The Roggenw?lfe alerted at the sight of the 'cat toy,' but did not make a move toward the Cath Palug. They were ignored in turn, with the disdain that only a feline ten meters high at the shoulder can evince. It gently laid the bound woman between its front paws, then yawned. The teeth exposed were entirely too large, entirely too sharp, and there were, somewhat ludicrously, entirely too many of them.

  When the jaws snapped shut with an incongruous bell-like chime, the Roggenw?lfe flinched en masse. Recovering, they began to spread to either side, slowly flanking the Cath Palug, who had still not acknowledged their existence. The bound woman, for good or ill, had been placed so she couldn't see the approaching wolves.

  The Tatzelwurm had not twitched since the big cat appeared. Stalking, though, did not seem to be in its repertoire. With a hissing screech that blasted frozen purple breath from its mouth, it charged.

  The cloud of mist that had started by the Welsh Gate collapsed in on itself with the crackle of lighting. It coalesced into the shape of a massive, massive black mastiff with spectral red eyes. Crouched to pounce, it bayed out a loud challenge from behind teeth dripping green ectoplasm and red blood. Fully three meters long from nose tip to tail tip, it was comparable in size to the main body of the Wurm, discounting the long tail, long neck, and dragon-like head.

  "The Gwyllgi, spectral stalker of the Welsh Moors, Mountains and Coast! And we now know why it is infamous for appearing from nowhere!"

  The Tatzelwurm stopped so abruptly that it dug its snout into the dirt. Recovering like lightning, it pulled its head and neck back into an 'S' shape, like a snake about to strike. A prolonged hisss made a cloud of the purple breath gather around its snout. An unnoticed neck frill snapped out, propelling the gas toward the Gwyllgi.

  Back to her commentary, Ginny chortled. "Woah, that looks nasty! If you can make your shield blow air, keep that mist in the center of the pitch. It will eventually rise out of the stadium. My friend, Luna Lovegood-Scamander, once informed me that the breath of a Tatzelwurm is not only poisonous, it is corrosive to both flesh and magic. And if I see anyone trying to blow it into another section, their Section will be disqualified from competition!"

  There was a mixture of laughter, cheering, and jeering coming from the spectators.

  Just then, one of the flanking Roggenw?lfe, made incautious by the Cath Palug's closed eyes, made a dash for the bound woman.

  Without moving any other muscles, the big cat's tail flicked to her left, then right. Though long, even for the great beast's size, the tail did not appear to be particularly massive. Mass or magic, two Roggenw?lfe went flying.

  Literally flying. Ginny's Chaser instincts let her calculate in a flash. "Sections 105, 146, Incoming! Brace for Impact!" Her voice was merry, and her tone unconcerned.

  Section 105's Wolf came in straight and hard. There was a collective OOF! from the Shield Bearers of the Section. The Roggenwolf bounced, falling to the pitch unconscious.

  At Section 146, the Wolf had a high, arcing trajectory. The Auror in charge had time to make adjustments to the Shield Wall. The top edge was spread up just in time to keep from being overtopped. The Roggenwolf came down at a sharp angle, tumbling down the face of the shield at speed.

  Whether the Auror ordered it or not, some of the people maintaining shields near the front row thought to flare out the coverage into a ramp. The rye-coloured Wolf was still tumbling fast enough to be a blur, as she bowled over several of her packmates. The pack as a whole lost some of their mystique, as the high-pitched Yip-Yip-Yipping sounds they made lacked gravitas. The crowd found it hilarious.

  The Gwyllgi was backing slowly from the waves of Bad, BAD Breath, seemingly more from distaste than distress. He and the Worm were fencing with snapping teeth, exchanges often too fast for the human eye to follow. From the way those with Omnioculars were reacting as they slowed the action down, it was something to see.

  One particularly long scrap ended in a cracking sound. The Tatzelwurm reared in pain and shock, hissing like a giant steam engine about to blow. The Gwyllgi shook his mastiff head, jaws wide, and shards of crystal teeth mixed with frothy blood flew everywhere.

  Even though its teeth were visibly regrowing, the Tatzelwurm had obviously had enough. Dropping to four feet, the Worm made a snaky-looking U-Turn in its own body length, heading for the Pitch wall behind it.

  Across the Pitch in the Top Box, Ginny went, "Whoopsy! Can't have that! Sections 126, 128, add your Shields to 127! Make it tall and lean it back in, to arc over the Pitch!"

  The three sections were roaring with laughter and excitement as they followed instructions.

  The Tatzelwurm didn't slow as it charged up onto the wall, climbing like a monstrous gecko. It continued from the wall onto the shields, treating the magical surface as sold ground. As the Shield curved back out over the surface of the Pitch, it slowed and finally stopped. Hanging upside down, fifty meters above the ground, it looked around in bewilderment.

  Ginny boomed out, "126, 127, 128, on the count of Three... Cut. Your. Shields! Everybody with me!"

  Ginny clenched her fists by her sides, then shot them up with the pointer finger extended on each. The capacity crowd roared.

  "ONE!"

  Down. UP! V for Victory flashed.

  "TWO!"

  Down. UP!

  "THREE!"

  (Later, speaking as one of the world's best Magi-Herpetologists, Luna Lovegood-Scamander stated categorically that she had No Idea that Wurms were capable of producing such a rich range of expressions, and, at that, in such a short time).

  Tatzelwurm Fall Down. Go BOOM!

  Across the Pitch, the Roggenw?lfe had finally eschewed subtlety. The Cath Palug had laid down, front legs curled protectively around the bound woman. An occasional paw with sheathed claws would dart out, and a massively bruised wolf would retreat from wherever it landed to sulk by the German Gate. The Pack surrounded her from the front, going as far back as mid-body. They avoided the rear for two reasons. A: That was the home of the devastatingly accurate tail, which had launched several more Wolves at various angles. And, Two: The Gwyllgi had taken over the responsibility of guarding the monster cat's flanks, leaping effortlessly from side to side. He dropped onto unknowing Pack member's heads like the Hammer of a Vengeful Carpenter God.

  The rest of the flying Roggenw?lfe had been dealt with efficiently by various Sections, and the crowd were cat-calling the remainder of the Pack.

  A deep, deep rumbling started. Many of the crowd looked around the clear blue winter sky that Patagonia is SO not famous for. (Weather Wizards. Whatcha gonna do?).

  The thunderous sound was finally narrowed down. It was coming from the German Gate, and it was getting louder. The Pack were too fixed on their attack to notice. The sullen wolves near the gate began skulking away. The Tatzelwurm was still in a stunned state, eyes tracking separately on things only it could see.

  Khaleesi stalked out of the corridor, followed sheepishly by a group of witches and wizards in German Committee Staff robes. They were still shedding rags and tags of ropes and cordage. Apparently these trainers had been ambushed and tied as well.

  Khaleesi's thunderous growl kept ramping up. Some of the Roggenw?lfe looked around and snarled at her, (canine vision not being all that, and her being relatively far away from the Pack).

  Khaleesi's growl... stopped. As did every other sound in the stadium but the snarling, snapping Pack.

  Ginny's voice was very clear, as she said... "Crap." Luna/Terpsichorea was talking quickly into her ear again. Ginny continued, voice as calm and controlled as she could make it. "Folks, for those of you unfamiliar with her, I would like to introduce this year's American Squad Mascot, Alpha Dire Wolf Pack Leader Matriarch, Khaleesi." Ginny took moment to swallow hard then, continued. "Khaleesi is here to wind up our Presentation of Mascots. Everyone is perfectly safe, but if you could take your seats, and give her your attention, you may see some of her remarkable magic."

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Intrigued, the crowd sorted itself out in record time.

  Khaleesi began growling again, this time showing her teeth, and ratcheting the volume much father up. More and more of the Roggenw?lfe turned to face her fur bristling, still snarling. A bigger wolf shouldered his way to the front edge, attempting to bring his growl up to the level of the Dire Wolf.

  Most of the Pack having turned away, the Gwyllgi came up and took a seat beside the Cath Palug. The two exchanged a glance before returning their attention to Khaleesi. A left-over Roggenwolf attempted to do a run-by smash-and-grab on the bound woman. The big cat batted it away with the back of a casual paw. Nevertheless, the Wolf rolled almost all the way to the goalpost. Coming to its paws unsteadily, it wove its way over to join the other losers.

  The Pack had begun closing slowly. It got even slower as they realized that the Dire Wolf was much farther away, and therefore MUCH bigger, than first impressions had given them to think.

  Khaleesi was tired of all the silly bollocks. She fully opened her massive jaws, and SNARLED.

  Impressive. Hair and programs flew about, as did souvenir hats and flags. The sound left ears ringing and popping from overpressure.

  But it wasn’t meant for the people, which barely made it bearable. The snarl went past the Pack's ears, and through their brains, all the way down to that primitive little bundle of nerves and synapses just above the top end of the spine. And it triggered, hard, the ancestral memory of what it meant to be PACK.

  A complicated shudder went through everyone in the stadium. But the effect on the Roggenw?lfe was drastic and dramatic.

  Every tail clamped to every belly. Every Wolf flopped over on its back, throat bared, and eyes squeezed shut. The handlers started circulating with leads and collars, and not a Roggenwolf objected. It took four handlers to levitate the Tatzelwurm, and even that left the tail dragging on the grass. As the last cowering wolf disappeared into the passage, Khaleesi looked across the pitch to the Welsh Mascots. Neither of them seemed particularly fussed. Cath Balug was idly looking around at the Pitch, the Stadium, and the crowd.

  The Gwyllgi, however, came to all fours and began approaching Khaleesi. He was not growling, snarling or showing any sign of belligerence. Khaleesi was standing pat, giving the giant black mastiff a bored look that clearly said, Really?

  Back outside the Welsh Gate, Cath Balug came to her feet as well, Moving carefully around the bound woman, she stretched. And stretched. AND stretched. The spectators gasped in amazement as she appeared to have almost doubled in length. Reaching one front paw further out, she worked her scimitar shaped, (and sized), claws in and out a few times. As she contracted into her 'normal' shape, something up in the stands caught her eye.

  In the center of the pitch, the two, (for lack of a better term), Canids had come nose to nose. The Gwyllgi stood just as tall as Khaleesi, but was a massive muscled hulk compared to the Dire Wolf's lithe huntress body. Khaleesi had come to all fours as well. The two sniffed each other cautiously.

  The Gwyllgi suddenly dropped into the 'play bow,' front legs out, chest on ground, hindquarters raised, tail whipping. He was grinning like a canine idiot, though admittedly a giant mastiff one. His head seemed to split almost in half lengthwise. Ectoplasm and blood were no longer in evidence.

  Khaleesi held her dignified pose for just a second, as befitted an Alpha, then mirrored the pose. The two stared for a long moment...

  The Gwyllgi bolted toward the outer edge of the pitch, curving into a run along the circumference of the walls. Even with a late start, Khaleesi made up ground quickly. The crowd was on their feet roaring, as the two circled the pitch twice in mere seconds. The animals were soon shoulder to shoulder, snapping at each other playfully.

  They passed Cath Balug on their first lap, who barely gave them a disinterested glance. Her attention returned to the stands. Rearing on her hind legs, her front paws landed delicately on the Shield protecting the Top Box. They began to slide, until the cat extended her claws. They pierced the Shield without destroying it, and the giant feline leaned forward for a closer look...

  ...at Ginny. Staring fixedly at her glorious red hair, the cat began nuzzling the shield, gently head butting and rubbing her cheeks on it. A rumbling sound began, much like the sound of train cars passing at a distance of two feet. Oh, of course. Purring.

  Besides Ginny and Luna, the only people in the Top Box who weren't frozen in fear were the lucky few who had passed completely out. Counted among these was Rita Skeeter, who probably could have chosen a better time to open her eyes. Oh, well.

  Ginny said, calmly, "Good Kitty. Puss, Puss, Puss?" She had DisSpelled her Sonorous, intuiting that shouting into a giant cat's face would be counter-productive.

  Luna gushed, "Isn't she beautiful?" She was actually leaning out of the Box, hands and face against the inside of the Shield, ignoring the scimitar points mere feet to her left and right. "How do we get this damned Shield down?"

  A few more people fainted.

  ***

  The Canids had lapped the pitch several more times, passing unnoticed under the Great Arch of Cath. Khaleesi, running on the outside, attempted to shoulder check the Gwyllgi off his feet. The great beast dissolved into mist, flowing to the other side of Khaleesi. Reappearing, the Gwyllgi tried to shoulder check her.

  Yeah, Boudreaux. Not going to happen. Khaleesi bounced into the air, and leapt off the others hindquarters. He lost his footing and started tumbling away, curving toward the center of the pitch. Khaleesi's bit of air time left her heading into the Twenty-Meter Wall, (First Law of Motion), so she got her paws under her in relation to the vertical surface. She thundered along it for a good distance, shedding momentum. (And delighting fans leaning over the railings). Curving down onto the pitch, she took off after the still tumbling Welsh mascot.

  She came down on the other just as he regained footing, and hit him in a tackle so egregious, even a Rugby League referee would have called a foul. The two tumbled on a short distance. (Second Law of Motion).

  They ended up a short distance apart, tongues lolling and panting happily. As if choreographed, they reared up and slammed together, chest to chest. There was a resounding hollow THUMP! And they were both thrown back, tumbling tail over teakettle. (Third Law of Motion).

  They both landed on their spines. And, after squirming around in order to see each other, they both looked quite surprised. A new experience, hurrah!

  In moments they were back on their hind feet, great paws scrambling for a hold, muzzles either locked together or trying for a throat or shoulder grip. Every time they missed, the Chomp! sound echoed around the stadium.

  ***

  When the Shield dropped, the Cath Balog's claws neatly hooked the top railing. It was good that she wasn't trying to put out any effort. Just the passive weight dug deep scores into the thick slab of magic-reinforced metal. The number of faintees was on track to exceed the awake and merely terrified.

  Ginny had conjured a massive push broom with metal pins instead of bristles. She was rubbing under the Cath's chin with this. Luna was scratching behind the giant's ears with the bristles on Ron's broom, ignoring the increasingly vehement Sonorus-fueled objections from across the pitch. The purring was a continual rumble they could feel with their bones.

  "Such a Good Kitty!" Ginny was almost cooing. "I wish I had a treat..." She stopped suddenly, looking thoughtful. "Well," she said. "Why not?"

  She stopped scratching, which caused both the Cath and Luna to regard her with surprise. Ginny reached into her dimensional purse, and pulled out a five-pound bag of Murkelson's Murtlap Munchies, and perused the back panel.

  "Hah! Just as I thought! 'Suitable For All Magical Pets: Results May Vary.' "

  She pulled out a few treats, and looked at the massive head resting its chin on the rail. She dropped them back, grabbed a big handful and used a mild Sticking Charm on them.

  "Try this Puss-Puss." She tossed the lumpy ball to the Cath Balog, who snapped it easily out of the air. There was a moment while the massive jaws worked slightly, then the football-sized eyes went wide, and the pupils contracted to slits. The purring ratcheted up two levels, and a surprisingly soft Mew? came from the giant cat.

  "HEY! What the Hel are you feeding my chat bach?" The booming voice came from down on the Pitch. The Cath Balog pulled its head back to look down between her forelegs. Ginny and Luna craned over the railing for a view as well.

  Ginny cast Sonorous. "Just gave a Good Girl some treats, Gwenog. She's a sweetie!"

  "Bloody well right, she is!" grumbled the former Beater. She had four other people with her in Welsh Staff robes, looking rumpled and put upon. Two of them were bent over the bound woman, releasing her. "What's going on? I come to check on the Tykes, and m' people are tied up in a closet, and one missing with th' Sprouts as well!" Then, apparently to the mascots, "Ceridwynn, get down here! Bleddyn, stop that mucking about!"

  The massive mastiff and the Dire Wolf dropped to the ground, playtime obviously over. (Fourth Law of Motion). The Gwyllic trotted right over, tail wagging furiously, and parked himself at Gwenog's side, His head overtopped hers by a good half-meter. Khaleesi came a few meters closer, then settled in the grass to await developments.

  The Cath Balog, whose name was apparently Ceridwynn, drew its head back to drop to all fours, but stopped, leaning slightly back into the box. She nipped the top of the treat bag between two fangs, almost apologetically, then dropped out of sight.

  "You BRAT!" said Luna in delight. She and Ginny leaned out a little further to observe.

  "What's all this, then?" asked Gwenog, picking up the bag Ceridwynn had dropped at her feet. She reached up absently and scratched under the cat's chin. Pulling a single treat from the bag, she sniffed it, then popped it in her mouth, chewing carefully. After swallowing, she sniffed.

  "Not my cup o' tea, but I can see where you lot would like it." She looked over at Bleddyn, and then down into the bag, considering.

  Ginny called down, "Grab a handful and use a Sticking Charm."

  Gwenog's face cleared. She made and threw one to Bleddyn, whose delight was evident, gave another to Ceridwynn, and, after another moment of consideration, lofted one out to Khaleesi. The Dire Wolf snapped the perfectly aimed snack out of the air, and nodded regally.

  Luna whispered to Ginny. "She could ease up on the level of that Sonorous."

  Ginny touched her wand to her throat to pause her spell.

  "She's not using Sonorous," she whispered back.