Adrian never expected Dumbledore would actually throw a dragon at him. This was indeed beyond his expectations. However, Adrian wasn't worried; when it came to creatures like dragons, he had been able to subdue them effortlessly five years ago.
He glanced over at Professor Kettleburn watching from a distance. Professor Kettleburn stood with his arms crossed, looking completely confident. He knew Adrian's true abilities, and had even witnessed Adrian capture a dragon alive.
Hagrid, meanwhile, appeared both worried and excited. Though he loved dragons dearly, he wasn't a fool—he naturally knew that for ordinary wizards, a dragon was an absolute disaster.
"Ten minutes?" Adrian murmured softly, the corner of his mouth curling into a confident smile.
After the cage disappeared, the dragon, now free from restraint, jerked suddenly and slowly opened its eyes. The dragon stood up, looking around, seemingly not understanding what had happened. Then, it let out a deep roar toward Adrian, who was closest to it, with obvious warning intent.
"You seem still quite energetic," Adrian chuckled softly, looking calm, and he didn't even intend to take a step step back.
White-hot smoke puffed from the dragon's nostrils, the scorching airflow distorting the air around it. But Adrian made no significant movement; he even whistled at the dragon.
The dragon's vertical pupils contracted slightly, seemingly understanding that the human before it was provoking it. It suddenly scraped the ground, its sharp claws digging deep into the soil. The surrounding grass was instantly scorched black by its hot body temperature. The white smoke coming out from its nostrils grew increasingly thick, like a volcano about to erupt.
"ROAR—!"
A deafening roar suddenly erupted as the dragon spread its enormous wings, and like a massive wall, charged toward Adrian. Its enormous body flew almost at ground level, rushing straight at him!
The air instantly stirred up violent heat waves, even blowing Dumbledore's beard upward from a distance.
Just as the dragon was about to touch Adrian: "Apparition!"
Adrian's body twisted and vanished into thin air, instantly reappearing at the dragon's side. Despite being prepared, the dragon's attack speed was fast enough to surprise Adrian slightly. This successful attack managed to singe Adrian's clothes with a tiny bit of flame.
He frowned, gently patting his hem to extinguish the flames, and said in a dissatisfied tone: "This is quite expensive, I really wish you'd be more careful."
Professor Kettleburn's eyes remained fixed on the scene. Though he showed no concern, he didn't stop observing. He knew that Adrian's true capabilities were far beyond what had been displayed.
Hagrid's heart raced, and he couldn't help muttering, "This is really dangerous."
Seeing the little creature evade its attack, the dragon seemed somewhat enraged. Its angry eyes locked onto Adrian, and its massive chest were heaving violently. At the same time, deep in its throat, scorching flames began to gather, a deep red light flickered in its mouth, accompanied by a wave of heat rushing forward.
Wizards familiar with dragon habits knew this was the precursor to a dragon breathing fire. Adrian was no exception as he knew the dragon's habits like the back of his hand.
As expected, the dragon suddenly opened its mouth wide, and a ball of flame shot straight toward Adrian.
Devil's Snare quickly emerged from beneath Adrian's robe, and pounced toward the oncoming flames. The vines twisted and intertwined in the air, forming a thick barrier, attempting to block the dragon's breath.
When the flames collided with the vines, the air seemed to ignite. The blaze came down like a blanket of fire, barely managing to block the attack.
Unfortunately, no matter how thick the barrier was, it was still made of Devil's Snare. Devil's Snare possessed strong vitality and aggressiveness, but was particularly vulnerable to fire. The vines quickly blackened and curled in the high temperature, emitting a pungent burnt smell.
Adrian frowned as a flash of displeasure appeared in his eyes, he was slightly dissatisfied with the Devil's Snare's unauthorized action. Although the Devil's Snare successfully blocked the dragon's first attack, it suffered significant damage, with a large section of vines completely reduced to ashes, and disappearing into the air.
"This isn't something you should be handling; fire is lethal to you," Adrian said quietly, his tone was somewhat reproachful.
Hearing Adrian's rebuke, the Devil's Snare seemed hurt, its charred vines trembled slightly, as if trying to justify its rescue attempt. But Adrian gave it no further chance to risk itself. With a wave of his hand, the burned vines rapidly retreated beneath his robe, and disappeared without a trace.
"Eldra, help me analyze the enemy's weaknesses," Adrian communicated mentally with the Tree of Wisdom, intending to understand the dragon's condition.
Information from the Tree of Wisdom quickly came through:
[Type: Dragon (Transfiguration)]
[Level: 1]
[Weakness: Three inches to the left of center on the dragon's back]
...
'So that was it—this was actually a dragon created through Transfiguration.' Adrian nodded to himself, no wonder he felt the dragon's breath was somewhat weak.
Dumbledore clearly hadn't brought in a real adult dragon, but created this creature using some sophisticated transfiguration magic. This transfigured product wasn't enough to make Adrian use his most powerful abilities.
After spewing a wave of flames, the dragon crouched low again, preparing for a second attack. Adrian gripped his wand tightly and swung it forcefully.
"Incarcerous!"
A series of thick chains surged from the wand tip like a capture net, flying precisely toward the dragon. The dragon was caught off guard by the magical chains that tightly bound it, firmly securing its enormous limbs. Its open mouth was restrained by several specially reinforced chains, forcing back the scorching dragon breath, causing it to emit a deep hiss from its throat.
"Behave yourself!"
Looking at the dragon struggling against the chains, Adrian calmly walked to its back. Then, Adrian precisely pointed his wand at the dragon's weak spot and casually cast a spell.
A silver-white light shot from the wand tip, hitting exactly three inches to the left of center on the dragon's back. The dragon's body instantly stiffened, its struggling movements suddenly stopped. Then, that enormous body rapidly lost its color—scales, claws, wings, tail... all gradually turned into gray-white stone.
"THUD—"
With a heavy sound of something hitting the ground, the once-active dragon vanished, replaced by a huge, irregularly shaped stone block standing on the ground.
The scene instantly fell silent.
After about ten seconds, Dumbledore slowly walked forward, raised his hands, and gently applauded. "Perfect performance, Mr. Adrian," he praised with a look of appreciation in his eyes.
"I would have to admit, Professor Dumbledore," Adrian gently shook the ashes from his robe, "I've never seen a dragon transfigured so successfully. This level of realism is almost indistinguishable from a real dragon."
"Indeed," Dumbledore smiled slightly, "To give you a sufficiently interesting test, Professor McGonagall and I spent considerable time preparing this little surprise."
"So, I've passed then?"
"Of course!"
Seeing this, Professor Kettleburn approached, his face bearing a somewhat proud expression, and patted Adrian's shoulder: "I knew you wouldn't have any problems, Ed."
"Thank you for your help too, Professor," Adrian gave an appreciative smile.
Professor Kettleburn waved dismissively, "I didn't help you with anything."
Meanwhile, Hagrid stood not far away, staring blankly at the stone block on the ground.
"Wait!" he seemed unable to process what had happened, "This isn't a real dragon? I thought it was... nobody told me... oh, my goodness!"
Poor Hagrid, he had believed it was a real dragon all along.