Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [163]
“Now I gotta go an’ do th’ announcements,” said Hagrid, running off to the stadium. Harry, Ron, and Hermione went over to the bleachers with the rest of their class, eager to watch as well.
“Ladies an’ gentlemen,” boomed Hagrid’s voice from the center of the stadium, “welcome to the test for the Advanced Care of Magical Creatures O.W.L.!”
There was quite a bit of applause, and Harry was surprised to see that the bleachers were completely full, even with a few teachers here and there. Some of the younger students were asleep, their heads on their friends. Harry pointed them out to Ron who couldn’t help but laugh.
“Well, it is late isn’t it?” said Hermione in her famous matter-of-factly voice. Now that Harry thought about it, it was very late, the latest they had ever officially been “in class”. Harry looked at his watch, and saw that it was just a little past ten o’ clock. The extremely bright lights must have made him forget that it was so late.
“I’ll be doin’ this tes’ like they did fer th’ Duelin’ Club,” said Hagrid again. “Out of th’ eleven students here, I will draw ther names ou’ of this hat two at a time. Th’ two tha’ I draw will battle ther dragons, an’ th’ winner’s name will stay in th’ hat, and the loser’s will not go back in. Th’ las’ five names in th’ hat will get th’ Advanced O.W.L.”
“Now, there’ll be no commentating’ on this test, so as not to scare th’ dragons. So, you’ll hafta watch very well to see wha’s goin’ on. Now, fer th’ names!” He reached into his large tattered hat, and drew two pieces of parchemnt out. “Our firs’ pair of… well… dragon fighters… are… ’Arry Potter, an’ Vincen’ Crabbe!”
Harry, full of adrenaline and nervousness, jumped up from his seat, and ran the short distance to the box on the red side of the arena. The view from the box was quite different from the bleachers. Since it was clear on all sides, Harry felt as though he were floating in air, right above the grassy stadium. From here, it looked much higher up.
Harry could also see Crabbe, directly across the arena from him. He didn’t look nearly as confident as Harry. He looked wiped out from the tests, and his skin was totally white.
“An’ now presentin’… th’ dragons!” yelled Hagrid, who was now outside of the stadium, and in the middle of the bleachers. Loud and fast music started playing, and Harry looked down, and saw two dark circles appear on either side of the arena. Out each hole, a dragon popped out.
Harry’s Hungarian Horntail was looking extremely vicious, being the height of the stadium. It’s teeth were bulging out of its mouth, and liquid fire was pouring out through the space between them. Its skin was a healthy shade of dark red, and the spikes shooting out of its leathery skin were all jet black. It let out a massive roar that thundered throughout the arena.
Crabbe’s dragon, on the other hand, was a Canadian Crawler. It was about half the size of Harry’s Hungarian Horntail, and it was a light blue color all over, except for its green head. It gave a small screech, nothing compared to Harry’s dragon’s roar.
Hearing Crabbe’s dragon’s noise, Harry’s dragon turned its head over to see Crabbe’s. It glared down at the Canadian Crawler, and blew smoke out of its nostrils. Crabbe’s dragon looked up at it, and spun around. The two dragons were now face to face, and the battle had begun. The winner would be decided by the previous training each of them had given their dragon. Harry had trained his dragon every day during class, even named him Woodworm. But Crabbe, who had slacked off and played around, gave his dragon the disadvantage.
“And they’re off!” yelled Hagrid. Harry’s dragon shot up into the air, not taking its eyes off of Crabbe’s dragon, and then breathed a massive fireball right at it. “Now remember! When I say ter stop, you got to stop, an’ th’ duel ’s over!”
“Run!” yelled Crabbe as loud as he could, pressing his face up against the wall of the box. But, his dragon didn’t move. Crabbe looked as though he wished he had spent more time training his dragon. It started