The Results

In the two days between the Third Task and the end of term the news about the appearance of the Dark Council began to spread like wildfire as the Guardians contacted the Ministry and the Daily Prophet to warn them of the oncoming threat. Meanwhile the six were sent to St Mungo's to deal with the injuries they had sustained during the attack.

Jack had escaped with only minor cuts and bruises from Pitch's spells which were healed overnight with ease while Hiccup had to wait an additional few hours with an foul smelling orange paste rubbed into a large burn he had received on his left shoulder, it would usually have been easier to heal but the dragon flame made the wound slightly harder to heal.

At first the healers at the hospital believed Merida would quickly make a full recovery but were surprised again and again as the cut that Mordu had left on her arm refused to heal from any magical remedy. Fred, however, was even worse off.

'I'm sorry but there is nothing we can do to restore your eye,' a nurse had told him and Merida after the first night. 'These are cursed wounds and won't heal. They'll be like the scars an unturned werewolf will leave if they scratch you. I'm sorry but we can't do more.'

'It's alright,' Fred said with slightly forced cheeriness as he scratched at the skin around his new eye-patch which concealed the damaged socket beneath, 'At least my eye match's my dad's ear. Now all we need to do is curse mum's nose and Roxanne's mouth off and we'll have the whole set.'

Laughing slightly, Merida told Fred, 'The eye-patch suits you. Ye look like a real warrior,' before kissing him on the cheek.

Rapunzel and Flynn had got off most lightly from their abduction by returning with only minor scratches from Gothel, which was a shame considering their subsequent fight with Jack fractured Rapunzel's arm and broke one of Flynn's ribs but otherwise they were unharmed and quickly healed. Even so, on the second night Flynn woke to see Rapunzel reading quietly in her bed, pulling lightly at her now shorter brown hair.

'Alright, what's the matter,' he said to her smoothly from his own bed, making her jump and turn to look at him.

'It's nothing,' Rapunzel said hurriedly but Flynn was a step ahead of her.

'No it's not. I can tell you're worried about something so spill it, what's the problem?'

Rapunzel hesitated a moment before sighing and saying, 'I should have been able to help you, all of you. If I hadn't lost my healing powers you wouldn't need to be lying here, Fred wouldn't have to wear an eye-patch for the rest of his life.'

'If anything that's my fault,' Flynn returned soothingly, 'After all I was the one who cut off your hair, and Fred doesn't blame you. If anything I think he's kind of enjoying the attention.'

Rapunzel laughed a little at that and soon she and Flynn had turned away from recent events and talked about anything else that grabbed their attention. When they finally turned their lights off and lay down to sleep an hour later Rapunzel felt marginally better but still something else nagged at her from the back of her mind.

It's not just about losing your healing powers is it? It's what it means, because without your powers you're no longer the Sun's Child and that means you aren't like the others anymore. You're don't share being special anymore.

'Shut up,' Rapunzel whispered back and the voice quieted.

On the second day of the six's time at St Mungos, after the group had been healed enough to return home, they were visited by the Guardians for the first time since their stay.

'We have come to arrangement,' North informed them as they all sat down.

'What arrangement?' Jack had asked worriedly as he looked from him to Professor Whittler.

'We've decided it's too dangerous for you and your families to remain in your homes over the holidays,' Toothiana said quickly, 'The Dark Council will be wary for a while but they won't stay like that, eventually they'll try to attack you again. So the Guardians have begun to set up safe houses around the country and we've planned with your parents to move you to the safest one we've got.'

'The new headquarters for the Guardians,' Bunnymund answered, 'we've just been discussing it with your parents and we all agree that it is the safest, most impregnable place there is right now.'

'Where?' Flynn asked with a touch of awe in his voice.

'Dunbroch castle,' Fergus said as he leaned forward.

'My home? Why?' Merida had asked with disbelief.

'For a start, it's big enough to house all of ye,' Whittler acknowledged, 'The six of ye can share rooms up in the castle proper and yer families can stay in houses in the little village outside. Dunbroch castle was built ta be a near impregnable fortress that Black would have some trouble gettin' into, but it's even safer now thanks to you Merida.'

'Why me?'

'Ye released the powers of the True Queen durin' yer fight with Mordu, or at least ye've started to. The land that was ruled by yer family will now keep ye all safe as long as ye stay in the boundaries of the old Dunbroch territories. Any dark wizard who tries ta get ye while yer there will be thrown back out by the powers still in the land.'

'Nearly time to go,' North acknowledged as he looked up at the clock on the wall of the ward and began to search through the large pockets in his scarlet robes. Eventually he pulled out a small, wooden sphere from one of them with a triumphant noise before presenting it to Fred. 'A gift,' he said simply as the Guardians began to collect what little of the six's belongings they'd taken to the ward in preparation for travelling to the castle.

'What is it?' Merida asked as she craned around Fred to get a good look at the ball in Fred's hand. It was perfectly smooth and, knowing North's notorious skill for manufacturing magical items, perfectly round as well. It had been made from a dark wood that seemed to match the colour of Fred's wand and when Merida bent closer to look at it, the thing swivelled on its own in Fred's palm to stare directly back at her through the iris and pupil carved into its side which made her and Fred jump together.

'For your eye,' North pointed out, motioning to his own so Fred would get the point, 'I got idea from famous Auror Mad-Eye Moody.'

'Thanks professor,' Fred replied as he carefully examined the eye, 'I think I'll keep the eye-patch though, I don't want people to start calling me Mad-Eye Weasley.'

With that, Fred bent his head backwards, lifted his eye-patch with one hand and fitted the fake eye in with the other which made a disturbing popping noise as it went into place that made the others shudder. He sat back up and the others watched as his new eye swivelled in its socket, turning to each of them before the pupil disappeared into the back of Fred's head.

'Cool!' he said appreciatively as the eye fixed into place staring behind him, 'I can see everything, it even sees through the back of my head.'

'It must be easy for the thing considering your brain's too small to get in the way Mad-Eye,' Flynn joked as he flipped the eye-patch back down over the revolving fake.

Further Mayhem for the Ministry

The Ministry of Magic has yet again been stumped by another series of attacks throughout the country. Since the recent breakout from Azkaban that occurred on August 10th multiple attacks on both magical and muggle communities have been made more and more frequently across the country. Rumours have it that these attacks are being caused by a new group of dark wizards calling themselves the Dream Eaters and are supposedly led by three new dark lords, two of whom being named Mordu the Demon Bear and Mother Gothel while the third is the infamous dark wizard Pitch Black who himself escaped from Azkaban on…

Hiccup threw the newspaper away to one side of the bed with a sigh, every day it seemed that the Council was trying to gain ground or more supporters and still the Ministry was unable to stop them. He looked down at the sleeping figure of Jack beside him, the morning sun glinting off the boy's pale face and white hair as he slept, his bare chest rising slightly with every breath. Hiccup himself wore a pair of pyjamas as, even under a mess of blankets, Jack's body was cool to the touch and the added layer helped keep Hiccup comfortable at night.

He was about to snuggle back in with Jack for another half hour's rest when a loud popping made him sit bolt upright and startle Jack into consciousness.

'Huh, whazzit!' He half-mumbled, half-yelled in surprise as he tumbled out of bed to the laughter of the Fred and Flynn who had just apparated into their room.

'You know, just because you two can do magic now doesn't mean you can just pop into our room whenever you want,' Hiccup said peevishly as Jack struggled from the floor.

'I don't see why not, this is my room as well after all,' Flynn reminded him cheerfully. When the six had first moved into the Dunbroch castle they'd been paired into rooms by Elinor who ensured Merida and Rapunzel shared a room while Jack and Hiccup did not, she and Fergus weren't stupid after all. Unfortunately for them the arrangement hadn't lasted a single night thanks to Merida's power as the True Queen had given her a growing knowledge of the lands and the castle within them. This knowledge included a detailed understanding of the secret passages that allowed the six to switch bedrooms without anyone realising.

'Anyway, we were made to come and get you by the girls,' Fred added as Jack hastily found and pulled on his blue hoodie, 'Hogwarts letters have arrived, which included something important I think, but I can't quite remember…'

'Our OWLS results!' Hiccup said in horror as realisation dawned.

'Oh yeah, that was it,' Fred smirked as the two boys rushed out of the room before he and Flynn disapparated and reappeared in the dining hall beside Merida and Rapunzel to watch the boys running down the stone steps to meet them.

'Hurry up you two,' Flynn joked as they rushed to the table and grabbed their letters alongside Rapunzel and Merida.

There was a moment's pause as the four stared down at their envelopes before opening them slowly and pulling out the parchment that contained their OWLS marks. Nobody in the room spoke as the four read their results until Fred interrupted their silent detachment with a questioning 'Well?'

'Only failed Divination and History of Magic and who cares about them?' Merida said happily as she read the parchment over again, 'I even got an 'O' in Defence Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration!'

'That's brilliant!' Fred cheered along as he pulled her into a hug.

'Passes in everything but History of Magic and I got an 'O' in Defence Against the Dark Arts too,' Jack beamed as he proudly showed Hiccup his results, 'Look, I even got an 'Acceptable' in Herbology.'

'That's great,' Hiccup returned encouragingly.

'You're turn now,' Jack told him as he playfully snatched at Hiccup's parchment which was quickly held out of arm's length.

'Okay, okay already,' Hiccup laughed as Jack tried to stretch around him, 'It's the same as you, passes in everything but History of Magic, although I only got an 'E' in Defence Against the Dark Arts.'

'You got an 'O' in Care of Magical Creatures though, I can tell,' Jack continued.

'How did you know?' Hiccup asked incredulously as he finally let in and gave Jack his results.

'Because I've seen you in that class for the last three years,' Jack reminded him as he kissed Hiccup on the cheek, 'There was no way you were getting anything less.'

'How about you Rapunzel?' Merida asked,, turning to the girl who had her back slightly turned to the others as she read over her results again.

'Oh, you know, I did alright,' she said without turning around.

'Yeah right,' Flynn scoffed as he took the parchment from her hands before she could hide it. 'Yep, I knew it. 'Outstanding' in everything other than an 'E' in Defence Against the Dark Arts and Divination. I knew you'd do better than "alright".'

'Ye got 'Exceeds Expectations' in Divination,' Merida stated with surprise, 'How, I mean…how?'

'Well, you know, I just remembered all the reading techniques. As long as you do them right you get a good enough reading to pass,' Rapunzel explained in a slightly abashed tone.

'What is all this noise?' Elinor asked as she entered the room, looking disapprovingly at the messily stacked breakfast plates on the table which, after a moment, ordered themselves neatly out of sheer embarrassment. A moment later she spotted the group holding their pieces of parchment and realisation dawned on her face.

'Oh, let me see,' she said as she excitedly took Merida's results from her, ignoring an irritated cry of 'Mum!', and read them through quickly without looking up. 'Very well done,' she congratulated as she finished reading and pulled Merida into a large hug, 'I would have preferred ye get a better mark in History of Magic, I have tried ta help teach it to ye, but an 'O' in Transfiguration is nothing ta be unhappy about. I must tell yer father the good news, Fergus!'

With that she swept from the room to chase down Fergus, leaving the others standing around a little silently as they contemplated their results. Eventually Jack said, 'Well, I feel better.'

'Yeah, we're NEWT students now,' Hiccup agreed as he leaned into Jack for support as the pent up adrenalin that shot through his system at the mention of the results began to fade.

'You won't be feeling that way for long,' Fred told them as he put his arm round Merida, 'It's nothing but hell from here.'

'Yep, you've got nothing but long, painful hours of work ahead of you,' Flynn added cheerily as he leaned back in a chair.

'You're one to talk, this is your seventh year,' Rapunzel reminded him as she sat onto a chair and rested her feet on his legs, 'No matter how bad it is for us, it'll always be worse for you.'

Along with their results the six had also received their new book lists for the coming year which meant that Elinor was no longer able to postpone a trip to Diagon Alley and so, after breakfast on the following Saturday, the six were sitting around the dining hall table, all of them except Merida carrying a bag of coins to pay for their supplies, waiting for the arrival of the ministry car that would be driving them to London.

'But mum,' Merida protested on hearing the news, 'we're in Scotland; it'll take ages to drive ta Diagon Alley. Why can't we just use floo powder?'

'The floo networks bein' strictly regulated and the Leaky Cauldron has been taken off it for abusin' the new regulations,' her mother replied tersely, 'And the extra security is goin' ta meet us outside in Charing Cross anyway.'

'Security?' Merida asked back unbelievingly, 'The Dark Council's not goin' ta jump out at us from behind a shop mum.'

'They managed to get to ye at Hogwarts didn't they?' Elinor replied in an angry tone, 'If that's the way ye goin' ta think of yer own safety then maybe ye should stay home.'

'No, no. I want ta come,' Merida said hastily at the look in her mother's eyes. From then on she'd made sure she didn't say anything flippant about the Council while inside the Castle, even during the Saturday when they were all pilling into the ministry car. While it should have been impossible for a group of six students plus Elinor and Fergus to fit into a normal car, this one remained quite spacious with enough room for everyone to stretch themselves out comfortably.

'Here we are, sorry the traffic took so long,' the driver said half an hour after their departure as they pulled into Charing Cross road right outside the Leaky Cauldron. 'I'm to collect you as well, any idea how long that'll be?'

'An hour I think,' Elinor replied from her and Fergus's front seat which was the size of a sofa, 'Oh good, he's here.'

Mimicking Elinor, the six twisted around in their seats to look at the window at the figure standing in the doorway of the Leaky Cauldron. Hiccup's heart leapt at the sight of Gobber who was smiling cheerily at the muggle passers-by who were staring at him with undisguised horror. This was largely due to the fact that Gobber had taken his role as 'security' to heart and was sporting his detachable war axe in his socketed arm while his peg leg and stone tooth only added to his fearsome appearance, which was ruined slightly by the happy look on his face.

'Hello Hiccup,' he boomed, sweeping hiccup into a bone crushing one-armed hug the moment the boy stepped out of the car, 'I heard about yer OWLS, well done for Care of Magical Creatures. How's Toothless?'

'He's doing great,' Hiccup said, breathing heavily as Gobber let him back down, 'he's enjoying exploring the highlands, I have to keep making sure we won't accidently fly over a muggle village in case he goes down to explore it. How's dad doing without me to keep him out of trouble?'

'Aye, he's doin' well enough but he says it's too peaceful without ye and that wee dragon of yours causin' chaos every five minutes.'

'Will you lot all get in,' Dean, the barman of the Cauldron, hissed from the open door of the inn, 'You're making the muggles suspicious!'

Looking around the group realised he had a point, people across the street were all staring at them, specifically at Fred, Hiccup and Gobber who must have looked very strange together, with their unusual limbs and eye-patch. They all hurried in quickly and shut the door behind them to block the street from getting any better a look.

'Now that you're here I don't suppose a drink'll be out of the question,' Dean continued hopefully as he walked through the mostly empty inn, with a few minor exceptions sitting huddled over their glasses.

'Sorry Dean, Hogwarts business only,' Gobber returned firmly. Dean nodded disappointedly and let them through to the little courtyard in the back where Fergus raised his wand and tapped a few select bricks on the wall which opened to reveal the entrance to a winding cobbled street.

Diagon Alley had transformed from a once bustling, beautiful place with shops full of brightly coloured books and magical items to a more sombre atmosphere where the shop windows had been covered over with Ministry posters. The posters mainly had blown up versions of advice to the public concerning "Safety and Security" or were large black and white photos of criminals known to be working with the Council. There were many faces the six didn't recognize from the identification photos in the Daily Prophet and were probably a new batch of recently escaped criminals or confirmed allies only just discovered. Pitch Black's face, all cunning and disdain, was hung from the window of Flourish and Blotts and smiled down at the group as they went inside, leaving Gobber standing guard at the door.

Usually inside Flourish and Blotts there was a large commotion as people and students tried to grab the books they were after before they went out of stock. Now, however, the small crowd of people currently in the shop moved slowly around, sticking in groups as if they feared an attack at any moment.

'This is what it was like durin' the Second Wizardin' War,' Fergus muttered to the others as they walked over to the shelves to find the right books. Fergus and Elinor disappeared into one aisle of shelves to search for a book that Elinor had been meaning to get herself, leaving the six to gather their textbooks on their own.

'Well, well. I didn't think I'd see you lot here. I thought you'd all be cowering in some hidden shack somewhere,' a smooth and immediately recognisable voice said behind them.

'Oh good, glad to see you're here Mulcaster,' Rapunzel sighed without turning, focusing instead on an interesting book that she had pulled from the shelves.

Mulcaster, accompanied by a few cronies who stood slightly back from him, glared angrily at the back of Rapunzel's head and her unrecognisable short, brown hair. 'Now I get why you didn't want us to cut your stupid hair when we offered you,' he sneered disdainfully, 'you didn't want to walk around with a hair colour that matched your mudblood status did you?'

Merida, Jack and Fred turned immediately, pulling out their wands and pointing them, alongside Jack's staff, squarely at Mulcaster's chest while Flynn, Hiccup and Rapunzel drew theirs in readiness.

'You take that back Mulcaster,' Merida spat angrily as Mulcaster's cronies began to pull out their wands while Mulcaster stood motionlessly.

'Oh dear, are you really going to stun me little Gryffindor,' Mulcaster chuckled in what the six were sure he thought was an intellectual manner, 'I didn't think you'd be so willing to get expelled.'

'I still have permission to use magic outside school,' Jack told Mulcaster gruffly as he gripped the whit handle of his staff tightly. 'The Ministry never took it away when I joined Hogwarts.'

'You wouldn't want to go and do anything you'd regret Jack, jinxing your captain would definitely lead to your expulsion from the team,' Mulcaster laughed as he revealed a pin attached to the side of his black coat decorated in green and silver with the image of a snake in the centre, a quidditch captain badge. Jack stared furiously at the badge for a moment before reluctantly pulling back his staff and spinning it nonchalantly onto his shoulder.

'Alright, you've made your point, you can buzz off now,' he said through gritted teeth as the other relaxed their grip on their wands, understanding Jack's forced situation and loathing it as much as him.

'You've had a pretty easy time in Hogwarts,' Mulcaster gloated at all of them, 'It's a good thing times are changing, soon you'll get to learn what the real world is like.'

With that, Mulcaster and his mates strutted off, grins of victory lighting their faces and leaving the six to glower at their backs before turning angrily back to their textbooks. After they had all gathered the necessary books they headed back out to the main part of the shop and found Elinor and Fergus already at the counter, buying their own stack of items. The group hurried over to join them and soon they were all heading out of the shop again.

'What on Earth was takin' ye all so long?' Elinor asked curiously as they hefted the full bags between them.

'Oh, nothing,' Hiccup replied calmly as he squeezed Jack's hand reassuringly, 'we just got a little lost in the book stacks is all.'

'It wouldn't have anythin' ta do with Craven Mulcaster and his boy lookin' smug as they passed us would it?' Fergus asked pointedly as he peered behind him at the teenagers.

'They always look smug,' Jack reminded him with a grim look on his face, 'Although sometimes I think they're just constipated and trying not to show it.'

They made their back through Diagon Alley, past a couple of boarded up windows of shops where the owners had either gone missing or simply left out of fear. As they re-entered the Leaky Cauldron they noticed that all except Dean had left, leaving the inn as empty and hollow as Diagon Alley now felt.

The Hogwarts Express rocked gently as it swept across the open fields under the strong mid-day sun. The six had managed to squeeze themselves into a single carriage and were lounging along the seats. They'd run out of things to talk about unusually early on, although they blamed that on the fact that they had spent the whole summer together and so had spent far more time in each other's company than usual, now they sat in companionable silence together as they drifted in their own thoughts.

Merida and Flynn were resting their heads together and half-drowsing, half-thinking, Merida's hair providing enough cushioning for the both of them. In her drowsy thoughts Merida wondered about what they were going to do in the oncoming war, as it seemed pretty clear that there was going to be one if it hadn't started already. The question that was most prominent in her mind was, should she and the other tell Fred and Flynn the whole truth about them? The prophecy? Their unique gifts? Everything? She didn't want to risk Fred getting hurt from learning the truth, but she didn't want to keep it in the dark either.

Rapunzel leaned against the window as Flynn slept dreamily beside her, resting her forehead on the cool surface of the glass Rapunzel thought about seeing Mulcaster and his father on the platform before getting on. Although she had barely ever seen the man except in brief flashes at Platform 9 ¾ like that Rapunzel recognized Craven Mulcaster immediately. She had seen his face repeatedly in those strange dreams she'd had that seemed to have some basis in reality, or at least used to have before her hair had been cut. What was strange was, even though they were only dreams, Rapunzel couldn't help but distrust Craven Mulcaster, as if her dreams where real images of him working for the Council. But still, there was that dream about the witch who went missing…

Jack and Hiccup sat, their fingers knotted loosely together as they let their foreheads rest gently against one another.

'How are you feeling?' Hiccup whispered so as not to disturb the others.

'Pretty good,' Jack grinned back, 'At least the Quidditch season is back on this year.'

'How are you feeling about that?' Hiccup asked with concern.

'Mulcaster can threaten me all he wants, the others won't let him kick me off without forcing him to resign first. What do you think he meant when he said times were changing?'

'Either he's picked up a newspaper in the last few weeks or he's just learned how to tell the time. It's a good bet either way,' Hiccup joked which made Jack laugh happily.

'Oh man,' he said, still laughing, 'I think I love you.'

'I love you too,' Hiccup whispered back before kissing him happily.

'Oy you two, no public displays of affection in close quarters,' Merida's voice rang over the quiet stupor, making them all laugh.

I'm back! :)

Sorry it's been such a long break, the Christmas holiday was very busy and I had a bit of writer's block, but we're rolling on again now.

Anyway, hope you guys had a good Christmas and I hope you like the chapter.

Until next time, have a good week :D