Hiccup's POV: First Year

"Everybody listen up!" Astrid Hofferson, a seventh-year Hufflepuff prefect who was also Head Girl and the most stunning girl in the entire school and way out of Hiccup's league so naturally his huge crush, stood up on a barrel in Hufflepuff Basement, calling everyone to attention. "It's almost time for the big Hufflepuff Halloween Hunt!" Cheers erupted across the Basement, and Hiccup leaned over to a friend next to him. "What's that?"

"It's this big competition our house does every year on Halloween night," she said. "That's all I've heard."

"I'm pretty sure I could deduce that much." Hiccup leaned back and rubbed his stomach in contentment. The Halloween Feast had been spectacular. He didn't imagine being able to compete in any competition being so stuffed.

"For our first-years who don't know what the Hufflepuff Halloween Hunt is, it's an awesome tradition that's a Hufflepuff secret. It's a competition that takes place after curfew on Halloween, and only the professors here who used to be Hufflepuffs know what we're doing. You can't tell anyone about this." Astrid proceeded to pull out a fat parchment scroll that looked like it was falling apart. "Everyone that ever was apart of Hufflepuff House signed their name on this scroll on Halloween Night, right before the Hunt. Basically, by signing this scroll, you're swearing you won't discuss our tradition with anyone outside Hufflepuff. If you do, your face will erupt in warts and the person you tell will have their hair died blue which can only be undone by a memory charm performed by a Hufflepuff prefect that will obscure their memory of knowing about such activities. Who wants to sign first?"

Hiccup, partially just to impress Astrid, was the first first-year to run up to the scroll and take a special designated quill to sign his name: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. He blinked up at Astrid. "Is… that all?"

"Yup!" Astrid beamed down at him and grabbed his wrist, raising his arm high into the air. "Our first official initiation of a Hufflepuff for the year of 1686: Hiccup!" The upperclassmen cheered wildly and Hiccup bashfully went back to his seat next to his friends. Except before he got there, all his friends got up and dashed up to the scroll to sign their names. Hiccup realized they were all swearing secrecy before they even really knew exactly what the Hunt was. Whatever. They were young.

Once everyone had signed, Astrid explained how the Hunt worked to the first-years. "As many of you know, one of the most famous Hufflepuffs, if not the most famous, is the esteemed Hengist of Woodcroft, who founded the all-wizard village of Hogsmeade. Still, to this day, the majority of Hogsmeade inhabitants are Hufflepuffs. They cooperate with us in our Hunt. First, we enter a secret underground tunnel that lets out into Dogweed and Deathcap, a Herbology shop in Hogsmeade. Then- oh, Bill, could you pass out the lists now? Thanks. Anyway, these lists tell you exactly what to do in Hogsmeade. It's like a to-do list crossed with a scavenger hunt. The lists are randomized so not everyone is doing the same thing together at the same time. Remember, it's going to be late at night and not all Hogsmeade residents are Hufflepuffs, so keep quiet. Once you finish everything on the list, go back through the tunnel in Dogweed and Deathcap to our Basement and report to the school kitchen. The house elves that work there are honorary Hufflepuff members, an honor bestowed upon them due to their fabulous work in culinary and baking arts. Anyway, the first group to go to the kitchen wins a special prize, and I don't even know what it is this year, but in the past it's usually food related. If you get caught by a non-Hufflepuff and sent back to Hogwarts, you are eliminated from the competition and must take any consequence bestowed on you without ratting out our house. We are Hufflepuffs, and we are loyal."

Everyone seemed super enthusiastic about this, and Hiccup felt homey with the strong connection of Hufflepuff housemates. The only thing that freaked him out was he had never been to Hogsmeade. How on earth was he supposed to do this? Luckily, the founders of the Hunt had already thought of that. "Now, the first- and second-years obviously haven't been to Hogsmeade, and the third-years don't get to go to their first Hogsmeade trip until Saturday. But don't worry. We're all going in groups of two, and you will be paired with an upperclassmen by random. The prefects have already written down all the house members' names on slips of paper and tossed them into this brass cauldron right here." Astrid leaned down and pulled the cauldron to the front. "How many of you have heard of the Goblet of Fire?"

A fourth year with black eyes snapped his fingers as the details came back to him. "Of course! It's an enchanted goblet of… well, fire. You put names into the goblet and the goblet spits out the three people it selects to compete in the Triwizard Tournament."

"What's the Triwizard Tournament?" Hiccup asked.

"A very dangerous competition that Hufflepuff House would absolutely not hold annually for kids as young as eleven years old," Astrid said. "Basically, three wizards compete for a cash prize in a series of games that could possibly kill them."

"Let's not do that," Hiccup mumbled, and everyone in the house laughed.

"But the magic of this cauldron is quite similar. Everyone's names are in here, and the cauldron fuses two papers together to partner up the names of a random underclassman and a random upperclassman. Pour in the dirt!" Hiccup was glad the faces of the other first-years were just as befuddled as his in watching the male prefects for Hufflepuff carry a huge sack of what Hiccup assumed to be magic dirt over to the cauldron. They poured the contents inside the cauldron which already had the slips of paper with the Hufflepuffs' names on them. "Now, Hufflepuff House is tied to the element of the earth, because we believe in loyalty and family, deep bonds and roots. Everything is built off of relationships," Astrid explained to the first-years.

Hiccup wanted to ask what pouring the dirt had to do with that, but he expected he would soon witness the answer to his question. He was right. Yellow calla lilies burst out of every square inch of the dirt, and Astrid picked the petals apart on one and read two names, declaring them partners. She kept doing this for every single flower, and about a fourth of the way in, she said, "Hiccup Haddock and… oh! Hiccup, you're with me." Astrid continued listing the partners while fireworks erupted in his stomach. The Hufflepuff Halloween Hunt was going to prove to be Hiccup's favorite memory of his first year.

In order to compromise with student safety, the first- and second-years, who weren't permitted to go to Hogsmeade, were blindfolded with their school uniform ties as the Hufflepuffs uncovered secret tunnel somewhere in their dorm. Astrid kept a hand clasped on Hiccup's shoulder as she guided him through the secret passageway.

Since Astrid was Head Girl and leading the line, she and Hiccup were the first in and out of the tunnel into the Herbology shop. She untied his tie from around his face and slung it over his shoulders. "Don't bother to fix it," she whispered, grabbing his arm and taking off in a sprint out of the shop. Once Hiccup fell in step with her, she released his arm and began fumbling with the parchment, which had been tied up with an enchanted string that would only open once they were in Hogsmeade. Astrid made a sharp left as soon as she exited the shop and crunched against the wall. "Give me some light, Hiccup."

Hiccup almost asked how he was supposed to make a discrete fire when he remembered he was a wizard. "Lumos!" he chanted, and the tip of his wand cast a bright light. Hiccup cupped a hand around it in order to block the light from shining on anything but the paper. "We're supposed to do everything in order?"

"Yeah. The paper's enchanted. It crosses off each item off itself once we've completed it. But no one would cheat anyway. It takes away the fun. Anyway, number one on our list is go to The Magic Neep and buy mushrooms, salamanders, and Wartcap powder."

Hiccup blushed and muttered the counter charm to dim the light of his wand. "Was I supposed to bring money?"

"No; this is a no-money thing, Hiccup. The owner of The Magic Neep knows we're coming and has some small task for us in order to obtain the items." Astrid folded the parchment and started running silently through the night to the shop, and Hiccup followed maybe slightly louder due to the fact he had minimal experience in sneaking around. Nevertheless, they were fairly quiet as they made their way to what Hiccup found was a greengrocer's.

"Do they sell salamanders in a greengrocer's? And what's Wartcap powder?" Hiccup asked as they swung the door open.

"No, they don't. And it's a special powder used in brewing potions. I have a feeling we're getting potion ingredients, though, and the storekeeper is expecting Hufflepuffs for the Hunt, so he's stocked up with everything. He was a Hufflepuff, too." Astrid, regardless, crept quietly through the darkened store that surprisingly had no charm to protect itself from intruders after hours. "Mr. Gadsden has to be expecting us."

"Are you sure we're at the right place?"

"Of course you are!" a booming male voice said that made Hiccup drop his wand. It didn't fit the mood at all. "Finally. It's been nightfall for quite a while now! I was waiting for the Hufflepuffs."

"We left at the same hour as every year," Astrid said, drawing her wand and swinging it idly. "The moon's just been coming out a lot earlier this year than usual. But that's not important. We're here to pick up mushrooms, salamanders, and Wartcap powder."

"I have everything here." Mr. Gadsden picked up a sack and dangled it in the air. "There's the mushrooms, the salamanders, and a locked Snuffbox with the Wartcap powder."

"Locked?" Hiccup said. "Where's the key?"

"Ah." Gadsden's mouth twisted into a sick smile. "There's the rub."

"We've got to find it?" Astrid asked, receiving a nod. "Well, give us a lead!"

"It's somewhere in this store, of course. If you find the key, you can keep everything in this sack for free. When you're done with the Hunt, leave the sack with the Snuffbox in the kitchens at Hogwarts. The house elves will see it returned. And I will give you one hint, no more, so don't bother asking again. Listen closely." Gadsden paused, silently telling them every next word was important. "I now testify hunger ends when I neglect distinguishing our worth. Begin." Astrid and Hiccup stared blinking at him. "That's all you're getting out of me. Need I repeat it?" Astrid grabbed Hiccup's tie, still hanging undone around his neck, and held her wand to it, using some method of transfiguration to turn it into a quill. She turned over the parchment and wrote the quote down as Gadsden repeated it.

"We can find the key. No problem. Isn't that right, Hiccup?" Astrid turned the quill back into his tie.

Hiccup nodded his head and said the first stupid thing that managed to pass his lips. "Hufflepuffs are particularly good finders."

"Hunger and neglecting distinguishing worth. It's metaphorical hunger. Worth means thinking you're better than someone or entitled… it means… greed! Yes. Greed. The store vault. The key's in there," Astrid said, taking off. Hiccup followed closely behind her as they ran to the back of the store. "In order to get to it, we need to neglect distinguishing our worth. That must mean age. So… distinguishing by worth would mean thinking the older one is going to find the key when it's really you, Hiccup. You're going to figure out how to break this lock." Hiccup's face must've been pretty good, because Astrid sighed and closed her eyes. "You're right; that's impossible."

"This is a Hufflepuff game. Not a Ravenclaw competition. We can't read into these riddles to much. Think really basically. 'I now testify hunger ends when I neglect distinguishing our worth.' We must be missing something… hey! Are you laughing at me?"

"I'm sorry," Astrid said, wiping her eyes. "That was a priceless imitation. You did his voice perfectly."

"Thanks, I-"

"Again!" Hiccup repeated the quote and realized how dead on pitch he was and couldn't help but muffle his laughter.

Willing to procrastinate, Hiccup repeated Gadsden word for word from the beginning, before the hint. "Ok. Wait. I can do this… 'And I will give you one hint, no more, so don't bother asking again. Listen closely. I now testify hunger ends when I neglect distinguishing our worth. Begin.'" Hiccup was careful to harshly execute the "g" in "begin" like Gadsden did, but it didn't come out right. "Begin," Hiccup muttered again, trying to get the voice right. "Begin, begin-"

"Hiccup, that's it! You're a genius!" Astrid grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "The way he said 'begin' so pointedly! It was part of the hint!"

"The beginning of… the words, maybe?" Hiccup said, catching on.

"Let's see. 'I now testify hunger ends when I neglect distinguishing our worth.' Take the first letters, and that's I-N-T-H-E-W-I-N-D-O-W."

"In the window!" they both shouted together. Hiccup ran to the front of the store with Astrid behind him, encouraging him to keep his footsteps quieter. They got to the store window, which was filled with baskets of fruits and vegetables. They couldn't search quickly without ripping the entire display apart, and they needed to be respectful of the property.

"The hint must be more than just letters, of course, but I have a feeling it's nothing crazy metaphorical," Astrid said, eyeing the displayed items.

"After all, this is a Hufflepuff Halloween Hunt, not a Ravenclaw Tower riddle," Hiccup said, looking over her shoulder at the hint. "So thinking concretely…"

"In order to end hunger, you get food. That narrows it down." Astrid looked from the kiwis to the papayas to the squashes. "So we need to neglect distinguishing our worth, which is how much they cost or how much money we have to spend?"

"I think that's our best bet," Hiccup said. "But how do we 'neglect distinguishing'?"

"Price tags don't matter," Astrid said with a nod. "We need to find what looks really good to us."

"Opinions aren't going to help, are they? Every Hufflepuff has a different favorite food. We esteem ourselves on our cultural taste buds."

"I guess so. You're the viking kid who likes to eat sheep flesh or something?"

"Mutton," Hiccup corrected. "And that's obviously not a fruit or vegetable in this case."

"This is a Hufflepuff Hunt," Astrid said, pursing her lips. "Helga Hufflepuff's favorite food, perhaps? She was known for food charms and implanting house elves in the Hogwarts kitchens, teaching them all her recipes. Most of the food records of Helga Hufflepuff have been lost by wizards and witches, but our house elves in the kitchens know all her recipes." Hiccup raised his eyebrows. "I swear I'm not making that up. It's in Hogwarts: A History. You're a first-year; you must've gotten to that part in you're required reading."

Hiccup concentrated. "You're right, I did. But it never mentioned her favorite food. That's kind of crazy."

"Think like Helga," Astrid thought. "Barrels. The entrance to our Basement is barrels. What goes in barrels stored in basements?"

"Wine." Hiccup shook his head in exasperation. How where they going to figure this out.

"Hiccup! You're a genius! I am so glad I got partnered with you this year!" Astrid grabbed him and gave him a kiss on his left cheek. He felt like he was about to explode. "Wine, of course! And what fruit makes wine?"

"Grapes," Hiccup said, trying to focus on the task at hand.

Astrid reached for the basket of grapes and dug her hand through. Hiccup took the basket and held it for her so she could use both hands, and she smiled at him thankfully. "I got it!" she squealed, pulling from the basket a key that was dipped in cheap purple paint that was obviously intended to camouflage the key with the grapes. Hiccup placed the basket back in the window as Astrid retrieved the sack of ingredients. Hiccup met her outside, where she read step two off the parchment. "Ready? 'Brew the Fire Protection Potion in a cauldron at Potage's Cauldron Shop.' How are we going to know which cauldron to use?"

"We hope it's obvious when we get there," Hiccup shrugged, following Astrid as she sprinted in what seemed to be a random direction to Hiccup. He found her adventurous spirit endearing and followed after her, smiling, naming their future children.

"Here." Astrid entered a shop that was much stuffier than the greengrocer's. Without being asked, Hiccup lit his wand for Astrid.

"Which cauldron?"

"I'm guessing the one already set in the fireplace with a paper listing a potion recipe stuck to it." Astrid cast a quick unsticking charm and the parchment fluttered to the floor. She lit the fire and let the water boil, brewing the potion as necessary. "Hiccup, the recipe says at the end to be sure to find some vials to store the potion."

"No problem. After all, Hufflepuffs are particularly good finders." When Hiccup said this the first time at the greengrocer's, he felt so ridiculous about it that he'd been waiting until he could bring the comment up again in mockery of himself and make it some inside joke instead of some quote that made him look rather stupid.

Luckily, Astrid laughed and nodded, getting the reference. "Yeah, but this recipe actually says we can find some vials in the top left drawer of her desk. Madam Potage's desk. She owns the shop."

"Ah. Of course." Hiccup found the vials in an unlocked drawer and brought them over. The potion was a beginner's potion, and a seventh-year would have no trouble brewing it, so Astrid finished rather quickly and poured half of the potion in each vial. "We'll need these eventually. Store yours in the inner pockets of your school robes."

"I'll kill the fire while you read the next step on the list. Here, my wand's already lit." Hiccup handed her his yew-wood wand and began extinguishing the flames. It was the only thing about potion brewing he was good at.

"Step three says, 'Go to Tomes and Scrolls and find a book by Bathilda Bagshot about Divination practices.' She's got a whole shelf dedicated to her. It'll be easy to find."

"Then what do we do with it?"

"Step four says, 'At Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, find the short peacock feather quill and without ink write-' Well, I'm getting ahead of myself, but we write something in the book without ink so there must be some charm that allows us to write in the book at have the message disappear so when the book is returned, it's not tarnished."

"How do we return everything?" Hiccup asked as they left Potage's Cauldron Shop.

"We take everything to the kitchen at the end and the house elves do it all for us. I know; as a younger student I always felt bad about making them do all the clean-up work. But they feel, like, indebted to Helga Hufflepuff after she gave them amazing jobs in the kitchens and helped them escape great prejudice. They feel best when helping us out. And in return, they love nothing more than when we treat them like friends. Sit down in the kitchens and talk with them occasionally. I'm the only Hufflepuff who does this, but sometimes I even help them cook. You should come down and help sometime."

"I think I will," Hiccup said, happy partially because he was giving back to the community but mainly because he was getting opportunities to spend lots of time with Astrid.

"After all, someone has to inherit my post when I graduate," she said, and Hiccup was reminded of the huge six-year age gap. Well, technically, it could be five. Hiccup was one of the oldest in his grade, considering he had a birthday in the late fall, October 31. Since he wasn't allowed to start Hogwarts until he was eleven, not a day earlier (or, in his case, two months earlier), that meant he turned twelve during the school year before the great majority of his friends. He never really told anyone it was his birthday, though, because he didn't want to make the Halloween celebrations all about him.

As it turned out, there were two books by Bagshot on Divination: The Oracle of Palombo and Omens, Oracles, & the Goat. Astrid pointed to The Oracle of Palombo. "This is a historical case study while this one is a basic overview." Astrid pointed to the other book. "We should only take one, because chances are, another group might need the other book."

"Do we need a certain one?" But Hiccup knew the answer to that one. He looked at the Hufflepuff Halloween Hunt to-do list/scavenger hunt. "It says the book about Divination, not its history. I think the basic overview might be the right one."

Astrid pursed her lips. "You're probably right. I can't think of any other way to approach without over complicating it, which is the last thing we need to do." She took the only copy of Omens, Oracles, & the Goat and led the way out of Tomes and Scrolls. Luckily, Scrivenshaft's Quil Shop was right across the street. "Ok, my particularly good finder. The short peacock feather quill."

Normally, peacock feathers were rather long, and since they were all stored together in one rather large barrel, Hiccup and Astrid had to dig through in order to find the smallest one. After five minutes, Astrid muttered to herself, "It should stand out. Small peacock feathers aren't that common."

"So, should I go look on the shelf with the rare quills?" Hiccup said, pointing across the store. Astrid seemed to notice it for the first time and closed her eyes, as if she felt a bit ridiculous.

"I'll keep searching this barrel, but it's probably over there. Call me over when you find it." It wasn't much longer until Hiccup called Astrid over to examine the short peacock feather quill. "Step four says, 'At Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, find the short peacock feather quill and without ink write "Aparecium" in the front cover.' You go ahead and do that, Hiccup."

He spoke the word as he wrote it, without ink, exactly where directed. "Isn't that a charm that reveals hidden messages or invisible writing?"

"Yeah. Step five says, 'Follow the instructions of the hidden message.' So what does the book say?"

"Ugh. Back to the greengrocer's. 'Find a large pumpkin at The Magic Neep and carve it behind the shop.' What do we carve into it, though?"

"Easy. A Jack o' Lantern."

"A what?"

"You don't know what that is?" Astrid led the way out of Scrivenshaft's, and Hiccup kept the quill in his school robes, just in case they might need in later. Probably not, though. "Well, you cut the top part of a pumpkin out, and then you gut it; you know, take out all the insides and seeds. Then, you cut a face in she outside of the pumpkin and put some candle as a source of fire inside the pumpkin so the face glows. Do you not do that where you're from?"

Hiccup shook his head. "Sounds like a satanic ritual."

Astrid thought about that for a while. "Doesn't it?" She shrugged it off and Hiccup followed her back to the greengrocer's. They couldn't find Gadsden in the store so they decided to check out back. Sure enough, he was standing in a field of enchanted pumpkins. At least, Hiccup was pretty sure they were enchanted, because they were as tall as Hiccup.

"What's the price for a mega pumpkin?" Astrid said, prepared for whatever Gadsden was sure to have in store.

"Oh, the pumpkin is yours for the taking, whichever you pick," Gadsden said. "There's just a small catch."

"A catch and a price really aren't that different," Hiccup said, rolling his eyes.

"Maybe it's less of a catch and more of a task."

"What do we need to do to get the pumpkin?" Astrid asked loudly.

"I said you could have it. It's just what you need to do with it that's the problem." Gadsden thrust a large butcher's knife toward Astrid, and she took it. Hiccup assumed it must be for the pumpkin carving. "Hufflepuffs are renowned for hard work and trusting one another, which is most commonly seen in teamwork," Gadsden continued. "So when you carve this pumpkin, you need to work together as one unit. One of you needs to wear this enchanted blindfold that makes cheating by peeking impossible." Gadsden tossed the wadded up rag to Hiccup. "The person with the blindfold must carve the pumpkin, and the other person can't do anything but give directions."

"I don't know anything about carving pumpkins," Hiccup said slowly. "Maybe it's best you give the instructions and I stay blindfolded, following your lead."

Astrid nodded and set down the butcher's knife, securing the blindfold around Hiccup's long narrow head. "Just don't cut yourself. Be super careful with the blade, ok? And pay special attention to your fingers. Those'd be the first things you'd accidentally lop off."

"Super," Hiccup groaned, taking the blade from Astrid.

"Turn to your right," Astrid said. "Keep going… stop! Now just keep walking forward. Keep a hand, not the one with the blade, out in front of you so you know when you get to the pumpkin. Great. Now climb."

It was hard climbing with a butcher's knife onto a large pumpkin, but Hiccup managed. "Are we allowed to use magic?"

"No!" Gadsden barked. "I didn't take your wands, but no matter. I'll easily see if you cheat."

Astrid shushed him. "Now, find the stem. Great. You're going to cut around the top, maybe a forearm away in radius." As Astrid instructed exactly how to carve the Jack o' Lantern, Hiccup could hear other teams coming to the backyard of The Magic Neep and beginning the task. Hiccup tried to block it all out and listened only to Astrid's voice.

Finally, they finished carving their pumpkin first, but they didn't have much of a lead on some of the other groups. "Are we done? Can I remove the blindfold?" Hiccup asked Astrid. She relayed the question to Gadsden, who shouted back approval. Astrid pulled the ragged scratchy cloth away, leaving Hiccup's hair quite tangled in the back. "What's step six?"

Astrid read it to herself and summarized it to Hiccup. "We need to get into Hog's Head Inn and take some wood from the fireplace and bring it back here to put inside our pumpkin. Then we light the fire. But that can't be right."

"Why not?"

"Aberforth Dumbledore, our headmaster's brother, runs the Hog's Head Inn. He's a Gryffindor. He wouldn't know about the Hufflepuff Halloween Hunt!"

"Maybe we're supposed to sneak in unnoticed." Hiccup looked at Astrid's, whose eyes flashed worriedly, communicating she didn't want to believe him but she knew he was right. "He's got a hex to keep people from entering after hours, huh?"

"Somebody must be staying at Hog's Head Inn who's a Hufflepuff," Astrid said to herself. "I remember something like this a while back. Alec, who graduated two years ago, told me that his first year he had to sneak into a Ravenclaw's shop in order to get something. A Hufflepuff who worked there covered all the Hufflepuffs' tracks, though."

"How did Alec sneak in?"

"The Hufflepuff, the one who worked there, cast some charm to override the security hex. My boyfriend still had do some special trick to avoid setting off any alarms…"

Astrid babbled on as they snuck over to Hog's Head Inn. Hiccup was still stuck on her "boyfriend" who was two years older than she was. And they even had matching names. Alec and Astrid…

"…Then we'll go through the window. That make sense?" Hiccup snapped back to reality just in time.

"Who's window, again?"

"The Hufflepuff who's staying in Hog's Head."

"How will we know which window is his?"

"Were you listening to me, Hiccup?"

"Uh… sorry, I just… thought I saw a professor who's not a Hufflepuff walking around Hogsmeade-"

"Did you?" Astrid's eyes grew panicked.

"Trick of the light."

"Well, anyway, I assume the Hufflepuff with have some kind of flag sporting Hufflepuff colors or some clear symbol like that hanging out his window so we can find him."

They arrived at the Inn. "Walk around?" Hiccup suggested.

"Check every window carefully." Finally, at the back of the Inn, Astrid found a yellow-and-black checkered doormat hanging out over the windowsill, as if someone had left it there to dry after being washed. "It's the fifth floor!"

"No, sixth," Hiccup corrected. "See?"

"That would make sense!" Astrid said as she snapped her fingers. "Step six of the Hunt… sixth floor…"

"Is there a ladder or something?" Hiccup said, walking away from the Inn to see if something was hidden in the darkness.

"No, no, we need to use magic." Astrid took out her wand and ran through a mental inventory of spells. "What can we use to fly ourselves up?"

"Maybe we need to give them a message to send down some kind of a rope for us to climb." Hiccup shrugged. "We can chuck our wands through the window."

Astrid looked at him in the eye for a couple seconds of silence. "You're kidding."

"Obviously."

"Well, maybe sending him a message is right…" Astrid stomped her foot in frustration. "We can't just shout into the window. We'll wake other people."

"Think: how do wizard organizations send simple, easy, non-time-consuming messages to one another?"

"We cast a Patronus Charm!" Astrid said, whispering the spell and sending a silvery fox through the window.

"Um… a Patronus is not simple or easy."

"Yeah, well, that wasn't time consuming." Sure enough, someone tossed a rope ladder down from the window and Hiccup and Astrid began to climb.

When they reached the top, it turned out that a man wasn't waiting for them, but a woman. "Technically, you were supposed to toss your wands up in order to alert me of your arrival, but the Patronus will do. Impressive." Astrid raised a brow at Hiccup who couldn't help but smile a bit smugly. "Be quiet, now. And remember, once you've gathered wood from the lobby, exit through my room again."

The two tiptoed through the Inn cautiously, knowing that if they were to get caught, this would be where it would happen. And Hiccup did not want Astrid to lose her Hunt her seventh year. She never mentioned having won before, so Hiccup assumed that's why she acted so quickly whenever a task was placed in front of her. She seemed more concerned about time, completing the steps before anyone else; Hiccup was more concerned about getting caught.

"What's step seven?" Hiccup asked.

"It says, 'Place the wood in your Jack o' Lantern and light it with your wand.' We better grab the wood before anybody else gets here."

"I know. Hufflepuff House in its entirety all gathered to take wood from an Inn might draw attention." They both reached the fireplace downstairs, which was in an empty room but still on fire. "Should we extinguish the flames?"

"Taking the fire out might disturb others because it's a main source of heat. We can't wake them up. Do we use the Fire Resistance Potion?"

"No, I think we'd use it for something bigger. Besides, the instructions never said to use the potion," Hiccup said, rolling up the sleeves of his robes. "Does the step say we have to get logs from the fireplace or logs from the Inn?"

Astrid reread the instructions. "It says from the fireplace."

"Well, I'll grab some, piece by piece, from the edge of the fire."

"How will there be enough for everyone?"

"Maybe it's a first come, first serve deal. And that log right there is easy to grab without getting burned."

"Be careful, Hiccup," she called as Hiccup slowly removed a log from the fire. The top fourth of it was still ablaze. "Ok, now what?"

Hiccup looked down at the dirt floor, where he obviously couldn't muffle the flames. He tried to keep his attention on the fire without really thinking about it so he wouldn't freak out. "The water spell."

"Aguamenti!" Astrid whispered, distinguishing the flames and spraying Hiccup's face. "Sorry."

"You're fine. We probably need four, five logs to fit in the lantern?" Hiccup turned around to find the next easiest log to pull out and found the firewood had replenished itself, so Hiccup could keep pulling out that same log without taking any firewood. There would be enough for everybody. "Wow. They really go all out on this Hunt. Who plans it, anyway?"

"Hufflepuffs in Hogsmeade," Astrid said. And what are you talking about?"

Hiccup explained the charm as he pulled out the next log, and before he knew it, they both had an armful of logs to lug out of the Inn. They found their way up to the sixth floor and Hiccup climbed down the rope first, catching all their logs as Astrid tossed them down. As Astrid climbed down the rope, Hiccup sat on the logs to make sure no Hufflepuffs would try and steal them. But as one group from the Hunt passed by, they gave his firewood a longing look and simply ran on. Of course Hufflepuffs wouldn't cheat. They were too good-natured. Astrid grabbed some of the logs, Hiccup the rest, and they ran back behind The Magic Neep's.

Hiccup loaded the firewood in the pumpkin and shouted, "Incendio!" The fire lit up, casting an eerie glow through the face of the pumpkin. Astrid looked absolutely pleased, euphoric, delighted, awestruck, and pretty much every other emotion that had anything to do with happiness or contentment. Hiccup was horrified. This fiery pumpkin looked like they were summoning Satan. What kind of a Halloween tradition is this?

"Ok, step eight: 'Go to Honeydukes and follow instructions provided there.'"

"So we leave our pumpkin ablaze while we run to a candy shop?" Hiccup shouted.

Astrid shushed him. "Don't wake anybody up!"

"As if the fire won't do that?"

Gadsden approached them. "Nah. There's a huge rumor that this year I'm taking all the Jack o' Lanterns and burning them behind my shop tonight in order to get rid of them, so the villagers know not to panic about the flames. I'll watch the fire, so don't worry your long narrow head off." Gadsden ruffled Hiccup's hair. "But you might want to be quiet and hurry to the sweet shop."

So Astrid led the way. When they got there, there were several lists tacked to the door, all identical. Over all the pieces of parchment was a sign that said TAKE ONLY ONE, PLEASE. Three other groups were already inside the store. "Are they ahead of us?" Hiccup asked, worried.

"Remember, these lists for the Hufflepuff Halloween Hunt are all in random order. Some of them don't even have the same tasks. We were the first to light our Jack o' Lanterns, though. But in the end, we really don't know how we rank." Astrid grabbed a list and read it off. "Ok. Here's the mega scavenger hunt portion."

"Hufflepuffs are particularly good finders," Hiccup muttered. "Should we rip the list in half and do double the searching in half the time?"

"Good idea!" But the paper wouldn't rip. "I don't think we're allowed."

"Well, number one?"

"We need to grab a sack by the front door first to collect everything. Next, we need four Licorice Wands." And so they began their search. By the time they reached the end of the list, they had the four previously stated Licorice Wands; two Chocolate Frogs; a bag of Jelly Slugs; a box of Glacial Snow Flakes; a paper bag of No-Melt Ice Cream; seven Sugar Quills; two Halloween Combo Specials that were each a box of assorted Skeletal Sweets, Pumpkin Pasties, Blood-Flavored Lollipops, and Spindle's Lick'O'Rish Spiders; Exploding Bonbons; and a box of Share-With-Friends Candy Combo that had a wide assortment of Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans as well as Saltwater Taffy, Toothflossing Stringmints, and Crystallized Pinapple.

"Step nine?" Hiccup asked as he slung the sack over his shoulder. They had a lot of candy. Now that was a Halloween Hunt. Not demonic glowing pumpkins.

"It says: 'Present candy to the man waiting outside Hogsmeade Station.'"

"Is that the train we used to ride over from King's Cross?"

"Yeah, it is." Astrid pouted. "Are we supposed to give all our candy away?"

"I really hope not," Hiccup mumbled. But they had no choice but to meet up with the man. He was very short and old, maybe even older than the great Dumbledore, and he had a mischievous look painted on his face as he drew he wand and mumbled something incoherent, his focus directed on the bag of candy he'd taken from them. When he was done, he smiled a semi-toothless smile up at Hiccup as he handed the sack to Astrid. Hiccup scratched behind his ear. "So, what did you do?"

"Well, I cast a Portkey Charm on the bag!" The old man had a lisp, so Hiccup had to listen very closely. "You have five minutes before it wares off."

"What's a Portkey-? Astrid, wait up!" Hiccup ran after her. "What's going on?"

"A Portkey is a… you know how the Floo Network works, right?"

"It's green powder in a fire that takes you where you want to go."

"It only carries one person at a time and can take you wherever, whenever you want. Portkeys are different. They take as many people that can touch the object at once and teleport them to a specific location. Some are activated by touch, others are set at a certain time or in a time window they can work. We have five minutes before this isn't a Portkey anymore."

"You're touching the bag. Why aren't you teleporting?"

"It needs heat energy. Here, read step ten." Astrid held the list to Hiccup, who took it quickly.

"It says, 'Take the heat-activated Portkey and travel through the fire of your Jack o' Lantern to Hogwarts.' Excuse me?"

"We take our Fire Resistance Potions, each grab a hold of the bag, and jump into the flames. Then we'll be teleported back to Hogwarts."

"I thought we were supposed to use the entrance in the Herbology shop-"

"Usually we do. Sometimes, something different happens. This is one of those times. Hurry! We can't let the Portkey expire before we get to the fire! And we have to get there first! We're this close to finishing the Hunt!"

"With everybody's mixed up list, someone else could've already won," Hiccup said, hating to sound like a pessimist.

"Yeah, but think positively, Hiccup!" Astrid sprinted around the back of the greengrocer's and uncorked her potion. "Drink! Drink!" So Hiccup gulped his own potion and grabbed the sack with Astrid. "Just dive through the mouth of the pumpkin!"

Diving into the mouth of Satan. Oh joy. Hiccup jumped with Astrid, holding onto the sack for dear life. The fire consumed him, and he felt as if he were slowly turning into an ice statue. Then, something hooked behind his navel, and he shot through a dark tunnel to hell.

Astrid and Hiccup collapsed onto the floor of the Hogwarts kitchen together. Astrid stood up quickly while Hiccup curled into the fetal position. That did not just happen.

"We're here!" Astrid called to the house elves. "Are we first?" Suddenly, cheering erupted all around Hiccup, who forced himself to stand up. All the house elves were cheering wildly, and Hiccup smiled up at Astrid. "We won! We won the Hunt!" she shrieked, gathering him up into a rib shattering hug.

The house elves began taking all the equipment away from them: the book, the quill, the vials that held the potion, et cetera. Even the bag of candy was confiscated, much to the dismay of Hiccup. "We don't get to keep the candy?"

"Oh, no! Of course you get to keep your candy! Dobby would never steal the wonderful sweets and treats belonging to Mistress Hofferson!" A house elf beamed up at Astrid. "Dobby shall hide the bag of candy so only Mistress Hofferson and her friend can get into it. Oh, yes! Everyone else has to return their candy, but Mistress Hofferson gets to keep her candy, because she won the Hufflepuff Halloween Hunt! Indeed, she is extraordinary."

"Who's Dobby?" Hiccup muttered.

"That's him," Astrid replied with a chuckle. "He refers to himself in the third person."

"So that's the prize? We keep our candy?" Hiccup was surprised, but certainly not disappointed.

"Oh, no!" Dobby said with a smile. "The friend of Astrid shall see the wonderful prize soon."

"Hiccup. Hiccup Haddock." He held out a hand to the house elf in greeting. Dobby just looked up at him, confused. "It's a handshake. It's what you do when you meet a new friend. You shake hands."

Dobby beamed and swung Hiccup's hand side to side. "Oh, how marvelous! Any friend of Mistress Hofferson I would be delighted to serve! Oh, yes! Mister Haddock, you will be most delighted with my service!"

"Um, thanks, but don't beat yourself up or anything," Hiccup said. "Service is a little over the top. We can be friends, though. Equals."

Dobby's wide eyes looked ready to pop as he fawned over Hiccup. "What a great merciful wizard the Mister Haddock is! Indeed, I will serve my friend even greater now!" Dobby took off with the candy and hid it away for them.

"I like him," Hiccup muttered.

"He's my favorite, too." Astrid smiled. "You know, when I come down and help out in the kitchen…"

"Yeah! I think I'll start coming, too. You show me the ropes, and when you graduate, I'll take over."

Astrid smiled. "That'd be wonderful, Hiccup. You're going to be a great Hufflepuff, you know? I'll put in some good words for you."

"Huh?"

"Next time I report the conduct of my house to Dumbledore, I'll give you my highest praise." She clapped his shoulder, and Hiccup blushed. He was fighting every instinct not to curl back up in the fetal position and explode with happiness.

Suddenly, the house elves crowded in a circle around them. One of the older ones with an unfitting lower voice put on a pair of spectacles and began reading from a parchment. "Mistress Hofferson and Mister Haddock, the house elves congratulate you on your completion of the Hufflepuff Halloween Hunt. In reward for placing first in this competition, the house elves would like to grant you with these enchanted coins. They seem small, but whenever you flip the coin in the air, whatever dish you request to be served shall be brought to you for your pleasure and consumption at any time. Further more, elaborate charms have been placed on these coins for desecrate dining. You could have a full turkey dinner brought to you in the middle of a class and no one would notice a thing. Not even Hufflepuff classmates or professors. They only last until the end of the school year, and you will return your coins before exiting Hogwarts Castle for the summer holiday. Again, congratulations, and bon appetit!"

Hiccup was so happy he blacked out.