Chapter Four: Foreboding
There was a huge gathering in front of Hogwarts' entrance. The two winged boars stood proudly above the heads of the students as they crowded around the gates. Astrid's fingers found their way to Jack's forearm.
"What do you think is going on here?" She whispered.
"I don't know. Whatever it is, it can't be good." He replied. The group stopped as they approached the crowd.
Way too slowly, they were able to see their potions master holding a long roll of parchment, reading out loud the names of the students as they were checked in to the gates.
The confusion was written on Jack's face as he walked up to Professor Slughorn – Who only earlier had just invited Jack to his traditional tea gathering.
"Professor, what is all of this for?"
The plump man turned to him with the intrigued look he always wore whenever he had to focus too much on something. Jack seriously considered if he wasn't too old already to be lessoning.
"Oh, Jack, mah' boy, good to see ya'", the man said above his slightly twisted glasses. "Alright, name?" He asked. Jack only furred his eyebrows.
"But Professor, you've known me for five years now." Jack answered.
"There are no exceptions, Jack. Name." The man said, suddenly harsh, making Jack gulp in caution.
"Jackson Overland." He only had time to say the words before his trunk was pulled off from his hand, gravitating towards another wizard. "Hey!" He gasped before his trunk was opened, a strange glow set into it from the wizard's wand, and then shut back again, floating to the ground.
"This one's clean, next?" The wizard said as Jack retrieved his belongings.
"What was that-?!" He had no time to spill his doubts before Astrid grabbed him by his left shoulder, pulling him forwards.
"He's an auror, Jack." She said skittishly, fighting the urge to look over her shoulders, her trunk also magically scanned before they resumed their way up to the Castle. Jack's eyes shook up in realization of what aurors at Hogwarts meant.
He gulped, a shiver running down his spine as the lights of the school illuminated the dark sky above them.
#
The Great Hall was buzzing with all the chit chats from the students, all of them repeatedly mumbling, screaming and laughing about the awesomeness of their holidays. And like a thread wire, the subject quite often was brought back to, well, Hiccup. Some people would laugh at the story of how Snotlout's head had a shrinking hex. No one could prove that much since the hex was quickly ended, but that did not mean that someone would forget that any time soon. Good stories did not happen everyday, unfortunately.
But even though Jack Overland was laughing at all of it with the Gryffindor table, his eyes simply could not help but wonder to the Ravenclaw's table direction. Basically, everyone's eyes were.
He could only see the mess of auburn hair and the bluish shades of the Ravenclaw robes, but it was still his Hiccup. And he would be lying if he said he wasn't dying on the inside to talk to the boy.
There was this warm feeling crossing through the Great Hall, the one that required silence when Professor Minerva stood up from her seat, placing herself behind the owl-like stage. Her hands rose to the hall as everyone stopped talking, the chats dying progressively so all the attention was on the front of the Great Hall.
The routine was well known, the announcements and any welcoming speech. Hiccup had his eyes stuck on the cup of pumpkin juice on his hands when Professor McGonagall's words took another route, though.
"As you all may have perceived, each and every single one of you had to be searched on your way into the Castle." Everyone's attention was on her as she started. "And you have the right to know why."
Jack's eyes stopped wandering over to the Ravenclaw table so they could finally meet the Headmistress.
"Many years ago, when the wizarding world was still undercover, threatened of war against the muggle kind, many young witches and wizards were unable to develop their magical skills due to the risk of disclosure. As some of you might have studied, not all of those wizards reached our castle's grounds. To repel a child's magic, as many muggles have attempted in the past," A shiver ran through Jack's neck for these words, "only transformed them into monstrous creatures. Except for one."
Sometimes it sounded like the speech was made only to bring shivers to the students, as if to tell them that their every move was a risk, or as if they were stepping on mining fields. And that is exactly how it felt, down to every teenager on that Great Hall.
Jack's eyes still wandered to the Ravenclaw table, and finally saw that Hiccup had turned his face to the Headmistress, his usually pinked cheeks and nose visible, but he seemed almost bored through that terrifying speech.
"Which is why I beg you to be careful," Everyone could tell professor Minerva was about to finish it as her words led to that finale feeling. "Just something for you to consider. As in a matter of security, the Minister for Magic has incorporated a few changes into our system. Even though nothing is supposed to upset our regular schedule, please welcome our High Inquisitor, Mister Percy Ignatius Weasley."
A red-haired man, around his forties, stood up proudly from his chair, and a small round of uncertain applauses emerged from the Great Hall.
"Mister Weasley is here in lieu of the Minister's service, in order to prevent any possible threat to our security system. I am sure he will be attending to every valuable doubt concerning the student's safety," Professor McGonagall's eyes wandered back to Percy with a warning look, and everyone in the Hall noticed how uncomfortable he got. "Now off to bed, carry on."
As if on cue, all of the students around the four tables rose up to their feet, the chats now in a darker tone than ever before.
"What y'all think that was supposed to mean?" Jack heard one of his friends ask. "The Aurors, this bloody speech…?" He looked at him for a moment, already familiarized with Aster's thick accent.
Jack didn't know all that well what it meant, but the High Inquisitor, the Aurors, the search on their trunks could only mean no good.
But it all seemed irrelevant once the Ravenclaws passed before them one last time, getting ahead of the Gryffindors to climb the marble staircase to their common room. Jack had one last glimpse of Hiccup, right when he got to the top of the stairs, and turned his head once to look down.
Their eyes met for a moment that seemed to stretch into a thousand, blue locked on green, the words that ran through their heads crossed this invisible thread to each other. Then the moment was gone, and Jack kept staring at the vanishing mass of students.
