AN: Here begins second year. Have fun reading.

Hogwarts: Legends Unite

Part 2, Chapter 1

Hiccup

"Hiccup, hurry up!"

I glanced quickly towards my bedroom door, startled by the sound of my dad's voice. I was kneeling on the floor next to my trunk, which I had finished packing yesterday afternoon.

I was already wearing my robes, trimmed with the Ravenclaw blue. Even if I'd needed to pick Ravenclaw for myself, I was still enormously glad that it was the house I'd ended up in.

Dad wasn't excited, saying that Gryffindor would have been better, but that at least I wasn't in Slytherin. I had wanted to argue that Slytherins weren't all bad, but had decided not to. It was probably best to let my father have his own opinions.

"Hiccup, did you hear me? Get down here right now!"

"Sorry Dad, just a second!" I called out. With some difficulty, I yanked the trunk closed and slid the buckle into place. I stood up, heaved it up by the handle, and staggered downstairs under its weight. I dropped it at my side when I reached the end of the stairs.

Dad was glaring at me. I cringed. "Sorry."

He looked at me the way you might look at someone who'd discovered a bunch of buried treasure and then accidentally dropped it into a volcano. Pure, undiluted disappointment. I assumed that the reason for this expression was the small incident involving a lot of furniture that I'd caused last night - an accident, of course, but Dad didn't care. I hadn't gotten any dinner.

"Pick up your trunk, we're apparating." My father pushed a hand through his hair. "The other kids have already left. You should have gotten ready faster and gone with them."

"Sorry, Dad."

Yep, he sure was in a bad mood today. In all honesty, I couldn't wait to get away from him and back to school. At least there I had people I could talk to without having to apologise every five seconds.

I grabbed the handle of my trunk with both hands, and tried to lift it. It didn't work.

Dad groaned. "I'll take it."

He snatched it up like it didn't weigh any more than a piece of fruit. There's really nothing like having an extra-strong dad as big as a mountain when you yourself look like a toothpick that grew legs. Really makes you feel great about yourself.

"Why don't you eat more? I swear you've gotten smaller over the holidays."

"Well, it really does help when I'm not allowed to have dinner," I said. "I can just feel all those extra kilograms attaching themselves to me."

"Hiccup?"

"Yeah?"

"Be quiet."

I closed my mouth and looked at the ground. Dad grabbed my arm, and sighed as if apparating with me to the station was a massive waste of his valuable time. Well, it probably was.

"Brace yourself."

I gritted my teeth in anticipation for the impact of arrival, which came nearly immediately after only a second of the floating sensation.

We hit the ground with a thud, the air around us suddenly filled with chattering and sunlight. My shins hurt a little, but I ignored it. I was getting too excited to think about pain - I was going to see my friends again! There were butterflies in my stomach, maybe excited or maybe nervous, as Dad let go of my arm.

I looked at him, and smiled awkwardly when I saw he was already looking down at me.

"Well, I'll be off," he said. He was going already? Didn't he want to meet my friends and their parents, or see the Hogwarts Express? I had so much I wanted to show him.

I didn't protest, however, and instead just frowned slightly. "Yeah... bye, Dad."

My father gave me a stern look. "Now, don't be a nuisance; if I get any sort of letter from school, you are in serious trouble. Understand?"

"Yes, Dad."

"And... You're in second year now, aren't you? That means you can get onto the Quidditch team. Do that."

"Quidditch? B-but, Dad-!"

"And for the gods' sakes, don't have any disasters like the one yesterday. I want you home all in one piece. Get it?"

"Yeah..." I took the trunk from him. "But Dad, you know what happened yesterday was an accident, right?"

"I'll see you next year." He turned away. "Goodbye."

"Wait, next year?! What about Christmas?"

"Look Hiccup, if the school is willing to keep you over Christmas, there's no way I'm going to turn down the offer. Now go and... find your friends or something. I'll see you."

I opened my mouth, but Dad had already disapparated. I sighed.

"Hiccup!"

My head jerked upwards at the yell. It was Merida, running towards me, or at least trying to. Her trunk and owl cage weighing her down and got in the way as she barged through the crowd. I felt a sudden smile tugging at my mouth. Gods, I hadn't realised how much I'd missed my friends. Just seeing Merida's grin and wild hair made me want to cry with relief.

"I was the first one here!" she said, slowing down. Her accent sounded a lot like my dad's – something which I hadn't failed to notice before. "You witnessed it, so now you can back me up when Overland arrives!"

I laughed. "What do you mean?"

Merida let her trunk fall to the ground. "Me and Jack - we were having a competition to see who'd get here first. And I've won, and he can't argue. Anyway! How was your summer?"

"It was... good," I said. And it had been good, apart from the obvious problems between me and my father. I mean, for all the previous summers in my life I hadn't even been recognised as a wizard. This one had certainly been a step up. I'd even had two whole conversations with Astrid!

"I was going to owl you all," Merida said. "But Sova didn't want to leave me, so the only letters I wrote were replies. But I really wanted to tell you all something!"

"What?"

Merida hesitated. "Maybe I should wait for everyone else to get here..."

"Oh, come on!"

She smiled. "Yeah, I guess it wouldn't hurt. Um... I'm a sister!"

My eyes widened. "Really? What's its name?"

Merida laughed. "I think you mean 'what are their names. They're triplets!"

"Triplets?"

We both turned around to face the new voice, which turned out to be Jack. He was taller than last year, a fact which made me turn around to check if Merida had grown. She hadn't, although she was still slightly taller than me like last year.

Jack spoke again. "Damn it! I wish I had triplet brothers!"

Merida raised an eyebrow. "When did I say anything about them being boys?"

"Oh... Right." Jack cleared his throat. "Sisters, then."

"Actually, no, they are boys," Merida responded. "I just never said anything about it. Oh, and I definitely beat you to the station."

Jack acted as if he hadn't heard her. "So anyway, how are you guys? I thought maybe everyone would have grown, but apparently that was just me. You guys are still the midgety eleven-year-olds you were last year."

"I am not a midget!" said Merida. Jack grinned and straightened his back right up, drawing attention to the fact that he was about a head taller than her.

She whacked him with her hand. "I'll have you know that I'm the oldest of the five of us!"

"And the shortest- ow!"

"Will you guys shut up?" I said. "We need to look out for Elsa and Rapunzel."

To my surprise, Merida and Jack quieted down instantly. The other two didn't seem to be anywhere in sight, however, so we stood in silence as we glanced around the station. After several minutes had passed, I could tell the other two were getting bored, as they were starting to fidget and fiddle with their clothes.

"Hiccup, do you like Elsa?" Merida asked me, seemingly out of nowhere.

"What? Yeah, of course I-" I gasped, suddenly realising what she meant. "OH. No, not- not like that."

"Right," said Merida, though she was smiling and Jack was near laughter.

"I'm serious! We're friends, but we're not-"

"Hey, Hiccup."

I knew who had spoken the instant the first syllable came out of their mouth, but that didn't stop me from snapping my head around fast as humanly possible.

"Astrid!"

She gave one of those famous half-smirk smiles. "You got here fast. Did you apparate with Stoick?"

I saw Jack mouthing "Stoick?" to Merida out of the corner of my eye, but I chose to ignore them.

"Uh, yeah, I did."

"That explains it. He didn't stay for very long did he?"

"No..."

Astrid looked as if she was going to say more, but was cut off by Snotlout yelling from a distance.

"Astrid, hurry up, we're getting a compartment now."

She rolled her eyes as she walked away.

"See you!"

I stared after her for a split second, and only looked away because Merida made a badly stifled cackling noise.

"What?"

"So you don't like like Elsa, but you definitely like Astrid, don't you?"

I flushed. "Well, ye- I mean... no, not- not really... b-but it's not like I don't like her, I mean-"

"Oh, I think you do," said Jack smirking. "Just wait till I tell Naveen and Flynn."

I gasped. "Don't you dare!"

"So you do like her!"

"I never said that!"

"You implied it!"

"Who likes who?"

It was Rapunzel, a mischievous smile on her face. She was standing with Elsa, both of whom were clutching trunks and their respective pets in their hands. I suddenly remembered that she had brown hair now. I'd been picturing her with it blonde for most of the summer.

"No one likes anyone," I said quickly. "And I especially don't like Jack and Merida."

Rapunzel laughed. "Okay then! But anyway - it's great to see you all again! Did you all have a good summer?"

"Yep," said Elsa, sarcastically under her breath.

Rapunzel sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know you didn't. Just let the rest of us enjoy ours, please."

Rapunzel continued talking to Jack and Merida about summer, so I walked closer over to Elsa. She had grown as well, I noted disappointedly. Still, I was more than relieved to see her again, and had to make a conscious effort not to start laughing or crying, or perhaps both.

"Why was your summer bad?" I asked.

She wiped her fringe out of her eyes. I noticed that she seemed to be sort of red in the face.

"It was too hot all the time," she said. I raised an eyebrow.

"It's because of the ice thing," she explained. "I can tolerate colder temperatures than normal because of it, but that also means the heat really affects me. It gets worse as I get older, too - I was way better last year. It's like a double puberty."

I laughed.

"What's this about double puberty?" Jack asked from over in his conversation.

I groaned, and Merida spoke so Elsa didn't have to.

"I have no idea, but if she's talking about puberty, it's probably none of your goddamn business."

"Well why was she talking to Hiccup, then? He's a boy too. Unless he's actually-"

"It has nothing to do with him being a boy," said Elsa exasperatedly. "It's because he's a more decent human being than you. And we weren't even talking about that, anyway!"

"So then why did you-"

"Okay, maybe just stop?" Rapunzel said. "Let's get a compartment on the train. There's only ten minutes till it leaves."

This was a good point, and I noticed already that there were a lot less people on the platform than there had been before.

After searching for an empty compartment with disappointing luck, we decided that we would have to split up in order to fit into any of the available rooms.

Merida refused to go anywhere with Jack, which led to a very loud argument that I didn't want to take part in. Instead, I stared off into middle distance, thinking about Hogwarts. Last year I'd known that I didn't want to go home, and this summer I'd known I'd wanted to go back to school as soon as possible. But I hadn't realised just how strong that feeling was. The atmosphere of all the other students in their uniforms was almost too much for me to handle, let alone talking with my friends again.

"Okay then, fine!" Rapunzel's voice broke through my thoughts. "You don't have to go with Jack. Come with me and Elsa instead, and then the boys can go together."

"No!" Jack and I spoke with equal disgust.

Rapunzel groaned. "Does it really matter who you sit with? It's just a train ride!"

"Yeah, a six-hour train ride," Jack said. "Can I not?"

"Fine. You come with me, and then the others can go together. Any complaints?"

Rapunzel left no time for anyone to voice any complaints that they might have had. "Good. Sorted. Come on, Jack."

The two of them left, dragging their trunks along the skinny corridor.

Merida, Elsa and I eventually found a half-filled compartment and sat down awkwardly amongst a group of older kids. I was slightly nervous about that, but it turned out they didn't bother us at all, apart from introducing themselves.

There was a Slytherin girl - a prefect, she had said proudly - with tan skin and wearing a curious headscarf thing, green to match her robes. Her name was Jasmine. Another Slytherin, a boy about the same age as Jasmine, introduced himself as Aladdin.

There were a couple of others, though none of them were in Ravenclaw, so I didn't know them.

Hours passed, and the sky faded from blue to grey to deep indigo. Once again I got that weird feeling - the one that made me so happy that I felt like sobbing with relief - in anticipation of arriving back at school. Elsa, Merida and I kept to ourselves for the majority of the trip, reading and drawing and staring out at the fields and forests flying by. There was a small conversation between us and the older kids, which took place just before we arrived at the station.

"Elsa?" asked Merida. "Do you know who'll be taking us for Defence Against the Dark Arts now that Gothel's dead?"

"No idea," Elsa replied.

"I know."

The three of us looked at the person who had spoken. It was a Hufflepuff seventh year, a girl with extraordinarily red hair.

The girl continued. "The new teacher is called Professor Smee. I talked to him on the way in; he's kind of little and fat."

Merida nodded. "Is he nice?"

"Yeah. A bit scatterbrained, but that's way better than Gothel, at any rate."

"Well, wouldn't anyone be better than murderous kidnapper who works for Pitch?" I asked.

The girl laughed. "That's true."

During the conversation, I had noticed that the train had fallen out of its normal rhythm. It was slowing.

I waited until I felt the very last jolt of the brakes being applied before I got up. I couldn't help grinning as we stepped off the carriage and into the crowd of chattering students. The sky was nearly fully dark now, and I sucked in a breath when I looked up at it. It was a rich blue, strewn with clusters of stars. On Berk, I rarely saw the stars since the sky was usually obscured by clouds, so they made everything all the more magical.

A shiver went up my spine, and I noticed that the air was a lot colder than it had been back in London. I automatically thought of Elsa and her hatred of hot weather, and turned to her. She was smiling.

"Is it cold enough for you?" I asked.

She laughed. "Well, it's nothing like midwinter, but I guess it'd be your equivalent of a warm summer evening."

"First years over here!" A Germanic-sounding voice called out from some distance away. I recognised it as Oaken, the caretaker. I guess he was beckoning at the smallest people he could see, so I was included in the students he made eye contact with. I wasn't concentrating, and even took a few steps forward before Elsa grabbed my sleeve.

"You're not a first year anymore," she said, suppressing a giggle.

"But - let me guess - I look like one?" I said. "Yeah, very original."

Speaking of first year, I was having some serious throwbacks to this time last year. Gods, I'd barely known anyone back then. I'd been on a boat with Elsa and two boys who I didn't know at that point, though now I knew as Tadashi and Wasabi.

"So then where do the second years go?" Elsa asked, half to herself. I had no answer, and instead looked around for someone who looked like they did.

"Are you two lost?"

Belle! Oh, thank gods! She was one of our Ravenclaw prefects from last year. She'd know what to do.

"Just a little," I said, pulling my robes tight around me as another shiver went through my body.

Belle smiled warmly. "See those carriages over there?"

I squinted at where she pointed, and sure enough, spotted a bunch of carriages just along a path. I nodded.

"We just get on those, and they drive right up to the castle."

We began walking down a path, possibly the same one we'd taken to the train at the end of last year. As we neared them, I noticed something odd. The carriages didn't seem to be attached to anything. Where there might have been a horse, or a donkey, or something, there was just empty ground.

Or at least I thought it was just empty ground.

"What are those things pulling the carriages?" Elsa asked, as we climbed into one.

I gave the appropriate reaction, a bewildered expression accompanied by a nervous laugh. "What things now?"

Belle also reacted, though not at all in the way I expected. She gasped, and looked at Elsa with something that looked oddly like sympathy. "Oh, you poor thing."

"Why...? What do you mean?" she asked in confusion.

"They're called thestrals," Belle said. "I only know because I've read about them. I can't actually see them myself."

It was my turn to gasp. "Thestrals? The things you can only see if you've- oh."

"If you've what?" Elsa asked impatiently.

"If you've seen someone die," Belle said sadly. "So... you have, then?

"Yeah, last year," Elsa said. "Gothel."

"Of course!" Belle said, smacking her forehead. "But... wasn't Hiccup there too?"

"I was," I said, puzzled.

"You were under the confundus," Elsa said. "You didn't remember anything from the fight, including Gothel dying. We had to tell you about it afterwards."

"Right," I said as we bumped along the path, still annoyed that I couldn't see the thestrals. Still, maybe it was a good thing. It meant I hadn't watched anyone die, which was not really on my to-do list.

The carriages pulled up to Hogwarts castle, and after we'd gotten out, we were led into the Great Hall. I smiled at the familiar sight of the candlelit room, once again marvelling at the starry ceiling.

I sat down at the Ravenclaw table, Elsa on one side of me, and Jane from third year on the other. I suddenly remembered the new teacher, Professor Smee, and began looking for him up the front of the room.

I found him, matching the description that the red-haired Hufflepuff girl had given. He was indeed short and fat. In fact, he was probably wider than he was tall. I pointed him out to Elsa, and we began analysing everything he did and whispering about what we thought he'd be like. When we'd run out of ideas, we turned our attention to all the new first years getting sorted, and tried to guess their houses before the sorting hat called them out.

We were nowhere near as good at guessing them than a Hufflepuff might have been, but we still got a few right. After the feast began, I asked Elsa what house she would have guessed for me for our sorting last year.

"I don't know," she said, her mouth half full. "I mean, I'd seen you before in Flourish and Blotts, so I knew you liked reading. But I do remember thinking how little and scared you looked, so maybe Hufflepuff."

"Little and scared," I repeated. "Thanks."

Elsa rolled her eyes and said half-jokingly, "You keep denying the fact that you're smaller than everyone else, even though it's true. Just accept it!"

I shrugged. "It's kinda hard to 'just accept it' when your entire village, especially your one remaining parent doesn't."

Elsa immediately looked down at her plate. It was my own fault, really. I'd made the subject of my home life and my dad so awkward to bring up that now whenever I mentioned it, she felt embarrassed even when I didn't.

We ate in silence for a bit, thanks to me and my touchy subjects, until Elsa finally spoke up again.

"So... is everything okay? With your dad, I mean."

There was something in the way she spoke that made me think there was a little more to her question than a simple "how are you going?". Her expression, too, wasn't one of mild interest. She was worried. About me.

I set my fork down and looked her in the eyes. "What are you really asking?"

She flushed slightly. "I... Look, Hiccup. You've told me very few things about your dad, and the stuff that I have heard isn't looking great. Honestly, I'm concerned. Is everything... okay?"

"Everything's okay," I said. I meant it, too. I was completely fine. "I mean, yeah, dad doesn't particularly like me, but it's not like he - I don't know - locks me in a basement without food and water or anything. You don't need to worry about me."

Elsa looked unconvinced.

"If you say so," she sighed, and took a bite of her dinner.

We ate the rest of our dinner without talking, though I rather wished Elsa would say something else. I was worried that she didn't believe me about my dad, and that in itself worried me even more. Why would I be so nervous if nothing was wrong?

As soon as I'd left the Great Hall, Elsa and I were yanked aside by Merida.

I groaned. "Can it wait? I just want to go to bed."

"No!" Merida said, poking me. "The five of us need to talk."

We tried to get Jack and Rapunzel over next to us as well, and found an empty corner to talk in, but Jack didn't come with us. He wanted to hurry up and get to the Slytherin common room, although I couldn't imagine why. I'd never been to the Slytherin common room myself (obviously), but apparently it was in the dungeons and were dark and scary. When I compared it to the breezy Ravenclaw common room, I couldn't help wondering why anyone would find it comfortable or consider it a second home.

"What is it, Merida?" asked Rapunzel, once the four of us had gathered together.

"Well," Merida grinned. "Hiccup, and Jack too actually, already know this, but you two don't."

"Oh, right," I said, smiling knowingly.

"What?!" Rapunzel asked impatiently.

Merida paused just long enough to aggravate the other two girls, and then finally gave in. "My mum had triplets!"

"Oh my gosh!" Rapunzel spoke so loudly that a couple of teachers looked our direction. She immediately lowered her voice, but the grin never left her face as she grabbed onto Merida's sleeves. "Triplets! That is so cool! What are their names? How old are they? What do they look like?"

Merida took a step back, her hands up.

"Calm down!" she said. "They're all boys, and are called Hubert, Harris, and Hamish. They're about two months old, I think, and they've all got little wisps of red hair, just like me and dad."

Merida grinned especially at the last part. "Mum was sort of annoyed about the hair. I mean, she's had four kids, and all of them look like dad!"

"I remember my mum saying the same thing," Elsa said. "I got blonde hair from my powers, and then Anna got red from my dad and his parents, but nobody had brown hair."

"My parents were actually kind of happy when my hair got cut last year," said Rapunzel. "You know how I was worried that they'd freak out? Turns out they really liked it, since they'd been two brown-haired parents wandering around with a blonde daughter for eleven years."

I smiled to myself, but refrained from joining the hair colour discussion. I assumed I'd gotten brown hair from Mum, but since Dad never talked about her I couldn't really know for sure. Elsa saw me staring into middle distance, but did nothing except give a sympathetic smile as the three of them kept talking. She knew I wouldn't want any attention brought to myself. Rapunzel on the other hand, caught sight of me, and I could just tell she was about to make a big fuss out of it. But, thank gods, I was saved by a Gryffindor boy butting into our conversation.

"Hey, were you the ones who killed Gothel last year?"
The boy, who was in second year with us, had hair as bright as Merida's and was standing with hands on his hips. I couldn't remember his name… Percy, maybe?

Merida turned around. "Yes, we are. Well, Jack was the one who actually killed her, but he's not here. We helped, though. I smashed he mirror that he stabbed her with."

The boy nodded, smirking. "Yeah, I thought it was you guys. Now, I had a question-"

"The mirror shard the she got stabbed with was really sharp. Went right into her flesh, it did. There was blood everywhere."

Elsa, Rapunzel, and I looked at our friend confusedly. Why was she telling him this?

The boy gave a puzzled laugh. "Okay… But anyway-"

"Blood all over the place. All over her clothes, splattered around the walls, there was just blood. And as the mirror went into her heart, you could hear this squelching noise! And then as she fell to the ground, her eyes rolled back and all you could see was the white bits."

I felt rather sick at this detailed description, and I assumed that Merida was trying to make the boy feel the same. To scare him off, perhaps. But the boy, though confused, didn't seem squeamish at all.

He tried again. "So anyway-"

Merida gave an over-the-top groan. "Oh my God, take a hint! Go away!"

She started to turn back around to us, but the boy grabbed her shoulder to stop her.

Rapunzel stifled a laugh, knowing what was about to happen. Sure enough, Merida clenched her hands into fists, and within moments the boy found himself sprawling across the ground. I winced sympathetically, though he really should have expected it. This was Merida he was dealing with, after all.

Then, to my surprise, he sprung lightly back to his feet. He smiled wickedly. "So you're not going to let me talk, then? Why don't you try fighting me instead?"

As he finished his last sentence, he kicked out, and landed a foot right in Merida's stomach. She took a split second to recover, before getting up. She glared at the boy from under her red curls.

"Oh, I'll fight you, Pan!"

Elsa and I took a hasty step away as the two of them were suddenly at each other's throats, kicking and punching and gods know what else.

Rapunzel, always the peacemaker, tried to stop the two of them.

"Merida, stop! If you fight him, you're only stooping to his level! Merida-!"

It was no use. Rapunzel sighed, and watched them for a second before giving up and running to get a professor.

It didn't take long before she'd found a couple of teachers, and brought them over to break up the fight. One of them was Cogsworth, and while he was a good teacher, I definitely didn't want to get on his bad side. Evidently, Elsa felt the same way and grabbed my hand to pull me towards the stairs. I didn't glance back as we hurried up the first flight of stairs, and we only began to slow when we'd reached the door at the top of Ravenclaw tower. We paused for a second to catch our breath, so I took the opportunity to ask if Elsa knew who the boy was.

She nodded. "Yeah. He's called Peter Pan. I don't know that much about him, but apparently he's really good at Quidditch and is going to try out for the school team. We're old enough now, you know."

"I know."

"So… do you think you'll try out?"

"What do you think? Although-" I groaned. "Dad wanted me to get in. I'll probably have to go, and just make a complete fool of myself."

"Well, you could just lie to him."

I gave her a look. "Are you kidding? I'm a terrible liar."

Elsa shrugged, then turned towards the door. The bronze eagle stared down at us, asking a riddle as soon as I knocked on it.

"What can you catch, but not throw?"

I looked at Elsa, too tired to try and work out the answer. Luckily, she was slightly more awake than me, and spoke for both of us. "A cold."

The door opened, and I found myself smiling as I looked around our common room. It certainly was a sight for sore eyes, though I barely stayed there long enough to properly appreciate it. All I wanted to do was to get up to my room as fast as possible. My dorm, that is. I kind of thought of it as my room now, even more so than my actual bedroom back on Berk.

I said a quick goodnight to Elsa, and then went up to the first – second – year boys' dorm. Wasabi was there, already in his pyjamas and reading in bed. I got changed as well, but skipped the reading step to go straight to sleep.

It barely took any time for me to drift off, but I still had time to think as I did so. What had Peter wanted ask Merida? Why come to us? What made us so special?