Isabelle wraps her thick cloak more tightly around her as she finally makes it to the top, panting heavily. Even if she's become fitter than she was four months ago, climbing up through the ice and snow to get to the top of this mountain is no easy task.

"Isabelle!" a familiar voice calls out, and the French girl's eyes brighten as she sees Daniel making his way towards her, grinning.

Charlie's there as well, obviously, and the two of them lead Isabelle and Avram over towards the Short Snout enclosure.

"You don't wanna miss this," Charlie mumbles in her ear, guiding his girlfriend towards the edge, where they have a perfect view of the silvery-blue dragons down below.

Isabelle's eyes widen, her breath hitching in her throat.

Three of the Swedish Short Snouts are locked in a fierce combat, each of them clawing and blasting brilliant blue flames at the others. And despite the freezing cold, despite the ice and snow all around them, despite being at least fifty feet above the fighting dragons, Isabelle can still feel the heat of their flames on her face, making it flush.

It's been two weeks since the beginning of their third task, and Avram and Isabelle have found out which potions will keep them from the harm of the flames — the Fire Protection Potion, protecting the drinker from being burnt, and the Girding Potion, giving the drinker extra endurance. The two students came to the conclusion that if they brew both those potions and then mix them together, it will give the Fire Protection Potion extra strength — enough to stop the Short Snout's flame.

The only problem is, they don't know if mixing the potions will actually work, and do as they believe, or if it will simply render both potions useless. It's a risk they're willing to take at this point, having begun to brew more than necessary of both, in case they need extra or make some sort of mistake.

But now, looking down at the dragons fighting, feeling the heat of their flames from her position far away... Isabelle doesn't know that their plan's going to work, even if the two potions mix together perfectly.

The French girl looks into Avram's kind eyes, and she knows he's thinking the exact same thing. They both grimace at each other, before turning back to stare down at the three fighting dragons. Four, now; another dragon has joined in the fray, this one bigger than the other three, and Isabelle's eyes widen as she sees tiny human figures rush into the enclosure.

"What are zey doing?" she asks, staring, Charlie's hand tensing on the small of her back.

"Are they trying to get themselves killed?" Daniel echoes her thoughts, frowning in worry.

The four of them watch as the Dragon Tamers continue to run straight towards the fight, holding out their wands where thick chains appear out of thin air, wrapping around two of the four dragons. The Short Snouts bellow and struggle as they're restrained, getting dragged away from the other two in opposite directions.

Brilliant blue flames are blasted in all directions, the Dragon Tamers holding up cloaks of their own to prevent themselves from turning to ash. Isabelle's eyes widen as their cloaks hold strong. They clearly all succeeded in this task, then. Unless it took them a couple of turns to get it right, of course.

The four students look on as more Dragon Tamers race into the scene, binding the other two Short Snouts still locked in combat, attempting to drag them all away to different areas of the enclosure and prevent the fight that started to get out of hand.

"We don't usually intervene when dragons fight," a familiar voice says from behind them, making the students whip around to see a grim-faced Florin standing there. When he arrived, none of them have any idea.

He steps forwards to join them at the railing, nodding down at the still-struggling dragons.

"You see that big one that joined in last?" he asks, and the students nod. "She's been known to kill her opponents in fights. That's why the Dragon Tamers stepped in this time, when they normally would've just let the three others sort it out amongst themselves."

The four students nod, staying silent as they watch the three smaller dragons still, calming down enough for the Dragon Tamers to release them and rush off the scene. But the largest of them is still thrashing around in her restraints, seemingly desperate to escape.

"Seeing these dragons up close really shows you what you'll be up against in a couple of weeks' time. I wish all of you the best of luck," Florin says solemnly, and the four students take that as their cue to head back down the mountain again.

"How's your cloak coming along?" Charlie asks Isabelle as they make their way back down to their huts, slowly but steadily. The two of them walk behind Daniel and Avram, who are chatting away, no doubt about the dragons they just saw and their current task.

"I 'ope it is going to be fire-proof," Isabelle replies. "We 'ave come up wiz a plan to make it so, but we do not know if it is going to work. We might need a backup plan, but we 'ave not got one yet."

Charlie nods slowly, a hint of worry flashing in his eyes, but he keeps his mouth shut. It's an unspoken requirement for each task, you see. After you're paired up, you can use each other's knowledge and resources to every extent, but you can't get help from the other groups, or let them know what you have planned. Otherwise everyone will succeed in every task, and won't learn to do things themselves. That's Florin's logic, anyway.

"'Ow are you and Daniel going?" Isabelle asks as the four of them near the huts.

Charlie shrugs. "Alright. Better than we were going last week. Though now we've actually seen the dragons, I reckon we're gonna need to re-think a lot of our plans."

"Mmm, zat is never good," Isabelle grimaces, shaking her head slightly.

"How were the dragons?" a familiar voice calls out from the village.

Elena and Darius approach the group of four, almost looking like siblings from the way their dark hair frames their pale faces.

"Extraordinary," Avram replies, grinning from ear-to ear, his black hair spiked up from a hand that just ran through it.

"Worth the trip," Daniel adds. "Watch out for the biggest one though — she's fiery."

"No pun intended, eh?" Avram asks with a smirk, causing Daniel to chuckle.

"What can I say, I'm just unknowingly witty," he winks.

Elena and Darius grin as they walk past, heading up the path the group of four just came from.

"Come on, Isabelle," Avram says, turning around to face her, a broad grin still present on his kind face, "we gotta see how everything's coming along."

He starts to walk off, and Isabelle makes to follow him, but Charlie grabs her wrist, making her face him once more.

"Can we talk for a bit?" he asks, his voice quiet and gruff.

"I—"

"Isabelle!" Avram calls out, realising she's not behind him, beckoning to her from the entrance of his hut.

"Later," Isabelle says hurriedly to Charlie, rushing off to where her partner is, leaving the red-haired boy to stand there, jaw clenched.

Two weeks of carefully brewing potions passes, and Isabelle and Avram sit down once more on the floor of the latter's hut, staring at the two simmering cauldrons in front of them.

"Zis is it," Isabelle whispers nervously. "If zis does not work, we will most likely die tomorrow."

"Ok, ok, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Avram says, half-amused, half-terrified. "There's gonna be Healers on standby — worst case scenario is our limbs getting melted down to a fleshy stump."

Isabelle grimaces.

"Even better," comes her sarcastic response.

The two of them sit there for several more moments, just psyching themselves up for what they have to do. Which is a simple task, really. They just have to pour the contents of one potion into the other, and hope that neither of them are rendered useless, but are instead strengthened.

"Ok," Isabelle speaks up, taking her wand out from her pocket and pointing it at the first cauldron. "On three. Un... deux... trois."

The cauldron rises into the air, before tilting and pouring its contents into the second one. Isabelle and Avram wait with bated breath, watching the two different coloured positions swirl into one. After a pause of nothing else happening, they both look at each other.

"Do you zink it worked?" Isabelle asks carefully.

"Well, at least there was no explosion or anything," Avram replies, frowning down at the cauldron. "I guess we won't know for sure if it's worked until we properly test it out tomorrow."

There's a moment of silence, the two of them realising for the hundredth time just how dangerous this task is.

"Alright," Isabelle finally breaks the silence, "we should pour it over zee cloak."

Avram nods and gathers up the massive cloak, that's twice the size of any normal cloak anyone would wear. Which makes sense: if they succeed in this task, then they can split the cloak and have one each to permanently wear.

Carefully and precisely, Isabelle pours the potion over the entirety of the massive cloak, careful not to even miss an inch of it. By the time she's done, there's not a drop of potion left in the cauldron — they brewed just enough.

The two students sit back down in front of the cloak, just looking at it, watching as it absorbs the potion, neither of them having any idea as to whether or not it actually worked — whether or not they'll get through tomorrow unscathed. Neither of them want the next day to arrive.

But it arrives all the same, Avram and Isabelle incredibly solemn as they head towards the entrance to the Short Snout enclosure with the six others, their cloak bundled up in their arms. No one talks; there's no idle chit-chat amongst the students like there normally is. No, everyone's too frightened for that. Too frightened to even let out a nervous laugh.

Florin, on the other hand, grins as they finally arrive at the entrance to the enclosure in the side of the mountain, turning around to face them all, clasping his hands together.

"Alright, everyone," he begins, a twinkle present in his eye. "As you all know, this marks the end of your third task. Pair by pair, I will ask you to walk through this door, where there is a single Short Snout awaiting you. He has been chained down, and muzzled by our Dragon Tamers, and will be unmuzzled and directed at you when you are in position. Your cloaks will be tested against his fire, and of course, there are several Healers present in the enclosure already, so I can assure you, other than a nasty burn perhaps, you will be completely safe."

His soothing words do nothing to calm Isabelle's racing heart. A quick glance at Avram tells her he's feeling exactly the same.

"So, let's begin, shall we?" Florin continues to grin. "Elena and Daniel, you're up first."

Isabelle squeezes Elena's hand as she passes, the dark-haired girl's blue eyes beyond terrified. Florin leads the two of them through the door of the enclosure, and Isabelle just manages a glimpse of the Short Snout before the door closes once more.

The six students stand there in silence. They can't hear anything happening inside.

Isabelle moves up to stand next to Charlie, interlacing her dainty fingers with his calloused ones. He doesn't object, squeezing her hand tightly.

"What did you want to tell me?" Isabelle whispers.

"What?"

"A couple of weeks ago, you asked if we could talk. What did you want to say?" Isabelle asks, her voice barely audible. But Charlie hears.

He hesitates. Opens his mouth. Then, thinking better of it, shakes his head.

"Never mind," comes his gruff response, just as the door opens again, Florin appearing once more.

"Isabelle and Avram, you're up next!" he announces, still cheerful, giving nothing away. Charlie seems to tense up beside her, and Isabelle just swallows, glancing fearfully at Avram before the two of them make their way into the enclosure, following Florin. There's no sign of Elena or Daniel anywhere.

"Stand right there and signal to us when you're ready," are his only instructions, pointing to a marked place on the icy ground.

Isabelle and Avram do as they're told, standing side by side in the spot Florin pointed to, before unbundling their cloak and holding it up in front of them so that it doesn't leave an ounce of them uncovered. It also blocks out the view of the silvery blue dragon in front of them, who doesn't seem to like being muzzled.

"Ready?" Avram asks, his voice shaking.

"As ready as I will ever be," Isabelle replies, barely more than a whisper. It's all she can manage.

Without hesitating — because if he does, he'll never gather the courage to do it again — Avram signals to Florin. The two students hold onto each other tightly, holding onto the cloak in front of them even more tightly. They hear chains clanking, hear the dragon being unmuzzled.

And then they're blown backwards by a force so much stronger than they ever would have expected. Gasping from the shock of it, Isabelle and Avram lean into the long blast of dragon fire so that they don't fly off their feet, Isabelle's only thought being to keep the cloak held in front of them.

But then other thoughts start entering her mind. She starts to realise that she hasn't been burnt to a crisp. That both her and Avram are still standing there, unscathed behind their cloak. That while they're both way warmer than they should be up here in a snowy mountain, even the heat from the dragon fire is being held at bay by the material they created.

They almost fall forwards when the jet of fire stops, the dragon no doubt having been muzzled again. But then the two students turn to face each other, dropping the cloak to the ground, the material itself untouched.

Isabelle bursts out laughing. Avram looks like he could sprout wings and do a celebratory lap of the enclosure. He steps forwards and grabs Isabelle around the waist, lifting her into the air and spinning her around in pure joy.

Florin comes over to them, grinning more than ever.

"Well done, you two, well done!" he exclaims. "You did it!"

They did it. Isabelle grins.

They did it.