The Fireball is a dragon with an extremely strong sense of territory, and now, Hermione had already stepped into its domain.
" It's fine. If Draco can do it, I definitely can too.. I can…"
She couldn't help but feel nervous. Facing such a colossal creature for the first time, tension was a human instinct. Hermione muttered under her breath, taking a deep breath.
Unlike Draco, she wasn't an Enhancement Shaman; she was an Elemental Shaman, specializing in commanding the elements and wielding nature's destructive power to strike down enemies.
Though she hadn't personally witnessed Harry using raging elemental magic to kill the basilisk last year, that style of combat—drowning the basilisk under a tidal wave of massive spells—was exactly what Hermione aspired to.
And now, she faced a beast just as enormous as the basilisk.
The perfect target—even knowing it was wrong to think this way, the idea still bubbled up unbidden in Hermione's mind.
Under the wary gaze of the Chinese Fireball, as if lifting something from thin air, Hermione raised her right hand high. With her motion, a totem formed from stone rose from the ground, its surface naturally etching itself with the corresponding elemental runes and patterns as it ascended.
Unlike Cedric, Hermione didn't use Transfiguration as the basis for her totem.
Magma Totem!
Boom!
As the totem slammed into the earth, the Chinese Fireball sensed a surge of intense heat from the direction of that tiny pest. This was only natural—the patch of ground centered on the Magma Totem had begun to boil the moment it was planted. In mere seconds, it melted into a pool of scalding, blazing, crimson lava.
This was one way this world differed from Azeroth. Azeroth had the four elemental planes, so planting a Magma Totem allowed the elements to hurl lava from the Fire Elemental Plane to attack foes. Here, the elements could only draw materials from the environment on the spot.
This undoubtedly increased the time needed for the attack.
Hermione hadn't yet advanced far enough on the path of the elements for Harry to perform an Ascension ritual for her, so summoning their aid required more time. The Magma Totem served perfectly to buy her that delay.
The Chinese Fireball seemed to regard the totem—constantly hurling lava globes at it—as a living enemy. It reared up in fury, then, like sneezing, spat two blazing fireballs toward the totem's position—BOOM! BOOM!!
The burning fireballs landed around the Magma Totem in the blink of an eye, exploding massively the next second. The totem Hermione had just planted was destroyed, and the barrage of lava globes ceased.
But as a time-buying tool, the Magma Totem had fulfilled its purpose.
If the spectators in the stands could hear the champions' voices, they might think Hermione was chanting some unknown, mysterious wizarding spell. In reality—
"Omnipresent wind elements You are the atmosphere the untamed force that gallops freely I beseech you to coalesce into form, manifest in this world, and aid me in defeating the enemy before me " (Elemental tongue)
Hermione was simply praising the elements in their tongue, using her mental focus and magic to gather more wind elements.
Finally, just as the Chinese Fireball turned back after destroying the thing that kept scalding it with lava, it saw a bizarre construct—fully a dozen meters tall, even taller than the dragon standing upright—appear opposite the tiny pest.
Its entire body seemed composed of the dark, brooding clouds of a stormy day, with deep blue arcs of electricity flickering from within to without. It had no face, only a bright blue core glowing where a face should be, and no legs; in their place, dark gray airstreams sank continuously, like falling rain.
This was the ally Hermione had summoned: a storm elemental.
But this wasn't Hermione's limit. After catching her breath, she continued reciting her "spell."
For some reason, the elements of any world loved wizards' magic. Because of this, both the Harry of the past and the Hermione of now, even in their weaker phases, could elicit stronger responses from the elements by infusing their spells with the magic in their bodies.
This moment was no exception.
One wasn't enough?
Hermione wanted two!
"Champion Granger has summoned a giant elemental!! Er, perhaps I should say a giant element? Anyway, the situation is clear now—just like Champion Malfoy earlier, Champion Granger hasn't glanced at the golden egg once! She intends to defeat a dragon head-on!! Heavens! What is wrong with these shamans?!"
Ludo was still shouting excitedly, but neither Hermione nor the Chinese Fireball could hear him.
Dragons in this world were ultimately creatures without higher intelligence, not even comparable to centaurs or veela—magical beasts with advanced minds. Thus, the Chinese Fireball missed its best chance to strike.
It postured as it would in the wild: roaring, baring claws, spreading wings to intimidate the sudden giant elemental—only to find, in the end, another fire elemental of equal size awaiting it.
Its body was formed entirely of flames burning gold-red, and its appearance raised the temperature of the entire arena by several degrees.
Both had summoned elements to fight, but if Cedric's earth elemental from the first task was a child, then Hermione's two were full-grown adults.
The audience had been thrilled watching Shaman Malfoy's match, the danger so intense that many held their breath, swaying with his every move.
Yet watching fellow Shaman Hermione, the crowd… couldn't help but want to laugh.
Not maliciously, but in a helpless, amused way—they watched the two massive elemental giants swat at the dragon left and right.
The enormous Chinese Fireball looked like a life-sized toy before them, batted this way and that. Just as it began to roar in fury, the storm elemental clamped its jaws shut and zapped it with crackling lightning, while the fire elemental delivered heavy punches.
In just a few blows, the dragon's scales were scorched nearly black, losing all their initial luster.
Holding a sphere condensed from all four elements, Hermione had intended to join the fray with an Elemental Blast, but after watching a few seconds, she quietly dispersed the gathered magic and walked straight to the nest to pick up the golden egg.
Beside her, the Chinese Fireball lay on the ground like the Hungarian Horntail that had faced Malfoy, whimpering faintly now and then.
"Thank you." Bowing slightly to the two elementals, Hermione flashed a sweet smile.
"An astonishing feat—Hogwarts champion Hermione Granger has also defeated the dragon!! This is an achievement the student champions from the other two schools could never match!!"
Once Hermione took the egg, the magic enveloping the arena lifted, letting her hear the crowd's cheers and Ludo's frenzied roars.
A Hogwarts graduate through and through, Ludo's commentary was blatantly biased—at least Harry saw Karkaroff beside him fuming.
"That's because of the rules! The rules say student champions only need to take the egg, so our champions didn't aim to defeat the dragon! What is Ludo Bagman even saying?!"
Harry exchanged a glance with Dumbledore; neither spoke.
Especially since Karkaroff, despite his rage, had to award full marks to Hermione for defeating the dragon unscathed—the two were even more tempted to laugh.
"Well, I'll head down then," Harry said, standing. "My match is next."
In the fair draw, Harry would go first among the professor champions.
"Aha, Principal Potter's match is starting?" Hagrid rubbed his hands excitedly. "Brilliant—I mean, I've always wondered just how powerful a wizard has to be to become headmaster of a magic school."
"That might disappoint you, Prime Minister," Harry said with a smile. "The match will probably end quickly."
"Eh?"
On his way to the champions' tent, Harry found Hermione—still inside with the Grangers, who hadn't left yet.
"I did it! Harry!!!"
Hermione, who had been excitedly telling her parents something, shrieked the moment she saw Harry and flung herself at him—a huge hug.
"I did it!! I successfully summoned two giant elementals! It was easier than I thought—the dragon couldn't even fight back. I never imagined it'd be this simple! It's great! I did it! I didn't embarrass you! I'm still the best among all the shaman apprentices!!"
Her words tumbled out at breakneck speed. In this moment, Hermione was like the girl from three years ago on the Hogwarts Express when they first met—speaking so fast, so emotionally charged that Harry couldn't get a word in. He could only helplessly catch her as she launched herself at him under the Grangers' odd gazes, keeping her from falling.
Smack.
Maybe because she was too excited?
Words alone couldn't vent Hermione's exhilaration. She'd been so calm on the field, but now she was the opposite—like a different person. In her fervor, she even stood on tiptoe and planted a firm kiss on Harry's cheek.
Only when her heels touched the ground again did Hermione finally realize, belatedly, what she'd done in the heat of the moment.
"Ah!!!!"
Like a screeching prairie dog, Hermione shrieked, then clapped her hands over her face and bolted from the tent, leaving Harry and the Grangers behind.
"Er........." Even Harry was momentarily at a loss for words. After a beat, he said, "Defeating a dragon head-on as a third-year is quite an achievement. Her excitement is normal."
"Of course, we understand perfectly," Mrs. Granger said with a knowing smile. "Seeing you two—"
"Dad! Mom! What are you still doing in there!!" Hermione's head suddenly popped back through the doorway. Without glancing at Harry, she yelled, "Harry's match is starting soon—hurry up!!"
With that, her head vanished again. Harry caught only a glimpse of her still-crimson face.
"Alright, alright," Mr. Granger said with a shrug. "We'll be off then. Good luck, Harry."
"Thanks."
Striding toward the stands, Hermione didn't dare look back at her parents trailing her, even though Mrs. Granger had called her name several times.
Then she spotted Fleur, waiting at the corridor entrance to the spectator area.
"Congratulations," Fleur said, her expression sour but gracious nonetheless. "I heard you got the egg too."
"Of course!" Hermione lifted her chin. "I defeated the dragon!"
"That's only because the task briefing said to take the egg!" Fleur couldn't hold back. "If we'd been told to defeat the dragon—! No, I already did! It's asleep!"
"But your skirt caught fire," Hermione pressed. "I defeated the dragon!"
"That wasn't even your power! It was the elements'!" Fleur was getting angry. "Not your spells—the elements defeated the dragon!"
"What's it to you?" Hermione shot back without mercy. "I can call such powerful elements—can you? Can any other shaman? You're just jealous!"
"I am not!" Fleur retorted. "I'm stating facts!"
"I defeated the dragon!"
"I could too!"
"I just kissed Harry!" For some reason, courage surged in Hermione. She jutted her chin at Fleur, tapping her left cheek. "Right here!!"
¥ %^*&@@#¥%@#" Fleur suddenly rattled off a long string of words Hermione didn't understand—probably French.
It didn't matter that she couldn't understand; Hermione no longer cared.
Like a victor, she said no more to Fleur. Head high, she pushed open the door and strode into the stands.
As for the burning glare from the woman behind her—she couldn't care less.
On the other side, Harry had entered the arena. The heavily damaged field had been magically restored, and his opponent—a Hungarian Horntail—lay in the distance.