The grounds where Quidditch is played are vast, the hoops big enough for Toothless to slip through if he folds in his wings and Hiccup squeezes himself against the saddle. It's breezy but the sun shines bright and the stands are packed with students. Half of Hogwarts has turned up by the looks of it.

Hiccup presses a final time on the healed wound and looks Toothless in the eye. "You okay to do this, bud?" he asks. Toothless gives him a shit-eating grin and the last anxiety gripping Hiccup's heart disappears. His dragon is well and truly healed, and the road back to Berk becomes a little less bumpy. Tomorrow he's going to fly back to the city he'd appeared in in the first place, whether the Ministry likes it or not, and he's going to demand that they find a way back home for the two of them. After the initial apology for transporting them here there has been one letter addressed to him which Hagrid had to read out loud, which came down to 'no news, we're working on it'.

Right now, they have a moment to prove that they are the best damn aerial team out there before they go back home, where all of Berk knows this fact.

Hiccup trails his hand along Toothless' scales as he walks to the saddle, offering up an encouraging pat before he mounts his Night Fury and clicks his foot into position. Together they walk out onto the field where the roar of enthusiastic students greets them. Some of them are decked out in their house colors but most of them thankfully wear their school uniforms with little decoration.

"Sorry, word got out about the match," Hector apologizes as he walks up to Toothless.

"That's okay," Hiccup replies, "back on Berk we used to have competitions as well. Howbeit we used sheep instead of balls."

The rules of this match are a little different from standard Quidditch rules. There's no Seeker in the game - mainly because the Seeker of the opposing team is laid up in the Hospital Wing for, and Hiccup could hardly believe it, growing carrots from his ears. How and why, he did not ask. Privately he's already decided to keep the existence of magic far, far away from Ruffnut and Tuffnut. His heart twinges at the thought what havoc the twins could wreak should they find out that they have magic in their blood. He's still somewhat convinced that the two of them are Loki reincarnate, and having magic fits right up their alley. The more time he spends at Hogwarts, the more convinced he is that those two must have some kind of magic, because no one is that stupid and lucky at the same time, escaping death and serious injury time after time. He's seen Tuffnut fling himself off a cliff and survive with only his shoulder and his pride bruised. His pride, because he missed the bullseye.

So to keep things fair, if a player spots the Snitch, they can go after it themselves. There are, however, Bludgers and Beaters zooming around. They've been slowed down a lot, though, because injuring the just-healed dragon is needless animal cruelty.

Gryffindor's reserves have been called into action for this match. Hiccup and Toothless are on their side while the main team are their opponents. The Seeker has been turned into an extra Chaser. All in all it's basically a game of toss-the-sheep with extra danger in the form of the black balls.

"Are the players ready?" the referee asks. She's the one teaching the young kids how to ride a broom. Her hair is always windswept, bright green, matching her startlingly green eyes. Hiccup has yet to gather up the courage to ask her if she's related to or a descendant of the Disir, the female guardian spirits. No human he's ever seen has hair that vivid green.

Toothless roars overrules the cheers from the stands and the students whoop and laugh. "Get them, Toothless!" some of them yell.

"Go!"

Hiccup holds on as Toothless jumps into the sky, flapping like mad, his face turned to the wide expanse of air above them both. The Night Fury's belly rumbles as he stops his vertical climb and banks left, allowing Hiccup to survey the field.

The referee has thrown the ball into the air and the opposing team snatched it. They speed towards the goal, throwing the ball from one person to the next to keep the others on their toes. There are rules about bumping into each other, grabbing brooms and all kinds of contact, but apparently batting a Bludger at close range at a Chaser to make him drop the ball is legal.

Hiccup steers Toothless to the edge of the field, opening himself up to his team. A black mass the size of a Night Fury is hard to miss in broad daylight, so the Chaser on his team passes the ball to him. Toothless crows and speeds up while for one of the few times in his life Hiccup keeps hold of the ball. He's usually terrible at Viking sports, but this ball clings to his fingers. The goalposts are in sight and Toothless aims for the left one. The Keeper bars it with her body but Hiccup spots a gap. He raises himself on the saddle to throw it - and the ball is snatched from his outstretched hand by a Chaser flying upside-down.

One of the advantages of having a smaller dragon is that they're maneuverable. Snotlout with his Monstrous Nightmare would pass the goalpost, fly out of the stadium and then be able to turn around.

Toothless, on the other hand, jerks down his tail, snaps open his wings, flaps once to generate the lift he needs to stay airborne and the resulting gale blows back the hair on the blonde Keepers' head. He flaps once more to flip back around and corkscrews his way upright. They're out of the game for a max of three seconds and the crowd loves it. Hiccup grins and grabs the handlebars a little tighter.

For the first fifteen minutes of the game Hiccup observes to get a feel for the game. They fly back and forth on the outer edge, providing back-up for the Chaser in the middle. The guy works hard - the main Gryffindor team is good, even Hiccup can tell that. With barely a word spoken they perform difficult maneuvers. Flying upside-down on a broom is nothing compared to the misdirection of two Chasers and a Beater before chucking the ball through the hoop after feinting right. And all that by one person.

Like any dragon trainer, Hiccup knows the mind of his Night Fury. The muscles underneath him grow tense whenever the opposing team scores. Toothless loves games, but he loves winning even more. Hiccup's team is behind by fifty points. The Snitch is also around, but he hasn't caught more than a glimpse of that tiny ball, so it's not worth going after right now.

The other players become more daring towards rider and dragon as the game progresses. At first, nobody dares beat a Bludger in his direction but as time passes they notice a few facts. First, Toothless is a smart cookie and predicts trajectories of balls and therefore avoids them. Second, Toothless grasps the rules of the game. He holds off on biting players, brooms, scratching and throwing fire around like the wizards are taught dragons do willy-nilly. Third, the Night Fury is the best dragon on Berk, perhaps even the archipelago, in terms of speed.

"Good job!" Hiccup praises as the Chaser of his team scores. It's a mistake on the part of the Gryffindor Keeper and the girl berates herself as she dives after the ball. With a seconds hesitation she throws it towards one of her teammates. The mistake costs her a bit of confidence.

"Thanks!" the Chaser yells back as he speeds by on his broom while Toothless keeps position in mid-air, wings flapping to keep on hovering. Hiccup takes the moment's reprieve to take note of the position of the Bludgers. They won't bother him if they zigzag, and then the Chaser of the opposing team will try to cut him off, by Toothless can roll left and-

The Snitch whips by.

So far Hiccup has only assisted in passing the ball to the experienced Chasers, but every iota of experience of training his friends to become the dragon riders of Berk screams at him to take charge. The captain of his team is a decent kid with a good strategy… But Hiccup has fought wars in the air.

This all disappears to the background as Toothless snaps forward, taking Hiccup and his churning mind with him.

"Go for it!" the same Chaser calls before a Bludger narrowly misses the back of his broom and he's forced to pay attention to the game again.

Hiccup bents low to the saddle, content to let his dragon track the speck of gold flitting about. Toothless twirls and rolls, dives and flips to keep close to the ball. The crowd 'ooh's' at the aerial display while Hiccup tunes them out. It has become second nature to him to operate the fin, but the Night Fury pulls all kinds of tricks to keep up with the ball which switches direction faster than Toothless can. On a home stretch they outclass it, but the golden ball is tiny and easily lost against the backdrop of colored banners and towers, not to mention the glaring light of the sun.

"Get it Toothless," Hiccup pants. He has to keep both hands on the handlebars just to keep up. Toothless growls in frustration and opens his mouth. "No blasting!" the rider scolds and with a grumble the dragon obeys. In the momentary distraction the Snitch has escaped and hovers near the ground. Hiccup braces himself for what Toothless is about to do. Nevertheless, his stomach stays somewhere at the height of the towers while the rest of him plummets downwards, holding on for the ride.

The wind whistles past the large wings of the Night Fury, a sound which used to strike terror in the hearts of citizens of Berk. But now it means that Hiccup and Toothless are having the time of their lives.

"Yeah baby!" he calls as Toothless folds in his wings to gain even more speed. People in the crowd give a collective gasp as the ground comes closer and closer and they show no signs of stopping. The Snitch has no idea what's coming for it.

At the last possible second the expanse of black unfolds and Toothless spits plasma at the ground, using the sudden blast of hot air to transfer the downwards force into a horizontal one by angling his wings and tail just right. Hiccup has misjudged this moment a few times in the past and the resulting crash wasn't a pretty one. This time he gets it right and they shoot forwards like a midnight streak made of pure speed.

Toothless opens his mouth to catch the tiny golden ball but the Snitch shoots upwards. Hiccup raises his hand, he can catch it, he can, his hand brushes the silver wings and he closes his fist around it but the feathery wing slips out of his grasp, his pinky finger wraps around it but the Snitch jerks free and - oh crap there's the edge of the stadium.

"Toothless!" Hiccup cries, an involuntary note of panic in his voice. He should have activated the fin sooner, they're going to crash into the unforgiving wood. All thoughts of the Snitch escape him as he finally puts the fin in the correct position and Toothless rises again. The Night Fury flaps his mighty wings, once, twice, and why had he panicked there for a second, they clear the wooden edge and go sailing past the towers, out of bounds.

With the mass of a dragon, this is kind of inevitable, so Hiccup had negotiated beforehand that his rule doesn't apply to them.

As they make their way back to the pitch the announcer calls another goal of the opposing team. They used the distraction of the Night Fury chasing the Snitch to score two more times, bringing the score to 90-30.

"Want to even up the score, bud?" Hiccup asks. Toothless roars his approval. Together they move themselves smack dab in the center of the game. They are done hanging about on the edge.

The game moves quick, very quick, but they've both had time to analyze the moves of their opponents and their own team. In real life there usually wasn't much time to get to know the patterns of their enemy, so they are both trained in pattern recognition and risk analysis. This time there's no Dagur shooting chains at them, no Whispering Death on their tail and no Red Death blasting white-hot fire through nooks in the clouds - there is just the ball and those who wish to have it.

The opposing Chasers are intimidated at the sheer size of the dragon compared to their own brooms. The first few times all Hiccup has to do to break through their defenses is charge at them head-on and they scatter. He passes the ball a few times to his fellow Chasers so they can take the shot, but aims for the hoops himself three times - missing two but landing one.

"Heads up!" the blonde Keeper shouts, chucking the ball to one of her Chasers. The next time Hiccup tries to charge he gets two Bludgers sent his way, so he and Toothless barrel-roll out of there before they make contact. A new tactic is needed.

Hiccup is a decent shot, but his dragon is infinitely better at targeting. With the special grip the ball has - magical? - a plan sparks in Hiccup's mind. Toothless flips back to chase down the opponent with the ball and Hiccup uses the stupidest trick in the book.

"Hey, look!" he cries out with sincerity coloring his voice. For a split second the focus of the Chaser is off the ball, so Hiccup reaches out and smacks it out of the guy's hands. Next he throws it in front of him, angling it down. "Catch it Toothless!" he instructs. With a tiny change of angle Toothless flies over the ball.

"You got it?" the rider asks, and the dragon gives an affirming grunt.

The crowd gets on Hiccup's level when he makes his way back to the hoops and they cheer him on, more than a few laughing their heads off.

"That can't be legal!" Hector yells, but the referee shakes her head.

"You are allowed to use your broom to hit the Quaffle," she replies with mirth in her voice, green hair streaming behind her as she gets up to speed.

"But he's holding it!"

"He's a player. Part of one, anyway," she says before flying after them towards the hoops.

The Keeper is incredibly focused. She has her hands opened wide and sits loosely on her broom, ready to move in any direction. Hiccup feels Toothless' belly heat up through his shins and he jerks on one ear flap.

"No blasting," he reminds he Night Fury. Toothless doesn't reply but feints left. He flaps one wing incredibly hard and spins like a top out to the right. The Keeper moves left and cries out as the dragon releases the ball mid-spin and it sails through the hoop, clipping the edge but it's a goal alright.

So many people cheer them on, it's like all of Berk is hooting on the stands. They are even more jam-packed than when they started the match and people begin to get into it. There are roars of approval and groans of frustration as the score evens out a little bit thanks to Toothless' incredible aim. With his plasma blasts he's pin-point accurate, but he's just as deadly with a ball clenched between his paws. No Chaser is crazy enough to risk those claws so all they try to do is beat Bludgers at them and disrupting their path towards the goal. They succeed at it a few times, making Toothless drop the ball as he has to spread his everything to stop in time as a Bludger whizzes by his nose.

The opposing team begin to search for the Snitch in earnest as well, so there are only two Chasers making sure that the score doesn't go up a crazy amount.

"No!" one of his Chasers calls, and Hiccup sees why a second later. Hector flies straight up, where the sunlight glints off the Snitch. It stays calmly up there, as steady as a hovering Gronckle. The captain is going to catch it.

"Toothless!" Hiccup commands, so sure that his dragon knows what Hiccup wants that he doesn't even say anything else. And sure enough, the Night Fury climbs straight up after the captain, muscles working hard to rise as fast as he can. The wings nearly slap Hiccup as he holds on, positioning himself on the saddle so he can ride with the movements without continually bumping against the rising and falling body.

Hector still rises and the Snitch is still in position. The guy is just a few yards away - but so's Toothless. Hiccup knows that crashing into players is illegal, however, the Night Fury has another plan. He opens his mouth, and Hiccup recognizes the sound of the teeth sliding into place. The next second the dragon bites down on the twigs of the captain's broom and the guy's hand closes around empty air. The Snitch finally notices that someone is coming for it and it flits away.

"Hey!" Hector, twisting his head around to see what has stopped him. The sight of the Night Fury chomping down on his broom makes him scowl but Toothless lets go and gives his dragon laugh, thawing away the anger and Hector gives a small smile. Hiccup doesn't want to think about how expensive a flying broom must be. Toothless spits out a few errant twigs.

The shrill whistle of the referee sounds and Toothless glides past her, a smug rumble emanating from his chest.

"Penalty, fifteen feet!" the referee yells, and Hiccup signals for a time-out after the shot goes through. When the entire team has landed he first gets his dragon something to drink, but this is just an excuse to talk strategy. The Night Fury gratefully laps up the water, though. Flying like this is hard and they don't often perform this many difficult maneuvering in such a small patch of air. Usually they haul for long days and nights or only have to outmaneuver a few other dragons for fifteen minutes at the most. Not this grueling hour-long twist-and-roll fest.

"We're still troubled with the slows," Hiccup begins, "so methinks it's time we really start looking for the Snitch out there. It's the only way we're gonna win, because the other team's better."

The matter-of-fact way Hiccup lays that out makes his own team captain bristle. "We're not 'just' the reserves, buddy," he protests. "We train every single week, we train maybe even harder than the first team but it's all politics who gets to fly. We deserve-"

"I always go up against better people," Hiccup interjects. "Bigger dragons, older Vikings, smarter chiefs. More violent people." His dragon nudges him in the back and he rubs the familiar scales of Toothless' nose, brushing over the faint scar tissue. "And we're still here. It's okay that they're better than you are, as long as you keep on and don't give up. So listen up, I think we can win if we carry out my plan. First of all, are there any rules about plasma blasts?"

After a short parlay they are back up in the air.

There is nothing gallant about the way their team conducts themselves after that. They fly hard, they fly smart. Formations form and disband in seconds. The team captain orders his troops left and right, continually screaming instructions - telegraphing their every move. After a few minutes of this Gryffindor's main team uses this to their advantage to predict their moves.

And that's when their tactics change. They do the complete opposite of whatever the team captain wants, closing their ranks when he calls "spread out" and scattering when he screams at them to hold the line. The split-second of confusion is all they need, it turns out. They are well-trained, they just need an edge to bring up the score.

Hiccup leaves them to it - he doesn't know half the formations they use and doesn't want to break their focus. There are some formations in use he's going to steal for himself back home, though, like the Hawkshead Attacking Formation. Put Hookfang at the frond, Stormfly on the left and Barf and Belch on the right, no, Barf and Belch at the front. Their double heads can cover more ground and it increases the angle of attack the dragons are capable of - Toothless angles his own head and slaps him in the face with an ear flap. "Right," Hiccup says out loud, rubbing the spot his dragon hit. "Get'cha head in the game."

He focuses on finding the Snitch. The buggery little bastard is invisible a lot of times, hovering near the stands, zigzagging its way across the pitch or watching from afar, nearly out of bounds. The other team has spotted their tactic and a Chaser of the Gryffindor team is up in the sky with him, searching left and right. He has a lot more experience, but Hiccup has another set of ears and eyes. And the Night Fury is used to finding small targets - he hunts fish.

Three times they chase the Snitch, and three times it escapes. The score is now even, but Hiccup notices his dragon is exhausting itself. It's visible in the position of the ear flaps, the panting and the lackluster barrel rolls as a stray Bludger zooms past them. If they don't end this soon, they will have to drop out.

So the next time Toothless spots it, Hiccup pats his best friend on the head.

"Blast it up high," he instructs while unhooking himself from the saddle. It's a risky move, but he's done it before. Toothless complies, firing three quick bursts of plasma underneath and above the Snitch, before firing a volley to the left of it. The crowd gasps at the explosions in mid-air. Hiccup and Toothless sail through the small fireball unharmed and predictably the Snitch attempts to make a break for it on the right. Hiccup kicks the fin into a spiral.

"Keep your right wing stiff," Hiccup instructs before he stands up on the saddle. The opposing Chaser flipped his broom when the explosions broke but now chases the Snitch as well. Hiccup takes a second to flip his foot around before he bolts across the expanse of black, stepping on the ridges of the membrane and avoiding the wound. As the crowd gasps he springs into the air - but spreads his arms and legs, his flight suit catching the air. Toothless spits another blast of plasma underneath him, the hot air boosting his height.

This time his fist closes around body of the Snitch instead of its wings as he soars through the sky like an overgrown squirrel. Unlike a squirrel he can call for his dragon, but it isn't even necessary. Toothless spirals underneath, waiting for his rider to re-join him. Hiccup laughs with sheer exhilaration as he steers towards the best friend he's ever had. The crowd bursts into applause, cheers, hoots, all kinds of expressions as he lands on the saddle, quickly hooking himself back up and operating the fin to angle them downwards.

"He's got the Snitch!" the announcer screams, repeating himself a few times while the rest of the team rush towards him.

"That was amazing!" the team captain yells in their ears and then it's a jumble of congratulations, people patting him on the back, Toothless licking him all over and licking all the members of the team that worked so well together, bodies smushed against him as they group-hug.

"Master dragon rider!" someone calls, and it soon turns into a chant of "master Hiccup". He joins the team for a celebratory victory meal at the Great Hall and Toothless gets more fish than even he can eat as students sneak out and pass him the various fish present on the long tables.

Quidditch, 'twas a fine sport.


Glossary

Troubled with the slows - the losing boat or swimmer.