Hiccup flipped through his textbook, but his mind wasn't in it. Being only a second year, he thought the new rules weren't too bad. The only change he would notice was the addition of a roll call in the morning. Nothing they didn't do on Berk after a dragon attack to see who might have been dragged off.
On a good day, it was no one, but Hiccup could name several occasions where not everyone was ok. Usually the missing were children or the elderly. That's why there were so few on Berk. Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs Snotlout and the twins were the only children who made it to wizarding school age, and Mildew and Gothi were the only adults who made it past 70. There were still a few younger children on Berk; the village was working hard to ensure that they survived.
It wasn't only that the dragons were carrying people off, sometimes in the confusion during the attacks, kids would be underfoot, and when everything was catching on fire, and large dragons and sometimes even larger Vikings were falling all around it could be quite confusing.
Once, while trying to escape a burning building when he was six, Hiccup had fallen off the cliff in the dark. Stoick had seen it just in time to keep Hiccup from falling all the way, but the ordeal had given him a small scar on his chin.
Hiccup closed his book. There was no way he'd be able to study tonight. Even if it weren't for the new rules, the conversation with Merida was distracting him.
She had reminded him about all the dragon attacks. While he didn't mind at the time, now all he could see was how much like everyone else on Berk she was, and how unlike them all he was.
Hiccup hadn't caught a dragon, or done anything heroic. The only thing he ever did that saved anyone was use the Summoning Spell last year…and even that shouldn't have been such a big deal. If he hadn't been doing it wrong before, he wouldn't have even needed to cast that spell. He could have just destroyed the horses with a defense spell from Berk.
Why couldn't he be a natural at magic? Or a natural at ax throwing? Or a natural at anything? With a sigh Hiccup went into his dorm room. His roommates Robert, Crispin and William were there discussing the missing girl.
Hiccup half listened to them. They didn't seem to have any new information. It was all just rumors. Eventually the conversation died out and one by one the boys went to sleep.
The next morning after roll call, Hiccup headed down to the Potions dungeon. Jack was already there, looking very tired.
"Hey buddy? Something wrong? You left so early the other day."
"Ugh. I don't want to talk about it," Jack said, plopping his head down on the desk.
"You sure?"
"Yeah…not here at least," Jack whispered, his eyes darting around the dungeon taking in the dark shadows. Hiccup looked around too, there were only a few other students in the classroom and no sign of Professor Black, but Hiccup remembered his shadow trick. No telling when Black might pop out and overhear them.
The boys waited in silence for class to start. Soon Pitch Black appeared and the boys were resigned to taking notes.
About halfway into the lesson Hiccup glanced over at Jack's paper. Unlike Hiccup's notes, Jack's were written in the English alphabet, not the Norse one. As Hiccup watched Jack, an idea popped into his head.
Merida watched Rapunzel twirling her hair during Transfiguration. The lecture was over; it was back to practice.
Rapunzel pulled out her wand and spoke the incantation but nothing happened. Merida stared at the rat. It should be a goblet, but there it remained, a live animal. Not one jewel, color change, or shift in shape at all.
Again, Rapunzel made the motion and said the incantation. Again, nothing happened. Rapunzel shrugged. Merida looked down at her own rat. Picking up her wand she cast the same spell. Her rat shifted, turning into a goblet, but it still had whiskers, claws and a tail.
"Nice work, but try to focus a bit more," Professor Bunnymund said, turning the rat-goblet back into a rat. "You need to perfect it. When you only do it halfway like that there's a chance the rat will be in pain."
"It's just a rat," Merida said, prodding it with her wand.
"Never underestimate a rodent, mate. Just because somethin's not human doesn't mean it can't feel. Now, how about you Rapunzel? Want to give the spell a try?"
Rapunzel nodded, not saying that she'd tried it before. Once more Rapunzel cast the spell and once more nothing happened. Bunnymund watched it as she cast again. Nothing happened.
"Is everything alright?" Bunnymund asked. "You've cast perfect spells before."
"Sorry," Rapunzel said with a shrug. "I…I'm just a bit tired. I'll do better next time."
"Good. Just make sure you don't hurt the rat." Professor Bunnymund left their table and went off to help other students. Rapunzel tried again but nothing happened.
"Are you ok?" Merida finally asked.
"I…I'm fine. Really."
"You sure?"
"It's just…you know…that girl?" Rapunzel said softly. "She was in Ravenclaw."
"Oh, right. But it was just one girl. You have next hour off, right? Come back to our club room. We can discuss this in private there."
Rapunzel nodded and the girls continued their work. Eventually Rapunzel did manage to turn her rat into a goblet, although it still had fur, and Merida got hers to look like a goblet, but it squeaked when she put water in it. As class ended, Bunnymund turned them all back into rats.
Merida and Rapunzel walked up to the empty classroom. Hiccup and Jack came in soon after. The four students pulled up chairs and sat down to discuss their situation.
"Guys," Hiccup said. "I have a plan."
"What do we need a plan for?" Jack asked.
"You didn't want to talk to me in Potions," Hiccup started, "because of Professor Black, right?"
"Yeah. He's the head of Slytherin. I can't say anything in front of him. You know the new rules the school enacted last night? Well, he went a step further. He called all the other professors cowards and then said any student in Slytherin who even so much as mentions leaving their room after hours will be expelled. And anyone caught withholding information will be killed. I think the last part was just a threat, but I don't want to risk it. He's scary when he wants to be."
"This is great," Hiccup said.
"Um, Hiccup. No offence, but this is not what I'd call great," Merida said.
"No, I mean, this is great for my plan. We don't know what made that girl go missing, but if it was one of the other students or faculty, we need to be able to communicate with each other in secret."
"And how would we do that?" Merida asked.
"Runes," Hiccup said.
"What good are ruins?" Jack asked.
"No, not ruins, runes, as in Norse runes. I can teach you. We can pass notes in class without fear of anyone reading them."
"But…don't they teach Ancient Runes here? Isn't it possible some students or professors might know them?" Rapunzel asked.
"Yeah, so we just have to change it up a little. I think Berk runes are a bit different from the ones they teach here anyway. Next free period I'm going to check the library, maybe ask the older students. Rapunzel, I need your help. Your mother works for the school right? See if you can get her to find out which professors are skilled in runes."
"I'm not sure Mother would help me."
"Just try. I'll be asking my head of house, as well. I'm going to say that I'm considering taking it next year."
"Hiccup. It's only October. We don't choose classes until Easter," Merida said.
"It's never too early to start thinking of your future," Hiccup replied.
"Oh, come on. Live in the moment. You're only young once," Merida said forcefully.
"Not me," Jack said. "I don't want to ever grow up. I could stay a boy forever."
"Everyone grows up," Rapunzel said. "We can't help it."
"I know," Jack said, then smirked, "but that won't stop me from trying. If I can find a way to be young forever, I'm taking it. That's my ambition."
"What about your family?" Hiccup asked.
"Maybe when I find a spell I can cast it on them, too. Anyway, that's too far in the future. Let's think about the here and now. You wanna start teaching us runes?"
"Sure. We'll start with the alphabet. It's called futhark…"
The next few days passed quickly. Jack devoted himself to studying the Norse runes. Normally he would have found it boring, but now it was a welcome distraction from the fear and guilt Jack felt about Clarisse. He still couldn't believe that he had somehow harmed her…and yet, if he didn't, then who did? And why couldn't Jack remember what really happened that night?
The only up side, was that Pitch Black had stopped giving him potions to try. He spent every detention scrubbing out cauldrons. True, Jack did get burns on his arms, but at least he knew where they came from.
By the time October 30th came around Jack was starting to think the whole affair had been a nightmare caused by the potion. He was just starting to feel like his old self, planning Halloween pranks with Camicazi. Together they sat on the comfiest couch in the Slytherin dungeon.
"I say we strike in the Great Hall for maximum impact," Camicazi said.
"But then we can't control the victim, some of our friends might get caught."
"It's just a harmless little-" Camicazi shut up as some of the other students came closer. Jack eyed them warily: sixth years; they were discussing the missing student.
"It's too bad Flynn isn't here," the one called Jason said. "I'd love for him to go missing. He never belonged here anyway."
Jack's vision blurred as the words reached his ears; his hearing became distant and fuzzy.
"Jack, Jack? Are you alright?" Camicazi asked.
"Huh?" Jack said, his vision and hearing returning to normal.
"Are you alright?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Jack lied, not feeling fine at all. "Just a little tired. Let's talk about this tomorrow."
"But tomorrow is Halloween!"
"Exactly, everyone will be expecting pranks on Halloween. Let's wait, and strike when no one will suspect."
"Okay," Camicazi said cheerfully as Jack got up and left. He barely made it to his bed before he collapsed into a fitful sleep.
Hours passed as Jack floated in and out of consciousness. He felt himself in his bed, but then suddenly he could feel the cold night air and something wet and soft. Snow, Jack thought. There was a strange scuffling noise, and a shout, and then Jack was asleep again.
The next time Jack awoke he was cold. Very cold. His eyes flickered open and he found himself lying by the edge of the lake, a thin layer of ice coating it, with strange swirly patterns on it, what he called frost.
Groggily Jack got up. The icy grass crackled beneath his feet as he walked back to the castle. This time he went straight to the infirmary, not with the intent of talking to Rapunzel but with the intent of talking to the nurse. Jack had only been to see her once before, after he and Merida crashed in the forest last year. She had been kind to him then, letting him stay in the infirmary even though he wasn't seriously hurt and promising not to tell anyone he was there. Jack was hoping she would also keep these blackouts a secret.
When Jack reached the infirmary it was not the nurse who met him, but rather Gothel. The woman, looking very young at the moment, smiled a crocodile smile at Jack. Jack almost turned right around and left, but just then he felt a wave of dizziness. No matter how he felt about Gothel, if he was about to have another blackout it would be good to have witness to what he did.
"Can I help you, dear?" Gothel asked.
"Uh, yeah, can you get the nurse?" Jack answered.
"She's away at the moment, but I'm sure I can help with whatever ails you. Come now, let Mumsy take care of you."
Jack paused for a long time before saying, "Sure."
Gothel had him sit on one of the beds while she checked him over asking occasional questions.
"So what seems to be the problem?" she probed.
"I…I haven't been sleeping well. I fall asleep fine, but then I have nightmares…or wake up in strange places."
"I see. Have you told anyone else about this?"
"No, I don't think."
"Good boy. With the school on high alert because of those disappearances, I'd hate for you to cause a panic with this thing."
"Wait … disappearances? I thought it was only Clarisse?"
"Didn't you hear the commotion last night? Another student disappeared…a Slytherin named Jason. He vanished on Halloween, left behind a trail of frost, just like Clarisse."
"Today's not Halloween?"
"No sweetie, Halloween was yesterday," Gothel said. Jack clutched his head. So he did miss another day of life. This couldn't be happening. He couldn't have attacked Jason.
"I need to go," Jack said suddenly.
"What about your problem?" Gothel asked. Jack thought for a minute, he didn't want to admit that he may have been the attacker, but he needed some way to keep himself from doing it again.
"Do you have anything that can help me sleep?" Jack asked.
"Yes, dear. We have plenty of sleeping draughts. Come up here tonight and I'll give you some."
"Thank you." Jack hopped off the bed and ran from the room, desperate to get up to the empty classroom. If Halloween was yesterday, that meant today was Sunday. Hiccup and Merida should be there, at least…although it was still early.
Jack was the first one in the empty classroom. He moved a chair by the window, focusing on looking out at the grounds below. Two students were missing, two students somehow connected to Flynn Rider, two students who had disappeared in a trail of frost.
As Jack thought about it, he noticed the window icing over with his patterns. For the first time Jack recognized his ice powers and they frightened him. He hadn't been trying to frost the window, if he could lose control over this, maybe he did lose control during the night.
Jack sat down and pulled his knees up to his chest to wait for someone else to come into the room. After the sun had been up for a considerable amount of time, Hiccup and Merida did come into the room.
"Jack?" Hiccup said in shock. "You're alright?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" Jack asked.
"The school…at breakfast they announced two students were missing from Slytherin, Jason and you. We thought you had been attacked," Merida said.
"No…but I might be the attacker," Jack confessed.
"What?" Hiccup exclaimed.
"I don't know! I don't remember anything. All I know is that I have no memory of anything that happened last night, and I have strange ice powers."
"Look, Jack, I may not like you," Merida said, "but even I know you didn't do this."
"How do you know? Even I don't know," Jack said.
"We believe in you, Jack," Hiccup said. "You couldn't do this. But since you still need convincing, we'll help."
"How?"
"I don't know…yet. But I'll think of something. Maybe my dad or Gobber knows a spell that can help. Have you seen the nurse?"
"Sort of," Jack answered. "She wasn't in, but Gothel looked. She said she had a sleeping draught I could take."
"Did you tell her everything?"
"No…should I?"
"Not yet…wait until after I've talked to my dad. In the meantime you should probably go see your head of house before Hogwarts goes into high alert."
Jack nodded and headed back down to the Slytherin dungeons. When he stepped into the common room everyone took a step back, all but Camicazi. Camicazi walked right up to Jack.
"Where were you?" Jack looked down at the child. Just one year younger, but with her big eyes and the way she looked up at him, it reminded Jack of his little sister. He didn't want to hurt her.
"I don't know," he replied truthfully. Before she could ask any more question Professor Black stepped out of the shadows.
"Jack Frost. I believe we need to talk," Pitch Black said. Jack bowed his head and followed Black to his office. Despite all the times Jack had been in detention, he had always gone to the office in the Potions dungeon. This was the first time Jack had been in Black's office in the Slytherin Dungeon.
"Jack, Jack, Jack. Why must you always be getting in trouble? Sit." Pitch practically pushed Jack down on a stiff backed wooden chair. Jack kept his eyes glued to the floor, feeling too guilty to look up.
"So, do you have an excuse for your absence during morning roll call?"
"No sir," Jack said, his voice barely above a whisper.
"You do realize how bad this looks? Being missing the same day another student disappears. Do you have any comments?"
"No sir," Jack said, for truly there was nothing he could say, being unsure himself.
"Very well, I suppose I shall have to-" Just as Black was about to say Jack's punishment the door to his office burst open and Gothel walked in.
"Pitch, that boy has an alibi. He was with me," she said. She gave a wink at Jack.
"Oh, well, that's different. Why didn't you say anything, Jack?" Black said. Jack looked at Gothel. She was lying, he might have seen her this morning, but he wasn't with her all night. She knew that student was missing before he came to see her.
"Let the child come with me," Gothel said. "This has been a tiring experience for us all. I should check the state of his health."
"Very well," Pitch Black said, "but he's still in trouble for missing roll call. Jackson, after Gothel releases you from the infirmary you are to come straight to my office. You will remain with me until I release you."
Jack nodded as he left with Gothel. He didn't mind having them babysit him, at least then he wouldn't be able to attack anyone else.
Gothel led the way back to the infirmary. After they reached the floor above the dungeons Jack decided to question her.
"Why did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Lie."
"Oh, sweetie, I didn't lie. You were with me."
"Not all night."
"No…But Pitch didn't ask that, did he? And anyway, I did it for Rapunzel. She would be heartbroken if you got expelled."
"Pitch was going to expel me?"
"I can't say for sure but look at the facts: you and another student disappeared together, and only you came back. It looks bad, Jack. Add that to all the other mischief you've caused and it's only natural to expel you. You could be a danger to society."
Jack fell silent. Gothel was right. He could be dangerous, and all the worse because he couldn't control it. Part of Jack wished he had been expelled, at least then the school would be safe. So what if he was cursed to the life of a shepherd, so what if he could never use magic again, so what if his family would always be struggling to get food during the winter. It was worth it for the safety of his friends.
When they reached the infirmary, Rapunzel was waiting. She ran over and hugged Jack fiercely.
"I was so worried," Rapunzel said, not letting go. "When the school announced you were missing…but then Hiccup and Merida found me and told me what happened."
Rapunzel still hadn't let go of Jack, but he didn't mind. He hadn't been hugged like that since he left his mother for the Hogwarts Express.
"Rapunzel, dear," Gothel interrupted, "you have work to do."
"Right," Rapunzel finally broke off her hug. "But I can do it with Jack, can't I?"
"Later, pet," Gothel said. "First I need to examine him, alone. Patient confidentiality, you know."
"Yes, Mother." Rapunzel left the two of them alone. As soon as she had gone, Gothel turned to Jack.
"Before you were telling me about blackouts. Is that what happened this time?"
"Did I say blackouts?" Jack asked, trying to remember what he had said.
"Something like that, I inferred it. So did it happen?"
Jack nodded.
"And you have no memory of what happened at all?"
"Nope."
"Curious. Was there anything else unusual?"
"No, well, unless you count getting tired all of a sudden."
"Hm. That is strange. I would like to keep an eye on you. I want you to come by every morning and night so I can see if anything is changing. You can start tonight when you come by for the sleeping draught," Gothel smiled at Jack, a smile that made him feel somewhat uncomfortable, but considering his current state, he wanted to be monitored, so he nodded.
"Excellent. You may go back to Pitch now."
"What about Rapunzel?" Jack asked.
"She has work to do. You can see her tonight. Go now, or you'll be in trouble for dallying."
Jack followed her advice and went back to the Slytherin dungeons, straight to Black's office. At first he assumed the room was empty, only for a shadow to move, revealing Pitch Black to be its caster.
"Well, what's the verdict?" Pitch Black asked. Jack told him the results of the examination.
"Very well. You may visit Gothel freely. Now, about your punishment. I will expect you to report to me every morning and night, and tell me in detail what you have done since the last time we spoke."
"Yes sir," Jack bowed his head. He didn't like the idea of having to tell Black everything, but it wasn't the worst possible punishment.
Professor Black dismissed Jack and the boy went back to his room, not caring that it was still fairly early in the morning; he was tired and just needed to sleep.
As soon as Jack left, Pitch transported himself to the infirmary, stepping out of the shadows just behind Gothel.
"So?" Pitch asked. Gothel jumped.
"Do you have to scare me like that?" she asked.
"Of course, my dear, your fear is just as potent as any student's. Did Jackson buy it?"
"I don't know. He seemed to buy it...but he doesn't quite trust me yet."
"And why would that be? Hm? You haven't let your pathetic quest for immortality get in the way of spreading fear, have you?"
"Easy for you to say, you're already immortal."
"It's not my fault you pathetic humans are so short lived. Why do you think you need the power of the sun to be immortal? The sun is a star, and the stars are from my world. All those from my world will live for as long as the stars, dying only when killed. The only way you humans can even hope to live as long is if you manage to find something from the heavens, like your drop of sun or moon. Back to the matter at hand, why doesn't Jackson trust you?"
"How should I know? Maybe Rapunzel's been saying bad things about me. I'll have a talk with her."
"Don't."
"But-"
"Do not interfere with their friendship. It would only make the other three resent you, and that won't help my plans at all. Encourage them. Make them see you as a benevolent mother figure…make it so that if they ever start to suspect what we are doing they will come to you for advice."
"How?"
"I will give them a gentle push in your direction. I've already started with Jack. You just need to find the right words to help their trust grow. Use Rapunzel to your advantage."
Pitch had been circling Gothel during his monologue but now he stopped and glanced out the window.
"It's a beautiful day, perfect to start scaring people. I have shadows to make, children to terrify. Get those kids to trust you or else." Pitch stepped back into the shadows leaving Gothel alone.