"The champion from Hogwarts, Jane Yu, has entered the arena! Let's look forward to her performance!"
In the stands, Bagman's commentary was fervent and enthusiastic:
"She will be facing a Ukrainian Ironbelly, the largest breed of dragon in the world. Although it's slower in flight, it's extremely dangerous due to its vicious nature. Its sheer size alone can crush a person to pulp!"
His words caused the faces of the young wizards to turn pale, and for a moment, the Slytherin students holding banners to cheer for Jane Yu were stunned into stillness, cold sweat dripping down their faces.
"Let's see how she plans to deal with this dragon!—Oh my goodness, she's lying down!!!"
Gasps of astonishment arose, and many spectators shut their eyes and turned away, unable to bear witnessing the impending scene of Jane being torn apart by the dragon.
"Has she fainted from fright? Rescue! Rescue team—!"
Bagman shouted in panic, not wanting a fatality in the first task, which would make headlines in the Daily Prophet!
Even worse, he might face public condemnation for a student's death, affecting his position!
But soon, his panic turned to joy, and he shouted loudly, even breaking his voice:
"No, no—! What's happening? The dragon has actually handed the golden egg to her!"
"What is it doing? It's lying down beside her! It's completely tamed! It even turned back to give her the entire nest of eggs!"
"Look!" Bagman shouted excitedly, "Look at that! Jane Yu has obtained the golden egg at the fastest speed! She hasn't suffered a single injury!"
"The dragon is like her pet! It even understands commands; I've never heard of a dragon being tamed like this!"
The stands erupted in waves of cheers and shocked discussions, with all Hogwarts students and professors loudly chanting her name.
The dragon handlers, who were on high alert, stood with their mouths agape, unable to utter a word.
Was this really the same Ukrainian Ironbelly they had faced before, the one that emitted piercing wails and spewed mushroom cloud-like flames at them?
Could it actually be a dog disguised as a dragon?
The handlers stood in the stands, starting to question their life choices.
Is this what talent is? Is this the world of the strong?
A natural dragon speaker? A born dragon tamer?
But soon, a dragon handler from the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary began shouting urgently:
"Charlie, hurry up, get your parchment and quill!"
Charlie Weasley looked at his boss in astonishment as sparks flew from his mouth like a dragon breathing fire, the passion boiling in his eyes:
"Quickly, write an offer, this is talent! A once-in-a-millennium talent!"
"We must immediately, at the first opportunity, give her an offer as soon as she steps off the field! We can't let those from other sanctuaries get ahead!"
"A born dragon tamer! Such affinity! Can she understand dragon language? We must talk to her!"
...
Jane Yu returned to the entrance of the field amidst deafening cheers.
Almost all of Hogwarts' professors hurried over to welcome her, quickly forming a small circle around her, leaving Newt on the outside, having to stand on tiptoe and crane his neck to see her face.
"Fantastic! Absolutely stunning!" Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick seemed to have only these words left in their mouths, "Such talent and skill!"
Professor Sprout hugged her and patted her shoulder, her ten fingers trembling with excitement.
Meanwhile, Snape roughly shoved a bottle of Essence of Dittany into her hand, his mouth curving slightly upwards, though the expression looked more like a sneer due to his long disuse of such expressions:
"Well done, Miss Yu, very successful, I suppose we won't need to rescue your head."
Newt was finally lifted into the crowd by Hagrid's strong arms.
But under the watchful eyes of everyone, the centenarian appeared thoroughly embarrassed by such a direct move, taking a while to utter:
"Well done, Jane, it still remembers you—"
His words caught in his throat as he was once again lifted aside by an enthusiastic dragon handler.
While the handler profusely apologized to the renowned magizoologist and chatted about the Ukrainian Ironbelly's traits, Charlie Weasley had already shoved a hastily written offer into Jane Yu's hand:
"That's amazing!" He gave a thumbs up, "You have such skills! Mom was worried sick about you and Harry earlier... Please come to work in Romania after you graduate! Of course, you don't have to wait until graduation, let me tell you about our salary, benefits... and vacation policies..."
"That's too direct, Charlie!" His boss glared at him, eagerly pulling out paper and pen, "We need to talk about ideals and interests first!"
"Miss Yu, no, may I call you Jane?" He grasped the paper and pen in one hand and shook her hand with the other, "How did you come up with this new method of dragon taming by lying down before a Ukrainian Ironbelly? Belly up, is this something you've observed in their behavior? Do you have a passion for dragons? Can we learn and experiment with it?"
Even though Jane Yu hadn't yet recovered from the shock of encountering the familiar dragon, she couldn't help but cringe internally.
Did she really just want to lie down and play dead?
What else could she say?
She planned to go limp, but the dragon outdid her?
Is this something she could admit?
"Uh..." She pursed her lips and said, "No, for your own safety, I suggest you don't lie down easily... Feed it more cooked meat... Roasted is even better..."
"Cooked meat?" The dragon handler scribbled notes, "Do dragons need to eat cooked meat? How cooked? Well-done, medium-well, medium, medium-rare..."
His words were cut off as Newt, once again aided by Hagrid, struggled to land beside him, a wrinkled hand resting on his shoulder, even near his neck:
"No, I'm sorry, she can't go to Romania." Newt's forehead was beaded with sweat, "Because she's already my apprentice—"
Newt felt a bit displeased.
Doesn't Romania have its own dragon handlers? Why are they eyeing his protégé?
And he didn't know that his feelings were unexpectedly aligned with those of his mentor, Dumbledore.
Unfortunately, he didn't understand the principle of 'the cabbage you covet will be coveted by others.'
And the Romanian sanctuary intended to take the cabbage along with the farmer.
"I see." The dragon handler looked at him in surprise, his eyes shining even brighter, "Newt, we're old friends, since she's your apprentice, that's even better, why don't both of you come to Romania—"
Newt was dumbfounded, and so was Jane Yu.
He felt he must be dreaming.
He smiled and suggested discussing it another day, quickly taking Jane Yu with him as they broke through the crowd with Hagrid.
Though he was indeed willing to study dragons with the young ones, and Romania was a frequent destination, for some reason—
Under such enthusiastic invitation, for the first time in his life, he felt a reluctance to ever appear in Romania again.
This was truly peculiar.
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