The Fire Dragon

Edmund and Simon Travers faced each other on the platform.

The hall quieted almost immediately. One of them was Slytherin's acknowledged strongest student. The other was the Ravenclaw prodigy whose reputation had risen with every public humiliation he handed to someone else.

Simon smiled coldly.

"Gaunt," he said, "try not to lose too badly. Slytherin's honor is not something you get to trample forever."

Edmund understood the resentment. The Sorting, the Transfiguration Club, the House Cup, the fight on the Quidditch pitch - too many of Edmund's most visible victories had come at Slytherin's expense. To someone like Simon, this was not a school duel. It was a chance to correct a pattern.

Snape's brow tightened.

"Go easy," he said.

Simon nodded, thinking the warning was meant for him.

Snape looked as though he wanted to close his eyes. Edmund tilted his head toward the Potions master, amused, then raised one hand toward Simon.

"Begin. You first."

Simon's anger sharpened.

"Expelliarmus!"

His casting speed was excellent. The red light flashed across the platform much faster than anything Harry or Draco had produced.

Edmund did not move. The spell struck an invisible wall and dissolved into ripples of light. A second spell landed a heartbeat later.

The audience did not notice the trick at first, but Edmund did. Simon had hidden a silent spell behind the flare of the Disarming Charm. It was a clever attack, especially for a student.

"Not bad," Edmund said. "You are rather capable."

Simon's expression darkened. Edmund sounded less like an opponent and more like an adult praising a junior student.

Edmund flicked his wand. A table flew onto the platform and twisted midair, reshaping into a horned magical beast that charged Simon with its head lowered.

Simon reacted well. Vines burst from the stage and wrapped the creature's legs, then fire climbed the vines and swallowed the beast.

Edmund changed the creature again. It became an eagle, wings spreading as it tore free of the flames and shot upward.

The watching students stared.

They were used to duels as alternating spells, one curse answered by one countercurse. This was different. Simon combined plants and fire to trap an enemy. Edmund transformed the shape of the fight itself.

Before the eagle struck him, Simon raised a Shield Charm and followed with a Petrification Spell. The eagle froze and tumbled aside.

Edmund did not press the advantage. Simon was not truly dangerous to him. At this point, the duel was more entertainment than contest.

The fire on the platform grew hotter.

Professor Flitwick, recognizing the risk before the students did, cast a barrier around the platform. The heat still reached those nearest the stage, forcing them to step back and loosen collars.

Simon smiled behind the wall of flame. The fire had been his, after all. He drove it toward Edmund with both hands tight on his wand.

Edmund's expression cooled. He had bathed before coming to dinner. Now he was going to need another shower. With one elegant motion, he moved his wand forward. The flames stopped. Then they changed.

Fire gathered, stretched, and rose into a long serpentine dragon, its antlered head and coiling body sculpted in bright, living flame. Sparks formed scales along its sides. Its eyes burned gold.

A low roar rolled through the hall. Simon's confidence broke.

For one instant, he felt the control of his own fire vanish completely. That alone would have frightened him. Seeing the flame become a dragon above his head shattered what remained of his composure.

Edmund was tired of the duel. The fire dragon plunged toward Simon.

"I yield!" Simon shouted.

The dragon did not stop.

"I yield! Professor!"

Some students screamed. Simon stumbled backward, face white, wand shaking in his hand.

At the last possible moment, the dragon burst apart and became a ring of fire around him. Heat licked close enough to make him feel every breath of it without burning him.

Edmund had never intended to kill him. But Simon had made him sweat, and Edmund believed in proportional education.

"That is enough," Edmund said.

He lowered his wand and walked off the platform.

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