The Crawling Chaos 2/2
"This… well, I think this is the closest thing to the competition we were expecting, right? A wizard facing a dragon and trying to survive," Ludo said while looking toward Draco, who was running across the arena while Red chased after him, occasionally leaping forward and barely missing Draco's hand, almost swallowing it in a single bite.
Pride and not looking bad in front of thousands of spectators… that's for people who still have both hands.
Even so, it wasn't as if Draco had lost all his composure or the pride he had shown until now. Even while running for his life, every step he took dropped dozens of coins along the ground, as if this were some millionaire version of Hansel and Gretel.
It's interesting to know that Draco can be both characters.
But let's not focus on that.
Draco ran across the arena while Red jumped after him, trying to bite his hand for some reason. Quickly, Draco moved his wand.
The liquid gold suddenly transformed into spears, swords, and different weapons that appeared around him. Draco pointed his wand toward Red, and immediately the coins he had been dropping turned into liquid gold before becoming chains that wrapped around the dragon's legs, stopping him for a moment.
Taking advantage of that brief stop, Draco slowed down and waved his wand even faster. More chains began forming, binding the dragon's jaw and each of his limbs. At the same time, four pillars of solid gold rose from the ground, pulling the chains tight and preventing Red from moving, leaving him slightly suspended above the ground as he twisted and struggled.
"Fuuu…" Draco let out a breath when he saw that he had managed to trap him.
"Wow… that was easy?" Ludo said as he looked at Red completely suspended in the air, covered in chains while struggling to break free.
But as if that had been a signal.
The dragon seemed to start getting annoyed, letting out a low growl through his restrained mouth.
Then the golden chains suddenly began to explode, snapping apart one after another as if the magic holding them together were being devoured from the inside.
Draco looked up for barely a second before turning around and running again, while Red watched him for a moment… and then started chasing him once more.
"Well… I guess we're back to how things were before," Ludo said with an amused smile while everyone watched Draco running and dropping coins along the ground.
Even so, Draco kept glancing back at Red from time to time. Of course he knew that dragon could catch him easily. He literally hadn't even used his wings so far.
But… why?
Even while running, Draco tried to observe him, noticing something specific. The only hand Red tried to bite was the one holding his wand. And every time the gold fell to the ground, the excitement in the dragon's eyes seemed to grow more obvious.
Suddenly, as if he had grown tired of playing, Red stopped abruptly and looked at Draco with mild annoyance.
Draco stopped as well.
And before he could anticipate what was coming, Red inhaled deeply and began launching fist-sized fireballs straight at him.
Draco's eyes widened. He hadn't expected that attack. Even so, he reacted quickly and waved his wand, forming a massive golden shield in front of him almost instantly.
The fireballs struck the shield directly, and the metal quickly began turning red as the heat built up. Draco opened his eyes in surprise as he saw the center of the shield starting to melt.
But he didn't have time to admire the heat those simple fireballs carried.
Red leaped toward him again. This time he opened his wings and launched himself through the air.
Draco moved his wand.
The shield instantly changed shape, transforming into two enormous golden hands that grabbed the dragon mid-air just a short distance from Draco.
Draco raised his wand, pointing it at Red, ready to try another spell.
But the dragon opened his mouth again.
A tiny flame, even smaller than a fingernail, shot directly toward Draco's hand.
The fire struck his wrist, causing an immediate burn that forced Draco to drop his wand.
And without giving him time to react, Red's body suddenly began to grow.
His horns became longer and more dangerous. His claws darker and sharper. His teeth gleamed with a threatening light.
The golden hands shattered into pieces.
Draco's eyes widened with a brief flash of internal panic, the kind that comes from instinct when it senses real danger.
Even the people in the stands were filled with fear as they watched the dragon grow, just like the basilisk had earlier.
But the basilisk was frightening because of the legends that surrounded it.
This dragon was frightening simply because of its presence.
An intimidating presence, as if the lord of the abyss himself had appeared in the arena.
Draco looked at Red and swallowed.
But then Red suddenly stopped growing.
And before anyone could understand what had just happened, he returned to his normal size.
Leaving everyone frozen.
Red looked at Draco.
Then he looked at the wand.
And suddenly he seemed very excited.
He walked toward it, picked it up in his mouth, and began shaking his head from side to side as if trying to make something happen.
He looked around and let out a slightly annoyed roar before shaking his head again.
While everyone remained frozen from the fear of just seconds ago, there were only two movements in the entire arena.
Red.
And Wanda, who lightly brought a hand to her forehead.
"I'm sorry. It seems that wasn't a good choice," she said to Narcissa.
"No. It still worked," Narcissa replied while watching her son.
Draco recovered from his fear far faster than anyone else present. He let out a slow breath, calming himself, and walked toward Red without letting the fear control him.
Red kept shaking his head and looked slightly annoyed before dropping Draco's wand onto the ground and starting to stomp on it.
"Alright, stop. It doesn't work like that," Draco said calmly as he crouched down in front of the dragon.
Red stared at him while Draco picked up his wand.
"To use magic, you need to be a wizard," Draco explained.
"Or… at least have hands," he added while looking at the red dragon.
Red tilted his head to the side as if he didn't understand a single word.
So Draco simply closed his mouth and gently waved his wand.
Immediately, the gold that had fallen at his feet lifted into the air and gathered in his hands.
Within seconds it took the shape of a small statue made entirely of gold, shaped like Harry.
The moment Red saw it, he became excited and started jumping.
Draco let out a small, forced smile as he realized what that stupid dragon actually wanted.
"How about this? If you give me the key they gave you, I'll make you a statue of your family whenever you want," Draco said while beginning to create another statue, this one of Wanda, followed by Billy and then Tommy.
Red's eyes widened with excitement when he saw them.
He lunged forward and snatched the statues from Draco's hands, carefully placing them under his paws, completely delighted.
Draco watched him, genuinely surprised.
Although, knowing Red, this was the most predictable outcome.
No.
Red wasn't predictable.
Red looked at Draco.
And suddenly he started coughing.
Draco took a step back as he watched something fall out of the dragon's mouth.
First came a black stone covered in carved runes that seemed cracked right through the middle.
Then a wand fell out, a rather familiar one, also broken.
For a moment Draco had the strange feeling that someone in the judges' box had suddenly stood up and tried to draw attention to it. But he didn't care in the slightest.
And finally Red spat out the key to the chest.
Which was completely covered in saliva.
Right after that, Red carefully picked up the statues with his mouth.
Then he turned around and ran straight toward one of the arena walls, accelerating the closer he got.
Draco raised a hand to stop him.
But before he could do anything, the dragon smashed straight through the wall with ease. And the barrier… well, it didn't really try to stop him. It simply opened up to let him pass, as if it didn't want to deal with him for a while.
And then he was gone.
Leaving everyone stunned and confused.
Draco scratched the back of his head slightly while looking at the key. He picked it up with a bit of disgust before walking toward the chest.
Meanwhile, the crowd finally snapped out of their confusion and began cheering.
As always, another trial completely different from what anyone had expected.
Every time people thought they could predict what would happen in this tournament, they ended up even more surprised.
And that only made the excitement around the tournament grow.
"Well… this… you know what, let's just enjoy whatever we're seeing," Ludo said, clearly having no idea what to comment anymore.
For quite a while now, he seemed to have lost the ability to be a proper commentator in this tournament. Maybe only the first events had been normal. After that, everything had only become more and more chaotic.
The crowd couldn't help but laugh.
"Alright! Now it's time for the final participant of this trial to begin, right?" Ludo said as the crowd quickly became excited again.
"It's good to see you still haven't lost your enthusiasm after how long this trial has lasted," Ludo added with a grin while the crowd continued shouting excitedly.
Of course they would.
Each participant and each guardian had been more interesting than the last.
"So now it's time to call our final champion for this trial! Everyone, give a round of applause tooooo… Harry Potter!"
Ludo shouted.
And instantly the crowd burst into applause.