Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [167]
“Th’ winna is Ron Weasley!” bellowed Hagrid, trying not to sound to happy over the death of Goyle’s dragon. Ron came bounding back to his seat, looking more excited than Ron or Hermione had ever seen him.
“Did you see him? Wasn’t he awesome? Oh man that was great!” he garbled, looking as if he was in a state of excited shock over winning the duel.
“You did great,” said Harry, trying to calm him down.
“Oh man, that was- oh… thanks Harry,” said Ron, beginning to return to his senses.
“You know, Ron,” said Hermione, “you just made history with that last fight. No one’s ever seen what an African Abysmall can become with enough training. It’s the only dragon in the world that metamorphosizes, and you’re the owner of the only adult form of an Abysmall.” Ron began to stroke his chin.
“Hmm… I wonder how much I could sell one of them for?” he said, looking dazed. Harry and Hermione laughed, leaving Ron to his dream.
It went on like that for several minutes: Dean fought Parvati, she won of course; and Seamus fought Lavender who he surprisingly defeated. Harry couldn’t wait for the next fight to begin. This was the most fun he’d ever had taking a test.
“An’ for our nex’ match, we’ll have… Mr. Seamus Finnigan against… Mr. Ron Weasley! An’, Mr. Weasley, please try an’ not ter kill th’ opposing’ dragon this time, okay?”
“Alright Hagrid, I’ll try… but I’m not making any promises!” yelled Ron, who was already in his box, ready to go. His African Abysmall and Seamus’ Welsh Green appeared from beneath the ground, and immediately got at it. This time, Ron’s dragon gave off some sort of mystifying glow, that hypnotized Seamus’ dragon. It wrapped itself around the small Welsh Green, and squeezed it into unconsciousness, ending the battle almost as soon as it had started.
“That was almost too easy,” said Ron when he had arrived back in his seat. “They should really have trained better. My Tapescrew just barely touched him and poof! He was gone.”
Harry began to get nervous. He was probably going to have to face Ron eventually… what if he lost? It would be the first time either of them would have ever directly gone against one another in a contest, and whoever came out the better may be proclaimed greater than the other for the rest of their lives. This could be a bad situation.
“Miss Hermione Granga’ an’ Miss Parvati Patil! Yer up!” said Hagrid when the two dragons had gone back underground. Hermione got up from her seat, and walked over to her box. Everyone was by now used to the rhythm of how a match goes, so the fights were going much faster. Hermione’s Transylvanian Three-Headed Terror and Parvati’s green and red Irish Igniter rose from the ground, and immediately got at it, not even waiting for commands from their owners.
Hermione’s dragon was much larger than Parvati’s, so she had the advantage. Two of its heads went around Parvati’s dragon, and squeezed it, leaving the third head open to begin breathing some flames, which is exactly what it did.
“That’s the way Sacrenfer!” yelled Hermione, jumping up and down. Parvati‘s dragon was now covered in flames, and Hermione’s was just squeezing it harder and harder, not making matters any better for Parvati. Within just a few more seconds, the match was over, and Hermione had won. Parvati’s dragon, when Sacrenfer released it, collapsed to the ground, still on fire. The two dragons were brought back underground.
“Now… Mr. Draco Malfoy… and… Miss Hermione Granga’ again!” said Hagrid.
Parvati and Malfoy exchanged places, and Hermione stayed right where she was. Malfoy had an evil smirk on his face that appeared to not make Hermione feel much better, though she looked plenty confident by now.
“It doesn’t matter if he tries to psyche her out or not,” said Ron. “Even if he does win, Hermione will still get the Advanced O.W.L.”
“She will?” asked Harry.
“Well, yeah. Remember? The top five get the Advanced O.W.L. Right now,