Chapter 25 (1/2)

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.