Alright huge apology! I forgot to tell you guys that I was going on vacation the last chapter, so sorry for making you all think I didn't have anything to update. I did, I swear, there just wasn't any wifi in the hotel. Anyways, here is the much anticipated update, so please enjoy! I'll try to update sooner this to make up for my forgetfulness.

Hiccup POV

I stood inside a large tent, located just outside the entrance to the quidditch pitch. I was wearing standard uniform for the tournament, identical to the other competitiors except for the colours. Amélie wore a dark blue making her blonde hair appear lighter in the afternoon sun. Sean wore dark orange, making his light brown eyes appear almost black in comparison. I myself, wore a dark green, similar to Slytherin house's colour.

I was nervous, though it seemed I wasn't the only one. Sean paced nervously, waving his wand around recklessly, muttering under his breath all the while making me very wary. Amélie appeared calm, though I could tell from the rythmic tapping of her foot against the ground that nerves were getting to her too.

I sighed. I needed a distraction, something to do to keep my mind off the potentially deadly possibilities that lay beyond this tent. I was forced to leave my journal with my suit in my dorm room, along with my wand and any other possesions that weren't my sword. I crouched down to the soft dirt under my feet. I took the hilt of my sword and used the small point on the end of it to draw in the soil.

Without realising what I was doing, I began drawing Toothless. I went off of memory and began sketching. I used gentle lines for his face, and soft shading for his ears, careful to capture the innocent amusement that often lit up his face. With a few final touches I stood up, and my back brushed across something.

By instinct I stepped back, startled, and raised my sword hilt, though I didn't extend it. A shocked Amélie and Sean stood behind me.

"Sorry." I said. "Are you-"

"What is that?" Amélie asked, ignoring my apology.

"It's a dragon." I said. Had she never seen a dragon before?

"You're a good sketcher." Sean noted.

"It's not really sketching." I said. "I just draw, really."

"What kind of dragon is this?" Amélie asked. I noticed that she had a very faint french accent, barely detectable when she spoke. Only a few words gave her away, barely pronouncing the h's and slurring her s's.

"It's a native species to Berk, my village. This one's called a Night Fury, the offspring of lightning and death itself." I explained.

"It is not a bad sketch." She said.

"Why doesn't it have teeth?" Sean asked. "Don't they usually have those?"

"Uh, yes. It has teeth. They're retractable."

"When you say native to Berk, do they live on your island?" Amélie asked.

I wish. "No, definitely not. On Berk, they actually...uh, kill dragons."

"Why? Do they kill any of your people?" Sean asked.

I paused, a distant memory flashed through my mind. "They've killed hundreds of us, and we've killed thousands of them." I repeated quietly, reminded suddenly of my Dad and I's falling out over the summer.

"That's terrible." Amélie whispered.

I nodded mutely, the memory I had just conjured too painful to remember. I shook it from my mind, trying instead to focus on the first task ahead of me. I tucked that memory away, so I could brood on it later. It still lurked at the back of my mind, ready to reopen old wounds at the simplest mention of home.

"How are champions?" A booming voice announced from the entrance of the tent.

All three of us started suddenly, jittery from nerves. I took a deep breath, and braced myself.

"Afternoon meal has begun, and task is almost starting." North said. Amélie and Sean walked closer to North, but I lingered behind, rubbing the drawing of Toothless out of the dirt.

"Minister has come to tell of first task. Good luck champions, and do not become hurt, infirmary is almost full." He said. Then with a warm smile, North exited the tent, leaving us in silence.

"Was that supposed to scare us, or put us at ease?" I asked aloud.

I looked at Sean and Amélie, not sure what we were supposed to do now that North had left. Before one of us could speak, Minister Noman strode through the tent.

"Hello, hello competitors." He said with fake cheerfulness. With a settling feeling of dread, I noticed Mrs. Bonner following closely behind him with a quill and notepad.

"I hope you are all excited." He said. "We're here to first, get pre-task interviews, and then finally explain the highly anticipated task. So, who's first for the interviews?" He asked.

"I will go." Amélie said.

"Great." Mrs. Bonner said. "Amélie, darling, you can come over here with me, while you boys can go sit over there, in those chairs." She pointed to a set of old, rickety, wooden chairs that looked just as uncomfortable as the ones we had had to sit in during our first interviews.

Sean and I walked over to the chairs and eyed them warily, unsure whether they were stable enough to hold the bodyweight of a person. Answering my question, Sean sat down heavily in his and sighed. I assumed that since these chairs could hold Sean's weight, they could hold mine, considering I weighed a good 40 pounds less than him.

I sat down on the edge of mine and stared at the dirt in font of me, noticing the straggling pieces of grass poking out from the trodden ground. It seemed that Mrs. Bonner wanted a much more thorough interview done this time, as her questions for Amélie seemed to never end.

I sighed and leaned back in my chair, crossing my leg over my good knee. I fiddled idly with the hilt of my sword, bored out of my mind. It almost came to the point where I would have preferred being interviewed relentlessly by Mrs. Bonner than remain still in these insufferable chairs.

"Hiccup." I heard someone whisper harshly from the other side of the tent. I sat up straighter.

"Merida?" I whispered back, my head close to the battered material of the tent. "What are you doing?"

"I told you I'd come to visit before the task." She said.

"Oh." I said simply. "Are Jack and Rapunzel there?"

"No." She said. "They had to leave and cover for me."

"Breaking the rules again, Princess?" I asked.

"Course not, Chief." I could hear her mutter something under breath and heard a loud thump from the other side of the tent.

"This is ridiculous." I heard her say.

I pressed my head closer to the tents walls, trying to hear what was going on.

"Merida? What are you-" I was cut off when I felt the sensation of being ripped backwards.

With a solid landing, I was pulled backwards in my chair and landed on the hard ground outside, with Merida looking over me. I landed, no longer sitting in the chair, having rolled over onto my side the last possible second.

"That's better." She huffed.

I climbed to my feet slowly and brushed the dirt off my uniform.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked her urgently. "If North catches me-"

"North's not going to catch you." She said. She grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me forward. I was caught off guard as she kissed me, quick and hard. She pulled away and I was left dazed and confused.

"Merida..." I said.

"Don't die." She told me quietly. She turned me around abruptly and shoved me forward, towards the tent. I went flying off my feet and sprawled through the rough material of the tent. I landed in the dirt with the chair quickly following behind me, Merida having chucked it into the tent after throwing me off my feet.

I pulled myself into a standing position, and saw Sean on his feet as well, looking alarmed.

"What just happened?" He demanded, looking at me with wide eyes.

I stared at the side of the tent, were Merida had only moments ago pushed me through. Answering truthfully, I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.

"I'm not exactly sure myself."