A/N: Hey everyone, I am back, and from this point on, this story will be updated weekly. Sorry this took so long, but I hope the story I've crafted is worth it. Oh, and around July I realized I could answer concerns in my profile, so next time I have a long break between years, you can check my profile for the status of my story. I've no intention of abandoning this. I plan to write all 7 years. Thanks for all the reviews and favorites, etc. Now, on with the tale:

"Emma! Slow down!" Jack called out to his sister. She paid him no heed as she raced out into the sun. Jack smiled and shook his head. Ever since Rapunzel said she was coming, Emma had been super excited. Maybe even a little more than Jack.

"I'm going to meet a real princess!" Emma squealed as she danced in shoes that were too big for her.

"You've already met Rapunzel," Jack said. "Two years ago, remember?"

As soon as Jack said it, he wished he hadn't. Emma suddenly became somber.

"I don't remember much of anything from that year," she said. She'd been sick nearly the whole year. Jack quickly changed the subject.

"Hey, don't be too impressed with Rapunzel," he said. "Merida's a princess, too. She won't like it if you ignore her just because Rapunzel is prettier, er, I mean, nicer."

"I promise I'll be on my best behavior," Emma swore, her hand over her heart. Then she added in a whiny voice, "Now when are they getting here?"

"They're both coming by horse," Jack explained. "Rapunzel sent me an owl yesterday. She'll be here soon."

As if to prove his point, the children heard hoofbeats. Emma started to run. Jack followed, then sprinted ahead, which was easy considering Jack was barefoot and his sister was in ill-fitting shoes. Jack was nearly as excited to have his friends visit as Emma. He wondered if Hiccup would show up. Earlier that summer, Jack sent a letter to all three of his friends inviting them to his village, but only Rapunzel and Merida replied. Jack hoped Hiccup's replies were just lost in a dragon attack or something.

As Jack neared the carriage, he stopped suddenly. When Rapunzel told Jack she was coming by carriage, he assumed a small carriage with one or two horses, not the brigade that was coming down the path. Horse after horse, dozens of soldiers were both in front of and behind the golden carriage.

Jack stared in shock as the horses rode by. Some of the guards gave him odd looks. Emma, panting from the chase, ran right in front of the lead horse, Jack pulled her back as the white beast reared up.

The whole troop stopped. The horse leaned down to smell Jack.

"Maximus?" Jack asked. The horse smiled and licked him.

"What's the hold up?" an older woman called out from the carriage. Gothel, Jack realized. The carriage door opened and Rapunzel tumbled out. She raced to Jack and hugged him so tightly they both fell over.

"What's with the parade?" Jack asked. "I didn't know you were giving us a show."

"Oh … um, my parents insisted," Rapunzel said, brushing back her long blonde braid. "There've been some bad reports. About magic and muggles. It's not so bad in Corona, but when I wrote and told them I was going to England, they insisted."

"Are the guards coming back to Hogwarts this year?" Jack asked, pointing his thumb at Maximus.

"Only me and Maximus," the Captain of the Guard said. "The King and Queen believe that a concentrated force of wizards will be safe from muggle attacks and, as a muggle, I should be able to diffuse any hostile situation during the special event."

"Special event?" Jack questioned.

"Er, I wasn't supposed to mention that. You'll see when you get to school," the guard said quickly. While Jack's curiosity was aroused, he decided not to press for more details. He didn't want to waste the fun time he had planned for his friends by obsessing about the future.

"Sorry, Jack," Rapunzel said with a shrug, "but you already said your village seemed a bit scared of magic, and I didn't know what kind of places we'd be passing through."

"Yeah, well, no one here even knows you're a witch, or a princess, for that matter. Until they see this entourage, of course."

Rapunzel nodded and turned to the soldiers, "You are dismissed."

"But princess!" the Captain of the Guard protested. Rapunzel held up her hand, commanding authority. It actually took Jack by surprise. Normally she was so meek and mild mannered. But the Guard was so eager to obey, it must have made it easier for her.

"Jack, your village is small, correct?"

Jack nodded, "There are only, like, ten families, max."

"Captain, I shall not need protection in such a small town, even if it is mostly muggles. Especially if Jack is with me. You can patrol the woods until I am ready to go."

With a sigh, the Captain of the Guard bowed. Jack signed for Emma to lead Rapunzel up the path to their house. To Jack's displeasure, Gothel began to follow.

Jack slowed down, letting the girls get ahead. Once Emma and Rapunzel were out of earshot, Jack turned to Gothel sharply, "You know, I only actually invited Merida and Rapunzel here."

"You haven't been out of your dinky little town recently, have you?" Gothel challenged. "The world is far worse than you can imagine. Even in Corona there is talk of witch trials, though not as frequently as here. If you think I'll let Rapunzel out of my sight-"

"If I recall correctly," Jack said, cutting Gothel off, "we both want the same thing. We want Rapunzel to be safe. Maybe I don't trust why you want her to be safe, but nevertheless, we actually have the same goal. Why not work together instead of against each other?"

"What do you have in mind?" Gothel asked shrewdly.

"This is my home. I know who to trust and who not to trust here. You'll just be getting in the way. Why don't you keep your eye on the Captain of the Guard? After all, you saw how he obeys Rapunzel. All she has to do is ask him to take her to her parents. He'd comply without hesitation, and he's going to be at Hogwarts..."

Gothels eyes widened. With a last look at Rapunzel, Gothel darted off after the captain.

Jack laughed. Jack didn't trust Gothel at all, but at least he'd figured out how to manipulate her into giving Rapunzel what she wanted. Well, he was a Slytherin after all.

Merida leaned forward on Angus as they rode down the countryside. She wasn't exactly sure where she was going. She was using the point spell and directions Jack gave her. Earlier, she cast a speed spell on Angus so he would be able to make the journey in half a day. Mum was way more lenient now, and she knew Merida would be able to survive in the wild for a few days, but still, Merida wanted to spend her vacation with her friends, not just traveling.

As she drew close to where Burgess should be, Merida cast the slowing spell, to bring Angus back to a normal speed. Merida recognized the place. Jack led them through this glen before.

A branch cracked. Merida pulled Angus's reins. No telling what lay in this forest. Mor'du might be gone, but Merida well remembered Jack's tales about the black sand horses roaming around here.

Close by, she heard hoofbeats. Merida urged Angus on. The hoofbeats drew closer, and then, out of the woods jumped a white horse with a rider. Merida pulled Angus to a halt as she recognized Maximus.

"Halt," the man on Maximus said. "No one is to proceed into the village armed!" the man said, looking at Merida's bow.

"You here with Rapunzel?" Merida asked. The man nodded.

"For safety, please turn over your weapons," the man said, drawing his sword. Merida reluctantly slung the bow off her shoulder and handed it over. She didn't like giving it up, but she recognized the need for caution after she and Jack, and almost Rapunzel, were kidnapped last year. And it helped that she recognized the man as the Captain of the Guard from their third year.

Merida started heading into the village. The guard trailed not far behind her. She remembered the path to Jack's house and took it, avoiding most of the village.

Jack, Rapunzel, and Jack's sister were outside. Rapunzel had her feet in the lake. Merida pulled Angus to a halt and dismounted, running up to her friends.

"Hey, 'Punzel?" Merida asked. "Can you get your guard to give me back my bow?"

Rapunzel jumped out of the water, splashing Jack as she ran to the guard. She took a few minutes talking to him before returning with the bow and arrows.

"See, this is what I expected," Jack said, pointing at Angus. "Just a girl on a horse. No entourage. No fancy coach."

"Sorry, my parents insisted," Rapunzel said. "Merida's parents aren't half as over-protective as mine."

"Aye, even though there's a lot of tension in the kingdom, Mum trusts me. We've had a few problems with muggles storming the castle trying to capture me, and one instance of a wizard trying to 'liberate' me and me brothers from our muggle parents. But the lot o' them were stopped relatively peaceful-like. How are things here, Jack?"

"Oh, fine," Jack said, eyeing his sister. Merida got the feeling he didn't want to say more in front of the little girl.

"Hey, Rapunzel? Did I hear you came in a carriage?" Merida asked.

Rapunzel nodded.

"Maybe the lass would like a ride," Merida suggested.

"A ride in a real carriage? Just like a real princess?!" the little girl asked, jumping up and down. Merida could see she had her brother's energy.

"Of course you can have a ride," Rapunzel said. She took the child's hand and led her to the carriage. Merida and Jack helped the little girl into the carriage as Rapunzel said a few words to the driver.

"Now, if you want to behave like a princess," Merida instructed, "sit up straight, and wave your hand out the window gracefully. And whatever you do, don't put your weapons on the table."

The child looked at her quizzically.

"Never mind, just have fun," Merida corrected. Rapunzel left the driver and the carriage started going around the village. Jack, Rapunzel and Merida walked behind, waving to the girl.

"Jack … what's your sister's name?" Merida asked.

"Emma Pippa Frost," Jack replied. "Haven't I told you before?"

"I don't think so," Merida said.

"Yeah, you never talk about yourself," Rapunzel added.

"That's why it took me almost a whole year before I learned you weren't a pureblood. And why you had to run off before we found out you were half elf," Merida said.

"Shh," Jack looked over his shoulder as they crossed into the town. "The others here don't know anything about that. I don't want them to."

"Are you having a rough time?" Rapunzel asked gently.

"Yes," Jack said with a sigh. "I don't want Emma to know. She's loyal to me. Too loyal. If she hears what some of the other kids have been saying, some of her friends, she might try to stand up for me. And I won't be here to protect her once school starts. She's not like me. She's normal. I don't want them to shun her because of who my dad is."

"It can't be that bad," Merida said.

"It is. With the kids, at least. At best, they ignore me. At worst, they scream and lock themselves in their houses. But enough about that. I didn't invite you here to give me a pity party. Any reason why you didn't use the Floo? I'm hooked up, you know. It would have been safer."

Merida and Rapunzel shared a guilty glance.

"We've … been talking over summer," Merida said. "I've been going to Rapunzel's almost every week."

"And Gothel lets you?"

"She doesn't like it," Rapunzel admitted, "but she said I could have Merida over if I promised to stay with her in the Infirmary this year."

"And you're okay with that?"

Rapunzel shrugged, "After last year, I figured Mother would make me stay with her anyway. I think I'm lucky I got anything out of it at all."

"Okay, so why the horses?"

"We … we talked about your situation," Merida said carefully. "We know you don't have much Floo Powder. We didn't want you to waste any on us."

"We already felt guilty about taking it two years ago," Rapunzel added.

"You guys, I have more, you know. I may not have a father, but I'm not that destitute."

"You don't wear shoes," Merida pointed out.

"Okay, okay. Maybe I don't have the best financial situation. But really, now that I work for the school, it's not as bad as it was. I'm actually thinking of buying shoes. Or maybe new ice skates. Emma's definitely going to need new skates in a year or so. Maybe I'll save up for them."

By this time, the carriage had circled around the town. The driver pulled the horses to a halt and Emma popped out.

She grabbed Jack around the waist and swung around on him.

"Now what do you say to Rapunzel?" Jack asked.

Emma backed away and curtsied to the princess, "Thank you very much for letting me ride in your carriage."

Rapunzel blushed, "Any time. I don't have much use for a carriage in my tower."

The commotion of the carriage had drawn a few villagers, including children, out. Apparently their fear of Jack was not enough to keep them from gawking at the golden carriage. Emma turned to Rapunzel and looked up at her with big brown eyes.

"May my friends ride in your carriage, too?"

Rapunzel consented and soon her carriage was crawling with children, leaving the teenagers alone. Rapunzel instructed the driver to take the kids around as much as they wanted and Jack took his friends back towards the woods.

As they neared the edge of town, a few teenage girls stopped in the middle of their tasks to stare at Jack. He waved to them, and the girls giggled.

"Hmph," Merida said as they walked past. "I thought you said you weren't popular."

"Not with the kids. The teenage girls? That's another story. I guess going through puberty away from home has some advantages."

The muggle girls went back to their tasks, but Merida couldn't help but notice that they kept stealing glances at Jack. Even she had to admit, he really had grown into his looks. While Jack had always been good looking, over the summer he'd gotten downright handsome.

Jack was taller, and thin as a rail, and his face was much more sharply defined. His crooked smile only added to the charm. No fear of magic could overshadow Jack's looks.

Merida rolled her eyes at her own thoughts as Jack led them away from the girls and the town, back to his lake. He walked out on the water, turning it to ice beneath his feet. The girls followed him, Rapunzel delighting in the fish swimming beneath the ice.

Jack took them to the opposite side of the lake where a large tree root jutted out. The three sat down on it. As soon as Jack took his feet off the lake, it started to melt. Soon Rapunzel and Merida were splashing their feet.

"Can you swim?" Merida asked Rapunzel.

"No. There's a waterfall and a river right by my tower, that's how I wash my hair, but I've never tried swimming."

"Oh, it's fun," Jack said. He set his staff down on the root and jumped in. After a moment his head popped up from under the lake, "Of course, I have to concentrate to keep the lake from freezing once I'm in. The last thing I want is to freeze myself under the ice."

Jack did a backstroke a few paces before he floated up, on top of an ice flow, and jumped back on the base of the tree. He shook himself like a dog, getting both the girls wet.

"Your home is very nice," Rapunzel commented as she splashed her feet. "It's a shame Hiccup couldn't come."

"Yeah," Jack stared into the water, freezing patches of it with his staff. "I invited him. He never wrote back."

"If it makes you feel better, he hasn't been all that forthright with me, either," Merida said. "I got one lousy letter asking for the blueprints for my saddle, of all things. I sent them to him, and then zip. Not even a thank you."

"I haven't heard from Hiccup all summer, either," Rapunzel said, plucking a flower off the tree and threading it through her hair. "I hope he's alright."

Hiccup lay in bed. He knew he should get up. It wasn't good to just lounge about. But his leg still really, really hurt, even with the best Wizard-Viking medicine Gothi could conjure. Hiccup could work past the pain, after all so many other Vikings did it, but it still felt really weird to look down his leg and see it end in a stump.

He was kind of glad they put the metal leg on before he woke up. It really helped. And the fact that his absent foot was itchy, that was just weird.

Toothless jumped down from the beams, landing on Hiccup. The dragon nudged his rider.

"I know. You need to fly, right?" Hiccup asked. Toothless bounded around the room. Before Hiccup could tell Toothless that he didn't feel ready to fly, his father Stoick the Vast came in.

"Are you going to visit those Hogwarts friends of yours?" Stoick asked. "I saw the invite."

Hiccup looked down guiltily, "I can't … my leg."

Stoick frowned, "Son, I know it hurts. But you're alive. Thank Thor. You can't just mope around in bed feeling sorry for yourself. It's not the Viking way."

"But …"

"No buts. You were up walking the very first day."

"I can go short distances. But a whole school year? Maybe I should just stay home," Hiccup said, sulking.

"All the others who have lost limbs do it," Stoick pointed out. "Look, Gobber's hosting a stump meeting right now. I think they're planning this year's Stump Day. Why don't you attend? It'll be good to get out; to see how others adjusted to life after losing their limbs."

Hiccup reluctantly got out of bed and climbed onto Toothless. He knew his father was right. He had to move on, just like everyone else on Berk. That was why he walked outside that very first day, before he knew what had happened. But once he saw everyone getting along with dragons, he slipped back into feeling sorry for himself.

Toothless jumped out the window and spread his wings. Hiccup tried to move his ankle to open the pad, only to remember he no longer had an ankle. Instead, he had to move his shin to control Toothless's tail.

Toothless's tail …. how could Hiccup be so selfish? Here he was complaining about having no foot, and Toothless only had half a tail. At least Hiccup could still walk under his own control, but Toothless would never be able to fly without a rider.

Well, if Hiccup could learn to ride a dragon, he could learn to walk on a peg leg.

After a quick flight around the island, Hiccup turned Toothless to the Meade Hall. Landing Toothless inside the large doors, Hiccup saw Bucket, Mulch, Gobber and a few other limb-challenged vikings sitting around a table.

Hiccup steered Toothless towards them.

"Ah, good to see you up and about," Gobber said. "How's the leg holding up?"

"Well … I haven't bent it out of shape or anything," Hiccup said as he unhooked it from the control pedal.

"Good. Now we can commence Berk's 267th Stump Day meeting," Gobber announced. Hiccup looked around. For once in his life, he wasn't the weird one. He wasn't the outcast. He finally belonged. Maybe losing his leg was worth it.

Flynn waved the stolen wand and flames sputtered out, lighting the campsite.

"Is that all?" the none-mute Stabbington brother asked.

"Hey, it's not my fault this wand has a kneazle core. That's the weakest core available. And besides, stolen wands never produce half as well as wands won in duels."

"We did the best we could!" the brother snapped.

"Hey, I'm just saying you get what you pay for."

Flynn manually poked the sticks, making the flames grow brighter. The twins turned to one another and had a silent discussion. Flynn hated it when they did that. It was bad enough that they kidnapped him, but now they were ignoring him. Of course, Flynn wasn't quite the prisoner he had been. After nearly a year of trying to get away, Flynn came back willingly, hoping to get information on the Boogyman. He knew he had to tread carefully. If he outright asked about Pitch Black, the brothers might clam up. Or might catch on to what Flynn was doing.

Flynn picked up a stick and skewered it through a fish. Boy, how he missed the food at Hogwarts. While Flynn often stole food, there was nothing quite like a legitimate meal.

"So … "Flynn started as the food cooked, "how'd you guys get into thievery, anyway?"

The brothers stared at him. Flynn rolled his eyes and looked back at the fish. This might be harder than he thought. But Flynn had no doubts he could do it. He had to figure out what the brothers were up to and help save the world from Pitch Black, even if he had to use all the smolder he had.

A/N: Now to answer questions I received over my break.

For those of you asking about who the Champions will be: There will only be one from Hogwarts. As for who it is, you'll have to wait and see ;)

There will be some Hicstrid in this.

Hannah Plarse: Jack is put in Slytherin because he doesn't fit in any of the other houses particularly well. He isn't driven by knowledge so not a Ravenclaw. He hates hard work and deadlines, so not the 'house of toil' Hufflepuff. He could fit into Gryffindor, but Merida always ends up there because her movie is called Brave. Since none of the others fit Slytherin (Blood purist, evil, ambitious), and since this fandom's rules dictate that the four children must be in different houses, Jack is defaulted to Slytherin.