the question to the young Hufflepuff representative. There was an amused smile on the man's lips.
Cedric had a dejected look on his face, while all the other representatives seemed happy. So far, Hogwarts had captured almost all of the most aggressive dragons in the world. This was more than good news for them.
Back in line, Cedric looked at Rose with a dejected look full of sadness.
"It wasn't my fault, who told you to stick your hand in deeper than necessary? It was as easy as sticking your hand in and grabbing the first piece of paper it touched." Rose whispered back as she shrugged her shoulders.
Luna looked at Cedric and then at Rose and then at Asterion. There was a look of helplessness on her delicate face. She knew she was going to get one of the lazy ones. It was inevitable, almost as if this damned dragon was meant for her. With a weary sigh, Luna made her way to the platform where the dragon eggs were kept. Once there, she reached into the box and pulled out a piece of paper with the name - Swedish Short-Snout.
Seeing the name, another sigh escaped the girl's lips, she looked at the silver-white egg in her hands and returned to the line with a sad expression on her face.
Meanwhile, the Hogwarts team had received all of their dragon eggs. Apart from Rose and Asterion, Cedric looked extremely sad, while Luna exuded a decadent aura.
The other team captains couldn't help but smile. Being the first team to choose was not an advantage, but a disadvantage. The number of dragon eggs was too high at the moment. The chance of catching an aggressive dragon was much higher.
Like Hogwarts at the moment, all four members had more aggressive dragons, even if Luna's wasn't as much, but a dragon was a dragon.
Cedric's face showed a look of shame as he felt a cold, murderous stare coming from the French team. It was the girl he had knocked out with a Confundus. It wasn't the attitude of a dignified man, but the circumstances at that time could speak for him.
However, he wasn't proud of what he had done, attacking a woman behind her back. After the Game of Kings, he received letters from his father for a few nights.
All the dragon egg selections had begun to work normally, the French team was next, and apart from Fleur and Sophie, who got the most docile dragons in the magical world, the other two got rather temperamental dragons like Hungarian Horntail and Hedridean Black.
Looking at the Antipodean Opaleye egg in her arms, a smile appeared on Fleur's lips, she looked at the Hogwarts team and smiled amiably.
She and Sophie had taken Opaleye eggs, the most docile dragons, something she would use in an exemplary way.
Asterion nodded back at the beautiful young woman with a calm expression. For him, it didn't matter which dragon he took, it would be controlled by the parasite he had created.
Suddenly, he heard Cedric's whisper. "Every time Fleur looks at us, I feel a shiver run through my body. She's scary."
Asterion rolled his eyes, although the Veela Charm was scary, as long as you blocked Fleur's charm, you'd practically lose a layer of protection.
Of course, Fleur Delacour wasn't weak, far from it, with her expanding domain, she could almost sweep the whole tournament by herself. But subconsciously, everyone ignored this fact and only cared about Veela's Charm.
All the other teams also picked up their respective dragon eggs, some looked happy, others the complete opposite.
Seeing that all the dragon eggs had been distributed, Dumbledore spoke again. "Bear in mind that how you hatch the dragons is entirely up to you, any outside help other than your own knowledge is forbidden. If you are caught, you will be disqualified from the Second Trial."
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Author's thoughts:
Support me to write more and read chapters ahead of all regular readers!
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Next Chapter Second Volume: Chapter 187 - Second Test of the International Tournament of Witchcraft and Wizardry (5), Chapter 188 - Asterion & Daphne (R-18), Chapter 189 - Asterion & Daphne, Chapter 190 - How to Train Your Dragon (1), Chapter 191 - How to Train Your Dragon (2), Chapter 192 - How to Train Your Dragon (3), Chapter 193 - How to Train Your Dragon (4), Chapter 194 - How to Train Your Dragon (5), Chapter 195 - Dragon Race (1), Chapter 196 - Dragon Race (2), Chapter 197 - Dragon Race (3), Chapter 198 - Dragon Race (4), Chapter 199 - Dragon Race (5), Chapter 200 - Dragon Race (6), Chapter 201 - Dragon Race (7), Chapter 202 - Dragon Race (8).
In the Slytherin common room, all the students looked curiously at Asterion's dragon egg. After all, it wasn't every day that someone got to see dragon eggs in person. They were forbidden items to trade, and it was a serious crime, worthy of Azkaban, to be caught with a dragon egg in one's possession.
"How do we hatch them?" Theodore asked, touching the surface of the egg with his fingers; it felt warm, but not so warm as to hurt.
"Heat, lots of heat." Draco and Dorea spoke at the same time, their eyes fixed on the dragon egg on the pillow. For them, there was nothing more beautiful than that egg right now.
"How hot are we talking?" Blaise frowned and asked with a curious tone.
"Enough heat to turn a volcano into a small phosphorus." Asterion replied and closed the book. On the cover of the book, the title clearly explained what was written on the pages of the book.
[Dragons and Their Curiosities by Newt Scamander].
"How can dragons generate so much heat?" Theodore's eyes widened as he listened to Asterion's words. What is the concept of such great heat? You could say that a person, witch or not, would be reduced to ashes.
"When dragons lay their eggs, their bodies produce a highly potent and volatile magical substance. Female dragons use this substance as a fire breath and throw it at the eggs, allowing them to absorb the fire so that the young can gain the strength to break free from the eggs and be born." Asterion looked at his dragon egg and answered nonchalantly. His eyes twinkled a little. His magical researcher side thought of countless possibilities
Is it possible to mix negative magic energy and magic energy? What would that do to the physically strongest race in the world? Would it still be a dragon or a variation of the race? The temperament would certainly be very volatile, tending toward cruelty and extreme irritation.
Asterion assumed that the most logical thing to do would be to kill the egg. Causing a magical mutation wasn't so easy. The death of the egg was the most likely outcome, especially in the first experiment.
Not that it was really surprising, he was talking about changing the DNA structure of a being.
A race that was born this way. Elder dragons didn't evolve, they were born, though the circumstances of their birth were still debated in the wizarding world.
Modern dragons were nothing more than a species degraded by interbreeding with other races. Not surprisingly, dragons were very sexually active. And they didn't discriminate against any race, as long as there was a hole, they could be attracted...
Maybe that was one of the reasons for all the hatred?
Shaking his head, Asterion put these strange thoughts aside and concentrated on the dragon egg.
"The captain of the Russian team will have the advantage in this first phase. Do you want to sabotage him?" Blaise commented with a cold smile on his face. The rest of Slytherin smiled coldly as well. They all looked like villains, some even laughing cartoonishly.
Asterion rolled his eyes at his obvious animation. "You can do whatever you want, but if you manage to get into the room of the Russian Minister of Magic, a Special Grade wizard, I'll take my hat off to you."
His words were like a bucket of cold water being thrown at them. Everyone had forgotten this fact, Alexei was the son of the Russian Minister of Magic, who was a special grade wizard, trying to sabotage him was not so easy.
"I refuse to believe he won't leave his room this week." Blaise spoke in a skeptical tone. The tournament gave them one week to hatch the dragon eggs; if they didn't succeed, they would be automatically disqualified from the second round and the entire team's grade would be lowered.
"Even if we can't sabotage the Russian team, the other teams are still easy targets. After all, accidents happen, and the stairs at Hogwarts are very treacherous." Astoria, Daphne's sister, commented with an innocent smile on her lips.
Gina looked at her friend speechlessly, but didn't say anything against the proposal, she wanted to get along with everyone and couldn't just be against it, besides they weren't going to kill anyone. She hoped so...
Draco felt a shiver run through his body as he heard his fiancée's words and he laughed dryly with a touch of fear. The ease with which she spoke made the boy worry a little about his married life. Would he survive if she became angry?
"Nothing too drastic like murder, but otherwise you can do as you please." Asterion sternly warned the Slytherin students. He knew that if there were no limits, murder could happen. He had no doubt of it. In the end, victory was what mattered, not how it was won.
"We need access to the Hogwarts kitchen, I think Cedric can help us with that." Dorea smiled coldly, a sadistic expression on her face.
"Poison." Tracey muttered after hearing Dorea's suggestion, she looked at her fellow house members and spoke with an excited tone. "Very laxative, let's show these foreigners how good Hogwarts' plumbing is!!!"
"Hogwarts!!!"
"Hogwarts!!!"
"Hogwarts!!!"
Seeing everyone excitedly conspiring in various ways, such as poison, accidents, and even traps, Asterion felt a little sorry for the foreign students.
They were on hostile ground, while the Hogwarts students knew all the corridors, staircases and secret passages of Hogwarts by heart.
It wasn't a fair competition at all.
"By the way, everyone who goes out has to be accompanied, we don't want to be ambushed and have the common room invaded by others!" Tracey spoke with a serious expression, looking like a general ready to defend and attack in a war. "Should we change the password?" Dorea frowned and suggested with a hint of hesitation in her voice.
"Change a password that lasts half a millennium?" Blaise commented with half closed eyes. "I'm not going to be the one to end the tradition."
After some thought, everyone agreed not to change the password; no one wanted to be remembered for changing a historic password that had lasted five hundred years.
After a while, everyone spread out in the common room; everyone seemed excited to be participating in the tournament, even if indirectly.
Asterion and Daphne were left alone, both looking at each other and seeing the helplessness in each other's eyes. Both could already imagine that Hogwarts would become a battlefield, one sabotaging the other.
Asterion sat down on the sofa and Daphne joined him, both looking relaxed.
Looking at Asterion holding the dragon egg, Daphne asked in a soft tone. She approached him and kissed him tenderly on the cheek. "When will you hatch it?"
Others might have the chance to never hatch dragon eggs, but Asterion wasn't on that list. If a Especial Grade wizard couldn't hatch a dragon egg, he would become an international joke.
Asterion thought for a moment while his face was covered in kisses. He could see that Daphne was excited, and so was he, they were both teenagers and couldn't wait to deepen their relationship.
Frankly, he figured that if he waited any longer, Daphne would probably pounce on him in the middle of the night and consummate the marriage without any hesitation on her part.
"Soon, but we have something more important to do." Asterion commented calmly, placing his hand on his fiancée's thigh.
This made Daphne's eyes sparkle with a hint of excitement. A feeling of sweetness seemed to envelop her at that moment. Asterion had delayed his business for her, which made her happy.
Then, under her surprised eyes, she saw Asterion pull out small tickets attached to a silver chain, all white with nothing written on them.
"Write whatever you want on them and I will do whatever is written on them without hesitation." Asterion spoke with an amused tone, he looked into her atonal eyes and couldn't help but think that Daphne was incredibly cute.
"Is that true?" Daphne stared at the pile of blank tickets and looked at Asterion in surprise.
"Can I write something?" She asked, her eyes shining brighter than diamonds.
"Yes. I'll accept anything written on the tickets." Asterion nodded and spoke reassuringly, a smile playing on his lips.
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Author's thoughts: I know, I'm evil, you don't have to tell me hahhahahahaha
Support me to write more and read chapters ahead of all regular readers!
P-atreon.com/HPSCB
(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)
Next Chapter Second Volume: Chapter 188 - Asterion & Daphne (R-18), Chapter 189 - Asterion & Daphne, Chapter 190 - How to Train Your Dragon (1), Chapter 191 - How to Train Your Dragon (2), Chapter 192 - How to Train Your Dragon (3), Chapter 193 - How to Train Your Dragon (4), Chapter 194 - How to Train Your Dragon (5), Chapter 195 - Dragon Race (1), Chapter 196 - Dragon Race (2), Chapter 197 - Dragon Race (3), Chapter 198 - Dragon Race (4), Chapter 199 - Dragon Race (5), Chapter 200 - Dragon Race (6), Chapter 201 - Dragon Race (7), Chapter 202 - Dragon Race (8), Chapter 203 - Golden Path (1), Chapter 204 - Golden Path (2).
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