Jack twirled his staff, casting the summoning spell for his wand before leading the group to Stormfly.
Almost everyone jumped when Jack revealed the tamed dragon. All but Camicazi. She went up to the dragon and scratched it under its chin. The dragon purred and fell over.
"J … Jack, that's a dragon," Emma stuttered.
"Yep. But don't worry. She's quite tame. My friends trained her. My friend … my friend is in trouble," Jack said, remembering Hiccup. "Hiccup was kidnapped by Vikings. I need to go after him. Stormfly can take you home."
"Hold on. If the Hooligan tribe is in trouble, I ought to help," Camicazi insisted. "We're allies now, aren't we?"
"Okay, you can come with me on my broom." Jack held out his staff.
"I hate to tell you, but that's not a broom," Flynn said.
"Well, it used to be," Jack said with a laugh.
"I'm scared of the dragon," Emma said. "Please don't make me ride it."
Jack was about to respond to his sister when the pain shot up his leg again. Jack winced and would have fallen to his knees if Flynn hadn't caught him.
"Hey, that doesn't look so good," Flynn said. He knelt down and rolled up Jack's pant leg.
"I … I'm fine," Jack replied weakly. "Ice doesn't hurt me."
"This doesn't look fine," Kristoff said, kneeling next to him, "but I think Grand Pabbie can fix it. I've seen him do it before."
"It's okay," Jack said, standing on wobbly legs. "I have a friend who's a really good healer. If I can get to her … "
"You don't need Grand Pabbie for this," the little troll said touching Jack's leg. "Heads and hearts are too complicated for most of us trolls but even I can remove the magic from his leg."
The little troll waved his arms and Jack could feel the magic seeping out. Instantly he felt better. Jack jumped up doing a flip in the air.
"Okay, I'm all good. Thanks kid. Now, to find my friends."
"I wanna go with you," Emma protested. "What if the shadow man comes back?"
"The shadow man? Pitch Black?" Jack asked. Emma nodded.
"Okay," Jack consented. "You're coming with me. I won't let him get you again."
He didn't really want to take his sister to go fight Vikings but he also couldn't leave her alone. And if she was scared of the dragons, her fear might draw Pitch right to her. Jack noticed he seemed to pop up whenever he was afraid. Unfortunately, controlling the fear was a lot easier said than done.
"I'd love to go get Pitch with you," Flynn said, "but I've got my own problems. That sleeping spell on the Stabbingtons is gonna wear off soon. It's probably best if I'm there when they wake up. And Kristoff, this is probably a great time for you to steal your stuff back. Take Rocky and get out of here."
"On it," Kristoff agreed. The two men, the reindeer and the troll left. Camicazi climbed onto Stormfly.
"I am not getting on that dragon," John said, backing away.
"You walked out on us," Jack said coldly. "If you don't want a lift on a dragon, enjoy walking back."
Reluctantly, John climbed on behind Camicazi. The dragon and Jack took off, heading out away from the woods, toward the Archipelago. Camicazi led the way.
"Mom! Dad!" Heather said, looking down on her parents. The muggles looked terrified, but no worse for the wear. Astrid was taking them on a raft to another island.
Heather wanted to descend right there, but the muggle boys she was with wouldn't hear of it. Instead, the two wizard students peeled back on their brooms, while Heather and the boys threw the special cloak over themselves. Earlier, the little Slytherin girl, Iolanthe, and the Gryffindor boy, Todd, had cast an expanding spell so it would cover all of the muggles.
Cloaked, the four teenagers sailed over Outcast Island. At first, Heather thought everything looked good. Maybe they hadn't needed to come. But then, Hiccup dove after Alvin, and became ensnared in a net.
Heather and the muggle boys went after him. It took Heather a minute to realize the Vikings couldn't see them. They'd been flying on Thestrals with Merida's invisibility cloak spread between them. When they landed over Hiccup, it must have looked to the Vikings as though he'd disappeared.
"What just happened?" Alvin asked. The muggle boys wasted no time cutting through the net binding Hiccup and, once he was free, he jumped back on Toothless and the five humans and their mounts took off. The other two witch students had gathered the others and led them to the island Heather's parents were on. Once there, Heather was quick to reconnect with her parents as they all caught their breath from the harrowing adventure.
"Sorry I didn't believe you," Astrid said coming over to her.
"It's okay," Heather said softly. "I'm sorry I had to betray you."
"Next time you're in trouble," Hiccup said, "come to us first. We'd have helped you if we knew."
"Wow, you guys really aren't half bad, are you?" Heather said. "And here I was thinking all wizards are evil and all."
"Not all wizards are bad," Hiccup said. "Just like not all dragons are bad, or not all ice elves … wait, where's Jack?"
The others looked around guiltily.
"He'd better be with Stormfly," Astrid said. She proceeded to tell Hiccup about how Rapunzel healed everyone and Jack went after Camicazi.
"We have to go help him," Hiccup said, climbing back on Toothless. He wobbled a little and almost fell off. Young MacGuffin caught him. Heather couldn't help but giggle as the muggle boy pushed him back up and straighten his hair.
"Uh, you don't look so good," Ruffnut says. "You look like Tuffnut in the mornings. Nobody should be that ugly."
"Yeah," Tuffnut agreed, then what his sister said registered, "Wait, what?"
"She's right," Fishlegs agreed. "You don't look so good."
"Maybe I should ..." Rapunzel offered.
"No. I ... I'm fine," Hiccup stammered, "but we need to go after Jack."
"Well, I'm for getting Stormfly back," Astrid said.
"We should vote on it," Merida proposed. "All in favor of rescuing Jack?"
Hiccup, Astrid, Rapunzel, the Slytherin girl, Merida and the three lords' sons raised their hands.
"All opposed?"
Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Todd and Snotlout raised their hands.
"They don't count, they're muggles," Snotlout said pointing to the lords' sons.
"If they don't count," Hiccup said, "then the score is tied. And who breaks a Viking tie?"
"Oh, I know!" Fishlegs said. "The chief!"
"Right. And the chief isn't here, which means I'm in charge, and I say we go after Jack," Hiccup said. "And anyway, the lords' sons do count. So it's not a tie in the first place."
"What about her?" Todd said, pointing to Heather who'd been staying out of it with her parents. "Well, which side are you on?"
Heather took a step back, "I … I don't want to get involved. I've caused you all so much trouble. And I'm sorry. But if it's all the same to you, now that my parents are rescued, I just want to go home."
Heather paused before adding, "Unless you want me to come back and stand trial for my crimes."
The Vikings glanced at one another. Hiccup shook his head. Astrid rolled her eyes.
"Okay," Astrid said, "you can go. And if you get into trouble again, come to us right away."
"I will, I promise," Heather said, hugging her. Hiccup quickly assembled the others and they took off into the night sky. She waited until they were out of sight before she turned back to her parents.
"Alright, Alvin!" Heather called out. "You got what you wanted. Now let us go!"
From the shadows stepped the Berk Viking known as Mildew, "Good job, Heather. But you're not quite free yet. First, these two 'ave ta spill the beans about what they learned."
"Then take us to Alvin," Heather said, giving her parents a worried glance. She didn't know much about this magic stuff, but she was sure only Alvin could undo the imperious curse he'd placed on them. Hopefully, once they told, Alvin would let the three of them go.
John stared at the boy as he did loop-de-loops with his daughter. His daughter. He couldn't believe it. All these years, he'd been running from his son and wife, when all the time, he had a beautiful little girl to go back to.
Emma laughed in the wind as Jack lifted her up. John sighed happily. He wished he'd known who she was during their long imprisonment together. He could have used that time to connect with her. They'd spent many nights talking. She told him about her family and her village. About how she worshiped her big brother. But he never knew she meant the Burgess or Jack.
He, in turn, had told the girl about his wife and son, though he left out the part about abandoning them. He didn't know if he could ever live that down. At the time, he felt so justified.
Jack had pulled a particularly vicious prank that day that ended up spooking a horse which kicked over a lantern, nearly setting their cottage on fire. He'd been angry with the boy; he wanted to pull the child over his knee right then and there. But his wife convinced him not to. She convinced him that it had been an accident. That Jack never meant to spook the horse. John ultimately agreed with her.
He went drinking with some of his friends. That's where the troubles started. His friends talked about how odd his son was, and how weak he was for not disciplining the boy, and for letting his wife stand up to him like that. And the more he drank, the more he came to believe them. By the time he wobbled home, he was a wreck.
His friends had convinced him that his wife had cheated, which he now knew she had. He wanted to punish her for everything that Jack had ever done, for the way the villagers talked about their family. He wasn't thinking clearly. He struck her. And Jack struck back.
John didn't know exactly what happened. One minute he was yelling, the next Jack was up on the table, his eyes flashing blue instead of brown, and ice blew him out into the cold.
When he came to, he stumbled away from the cottage, and their town. After a week, he'd cooled off enough to realize what he'd done. But it was too late. He couldn't bear to face his wife again, and he was scared of what Jack would do. So he never came back. And then he wound up with the ice elves. Believing Jack to be a changeling, he demanded they hand over the real boy. And that's when they threw him in their prison, where he stayed alone until Emma found him.
As the small group crossed the ocean, John watched Jack play with his sister. The boy flew down towards the ocean so she could stick her hand in, then up through the clouds. The little girl giggled.
"I see them!" Camicazi shouted. In his excitement, Jack let go of Emma. John's heart pounded as she fell, but Jack was quick. He dove after the girl, catching her before she fell into the ocean.
Jack touched the waters and the waves froze, creating an island sized iceberg. Jack set Emma down on the ice. Camicazi landed next to her and Jack quickly dismounted.
"Are you alright?" John asked Emma, checking her as soon as he'd gotten off the dragon.
"I'm fine," Emma said. "I knew Jack would catch me. He always catches me."
"I won't let anything happen to you, I promise," Jack said with a smile. He then jumped up and flew alone towards what Camicazi had seen.
It was not long before he returned with three witches on brooms, five dragons being ridden by teenagers, and three teenagers just floating in mid-air.
A blonde girl with really, really long hair jumped off her dragon and ran up to hug Jack.
"Princess Rapunzel!" Emma shouted. The girl broke away from Jack.
"Hey," Rapunzel said, turning to the girl. "What are you doing out here?"
"Princess?" John couldn't help but ask. Sure. Jack had mentioned being friends with princesses when he told his story, but John figured it was an exaggeration. How could a peasant boy make friends with real princesses? The teenagers either didn't hear him or were ignoring him.
"Kidnapped by Pitch Black," Jack said. Rapunzel and the others gasped. They quickly exchanged stories, introduced each other and shuffled around, picking new mounts. The Viking girl, Astrid, wanted her dragon back, but there was only enough room for one extra person, and she picked Camicazi. John ended up agreeing to ride on the back of what Jack called a 'Thestral', which he assumed was an invisible horse as he couldn't see it. A dimwitted looking teenager, called Dingwall would be sitting in front of him. As everyone mounted their rides, Jack pulled him aside.
"I offered to let you come home with me and Emma because I think she could use a father and because I think Mother would like to have you around. But if you ever hurt them again, if you ever hit Mother or Emma, I will freeze you from the inside out, and this time, I'll know what I'm doing."
John smiled ruefully, "Emma is lucky that she has someone who loves her that much. Though I can't help but notice you didn't include yourself."
Jack gave a crooked smile, just as John remembered, "If you hit me … well, I'd probably deserve it."
With that, Jack jumped into the air and John climbed onto the invisible horse. Jack took his sister in his arms and led the group to the magic castle.
When they landed back at Hogwarts, they were hardly surprised to see the grounds were empty. The Guardians came running out of the school.
"Where is everyone?" Merida asked.
"We sent all the adults home," Tooth said. "Sorry things got out of hand like that. Pitch must have planned it. During the tournament, my fairies warned me that he was attacking Tooth Palace, and Santa's workshop. We figured Gothi could handle judging the tournament. We didn't know what was about to happen. We'd never have left otherwise."
"What about the other students?" Hiccup asked, dismounting Toothless.
"In their dorms. None of them felt like watching the rest of the tournament."
"I guess Hans won, huh?" Astrid asked.
"Actually … is still in arena," North said. "Never passed final challenge."
"He didn't pass?" Jack said, hope rising. "I don't suppose we could go back in to try and win?"
The Guardians and judges leaned in and had a small discussion. Finally, North spoke.
"Leaving arena should disqualify you … but since had good reason, and Hans is making no progress, we will allow. But must get selves back to arena."
"Not a problem," Jack and Astrid said. Astrid made Camicazi dismount and Jack set his sister down. Hiccup and Rapunzel passed around several spy glasses.
Jack and Astrid landed together in the wooded area of the desert they'd left what felt like eternities ago. Together they walked.
"Thanks," Astrid said after a bit, "for rescuing Stormfly."
"No sweat," Jack said. "I'm just glad I could stop Camicazi before war broke out."
"I know, we'll probably be doing damage control for the next few months … I see it."
Astrid ran ahead, Jack not far behind. In front of them was a locked trunk, and in front of that was an ornate mirror, and Prince Hans staring at his reflection.
"Hey," Jack called, but the prince ignored him. This couldn't just be because he was too focused on appearances. Astrid ran past him for the trunk, but Jack couldn't tear his eyes from the prince. He looked awful. His hair was dusty and windblown from the desert surrounding them. His face slightly stubbly, and his pale skin was raw from standing in the sun. He hunched over as he looked at the mirror. Clearly, he'd been standing there staring at his reflection for the past two days while Jack and Astrid went off on their rescue missions. If they hadn't come back, Hans might have wasted away staring at himself.
"What's so appealing about the mirror?" Jack asked, more to himself than to the other contestants. To his surprise, Hans answered.
"Can't you see it?" he said, his voice raw from disuse. "The mirror reflects the truth. It knows I'm going to be the best ruler in all the world. I will be better than all my brothers, than my father, than all who ever came before me."
Jack did not believe for an instant that that was true, but he could tell that the mirror had some deep enchantment on it. Wasn't Flynn looking for a special mirror when he infiltrated the castle around Christmas? Jack shook it off. It didn't matter. Flynn had a different quest now. Hans was stuck, and Astrid had the treasure. Or did she?
Jack turned back to the girl. She was banging the box with her axe, but it just bounced off. She tried the alohomora spell, the blasting spell, the fire spell, but nothing worked. She screamed into the air.
"WHY. WON'T. YOU. OPEN?!" she said, kicking it. Jack walked up. She didn't try to block him as he examined it. On the side of the trunk were three shaped keyholes. Jack had seen those shapes before.
He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out the crystallized flowers he'd received in the last two challenges.
"Where did you get those?" Astrid asked.
"From the Mountain Troll and a little girl," Jack said, putting them into the keyholes. They each fit perfectly, but a third was still missing. It might have been on the dragon that attacked him, Jack thought, but after a harrowing adventure, he didn't feel much like chasing after dragons. Jack put his hand on the empty space and willed it to frost over, in the exact shape of the missing piece. The lock clicked. The chest opened, and there stood the Tri-Wizard cup.
The group of students had quite a feast in the Great Hall after Jack Frost won the championship. They were all quite tired and hungry. After all, none of them had eaten in the past two days, so despite their small number, they all enjoyed the feast.
Because there were so few of them, they all chose to sit at the same table, rather than sitting along House lines. Hans had been pulled away from the mirror after Jack won. He didn't seem half as upset about losing as Merida thought he ought to be. He seemed more upset that he wasn't allowed to look in the mirror anymore. Rapunzel quickly dumped him, but he didn't seem terribly bothered by that either, swearing that the mirror had shown him that his destiny was to marry a princess. As long as he stayed out of Scotland and Corona, Merida was perfectly fine with that.
The nurse had checked everyone over, even the muggles, but came to the conclusion that they mostly just needed warm food and a good night's rest.
When the feast concluded, everyone felt ready to collapse, but the Guardians weren't done with them.
"May I have your attention everyone?" Headmaster Ombric called raising a glass. "I would like to commend your admirable heroics. I know you have had a long day, and that the path you have taken was not easy. Nor will the path going forward be easy. But you are proof that our plan succeeded. We set this tournament not to see which school is the best, but to show you how people of other cultures live. To encourage tolerance. With Pitch Black on the loose, differences can make people afraid. You saw what happened between your parents. But look at the lot of you. You, Vikings, Scots, wizards, muggles, ice elves, Durmstrangs, Hogwarts, Slytherins, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Gryffindors, all working together to help each other."
"That's why I won," Jack said to Merida, Todd, and Iolanthe as they were heading back to their dorms. "I helped the troll and the muggle, and they gave me the keys."
"Congrats," Merida said as she turned to go up to her dorm. "You proved you aren't the bigot I thought you were when we met."
"Hey, I still hate you, Gryffindor," Jack said as he and Iolanthe started down the stairs to the dungeon.
"And I you, Slytherin," Merida said with a smile. She started to follow Todd up her own staircase, then changed her mind. She turned and ran after Jack, giving him a big hug.
"I'm really glad you're not stuck in the Winter Woods. I can't imagine Hogwarts without you," Merida whispered. Jack smiled as Merida pulled away.
Jack, Hiccup and Stormfly had all been rescued, her mother healed. Sure, she was going to have to do some clean up regarding the Vikings, but for now she went to bed, happy that all her friends were safe.
Rapunzel quietly led the way for Emma and Jack's father. After Jack told them what Pitch had done to his sister, the Guardians swore to put a protection on Jack's town. But it was still too dangerous for the muggles to make the long journey home during the night. The Guardians had agreed that they should stay in the infirmary, and make the long journey home the next day. Merida had asked the lords' sons to escort them. The boys were staying at the Inn in Hogsmeade.
Emma kept staring at Rapunzel. Rapunzel nervously brushed back her hair.
She was glad the rest of Hogwarts was asleep. She didn't want to deal with them. What must they think of her hair? The lords' sons and Vikings hadn't made a big deal of it, but considering that they'd dealt with the Queen being turned into a bear and training dragons, they were used to weirdness. The rest of Hogwarts not so much.
Rapunzel hadn't seen anyone since her secret was revealed. How had they taken it? Did they want to cut it? To sell it? Mother Gothel was always saying that the world was a dark cruel place. That they would try to snuff out her light. So far she'd been lucky. None of the people who knew about her hair before ever tried to cut it and take it for themselves. But as Gothel said, it was only a matter of time.
"Well, here we are," Rapunzel said, stopping in the center of the room. She was glad to see none of the cots were occupied. "Pick any bed you like. I'll be in the inner room if you need anything."
Rapunzel left the duo and went down to face Mother Gothel. To her surprise, the woman was asleep. Above her head, a young woman made of sand danced. Sandman must have put everyone to sleep. Rapunzel heaved a sigh of relief. She'd have a little more time to think up an explanation. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she was a little more afraid of Gothel's reaction to her reveal than the rest of the school.
But that was a problem for tomorrow. For now, Rapunzel settled into bed, letting the sweet dreams envelop her.
A/N: Remember, the polls are only open until Thursday (which is when I get back from my vacation)
To the Guest who asked about shipping: At this time, I have no plans to write any 'shippy' works. I may add a few little nods here and there to some of the more popular ships, (I lean toward Jarida or Jeslsa as I don't like breaking up a canon pairing), but overall this is not a dating story and I have no plans for writing one, at this time.