The Admiral of Hogwarts

“— Our first task is Dragons, now, without further ado, let's welcome our first contestant, Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons.”

After a brief five-minute introduction, the dragon handlers finally secured the Welsh Green Dragon in the arena. Seeing this, Bagman immediately announced the start of the competition.

Instantly, cheers erupted like a volcano, with everyone waving their hands and shouting loudly. Amidst this fervent atmosphere, Fleur stepped into the arena, already occupied by a fire-breathing dragon.

Having been abruptly moved from the darkness of its cage into the sunlit arena, coupled with the stimulation from the surrounding audience, the Welsh Green Dragon suddenly raised its head and spewed a jet of flame into the sky, followed by a roar.

Witnessing this, more than a dozen professional dragon handlers, seated behind several giant rock formations below the arena, gripped their wands tightly, ready to respond to any unexpected situation.

The visual contrast between a delicate beauty and a giant dragon was striking, especially when the dragon breathed fire. Several younger students even gasped and covered their faces with their hands.

Upon entering the arena, Fleur didn't approach the dragon directly. Instead, she stood outside the dragon's警戒圈, waving her wand and chanting a spell.

At first, nothing seemed to happen, but as time passed, the dragon began to sway slightly, and the frequency of its blinks noticeably increased.

“This is a form of ritual magic, a special spellcasting method derived from alchemy. It gradually accumulates magical power on the target through a relatively long magical ritual.”

Watching Fleur confront the dragon and cast her spell, Hugo quickly recognized the type of magic being used and explained it to his sister beside him.

“The biggest advantage of this magic is that it allows you to complete spells beyond your current level by expending a significant amount of time or even spellcasting materials when your strength is insufficient.”

“However, the disadvantage is also obvious: the preparation process for the entire spell is too long. It's relatively useful for dealing with magical creatures or conducting experiments, but in wizarding duels, it's basically making yourself a sitting duck.”

Although ritual magic greatly amplified Fleur's magical power, the dragon's naturally strong magical defenses still proved effective. After more than ten minutes of effort, the dragon finally lay down quietly and fell asleep.

Seeing this, the surrounding audience quieted down, and only Bagman's deliberately lowered voice could be heard: "Now, our contestant Miss Delacour has used magic to put the dragon to sleep."

Seeing the dragon opposite her asleep, Fleur lowered her wand and breathed a sigh of relief. Even though she had mastered this opportunistic ritual magic, it still placed a severe strain on her.

Then, holding her breath and concentrating, she approached the sleeping Welsh Green Dragon with light but swift steps, using the rocks on the ground as cover.

In less than 30 seconds, Fleur appeared beside the green dragon, and with a small spell, she gently lifted the dragon's left foreclaw, revealing a nest of eggs underneath.

As she bent down to retrieve the golden egg from the nest, Fleur unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. But then, she didn't notice the dragon's eyes twitching slightly in the distance before suddenly snapping open.

“Careful!” Both the audience in the stands and Ludo Bagman on the platform shouted in alarm. Hearing the shouts, Fleur instinctively rolled forward.

This roll proved to be extremely timely, because less than a second after she left her original position, a ball of fire engulfed the spot where she had just been standing.

However, even so, a piece of Fleur's skirt was burned off. And as Fleur urgently conjured a jet of water from her wand to extinguish the flames, the Welsh Green Dragon took a deep breath.

For a mother dragon incubating eggs, witnessing the supposed theft of its golden egg under the effects of the Confundus Charm would naturally incite rage, preparing to unleash a massive burst of flame to incinerate the thief.

Fortunately, Fleur had already obtained the golden egg, so the dragon handlers outside the arena immediately rushed in, using multiple layers of Shield Charms to block the mother dragon's furious attack, followed by a rain of Stupefy Charms to knock out the Welsh Green Dragon.

At this moment, Fleur seemed to be trembling slightly. After all, she had first expended a great deal of energy casting magic, and then narrowly escaped death. Even a carefully selected contestant wouldn't be completely calm at this moment.

Soon, Madame Maxime came out and draped a blanket over the soaking Fleur, who then left the arena. Simultaneously, the stunned Welsh Green Dragon was also removed from the arena.

“It seems there's a reason why dragons are classified as Level 5X beasts,” Hugo mused, watching a group of wizards clear the arena and bring in a new dragon.

“If Hogwarts professors were to encounter a dragon one-on-one, they should be able to escape unscathed. But defeating a dragon isn't something every professor can do.”

“The heads of the four houses and Headmaster Dumbledore should be fine, but it's hard to say about the other professors. At the very least, Professor Trelawney, the Divination professor, most likely wouldn't be able to defeat a dragon in a one-on-one fight—”

Just as Hugo was contemplating the specific strengths of Hogwarts' professors, who were considered top-tier combatants in the wizarding world, the arena was cleared, a whistle blew, and Harry walked out.

Although Harry initially appeared a bit nervous, he quickly calmed down and summoned his Firebolt broom with a Summoning Charm.

As the broom flew into the arena from outside, Harry immediately gripped the Firebolt tightly in his hand, mounted it, and charged towards the Swedish Short-Snout dragon amidst the gasps of the crowd.

This provocation naturally enraged the Swedish Short-Snout, and the blue dragon continuously spewed jets of flame, attempting to knock down this annoying fly.

Unfortunately, as the youngest Seeker in Hogwarts in nearly a century, Harry's agility on a broom far exceeded what the dragon could achieve. All the flames missed their mark.

Dragons are not very patient creatures, especially mother dragons protecting their nests. So, after only provoking it for two or three minutes, the dragon stood on its hind legs, attempting to fly up and eliminate Harry.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Harry quickly swooped down and flew close to the ground, into the dragon's blind spot. Then, before the dragon could react, he dodged the descending wing and quickly snatched the golden egg from the nest.

By the time the dragon reacted, Harry had already flown out of the dragon's range with the golden egg. Amidst the cheers of the audience, the dragon handlers rushed in to deal with the situation.

“Excellent! The Hogwarts contestant completed the first task in just five minutes,” Ludo Bagman exclaimed excitedly. “This breaks the record for the fastest completion time in the first task since the 17th century—”