Smearing a healthy layer of jam across a buttered bun as he listened to the daily dramas of Hogwarts, Jack's eyes wandered up and down the benches and tables set throughout the Great Hall, wondering who else had entered the Tetra-Wix Tournament. Not that he was scoping out his competition, per se, it was more of an idle curiosity. After six years with the same folks, he thought he had a pretty good idea which of his peers would be the type to enter and which would not, but there had certainly been some surprises.

At the sound of footsteps, Jack glanced up and saw his housemates turning to watch as a stout Gryffindor boy with a topknot marched up to the centre of the room and entered his name into the Goblet of Fire. The flames reached up and consumed the parchment, then shrank back below the rim, as it had been doing since the ancient chalice had first been unveiled a week prior. Although entries seemed to have slowed to a trickle now, there seemed to still be at least one per day.

Reaching across the table, Jack dunked the bun into a large cup of coffee with a foamy swirl of hazelnut cream on the surface.

"Hey! What d'you think you're doing?" Aster demanded as he snatched the cup off the table, sloshing the dark brown liquid down the sides of the cup in the process.

"Losing my breakfast, apparently."

Still glaring, Aster's narrowed green eyes followed Jack's brown ones to the cup in his hands, where the bun which Jack had taken so much care in buttering bobbed and slowly began sinking to its hazelnut-flavoured demise. Disgusted, Aster set the cup back on the table, causing more of the coffee to spill over the edge and pool on the ancient wooden tabletop. "Well, dip it in your own damned coffee next time."

"I would, but mine's cold."

Rolling his eyes, Aster shook his head and with a long sigh, set about finding himself a replacement coffee.

Across the table, Jack picked up his glass of iced coffee and after swishing around the remaining ice cubes, took a long sip from a blue-striped glass straw. "You know, I've been thinking..."

"Good on you, mate," Aster said drily, carefully pouring a measure of hazelnut cream from a small silver pitcher into a fresh cup of coffee. "Only took the best part of seventeen years."

"Bunny, I'm touched," Jack put his hand on his heart and gave his most sincere grin. "That you feel I've been the best part of your last seventeen years."

"I see basic literary comprehension is still not your strong suit."

"I get by," Jack shrugged.

"Yeah, by the skin of your teeth." Aster snorted. "Last I heard, you're barely even tailing the rest of our year."

"Maybe so, but I'd rather that than having my tail between my legs," Jack leaned his elbows on the table and knit his fingers together under his chin. "You know, I really didn't take you for a coward."

"Oh, here we go," Aster set the tiny pitcher on the table and slowly raised his coffee to his lips for a tentative sip, taking time to savour the taste before he turned his green eyes towards Jack. "Riddle me this, Frost. If I'm a coward, what does that make you?"

"At least a few notches higher, I'm sure," Jack said. "I mean, I already put my name in the Goblet."

"You, Hogwarts' champion?" Aster almost spat, choking on his coffee. "Think I'd sooner cheer for the other schools."

"Where's your sense of school pride?"

"Flushed down the bloody toilet along with any hope of winning if your name's the one that comes out of the Goblet."

"You're certainly choosey for someone who still hasn't worked up the nerve to enter his name," Jack leaned across the table and continued in a hushed voice. "It's the flying, isn't it?"

Aster set his cup on the table, and Jack knew he'd struck a nerve.

"Man, we really need to get you a sippy cup or something." Jack said, unable to hide his delighted smirk as he nodded to the freshly spilled coffee pooling at the base of Aster's cup.

"Oh, shove off."

"So it is the flying."

"Look, if people were meant to fly, they'd be born with wings," Aster said, rolling his eyes as he began mopping up the puddle of coffee with a cloth napkin. But Jack saw the way Aster's green eyes flicked momentarily towards ancient cup on the dais, even though he kept his face stubbornly tilted downwards the tabletop as though his focus was entirely on the task at hand.

"Don't worry, I'm sure most of the school won't think any less of you for it. After all, it's a risky competition, the Headmaster said so himself," Jack said cheerfully. "Not everyone can handle a little danger."

"If you're worried about the danger, perhaps you ought to have given the decision more than two seconds of consideration, but then, I suppose you don't have anyone who'd miss you to think about."

Before Jack had a chance to retort, the door to the great hall boomed open, and a stocky Ravenclaw boy with brown hair sprinted in, barely managing to skid to a halt when he reached their table. Thumping onto the bench next to Aster, he caught his breath, beaming. "My friend! You'll never believe what happened!"

As Aster turned to his friend Jun-Ho, Jack quietly extracted himself from the other side of the bench. Without another word, he pulled his hood up over his head, stuffed his hands into his pockets and headed out of the great hall, as unmissed as Aster had said he would be.

Shouldering her way through the familiar purple door with the orange stained glass window, Merida made her way past the marble merfolk statues and the shelves of assorted trinkets that covered the walls, blatantly ignoring Snovita's wave and invitation to sit with her as she strode across the dais and down the three steps to the only table in sight with a free seat.

Despite what most people had to say about it, divination had been one of her favourite classes at Hogwarts, once upon a time. Not that she'd ever been particularly good at it – she'd never considered herself especially attuned to that vein of magic – but it had been interesting to her, and it was an interest she had shared with her mother. Their relationship had never been perfect, but in the summer before her third year, they'd been able to put most of their differences aside because of their shared love of divination.

But third year had long since come and gone, and any common ground she'd shared with her mother had been washed away like chalk in the rain.

Dropping gracelessly into a chair, Merida had barely set about pouring herself a cup of tea from the large conch-shaped teapot when Snovita appeared across from her and settled onto the chair so gently that Merida wondered whether she was trying not to crease the cushions. Rolling her eyes, Merida rose, glowering, but before she was able to vacate the table, their red robed professor swept into the room.

"Bonjour, good afternoon students, and welcome to the house of yesterday's tomorrow! Take your seats, if you please. Yes, I'm talking to you, Mademoiselle DunBroch."

Sighing through gritted teeth, Merida slowly lowered herself back into her seat as Snovita set about preparing a shell-shaped teacup for herself as well.

"Today, we shall delve into the artistry of aeromancy, and if we're lucky enough, perhaps we'll be treated to some rumblings for our ceraunoscopy unit," Professor Matthews said, linking his fingers together at the small of his back as he stood at the front of the room. "But first, a dalliance with tasseology for a warmup, of course. You know what to do."

Ceramic and silver clinked as the class set about pouring themselves cups of tea for their personal forecasts.

"I'm ever so pleased that we get divination together this year," Snovita said softly, sipping delicately from her own cup of tea. "Step-Mother didn't want me to continue with it, she doesn't think it'll be useful when I'm married."

Although she'd been stubbornly set on not even looking at her seat partner, Snovita's comment drew Merida's gaze to her whether she wanted to or not. Bile rose in her throat as she gawped at the prim girl across the table from her who met her glare with a cheerful smile, seemingly unfazed by her own words.

"I'm just grateful that Elinor felt it would be a valuable experience, and advocated for me."

"Of course she did," Merida said, unable to keep from rolling her eyes again. Lacing her fingers through the handle of her cup, she watched as wisps of steam spiralled up from the surface of her tea but made no move to drink it.

Snovita, with her pinkies raised, finished her tea and gently slid the cup and saucer across the table. "We can start with mine, if you'd like?"

Sighing, Merida released her own cup and instead propped herself up on one elbow, halfheartedly snatching Snovita's cup off the table with her free hand. Tilting it towards herself, she cast a long glance into its depths before speaking. "S'pose that might be an apple, there."

Merida set the cup back down momentarily and reached down to fiddle with her satchel, drawing out her textbook, as well as a fresh roll of parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink and setting them on the table one at a time. At as leisurely a pace as she could manage, she flipped open her guidebook and had the utmost misfortune of landing on the page that defined apples in tasseology.

Gritting her teeth, she ran a finger down the section and made detailed notes on the fresh parchment as she read aloud to her partner. And with each word, Snovita nodded enthusiastically, her rapt attention a sharp contrast the droning pace with which Merida gave her reading.

She picked up Snovita's cup again and tilted it to the side. "A think A see a thimble, too."

Again, she turned her attention back to her guidebook and flipped through the pages, one by one to the page she sought. But even after re-writing the entire thimble section on the parchment, Professor Matthews still hadn't called for an end to the afternoon's warmups.

"And that looks a bit like a house-elf, wouldn't you say?" Merida held the cup out for Snovita's thoughts.

"You're right, it rather does, doesn't it? How peculiar!" Snovita nodded, clasping her hands together next to her heart.

"S'pose A'll just write that down then, too," Merida said, carefully setting the cup back down and adding the third item to her detailed analysis of Snovita's cup.

How long had it been? A quick glance at the clamshell clock that hung across the room told her that it had been almost ten minutes since class had begun. Warmups never lasted this long when they were actually doing something fun.

"So," Merida said slowly, dragging on every syllable as she spoke. She just had to stall a little bit longer and warmups would be finished. "The thimble suggests that you're going to make changes, assuming that the house elf means you'll do that in service of something else, and then, because you also got the apple... you'll be happy about it? Do you think that sounds about right with what A've got written down?"

Merida slid the page across the table towards Snovita, who didn't even glance down at it before nodding. "Oh, yes, I think that sounds perfect! Now let's do yours, shall we?"

"S'pose," Merida said, taking a slow, thoughtful sip from her cup, before reaching out for Snovita's cup once more. "Do you think A missed anything? Let's take another look at yours, shall we?"

"Oh, no, that's quite alright, I trust that you got everything," Snovita said. "You were very thorough."

"C'mon," Merida whispered, glancing over at Professor Matthews first, then the clamshell clock, but feeling like somehow she'd fallen out of sync with time and now it was moving at a glacial pace around her, while she sped through it on a current too strong to fight. And then, with a long sigh, she drained the last of the tea from her cup and practically threw it across the table to Snovita, who barely settled the clatter of ceramic as the cup reunited with its saucer. "Let's get this over with."

"Well, that's definitely a butterfly," Snovita said as she studied the inside of Merida's cup. "And we've got a dish and a wolf, too."

"So, let's see..." Snovita scrunched up her nose as she called the definitions from her memory. "A wolf usually indicates someone who can't be trusted – that doesn't sound very nice – and the dish suggests household matters that need tending. So, a meeting with an untrustworthy person must make an awful mess."

"Well that's hardly a prediction," Merida said, rolling her eyes. "My mother can't be trusted and has made a right mess of my life."

"That's not fair," Snovita said, frowning. "You know Elinor just wants what's best for you. She's trying so very hard to get this right."

"Trying her best to make me miserable, more like," Merida said, folding her arms across her chest as she leaned back in her seat. "And doing a bloody good job of it, too. You'd think A was already suffering enough just existing under her tyrannical regime, but apparently not."

"You really oughtn't say things like that," Snovita said, frowning. "You're so lucky to have Elinor looking out for you."

"Ha! Looking out for me," Merida snorted. "That's a good one. If the housewife thing doesn't work out for you, you should consider a career as a comedian."

"Elinor is one of the kindest, most wonderful people I've ever met, and I'm so grateful to be able to spend time with her," Snovita's fair cheeks were flushed especially pink and her lower lip was trembling. "I'd trade Elinor for my stepmother any day."

Before the words were even completely out of Snovita's mouth, she'd already clapped both of her hands over her lips, all the colour draining from her face.

"That makes two of us, then."

Drawing a shaky breath, Snovita lowered her trembling hands and opened her mouth as though to argue the point further, but couldn't seem to find the words.

Merida gave a dismissive little wave with her hand. "Well, get on with the rest of it, then."

Snovita nodded, swallowing hard as she turned back to the shell-shaped cup in her trembling hands. "O-okay... so a-a mess will need to be cleaned up. And a butterfly means a change of heart, so perhaps the mess will help you re-evaluate things with – with your mom?"

"Doubtful."

"Oh, and I didn't see that before. It looks like a pair of linked rings – that'd be an engagement-"

Merida's stomach lurched.

With a flush of heat rising in her freckled cheeks, Merida snatched her cup from Snovita's hands.

"Nonono, you've got it wrong," Merida said, shaking her head. "See? Um, that one's clearly a – a dragon, not a butterfly. And we've got a bear and the moon! And A'd say that those are... are handcuffs! Yes, A don't think they even look like rings at all."

"Meri?" Snovita watched her wide-eyed as Merida flipped frantically through the pages of her tasseology guidebook.

"The moon is good fortune and dragons mean change," Merida said, summarizing passages as she skimmed through them. "So if A keep standing up to the bear – that's an authority figure, so that'll be my mother, for sure – against my imprisonment, then A'll have good fortune and be able to change my fate!"

"Well, I suppose it could," Snovita said softly, knitting her fingers together in her lap as she stared at the redhead from across the table. "Divination isn't always an exact science."

"That's exactly it," Merida said, gesturing wildly towards her. "Who's to say what's right, anyway. This could be a house, and perhaps this is a beetle, you know. Who knows?"

It was just past nine when Hiccup finally dragged himself down to the Great Hall for some breakfast on Wednesday morning, yawning and rubbing sleep from his eyes. When he leaned his weight on the Great Hall's double doors, they whined loudly in protest, sorely in need of oiling.

Groups of seventh-year students already occupied most of the benches closer to the entrance, his classmates from the previous evening's Astronomy class. Unlike the majority of his peers, Hiccup hadn't gone straight to bed after class had finished. It had been nearing half past three when he'd last taken notice of the clock, but he hadn't gone to sleep then, either.

He'd been too busy drawing in his notebook and had fallen asleep in the midst of his work, as the grey stains on his left hand and wrist, and on the shirt he'd worn to bed last night too, could attest. Eventually he'd learn not to take bottles of ink to bed with him, but that was a lesson for another day.

As he made his way down the corridor between two of the tables with the big black tomcat trotting alongside him, a sudden whoop of glee from one of the tables startled him, making his heart leap in his chest. "Hurrah! Our champion!"

Wondering who had the energy to cheer with so much vigour so early in the morning, Hiccup glanced towards the source of the sound and found the chant had already been taken up by a nearby group of Hufflepuffs. And even though he had been headed towards an empty space at the end of the table, he wondered if his peers thought he was on his way to enter his name in the Goblet, and his heart gave a strange flutter in response to their vocal show of support.

Suddenly, a spray of sticky, orange-scented mist assaulted him from the left, and he turned to find his cousin seated a few steps away, choking on something.

"Eugh, lovely," Hiccup said, grimacing at his damp sleeve as his brain made the connection between the orange juice he was wearing and his cousin's bewildered expression. "Good morning to you too, Snorri."

His cousin's reddened face contorted into an expression that had once been Hiccup's signal to start running, before realization dawned in his blue eyes and his shoulders loosened.

As Hiccup's brows knitted together at the sudden change in his cousin, a burly Hufflepuff made his way past him and cast an abashed look over his shoulder. Hiccup followed the other boy's line of sight to the group of chanting Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, and then back to his classmate as he headed on towards the Goblet of Fire, while Jun-Ho singlehandedly lead a standing ovation. "Hurrah! Go, Aster!"

And the strange fluttering died in his chest.

"Leave him alone, Snorri," Astrid said, rolling her eyes and shaking her head as she turned her attention back to the parchment in front of her.

"Ha!" Snorri snickered, grinning like he'd just won the lottery. "Did you think they were actually cheering for you?"

Hiccup instinctively rolled his eyes. "Did you?"

"What? No!" Snorri said too quickly. "Why would literally anyone think that?"

"What, don't you think I'd be a shoe-in for Hogwarts' Champion?" Hiccup asked drily.

"I don't even think I could think of a worse choice."

"Oh, I don't know, Snorri, I think you'd really give me a run for my money."

Astrid snorted, then grabbed for a napkin as she choked on her pumpkin juice.

Snorri flexed a bicep. "Yeah, well, duh. At least I'm here, to not be a total failure to, you know, the whole family."

"You know, I appreciate that you always take the time to remind me what a crushing disappointment my existence is. Thanks for staying on top of that, Snorri, it helps to know that you always have my back."

Running his hand down his face as he stifled a yawn, Hiccup turned to continue on towards his seat but had barely taken two steps further when his cousin gave a loud chuckle. "Don't worry, Cuz, I'll let you sweep the mailroom or something when I inherit Berkworks."

Hiccup wondered how many times he could roll his eyes before it made him dizzy.

Before Hiccup could retort, Tufford spoke. "Did your uncle finally say he's going to start training you to take over the company?"

"Well, who else is he gonna leave his life's work to? Obviously not Hiccup.."

Hiccup breathed a sigh through his nose as he came to a halt once more. Forcing himself to lower his shoulders, which had involuntarily raised at his cousin's remark, he turned back to face him. Grabbing a stray quill that someone had forgotten to pack away, Hiccup leaned over and in front of all the kids from Drekey and anyone else who was paying attention as well, he scribbled his name across a paper napkin he'd plucked from a stack on the table.

Tearing off the piece containing his name, Hiccup marched across the hall and sent it spiralling into the flames of the Goblet of Fire.

"Wow, he sure showed you," Hiccup heard Tufford say, as his cousin continued to sputter.

As Hiccup used his forearm to nudge a stray lock of hair from his forehead, Snorri finally found his words. "Whatever! He's not gonna get picked, and even if he did, he'd die in like five minutes!"

Sliding onto the closest available bench, Hiccup grabbed a mug from a cup rack on the table. Setting it right-side up, he gave a little wave with his other hand, a pot with tendrils of steam escaping from the lid and spout floated over the table and came to a stop in front of him. As the stream of coffee pooled at the bottom of his mug and rose to nearly the lip, before the pot floated off to the next table, Hiccup sighed and looked up to meet the gaze of the black tomcat sitting on the table across from him.

"Yeah, I know. I probably shouldn't have done that."

Toothless did not reply.

"But I won't get picked, anyway," Hiccup said with a shrug. And then, wrapping his grey-tinged hands around the mug and alternating between blowing away stray wisps of steam and taking small sips of his drink, the weight of his eyelids began to ease and warmth spread through his calloused fingers.

But while caffeine chased the edge off of his exhaustion, it did little to relieve the ache in his chest that had bloomed from the corpse of that strange fluttery feeling he'd had at the thought of being cheered for.

Her fingers brushing against the stone railing as she climbed the stairs back to her dormitory, brow furrowed as she ran the day's lessons through her mind. It had been nearly a month since Rapunzel had arrived at Hogwarts School, but she wasn't sure she'd even learned a single thing in all that time. She certainly felt at least as confused, if not more so, by this week's lessons as she had been by those from her very first week.

But she now understood why everything seemed so far beyond her grasp, so that was something. Not that the knowledge did much good – Fishel had suggested that a tutor might help her find her feet, which had seemed like a good idea at first, but Rapunzel wasn't sure asking for help was actually an option.

After all, if she asked for help, then the school would know she had lied. And if the school found out she had lied, not only would she be in trouble for lying, but she was certain the Ministry would send Mother straight to prison, and it would be all her fault.

She'd have to do this on her own.

So instead of spending her evenings and weekends exploring every inch of the castle as she had once dreamed of doing, she spent every spare moment poring over books, making so many notes that she'd lost feeling in her hands more than once.

Flexing her fingers and massaging her palms with her thumbs, Rapunzel found herself thankful that she was able to write with both hands. She'd been surprised to learn that most of her peers could only write with one hand – it had never occurred to her that writing with both hands wasn't something everyone could do. Unfortunately, despite Professor Finster's coaching, changing wand hands hadn't helped with her ability to perform magic either.

Pushing open the door into her dormitory, she was greeted by a cacophony of laughter from the Tremaine sisters. "And he looks down at the place where his arm should be, and then across the room to where it actually is, and BOOM! He just hits the floor."

As she made her way across the room and set her bag on her trunk, Rapunzel swallowed hard, thankful that she hadn't gotten splinched when she'd disapprated with Mother on their way to King's Cross station.

"Ewww!" Drizella said, pushing her sister away. "He splinched off the whole arm? So gross!"

"Yep, the whole thing. You should've seen the mess, it was everywhere!"

"I bet they had to send him to St Mungo's for that," Drizella said. "No way that googly old witch in the hospital wing could deal with something like that."

"Totally! I heard Jun-Ho won't be back at school for a whole month!"

"But I saw Jun-Ho ten minutes ago in class," Rapunzel said, brows knitting together in confusion as she turned to the Tremaine sisters. "He didn't get splinched, he said the feeling of disapparating made him feel lightheaded."

Her dormmates both fell silent immediately and glanced over their shoulders at her, frowning. Drizella tilted her head to the side and smiled. "Funny, I don't remember anyone asking you."

"I'm sorry – I didn't mean to interrupt."

"Then next time, don't," Drizella said, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she turned back to her sister. "It's super rude."

"Oh my gosh, so rude," Anastasia echoed, nodding in agreement.

Rapunzel opened her mouth, then closed it again, deflating as she crossed her arms over her chest. Sighing, she turned back to her own bed, and saw a pair of eyes looking at her from the bedpost. With a relieved smile, Rapunzel offered her hand and her familiar appeared, changing colour as he climbed onto her outstretched hand. Holding the chameleon close to her face as she sat on the edge of her bed, she whispered to him so she wouldn't bother the Tremaine sisters again. "Hey Pascal, how was your day?"

As Pascal squeaked at her in response, Drizella continued loudly. "I bet Jun-Ho getting splinched was so funny, but you know what I think was even funnier? Remember that time in Finster's class, when Rapunzel totally just wiped out on her chair? Like squib alert, I can't believe she even got into Hogwarts."

Rapunzel's blood ran ice cold.

They knew.

The Tremaine sisters knew she was a squib.

"Actually, maybe it's more sad than funny. I mean, I feel like someone should tell her not to hurt herself, but I don't think she could even if she tried!"

Panic welling up inside of her, Rapunzel tucked Pascal safely inside of her pocket, snatched up her wand from the foot of the bed and the first grade spellbook she'd borrowed from the library off the nightstand and, clutching her book against her chest, practically sprinted out of the room.

As she hurried down the stone steps towards the common room, Drizella's voice seemed to follow her down the stairwell. "Oh my gosh, was she in here the whole time? Awkward..."

Rapunzel's heart was pounding so hard in her chest that she worried it was going to burst free at any moment. If her classmates found out she was a squib, something terrible would happen. Wizards hated squibs, Mother had told her that so many times – it was why Rapunzel had never been allowed to leave the cottage. If the Tremaine sisters thought she was a squib, perhaps the rest of her peers did as well.

She needed to figure out how to make her magic work and she needed to figure it out fast. Her life quite possibly depended on it.

A cool breeze ruffled his hair and water lapped at his wrists as he held his hands beneath the surface, running them over the silky smooth mantle of the Giant Squid, which was streaked with deep orange, bright red and candyfloss pink to match the clouds in the dusk sky as the sun set over the lake. Thankfully, the generous slice of peach cobbler he'd brought with him that evening had finally been enough to buy Itchy Armpit's forgiveness for the deprivation that it had faced over the summer months, and the large cephalopod had taken to brushing up against his legs like an enormous, slimy cat.

"I appreciate the company," Hiccup straightened and propped his dripping hands on his hips as he turned back to his other companion. "But I could probably do without all the judgement."

On the rocky shore, a much smaller and fortunately slime-free cat sat as still as a stone, save for the disdainful twitch of his whiskers as he watched his boy wade through the shallows.

"You could have just gone for dinner without me, you know."

That's where everyone else would be at this hour, in the Great Hall with heaping plates and the swell of conversation all around them. The thought alone was a little suffocating. He'd much rather be right where he was at that moment: outside with open skies and the air smelling of mud and fish and seaweed. Especially now, with students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang present at the castle as well, filling the hall threefold with people and noise as students from all three schools shared their meals.

Especially this evening – the champion selection was to take place after dinner was finished, as their professors had been reminding them all week, so all students were expected to be in attendance and on their best behaviour. Hiccup planned to head back up after the hall had cleared out a bit, and grab some dinner from whatever was left over. He'd undoubtedly hear which students had been chosen as the champions tomorrow.

As the clock-tower chimed in the distance, a pale purple tentacle rose out of the water, coiled tightly around something. As Itchy Armpit pressed something against his chest, Hiccup held up his hands to catch the gift as the squid's tentacle fell away, leaving a shiny, oval shaped stone in the boy's palm.

"Thanks, Itch," Hiccup gave a lopsided grin, wiping a spot of grit from the stone with his thumb. "I'll keep it with the others."

Over his years at Hogwarts, he had collected almost a whole jar full of shiny, colourful pebbles, which sat on the nightstand next to his four-poster bed. And despite how many he'd managed to accumulate, gifts from the lakebottom always brought a smile to his face.

While the squid's limb retreated beneath the waves, Hiccup pocketed the stone and stooped to run his free hand over its crest once more, as a farewell before it darted back down to the depths from which it had come, its vibrant fins vanishing into the darkness of the aptly named Black Lake.

His hands leaving wet prints as he dried them against his trousers, he waded back to the shore, where Toothless trotted up to him to sniff at him as he unrolled his pantlegs and retrieved the socks and shoes he'd abandoned there. Grey fabric stuck against his damp skin as he pulled his socks on, and his shoes were already water spotted and discoloured from only a few weeks of wear and inadequate care.

Casting one last glance over his shoulder at the water's edge, to where the gentle waves had already washed away any memory of his presence, Hiccup headed back up the path towards the castle, which stood a stark grey against the darkening blue sky. A short rumble almost like thunder drew his attention suddenly upwards as he reached the top of the stone pillars, and he watched as a young owl burst into flight, it's wing feathers colliding with stone for half a second before it managed to catch the breeze off the lake.

He was almost tempted to stay out, but as he passed the entrance to the Great Hall, the smell of the evening's dinner hit his nose and his stomach gave a loud grumble in protest, temporarily laying to rest the idea of venturing down to the reindeer pasture.

Giving in to his hunger, Hiccup slowly pushed open the door to the Great Hall, cringing at the familiar whine of its unoiled hinges before it occurred to him that the squeal and thud of his entrance had been completely drowned out by the swell of whispers in the hall. At the centre of the room, Professor Grimm stood beside the Goblet of Fire, which seemed to be burning far more intensely than the two weeks prior.

Hiccup hadn't even taken a single step away from the door when Grimm's voice called out across the hall, in that same disappointed tone he always used when addressing him. "Hindrick Haddock."

As heat rose into his neck, face and ears, Hiccup ducked his head, his muttered apologies suddenly seeming especially loud in the hall, which had gone deathly quiet. Hiccup sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and half-wishing the floor would open up and consume him just to stop everyone from staring as he awaited the inevitable detention verdict from Grimm, very much regretting coming inside so early in the evening.

"Hindrick Haddock," Grimm repeated, his curtness betraying how thin his patience had worn.

Brows furrowed together in bewilderment, Hiccup raised his eyes from the floor to the scowling man at the front of the hall, and realized he held a small slip of parchment with burnt edges between his fingers.

No, not parchment. A torn piece of paper napkin.

Oh.

Oh no.

"Well, shit."

So, I'm considering switching to writing Merida's dialogue without her accent - what do you think? Do you prefer her dialogue written phonetically akin to Scottish twitter or would you rather it was the same as everyone else's?