Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 289, Chapter 288: Hermione's Great Victory!

The Chinese Fireball Dragon is a dragon with a very strong sense of territory, and Hermione has now stepped into its territory.

"...It's okay, if Draco can do it, I definitely can too...I can..."

It was impossible not to be nervous. When facing such a behemoth for the first time, nervousness was a human instinct, Hermione muttered to herself, taking a deep breath.

Unlike Draco, she is not an Enhancement Shaman, but an Elemental Shaman, specializing in manipulating the elements and using the destructive power of nature to strike enemies.

Although she didn't get to witness Harry using his rampaging elemental magic to kill the basilisk last year, the way he directly overwhelmed the basilisk with massive amounts of spells was exactly what Hermione longed for.

Now, she was about to face a colossal creature, like a basilisk.

The perfect target—even though she knew it was wrong to think this way, Hermione couldn't help but let the thought pop into her head.

Under the watchful gaze of the Chinese Fireball Dragon, Hermione raised her right hand as if something had been lifted from the transparent air. With her movement, a totem made of rock rose from the ground, and as it rose, the corresponding elemental language and patterns were naturally engraved on its surface.

Unlike Cedric, Hermione did not base her totem on Transfiguration.

Magma Totem!

Bang!
As the totem was inserted into the ground, the Chinese Fireball Dragon felt an intense heat from the direction of the small insect. This was to be expected, as the land centered on the magma totem had already boiled after it was inserted, melting into a scalding, fiery, red-hot pool of magma in just a few seconds.

This is also where this world differs from Azeroth. Azeroth has four elemental realms, so as long as a magma totem is planted, the elementals can throw magma from the fire elemental realm to attack enemies. But in this world, the elementals can only use materials from the environment on the spot to attack.

This undoubtedly increases the time required for the attack.

Hermione had not yet mastered the arts of the elements to the point where Harry could perform the Ascension ritual for her, so she needed more time to call upon the elements for help. The magma totem served to buy her time.

The Chinese Fireball Dragon seemed to regard the magma totem, which was constantly hurling magma balls at it, as a living enemy. It angrily raised its forebody and then, as if sneezing, suddenly spat out two blazing fireballs towards the magma totem's location—BOOM! BOOM! !
The burning fireball landed around the magma totem in the blink of an eye, and a huge explosion occurred the next second. Hermione's totem was destroyed, and the continuous throwing of magma balls stopped.

However, as a tool to buy time, the lava totem has already played its role.

If the spectators in the stands could hear the warrior's voice, they might think Hermione was chanting an unknown and mysterious wizarding spell, but in reality—

“…O omnipresent wind element…you are the atmosphere…the untamed power of free flow…I implore you to materialize, appear in this world, and help me defeat the enemy before me…” (Elemental language)
Hermione was simply using elemental language to praise the elements and using her mental power and magic to gather more wind element.

Finally, just as the Chinese Fireball Dragon finished destroying the thing that could scald itself with lava and turned around, it saw a strange object, more than ten meters tall, even taller than itself when standing, appear opposite the little worm.

The entire body seemed to be made of dark, gloomy clouds on a rainy day, but deep blue electric filaments constantly flickered from the inside out. It had no face, only a bright blue core flickering where the face should have been. It also had no legs, as if in the rain, dark gray air currents were constantly sinking from where the legs should have been.

This was the helper Hermione had summoned, a storm elemental.

But this wasn't Hermione's limit; after catching her breath, she continued chanting the 'spell'.

For some reason, the elements of every world seem to love the magic of wizards. That's why, when Harry was weak and Hermione was weak, the elements always responded better when they used magic from their bodies to cast spells.

This moment is no exception.

One isn't enough.
Hermione wants two!
"...Granje has summoned a giant elemental!! Uh, or perhaps I should say a giant elemental? Anyway, it's pretty clear now. Just like Malfoy just now, Granje didn't even glance in the direction of the golden egg! She also wants to defeat a fire dragon head-on!! Good heavens! What's wrong with these shamans?!"

Ludo was still shouting excitedly, but neither Hermione nor the Chinese Fireball Dragon could hear him.

The dragons in this world are ultimately a type of dragon without advanced intelligence. They are not even as intelligent as magical creatures like centaurs or banshees. Therefore, the Chinese Fireball Dragon missed its best opportunity to attack.

It still intimidated the suddenly appearing giant elemental just as it had in the natural world, roaring, brandishing its claws, and spreading its wings—but it never expected that what it would finally encounter was a fire elemental as huge as that storm elemental.

Its entire body is composed of flames burning to a golden-red color, and the appearance of this fire element raised the temperature of the entire arena by several degrees.

Both summoned elementals to aid them in battle, but if Cedric's first earth elemental was a child, then Hermione's two summoned elementals were adults.

Malfoy's matches as a shaman thrilled the audience, with the excitement so intense that many held their breath and swayed their bodies in sync with his movements.

Hermione, also a shaman, made the audience... want to laugh.

But don't get me wrong, it wasn't a malicious laugh, but a laugh that was both funny and exasperating—they just watched helplessly as the two enormous elemental giants attacked the fire dragon one after another.

The enormous Chinese Fireball Dragon looked like a life-sized toy in front of them, being tossed around left and right. Just as it was about to roar angrily, a storm elemental grabbed its mouth and crackled with electricity, followed by a heavy punch from a fire elemental.

In just a few punches, the scales of the Chinese Fireball Dragon were almost charred black, and it no longer had the brightness it had at the beginning.

Holding a sphere formed from the four elements, Hermione initially planned to join the battle with an elemental shock, but after watching for a few seconds, she quietly dispelled the magic and instead walked to the dragon's lair and picked up the golden egg.

Beside her, the Chinese Fireball Dragon had fallen to the ground, just like the Hungarian Hornet that had faced Malfoy earlier, groaning softly.

"Thank you," Hermione said with a slight bow to the two elements, followed by a sweet smile.

"An astonishing fact: Hermione Granger, a hero from Hogwarts, also defeated a dragon!! This is an achievement that student heroes from the other two schools simply could not accomplish!!"

Once Hermione obtained the golden egg, the magic that had enveloped the arena dissipated, allowing her to hear the cheers of the audience and Ludo's frantic roar.

As a Hogwarts graduate, Ludo's commentary clearly showed his bias, at least Harry was furious to see Karkaroff beside him.

"That's because of the competition rules! The rules say that the student warriors only need to take the golden egg, so our warriors didn't aim to defeat the fire dragon! What on earth is Ludo Bagman talking about?!"

Harry and Dumbledore exchanged a glance, neither of them speaking. Especially when Karkaroff, even though he was furious, had to give Hermione a perfect score for defeating the dragon unscathed, the two of them wanted to laugh even more.

“Then I’ll go down first,” Harry said, standing up. “Next up is my match.”

In a fair draw, Harry will be the first to appear as one of the professors' champions.

"Ah, Headmaster Potter's competition is about to begin?" Huck rubbed his hands together excitedly. "Great—I mean, I've always been curious about just how powerful a wizard has to be to become the headmaster of a magic school."

“I’m afraid that will disappoint you, Mr. Prime Minister,” Harry said with a smile. “The match will probably end very quickly.”

"what?"

Arriving at the contestants' preparation room, Harry saw Hermione and the Grangers, who hadn't yet left.

"I did it, Harry!!!"

Hermione, who had been excitedly talking to her parents, screamed and rushed over to Harry as soon as he came in—giving him a big hug.

"I did it!! I successfully summoned two giant elementals! It was easier than I expected. That fire dragon couldn't even put up a fight. I never thought it would be this easy! Great! I did it! I didn't let you down! I'm still the strongest of all the shaman apprentices!!"

Hermione spoke at an incredibly fast pace, as if she had returned to the time three years ago when the two first met on the Hogwarts Express. Her speech was so rapid and her emotions so intense that Harry couldn't get a word in edgewise. He could only helplessly catch Hermione as she lunged forward, preventing her from falling, under the strange gazes of the Grangers.

— *kiss*

Perhaps it was because he was too excited?

Words alone cannot express Hermione's excitement at this moment. She was as calm as she was on the field, as excited as she was now, as if she were a different person. Hermione was so excited that she even stood on tiptoe and kissed Harry on the cheek.

When her heel touched the ground again, Hermione finally realized what she had done under the influence of her emotions.

"what!!!!"

Like a screaming groundhog, Hermione screamed as well, then covered her face and ran out of the contestants' preparation room, leaving Harry and the Grangers behind.

“Uh…” Even Harry didn’t know what to say for a moment. He thought for a moment and said, “It is indeed a remarkable achievement for a third-year student to defeat a dragon head-on. It’s normal for her to be so excited.”

“Of course, we understand,” Mrs. Granger said with a knowing smile. “To see the two of you—”

"Dad! Mom! What are you still doing in there?!" Suddenly, a head popped out from the doorway. Hermione didn't even glance at Harry and shrieked, "Harry's match is about to start, come out right now!!"

After saying that, Hermione withdrew her head, and Harry could only see that her face was still red.

“Alright, alright,” Mr. Granger shrugged. “Then we’ll be off. Good luck, Harry.”

"Thank you."

Hermione strode towards the audience seats, not daring to turn her head to look at her parents behind her, even though Mrs. Granger had called her several times.

Then she saw Hibiscus, the French lady who was waiting at the entrance to the aisle leading to the stands.

"Congratulations!" Fleur's expression wasn't very pleasant, but she still congratulated Hermione with considerable grace, saying, "I heard you also got the golden egg."

“Of course!” Hermione exclaimed, raising her chin. “I defeated the dragon!”

"That's because the information we received about the competition only said to take the golden egg!" Hibiscus couldn't help but exclaim. "What if the requirement we received was to defeat the fire dragon? No, I've already defeated it! It's asleep!"

“But your dress is on fire,” Hermione continued. “I defeated the dragon!”

"That wasn't your power at all! That was the power of the elements!" Fleur was somewhat angry. "It wasn't your spell; the elements defeated the fire dragon!"

"It's none of your business!" Hermione retorted bluntly. "I can summon such powerful elementals, can you? Can other shamans do it? You're just jealous!"

“I didn’t!” Hibiscus retorted, “I’m just stating the facts!”

"I defeated the fire dragon!"

"I can too!"

"I just kissed Harry!" Hermione, emboldened by some unknown source of courage, forcefully raised her head and pointed to her left cheek towards Fleur. "Right here!!"

"￥%^*&@@#￥%@#" Fleur suddenly exclaimed excitedly, uttering a long string of words Hermione couldn't understand; it must have been French.

But it doesn't matter if you don't understand, because Hermione doesn't care anymore.

Like a victor, she said no more to Furong, but instead walked into the audience area with her head held high.

As for the woman's burning gaze behind her—she didn't care at all.

Harry had already entered the arena. The area, which had been almost completely destroyed, had been magically restored, while his opponent, a Hungarian hornet, was lying in the distance.

(End of this chapter)