Silver King

65

Harry gritted his teeth as he slowly walked into the tent where the other champions were. Once he got in he looked around, Krum had a small bandage on his wrist, Delacour looked fine, except her clothes were slightly burnt. Diggory undoubtedly looked the worst, his entire right arm was covered in bandages as he laid down on a bed.

"What happened to you?" Harry asked Cedric, drawing the attention of the champions.

"You're alive?" Cedric breathed as he and the other champions looked at him.

"Clearly." Harry nodded just as Madam Pomfrey entered the tent and rushed over to him.

"Mr Potter, you're bleeding." She said as she guided him to a nearby bed.

"Clearly." Harry repeated as he sat on it while she waved her wand over his head.

"A manticore of all things," She hissed, sounding angrier than Harry had ever heard her. "I cannot believe that you actually managed to get past one." She added.

"How did you do it?" Krum asked, he and the other champions weren't able to watch the other champions compete in the task. "Distracted it?" He asked.

"Killed it." Harry answered, wincing slightly when he felt the tip of Madam Pomfrey's wand touch the area near his cut.

"You...you killed it?!" Madam Pomfrey gasped as the other champions looked at him like he wasn't human. "But...but it's a manticore!"

"I am well aware of that." Harry said before he gestured to his cut, that seemed to snap Madam Pomfrey out of her shock and she quickly returned her focus to healing him.

"How...how did you do it?" Fleur Delacour asked.

"Two arrows into its eyes, plus I tied it up before I knocked onto its side and forced it to stab itself with its own tail. Then I summoned the key and left." Harry answered, the other three champions exchanged looks, all silently agreeing that their chances of winning the tournament had decreased a lot the second Harry Potter was put in the tournament. "What happened to you?" Harry asked Cedric.

"Huh? Oh, I tried to distract the dragon," Cedric sighed. "it didn't work properly and my whole arm got burnt, so did my wand." He said, a sad and disappointed expression on his face.

"Wait, you can summon the key?" Fleur asked. "Why not just do that in the first place? Then you do not have to fight the creatures."

"Can't," Harry sighed as Madam Pomfrey left to go get some potions. "I asked Lord Black about the task earlier, he mentioned that the there's an anti-summoning charm on the key that's tied to each creature. As long as they're conscious you won't be able to summon it."

"Oh." She said, sounding very disappointed.

"Time to choose your next opponents." Percy said when he entered the tent later, once again holding a bag. The champions were about as healed as Madam Pomfrey was able to make them in the limited time she had.

"Mr Diggory cannot compete in the next task," Madam Pomfrey told Percy. "His arm requires serious attention and he no longer has a wand."

"My condolences." Percy nodded to Cedric, who gave a small nod back. "But the other champions can, so let's begin." He said, this time it was Fleur who went first, she reached her hand in and pulled out a sphinx. The it was Krum, he pulled out a dragon, the dragon model in his hand was a 'Chinese Fireball'. Next it was Harry's turn, he took in a deep breath and reached in, he let out a small grunt when he felt something bite his hand, he pulled the model out and had another dragon, except this one was very different from Krum's. This dragon had black scales, and was lizard-like in appearance. It also had yellow eyes, with vertical pupils like a cat's, bronze horns along with bronze spikes that stuck out from its long tail which it would gladly deploy in combat. Harry's dragon was a 'Hungarian Horntail', the most dangerous and violent of all known dragon breeds.