The Hero and the Dragon

A large group of dragon farm employees entered the arena. It took them a lot of effort to calm the Swedish Short-Snout, which was in a state of fear and shock, and move it away. The team leader even gave Skylar a knowing look.

Then, Ministry of Magic staff came in to repair the scene.

Once everything was ready, the arena was restored to its original state. A Welsh Green Dragon that had been caged was moved to the arena, and after the cage was removed, Bagman blew his whistle again.

The second to take the stage was Katarin.

She slowly walked out of the tent and stood on the field. The sunlight shone on her, but it was as if she were being reflected by a smooth mirror, shimmering with Winky cold light, making it impossible to see her figure clearly.

Opposite her, the Welsh Green Dragon crouched low, guarding its nest of eggs, its fierce eyes fixed on the girl before it, occasionally letting out low growls that sounded like warnings.

Katarin parted her lips slightly and clearly uttered. "Reductor Curse!"

She chose the Severing Curse!

However, unlike ordinary Severing Curse, this Severing Curse, which shimmered with a faint white light, not only stirred up air currents when it was fired, but also emitted a hissing shriek as if the air was being torn apart. The spell's light accurately struck the Fire Dragon's body, and a large spray of deep red blood immediately gushed out from under the Fire Dragon's neck.

At the same time, the Fire Dragon was also violently slammed away by the impact force attached to the spell!

Katarin pressed her advantage, running forward rapidly while muttering long incantations. She then swung her wand forward in a complex flourish, a beam of white light shooting from its tip. The Welsh Green Dragon, still sprawled from its fall, was unable to mount any meaningful resistance. The white light struck the Fire Dragon's wound precisely, causing a long, deep red jet of water to gush forth like a giant fountain, leaving a gruesome trail of blood on the ground.

Skylar frowned. The second spell wasn't Severing Curse, or even a combat spell; it was Bloodletting Curse, a healing spell!

The wizard with a "Innate Sword Heart," using a combination of Severing Curse and Bloodletting Curse, was indeed troublesome!

The Welsh Green Dragon let out a mournful cry and collapsed helplessly to the ground. The dragon farm employees rushed to the scene and began to provide first aid to the Fire Dragon. At that moment, Katarin walked gracefully to the Golden Egg and held it up.

Katarin's performance successfully won over the audience, who gave her applause no less than that given to Skylar.

The third to take the stage was Eleanor.

Compared to the two Champion who appeared earlier, Eleanor's performance was less like that of a warrior and more like that of a priestess presiding over a magical ritual. She paced around the arena, muttering incantations, while the Chinese Fireball glared fiercely at her, its head turning as Eleanor moved, occasionally spewing small fireballs filled with thick smoke from its nostrils.

As if she had suddenly found a specific spot, Eleanor abruptly stopped, pointed her wand at the ground, and shouted, "Dragon-Sealing Sigil!"

A deep, resounding thud echoed from beneath the earth to the surface, and suddenly, crisscrossing crimson magical patterns lit up the entire arena— the Chinese Fireball let out a terrifying, earth-shattering scream as it struggled in agony, as if it were shrouded and entangled by some unseen, invisible net.

The Chinese Fireball is extremely fierce by nature. It roared and howled incessantly, its claws having already carved a large crater in the ground in front of it, yet it still could not break free from the invisible restraints binding it. It tried to breathe fire, opening its mouth wide to reveal its sharp fangs, but only spewed out a mess of saliva, without even a single flame appearing.

It was desperate.

It closed its eyes, lay limply on the ground, and gave up struggling.

Skylar immediately understood—this was a sealing technique targeting Fire Dragon, or rather, all beings with dragon bloodlines, capable of sealing away dragons' innate abilities, such as strength and fire-breathing.

Eleanor walked up to the Chinese Fireball, ignoring the Fire Dragon's murderous glare, and raised the Golden Egg amidst the stares of the crowd!

Although Eleanor's battle was far less exciting than the previous two Champion, the magic that could so effectively suppress the powerful Fire Dragon still amazed the young wizards, who applauded her.

With the outstanding performances of the three Champion preceding him, Harry's performance can only be described as lackluster.

He was terrified when he learned the challenge was about Fire Dragon, but he still held onto a sliver of hope—he was the last to go, and if the Champion in front of him could buy him some time, he could use that opening to quickly come up with a solution.

Surprisingly, every Champion completed the mission and obtained the Golden Egg in less than 5 minutes!

When the whistle blew, his mind went blank. What to do? He hadn't figured out a solution!

He walked out of the tent, his steps trembling, like a soulless walking corpse, head down, staring at the ground.

The sunlight slanted across his face, half of which was hidden in shadow, giving him a somewhat mysterious and eerie appearance.

The Hungarian Horntail crouched at the other end of the paddock, its menacing yellow eyes fixed on Harry. It violently twisted its spiky tail, leaving a series of cratered marks several meters long on the hard ground.

Harry stood motionless on the field, thinking for a full 10 minutes, and was booed hard by the Slytherin students. Of course, this had no effect on him, because at that moment, he could hear nothing but a jumble of noise.

For some reason, amidst the noise, he could hear a faint, low voice whispering in his ear, "Play to your strengths..."

My strengths? Besides Quidditch, I don't have any other strengths! Wait, Quidditch?

Could it be that...

Just as Harry found his inspiration, it seemed as if that voice whispered in his ear again, "Use a spell to get what you need..."

Harry raised his head, his eyes gleaming. Clearing his mind of all distractions, he shouted, "Firebolt, Accio!"

Just like in the original story, he used Summoning Charm to summon the Firebolt from the castle, and then rode the Firebolt to obtain the Golden Egg despite suffering a minor shoulder injury.

Next comes the scoring process.

Skylar's performance was undoubtedly the best and most outstanding of the entire event. Dumbledore, Crouch, and Bagman all gave him a perfect score of 10 without hesitation. Although Madame Maxime hesitated for a moment, she still gave him a perfect score of 10. However, Karkaroff only gave him 4 points!

In the original story, Harry also suffered the same treatment, but that coward Harry didn't dare to react to this injustice. However, Skylar wasn't Harry; he wasn't so easily bullied.

Skylar's face darkened. He walked to the referee's table and, using Sonorus, announced loudly, "Respected Principal Karkaroff, I would like to ask what mistake I made in this match that resulted in your deduction of points?"

The audience was caught off guard by this turn of events, and the scene immediately fell silent.

Dumbledore and Snape remained expressionless, while Professor McGonagall looked at Karkaroff with schadenfreude.

Karkaroff's expression changed, and he said forcefully, "Your performance was too fake, chanting a few incomprehensible spells like that, I don't know what kind of underhanded tricks you're using..." He glanced at Dumbledore with an almost suggestive look, as if hinting at something, and then said, "You made the Fire Dragon submit? I've never heard of Fire Dragon being tamed!"

Skylar shouted, "Since our distinguished guest—the Headmaster from Durmstrang —has some doubts about my performance, then in order to prove myself and uphold the reputation of Hogwarts, I, as a fourth-year student of Hogwarts, formally challenge you to a fair, one-on-one duel. Do you dare come down and fight me?"

The entire audience was shocked.

There has never been a challenge like this in the history of the Wizarding World.

It is common knowledge that a wizard's magical power generally increases with age. Karkaroff, as the headmaster, is at least at the level of an elite Auror, not much weaker than McGonagall or Snape. For a fourth-year student to challenge an elite Auror is equivalent to crossing four levels!

Skylar knew Karkaroff's character well from the original story; Karkaroff would absolutely not dare to accept the challenge, because Karkaroff hadn't figured out Skylar's strength, and he couldn't afford to lose—a loss would ruin his reputation. That said, even if Karkaroff did accept, Skylar wasn't afraid at all. With Dumbledore around, he would be perfectly safe, and his magic was at the level of an adult wizard. With the right tactics and his trump card spells, a comeback against a stronger opponent wasn't impossible.

Just as Skylar had predicted, Karkaroff chickened out and changed the score to a perfect 10.

Skylar's score is 50 points—a perfect score!

Katarin's spell was too brutal; the gale generated during the knockback of the fire Fire Dragon caused varying degrees of damage to each Fire Dragon egg, resulting in her scoring 45 points.

Eleanor's approach did not demonstrate the courage and fighting spirit expected of a Champion, and her preparation time was also the longest, so she was penalized with some points. She received 45 points, tying for second place with Katarin.

Skylar declined to comment on this scoring method, as it was used in the original work as well. After all, the Triwizard Tournament was a competition showcasing ancient beast-fighting Champion, so the entertainment value of the Champion's methods was also an important factor in the scoring. In the original work, Phoebe's method of overcoming the challenges was clearly the most effective— the Fire Dragon was asleep, and the Champion obtained the Golden Egg without any incident or damage to the other Dragon Egg —yet her ranking was the lowest.

This is why Skylar spent two days racking his brains to come up with the most dazzling way to pass the challenge. He not only wanted to win the competition, but also to win people's hearts!

Harry's score was slightly lower than in the original story because he spent a lot of time thinking during the competition, resulting in a score of 38.

The rankings of the competition are as follows: Skylar first, Katarin and Eleanor tied for second, and Harry third.

Excellent, this is exactly the result Skylar wanted!

Skylar sneered inwardly. This was no longer the childish game of the original story. Barty Crouch Jr.'s task of helping Harry turn the tide and achieve victory would no longer be so easy.

With the results announced, the First Task of the Goblet of Fire officially came to a close.

The Second Task of the competition will be held on February 24th, three months later. The Champion will need to crack the secret of the Golden Egg during this period, but Skylar already knows the solution, so he is free again.