Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 327 Why am I not so lucky?

"Tch, an enraging curse..."

As a Veela warrior with considerable skill in mental magic, Fleur naturally sensed the "Enrage the Dragon" curse on the cloak the moment she received it.

"Letting students who haven't even graduated take on the formidable Ukrainian defense... what were the organizers thinking this year?"

Fleur casually tied her long, cumbersome hair into a ponytail and tucked it behind her cloak. Then, with a nimble roll, she dodged the dragon's first breath attack. She then held her wand forward, a silver glint flashing in her eyes, and began chanting incantations.

"Snoring..."

As she moved, the fire dragon, which had been about to pounce on her with its claws after seeing its breath attack dodged, suddenly froze. Its gaze became somewhat unfocused as it stared at Furong's figure as she chanted the incantation. The ferocity in its eyes dissipated considerably, and even its somewhat terrifying vertical pupils seemed to soften...

"roar!"

However, this state lasted only a moment—the fire dragon shook its head violently, sending sparks flying from between its teeth, and when it raised its head again to stare at Hibiscus, the fierce look returned to its eyes. The fire dragon seemed to realize that its mind was being affected, so after letting out an angry roar, it breathed another blast of dragon breath at Hibiscus, then suddenly exerted force with its limbs, charging towards her like a speeding train…

"Isn't this targeting me?"

Seeing that her innate magic had barely taken effect, Hibiscus frowned again and used an Ironclad Spell to block the surging dragon breath. Then she accelerated her movements to make the fire dragon's impact miss.

"This is a bit tricky. Even if I don't control the fire dragon to charge my energy, if I still can't use my innate magic in the second stage, that fire dragon will have a huge advantage in the sky and drain my power. I can't guarantee that I can beat it..."

As she was pondering, a green light suddenly shone on the ground not far from her—a sign that the "fragile stone pillar" containing various items was about to rise.

……

boom!

"A potion... an invigorating potion? I don't need that. Veela's mental strength far surpasses that of ordinary people..."

Next, Hibiscus began to maneuver among the frequently appearing stone pillars, battling the fire dragon and gradually accumulating the items she had collected from them. She had decided that since she would eventually complete her first stage anyway, she might as well keep these potentially useful items for her tug-of-war with the fire dragon. After all, she didn't know what else was hidden inside those pillars; who knew what unexpected surprises might await her…

"Red light... The charging pillar is here!"

"Over here! Over here! You stupid dragon...breathing fire! Okay, okay, that's right... wait!"

"You can even miss your target when you're trying to spray?! Are you blind?!"

"Don't come any closer! Stop! Damn it... there are too many obstacles!"

boom!

"It seems Miss Delacour's plan has somewhat failed!"

After a sigh of regret from the audience, Ludo Bagman's commentary resumed: "She also seemed to be planning to guide the dragon's position so it would breathe fire towards the charged pillar, but compared to Mr. Ken before, she seems to have overlooked a few factors—the dragon could easily bend its tongues of fire in mid-air by simply shaking its head slightly while breathing, thus bypassing some obstacles, which is one of the difficulties of this level... That last breath attack almost grazed the edge of the pillar!"

"The fire dragon stopped breathing fire... It pounced! Right at the charging pillar! Will it destroy the pillar?"

"A beautiful obstacle spell! It successfully hindered the fire dragon's advance. Just two more seconds and the pillar will retract. It seems Miss Delacour is about to gain some advantage... Oh, no!"

"The dragon turned and lashed out at Miss Delacour with its tail! Although she dodged it, the pillar might not withstand the attack—ah, what a pity, Miss Delacour has also lost her first pillar, even though it was already retracting... Perhaps she should have used a full-body binding charm on the dragon; I bet that would have delayed the tail sweep until the pillar was retracted..."

"Damn it!"

Upon hearing an ominous collapse sound in front of her, Furong gritted her teeth in anger, but had no choice but to retreat temporarily and continue fighting the fire dragon. Next, another burst of blue and green light flashed, and one fragile or solid stone pillar after another rose from the ground, but the bright red charged stone pillar was nowhere to be seen for a long time—the chance of that stone pillar rising was definitely much smaller than the other two.

"Wait... what's this?"

After the fire dragon smashed through another fragile stone pillar, Fleur skillfully grabbed the small ball of light floating in the air. She initially curled her lip in disdain upon seeing it was yet another potion, but was stunned when she saw the label: "...Fire Dragon Breath Simulation Potion?"

"Pouring the entire bottle of potion onto the charging pillar is equivalent to one breath attack from a fire dragon, completing one charge of the golden egg... There's such a good thing?"

"???"

Looking at the text displayed on the barrier from the sidelines, Avada silently typed three question marks.

There are such good things?

How come I didn't know?

I opened more than a dozen pillars before, so why haven't I ever sold a single item? Does this mean all the bad luck has befallen me?

"Red light is finally appearing on the ground again! The second charging pillar is about to appear! Can Miss Delacour seize this opportunity? Wait... why is she guiding the fire dragon in the opposite direction?"

Little Barty on the stage was also puzzled by Fleur's confusing actions. After carefully confirming Fleur's movements, he hesitantly continued his explanation: "That's right... it's the opposite direction. This isn't her intention to create distance between the fire dragon and the stone pillar... Is she waiting for another opportunity? But doesn't she have a recharge potion? Why isn't she using it now?"

"But at least the stone pillar was retracted completely, which means there's still a chance... Oh! Miss Delacour seems to have tripped over something? Luckily, the fire dragon didn't rush over at that moment..."

"As expected! Look, she's starting to summon mist across the field too—is she trying to buy time? I think she's definitely preparing something in secret... But what could be more important than completing the charge? She's already lost a pillar!"

The thick fog enveloped the arena for nearly twenty minutes—during which time, Hibiscus simply used the fog to evade the fire dragon's attacks, completely ignoring the rising stone pillars. Several more crimson, energized pillars appeared, and she merely guided the fire dragon away from them, ensuring they wouldn't be smashed, before leaving them alone. Quite a few people in the audience even yawned…

"What is she trying to do?"

Baron asked Avada, puzzled, "Are you planning to wear down the dragon's stamina? A contest of strength between humans and dragons?"

"It shouldn't be that bad. Based on what I know of her, her style is straightforward, somewhat like Gryffindor. I thought she would choose a more radical approach..."

Avada was also somewhat doubtful, but out of respect for her warrior and partner, she refrained from making a hasty conclusion: "Let's wait and see—she must have her own ideas."

(End of this chapter)