Hey Guys!

This is a crossover between Harry Potter and How to Train Your Dragon, both of which I'm crazy about. It takes place after the Dragon Riders return to Berk from the Edge, after the final episode of Race to the Edge. From the Harry Potter POV, the it's set after the events of OOTP, just before HBP.

Just so we're clear, this will lean more towards the HTTYD characters than the HP characters, though everyone will have their fair share.

*Fair Warning : Beware of a healthy doze of hiccstrid fluff.*

So, here's the Prologue!

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Dragons: Race to the Burrow

Prologue

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As the sunset bathed the island of Berk in a golden hue, the tall and lean shape of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, Heir to Berk and the leader of the Dragon Riders stood on a high cliff, his auburn hair tousled and emerald eyes unfocused.

He was dressed in brown leather armour, a rust red tunic and olive leggings with a retractable sword attached to his belt. His left leg ended just below his knee, where a metal and wood prosthetic leg was attached. Two small braids poked out from behind his ear and a circular Deadly Nadder symbol over his heart seemed to glow as it caught the light from the fading sun.

A heavy sigh left him as he reflected back upon the past year.

Finding the Dragon Eye, going to Dragon's Edge, building the outpost from scratch, discovering and rescuing new dragons from the hunters, making new friends and allies and finally saving the egg of the King of the Dragons from Johann's treacherous hands all came to mind as he stared at the horizon. Hiccup never would have imagined that they would go through all that, but here they were. It had been a few weeks since they had locked up the Edge and moved back to Berk, their home.

Home, he thought. He'd come to associate home with his hut at the Edge, and readjusting to Berk would take time. Though life at Berk was good these days, thanks to all their progress since battling the Red Death, he missed the relative freedom. Berk was easy-going most of the time, but life at the Edge had been much freer.

And then there was the matter of his dad hinting at having Hiccup soon take over the village.

Sure, he'd led the Dragon Riders just fine though their adventures and missions, and had been running the Edge for almost a year now, but that had been just with the Riders there. A whole island full of rowdy, boisterous, violent vikings was another thing altogether. And he'd had help anyway. All the Riders had become much closer during their time at the Edge. Even Snotlout and the Twins had gained some semblance of responsibility, and he honestly didn't know whose turnover he was more shocked about. As for Fishlegs, he'd always been helpful. Well, at least since he had stopped ignoring Hiccup and became friends with him.

And then there was Astrid.

The thought of his beautiful, brave, fierce, determined, fearless and utterly amazing betrothed brought a smile to his lips. She'd been his anchor through everything, stood by his side loyally and unconditionally, supported him when he needed it, and never hesitated to put him straight when he went the wrong way. She had never let him fall, never would. She was his very own Valkyrie and he loved her with everything he was, so much more than he would ever have thought possible.

As if on cue, a warm hand gently wrapped around his and he looked at her, intertwining their fingers together.

Her azure eyes sparkled in the light of the setting sun, and Astrid smiled softly at him. "Hey babe," she said. She was dressed in a sleeveless red tunic, brown leggings with knee guards and studded skirt along with her usual shoulder armour and leather cord arm braces. She wore her golden hair in an intricate braid, a few loose stands framing her face as her kransen held most of them away. She looked breathtaking, as always.

"Hey," he replied just as softly, losing himself in the sea in her eyes for a moment.

"What're you doing out here alone?" she asked.

"Just thinking," he shrugged. "About, you know, all that has happened since.. Well, since we found the Dragon Eye. I miss the Edge."

"Yeah, me too," Astrid replied, looking out to the horizon, her smile growing nostalgic. "It was wonderful out there. All the different dragons and islands we've seen, all the friends… and of course, the privacy of our huts," she looked at him and winked suggestively.

Hiccup chuckled. "It's not like we'll never get any time alone anymore, Milady," he replied. "Dad sleeps at the Great Hall after Council Meetings and some mugs of mead on a lot of nights. Besides, weren't you talking about 'exploring' in the cove the other night?"

Astrid blushed, which she did very rarely, and punched him on the shoulder. Hiccup laughed and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her waist as hers wrapped around his neck. He loved the way she became all sweet and affectionate when it was just the two of them. She was still every bit the fierce and determined warrior she had always been, but she let her guard down for him, in a way that she did for no one else except her beloved dragon.

"If memory serves right, you seemed pretty keen on the idea, Dragon Boy," she reminded him with a mischievous smile.

It was his turn to blush, and he smiled at her as he leaned down to kiss her. "You bet," he whispered just before their lips met, arms tightening around each other as they kissed.

Just as they had started really getting into it, they were jolted apart as a loud, angry roar sounded from the direction of the village. Sharing a wide-eyed look, they turned as one and sprinted towards the disturbing sound as the sun disappeared below the horizon.

oOo

As they'd neared the village, panting and out of breath, the roars had gotten much louder. Following the ear-splitting sound to the plaza, they gaped in shock.

In the middle of the village square, surrounded by the rest of the Riders and the A Team on their dragons, along with Toothless, Stormfly, Skullcrusher and the Chief, was a huge and very angry looking Monstrous Nightmare. It looked to be almost three times the size of Hookfang and was grey in colour, with bright orange eyes narrowed to slits.

Hiccup and Astrid took in the situation quickly as they recovered from their shock. The vikings were trying to get the raging dragon to calm down, but that didn't seem to be doing any good. The Nightmare wasn't responding to any of the riders, and the other dragons' roars only seemed to make it angrier. As Toothless tried to inch closer, it unleashed its fire at the Night Fury, who narrowly avoided the flames. All the dragons were getting increasingly agitated as the grey Nightmare roared again.

Most of the villagers had gathered round to watch from afar, holding torches and weapons, and they looked worried. Even though the Hooligans had stopped fighting dragons, they couldn't let a rogue dragon destroy their village.

Hiccup and Astrid looked at each other and shared a quick, silent conversation and leapt into action.

"RIDERS, FALL BACK!" Astrid yelled, knowing the current situation was calling for desperate measures. Hearing her call, everyone began backing up, some more hesitantly than others.

"RUFF, TUFF, YOU'RE UP!" Hiccup shouted as Toothless and Stormfly leapt over to their sides, tense and growing. "ENGULF AND BLOW!"

The twins whooped as they took to the air on Barf and Belch and circled the huge dragon.

"YOU GOT IT, H!" Ruffnut called as Barf let out the signature Zippleback gas all around the Nightmare, and everyone backed further away in anticipation, bracing themselves for the explosion.

"THIS IS FOR YOU, MACEY!" Tuffnut hollered with feeling as Belch set the gas alight and the twins got away, just as there was a massive explosion that lit up rapidly darkening night brilliantly, and had everyone shielding their eyes.

But Hiccup knew that it wouldn't be enough for a dragon that powerful, so even as the smoke began thinning, he turned to Toothless.

"Bud, sober it up," he told the Night Fury, and the dragon opened his mouth to release a supersonic roar that made the dazed Nightmare turn his full attention to the black dragon and the human beside him.

Now that they had shocked it out of its apoplectic state, the huge dragon's eyes followed Hiccup as he came forward, stance cautious. The dragon began growling. Hiccup raised both his hands in a placating manner to the dragon, and made a low noise in his throat. The dragon tilted his head, eyes calculating. Hiccup then slowly lowered one of his hands to reach for his sword. The dragon growled louder and bared its teeth.

"It's okay," Hiccup murmured soothingly, in what Astrid insisted on calling his 'dragon voice'. "I won't hurt you."

He then drew out his sword, the Inferno, and extended and lit it up in one smooth motion. The Nightmare's pupils thinned for the fraction of a second but then he inched forward slightly, intrigued. Hiccup then began slowly waving it around in a hypnotising manner, and the huge dragon's eyes followed the motion of the flaming blade, transfixed.

Everyone present, dragons and vikings alike, watched in amazement as Hiccup used the Inferno to calm the dragon down. Most of them hadn't known about his flaming sword, and even those who had, hadn't known that he had turned it into a retractable one. Only Astrid and Gobber had seen it when he'd forged it just a few days ago.

When the dragon had calmed down enough, Hiccup retracted the blade and put it back. He once again raised his hand and began to move closer and the dragon gave a low growl. Inhaling deeply, Hiccup extended his arm forward, palm first, and closed his eyes before turning his head away, giving his full trust to the dragon.

A few moments passed in absolute silence and then he felt a dry, scaly snout press into his palm. As he let out the breath he was holding in a relieved sigh, a wave of relief washed over the tense audience and everyone relaxed a little.

He turned back to look at the Nightmare, whose bright orange eyes seemed to be glowing in the darkness of the night and now had large, dilated pupils. Hiccup smiled and raised his other hand to rub the dragon's grey muzzle, and the dragon crooned.

"It's a Titan Wing Monstrous Nightmare!" Fishlegs said excitedly in a squeaky voice. "But he's so…"

"Massive..." Tuffnut suggested in a dramatic manner as the twins landed.

"Gigantic…" Ruffnut continued.

"Humongous…"

"Colossal…"

"Yeah, yeah, we get it," Snotlout interrupted impatiently as he stalked forward too. "And it's not a he, Fishface, it's a she!"

"Um, how can you tell?" Fishlegs asked. "I'm pretty sure that…"

"And you were pretty sure Meatlug was a male dragon until she laid eggs, weren't you?" Snotlout insisted as Fishlegs blushed in embarrassment. "I'm the Monstrous Nightmare Expert here, and this here, is a female dragon!"

"We'll take your word for it," Astrid interrupted them before their argument could escalate. "But the real question is, what is a Titan Wing Nightmare doing here? Dragons don't just barge into villages, not anymore."

"Aye, I would like to know that, too," Stoick said as he ambled forward.

"I was just lighting up the torches when there was this demonic roar that shook me entire smithy, laddie! And I come out and see this huge beast rampaging through the plaza!" Gobber informed in his usual animated way as he hobbled over to stand beside the Chief, a hammer prosthetic attached to his left arm. The Nightmare's eyes flicked to him, but Hiccup rubbed it snout soothingly and it relaxed.

"I've seen Titan Wing Nightmares before, but never this big," Hiccup replied as Astrid came over to him. She raised her palm to gently caress the dragon's muzzle too. "And Titan Wings are pretty elusive. I have no idea why it would be here, raging like a pissed off Gronckle, no less."

"I can answer that for you."

Hiccup whirled around with everyone else at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. Seemingly from nowhere, a man had appeared on his right, standing a few feet away. He was short and stocky, with beefy, muscular arms that were covered in burns and scars. He had flaming red shoulder-length hair and a face overflowing with freckles. In his right hand was a wooden stick, which seemed to be about a foot in length. The stranger was dressed in a sleeveless black vest which was covered in dragon scales and black leather pants with heavy boots.

A moment passed, and Stormfly's inquisitive squawk pulled the group out of their shock-induced stupor. Everyone drew out their weapons and took battle stances.

"Who are you?" the Chief growled, clutching his war axe. "State your name and purpose, stranger!"

"What did you mean, you could answer that?" Astrid asked suspiciously, her double-headed axe at the ready.

"Please, I mean you no harm," the stranger told them as he raised both his hands and a large, shiny burn on one of them glistened as it caught the firelight.

"Yeah? Well, setting a raging Nightmare loose on our village is hardly the way to show that!" Snotlout pointed out indignantly, and the twins called in agreement.

"I had no idea Norberta would be so jarred by the passage!" the redheaded man protested, his equally red eyebrows dipping in a slight frown.

"Passage?" Hiccup asked curiously.

"Norberta? See, it is a female!" Snotlout told Fishlegs gloatingly.

"Answer the question," Stoick interjected. "Who are you and why are you here?"

"My name is Charlie Weasley," the man said. "And I'm here because we need your help."

"And if we refuse?" Spitelout sneered from his perch on the back of his Nadder, finally having gotten over the shock.

"Then both our worlds shall perish."

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*cliffhanger*

Review and tell me what you think! Next one will be up before Wednesday.

- DragonsAndBroomsticks