Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [166]
Then, it happened. It looked like a snake that was shedding its skin, only much faster, and much larger. Tapescrew’s multicolored skin just… fell off. It was a very odd sight. Harry expected to see the insides of the dragon, its guts and blood, come flowing out all over. But, to his surprise, there were no bodily fluids anywhere to be seen. All that there was, standing on the massive flesh of the previous dragon, was a giant, blue orb. It looked like a massive rubber band ball, all coiled up. Then, it gave off a dazzling glow, and started to unfold. Very slowly at first, then faster and faster, it uncoiled, revealing an extremely long and thick… thing.
The thing brought its head up, and gave out a roar, even though it had no visible mouth. But, that was about to change. All over, scales began to form, each with its own small spike. Its head grew a mouth, a giant mouth, with teeth all inside it. Two red eyes popped up above its massive mouth, along with several white horns. Then, it suddenly burst into flames. A blue inferno covered its entire now golden body. It was a sight to behold.
“That must be the secret power of the Abysmall,” whispered Hermione to Harry, looking just as amazed as the rest of the audience. “After just a few fights, it must become powerful enough to be able to shed its skin and reveal its true power! This is amazing!”
Ron, who was now jumping up and down with delight, decided to try out his new dragon with an attack.
“Alright Tapescrew!” he yelled. “Let’s see what you got!” The new and improved Tapescrew appeared to have heard him, for he brought his head back, and opened his mouth wider. As he was doing this, the already dark sky above the stadium started filling up with clouds. Tapescrew gave not a roar, but an ear piercing shriek that forced the entire audience to cover their ears. As soon as the sound left its mouth, there was a clap of lightning, and an explosion of thunder that literally set the clouds ablaze.
“He lit th’ sky on fire!” yelled Hagrid, his voice sounding like a mix of nervousness and excitement. Everyone was looking up at the clouds, which were now floating infernos.
Tapescrew gave another yell, and a fiery blast of lightning came down from the sky, and right in the middle of the stadium. A second later, a flaming tornado appeared right where the lightning had struck. It shot off chunks of fire every time it spun, that flew all over, including right at the audience.
“Kooverta Maximus!” came a voice from right next to Harry. He looked over and saw that there was a full grown wizard right there. His spell shot right up above the stadium, and collided with three other shield spells, coming from each corner of the arena, apparently cast by other wizards. The combined four shields multiplied their power, and an enormous shield formed over the arena, separating it from the audience, just in time to block off the chunks of fire that were flying all over.
“An’ thanks ter th’ volunteer wizards who I ha’ put here in case summat like that happened,” said Hagrid. Apparently, he had expected something like that to happen, a dragon to get out of control, or use a too powerful of an attack.
The tornado was now twice its original size, and the sound it was making was deafening. Even though Tapescrew didn’t seem to be having any trouble escaping its mighty pulling force, Goyle’s dragon looked as though it was using all the strength it had to resist being sucked in. But, not even a dragon can put off the inevitable too long and, when the tornado was about four times its original size, the dragon could resist no longer. With a low yelp, it gave into the amazing force of the tornado, a began spinning around it, faster and faster, until it ended up right in the middle of it, being burned to a crisp.
“Stop th’ figh’! Stop th’ figh’!” yelled Hagrid, trying to end the contest before Goyle’s dragon was killed.
The thunderclouds disappeared, as did the fiery tornado, instantly. All that was left was the awesome