Chapter XXXIX: New Friends, Old Friends
AUTHOUR'S NOTE: Notable fans get inserts. It's time for me to start putting in some human, fan-inspired OC's. It will give me something else to focus on other than the big five. Also, there have been a lot of questions as to whether or not Hiccup is going to lose his leg… WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU SICK, TWISTED, PEOPLE!?! Hiccup is rather attached to that leg! Alright, I do plan on hacking it off, but in a later year, so don't worry you bloodthirsty savages, you will see the day Hiccup deals with a slight dismemberment.
Pippa was excited that the sorting hat placed her in Gryffindor, and she sat down right next to her brother for the feast.
"See, Pippa, here we won't be going hungry, and the tables will be like this for every meal." Jack told her as he handed her some potatoes. Pippa piled her plate with all of the goodies within her reach and ate them with gusto until she stuffed herself.
"Whoa, take it easy, Lass, you'll be eating tomorrow, three large meals at that too." Merida told her.
"I'll pace myself tomorrow, but not today." She replied.
∫ µ ∫
"Wow, the white-haired prankster has a sister, who would've thought about that?" A boy sitting across from Hiccup said. His name was Ivan VonGrimm, and he was in the same year as Hiccup, Merida, Jack, Elsa, and Rapunzel. With brown hair and green eyes, he was a fairly handsome chap, with a talent for Herbology and Potions, like Rapunzel. Normally he was the quiet type, but he was good for earning several House Points per day.
"We've actually met her before, and she is a sweetie." Rapunzel replied while gesturing to Elsa and Hiccup.
"Is she at all like her mischievous brother?" Ivan asked.
"They're close, but she doesn't like to cause the trouble Jack does." Elsa replied.
"Ivan, I think that this is the longest conversation you've been in with us. What's that all about, why didn't you talk with us?" Rapunzel asked.
"You, Hiccup, Elsa, and those two Gryffindors you hang out with are in such a tight relationship that it's hard to get in on what's going on with you guys." He replied.
"Well you can start telling people that we're open to having some more friends." Rapunzel told him.
"She's right. Last year, we befriended the red-haired Slytherin talking with Hans and Gregor Isles over there. Her name is Ariel, and she's in Advanced Transfiguration with me." Hiccup stated.
"Alright, I'll spread the word… It may also help if you guys started sitting next to other people in classes, if you're comfortable with that." Ivan replied.
They continued on with their feast, but Elsa often caught glances of Hans Isles arguing between his older brother, Gregor, and Ariel over at the Slytherin table, no doubt they were re-hashing about the events that took place at the end of the previous year, where Ariel got fed up with him teasing her and turned him into a mermaid… and Gregor was taking Ariel's side.
"So, Rapunzel, I take it that Gothel has no idea what Iago told us." Hiccup whispered.
"If she does, then she didn't say or do anything to suggest that she knows. Do you guys really think that we can trust Iago?"
"Jafar did, and I don't think that bird is all that brave and noble. We threatened to hurt him and he spilled the beans right away." Hiccup replied.
"Still, I can't imagine Mother being sinister." Rapunzel stated.
Ω £ Ω
Up in the Gryffindor girls' dorm, Merida approached Iago's cage and told him: "Hello, I brought ye some fruit and nuts."
She filled his golden bowl with the fruit and nuts and stepped back as Iago gorged himself on the food. He soon wiped his beak with his wing and asked: "Would you mind letting me out tonight? If you keep feeding me like this I'll get too plump to fly."
"Aye, I should, but ye wouldn't want to cross paths with Toothless. He remembers who ye used to belong to and he's not accepting ye as one o' us yet." Merida told him.
"Good point. Good night, Merida." He replied.
"Good night, my pretty bird."
∫ µ ∫
Jack kissed his sister's head before he went to bed and told her where he would be if she needed him.
"Can I sit with you during breakfast in the morning?" Pippa asked.
"You can sit with me for all meals, unless I can't be there." Jack replied. He patted her shoulder and told her: "Now, go to your room and make a friend. I won't be there for your classes, and sometimes my friends and Quidditch practice takes up my free time, but I promise that I'll keep the fun going between the two of us."
He escorted Pippa to the bedroom and sent her inside, where some girls eagerly asked Pippa several questions about what they heard about her troublemaking brother. Her answers were met with both laughter and groans of annoyance, since Jack didn't like to spare anyone from his trickery.
Ω £ Ω
Morning brought the start of the new school year, and Hiccup's first class was Advanced Transfiguration with Maleficent and Ariel. He met up with Ariel in the halls, and they walked in together, only to take one look at Maleficent and then step back in surprise and confusion. Students took Maleficent as just a witch who happened to have horns on her head, but today, she donned a pair of dark feathered wings that were so large that they dragged behind her. When she met the eyes of her shocked students, she shuffled her wings and told Ariel and Hiccup: "Impressive, aren't they? Let me just say that I had a very eventful summer, and before I came to Hogwarts, I had a few dark periods in my past involving a commoner who became a king."
"Excuse me, but what are you now?" Hiccup asked.
"I am, and always will be, a fairy." Maleficent replied spreading her wings slightly. She gestured that they sit down and began her lesson, and although she could hear them thinking about how they wanted to hear the story of how she lost and regained her wings, she did not tell the story.
∫ µ ∫
Not long after the lessons, the five friends went out to the forest to catch up with Toothless and the dragons who've followed them to school. The Night Fury snarled at Merida, or rather the parrot perched on her shoulder.
"Calm yourself, Toothless, Iago is my friend." Merida told him. He settled down a little bit, but then he cast a glare at Hiccup.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Hiccup asked Toothless.
"They just told me that they had a great time spending the summer with their riders, while you and I were separated!" Toothless snarled.
"It's not safe for you on Berk! Every other Viking there would love to have the honor to mount your head on their wall as a hunting trophy. My own dad would love to most of all! Especially after what happened to my mother." Hiccup replied.
"What happened to her?" Jack asked.
"She was taken by dragons when I was a baby, and we believe that they killed her. I never knew her, but my dad sure misses her from time to time. So, it only makes him hate dragons even more. I'm sorry, Toothless, but you're better off here during the summer, until I can prove to my dad that dragons aren't mindless killing machines." Hiccup stated.
"What about what happened with the Red Death?" Toothless asked.
"He doesn't know what to think of it, but he has told me that he was ashamed that he didn't kill it." Hiccup replied. Toothless turned to pout behind one of Dagger's wings. Hiccup signed and told him: "I do miss you over the summer. The only dragon I had to talk to was a Deadly Nadder by the name of Stormfly, and she just insisted that I would be her Alpha."
"Whoa, you're a dragon's Alpha now?" Iago questioned.
"She insisted." Hiccup replied, making sure that he left out the fact that Stormfly was Berk's guard dragon. Iago flapped over to Hiccup's shoulder and told him: "It's power like that Jafar and his Master are after. That's why you guys found us with the Red Death. They had to go to the dragons, but they just come to you. How do you do it?"
"It comes pretty easily when I can turn into a dragon and have a Dragonstone." He replied.
"Can I see it?" Iago asked looking for the armband Hiccup kept in it. Hiccup rolled his eyes and rolled up his sleeve telling Iago: "Touch it and I'll pluck you."
Iago took one look and his eyes lit up.
"Oh great, the parrot has a taste for treasure." Elsa stated.
"Aye, when he was acting as my spy, sometimes he'd take coins instead o' food." Merida replied.
"Iago, what do you need gold for?" Rapunzel asked with a giggle.
"Hey, I like living in the lap of luxury, and sometimes an ordinary birdcage doesn't cut it."
"Yer problem is that yer spoiled rotten. Would it kill ye to live with some modesty?" Merida asked.
"In the same way it would kill you when I stop mocking your mother and queen!" Iago squawked loud enough for Hiccup to bring his hands to his ears. He shooed the bird away.
"Ye-ye wouldn't!" Merida gasped. Iago's mockery was the one thing that kept Merida from spiraling into boredom during her princess lessons.
"I could." Iago replied.
"Ye really were evil weren't ye? Everything ye said about Jafar, his Master, an' Gothel was true wasn't it?"
"I find that speaking the truth is often crueler than lying. Oh, and did I forget to mention that there's this one animagus who really has it in for you? You know him as Mor'du." Iago replied.
"Ok, I think we've crossed a line here. Calm down and show your humanity people! Iago, I have one question for you: should I stay with Mother Gothel for the summers?" Rapunzel said.
"If I were you, I'd be pushing to go back to your home at the palace. One tower is no place for a princess, and Gothel just wants to keep you with her because of your healing and rejuvenation powers. The only reason she wants your love is so that you'll stay with her. If you threatened to cut your hair in front of her, her true colors would come out, and believe me, from what I heard about the days before you were born, you do not want to see them." He replied while ruffling his feathers and shuddering. Rapunzel tugged on a tuft of her hair and stroked it nervously.
"There's no need to worry, Rapunzel, Gothel is far away from here and you're with us, safe and sound." Elsa told her. When Rapunzel didn't lighten up, she conjured up a snowball and threw it at Iago, striking him with a squawk as he fell to the ground.
"ELSA!" Her friends exclaimed. Merida dug the shivering parrot out of the snowball and set him back on her shoulder.
"What, I can't have a sense of humor or a side of mischief?" Elsa asked innocently. Not only were her friends giving her looks, but so were the dragons.
"It's not a side we normally see in you." Jack replied. Elsa shook her head at him.
∫ µ ∫
Back in the Gryffindor common room, Jack and Merida found Pippa getting a start on her homework. Jack went over to her and ruffled her hair and sat down to help her wherever she needed it. In the meantime, Merida went up to the dorm to put Iago back in his cage and get working on her homework as well.
∫ µ ∫
Hiccup, Elsa and Rapunzel started working on their homework too. Now, while Rapunzel was excellent at Potions, she was rather clumsy at Transfiguration, so that's where Hiccup helped her, and Rapunzel helped Hiccup with potions. Elsa was great with helping people with their Charms homework.
A little while into their study session, Ivan VonGrimm entered the room with two other friends in their year.
"Excuse me, can we join you?" Ivan asked.
"Of course, come sit with us." Elsa beckoned.
The first friend Ivan introduced was a girl by the name of Vanilla Winters. She had radiant ginger hair, but not to the intensity of Merida's, with sky blue eyes, and an impressive pallor. The other was Jenny Granger, another fair girl with intense sapphire eyes and brown hair. Vanilla appeared to be the sweetest girl ever, but she was the apple in Professor Northland's eye in Defense Against the Dark Arts, that was her strength. Jenny always seemed to be somewhat manic, she hated pears with a passion, and always looked at them in hopes that they'd suddenly combust, but she also had a deep love for animals, and looked forward to the Care of Magical Creatures classes for the year.
The trio sat with Hiccup, Elsa, and Rapunzel, and finally they found out just how open and friendly the group really was. They just needed to be approached. All six students acknowledged the presence of the other five, and provided help to each other. Soon, the bases for forming friendships were forming.
"Well, we'll have to do this again sometime." Jenny stated as she collected her homework and headed upstairs. When Ivan and Vanilla left, Elsa looked to Hiccup and asked: "So, is there more to the story about how you lost your mother?"
Rapunzel listened intently.
"Dad told me that she was taken during a dragon raid while trying to protect me. In the meantime, Dad rescued me from our burning house. He says that it was during that raid where I got this faint scar on my chin." Hiccup replied.
"I feel sorry that you never got to know her." Elsa told him.
"Thanks Elsa… You know, sometimes, ever since I began learning to love my gift of being both human and dragon, I wonder how my mother would've reacted if I showed her my special ability. You already know what I fear my father would do to me."
"She's your mother, and I'm sure that she'd still love you." She replied. Hiccup smiled and gave her a good night hug before heading off to bed.
"Now I'm starting to miss my parents… My real parents." Rapunzel spoke. Elsa wrapped an arm around her and headed upstairs with her.
Ω £ Ω
Wow, this chapter turned out longer than I had hoped, well Iago kind of got away from me in that one section when they were with the dragons. Ok, well I do hope that I have this thing set up for another exciting year and that you guys like my introductions to some OC's. Also, if you know who you are in the story, and do not like something I can edit it. Also, if you're not a fan-based OC yet and ant to be, leave me a name for yourself and a description in the reviews. I'll be happy to do this for you, but do remember that your character will be at my mercy!
Please review!