Chapter 143: Confronting the Iron Belly
“Oh my goodness, Potter’s actually flying… Did you see that, Mr. Krum?”
“A beautiful turn, absolutely perfect…”
“Look! Mr. Potter’s got the golden egg… the fastest of the three... What a spectacular performance…”
...
Inside the tent, Jon clearly heard Ludo Bagman’s shrill commentary, but it didn’t last long. Barely five minutes later, a wave of thunderous cheering nearly shook the Quidditch Pitch to its foundations.
“Next… let us welcome… the final dragon…” Bagman’s voice dropped into a rumbling growl. “The ruler of the skies… the most terrifying hunter… the very symbol of brutality…”
“Ukrainian Ironbelly!”
With Bagman’s final roar, a massive gray-white dragon was released into the Quidditch Pitch.
Its body was sheathed in gray scales, and its blood-red eyes swept across the field. Nearly one-meter-long claws gleamed dangerously under the sunlight…
On the grandstand, every referee and teacher had their eyes locked on the beast.
It was obvious that aside from the referees and a rare few like Hagrid, most professors had no idea what the task entailed.
“How can this be!” Professor Sprout cried out, covering her mouth with a trembling hand.
“Oh, dear!” Professor Flitwick shook his head helplessly and collapsed into his seat.
Snape stood motionless, brow furrowed, rigid as stone.
“Olympe, try this blueberry—it’s delightful!” Dumbledore said casually, offering a freshly washed berry to Madame Maxime at his side… as though nothing unusual had just happened.
...
“That’s not fair!” Zacharias Smith shot to his feet, shouting furiously at the judges’ table. “Why is this dragon so much larger than the others?”
“Sit down!” Cedric Diggory quickly pulled him back, murmuring, “Just trust Jon…”
Even as he spoke, Cedric couldn’t help glancing uneasily at the Ukrainian Ironbelly… In quiet moments, he had often wondered—if he had been chosen as a Champion, could he have brought glory to Hufflepuff and Hogwarts?
But staring at this monstrous terror, he felt a strange surge of relief.
...
Most of the Gryffindors had clustered around Harry Potter, escorting him toward the hospital wing…
Inside, Hermione Granger froze as the Ironbelly’s roar echoed from the Quidditch Pitch.
“What’s wrong?” Harry asked softly from his bandaged bed.
“N-nothing…” Hermione forced a smile.
...
“Looks like that Hufflepuff is doomed…”
“Yeah, a third-year going up against the most savage of the ten fire dragons—the Ironbelly!”
“I don’t think there’s much left worth watching. Just hope the dragon doesn’t injure him too badly…”
Several Ravenclaw students muttered among themselves.
“I think,” Luna Lovegood said quietly from the side, “Jon Hart might actually win?”
“So you really are the crazy girl!” someone jeered, sparking a round of snickers from the Ravenclaw stands.
“Hmph!” Luna pulled out a copy of The Quibbler, holding it in front of her face as she chose to ignore them.
...
“Hope that Ironbelly goes all out and leaves that bloody Hart in pieces!” Draco Malfoy muttered bitterly. “That Horntail before was just pathetic!”
“Exactly!”
“He’s as good as dead!”
Crabbe and Goyle chimed in at once.
Two rows ahead of the Slytherin trio, the Greengrass sisters sat together.
Daphne cast a look of distaste at the pitch, her mood unexpectedly conflicted.
Astoria had buried her face against her sister’s lap, trembling and quietly sobbing. She couldn’t bring herself to watch another second.
“It’ll be okay…” Daphne whispered softly. “He’ll be fine…”
...
“And now, please welcome Hogwarts’ second Champion… Jon Hart!”
As Ludo Bagman shouted his name, Jon stepped out through the tent’s entrance and onto the field.
To say he wasn’t nervous would be a lie. All he could do was try to steady his emotions as best as he could.
There was an opening in the fence surrounding the Quidditch Pitch, and Jon walked through it into the arena.
Hundreds of faces filled the stands on his side, erupting in a deafening roar—some cheering, others booing.
But Jon had no time to care. At the far end of the field, he could see the Ukrainian Ironbelly clearly. It crouched low, guarding its nest of eggs, its half-folded wings shielding them protectively.
If not for his brief encounter in Dumbledore’s Pensieve, if this had truly been his first time facing the Ironbelly, he might have been too terrified to even hold his wand steady.
The gray-white dragon towered three or four stories tall, its body stretching over a hundred feet long… Compared to it, Jon felt utterly insignificant.
The Ironbelly noticed him too. Its crimson eyes flashed with disdain before dismissing him entirely.
To the dragon, Jon was nothing more than a mouse before an elephant—no threat at all…
Jon raised his wand, clearing his mind of distractions, focusing his will completely… He aimed at a football-sized stone lying on the ground.
The stone began to shift slowly… until it transformed into a hedgehog of the same size.
This was the most advanced Transfiguration Jon could manage… The hedgehog bolted straight toward the Ironbelly.
...
“A third-year student transforming a stone into an animal—even a simple hedgehog—is remarkable indeed…” Madame Maxime observed from the judges’ platform.
“He means to distract the dragon with that hedgehog while stealing the golden egg?” Karkaroff sneered. “Utterly naive!”
“Igor, you’d do better to focus on the match instead of spewing nonsense,” Snape cut in coldly, glaring at him with icy contempt.
“Severus…” Karkaroff muttered, glancing nervously at him before looking away.
...
“A splendid piece of Transfiguration, Mr. Hart!” Ludo Bagman’s voice rang out once more. “The Ironbelly seems to have taken interest in that little hedgehog—this could be his chance…”
“Wait… something’s flying in from outside the field!”
“That’s right—it’s another Summoning Charm!”
Author's Note
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