"Be careful!" Jack's mother said waving her son off.
"I will," Jack called out with a laugh before darting onto the train. Getting his trunk in the luggage bin seemed a lot easier this year. Maybe because he had grown a whole inch over the summer or maybe it had something to do with stronger muscles from herding sheep.
Jack scoured the train, glad none of his friends were there yet. While he would love to ride in with them, his current search was his alone. He was searching for Flynn Rider.
At the end of last year, Flynn had left suddenly. Jack checked every train car but Flynn was nowhere to be found. In his heart, Jack knew Flynn wasn't going to be there. He'd been told that Flynn wouldn't return this year, but he hadn't fully believed it until now.
Jack ended up settling down in an empty cabin, gazing out the window waiting to see which of his friends would show up first. It was too bad his mother couldn't stay, but they'd decided Floo powder was too expensive to waste bringing Emma to the station when she wasn't even going on the train. Unfortunately, this meant his mother had to return home almost as soon as she arrived. Jack wondered if this might be the last time his mother bothered to venture down to the station with him. It was a somewhat depressing thought, being alone.
Jack drew his knees up to his chest as he watched other families scramble aboard. Some of them he recognized from classes, but the majority he'd seen only in hallways. It didn't really matter, Jack thought. No matter where he remembered them from, they never seemed to notice him. Strange how one summer back with friends in Burgess could make him forget what it felt like to be invisible.
The invisibility did not last for long; Merida popped out of the fireplace at the back of the platform, a plump woman in a wimple assisting her with the trunk. Jack leaned out the window and waved her over. Even Merida's company was preferable to being alone.
Merida scowled when she spotted him, making Jack break out into a bigger grin just to annoy her. He could definitely have some fun with her before the others arrive. Jack watched Merida and the woman heave the trunk into the luggage compartment. Silently he wished for gravity to play a trick on them and dump the trunk on Merida, retaliation for a trick she played last year. But no such luck. Merida got her trunk up without a problem and joined Jack in the cabin.
"Just my luck you'd be the first body here," Merida said as she plopped down on the seat across from Jack.
"Like I wanted to spend time alone with you," Jack spat back.
"Oh come off it! You coulda hidden from me, like yeh did last year. Let's not repeat that. I doubt professor Bunnymund'd let me off again."
"For the last time! I never hid from you!"
"Then explain t' me how you disappeared like tha'? I swear I couldn' see you."
"Get your eyes checked, I was there."
"Well duh! O' course you were there, but you were hidin' from me."
"Was not!"
"Was too!"
"Was not!"
"Was too!" Jack and Merida became so caught up in their argument, neither noticed Hiccup until he stepped into the cabin.
"Can you two knock it off, at least during the trip?" Hiccup pleaded sitting next to Jack.
"She started it!"
"No, he started it, Last yea-"
"I don't care who started it!" Hiccup said forcefully; something that took Jack by surprise. He didn't know Hiccup had a forceful setting. Hiccup sighed and continued, "I don't mind your constant squabbling, but Rapunzel does. So can you guys tone it down?"
"We're just having fun," Jack said.
"Rapunzel's not used to constant fighting. If you must fight, do it somewhere else."
"I don't see what th' big deal is, she's not even here!" Merida complained crossing her arms.
"Oh, yes, she is." Hiccup pointed out the window onto the platform. There across the station Rapunzel struggled to pull a large trunk across the floor. Jack and Merida jumped up immediately, leaving the cabin to assist their friend.
"Man, what do you have in here Rapunzel?" Jack asked as he and Merida attempted to lift the trunk into the luggage rack.
"Oh, you know: school supplies, clothes, cauldrons, books, my frying pan."
"Frying pan?" Merida exclaimed as she and Jack finally got the trunk set up. "You're not going to cooking school! You're going to magic school! Why would you need a frying pan?"
Rapunzel's brow creased with worry, "Mother Gothel thought I might need it. She said I might have to do some cooking this year."
"That wasn't in the letter," Jack said as the group settled back in the cabin.
"I know, but Mother said it could be useful, so into the trunk it went."
"I'd not bring a frying pan t' school with me. Why, I'd rather turn into a bear tha' brin' borin' work with me t' school," Merida said.
"Thinking about bears a lot, Merida?" Hiccup asked.
"I just spent the summer with the bear king. It's hard not to be thinkin' of them around my father," Merida replied.
"Let me get this straight. You'd rather have to forage for food, scaring your friends and family, unable to communicate with people than bring a useful tool to school. Wow. I can't believe I understood you," Jack said with a grin.
"Well, it sounds bad when you say it like tha'!" Merida snapped, sticking her tongue out at Jack. Jack returned the gesture before noticing Hiccup's glare. Sheepishly Jack turned away from the girl, focusing on the platform outside the train as the four settled into their cabin.
To his displeasure, someone Jack disliked more than Merida was out there. Derek, a Slytherin in the same year as Jack, was loading his stuff. Why couldn't he be the one who had to leave for personal problems instead of Flynn? Jack turned back to Merida. If he had to look at someone he didn't like, he'd rather it be a friend.
Rapunzel and Hiccup were having a conversation about what spells they thought they'd learn this year. Merida watched them with a bored expression. This wouldn't do, none of them were having any fun. With a smirk, Jack pulled his wand out from his vest. Muttering under his breath, Jack levitated a lock of Merida's hair.
At first the girl didn't notice. Jack became bolder. Twisting larger clumps of hair under her chin until she looked as though she'd grown a beard. Jack couldn't stop himself from chuckling, drawing the attention of Rapunzel and Hiccup. Rapunzel was the first to notice Merida, giving a small giggle. Hiccup also laughed when he saw Merida, before giving Jack a stern look that clearly said to cut it out. Finally Merida herself noticed, and boy, did she explode.
Her face got so red Jack wouldn't have been surprised if steam started to come out of her ears. Jack couldn't hold it back any longer; he burst out into the biggest, most joyful laugh he could muster. Merida gave Jack a good scolding before joining in the laughter.
Jack kept her from being too mad by making silly faces and sharing funny folk stories from Burgess. Soon the quartet became engaged in trying to outdo each other with the best story. Merida first told a legend from the Highlands.
"Once, when my family was out on holiday, not so very far from Castle Dunbroch, I wandered away from the camp. Deeper and deeper into the woods I crept, the shadows falling fast. I feared I was lost. A twig cracked behind me, but before I could panic, what should appear in front of me but a will 'o the wisp! I tried to catch it, but it vanished; another one appeared a few feet away. The wisps led me back to camp, but the demon Bear Mor'du followed me! I attacked it, naturally. I almost had it, but then it knocked my sword away, luckily my dad was near. But his sword did no better! Whoosh! One swipe and his sword shattered, then CHOMP! Dad's leg was clean off. Mor'du has never been seen since, though you can hear him roaming the woods, waiting for a chance at revenge!"
"That never happened!" Jack accused.
"Tell that to my dad's leg."
"Demon bear? Really?!" Rapunzel asked timidly.
"Oh, aye. Even before my dad lost his leg, Mor'du was well known. The legend's been around since the time of the Ancient Kingdom."
"Bet you made the whole thing up," Jack said.
"I did not! It's one hundred percent true."
"And how long ago was this? When you took on an ancient demon bear? You're only twelve now-"
"Eleven. I turn twelve in two weeks," Merida corrected him.
"Even worse, so you expect me to believe a little girl could fight off a bear."
"You're just sour 'cause it's better than you're glackit folk legends."
"Hiccup?" Jack asked.
"Stupid folk legends," Hiccup translated. Jack angrily turned back to Merida.
"Hey! My legends are not stupid!"
"Jack?" Hiccup interjected. "Remember what I said about fighting? Anyway, it's my turn to tell a tale. How about the legend of Grimbeard the Ghastly?"
"Grimbeard was my great-great-grandfather and also the greatest pirate who ever lived. He sailed the seven seas and acquired the largest treasure anyone has ever seen. They say it's so big that even the gods were jealous, so jealous that they cursed Grimbeard. Thor the Thunderer sent a storm that drove Grimbeard into Breakneck Bog. Up until that time, Breakneck Bog had been a lovely vacation spot for families, a beloved holiday getaway, but the moment Grimbeard's boat crashed on the shore all life on the island ceased. They say Grimbeard's spirit still haunts the bog, in the form of a fog monster. It destroys any ship that sails too close, ever guarding Grimbeard's treasure. So careful if you're ever sailing in the Barbaric Archipelago, avoid the dreaded fog monster and ghost of Grimbeard the Ghastly by avoiding Breakneck Bog."
"Dragons? Pirates? Ghosts? Fog monsters? How do you sleep?" Rapunzel asked drawing her knees up to her chest giving a shiver.
"Well, I've never actually seen a ghost and I don't really believe in a fog monster, and the dragons usually keep the pirates away from Berk. The dragons are a bit of a problem, but it's not like they raid us every night. The warriors can usually handle them."
"I wish we had dragons or fog monsters at Castle Dunbroch. Anything to make mum cancel lessons."
"Oh yes, god forbid you actually have to do any work," Jack said sarcastically. "If I ever acquire the power to make people cancel lessons, I'll be sure to help you escape responsibility."
Merida's nostrils flared, she leapt up shaking her fist in his face, "Jack Frost! You don't know anythin' about responsibility! If by some miracle you did gain the power to make mum call off the lessons, I bet you'd make it so everyone but me-"
"OK!" Hiccup interjected. "Can you guys finish this argument later, Rapunzel hasn't had a go yet. Do you have a story to share, Rapunzel?"
"…um, well, Mother Gothel never exactly told me any legends…well, except the one about my hair…but I did hear a rumor last year, it seemed pretty old. You remember what they said about the founders? Right? Well, apparently one of the founders left a hidden room in the school, a secret chamber. They say he hid a monster in the chamber. It can only be released by the heir, who will use the beast to carry out his evil plans."
"What evil plans?" Merida asked.
"Which founder?" Hiccup added.
"I…I don't remember which founder. I think the evil plans had something to do with the students, maybe he wanted to make this an all boy's school? It was something like that."
"All boys? So it must have been Slytherin or Gryffindor," Hiccup said.
"Or was it to make it an all girl's school?" Rapunzel added hesitantly.
"So then it would be Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw," Jack added.
"I'm not even sure if that rumor was true, it was just something the older students were talking about, I think a seventh year was writing a paper on it, for all I know he was making it up," Rapunzel said. "Don't tell mother I told you, or about any of the legends you told me. She wouldn't want me to be exposed to anything scary like that."
"You call those legends scary?" Jack asked, giving a mischievous grin. "The only thing scary about any of those stories was that Merida made it out of her bear encounter alive to terrorize Hogwarts."
"HEY!" Merida snapped at Jack.
"Guys, I think we're here," Hiccup interrupted. All four students watched out the window as the Hogwarts Express pulled into the Hogsmeade station, each wondering what the new year would hold.