Chapter 7.3- Doom Days

When I said there was only one species of Hellhound that didn’t have a conventional weakness that could be taken advantage of, I had meant this one. Fuck. I jinxed myself, didn’t I? Fuck me. Cŵn Annwn. The drawings were a ferocious thing already, and Riddle actually had memories of seeing a painting on one in the Macnair manor when he had been able to get an invite to one of the balls the family held. Unlike the muggle myths, the real Cŵn Annwn did not hunt in packs. They had the power to jump in shadows and jump out of them so it could seem like one was facing dozens when it was really only one creature on the prowl, so it was understandable where the muggle myth had come from.

A grown Cŵn Annwn was about the size of an adult man when it came to height and their bodies were somehow even more bulky. They were bigger than any other breed of hellhound with the exception of Cerberi but unlike their three headed cousins, they had several other things going for them beyond size. First was their hide. The book rated the magic resistance of their hide as a level 5. Level 5 was insane considering trolls enjoyed a level three rating and giants were level four. For context, some other creatures that had level 5 ratings when it came to magic resistance were dragons and basilisks. That wasn’t good company. Not good company at all for my interests. And it wasn’t just the hide.

There was the fire as well. Just like dragons, Cŵn Annwn could breathe fire. They put the hell in hellhound and were said to be able to breathe fire hot enough to melt steel. The only silver lining was that they couldn’t just breathe fire endlessly and had to rely on taking in air to breathe out infernos. Not much of a silver lining, but well enough. The other part of the hellhound combination was that Cŵn Annwn were able to travel between shadows. They could jump into one shadow and jump out of another. It was a powerful ability and I agreed with the woman when she said that if it was allowed to do that, then the fight would not even be close to sporting.

It wouldn’t even have been a fight. I know how strong I am. I am pretty sure that I could take all the other three champions at the same time if I needed to, but regardless of all that I knew there was no chance of me beating one who had free reign over the shadows. It just wasn’t possible. Thankfully, that ability would be limited and the beast would be confined to a fixed perimeter so there was some chance of moving in and out of the beast’s range over time to get rests but that depended on a lot of things.

I heard a coughing sound, and I looked up from my wand which I had been studying to the smiling face of Cedric Diggory.

“Wotcher, Harry?” He asked. Harry, I noted. Not Potter.

“What’s up, Cedric?” I asked in turn, ignoring the question and moving straight into things. What do you want?

“The others seem to know what we are facing. I never took Care of Magical Creatures, you see? What even is a Cŵn Annwn?” He said, stepping closer to me like he wanted the conversation to remain between the two of us both the tent was so silent the others must have heard.

I knew they did because a barked laughter shot out from Fleur’s lips as the French girl regarded us with a pitying expression.

“Bad news, Cedric. Magic resistant as hell. About the size of a grown man and twice as wide. They can breathe fire hot enough to melt steel and travel between shadows, although we shouldn’t have to worry about the latter. I’ll be honest with you, Cedric. You can’t resign the second we step in because you’d never live that down, but the second you feel your life is in danger, you should send those sparks flying. Cŵn Annwn are dangerous. Class Five beasts, just like Dragons, Basilisks, and Pheonixes. I have no idea who thought it would be a good idea to place four teenagers against one but its not worth risking your life for their amusement” I said in a serious tone, and the tent was silent for a second before Krum scoffed from his corner.

“Anything to say, Bulgarian?” I asked, turning towards him.