บท 52: Chapter 50 - The First Task Pt. 3

***** Regular Chapter ***** A/N: I totally forgot about Sasuke and his Kirin move LOL. Totally a missed opportunity there for Khan to shoot a bunch of fire in the air and make stormclouds himself. (>.<). Ah well. I really struggled here tbh with trying to adequately express everything without giving too much away, but yea.... hopefully yall enjoy! *****

The Hebridean Black mother dragon stood up to her full height, spreading her wings out wide, and letting out a loud *ROAR*, as she attempted to intimidate this new foe, trying to appear larger and more imposing in stature.

Unfortunately for her, the red-lightning construct, was not a typical magical beast, with animal-instincts; this was a new ancient magic ability, powered by Khan himself.

If he was in his infamous 'nerd-mode' Khan would be interested in not just the construct and how it functioned, but also interested in testing its autonomy and how capable it was acting alone without his input.

Not to mention, he would have noticed that it drained his Ancient magic at 3 times the rate that normal ancient magic lightning spells.

*** A/N: Ok so think like this construct spell will use 3 bars of ancient magic meter in game. It's a lot for sure, but Khan did get an upgrade to 10 bars with absorbing the ancient magic in his coma, instead of the typical 5 bars that we max out with, in game. ***

The Qilin construct stood stoically in front of Khan, not making any reaction to the roaring mother dragon, who quickly took flight after noticing her intimidation tactics were not working.

Flying to the opposite end of the enclosure, she flew as far away from her eggs as possible to keep them safe while she did battle.

Pausing briefly in the air, she hovered slightly above her enclosure, beating her wings steadily, as she eyed her two foes, willing them to engage her in battle, and thus further away from her eggs.

Khan, still enraged, was more than happy to oblige, giving a mental order to his construct to engage with the dragon, and incapacitate her.

His original goal of not harming the dragon mother was forgotten in his rage of seeing the remains of the smashed dragon eggs from the previous task.

His new goal was to end this farce as quickly as possible, by any means necessary.

Leaping forward with the agility of not matching its size, the red qilin construct jumped and proceeded to open its mouth preparing an attack.

The dragon mother roared once again from where she hovered, before letting lose a giant fireblast from her mouth in rage at the lightning construct.

Luckily the qilin was able to finish his attack in time, and let loose his own blast from his mouth, to match the dragon's fireblast.

Except instead of a fireblast, what came out of the qilin's mouth was of course, a red lightning blast.

The two attacks flew at their intended targets, hitting them solidly in their respective chests.

The angry dragon fireblast was more than powerful enough to destroy Khan's lightning construct, it's lightning powered shape appearing quite mangled and destroyed, before slowly fading away into nothingness.

The dragon mother however, was also hit by the construct's lightning blast, it's lightning shocking the poor dragon's nervous system, rendering it incapable of coordinated movements.

This of course, resulted in the dragon unfortunately losing control over her wings, causing her to come crashing to the ground in a heap, as red lightning arc'd off her body intermittently.

Khan, confident that she was down for the count, proceeded to slowly make his way to the golden dragon egg, anger still rolling off him in waves.

The crowd meanwhile, oblivious to Khan's emotional state, had reached a new level noise, with their boisterous cheering, and applauding of their champion.

Their first champion Harry was currently tired for first place with Krum, (arguably he had performed better; everyone knew Karkaroff was biased towards Krum).

And Krum, who had stunned his own dragon, hitting her in the eyes (and subsequently breaking her own eggs), had not managed to subdue his dragon, instead aiming to cripple it, to accomplish his task.

But their 2nd champion, their student professor, was just dumbfounding the student body, utilizing unseen and unique magical skills, completely besting a dragon in personal combat.

"KHAN! KHAN! KHAN! KHAN!" The crowd chanted excitedly from the stands, all of them cheering him on, as Khan made his way over to the golden egg, finally grabbing it.

'Stupid bastards.' Khan growled to himself as he stomped over to the egg before finally reaching it, still angry at the organizers of this tournament.

Picking it up with a frown, he shrank the egg, before putting it into his pocket for safe keeping.

Standing up straight, he then turned to eye the 5 judges, sitting in their own personal judges stand, just behind the enclosure, close to where he currently was by the dragon eggs.

His eyes flashed with red lightning, as he eyed the 5 judges unblinkingly, unnerving them all.

Even Dumbledore couldn't help but feel unease, when meeting the Young Lord's gaze.

Khan then proceeded to take out his Knab sack, before reaching out and grabbing the dragon eggs, placing them safely into it.

Then, without any warning, he flash stepped over to the still paralyzed dragon mother on a heap on the floor, absorbing her too into his Knab-sack.

He then turned to stare at the judges once again, eyes still unblinking and flashing red with lightning.

The cheers immediately died down, as the crowd could finally sense Khan's mood.

The stare down from Khan lasted for several minutes, the subsequent silence from the crowd deafening.

"L-L-Lord K-K-Khan..." Bagman managed stutter out after a few moments. "The d-d-dragon-"

"Is now mine, as are her eggs." Khan stated with authority as he interrupted Bagman. "I will keep her and her kin safe, since clearly, it was a mistake trusting you all with their care.

Although Khan was speaking calmly and softly, the entire audience could some how hear him, as his rage bubbled quietly behind his misleading voice.

"....." Bagman was speechless at Khan's statement.

"What? Nothing to say?" Khan angrily addressed Bagman before turning to address the Judges and the greater crowd. "No cheering, no commentating, no 'ooo-ing' and 'ahh-ing'?"

Khan was working himself into a frenzy, his rage mounting the more he continued to speak.

"What? No Laughing? No smiles?" Khan raged. "Why aren't you cheering Bagman??"

Summoning the crushed silver dragon egg remains over to him, he held it high above his head in an angry display.

"Is this not why you ORGANIZERS used real nursing mother dragons, with their real dragon eggs, for this task?" He shouted out. "A CRUSHED DRAGON EGG, ALL SIMPLY FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT.....THIS IS WHAT YOU ALL WANTED RIGHT???"

"WELL WHY AREN'T YOU LAUGHING??? WHY AREN'T YOU CHEERING???" Khan raged out, lightning and thunder echoing his emotions, as bolts arced down from the storm clouds above. "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED? IS THIS NOT WHY YOU ARE HERE?"

Casting an overpowered depulso, he fired the dragon egg remains at the judges table, slime and silver egg shell covering the 5 of them.

Turning to look at the rest of the crowd, he eyed them all slowly, before turning back to address the Judges.

"You disgust me."

With that final statement, he activated his magic and floo-flashed away to his RoR, leaving a stunned crowd, and 5 egg covered judges behind.

*****

*A few moments ago - When Harry just finished his task*

Harry saw the dragon keepers rushing forward to subdue the Horntail, and at the entrance to the enclosure, Professor McGonagall, Moody and Hagrid were all hurrying to meet him, smiles evident on their faces.

He flew back over the stands, the noise of the crowd pounding in his ears, with the egg tucked safely under his one good arm, himself mounted securely to his firebolt with his legs.

He came in smoothly to land, his heart feeling lighter than it had been in weeks... He had managed to survive... and not only that, actually accomplish and finish the first task!

"That was excellent, Potter!" McGonagall cried out, as he dismounted from his Firebolt.

From such a strict woman such as her, that was high praise indeed.

"You'll need to see Madam Pomfrey of course, before the judges give out your scores..." She pointed at his injured shoulder, he had received at the hands Horntail's vicious tail-swipe.

"Yeh did it, Harry!" said Hagrid quite hoarsely. "Yeh did it! Agains' the Horntail an' all! You know Charlie said that was the 2nd wors-"

"Thanks Hagrid!" Harry interrupted Hagrid quite abruptly and quite loudly, so that Hagrid wouldn't blunder on, and accidentally reveal that he had shown both Madam Maxime and Harry the dragons beforehand.

Moody looked quite pleased too, if that was possible; his magical eye was dancing in its socket, and he appeared to be wearing a grimace that Harry supposed, was supposed to be a smile.

"Nice and easy does the trick, Potter." He growled in some kind of congratulations.

"Right then Potter... Off to the first aid ten with you then." Professor McGonagall, ever the professional, moved Harry along, so that the he could receive his scores and the other champions could have their turns.

Harry walked out of the enclosure, and saw Madam Pomfrey standing at the mouth of a second tent, waiting for him, and looking quite worried.

"Dragons!" she exclaimed in distress, as she pulled Harry inside.

The tent was divided into cubicles, and since he was the first champion, it seemed he was the only person present.

"Last year dementors, this year dragons.... what are they going to bring into this school next?" Madam Pomfrey examined Harry''s shoulder, talking furiously all the while. "You're very lucky this is quite shallow.. it'll need cleaning before I heal it up however."

She summoned a bottle of purple liquid that was on a nearby nursing table, and proceeded to clean the cut with it; it smoked and stung, but Pomfrey, ever the professional, quickly poked his shoulder with her wand afterwards, and he felt it heal instantly, cutting the pain out immediately.

"Alright... Job done!" She clapped a few times, happy that one of her most common students was only minorly injured this time. "Go on then Potter... go and get your scores."

Harry, still full of adrenaline, got to his feet quickly, wanting to see what was going on outside.

Before he reached the mouth of the tent however, a bushy head of hair came darting into the tent, followed closely by a redhead.

"Harry! You were brilliant!" Hermione exclaimed, crushing him in one of her signature Hermione hugs. "You were amazing! You really were!"

Harry noticed there were fingernail marks on her face where she had been clutching it in fear.

"That summoning charm was amazing... your best yet!" she finally let him go, giving him a chance to breathe. "Looks like our summoner's court games were good practice and now as a bonus, you'll also be ready for Khan's tournament this weekend!"

Harry finally out of Hermione's deathgrip, was catching his breathe, staring suspiciously at Ron, wondering why he was here.

Especially now, after the first task was completed, and the school appeared to be cheering for him, due to his good performance....

Ron himself, was quite pale, staring at Harry as though he were a ghost, or some apparition of some legendary flight-master who was able to out-fly a dragon.

"H-Harry," He stammered out seriously. "Whoever put your name in that goblet, I-I- Reckon they're trying to do you in!"

Harry stared uneasily at Ron in response, mulling things over in his head.

He knew Ron was here to apologize, truthfully, he wasn't sure that he needed him to.

Yes, Harry missed Ron, especially over the last 3 or so weeks, when only his true friends who believed him were Hermione and Jordan.

But Harry had also thought a lot about what he had discussed with Khan. He had constantly asked himself those questions Khan had asked him, re-examining and re-evaluating his friendship with Ron over the years.

And unfortunately Harry came to the realization that Ron might not be the best person to have as your best mate, especially when you have a Dark Lord after you.

Ron was a great friend.... WOULD have been a great friend, if Harry was just some normal kid, attending some normal magic school.

But he was Harry Potter.

Every single year, Voldemort would come after him; this tournament was probably only his latest plot, for his current school year.

And thinking about this, Harry came to the realization that he needed friends he could rely on, to have his back. To help him prepare, and ultimately survive in his battle against Voldemort.

Unfortunately, Ron didn't appear to be that person, with his inherent laziness and jealousy.

Perhaps they could eventually be friends, but probably not best mates anymore.

That didn't mean Harry wouldn't give Ron a hard time for abandoning him however.

"Caught on have you?" Said Harry coldly, his mind made up. "After a dragon just carved me up, after most of the school was against me wearing 'Potter Stinks Badges'.... after all this time together as your best friend for over 3 years... you choose now to finally believe me?"

Hermione stood nervously between them, looking from one to the other.

Ron opened his mouth uncertainly, before closing it, not saying anything.

Slumping his shoulders, she slouched to the tent door in gloominess.

"For what it's worth Harry, I'm sorry..." Ron paused at the door to call out in farewell, before disappearing through the tent flap.

Hermione Burst into tears, as she grabbed Harry back in another 'Hermione Hug'.

"You two are so stupid!" She shouted into his chest, through her tears. "I know he hurt you Harry, but he's your best frien-"

"You're my best friend Hermione." Harry cut her off. "I've had a few serious talks with Jordan, and came to a few realizations recently. The main one being; you are my best friend Hermione, not Ron.... never Ron."

"But what abou-"

"But nothing." Harry interrupted her again. "Now come along Hermione, I need to get my scores."

He grinned at her, before ducking out of the tent, Hermione stunned by his exclamation.

She had always considered Harry her best friend, but she always assumed he didn't reciprocate, with Ron present as his best mate.

To hear that she was his best friend.... she felt overwhelmed.

Rushing out of the tent, Hermione ran to catch up with him, blush evident on her cheeks.

She arrived beside Harry, just in time to see Madame Maxime raising her wand in the air. What looked like a long silver ribbon shot out of it, twisting itself into a large figure 8.

The crowd applauded, in response to the score.

Mr Crouch came next, as he too raised his wand, shooting a number 9 high into the air.

"Looking good!" Hermione cheered.

Next came Dumbledore, as he too shot up a 9, the crowd cheering harder than ever, as Harry was receiving quite the high scores for his outstanding performance.

Next was Ludo Bagman, as he shot up 2 ribbons, twisting around to create a perfect 10.

"Ten?" Asked Harry in disbelief. "But I got hurt.... What's he playing at?"

Finishing off the judges was Karkaroff, who was frowning quite heavily at Harry. Raising his wand into the air, he shot off a number 5, much to the crowd's displeasure.

Numerous boo-ing and jeers were heard, as all the students voiced their opinions on the clearly biased judge.

A whistle sounded out again, as Harry left the enclosure, indicating it was time for Fleur's first task.

Heading back to the first aid tent with Hermione, they both stopped by the entrance, to view the other champions performances, as they completed their tasks.

Fleur appeared to try some sort of charm, putting the dragon into a sort of trance. Unfortunately for her, the dragon got sleepy and snored a giant jet of fire out of its nostrils, singeing her skirt, setting it on fire. Putting it out quickly with a jet of water from her wand, Fleur was also successful in grabbing the golden egg.

When Krum's turn came, both Harry and Hermione were horrified as Krum hit the dragon with some sort of spell in its eye, causing it to rage around blindly in agony, crushing 1/2 of it's real eggs. Krum of course, was able to get the golden egg, with the dragon blinded and suffering.

"Nice.... Jordan is up next." Harry commented to Hermione, excited to see him in action once again.

The 2 scenes from the world cup, replayed over in Harry's head, as he was looking forward to what skills Jordan would display, in order to take down a dragon.