Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognize

A/N: Thanks a lot to all of those who reviewed and to Ally Serenity for betaing this chapter

Chapter Twenty

The sun streamed in from the window and woke Lily up. She stirred, and then noticed the time- it was nearly midday! She immediately got up, took a quick shower, dressed, and hurried to the throne room where she knew she'd find the others.

Indeed, they were all there, talking. She entered quietly, not wanting to disturb them. Suddenly James spotted her.

"Lily! You are awake!"

Everyone turned towards her and they greeted her warmly.

"Finally, Sleeping Beauty has awakened." joked Sirius. "You slept for quite a long time…"

"I know Sirius, I noticed when I woke up."

They laughed a bit.

"Well, on to more serious matters" said Sir Albus with a small smile. "I presume that you are all impatient to learn what Voldemort's reaction was like…"

Everyone in the room nodded anxiously.

"We posted a few riders around the gate to watch it. They reported that The Dark Lord came out a few seconds after the Gate was created, and tried various spells to break it. As they all failed, he started to use dark spells, which all bounced off the Gate, hitting Death Eaters. Then he started to yell and shout at his army. He went completely mad. All the Death Eaters who had been charged of guarding the army while you were creating the Gate were put under the Cruciatus curse. After having released all his anger on his men, he stormed into his quarters and has not come out since then."

Everybody cheered loudly. Sir Albus held up a hand, signaling silence.

"The Gate will block him for five months. It gives us time to find a way to defeat him once for all. During these months the training will be intensified for everybody."

The whole room nodded their approval.

"Well, that is all for today." He said. People started to get up and leave.

"Sir Albus, where did you put the Dragon Heart, the Phoenix Tear, and the staff?" asked Lily, approaching him.

"We put them in your bedroom in a box sealed with magic," he replied. "You are the only one who can open it."

"Thank you." Lily bowed and left, followed by her friends who had waited for her.

They headed towards the rider's quarters where they ate their lunch. After a few minutes, the other riders came in and started to ask them questions. Rumors had circulated in the camp and they wanted to know what had really happened. The five friends explained the truth.

Training started again. Lily was more and more strict on the riders. She and Bella were always coming up with new things, new movements, all of which were harder. The circuit they were now training on had become acrobatics. The first one they had trained on was child's play in comparison. It showed how much they had improved.

After a few weeks, Lily couldn't help noticing that the riders were becoming less and less motivated. She talked to Bella, and they agreed that a change was necessary. As the threat of Voldemort had disappeared and would not come back before a few months, the riders had no purpose anymore.

They decided to call for a meeting of all the trainers, to see if it was the same with the other riders. The meeting would take place the next day after the evening meal.

They arrived first to the headquarters where the meeting would be held. They sat and waited for their colleagues.

The first to arrive was Sir Zorg who was the Eagles' trainer. Then Sir John, the trainer of the Falcons. Sir Tilban and Sir Nokar, trainers of the Wolves and the Tigers, followed by Sir Yvan, Kermal and Derna. Sir Yvan was helping the new wing of dragon riders composed of common dragons. Indeed after Kermal and Derna's return, a few soldiers had been sent to the cave and some of them had linked with dragons. Sir Exer arrived a few minutes after.

Once everybody was seated, Lily spoke.

"Bella and I have called for this meeting to discuss a problem we have encountered in our wing, and we would like to know if you are experiencing it too. To sum up, for a few days, we have noticed a growing lack of motivation from the riders. This is increasing each day." She explained.

There was a silence, and then someone spoke up.

"You are not the only ones to notice it. It is the same in my wing," said Zorg. "Nothing seems to interest them."

"Same here," said Tilban, Nokar and John.

"It's different in mine," started Yvan. "They have been riders for only a few weeks and have a lot to catch up on."

Lily nodded in understanding.

"So, except for Yvan, all the wings are simply bored."

"You could say that." Admitted Zorg.

"We must find a solution!" burst out Bella.

"It is becoming dangerous, and as they are bored, they are less careful…"

"Indeed, but what do we do?" replied Nokar.

For a moment it was silent. Suddenly Derna spoke.

"Well, I don't know if it is a good idea, but what do you think of organizing a competition between the wings?" she asked.

They thought for a few seconds.

"Great idea!" exclaimed Lily. "It will give them a goal."

"Yes, but what sort of competition?" asked Tilban.

"Hmmm, what about creating some missions to do, like retrieving an object, crossing a trap circuit, saving something or somebody… We could also add some duels between the wings!" suggested Lily.

"Good!" replied Zorg. "I think this will fully solve our problem!"

"Exactly." said Sir Exer. "Well, I'll give you full powers to organize it, as long as you do not destroy something or injure someone."

A chorus of "thank you"s could be heard.

They then agreed on the first tasks.

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As soon as the meeting ended, Lily and Bella headed towards the Lion's quarters, and found the riders practicing their magic as they had been told. Both girls could see they were bored to death. They had not even noticed their arrival. After a few minutes, Lily cleared her throat loudly. The riders' heads shot up and they looked at them, surprised.

"Well, you seem to be enthralled with this, so we will just come back later to tell you the result of our meeting." said Bella sarcastically.

Immediately, the riders started to protest. They were dying to know why the trainers had held a meeting.

Lily and Bella exchanged a smile.

"Silence. We are going to explain what we have decided!" Lily said loudly.

In a few seconds the room was deadly silent.

"Good. Bella and I called for this meeting, as a problem had come up that we wanted to discuss. We noticed your lack of motivation, and it was worrying us a bit. We learned from the other trainers that the situation was identical in the other wings. So we have decided to hold a competition between the wings."

The riders cheered loudly at the news.

Bella whistled loudly to catch their attention.

Slowly, they calmed down.

"This competition will be composed of several tasks. The details will be explained to you in these papers." Bella pointed to the parchments Lily had just made appear on the table. "Each team will be rewarded by points for each task, depending on its performance. At the end we will add all the points each team won, and the winner will be the one with the higher number of points."

The riders started to talk quietly amongst themselves.

"This is not compulsory… Do you want to participate or do you want us to forfeit?" asked Lily innocently.

"PARTICIPATE!" roared the riders.

Bella and Lily smiled.

"All right, the first task will take place in a week. We are going to train for it, and the victory will be ours!" shouted Lily.

A roar of agreement answered her. She smiled, happy to see the riders like this…

Little did she know that the victory would be harder to get than she thought…

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A month passed without any problems. The Lions were now the leaders of the competition, the Eagles were second and the Wolves were a close third.

The spring feast was coming in one week. This feast lasted three days and celebrated the coming of the spring, and Lily did not look forward to it. Bella had managed to make her agree to come with her to the ball held in the castle. How, Lily didn't know, but she could not refuse now. The only thing that reassured her was that this time she would have friends there. She sighed. She had a dress which was suitable for this feast, but she didn't plan to be stunning or anything, just to go and please Bella. A few hours before the ball, Bella dragged Lily to their room to prepare themselves. The boys had agreed to wait for them at their quarters. Twenty minutes before it started, they were ready. Lily wore a dark green dress with a lighter green bodice. The dress had silver embroidered flowers along the bottom hem. Bella had pulled her hair into a bun, but let a few locks curl and frame her face. Lily wore very little make up and had only put the necklace Praïn had given her and left the room, deciding to wait for Bella outside. A few minutes later, Bella was ready. She wore a light yellow dress, a silver necklace, with a phoenix as a charm. She had also put her hair in a bun, but a few locks had been put in tiny braids before being put in the bun. She had also stuck a few silver stars in her hair.

Even if they had not tried to be stunning, the two girls really were.

The boys grinned when they saw them. Once they had finished greeting and complimenting each other, they headed towards the ballroom. The friends were some of the last to arrive. A herald announced their arrival:

"Prince James, heir of the throne, Sir Sirius, Sir Remus, Lady Bella, and Lilyaris."

Almost the entire ballroom looked up and watched the friends descend into the party below.

Despite Lily's fears, the feast was magnificent. The lights, the decoration, the music, everything was perfect.

The five friends were sitting, talking about the training, when two girls interrupted them. Lily recognized them as Lady Cleia and Lady Elianor. Lady Cleia was a tall and skinny girl. She had light, straight, shoulder-length blond hair, a pale complexion, and light blue eyes, nearly gray; everything about her was pale. She wore a light pink dress. On the other hand, Lady Elianor had wavy and silky reddish-brown hair, which reached her waist, greenish-blue eyes, and a perfect complexion. She was tall and slim. To sum up, she had all the physical characteristics of the perfect beauty. Her blue dress was hugging her every curve and singled out her elegant figure.

"Prince James, what a pleasure to see you." She said with a musical voice, a small smile playing on her lips. She gave him her hand.

James took it and kissed it politely.

"Lady Elianor, Lady Cleia," said James, nodding to them.

"We have not seen you for quite a long time, my prince."

"Indeed, but the training is keeping me extremely busy." James answered curtly.

"I understand; you are a member of the Lions' wing. This wing is said to be the strongest one in the army…"

"This is true, and I am proud to be part of the wing."

"I am sure you have a big part in this reputation." said Elianor, bating her eyelashes.

"I don't think so." Interrupted Sirius.

Elianor eyed him scornfully but it did not faze Sirius at all, he was used to it. It was well known that Lady Elianor was very ambitious and wanted to become one of the most powerful people in the kingdom by any way possible.

"I do not think I was talking to you, Sir Sirius." She said coldly.

"Maybe," replied James, "But he is right; the wing owes its reputation to its trainers."

"You must be one then," said Elianor flirtatiously.

"No, I am speaking of Lilyaris and Lady Bella. They have set up an effective training course that has done wonders…" He smiled to the two girls who were sitting next to him.

"Thank you, James" said Lily, smiling gratefully to her friend.

"Oh! Well… would you like to dance, my prince?" asked Elianor, quickly changing the conversation topic.

"I am sorry Lady Elianor, but I was talking to Lily and Bella. They were explaining a new strategy they created for our next task. Maybe later?" answered James, skillfully dodging Elianor's invitation.

"Maybe, my prince."

Smiling James turned to Lily and Bella and resumed their talk. They rapidly became oblivious to their surroundings, focused on the discussion. Elianor looked enviously to Lily and Bella. Suddenly, she had an idea and hurried to her father's side, followed closely by Cleia.

The five friends did not notice her as they moved deeper into their conversation. They should have, as this talk would change quite a lot of things…

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Lily and Bella woke up early. They quickly dressed and ate before hurrying to the headquarters.

Once there, they waited for someone they had been following for a few days. Quite surprisingly, (or not so surprisingly), he had seemed to avoid them. Finally he arrived. As soon as he saw the two girls, he stopped. He looked around him, and then resumed his walk, knowing he would not be able to go away.

Lily and Bella smirked as they saw the man hesitate. They knew he could not escape this time without insulting them, as they were the only ones present.

He stopped and sighed.

"Come in, I presume it is still the same problem…"

"Sir Exer," answered Lily "Why should we enter? We already know what is going to happen. We are going to explain to you our problem, the same one as last time, and the time before, and the time before the time before the last time. You are going to listen to us and say that you will take care of it. After that, we will leave you, and nothing will change!"

"Enter." the man said sharply. "We can not discuss our problem publicly."

"Alright," said Bella, dragging Lily behind her.

They quickly entered and sat down.

"Well I guess it is again the silvers' problem…" started Sir Exer.

"Ten points for you," replied Lily sarcastically.

Sir Exer sighed again, they had discussed this countless times… He knew the problem very well, and knew that Lily and Bella were right, but he could not do anything.

He recalled the problem once again.

A few days after the spring feast, the King had come to the headquarters. He wanted to tell him something. This had worried Sir Exer a lot. Once he met the King he was a bit reassured, but after the meeting he was dreading what he would have to tell Lily and Bella. He called them to his quarters, trying to find the best way possible to explain it to them. Finally they arrived, sat and looked at him expectantly. Sir Exer remembered the conversation they had perfectly…

Flashback

"Good morning," Sir Exer said.

"Good morning," answered the two girls.

"Well, you must be wondering why I called you in here. King Regis has told me that two riders will be joining the Lions."

Lily and Bella smiled widely.

"That is wonderful, sir! Who are they?" asked Bella.

"That is the point; it is a quite special situation, even now. Their names are Lady Elianor and Lady Cleia."

At this, their smiles disappeared, immediately replaced by frowns.

"Are you sure this is wise Sir?" said Lily, choosing her words carefully "They have no real experience in fighting, and have not been through the training we gave the rest of the wing. I do not think they have the level to enter our wing. Maybe the Ravens, but not the Lions."

"I agree with you, but they asked to enter the Lions and no other wing." Sighed Sir Exer.

"They know the training the riders have to undergo in our wing, do they not?"

"They have been warned it is exhausting and very difficult, but they do not seem to care at all…"

"They seem pretty sure of themselves…" stated Bella

"Yes, but I thought you might like the fact that you will not be the only silvers…" said Sir Exer trying to change the topic.

"Do not try to change the topic," replied Lily "Yes, I would have been delighted to know that other silvers had joined the army. But I was thinking of silvers whose riders would have wanted to improve their skills and would have been interested in fighting… I do not really think training is the main purpose of Lady Elianor and Lady Cleia. I believe that it is not the reputation of the wing that has attracted them, but more likely some of the riders in the Lions."

"You are most likely right, but I can not do anything…"

"We understand," replied Bella. "We will have to wait and see…"

With that, they separated.

End of flashback

Sir Exer shuddered when he recalled their second meeting…

Flashback

It was three days after the meeting between Lily, Bella and Sir Exer. As he reached his quarters, early in the morning, he found the two young women waiting for him. As he came closer, he noticed that they were fuming.

As soon as they spotted him, they approached him and dragged him into the quarters.

"We have a problem." Said Lily once she was seated in front of Sir Exer.

"A PROBLEM!" shouted Bella. "I don't call it a PROBLEM! I call it a calamity!"

"Could you calm down please, Lady Bella?" He knew her title would calm her a bit. He continued. "Could you please explain me the reason of your anger?"

Bella turned to Lily.

"You explain, if I do it, I may break something…"

Lily nodded in agreement.

"Well, you know that Lady Elianor and Lady Cleia have been integrated to our wing, do you not?"

"Yes, and?"

"After our last meeting, we gathered the wing to announce it to the wing. I must say that they took the news quite well. The next day we met on the field for our daily race. Lady Elianor and Lady Cleia had been given our schedule. Imagine our surprise when we saw them. They were wearing dresses! To run!" Lily's disbelief was piercing through her words. "We approached them and asked them politely, why they were not wearing the training tunics they had been given, which was the proper uniform for the training. They answered these clothes were not proper for a lady, and that the colors did not suit them. Then, after we had recovered from our shock, we asked them how they would run with a dress. You can not imagine what they said."

"Go on." Said Sir Exer.

Lily spoke, doing a good imitation of the musical voice of Elianor.

"Running! I thought we would be riding! Running is not a lady's activity! We would get all sweaty!"

Lily gave a small smile.

"At that moment I did not know if I should burst of laughing or be completely desperate. A few of the riders had a hard time restraining themselves of laughing, while the others just starred at them. We went running, and they stayed there. I told them to change and start to work on the easiest circuit. Carefully I asked Amaris and Darais to watch them. They were lucky I did so. We were not gone for more than twenty minutes, when Amaris came and ordered me to come back. We came back as fast as we could and found our two ladies slightly shocked. Darais explained that they had chosen to ignore my orders, kept their dresses and started to do the fourth level circuit; ending up burnt from the first obstacle. I asked them why they had disobeyed me, and they said they were good fighters and that the first circuit would be too easy. Then I asked them to do the first circuit so I would be able to find their level. They failed after five minutes. I must say that they are not too horrible of fighters, but they haven't the right level for the wing!"

Lily was quite angry.

"Well, I made the others work on the level six while I helped them with the level one. The problem was that they were not listening to me at all. They kept looking at the boys, flirting with them, which did not help them focus on their work at all. We then had lunch. After that, we practiced the duels a bit. Elianor was quite good if I compare her to Cleia, but she was no match for the other riders. Afterwards it was body-fight, fencing, and so forth. They refused completely to take those lessons, arguing that it was man's work, and that refined ladies like themselves should not do something so disgusting, particularly if they were classes taught by commoners. As I did not know what to do, I made them work on the circuit again, as I was not in the mood for an argument. Amaris and the other dragons had to rescue them a few times. Then, we practiced magic. I must say that when it comes to appearance changing charms, they are wonderful. They also know the basis of fighting spells. So it is an area where they will not have a hard time."

"That was not too bad." stated Sir Exer.

"No, but the next day it was worse. Firstly, they did not come to the race, saying they needed their beauty rest, they refused to wear training clothes, and they would not listen to us, unless one of the fighters commented on their behavior. They spent their time looking at the boys, cheering for them, complimenting them… It was disgusting!" Lily shuddered at this. "Then they again refused to learn to body-fight, and when I tried to force them to come, they said they were not feeling well. I had no choice other than to send them to rest. Afterwards, in magic, they refused to follow our directives, thinking they are the best. It is getting worse and worse! They are so sure of themselves, that they do not listen to our advice, and do what they want, putting the whole wing in danger. I cannot count the numbers of times riders saved them, sometimes being injured in the process."

"Were there any serious accidents?" asked Sir Exer, worried.

"Not yet; a few burns, cuts… " Answered Bella, speaking for the first time. "You have to do something! If they listened to us even a little at least it would not be so dangerous!"

"Well…. I will see what I can do."

Lily and Bella looked relieved.

"Thank you so much!" exclaimed Bella.

"You are welcome. Now, I believe you have a wing to train."

"Indeed. Good bye."

"Good bye."

End of Flashback

Sir Exer sighed.

"I am powerless in this situation. Her father is quite influential and the king cannot afford losing his support."

"But, they are dangerous!" shouted Lily. "Yesterday they nearly sent a rider to the Infirmary! They had decided to show off and do the level five circuit. It ending by them being attacked by fire arrows. Two riders had to rescue them, being hit in the process. One of the dragons will not be able to fly for a week!"

"Who is he?"

"Sir Wadren."

"I will talk to Sir Albus."

"I hope it will change something, or I may have to resort to other ways," growled Bella.

Lily nodded.

Sir Exer looked at the two riders.

"I shall try my best…"

"Alright. Come Bella we have riders to train."

The two young women left. After a few minutes Sir Exer left too and headed toward Sir Albus quarters.

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Lily and Bella arrived at the field and noticed the riders were all there except for Elianor and Cleia…

They surrounded them.

"You talked with Sir Exer, did you not?" asked Sirius.

"Yes."

"What did he say about them?" asked a Brown rider.

Everyone knew who he meant by 'them'.

"He said he would talk to Sir Albus."

A general groan could be heard, even Sir Severus and Sir Lucius seemed displeased at these news.

"I am not happy either, but I think we have a race to do."

They started to run. When they came back, they saw the two silvers waiting. As usual, they were wearing fancy dresses, make up, jewels… looking like they were going to a party rather than training or fighting. Lily did not bother to say anything about their outfit, knowing it would be useless. She whistled a few times to catch everyone's attention.

"Riders, you are going to work on the circuit level six, as you aced the level five yesterday. Be careful, a few curses Bella and I invented have been added, and there are several dangerous passages. I advise you to put a strong shield around you and your dragon. Work in twos, threes or fours. One working on the circuit, the others ready to help him."

The riders smiled, happy to move on more difficult things.

"Lady Cleia, Lady Elianor, you will work on the level two." Bella said sharply.

Elianor looked at them stubbornly.

"Why can we not work on the level six?"

"You are not trained enough." Replied the dark-haired girl.

"We are too trained enough! We are far better than you!" exclaimed Elianor.

A few riders snickered at this comment. Elianor became red from anger.

"You are going to see who is better!"

Before Lily could stop her, she had mounted her dragon, Vaniris. She flew and started to do the level seven. Lily was barely able to restrain herself from shouting. She quickly called Amaris, jumped on her back and followed her, knowing the young woman would end up badly injured or killed if she was not stopped.

Elianor had reached the second obstacle when Lily reached the circuit, Bella, and the other riders behind her.

She quickly passed the moving tree passage and reached the arrows' meadow. Lily saw arrows flying towards Elianor and quickly cast a shield on her, but she forgot to protect herself. She felt a burning pain in her right shoulder. Looking at it, she saw an arrow had hit her. She took it out and put a shield on her, before being hit again. Elianor did not stop and reached the third obstacle. Lily knew she would not be able to make it unharmed. She had to fly through a canyon with flames being fired from everywhere, fireballs appearing from nowhere. It was real fire. She urged Maris to accelerate, and reached Elianor before she entered the canyon.

"STOP!" she yelled. Elianor laughed and continued. Cursing, Lily begged Maris to fly at fast as she could. Suddenly she saw a huge fireball coming towards Elianor. She didn't think.

Maris!

Alright, but she is not worth it!

The dragon disappeared and appeared between the ball and the girl. Lily was hit by the ball at full strength. She felt herself and Maris falling, seriously burned and completely knocked out. She heard someone yelled "Petrificus Totalus." At least they had stopped her, she thought. She prepared herself for the collision with the grounds and closed her eyes. But before they hit it, several bodies stopped her fall. She opened her eyes and saw that a few riders had created a net and caught them.

She smiled gratefully as they landed. She climbed off and fell on the grounds. Someone helped her to get up. She realized it was James.

"Thank you, James…"

"Of course! We could not afford to lose our beautiful trainer." He said jokingly.

Lily was flattered by this. She quickly healed her wounds and Amaris', even if she knew she would have to pay for it, as it drained her.

"Even if she is stupid enough to rescue an idiot like Elianor," he added with a smile.

"I could not let her be killed, what would the King have said…" Lily protested.

"Good riddance?" said Sirius.

They laughed.

Elianor chose this moment to interrupt them.

"So, am I weak? At least I did not end up injured." She said with a smug look, giving Lily an evil glare as James continued to laugh with Lily and Sirius, paying no attention whatsoever to her.

All the riders turned to her and stared at her with cold glares.

"Well…" started James.