A/N: Well, I've finished the rough draft. From here on out this will update weekly. Needless to say, there will be spoilers for my past 3 stories, Brave, and the Guardians of Childhood book series, especially for the Guardians book series. As such, this will be my last spoiler warning about it.

Rise of the Guardians and How to Train Your Dragon belong to Dreamworks. Tangled and Brave belong to Disney and Pixar. Hogwarts belongs to J.K. Rowling. The Guardian's backstories belong to William Joyce. Well, you didn't click to read lengthy author's notes. Without further ado, enjoy Year 4.

"This is Berk. It snows nine months of the year, and hails the other three," Hiccup announced from the boat as they approached the tiny island. The four teenagers met in Diagon Alley earlier that day. After purchasing their supplies for the year, the four kids went down to the docks. Jack used the shrinking spell to make his books all fit in a small bag, which he tied to his staff. The girls sent their belongings home with their mothers; Merida kept only her bow and arrows with her. Hiccup's friend Gobber was rowing, but he didn't partake in the conversation.

"Great, sounds fun," Jack said, his snowy white hair blowing as he surveyed the mountains.

"You WOULD think that, wouldn't you," Merida said snidely.

"Oh come on, in your letters you were practically begging me to make it snow on Castle DunBroch so you could have a break from your mother."

"Aye, well, I don't need it any more. My mum and I have come to a... an understanding."

"Really?" Rapunzel asked. "How? Maybe I could use the same strategy on my mother."

"Take my advice. Don't," Merida huffed. "It was almost a disaster."

"A disaster? Now you're just exaggerating," Jack accused.

"Not this time. This time it's true. I'll tell you the tale of what happened over the summer, but please can we do it inside? It's freezing out here. And it's the middle of summer!"

Gobber docked the boat and Hiccup led his Hogwarts friends around Berk.

"This way." Hiccup led his guests to Meade Hall as Merida started the story.

"Well, it all happened when Mum remembered that I was turning fourteen next month. Mum let me have the day off, since I would be at Hogwarts on my actual birthday, and it was great. Until I got home. Mum announced that the lords and their sons were coming to compete for my betrothal."

"Betrothal?" Hiccup, Rapunzel, and Jack said in shock.

"Aye."

"To who?" Hiccup asked.

"One of the firstborns of the Clans. Let's see," she said counting them on her fingers, "there's Young MacGuffin, Young Macintosh and, um, Wee Dingwall."

"Who are they?" Rapunzel asked.

"The lords' sons. Muggles. I'd never met them before."

"You mean you have to marry a man you just met? Who does that?" Jack said as they climbed the stairs to Meade Hall. They entered the building and sat down at an empty table.

"Apparently, it's tradition," Merida said.

"How can it be tradition?" Hiccup asked. "I thought your kingdom was fairly new. Isn't your dad, like, the first king?"

"Aye, he is. Wasn't even made king until after I was born. But mum must have gotten the traditions from somewhere. Maybe they were just tribal traditions before?"

"So...who are you marrying?" Hiccup asked.

"No one. I got out of it."

"How?" Rapunzel asked, her eyes wide.

"Well, when I realized that I was a firstborn, I figured I could compete for my own hand. And I won."

"And that was it?" Rapunzel asked.

"Not at all. Mum was furious. And the lords were angry. They almost started a war over it. I tore a great rift in our kingdom."

"So then what?" Hiccup asked.

"I turned my mum into a bear."

"WHAT!" everyone said at once. Hiccup was the first to speak upon recovering from shock.

"Is that part of the same story? It just seems so random."

"Oh, aye. See, mum was so angry at me for winning the archery contest, that she burned me bow."

"And for that she deserved to be transfigured into a bear? And I thought you were just mean to me," Jack reprimanded.

"It's not like I wanted to change her into a bear! I met this witch, in the woods. She gave me a spell to change my fate, which I gave to my mum. I had no idea the spell would turn her into a bear."

"Wait, she gave you a spell and you gave it to your mother," Jack said. "Why not use the spell on yourself?"

"My mum's in charge of every single day of my life. I figured if I changed my mum, it'd change my fate."

"I'll bet if you were the one who turned into a bear, it would have changed your fate, too," Jack remarked.

"Shut it. Anyway, so I stopped the lords from fighting and sewed up the tapestry."

"What tapestry?" Rapunzel asked.

"The one I slashed."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Hiccup asked.

"Well, the cure for the spell was to mend the bond torn by pride. So I figured it meant stitching up the tapestry."

"This story is making less and less sense as it goes on," Jack said.

"Anyways! The lords started to hunt me mum, and I stitched the tapestry, and then me brothers who were also bears-"

"Now your brothers are bears, too?" Jack said, "I'm sorry, but you've lost me."

"They ate the keet that the spell was in and turned into wee bears, too." Merida rushed the rest of her tale, "So anyway, they got the keys and let me out of the room which m' dad had locked me in, then I fought m' dad ta save m' mum and then when the sun came up she turned back into a human. I learned not to be selfish, me mum learned to let me be free. Everything turned out alright."

"Uh...was it just me or was that really confusing?" Jack asked.

"Can you tell it again, Merida, slower and maybe with more...I don't know, words?" Hiccup asked. Merida rolled her eyes and repeated the story with more detail until her friends got it.

"So, as I have been trying to tell you, Mum's going to cut me some slack on me lessons, and I've learned not to be so self-centered."

"Have you? Really?" Jack demanded. "I don't buy it."

"What?"

"You keep telling us that you aren't selfish anymore. But until I see it, I won't believe it."

"Of course I'm not selfish anymore. Weren't you listening? I was going to marry one of the lords' sons."

"But you didn't. Your mother got you out of it. She told you what to say."

"Only for, like, one line. She just gave me permission to break tradition."

"So you got exactly what you wanted. How is that not being selfish?"

"But I was willing to give up my freedom."

"But you didn't!"

"What about at the end, when Merida turned her mother back into a human?" Rapunzel asked.

"Thank you," Merida said.

"Still a selfish act from what Merida told us," Jack replied, "'Mum, I need you!' isn't that what you said? I need you. Thinking only of what you needed. Not, 'Oh mum, you don't deserve this'. Not 'The kingdom needs you' not even 'The triplets need you.' No. You said 'I need you'. Sounds kinda selfish to me."

"But I'm not selfish. Mum changed. I changed! We both changed!"

"Prove it. I dare you."

Merida looked around just as a little boy tripped and dropped his plate.

"It's just Gustav Larson," Hiccup said. "He'll be fine."

Nevertheless, Merida jumped up and helped the child. She then returned to the table.

"See? Not selfish," Merida said as she took her seat.

"Technically, that was still selfish," Jack said laughing, "You wouldn't have helped him if I hadn't dared you. You only did it to preserve your reputation, so, no. I still think you're selfish."

"I'll show you..." Merida muttered. Before she could say anything more, Stoick came over to the kids. He patted Hiccup on the back, nearly knocking the boy over.

"So, how do you like Berk?" Stoick asked.

"Oh, it's wonderful," Rapunzel said.

"Amazing," Jack agreed.

"Cold," Merida said, "but I like it."

"Glad to see you're doing well. If you need anything, let us know," Stoick said before he went on to have lunch with another group of Vikings.

"So," Hiccup said, "what should we do now? We have fishing, hunting, and charming views of the sunset."

"I've never been fishing before," Rapunzel said.

"Oh, it's so much fun," Merida interjected. "Come on, I'll show you how me and mum caught them when she was a bear."

Merida jumped up and took Rapunzel's hand and led the girl outside. Hiccup ran to get ahead of them; after all, he knew where the best cliffs for fishing were.

As the teenagers ran out to the town square, Hiccup took the lead. Where was the best place for fishing? Not the wild dragon cliffs, Rapunzel kept glancing up to the sky in fear. No need to tempt fate. Before he could decide, the other Viking teens walked by. Hiccup paused as Astrid passed. He couldn't help staring at her, her blonde plait so perfect. He knew Rapunzel was the queen of braided hair, but somehow Astrid's seemed even lovelier. Maybe it was her fierce manner. Rapunzel was nice, but just a little too gentle for Hiccup's taste. Too bad Astrid wouldn't even look at him.

Hiccup sighed as she walked by, an axe in hand. She ignored him, of course. So did the twins. Fishlegs looked a little nervous, he didn't make eye contact.

"Where are you guys going?" Hiccup asked.

"Brigade practice, of course," Tuffnut said.

"Wait, you mean we're learning how to put out fire?" Ruffnut asked.

"Yes," Astrid said sharply. "I don't know about you, but I like going home at night. Don't you have any possessions you care about?"

"Sure, our well-groomed stuffed yak. But I wouldn't mind setting him on fire," Tuffnut said.

"I would. I'd rather set Tuffnut on fire," Ruffnut said, "then we could practice putting him out."

"Okay, what time should I be there?" Tuffnut asked.

"Oh no, we're late," Fishlegs said. "Stoick is going to kill us."

He started running, quite a feat for someone with such short legs. Astrid shrugged and rolled her eyes before following him. The twins started bickering over what they wanted to set on fire as they went off. As Snotlout walked by, he shoved Hiccup.

As Hiccup steadied himself, something white flew past him and hit Snotlout square on the back of his head. Snotlout turned sharply.

"You throwin' things?" he demanded, advancing on Hiccup. The smaller boy took a step back. Snotlout touched the back of his head and then looked at his hand. His fingers were covered in snow.

"So what if he did. You got a problem with that!" Merida said, stepping in front of Hiccup.

"It's okay, Merida, calm down," Hiccup said trying to placate the redhead.

"Where'd a loser like you even get snow?" Snotlout asked, "I know you couldn't have summoned it, squib."

"Hiccup isn't a squib, we've seen him do plenty of magic," Rapunzel defended.

"Yeah, right, baby magic. He can't do any real spells," Snotlout scoffed.

"Don't you have some fire to go put out?" Hiccup asked rolling his eyes. Snotlout looked back, the other teens of Berk were long gone, a cloud of smoke billowing over by the arena. Snotlout looked at the smoke, then back at Hiccup. After a moment he turned and ran towards the other teens, leaving Hiccup and his friends alone.

"You shouldn't let him bully you like that," Merida advised.

"It's Snotlout. He's always like that. It's better to just put up with him," Hiccup shrugged. "What do you say we go fishing?"

Hiccup started to walk off. The others followed, Jack fell into step with Hiccup.

"I'm sorry about that. I thought if I started a snowball fight, everyone would have fun," Jack apologized.

"You really thought getting hit with a ball of frozen water would make anyone have a good time?" Hiccup asked. "Usually when I get hit with snowballs on Berk it's because Snotlout or the twins thought I looked like an easy target."

"You always seemed to have fun when I started snowball fights!" Jack said.

"Yeah, but we're friends. That changes a lot."

"Still. I wish I could bring joy to everyone."

"Maybe next time you should try a cheering charm instead?" Rapunzel suggested. Jack looked pensive for a moment. Hiccup suggested they continue on to the fishing hole. He took them to Raven Point then down to the cove. No one from Berk ever came here. It was too quiet, too peaceful, completely un-Viking-like. It did make a good safe haven, though.

Merida took the lead with fishing; she had brought her bow and arrows and shot the fish right out of the water. Hiccup wasn't too bad at it either, though he used a hook and line.

Rapunzel approached the pond nervously, but jumped back when one of Merida's fish started to flop around. The blonde girl took her pet chameleon Pascal off her shoulder and started playing with him in the grass nearby.

Jack cautiously approached the water. Rather than using a hook or bow, he touched the water with his staff to freeze it around the fish, creating kind of an ice bowl. Eventually he got bored and started letting his ice cover the entire pond. Merida and Hiccup stopped fishing as Jack completely froze it over, turning it into an ice skating pond.

Jack ran around the pond, freezing it solid and coating the top with a layer of swirling frost. Rapunzel picked up Pascal and gingerly stepped out onto the ice. She slipped and fell over almost instantly, causing Jack to burst out laughing before he went over to help her stand.

Merida stepped onto the ice, too. Hiccup looked at their feet, both Rapunzel and Jack were barefoot, Rapunzel's feet already starting to turn blue. Merida was wearing thin leather boots.

"Come on, it's fun!" Jack beckoned.

"Aren't your feet cold?" Hiccup asked.

"Doesn't bother me," Jack called.

"Terribly cold," Rapunzel said, "but I'm sure once I get going I'll warm up."

"Hold on, let me get something!" Hiccup called back as he left the cove. He ran straight to Gobber's blacksmith shop. From under a table of dull swords in need of sharpening, Hiccup pulled out several pairs of shoes with blades attached. Viking ice skates. They'd been collecting dust under that bench since last winter. They were mostly there to help Vikings get across the sea when it was frozen solid, which luckily didn't happen that often, so they were rarely used. Hiccup picked out the four smallest pairs and started back towards the Cove.

Before he reached the edge of the village, the town erupted into a blaze of fire.

"DRAGON ATTACK!" a Viking screamed. Hiccup dropped the skates at the edge of the woods and ran to the cove. The cove was fairly far from the village, the noises of the dragon attack were faint and muffled; Jack, Merida and Rapunzel hadn't noticed.

For a moment Hiccup considered not telling them. Surely they'd be safe in the cove. There was more danger of being trampled by a Viking in the village. Then a dragon flew overhead. Rapunzel screamed, though it flew past without attacking.

"What was that?" Jack asked, clutching his staff.

"A Gronkle. Those are tough. Taking one of them down would definitely get me a girlfriend," Hiccup commented, thinking of Astrid again. More and more his thoughts turned to her. "Come on, we should find shelter."

"No time for shelter! Let's fight!" Merida called, arming herself with her bow.

"No, you remember what happened last time. Arrows just bounce off a Dragon's skin. You need a heavier weapon, like a mace or hammer."

"Then to the blacksmith shop!" Merida called, leading the way.

"Maybe we should leave," Rapunzel said timidly. "I was lucky getting Mother to let me come out here. If I get hurt she'll never let me leave the tower again. It was hard enough to get her to let me out once."

"Are you daft? How can we leave? This is our chance to fight!"

"Didn't you scream and run from Mor'du?" Jack asked.

"Aye, but I was alone then. And Mum ended up getting him. Granted she was a bear at the time, but still, I can't let her upstage me."

"Hypocrite," Jack muttered.

"No, Rapunzel is right," Hiccup agreed. "You guys should leave. Berk is dangerous even for a well trained Viking. Much as I'd like you guys to stay, it's probably better that you go. After all, I'd rather have the whole school year with you, than have this be our last time together."

"See, Hiccup isn't selfish," Jack smirked at Merida. She growled at him as she drew an arrow. Rapunzel put Pascal back on her shoulder; Jack took up his staff and the four set off.

Rapunzel ran to keep up, careful not to let Pascal slip off her shoulder as she followed Hiccup into the fray. Every time a dragon flew over he would stop and point to it, telling them what kind it was and its worth.

"A Zippleback, exotic, two heads, twice the status," Hiccup narrated. Other, older Vikings kept calling out for them to get inside as dragons flew overhead illuminating the village. As they neared the blacksmith stall, Stoick the Vast ran past them. He stopped and stared at Hiccup.

"What are you doing out here?" Stoick yelled. "Get back inside!"

Hiccup nodded and Stoick took off again, lifting a large cart single-handedly and hurling it at a huge red dragon.

"I've never seen your dad like this," Merida mentioned. "I know all your people fight dragons, but I couldn't really picture it. Especially your dad. He was always so gentle with you."

"Well, he is the chief. They say that when he was a baby he popped a dragon's head clean off. Do I believe it? Yes I do."

The kids had reached the forge unscathed. Gobber was hammering away at something. Hiccup grabbed an old apron and tied it on as his friends went to the fireplace.

"Hiccup, if you make it out alive, see you on the train," Merida said as she pinched the floo powder and threw it in.

"Don't worry about me. I've survived hundreds of these dragon attacks. I'll get out of this one, too."

Merida nodded and stepped into the fireplace, "Castle Dunbroch."

Jack, after her, "The Burgess."

Rapunzel went last. "It was great to see you again, Hiccup. Maybe someday I won't be so scared. Maybe someday I could stay and fight the dragons with you."

Hiccup smiled, "My dad's planning another search for the dragon's nest. If he finds it and destroys it, maybe none of us will ever have to fight those dragons again."

"I hope you're right." The girl slipped Pascal into her pocket, stepped into the fireplace, making sure all her hair was in before she shouted, "The Tower in the Glen!"

And like that, Rapunzel was home.

A/N: Well, that's the first chapter. See you all next week. And now, to respond to a review I received over the summer:

Guest: (paraphrased) Why isn't Hiccup in Ravenclaw?

Answer: Dumbledore said, "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

Yes, Hiccup is smart. He would do well in Ravenclaw, but I don't think he would choose the path of knowledge. I see Ravenclaws as people who like learning for the sake of learning. To me, that is why Rapunzel fits. She wanted to know what the lights meant because they existed, not because she thought she could use that knowledge to do something. Hiccup on the other hand wanted to learn and be smart because he knew he was lacking in the strength department and he was trying to compensate for it with his intellect. He wanted to fit in, a more Hufflepuff trait. If he was driven by the act of learning alone he wouldn't have waited until after meeting Toothless to read the Book of Dragons.