A Dragon!
Even with their limited brains, the Giants still remembered what a terrifying creature like that looked like.
Of course, the ones who could not remember it for the moment would never need to again.
Golgomath and the Giants under him stared with wide eyes as the black Dragon rushed closer and closer.
At first, it was only about the size of a sailing ship, roughly comparable to them. But by the time they could make out the black Dragon's savage features clearly, it was already as enormous as a small mountain.
Terror instantly crushed the Giants' fearless survival instincts. Golgomath spun around in a panic, but before he could even take his first step, the black Dragon came crashing down over his head with a force like the end of the world.
Boom. Crash.
The snow, along with the earth beneath it, was blasted dozens of feet into the air. The only things that drew everyone's attention were the Hebridean Black dragon with its head held high, and Tver standing atop that head, dazzling like a diamond.
"Come to think of it, this is the first time I've missed Hogwarts' Start-of-Term Feast since becoming a professor there."
"So tell me, how are you planning to compensate me, Mr. Voldemort?"
Tver looked down at Voldemort with a smile. Even amid the thunder of the surrounding avalanche, his voice remained perfectly clear.
After all, even Hagrid, who understood Giant habits well, would have needed more than a month to search through the mountains.
So in order to find Hagrid as quickly as possible, Tver had specifically made the ever-fond-of-ordering-people-around Dumbledore borrow another Hebridean Black dragon for him, the very same one from last year's tournament.
After some "persuasion," he had mounted the Dragon and flown almost without stopping toward the long mountain range along the borders of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, without even reporting to the Ministries of Magic of the countries he crossed, all to save as much time as possible.
But having the black Dragon did not make the search easy. He was flying high overhead, and even creatures as large as Giants were hard to spot clearly from the ground.
So he had used a small trick. Every so often, he would trigger a minor avalanche. If large numbers of small animals came fleeing out of the woods, then it was not Giant territory.
Relying on the vast stretches of snow in the mountains, Tver had searched area after area, and at the crucial moment, finally found Hagrid.
Of course, it had also cost him the rest of his holiday, making him miss Hogwarts' Start-of-Term Feast and, predictably, the classes that would follow...
As the dust cleared, the Giants sprawled on the ground found their vision returning, and at last saw the black Dragon's ferocious appearance clearly.
Remembering the apocalyptic force they had just witnessed, they fled in every direction without looking back.
As for their revered Gurg, Golgomath...
Well, wasn't that smear of mangled flesh the black Dragon had disdainfully swiped aside?
Voldemort and Tver both watched those fleeing Giants coldly, paying no attention to the avalanche in the distance growing more and more violent.
Wait, why is this avalanche so fierce?!
Tver stared in surprise at the avalanche, which was nearly swallowing the entire mountainside, and only then remembered that in order to reach the ground as quickly as possible, he had made the black Dragon not only rely on its immense weight, but accelerate as fast as it could as well.
The shock from that impact had been no less than a minor earthquake for the mountain range.
And now, as it swept up more and more snow, the avalanche had become like an ocean, stretching so far there was no end in sight.
Fortunately, he had come here on a Dragon.
Tver shot Voldemort a smug look, then patted the black Dragon on the head.
The black Dragon immediately understood and spread its wings flat toward Hagrid and Maxime.
"Get on," Tver called, beckoning to the stunned Hagrid. "You can't just tough out an avalanche of this scale."
Maxime reacted first, supporting Hagrid as they quickly climbed onto the black Dragon's broad back.
"Tver!" Hagrid cried excitedly, running a hand over the Dragon's back. "How're you here? I mean, you can ride a Dragon too?"
"Of course it was Dumbledore. Once he found out something had happened to you, he..."
"Avada Kedavra!"
Tver jerked his head aside just in time, and the green light brushed past his hair.
Faced with both the avalanche and the Dragon, Voldemort merely toyed with the wand in his hand, his expression not changing in the slightest.
"Don't act so relaxed, Tver. Weren't you asking for compensation?" The corners of his mouth curled up as if he were chatting with an old friend.
But Tver could feel the provocation in his eyes.
Tver licked his lips and straightened up. At some point, his right hand was already gripping his wand as he looked down at Voldemort below.
"You're right. The question is, can you afford to pay it?"
With a flash, Tver instantly appeared opposite Voldemort, accompanied by a barrage of spells that shot out like bullets.
Voldemort pointed his wand at the ground, and the snow instantly turned into a snow-white shield, ringing as it blocked every attack.
"I've been saving this up for years, just waiting to pay you back!"
As though he had recalled the years of frustration he had endured, especially the suffering his soul had gone through four years ago, a savage look immediately twisted across his pale face into something eerily warped.
The moment he finished speaking, he swung his wand, and the ground in front of Tver exploded into a great spray of snow. The scattered flakes seemed to come alive, surging toward him in a dense, overwhelming wave.
But in the very next instant, a circular golden barrier burst out around Tver and expanded outward, melting every snowflake into shimmering gold light.
And that was not all. After destroying the snowflakes, the barrier did not slow in the slightest, but continued pressing toward Voldemort, its radiance growing brighter and brighter.
Light like the sun illuminated the entire snowy field, and the reflected glare made the two half-Giants in the distance, along with the Dragon, shut their eyes tightly.
At that display, Voldemort narrowed his eyes and flicked his wrist again and again, sending thick black rays, dense as ink, crashing into the barrier one after another.
Sizzle...
When the black light struck the barrier, it did not disperse. Instead, like real ink, it corroded and smothered the golden glow on its surface.
The light gradually faded, and calm returned to the scene.
No, not calm. There was still the avalanche behind them.
Never mind Hagrid and Madam Maxime. Even the black Dragon, when it turned back and saw the avalanche that looked capable of destroying the world, could not keep the fear from showing in its violet eyes.
Roar.
"Tver, stop fighting! The avalanche's here. Get clear first!"
Amid Hagrid's shout and the thunder of the avalanche, the black Dragon hesitated for a moment between Tver and its own survival, then finally beat its wings and leapt into the sky.
As for Tver and Voldemort on the ground, it was as if they had heard nothing at all. They continued fighting fiercely.
They even seemed to think the avalanche was not destructive enough, setting off explosion after explosion and sending tremors through the mountain.
The avalanche did not slow in the slightest. After smashing through the tall, sturdy trees rooted in the ground, it charged toward the two of them like an army of ten thousand.
Then, before Hagrid and the others' disbelieving eyes, it swallowed them completely.
...
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