Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle.

Chapter 404 The Match Ends
Harry lifted his leg onto the broom, pushed off the ground, and soared into the air, speeding through the dim cave towards the entrance. Pickley, who was on guard ahead, hesitated for a moment, then turned around and took Harry's place, keeping watch on the Norwegian Ridgeback behind.

Just as Harry was about to burst out of the cave, he crouched close to the broom, glanced at the sky outside, and saw a pearly white-eyed dragon anxiously approaching, its mouth also holding a dragon egg.

It is also pearly in color and sparkles.

The white-eyed creature hovered on the low hill, identifying scents and trying to follow them to the entrance of the Norwegian Ridgeback Dragon's cave. It had found it; its claws reached towards the entrance, its sword-like sharp toes only a body length away from Harry.

It is also a huge fire dragon, and every part of it makes people feel heart-pounding when it moves. The oppressive feeling seems to solidify and clench the chest, making it hard to breathe.

Harry, however, felt less afraid. As he leaped out of the cave, the autumn wind whipped through his hair, the cheers and chatter of the audience faded into the distance, and the world seemed to quiet down. Fear, like gravity, tried to pull him back to the ground, but he was in the sky.

He lunged forward, cutting past the head with its white eyes, and kicked it in the eye.

"Ow..."

The fire dragon immediately let out a shrill and angry howl, raising its two front claws in an attempt to swat the fly to death.

But the broom carried Harry nimbly as he dodged, using the force of the kick to turn and then suddenly rise into the air, his movements light and casual, as if he were simply dodging a ball.

Harry didn't expect that kick to seriously injure the dragon. The eyes are the most vulnerable part of most creatures, but dragons have a tough and thick nictitating membrane in their eyes. Even if a lower-grade student bombards them with magic, it would take a long time to break through the defense.

He only wanted to provoke the Australian white-eyed dragon and divert its attention from the cave to him, so that his companions in the cave wouldn't be blocked by the two dragons.

On the other hand, he was giving himself a chance to win the game.

"Alright, two golden thieves, I'll have a share too... Come on!"

Harry twisted the attacking dragon tail and approached the dragon's head from behind, raising his foot to try again, but the sharp claws had already torn through the air and grabbed hard, forcing him to stop and turn sharply, narrowly avoiding the attack.

However, the Australian white-eyed fly was thoroughly enraged by this "fly." It spewed out thick, sulfurous smoke from its nostrils, emitted a whistling warning from its throat, and with a sudden flap of its wings, chased after the fly from near the cave.

"Just to my liking..."

Harry was unusually calm at this moment. He could feel the palpitations and fear peeling away from his body, replaced by an eager excitement.

He will demonstrate the limits of this fire bolt, allowing the audience to witness the flight of another Seeker.

"My God! He's flying! He's battling a fire dragon!"

Bagman screamed from the commentary booth, and the audience gasped. Harry rushed across the stands and saw Ginny standing under the golden lion banner, her fists clenched in front of her chest, looking very nervous.

I took a moment to give her a smile, not knowing if she saw it.

"Come on, big guy!"

Harry moved the dragon from the hill to a height of several hundred feet in the air, sometimes keeping his distance and sometimes getting close to the dragon's head, making attempts to launch a sneak attack.

The dragon flapped its wings, and the airflow formed a steady current on the surface of its scales. To Harry, it was a strange wind surrounding the dragon, trying to pull him toward its claws, but each time he managed to escape through the gaps.

Slow down as you approach, turn to avoid it, and then quickly climb.

The Australian white-eyed tadpole was repeatedly teased, waving its two front paws, its eyes swollen with bloodshot veins.

An adult Australian white-eyed fly is about 40 feet long and weighs up to three tons. Its front paws are several times the length of Harry's body. When it swings its paws, it can cover the upper body, but it can never touch that annoying fly.

If it weren't for the remaining rationality of protecting the dragon egg, it would have spat dragon fire at him.

Having dodged the dragon's claw once again, Harry hadn't even had time to let his guard down when a sharp pain suddenly shot through his shoulder. He turned his head to look and saw a scale-covered tail brush past him. In that brief moment of contact, it tore his robes apart, and a sharp spike pierced his shoulder.

Fresh blood flowed from its body and fell into the fire dragon's eyes, staining its nictitating membrane crimson.

……

[Pus-filled eyes are irritating]

Krum's Eye Curse went straight into the eye of the Norwegian Ridgeback Dragon, like a poisoned arrow.

The bright orange-yellow dragon eyes almost instantly became bloodshot, filled with blood vessels, and lost their luster. The nictitating membrane immediately became cloudy, swollen, and suppurated, with dirty liquid mixed with tears flowing from the corners of the eyes.

"Roar……"

The Norwegian Spinosaurus let out a piercing howl; it was in so much pain that the howl contained almost no ferocity, yet it made the ears of the four people present ring.

"What are you doing? We'll be out in a minute!" Hermione demanded.

“If our goal is to get out, then we shouldn’t be coming in,” Krum said calmly. “Only by provoking the spine dragon and finding a way to make it spit out that pure black dragon egg can this match end and Harry Potter get rid of the fire dragon chasing him.”

Cedric suddenly frowned slightly: "Was this part of your plan, deliberately distracting Harry to buy you time to seize the dragon egg?"

"It was a spur-of-the-moment idea."

Krum stopped and turned to face the Norwegian Ridgeback: "It just so happens that someone needs to clear the way, and it just so happens that he's also a Seeker, but he doesn't understand that strategy is part of the Seeker matchup."

Pickley also stopped in his tracks, his face looking rather grim. They were supposed to be able to evacuate smoothly according to plan, but leaving now would mean watching Krum get the most precious black dragon egg.

Hermione's initial impression of him had improved slightly because of the broom incident, but now it quickly plummeted to an even lower level than before.

"Ow..."

The Spinosaurus covered its eyes and roared hoarsely, struggling in agony.

It's hard to imagine that such a powerful creature could suffer so much because of a simple curse. Its festering, sore eyes seemed to be the most important organ on the dragon's body. Its wings drooped on its back, its two front claws covered its eyes, and its hind legs stomped wildly, unable to stand steadily.

Even in such agony, the Spinosaurus still held the dragon egg in its mouth, letting out a muffled roar, like the cry of some enormous creature.

Krum took a small step forward, tentatively approaching, when a tail covered in sharp spikes immediately swept towards him. Even though he was in excruciating pain, the fire dragon did not forget that he was in a cave, and there were several ill-intentioned thieves inside.

Krum didn't care: "Once it's exhausted and passed out from the pain, we can pry open its mouth. Then, whoever gets to the dragon egg first will have to rely on their own abilities."

In a little while, it might even make the fire dragon faint from the pain.

Such a cruel and vicious curse made the people present tremble slightly.

Hermione's heart skipped a beat. She tentatively raised her wand and began to chant:
All curses have ended.

Of course, it didn't work. The eyes that were originally exposed were now covered by the forepaws, and the thick dragon scales blocked all the incoming spells.

Realizing what might happen next, she suddenly felt a pang of pity. They broke into its nest, trying to steal its cubs. Because the protection was too tight, they used a poisonous curse to sting its eyes, hoping to make it give up the struggle. While interning at the Prophet's Newspaper, Cecilia asked Hermione what she wanted to do after graduation. Hermione said she wanted to work for the Ministry of Magic. Cecilia then asked which department she wanted to join, and Hermione said she hadn't decided yet.

Now, Hermione has made up her mind.

……

As the firebolt drew closer to the clouds, Harry slowed his ascent and began to descend instead.

The Australian Eggshell Eye followed closely behind, and when it got closest to Harry, its neck suddenly stretched out, its fangs almost biting the end of the broom. Its beautiful eyes were already stained red with Harry's blood.

Harry was certain he had thoroughly enraged the dragon, and now all he had to do was figure out a way to make it drop its egg and breathe fire at him.

This requires lowering the dragon's guard, making it believe that Harry is seriously injured and unable to plot against the dragon egg, and that Harry's speed is slowed by his injury, so that a small breath of dragon fire would be enough to burn this "fly" to ashes.

Harry ducked into the nearby woods, which happened to be the depression where the eight-eyed spider's nest was located, a few hundred feet away from the playing field.

“Come on, big guy!” Harry turned and stared at the fire dragon.

Harry had to give up his aerial advantage. He had to admit that he couldn't do anything to this guy in the air. He could only lead it around. It was unrealistic to exhaust it. He could only show weakness to the enemy.

This is a tactical approach that both the Duel Club and Professor Levent have discussed, but it's usually Hermione who applies it to him, deliberately creating openings to lure him into attacking, and then seizing those openings to counterattack. This is the first time Harry has used this tactic.

The fire dragon also approached the forest, and before it even landed, it had already caused mud and gravel to splash everywhere, like a monster from a Japanese movie.

Such an environment clearly hindered the pursuit, and the fly tried to escape!
The Australian egg-eyed dragon spat out the dragon egg and placed it on a pile of fallen leaves beside it. It opened its mouth towards Harry, took a deep breath, and a bright orange flame ignited in its throat, shooting out a line of fire.

"Now!"

Harry immediately turned around and accelerated, the powerful resistance making his ears ring. He dodged the dragon's breath and rushed towards the dragon egg in an instant.

The dragon didn't close its mouth, and hadn't even reacted yet. It only had time to glance at Harry out of the corner of its eye, seemingly unaware that Harry's true intention was the dragon egg.

Harry let go of the broom and embraced the white egg.

Just as the dragon claw was about to strike, a layer of transparent bubbles burst out of the glass ball, enveloping his entire body and protecting him from being crushed into blood and gore by the dragon claw.

……

"The winner of the first match is... Harry Potter! He was the first to obtain the most special white dragon egg, which will narrow the gap between Mr. Potter and the other warriors... cough cough!"

"The other Hogwarts champions also reaped great rewards: Miss Granger received a golden egg for her extensive knowledge, Mr. Diggory's calm response to the crisis was rewarded with a blue dragon egg, and Derek also obtained a high-scoring blue dragon egg in another team..."

"It's surprising that only Mr. Davis is slightly behind. Beauxbatons was eliminated early due to a mistake, and the lowest-scoring Red Dragon Egg caused everyone else to fall far behind. On a positive note, Fleur Delacour has obtained a clue for the next game!"

"The Iphamoni School works together as a team, and the purple dragon egg is a reward for Captain Pickley Grevis."

"As for Demström, it's a great pity that Krum's plan has failed. They finished last in the first game. We look forward to seeing how they perform in the next game."

"..."

On the second floor of the bar, the audience was watching a pre-recorded video, but that didn't stop them from shouting and screaming at the same time. The sound waves almost shook the entire bar, just like watching the World Cup in a pub during summer vacation.

"I knew it! I knew it!"

The usually composed Malcolm was now flushed, and smugly leaned close to his old friend: "Gryffindor will be the ultimate winner!"

"..."

Tacrot wiped the saliva off his face without saying a word, and while he went off to show off elsewhere, he rinsed his hands in his beer glass.

Despite carrying out his revenge, Tacloth felt no satisfaction. Watching the dramatic replay on the mirror, he sighed.

Despite being a Slytherin graduate, it was a disgrace to Slytherin that the Slytherin hero, Perigin Derek, as a representative of Hogwarts, mingled with other schools.

"What's there to sigh about?"

The old wizard sitting next to him glanced at him, his eyes a reptilian gray that seemed to see right through him: "Isn't Slytherin all about honor and ambition? What's wrong with teaming up with other schools if we can win the championship?"

Tacrot looked at the wizard, who was dressed in a simple gray robe that hung loosely, making his body look particularly thin. He had silver hair, and only a few teeth left in his mouth, making him look quite old.

He scratched his head, guessing that this person was also a pure-blood Slytherin graduate: "We value honor and respect ambition, but we should also have some bottom line, right?"

"Shouldn't we use any means necessary?"

"To be honest, I thought the same way when I was young, but I gradually gave up that idea."

"When did it start?"

“I don’t know either…” Tacrot continued scratching his head.

Grindelwald nodded thoughtfully, not surprised at all. Albus taking over as headmaster would certainly bring changes to the school; he had that kind of magic about him, which he had noticed when Albus was seventeen.

He hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Don't you find it strange?"

"what?"

Grindelwald pointed to the mirror, where Bagman was enthusiastically commentating, with several headmasters beside him: "Other schools have their headmasters speaking, Fontana, Maxim and... that guy Karkaroff, why is Hogwarts a young professor? Dumbledore was silent the whole game."

"Yeah……"

Tacroft only noticed this after being reminded: "It seems so, but it's not unusual. Headmaster Dumbledore sometimes does strange things."

“But I remember he never caused trouble in public.”

Grindelwald shook his head: "Do you think... it's possible that the Dumbledore sitting on the stage is actually a fake? That the real Dumbledore is actually dead, and someone is impersonating him?"

Tacrot hadn't expected to run into a madman while drinking, and quietly moved a few steps to the side.

The old wizard was still muttering horrifying words: "That can't be Albus... Is it someone who killed him impersonating him? Or is it to suppress the news and minimize the negative impact?"

"We still need to go into the school and take a closer look..."

(End of this chapter)