Chapter 6: Payback

Figuring it was time that Snotlout was taught a lesson or two, Hiccup goes about his day as normal at first until Charms Class is dismissed and he walks up to the short, brown haired Professor Flitwick and says, "Um, Professor Flitwick? Can I ask you for a favor?"

Flitwick smiles wide. "Ah, Haddock! There's our bright prodigy! What can I do for you, son?"

Hiccup rubs his arm and replies, "Um, well, it may sound a bit odd. Are you ready for it?"

Flitwick nods. "Of course! I am here for all of my students and I value their success. What is troubling you?"

Hiccup then takes a deep breath. "Ok, here it goes…can…can you teach me a bit about defensive magic?"

Flitwick's eyes widen in surprise at the question. Once he finds the words to say, he fastens his bow tie and replies, "Well, Mr. Haddock, I teach many spells over the course of my class, some of which are defensive, but we haven't quite gotten to those yet. Especially considering we're only a month into your first year. Why do you need to know this?"

Luckily, Hiccup knew Flitwick would ask something like that and had rehearsed a response in his head. "Well, you see, we are living in some rather dark times and, well, given what you may have heard about my mother it might be a good idea for me to know how to defend myself in case something comes up. I-If the answer is strictly no, then I understand, but I do think this could benefit me."

Flitwick puts his hand to his chin ponders those sentences for a moment, thinking about what Hiccup has done so far in Hogwarts. At that moment, Hiccup was certain that he wouldn't be getting what he wanted and begun to hang his head, that was until Flitwick replies, "You have been showing much promise in classes, and it is true that things are quite hairy out there." Hiccup looks up and locks eyes with Flitwick as he smiles. "Meet me at the Clocktower courtyard tonight."

Hiccup's face lights up. "R-Really?!"

Flitwick nods. "You have your wish. After supper tonight, meet me at the Clocktower Courtyard and I will teach you a defensive spell."

Hiccup bows. "Th-thank you Professsor!" He turns around and was about to leave until Flitwick stops him.

"As long as you answer this one question." Hiccup looks back, showing that he was listening. "This doesn't have anything to do with Snotlout Jorgenson does it?"

Hiccup also figured that question would be coming up, but he simply replies, "…No, Professor. This is just for self-defense."

Flitwick could see the sincerity in Hiccup's eyes before he nods back. "Alright then."

That night at the courtyard that just rests under the castle's big clocktower, in the center of which lied a fountain that had four Griffon statues on each corner. Once he got there, Flitwick says, "Alright, are you ready?"

Hiccup nods. "I am."

Flitwick then reminds Hiccup, "I am going to ask this again. Does the need to know defensive magic have anything to do with Snotlout Jorgenson? Because if I find your answer to be false, then the consequences may be more severe than just losing house points. Considering you are a first year, suspension or even expulsion would certainly come to mind."

Hiccup looks Flitwick square in the eyes and replies, "No, Professor. I promise this has nothing to do with Snotlout."

Flitwick nods. "Very well then. The spell I will be teaching you is the simple yet useful disarming spell, Expelliarmus. This spell is not mean to hurt an opponent, just disarm them. Are you ready?"

Hiccup nods. "Yes, Professor."

Flitwick nods back. "Then we will begin."

Flitwick has Hiccup look through a few books to see how the spell should go, how to pronounce the incantation, and has Hiccup practice moving his wand in the motion required for the spell. It took Hiccup a few tries to get the movement down, but he quickly picked up on it.

Once he felt that Hiccup had made enough progress, Flitwick says to him, "Alright, now, I want you to attempt this spell on me." He says as he pulls out his wand.

Hiccup's eyes widen. "A-are you sure?"

Flitwick nods. "As I said, this spell is not meant to hurt or harm an opponent, all you are attempting to do is flick my wand away from my hand. Are you ready for this?"

Hiccup takes a moment to process the request before replying with a nod. Both him and Flitwick hold out their wands in defensive positions before Hiccup flicks his wand to the right and then down in a half circle motion before saying, "Expelliarmus." Successfully flicking away Flitwick's wand, which he goes to pick back up.

Flitwick puts his wand away before smiling. "Well done, Mr. Haddock! You performed exactly as I would've hoped."

Hiccup puts his black wand down and bows. "Thank you, Professor. Sincerely."

Flitwick nods as his smile fades. "Now, I held up my end of the deal, so I need you to promise one thing. You will NOT use that spell on another student, especially on school grounds, unless it is a means of self-defense and self-defense only. Do you understand?"

Hiccup nods. "Yes, Professor. I promise."

Flitwick nods back. "Then you are dismissed."

With that, both of them head back to their respective bedrooms to get ready for bed.

With this new ability in his hands, Hiccup knew he had to be careful with using it, otherwise he'd be given a one-way ticket to the Hogwarts Express faster than he can blink. He knew that Snotlout needed to be taught a lesson, but at the same time he couldn't just go around disarming people.

So that next day, while he was walking down the halls to that same courtyard, quite lost in his thoughts for a moment, until he hears a voice up ahead. Hiccup rushes forward and spots a small crowd of students gathered around Fishlegs and Snotlout, the first of which looked like he wanted to shrink into his own body like a turtle.

Fishlegs then says to Snotlout, making a futile attempt to hold back his tears, "Just leave me alone, Snotlout!"

Snotlout scoffs to that. "Aww, does our big, fat Mudblood need his blankie? You're just as weak as Mudbloods come."

It was at that point that Hiccup decides to step in. "Snotlout, what is your problem? Why do you feel the need to bully people all the time?"

Snotlout's smirk gets even bigger, if that was possible. "Well, look who it is. Our little curse bringer. Here to turn me into a frog?"

Hiccup thinks to himself, "Even if I did know how to do that, a rat would be more suitable for him." Before grabbing Fishlegs's shoulder and pulling him away, "Come on, Fishlegs. We don't need this."

They were about to walk away as Snotlout states, "Hey now, there's no reason to…flip over all of this. Flipendo!" He says as he flicks his wand, causing Fishlegs to get pushed over onto his stomach.

Hiccup makes sure Fishlegs was ok before turning around and facing Snotlout. "What the heck was that?"

Heather, who had just been standing by at that point, replies, "That was the knockback jynx. We haven't even gone over that in class!"

Snotlout shrugs. "My dad taught me a few defensive spells before I came here. Told me they'd come in handy. Like for now, Flipendo!" he says, knocking Hiccup onto his back.

Tuffnut then comments, "Huh, you mean I've been pushing Ruffnut all this time when I could've just used magic to do that for me? Makes you want to pay attention more in class."

Astrid, who was also standing by up until that point, helps Hiccup get to a sitting position as anger forms in his face. Astrid says to Hiccup, "Hiccup, it's not worth it, trust me."

However, he couldn't hear Astrid as he stands back up and pulls out his wand. "That's IT! It's time someone showed you just what sort of jerk you've been since school started. EXPELLIARMUS!" He flicks his wand and causes Snotlout's wand to jolt out of his hand.

Seeing this brought a look of shock to Snotlout's face, a look that was replaced by anger as he clenches his fists. "Oh, you do NOT know what you just did!" He cracks his knuckles. "I am SO going to enjoy beating the centaur dung out of you!"

"Is that so?" Said a deep voice that was right behind Snotlout, causing him to pause in his tracks. Snotlout looks behind himself and spots Professor Flitwick and Professor Snape standing right behind him.

Hiccup looks down to his wand and realizes what he had just done and tries to hide the wand, but he knew that was no use. Tuffnut comments, "Ohhhhhh! You two are in trou-ble!" before Ruffnut elbows him in the chest.

Snotlout stammers a bit, "Uh…Professor! Y-you're looking swell today!"

Snape replies, "Enough! Haddock, Jorgenson, come with us." Flitwick had a huge look of disappointment in his face towards Hiccup as he and Snape have him and Snotlout follow them.

Professor Snape and Professor Flitwick have Hiccup and Snotlout follow them to the 5th floor hallway, which was currently empty, as Flitwick says to both of them, "Alright, let's hear it."

Both Hiccup and Snotlout start spewing out excuses at the same time before Snape puts his hand up. "One at a time. Jorgenson, you first."

Snotlout smirks and replies in a somewhat high pitched voice, "Professor, I was just in the courtyard minding my own business when Hiccup comes up to me and, out of nowhere, uses Expelliarmus on me."

Flitwick raises a brow and looks to Hiccup. "Is this true?"

Hiccup shakes his head. "N-NO! That's not what happened at all! Snotlout was bullying Fishlegs Ingerman and I was about to walk away when Snotlout uses the knockback jynx on both of us, so I defended myself by disarming him."

Flitwick's other brow raises. "So, you're saying it was all self-defense?"

Hiccup nods. "Yes, Professor."

Snape replies, "Hmm, two very likely stories, but surely one is false and one is true. So, which is it?"

Snotlout replies in the same high-pitched voice, "Oh come on, obviously he's the one that's lying!"

Snape and Flitwick then exchange glances before Flitwick replies, "Um, what is your name?"

Snotlout was slightly thrown off by the question but replies in his usual voice, "Uh, Snotlout Jorgenson."

Flitwick adds, "So was Hiccup the one who casted the first spell?"

Snotlout replies in the same high-pitched tone. "Yes! You have to believe me."

Snape and Flitwick exchange glances again before Flitwick replies, "So, his voice does get higher when he lies, just like his father."

Snotlout blinks to that. "Uh…what?"

Snape sighs. "Haddock, as insufferable as you may be, it seems that you were telling the truth in that it was simply self-defense. Jorgenson, as much as it pains me to do this, I will have to take 30 points from Slytherin and you be reporting to detention for a week."

Snotlout's jaw hits the floor. "WHAT?! Y-you can't do this!"

Snape replies, "As your Professor, I most certainly CAN do this."

Snotlout replies, "No. NO! I will not stand for this!"

Flitwick then looks to Hiccup and quietly says to him, "I suggest you go now before Severus changes his mind."

Hiccup nods. "T-thank you." Before turning around and leaving.

That afternoon, Hiccup, Fishlegs and Astrid were walking through the halls of the ground floor, talking about what happened earlier. Hiccup told Astrid everything, so she replies, "And you didn't even get in trouble? Lucky! I don't know if anyone has ever faced snape like that without getting a handful of points taken away."

Hiccup nods. "Yeah, same here." It was then that they heard what sounded like someone choking up ahead. They rush forward and see a male Hufflepuff student lying on the ground in front of the Herbology greenhouse, seeming to be choking on his own breath.

Hiccup asks the greenhouse clothing wearing Professor Sprout, "What's going on, Professor?"

Sprout replies, "Oh, this student here just found out he's allergic to fresh nettles and I just ran out of antidote."

Fishlegs, then says to Sprout, "Uh, you wouldn't happen to have any Wiggentree branches would you?"

Sprout nods. "Why yes." She runs inside and grabs them before rushing back out.

Fishlegs takes the branches and says, "Ok, now we just need to burn these."

Astrid replies, "I'm on it. Incendio!" She flicks her wand and causes the branch to catch on fire before wafting the smoke in front of the student's face.

Within seconds, the student gets his breath back and his face regains color. Sprout smiles wide as she makes sure the student is ok before saying to Fishlegs, "Well done, Mr. Ingerman! How did you know that burning Wiggentree branches would cure his allergies?"

Fishlegs replies, "Well, my mum is actually a botanist so before I left for Hogwarts she, against my dad's wishes, bought me a book on herbology and I've been reading it every night since."

Sprout nods. "It shows. 20 points to Ravenclaw!"

Fishlegs cracks a wide smile. "T-Twenty points TO Ravenclaw?"

Sprout shrugs. "Fine, I'll make it 30." Everyone, especially those wearing blue on their robe, began giving Fishlegs a round of applause. Heather even ran up to hug him. She then adds, "And another 30 to Gryffindor for you, Ms. Hofferson, for knowing the flaming spell."

Astrid nods. "Thank you, Professor."

Sprout then says to Fishlegs, "Say, Mr. Ingerman, I know you're just a first year but, if you're interested in some extracurricular activities, I could always use some help in the greenhouse. I'll make sure it's worth your while."

Fishlegs smiles even wider. "I…I'd like that."

The two of them walk into the greenhouse as Hiccup puts his hands on his hips and comments, "Well, looks like Fishlegs may have finally found his calling as a wizard."

Astrid nods. "I'll say. I think this will be a great thing for him."

However, just then, the room around Hiccup begins to fade as something pops up in his mind. He could see himself, but it was also not himself. He looked at his hands and they appeared to have what looked like black, scaled wings attached to them.

Hiccup also appeared to be flying over some kind of forest that he could swear he recognized but that was beyond him. The vision only lasted a few seconds before, in a flash, Hiccup was brought back into reality with Astrid saying to him, "Hiccup? Hiccup?"

Hiccup shakes his head before replying putting his hand to his forehead saying, "Huh? What?"

Astrid blinks. "Are you ok? You seemed to space out there for a moment."

Hiccup wasn't sure if Astrid would understand even if he did say something, so Hiccup replies, "…Yeah, I'm fine. I, uh, didn't sleep well last night. That's all."

Astrid was concerned but decided to drop it…for now. It was then that they realized it was almost time for class, so they went on their way.