Chapter 25

Edmund hid in a corner of the room as he saw the door open, not wanting anyone to see him using it.

Iris entered the ROR and looked around trying to find him. Seeing that it was Iris, he sighed and got down from the wall, landing silently behind her. "How did it go Iris?"

Iris was startled and turned around to see him standing behind her. Her face blossomed as she exclaimed, "Edmund!"

She reached for him and pulled him down by putting her arms around his neck. Giving him a firm kiss on his lips, she said excitedly, "I'm really looking forward to telling you how the wand weighing ceremony went!"

Dazed, Edmund stared at her. She had been getting bolder with her kisses, not that he complained, instead it was very much welcomed. He imagined a comfortable couch and it was conjured in the center of the room.

Iris told him how she dismissed Dumbledore's attempts to have a decent conversation with her and put him down a peg. She could tell Edmund was pleased given the way he was smiling.

"Excellent work Iris! Now, we need to talk about the first task."

Iris immediately sat straight and look at him with rapt attention.

"You first task involves you going against a dragon as I, or more accurately my clone, saw four dragons being held by handlers in the forest."

Edmund could see that she was getting anxious. She looked at him and asked to continue, knowing he had a plan to deal with them.

Nodding, he continued, "Dragons have a very strong sense of smell and a very strong eyesight along with a very tough and spell resistant skin. It takes a lot of wizards and witches to subdue even one. But, we both know when it comes wizards, logic is thrown out of the window. Tell me, what's the one thing on a dragon's anatomy that is not covered with their hard skin?"

Immediately, Iris replied, "Their eyes."

Pleased with her answer, Edmund smiled and replied, "Exactly, their eyes are weak to magic attacks. Till the day before the task, you'll be training to hone the casting speed and accuracy of your spells."

He ignored the horrified look on her face at the thought of training, especially the kind Edmund might have planned for her. Proving her suspicion to be correct, Edmund unsealed a number of snitches marked with red magical paint. Iris could guess what the training entailed.

"You have to stun all of them within ten minutes. Once you are able to do that without getting too tired, we'll move to the next stage."

Iris paled, there was a next stage?! This exercise alone sounded extremely tough.

"By the time you are done with this exercise, a muggle sniper will look like a toddler trying to play gobstones."

Groaning inwardly, Iris released her wand from it's holster and began casting stunners at the snitches.

After forty minutes of continuous casting, Iris just wanted to collapse on a soft bed. Even though Edmund had her work hard to increase her capacity to cast for hours, casting spells continuously at high speeds was very tiring. Just as she was about to fall on her back, a very comfortable couch was conjured behind her and she m.o.a.n.e.d with a sudden sense of comfort as she fell onto the couch.

Edmund was grinning as he approached and offered a pepper up potion, specially customized for Iris by him, keeping in mind the amount of magic she had, her growth rate and her recovery rate.

Sure enough, Iris was ready to go at it again after fifteen minutes. This time, she managed to stun all the snitches in thirty two minutes and was much less tired than before.

By the end of the day, she was able to complete the exercise in ten minutes without the need of using a pepper up potion. Incredibly pleased by her progress, Edmund rewarded her with a full body massage, with her wearing all the garments of course. At first, Iris had felt really embarrassed and nervous, but soon she forgot all about it as Edmund worked his magic on her.

Iris had suggested during the massage that she could try to talk to the dragon with her parseltongue but Edmund dismissed the idea. Dragons may be reptiles like snakes but they had their own draconian language, instead of parseltongue.

The next day, Edmund sent two clones to attend the classes, one henged as Iris, while he helped Iris further her training. She didn't need the mediocre lessons taught by those incompetent teachers. Both of them were already much ahead of their peers.

Edmund unsealed more snitches but this time, they were painted with two colors. Iris g.r.o.a.n.e.d, already guessing what the exercise was about.

Grinning, Edmund nodded, "Exactly! Hit the red ones with stunners and green ones with disarming charms, all within ten minutes."

When Iris had mastered the exercise, Edmund decided to take it up a notch. He increased the speed of the snitches and added seals to make them automatically maneuver around the spells coming at them. Iris had a much harder time hitting the snitches.

It was only two days before the first task that Edmund had deemed her ready to go against the dragon.

Iris was prepared for the task as she stood with the other champions in the tent as Barty Crouch Sr. explained them the task. The other champions did not look surprised when they heard they had to face a dragon and steal an egg from their nest.

She waited for her turn as one by one, the other champions were called for their task. Even though they had managed to get their eggs, none of them had escaped unscathed. Edmund had emphasized on her going all out for the task. He didn't want her to hide her skill and get injured.

Taking deep breaths, Iris exited the tent and got ready to complete her task. As she entered the arena, she could se the Hungarian Horntail chained near her nest with the golden egg placed right in the middle.

The spectators watched with bated breaths as she took a stance, ready with her wand.

The dragon warily looked at her and roared when she saw Iris approaching her nest. She breathed a huge stream of draconic fire that forced Iris to hide behind a rock.

Still remaining calm, Iris rolled away from behind the rock and threw a dung bomb right at it's nose. The plan was ingenious. Edmund had hinted her on trying to use the dragon's excellent sense of smell against it.

The Horntail reared back as it felt extreme discomfort and apprehension from the foul smell. taking advantage of it, Iris sent a darkness spell towards the dragon's eyes, timing her spells with every blink of the Horntail's eyelids.

The Hortail managed to move her head away when it sensed the spell coming towards her eyes. Iris clicked her tongue with annoyance and sent a barrage of spells at the dragon's eyes. Eventually, Iris managed to hit the eyes and the dragon thrashed around when its senses got impaired.

Not wasting any time, Iris rushed towards the golden egg, grabbed it and ran back towards the tent while effortlessly dodging a wildly swinging tail. Just as she was about to exit the stadium, she cancelled the darkness spell and conjured a stream of water up the dragon's nose to help remove the pungent smell.

As she entered the tent, the spectators gaped incredulously, thinking the same thing. 'It's that easy to deal with a dragon?!'

(ROTS)

A/N: I guess that went well. Nothing over the top with the first task, except the training maybe. What do you guys have to say?