Hogwarts AU! Yaaay! I also have my multi-chapter story, Leave It To Lauren, if you want to read that! Thanks!
~Black Lake and Stormy Days~
It was one of those rainy days at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that took everyone by storm (no pun intended). The rain fluctuated from time to time; one moment it was sunny, the next was raining cats and dogs. Most students resented it.
Jack loved it. He loved the rain and everything that came with it. Most students ran to their classrooms. Jack contemplated taking off his soaked and battered solid black shoes and squishing his way to his next class barefoot. He smiled to himself, thinking about all the people that were bound to look at him funny because of it.
Jack walked across the grounds seemingly aimlessly. His next class was Care of Magical Creatures, and Hagrid wouldn't mind if he was a bit late because he was enjoying the damp weather.
Shluck, shluck shluck shluck! Jack's shoes screamed as he walked off the stone stairs and started walking down the grassy hill. His shoes had holes in the bottoms, so the water got into them far easier than normal. But Jack didn't care; he had a rock-solid immune system, so he wasn't afraid of getting sick.
Splash, splash, splash, splash! Jack heard from behind him. As soon as he turned, an umbrella appeared over his head. He looked up at it ruefully as it blocked the rain from saturating his robes and hair. Someone tsk'ed.
"If you keep walking in the rain, you're going to get sick," That someone said. Jack looked, and choked on his own tongue. Hiccup Haddock was standing in front of him, kind green eyes analyzing him critically and his crooked smile showing. Jack wouldn't have acted like this last year, but puberty had been nice to Hiccup over the summer; he left Hogwarts a short, scrawny boy and came back as a tall, well-built man. Jack thought that it was a lie to say the guy wasn't attractive.
"I happen to like the rain, thank you," Jack heard himself say, ducking out from under the umbrella and smirking.
"You're going to get sick," Hiccup insisted, stepping closer and having the two of them share the umbrella. Jack ducked out from under it again.
"Like you care," He scoffed.
"Yeah, I do," Hiccup said. The umbrella was over Jack's head again.
"No, you don't," Jack said.
"No, I really do!" Hiccup insisted. He put the umbrella over both of their heads, and grabbed Jack's wrist for good measure. "It would really suck if you got sick,"
"Okay, fine. But I need to get to class before Hagrid bites my head off." Jack said. He wrenched his wrist out of Hiccup's grip, ignoring the bright red blush that dusted his pale cheeks.
"Oh, me too," Hiccup said, flashing Jack a smile.
"Really? I didn't think you would be taking Care of Magical Creatures." Jack commented, crossing his arms over his chest as they continued to walk down the hill.
Shluck, shluck…
"Yeah, well I'm more like a professor's assistant," Hiccup said. Jack looked at him. "Hagrid's teaching about dragons. He doesn't know how to take care of them, so that's where I step in."
"Oh, and you know about dragons?" Jack asked, lifting his eyebrow at him skeptically.
"Oh, loads," Hiccup said. "I train them back at home,"
"Really?" Jack asked.
"Yeah," Hiccup answered with a crooked smile.
"Here, you're doing this wrong," Hiccup advised.
"How am I doing this wrong?" Jack asked. "I'm doing it exactly like you told me!"
"You're doing it wrong," Hiccup insisted, stepping closer.
The assignment was to cautiously approach the dragon and place your hand on its snout. Sounds easy enough, but it was a lot harder than it looked. Some people were moving too fast, others too nervous to do anything, others trying to avoid standing in front of the dragon altogether. Jack thought he was doing a pretty good job, better than all the others at least.
Hiccup shifted even closer, putting his left hand on Jack's hip and his right hand on top of Jack's outstretched hand. He pulled Jack closer, and Jack could feel Hiccup's chest pressed up against his back. He blushed violently.
"You need to be confident and calm at the same time," Hiccup said, lowering Jack's hand and placing it on the dragon's snout. "If you're nervous, they'll be nervous. They pick up on things like that."
Jack felt the dragon let out a satisfied purr when he touched him. A smile spread across Jack's face.
"So, do you have a dragon?" Jack asked, rubbing his thumb across the dragon's scales.
"Yeah, he should be around here somewhere…" Hiccup trailed off. His hand that was on Jack's hip circled around his waist. "So… got any plans after classes are dismissed?" Hiccup whispered in Jack's ear. He felt a shiver run up his spine.
"N-no," Jack stuttered, and almost smacked himself in the process. He was acting like such an idiot, this shouldn't be happening… and he doesn't not stutter! Not because of anyone!
"Good," Hiccup purred. "Meet me in the Library."
"Okay," Jack said. A kid screamed. Hiccup let go of Jack and rushed over to them. Apparently, their dragon wanted to play a little too roughly.
A black dragon walked over and sniffed Jack skeptically. He stiffened, petting his dragon for reassurance. His dragon only cooed at the other, as if they were having a conversation. The black dragon narrowed his eyes and stepped closer to Jack… and licked him.
"Ew," Jack said, looking down the front of his robes. They were coated with the dragon's saliva, wet and sticky and smelling like rotten fish.
"Toothless!" Hiccup yelled. "I told you not to lick anyone!" The dragon just made a funny noise in Hiccup direction. Hiccup made a face, and then helped another student with their confidence issue.
"So, you're his dragon, huh?" Jack said to the black dragon, Toothless. He stuck his hand out cautiously, and Toothless sniffed it before pushing his head under it. Apparently, he was one of those self-petting types of creatures.
Jack pet both dragons for what seemed like forever, but it was relaxing. He didn't mind it all that much anyway. Hiccup came over, and looked at the three of them.
"Well, looks like Toothless likes you," Hiccup said. Jack smiled at him.
"Yeah, animals tend to love me," Jack said. "So, uh, see you at the Library?" He asked, gathering his stuff and walking away.
"Yeah, see you there," Hiccup said. Jack walked to his next class, while Hiccup just watched him go. Toothless came up beside him, and gave his rider a look. "What are you looking at?" Hiccup asked the dragon. Toothless rolled his eyes at him, and walked away.
Hiccup waited in the Library after school, almost nervously. He walked around, looking at a book that interested him for a bit before putting it back on the shelf. He was sort of worried that Jack wouldn't show. I mean, he did come onto him a little strong. He wouldn't blame him if he was creeped out.
But, the only thing he could do now was wait. He already went out on a limb and asked his crush out, the least he could do was wait and see if he would actually follow through.
Two seconds after this resolve, Hiccup groaned, banging his head with a leather-bound book called "Dragon Manual." Waiting is stupid, he thought, I should just go back to my room, cry into my pillow, collect cats, and grow bitter and old.
"Hiccup?" Someone asked. He lifted his head, rubbing his forehead painfully, and saw who was standing in front of him.
"Jack!" Hiccup exclaimed. "Hey Jack, hi… Jack. Hi Jack. I didn't really think you would… uh, come?"
"Of course I came," Jack said with a smile. "So… what's up?" He asked.
"Nothing… I just thought that we could hang out. You know," Hiccup said. Jack brightened just a little bit.
"Yeah, sure, that sounds cool," Jack said.
And so… we walked around a bit, talking about everything and nothing. The subject skipped around a lot, dragons, flying on a dragon, Quidditch, homework, how Professor Bunnymund looks when he's irritated, the elves, our families… I learned a lot about him, and he learned a lot about me. It… wasn't the most expensive date… wait, was this even a date? I shoved the thought out of my mind as we continued to talk.
The sun fell out of the sky suddenly, and it was dark. We were walking along the pier of the Black Lake. The moonlight bounced off the water beautifully.
"Wow," Jack said. "It's beautiful out here,"
"Yeah it is," I said, glancing at him. He met my gaze.
"So… do you always take your dates out to the Lake?" Jack said, waggling his eyebrows at me. I blushed and he laughed.
"I will push you in, you know that, right?" I said.
"Aw, come on Hic! Take a joke!" He said. I looked at him, then cracked a smile at the stupid face he was making. His eyes were wide (and sparkling the brightest blue I ever saw in the moonlight), and his bottom lip was jutting out in a pout.
"Quit making that face and I won't push you in," I negotiated. He smiled, and laughed at me.
"Okay, okay, fine, you win." He said.
"Should we go grab dinner, or…?" I asked. Jack sat down, his legs dangling off the pier.
"I'm okay for now. I just kinda wanna sit here and look at the Lake. You know?" Jack said, looking up at me. "I mean, if that's okay with you,"
"Yeah, it's okay. I know what you mean," I said, settling down next to him.
We just sat there for a while and looked at the beauty of it all. It was… sorta nice to just sit and be silent, but have it not be awkward.
"Hey, Hiccup?" Jack asked, looking out over the Lake.
"Hm?" I asked.
"Was this… is this a date?" He asked quickly, ducking his head a bit. My eyes went wide.
"Do you want it to be?" I asked, sounding a lot more confident than what I was feeling. Jack's jaw fell and he turned to look at me so fast, I swear he got whiplash.
"Really?" Jack said in disbelief. I nodded. "Yeah… yeah I would." He said. My hand found his, and the smile on my face was huge.
And we just sat there, hand-in-hand, looking out onto the Lake until Professor Tooth called us in, yelling about the time and curfew.
Did anybody catch the little detail I threw in there? Hiccup liked Jack before that happened... :) I'm evil.
So, yup, thanks for reading. I love you all so much. Just reading it means the world to me! Alright, so you know the drill. If you have something to say, leave a review.
Byeeez!
-HB