"Well, " grinned Lily, "Three to go. Albus, you can go next."
Albus turned over his picture to reveal a quadrant style drawing. The upper left hand quadrant featured lots of earthy green stuff on a green background. The upper right hand quadrant depicted trees that were clearly being swayed by wind on a gray background. The lower left hand quadrant showcased a vivid yellow flame on a yellow backhand. The lower right hand corner had flowing blue water on a blue background.
Devon, James, Hugo. Albus, Miles, Todd, Gary, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, Ainsley, and Lily all looked at Albus's picture and were notching the quadrants. This was definitely a different way of doing things. At first, they were all focused on the quadrant aspect of Albus's drawing and failed to see that Albus had used an obvious theme. It was Lily who first picked up on theme Albus had used.
"The four elements!" realized Lily. "Earth, wind, fire and water!"
"Yes, " said Albus proudly, "I figured my quadrant environment would make my drawing unique as I doubt many people would think to do something like that. The four elements was a natural fit for a quadrant drawing."
Devon, James, Hugo. Albus, Miles, Todd, Gary, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, Ainsley, and Lily now took a closer look at Albus's drawing.
"The best part of Albus's drawing is the fire, " said James warmly, "You can feel heat and hear crackling when you look at the fire in Albus's picture."
"He did a fantastic job on the earth too, " said Hugo fondly, "The preciseness of the shades of green is breathtaking!"
"And the water is a perfect tent of blue, " added Devon admiringly, "Albus has created a fantastic drawing here."
"The way Albus portrayed the wind is brilliant too, " said Stephanie glowingly, "To portray trees as clearly swaying in wind is not an easy thing to accomplish."
"The different and fitting background colors are a nice touch too, " added Ainsley cheerfully.
"Albus has manufactured a splendid drawing here, " said Lily happily, "I agree with Ainsley too. Those awesome and fitting background colors add a lot."
"You know, " piped up Gordon, "Albus's drawing feels just as realistic as Hugo's. It feels like the fire could burn, the wind could blow, the water could wet you and so forth."
"It's nice to see my work appreciated, " smiled Albus, "I look forward to its eventual display."
"In the meantime, " prodded Lily, "Let's see what James came up with."
James flipped his picture over in a nanosecond and Devon, James, Hugo. Albus, Miles, Todd, Gary, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, Ainsley, and Lily found themselves staring at by far the most striking drawing they had seen yet.
In fact, all of them, including James himself, gasped and trembled a bit in their chairs.
Like Albus, James split his drawing into sections. But instead of four sections, James used ten sections, each of them depicting a different dragon.
"I wanted to do something bold, " said James proudly, puffing out his chest, "Dragons, with their size, striking appearance, ability to breathe fire, and their aggression, are amongst the boldest of magical creatures and I thought using dragons was a brilliant idea for a drawing competition."
"This drawing feels EXACTLY like something James would draw!" said Lily brightly.
Pointing to the upper left hand corner of James's drawing, Rose cooed, "Oh, that Antipodean Opaleye is so cute!"
"There's no question that the Antipodean Opaleye with the pearly shimmer to its scales is the prettiest dragon, " added Pamela breathlessly.
"The Antipodean Opaleye is one the least aggressive dragons as long as it isn't hungry, " explained Ainsley.
Now indicating the dragon next to the Antipodean Opaleye, Stephanie called out, "I LOVE James's portrayal of that Chinse Fireball. The red skin with golden spikes feels very Gryffindorish to me."
"The Chinese Fireball was my favorite dragon to draw, " said James in a bold voice, "The vibrant red skin, the flames shooting out in balls from its nostrils. I thoroughly enjoyed drawing that dragon."
"That's the dragon Victor Krum faced in the First Task in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, " said Samantha excitedly.
"It is, " said Lily matter of factly, "Victor lives in his native Bulgaria now, though he occasionally writes to, Hermione, mom, and dad. "
Everyone's eyes seemed to drift pass the third dragon from the left on the top row of James's drawing, a Common Welsh Green that none of them found that exciting or saw any reason to comment on. Instead, it was the fourth dragon from the left that caught the attention of Albus and Lily.
"THE HUNGARIAN HORNTAIL!" shouted out Albus and Lily together.
"Indeed, " said James with a grin, "The dragon dad faced in the First Task. I put the most effort into that one. Dad would never forgive me if I portrayed that dragon incorrectly."
"Hungarian Horntails are extremely dangerous, " said Fred bluntly, "They use their horns violently and shoot flame up to fifty feet."
"Charlie and even Hagrid always said that dad got the worst dragon in the First Task, " said Lily in an awestruck voice, "That makes me even prouder of dad for beating it."
The rightmost dragon on the top row caught Albus's and Lily's attention too.
"That's a Norwegian Ridgeback, " recognized Lily, "Oh, James, you'll have to show this picture to Hagrid, "
"Oh, I will!" grinned James,
"The Norwegian Ridgeback is similar to the Hungarian Horntail, but it is less aggressive and less vicious, " said Ainsley knowledgably.
As Devon, James, Hugo. Albus, Miles, Todd, Gary, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, Ainsley, and Lily all turned their eyes to the bottom row of dragons on James's drawing, they all felt scared and uneasy as they looked at the copper colored scales, short horns, and venomous fangs.
"T-That's a Peruvian Vipertooth, " shuddered Hugo, "The most dangerous kind of dragon known to exist. "
"Peruvian Vipertooths have a particular taste for humans as food, " said Devon with an obvious chill to his voice.
"In fact, " interjected Ainsley, "In the nineteenth century, the International Confederation of Wizards sent in an extermination team to reduce Vipertooth numbers because of how dangerous it is and how fast it was breeding."
Devon, James, Hugo. Albus, Miles, Todd, Gary, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, Ainsley, and Lily all shivered.
Once they regained their composure, Devon, James, Hugo. Albus, Miles, Todd, Gary, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, Ainsley, and Lily turned their attention to the dragon next to the Peruvian Vipertooth. This dragon was exceptionally large with dark green scales and glittering gild horns."
"So, " recognized Roxanne, "The Romanian Longhorn."
"Yes, " said James matter of factly, "Romanian Longhorns are amongst the largest dragons in existence. "
"At one time, " Ainsley informed them, "Romanian Longhorns were endangered; Their horns are prized for use in potion making and so they were once frequently hunted. Most remaining Romanian Longhorns have since been moved to a dragon reservation not allowed to people. "
In the middle of the bottom row of James's drawing was a Herodian Black dragon.
Like the Common Welsh Green, the group wasn't that interested in this particular dragon, especially compared with the others, though Courtney did point to its eyes and squeal, "Those purple eyes are stunning."
Devon, James, Hugo. Albus, Miles, Todd, Gary, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, Ainsley, and Lily quickly now laid their eyes on the fourth dragoon from the left on the bottom row of James's drawing. James himself, Albus, and Lily all felt a sad pang as they saw this dragon
Looking sadly at silvery blue dragon spitting its blue flame, Lily said solemnly, "That is a Swedish Short Snout. Because this is the dragon that Cedric faced in the First Task and because of Cedric's ultimate fate, I don't want to talk about this dragon too much."
"Me neither, " added Albus quickly.
"I don't either, " said James uncomfortably, "Though it's worth noting that the blue flame is powerful enough to turn bone to ash. Let's move on though."
The Dragon in the very right hand corner was instantly recognizable to Albus, Hugo, Rose, and Lily.
It was by far the biggest and strongest dragon on the drawing and had metallic gray scales made of steel.
"The Ukrainian Ironbelly, " recognized Hugo, "The type of Dragon Harry, mom, and dad escaped Gringotts on during the horcrux hunt!"
"That's so cool and so amazing that dad, Ron, and Hermione once escaped from Gringotts on one of the most dangerous dragons known to exist!" said James in an awestruck voice.
"What's life without a little dragons, " smirked Lily, "But I'm ready to reveal my drawing at last."
Lily felt her eyes water as she slowly flipped over her drawing.
Devon, James, Hugo. Albus, Miles, Todd, Gary, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, Ainsley, and Lily all felt touched at what Lily was revealed to have drawn.
Lily had crafted a stunningly perfect drawing of Devon, James, Hugo. Albus, Miles, Todd, Gary, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, Ainsley, and Lily, all naked in the picture, with absolutely no imperfections.
Everything from the hair, to the eyes, ears, mouths, and noses, to the belly buttons, to the fingers, to the very toes was a 100% accurate depiction of each individual.
Everyone present felt his or her eyes water and his or her insides glow.
To see how much effort and detail Lily had put into drawing them all meant more to them all then any of them could express.
"I don't expect my drawing to medal, " said Lily matter of factly before continuing in a very warm voice, "But I've said from the get-go that the Hogwarts Drawing Competition was first and foremost an opportunity to express ourselves. This provided me with a perfect opportunity for me to express to you all how much you all mean to me by drawing a picture that featured all eighteen of us together."
The others looked on, all feeling too emotional to speak. Lily understood and went on, "That's not all. I will be turning this picture in tomorrow of course and I'm eager to see our friendship showcased to all of Hogwarts when this picture gets displayed. And that's not all."
Next nanosecond, Lily bent down again and once again retrieved something. This something turned out to be thirty six copies of the drawing of Devon, James, Hugo. Albus, Miles, Todd, Gary, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, Ainsley, and Lily that Lily had produced for the Hogwarts Drawing Competition. Lily kept two for herself and passed on two each to Devon, James, Hugo. Albus, Miles, Todd, Gary, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, and Ainsley.
"I was thinking, " said Lily in a quiet and reflective voice, "That we could each have two pictures of our group to keep, one each to hang in our rooms at school and one each to hang in our rooms at home."
Devon, James, Hugo. Albus, Miles, Todd, Gary, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, and Ainsley all nodded quietly at Lily, making it clear to Lily that they all agreed to hang the picture of their group in their rooms both at school and at home. They were still too overcome with emotion to actually talk.
They all looked at the pictures for several minutes and several nanoseconds. The more they looked at them, the more they seemed to mean.
Lily fully appreciated how emotional everyone was to receive these pictures from her and understood that no talking would occur for a while.
After ten minutes and ten nanoseconds had passed, Lily broke the silence, "I'm delighted to see how much this means to you all. Would you all being open to calling our group the Circle of Eighteen, at least when we're all together like this?"
Devon, James, Hugo. Albus, Miles, Todd, Gary, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, Ainsley, and Lily all nodded.
"So, " said Lily, "We've all seen each other's drawings now and are ready turn them in tomorrow. Good luck to you all but remember that the Circle of Eighteen is in this together. If any of us medals, we all win."
Devon, James, Hugo. Albus, Miles, Todd, Gary, Fred, Gordon, Pamela, Rose, Roxanne, Rachel, Courtney, Stephanie, Samantha, Ainsley, and Lily all nodded.
Now it was just a matter of turning in their drawings and finding if any of them was fortunate enough to medal.
Everybody submitted their entries that next day and everybody eagerly looked forward to the announcement of the medalists later that same week.
