Dumbledore was confused.
One moment, there was almost complete silence, only broken by the occasional whisper from the people in the stands.
The next moment, there was a huge eruption in the previously tranquil surface of the lake, and Harry Potter, along with the other champions and their respective hostages, was flying through the air.
That wasn't all though.
There was a humongous snake, the size of which he had never seen before, following their ascending figures.
And as if that wasn't enough, the damned creature was consumed by a cloaked lethifold, if the magic signature it let off was anything to go by.
'Something's wrong,' he quickly deduced and briefly thought about letting the abomination kill Harry, nullifying the prophecy that was stopping him from killing Voldemort and becoming a slayer of two dark lords.
'They'd sing my name alongside Merlin's…'
But no. He couldn't allow the other champions to perish.
The backlash would be catastrophic, especially after Harry's confrontation the day before.
Reluctantly, Dumbledore raised his wand to attack.
Yet even he wasn't prepared for what happened next.
.
Harry glanced over his shoulder, confirming the input from his magical sensing ability — the serpent was right behind them.
'Fuck me with a hippogriff and call me satiated.'
He wasn't quite sure what was worse: the fact that a giant sea serpent was chasing them through the air, or that said the serpent was now devoured by a mythical fucking lethifold.
The situation wasn't good.
'Not good at all.'
Harry watched as the rest of the champions, and surprisingly even Hermione, cast their stronger shields in an attempt to save them.
He couldn't help but groan at the display, knowing better than to rely on them.
Nothing so simple could possibly stop the damned Leviathan mid-lunge, albeit he wasn't so sure about Krum.
'Changing its trajectory though? That might just work,' Harry thought, running through his mental list of spells that could achieve the desired effect…
The serpent finally managed to catch up with the humans and made contact with Hermione's basic Protego shield, which shattered like glass upon contact with the beast's massive head.
Cedric's modified Tutamen shield came after that and it held for a fraction of a second longer, its silvery surface warping before collapsing under the immense pressure.
Thankfully, Fleur's distinctly French Bouclier Argenté which was a shield variation that relied more towards charming the opponent into inaction rather than physically stopping them, showed more resistance.
Its pearlescent surface rippled like disturbed water when the serpent made contact with it.
The serpent slowed down for a brief moment, its massive form wavering as if unsure whether to continue its charge or fall back into the water.
But then, something pulsed through the creature's form, and with renewed vigour, it shattered through Fleur's shield instantly.
Viktor's barrier spell was the last line of defence…
.
Harry gritted his teeth, feeling his stomach knot tighter as the serpent obliterated shield after shield.
His heart was pounding a mile a minute and his head was throbbing like crazy.
'There has to be a way. A solution. Something.'
The first spell that he had jumped to was one of the most obvious answers: Fiendfyre*.*
Fiendfyre would work.
It was pure, destructive chaos, and if anything could scare away something as insidious as the lethifold that consumed the serpent—or even slay it—it was the cursed flames.
He clenched his wand, preparing to cast the devastating curse.
But rationality held him back.
'No,' he decided after only a second of hesitation.
That was insane. Not only would Fiendfyre likely incinerate everyone within range, including himself, but he wasn't confident he could control it properly—not in his current state of mind.
'And if the bastard somehow survived the flames?'
They'd be in an even worse situation…
Perfringo horribilis was immediately ruled out due to its devastating destruction capabilities.
'Aguamenti Fortissimus won't work as well as it did in the water, albeit it should be enough to save us…'
Harry grimaced at the thought.
He didn't like taking chances with his life, and he found out he hated taking chances with Fleur's life.
'Here goes nothing, I guess.'
Harry took a deep breath and gathered his magic.
He could feel the raw power building up, ready to be released in a torrent of water.
Just as Harry was about to let the spell, the serpent met their last line of defence at last.
Harry's eyes widened as Viktor's spell bore the attack.
The shield was a pulsing dome of deep crimson energy that crackled with primal power and seemed to draw from the Bulgarian's considerable magical reserves, growing stronger with each passing second.
The serpent's massive head collided with the dome and Krum roared something in Bulgarian, his voice straining with effort as his shield expanded, crackling with fierce intensity.
For a moment, it almost seemed as though Viktor's magic could hold—and even knock the beast back.
Alas, the beast was relentless.
Shadowy tendrils appeared out of nowhere, wrapping around Viktor's shield.
They were made of pure darkness and their every touch made the crimson energy flare brightly, throwing sparks into the air like fireworks.
Cracks began to appear across the surface of Viktor's shield, each fissure sending tremors through the air.
Viktor's face was twisted in pain and beads of sweat were rolling down his temples.
Harry felt as the quidditch rockstar poured every ounce of magic he had into maintaining the barrier.
Then, with a deafening shatter, the dome collapsed.
The cloaked lethifold, unimpeded now, reached to finish its prey…
"Aguamenti Fortissimus!"
A torrent of water erupted from Harry's wand, blasting into the serpent-lethifold monster with enough force to carve a trench in the air.
The sheer pressure pushed the creature's back and changed its course.
However, like all of the shields before it, it wasn't enough.
The cursed shadow creature somehow surged forward whilst midair…
'Holy fuck, it can fucking slither through the air,' Harry thought with growing horror.
His knuckles whitened around his wand as he watched the snake close the distance between them.
'Think, damn it! Think!'
A flicker of memory came to him—a spell he'd read when researching horcruxes.
A risky, highly unstable spell.
It wasn't technically dark magic, despite what the ministry would say, and it was a prime example of elemental magic.
Knowing that hesitation would only get them killed, Harry went for it.
"Lux Sanctus Tempestatis!" he bellowed, slashing his wand through the air multiple times, forming a heptagonal shape, and in the process rendering his magic reserves null, leaving him dizzy and weak.
Through blurry vision, he watched as the pure white light descended from above.
The spell surged from the skies, like a beacon from the heavens or a god smiting a mortal.
It cracked and hummed with nature's power as it struck the abomination hybrid head-on.
The creature let out an otherworldly shriek as the holy light tore through its shadowy form, causing it to writhe and convulse violently midair.
The brilliant display of magic illuminated the entire sky, forcing the few brave spectators that still looked towards them, to shield their eyes from its intensity.
When the light finally faded, the serpent's body was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, wisps of dark smoke could be seen falling towards the spectator stands.
More specifically, they were heading right towards Dumbledore…
'Finally, something right…' Harry thought with glee, watching the dark wisps descend.
Even with his vision swimming and his magic depleted, he could tell that the cloaked Lethifold was as strong as ever and that Dumbledore was accumulating his own magic for a spell.
.
.
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