~Harry Ron and Hermione~
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were frozen to the spot, wands pointed at the strange boy and his beast. The dragon's teeth looked strangely purple with the glow of flames in his mouth. Harry's knees felt like water, Hermione looked like a ghost she was so pale, and Ron was looking frightened but furious at the boy for tripping him. The boy made no moves. He sat there, on top of his dragon, watching, waiting.
~Hiccup~
Hiccup sat on top of Toothless. Toothless was crouched down, wings outstretched, fires hot and at the ready, tail swishing back and forth. He bared his teeth anew, another low growl resonating through the cove. Hiccup studied the group from atop his friend. They all had their sticks pointed at him like they were some kind of weapon, all three tips glowing with unnatural light. They wore black robes with the same scarlet and gold crest stitched over their hearts. Potentially they were royalty in some far off tribe, but wherever they were from, it wasn't very vikingish. Maybe they were diplomats? But they looked quite young. Hiccup, being the chief's son, had seen his father resolve many conflicts before, more often than not with his hammer. Seeing as he had no hammer, and if he did he could hardly lift it, that wasn't going to work. He would have to be cautious and resolve this carefully. He needed to gain some trust from them, and with as young as these strangers were, he was they would follow suit. Probably. Hiccup took as deep of a breath as he could with his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, and slowly raised his hands, showing he meant no harm. The three of them eyed him suspiciously. He slowly dismounted, the three sticks following him the entire way, and turned to face them, placing himself between his dragon and the stick bearers. He pointed to his mouth. The girl made no movements. Hiccup sighed, he was going to have to give something first. He turned to Toothless, and he heard the three step back shuffling their feet into a better fighting stance, sticks never not pointed at his chest. Hiccup looked into his friends eyes, gave a confident smile, then scratched Toothless' neck.
~Harry, Ron and Hermione~
The dragon suddenly collapsed in next to the boy, making what was unmistakably a purring noise. The boy showed no signs of alarm. He pointed again to his mouth. Hermione ended the curse. They saw the boy smile slightly, moving his jaw around. Harry lowered his wand, pointing it at the ground so that it still cast some light. Hermione, followed suit. After a quick elbow from Harry, Ron begrudgingly lowered his wand as well. Harry watched as the boy walked towards them and extended his hand. Harry whispered, "Nox" The light went off and he stuffed the wand into his pocket, and shook the strangers hand. This boy meant no harm. His dragon stirred from his trance-like state, rose up and growled. The boy ran over and spoke to it, seeming to calm the beast. The dragon stopped growling, but from the looks of his eyes, they could tell it didn't trust them. Hermione whispered to Harry and Ron,
"He doesn't understand us. I know a charm that will allow us to understand him, and he will be able to understand us. We all have to be in on the charm that way we can all understand him." Ron nodded. Harry asked,
"How does it work?" Hermione then explained,
"I point at your throat, and say the incantation. A golden yellow beam will go from my wand to your throat, then I point at all the other throats of the people who are going to be in the charm. The beam will connect between all the people. After a few moments the beam will turn green and vanish. Then you will be able to understand what they say, and they will understand you. You just talk normal, and the others will hear your voice in their own native tongue. And you will hear your voice in theirs. Everyone not a part of the charm just hears your normal voice. It's that simple." Hermione smiled brightly. Harry nodded. Hermione cleared her throat. Harry looked up, exposing more of his neck. "Compren Lango"
~Hiccup~
Hiccup watched the three talking. He knew this language barrier was a big problem. How would they resolve anything? Then he watched as the black headed boy raised his head and the girl pointed her stick at his neck. Then she said something and a glowing golden rope like thing came out of the end of the stick and went into the boy's neck. The boy started laughing! Hiccup was nervous. If they were witches then they could be serious trouble. He put his hand on Toothless, who gave a comforting warble. Then the girl said the same thing and pointed to the flaming headed boy. Then her own. Three shimmering golden ropes went from their throats to her stick. She smiled comfortingly at Hiccup. He was still nervous. She wanted to do it to him too. Why? Was it a trap? A clever ruse to kill him? He was the heir to the chiefdom, making him a valuable target. But then why did she do it to herself and the other two boys? Hiccup nodded and walked towards the group. He flinched when the girl pointed the stick at him, silently praying to the Gods that he would be ok. The girl said the same thing once more. A golden rope slowly rose from the stick and drifted towards him on some untouchable wind. Hiccup closed his eyes, waiting for pain, but it wasn't pain he felt. It was a warm slightly tickling sensation. He slowly opened his eyes. The rope had disconnected from the girl's stick, and the four ropes were tied together in the middle of the group. The rope changed to a brilliant green then vanished altogether. The boy with flaming red hair turned and looked at the other boy.
"Did it work?" Hiccup gasped. He could understand him!
"Looks like it," came the reply, "Hello, my name is Harry Potter. These are my friends Ron Weasly and Hermione Granger. We don't want to hurt you. What is your name?" Hiccup looked as if Thor himself had struck him with lightning.
"How? How did you do that?" He managed to say. The girl now know as Hermione spoke,
"I cast a charm on you. Now we can all understand each other."
"What's your name?" The boy who had been identified as Ron asked. Hiccup scratched the back of his head.
"My name, is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. He smiled awkwardly at the looks on their faces. His name never failed to raise a eyebrow. Even amongst Vikings his was an unusual name.
"Your name is what?" scoffed Ron.
"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. My friends call me Hiccup, that is they would if I had friends. Parents here believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls," Hiccup smiled, "like our charming viking demeanor wouldn't do that." At that moment, the full moon disappeared behind the clouds. Hermione shivered. "Ron its getting colder. Could you go restart the fire?"
"Please, allow me. Toothless?" Hiccup pointed at the remains of the fire the trio had earlier. Toothless obliged with a perfectly aimed Plasma Blast that got the fire going again
"Wait, that thing's name is Toothless!?" Ron asked, with a thunderstruck look on his face "He doesn't look toothless to me."
"It looks like we have a lot to talk about!" Laughed hiccup. They gathered around the fire and for the better part of the next hour, Harry, Ron and Hermione told Hiccup their story.
"So let me get this straight. You guys, are from the future." Hiccup was pacing next to Toothless, opposite the fire from the other three.
"Mmhmm." said Harry, nodding.
"You are also wizards and in your case, Hermione, a witch." Another nod and he continued, "This, "Time Turner" thing is what brought you here, it only works in reverse, and it is shattered."
"Yeah, and we are trapped here, with no way to get home." Ron said with a yawn.
"So what's your story?" Harry asked. Hiccup laughed,
"I'll spare you the tale of Hiccup the Useless."
"Come off it, we want to know." Harry countered. After some badgering, Hiccup gave in, then spent the next half of an hour, and with the help of many hand motions, telling them about how he was the smallest kid his age, how his mother had died so young he couldn't remember her. He noticed Harry reacted strangely to that. He brushed off the thought and continued about how his dad was chief and wasn't the fatherly type, often leaving Hiccup to fend for himself. He told of how he always wanted to prove to his dad he was worth attention and love. That was why he made all his crazy inventions to kill dragons, because what he lacked in strength, he tried to show he made up for it in brains. He spoke bitterly of his cousin Snotlout, (There were many chuckles at the reference of his name) and how he had always bullied him with the help of the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut. He spoke better of Fishlegs, seeing as he never cringed when he saw Hiccup. Hiccup began to talk about Astrid but quickly stopped himself, covered his blunder with a cough and told them how he met Toothless.
"I shot Toothless down with a bola launcher I invented. Nobody believed me. I set off to find him and when I did, I couldn't kill him. I released him but later found him here in this cove. I had crippled him. When he crashed in the woods, half of his tail fin was ripped off. We have a saying, 'A downed dragon, is a dead dragon' so I knew I had to fix this. I have spent the last few weeks trying to make a tale for him. Today actually we had our first flight, didn't we bud?" Toothless rolled his eyes and laid down. "Yeah it didn't go well at first but when it was either life or death, I just knew how to fly with him."
"You didn't happen to fall off of Toothless and nearly free fall to your death, did you? Hermione asked.
"Yeah how did you know?"
"You flew right over us right after you gained control. Scarred the living daylights out of Ron." Hermione giggled. Ron's ears went as red as his hair. They sat in silence, just listening to the sounds of night, and Toothless' deep breathing. Harry, deep in thought, broke the silence suddenly,
"I never met my Mum and Dad, they were killed by Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard," Ron and Hermione winced at the name, "and when he tried to kill me, it didn't work. I'm the only one to ever survive after he wanted to kill someone. It gave me this though," He said, pointing to the scar lightning shaped scar on his forehead. "But I think that even though your Dad is still around, you got off worse than me." There was a moment of peaceful silence as Hiccup appreciated the gesture. They sat for a few more moments, enjoying the fire and the company. Hiccup yawned. It was extremely late, or was it early? In fact that he could see the east beginning to brighten. The sun wouldn't be far behind.
"I have my final dragon training test tomorrow, or today rather. This will decide if I am hailed a conquering hero or go back to being Hiccup the Useless. I need to be in my bed before my dad goes to wake up his "pride and joy" and as fun as bringing Toothless sounds, I'm not going to have that party tonight. I'll think of some story for you guys so you can stay in the town tomorrow night. But for the time being Toothless will sleep in the cove." Ron went very white.
"You don't mean, leaving us with that dragon in here?!" Ron squeaked.
"This was his home before you found it. Don't worry he is a big baby. Just don't scare him and you won't lose a leg. It's simple! I will see you guys later, in the meantime, nobody knows about this cove so it's safe here, don't go wandering too far. Most vikings here are the hit first ask later people." With that Hiccup climbed up the crevice in the cove, ducked underneath the sheild, still stuck from his first adventure to the cove, and headed back to his house. He had a big day tomorrow.
He snuck silently through town. The sleepy village had no signs of life. He snuck in the back door, and crept upstairs to his room before collapsing exhausted on his bed. But sleep eluded him. He tossed and turned in his furs, trying to figure out a plan. Along with hiding Toothless, dragon training, and escaping his fans, he had three wizard people to keep track of. Through his window he could see that dawn was steadily approaching. He groaned, closed his eyes and rolled over under the furs. He had just welcomed sleep when a loud banging noise woke him. He heard his door open and his father walk over to him.
"Morning son! Time for dagmal." Hiccup groaned. It was going to be a long day.
After dagmal Hiccup told his father that he was going out to prepare for the fight, and that he would be back by noon to compete. Before he set out for the cove, Hiccup made a slight detour to the docks where Bucket and Mulch were bringing in the early morning haul. He grabbed a couple of stray fish while Mulch and Bucket argued over the proper way to tie up the boat. As he walked from the docks he knew that a plan for his new friends had to be made. He stopped himself. He had called them friends. Hiccup smiled, and continued in his pace. So much to do and so little time. Hiccup walked out of the village and into the forest, heading just west of Raven Point, to the cove. His thoughts wandered as he walked, eventually turning to a certain blonde. Hiccup shook the thoughts out of his head then ducked behind the boulder that served as the hidden entrance to the hideout. Under the shield and he was in the cove. He arrived just in time to see Ron get tackled by Toothless, who then began to mercilessly lick him. Hiccup saw Harry and Hermione bent over in laughter as Ron tried to shove the dragon off him. Hiccup himself joined in the laughter and Toothless, drawn by the smell of fish and sound of Hiccup's laughter, released the struggling Ron and bounded over to him.
"Hiccup!" Harry and Hermione yelled simultaneously as they ran over to him. Ron spat and attempted to get the dragon slobber off of his face as he sat up.
"That is disgusting!" Ron scowled and threw a stick at the offending dragon, going hopelessly wide.
"And it doesn't wash out" Hiccup added with a laugh. "You guys sleep well?"
"We slept all right, thanks for asking, you?" Hermione asked.
"It felt like my dad woke me up before I even fell asleep."
"No rest for the weary eh?" Ron said as he joined them, still trying to get the sticky substance off of him.
"None at all. Now, this place has been a safe haven for Toothless for a while now, and I am not sure how much longer it will stay secret with 3 new people here, so..." Hiccup trailed on, tossing the fish to an eager looking Toothless, "We need a plan to bring you to the village. This might make my dad push back today's fight, and give you guys a real place to rest your heads. As Berk is an island, therefore, we have to make your back-story by sea. Kidnapping and then escaping pirates seems like the most viable option, unless, you guys have an idea?"
"I agree with Hiccup." Hermione said thoughtfully. Ron and Harry both nodded in agreement.
"OK, well then, let's set our stories straight."
~Mildew's House~
"Yes I know Mildew, Your home was damaged in the last raid. In case you hadn't noticed, I've only been home for a day. And with my son's final test at noon, you are going to have to wait."
"Stoick!" Mildew complained, "If it doesn't get fixed soon, my cabbages will rot!"
"Harvest isn't for a few more weeks Mildew, it can wait." Stoick said sternly. Mildew looked as if he wanted to say something, opened his mouth, and was cut short by a skinny auburn haired boy running up the hill to his house, yelling,
"Dad! Dad!," Stoick, happy for the interruption, turned to face his son who was breathing heavily as he ran.
"Ah, Hiccup! It's good to see ya lad, ready for your final test?"
"Dad," Hiccup said panting heavily, "This is...more...important...than the test."
"Ah, but that's where you are wrong son, nothing is more important than that test."
"But Dad, there is a boat, on the shore, near Black Heart Bay!" Stoick hesitated, Hiccup had not been the most accurate in the past, he had "seen" trolls before, and he considered brushing off his heir, but noticing the look in his eyes, he decided to believe him.
"Gobber!" Stoick yelled. Gobber, who and been rummaging through a barrel, quickly stood up.
"Yes Chief!"
"Go get Spitelout, Gunnar, Phlegma, and the dragon trainees. I want them to see how this goes. We don't know how many we are dealing with. Meet us on the edge of the forest. Hiccup, you come with me. Tell me more about what you saw."
"Ok, actually can we meet at the well? I am kinda thirsty from that run, and we wouldn't want your warriors to get dehydrated."
~Just east of Black Heart Bay~
"Do you think Hiccup's plan will work?" Ron asked his friends. The three of them were sitting in the shade of their small boat, sitting partially on the sand. Hiccup had shown them the sorry vesicle this morning. Harry recalled what Hiccup had said, "It's been here for weeks, nobody has made any attempt to fix it, so it should work just fine, with your magic."
"I think so. Hiccup is pretty clever." Hermione said. Harry stood up, brushed the sand off his robes, and spoke,
"Hiccup should be back here soon. Let's get into positions." No sooner than Harry spoke the words, a man, a GIANT of a man bust from the trees. He had the size and beard to compete with Hagrid. 'This has to be Stoick the Vast,' thought Harry, and his next thought was, 'That is Hiccup's dad?!' Harry's thoughts were cut short when more viking men and women ran out of the trees and stood slightly behind Stoick in a row, all armed, all dangerous, and all ready for a fight. Harry could barely see Hiccup standing quite literally in the shadow of his father. He also saw a fierce looking blonde teenage girl with a double bladed axe, nearly identical teens with maces, a boy big enough to rival Dudley carrying a large war hammer and black haired boy, also armed with a hammer. Nobody spoke. They just glared at each other.
"Do you think it worked?" Ron whispered to Hermione.
"No way to tell. If not then Hiccup's plan falls apart." she whispered back. "Have your wand at the ready in case things go south."
~Earlier, at the Cove~
"So the boat is in place, and all fixed up. Anything else?"
"I don't think so Harry," responded Hermione, "I think all the things are in order. Hiccup, I think you should head back. We will be safe." Ron nodded in agreement. Hiccup said goodbye and climbed up out of the cove. He had just left when Harry, Ron and Hermione heard Hiccup curse, and climb back into the cove.
"This plan won't work!" Hiccup exclaimed. "The villagers can't understand you!" They sat in stunned silence at Hiccup's words. Harry blinked, then spoke,
"Hey, Hermione, do you think that you could make that charm work in a different way, like through the air?" Hermione frowned. Her brow furrowed in deep thought.
"No...the charm doesn't work that way. From what I can remember, you have to do the throat connection, or..." Her eyes widened. "OF COURSE!" She yelled. She to the pond. "It can be drank! Like in water! I could charm the water! There is an altercation I can make to the charm, and anyone who drinks the water will be able to understand the person or people who cast it. I'll need your help Harry and Ron in order for this to work."
~Back to just east of Black Heart Bay~
Stoick glared at the three people on the beach. HIS beach. This was HIS island. He cleared his throat and yelled to the people, "Who are you, and what business do you have on Berk?" He smiled slightly as he saw them shrink in fear at his voice. He heard a young man reply,
"We are the children of dignitaries from the land of Hogwarts. Our ship was attacked by pirates and they took us captive for ransom. We were able to escape when the pirates got drunk. Our parents...weren't so lucky. We don't know where we are or how to get home. Please, we don't mean to harm any of you." Stoick glowered at the young man who had spoken. He had jet black hair that stood up in all directions. He needed proof.
"And how can you prove that story?" Stoick wanted to believe and help these young people, they looked younger than Hiccup, but he still needed to keep his village safe. A chief protects his own. This time the reply came quick from the girl of the group.
"With this." She pointed to the crest on her robes. Stoick walked forward towards her to get a better look, the villagers right behind him. "This is our House. Gryffindor, and it is one of the Four Houses of the land of Hogwarts." Stoick looked carefully at the crest sewn onto her robes. He had never heard of such places or Houses before, and their clothing was made of a very fine cloth, never seen before by Berkian kind. The crest appeared to be official, and the other two had the same crest. Everything seemed to check out. The girl spoke again, "We just want to go home." Tears began to fall from her eyes.
~On the Shore~
Ron looked at his shoes to hide a smile, Harry pinched himself to keep a solemn look on his face and he saw Hiccup had to turn to cover up a laugh. Hiccup's plan was working perfectly.
~Stoick~
Stoick felt his heart melt at the plight that these young children faced. They were lost, hungry and scared. He knew that they were not spies. He turned to the other villagers. "These youth are of no harm. They shall stay here, as long as they need." The girl spoke, hiccuping with sobs,
"That is Harry, and that's Ron. My name is Hermione. "
"Welcome Harry, Ron and Hermione to Berk. I am Stoick the Vast, chief of this tribe." Then to the villagers, "We will make these young ones feel safe and at home. They are my guests. If you have any problems with that, you will take it up with me. In the meantime, we are going to postpone the dragon test, and we shall prepare a feast to welcome these young ones!" Stoick put his hand on Hermione's shoulder. "You have nothing to worry about now. We will keep you safe."
