Chapter Seven: Position

"…Head of Educational Standards Department Missing, Minister for Magic Eames Shaw asks for caution…"

"Another person missing?"

"It seems so…"

"Jack!" Astrid called him louder from across the table on the Great Hall. Jack had been staring at the Ravenclaw table ever since they sat down for breakfast, but had not seen Hiccup yet.

"What's up with the snow-head today?" Said Aster, sipping on his pumpkin juice. "Been off all day."

"I'm just tired." Jack said, his eyes still glued to the other table.

"By tired I'm assuming you're crushing on Elena Gilbert." Said Astrid, making them all laugh. Elena Gilbert was from fifth year, she had so many acne on a square inch of her skin as the Moon has craters on all of its surface. "I mean, she is not that bad…" Astrid was clearly joking, making Aster choke on his juice.

"Har-har, bloody har." Jack said, looking down at his plate of waffles and syrup. He wasn't all that hungry.

"Lookin' pretty odd, mate." Aster kept pointing at him with a spoon. "Sure you don't wanna skip a class?"

"Aster!" Hissed Astrid, "You can't skip classes at Hogwarts."

"Well, perhaps just headin' for Madam Pomfrey…" Aster got quiet after a particularly painful kick hit his leg beneath the table.

When the bell rang, Jack was the first one to jump to his feet, the excitement before seeing Hiccup taking the best of him, and he sprinted out of the Great Hall, leaving Aster and Astrid behind him.

"What's wrong with him?" Asked Aster. Astrid only shrugged.

Jack was sprinting through the hallways, dodging the people that showed up in front of him, his head always kept up. Hiccup on his mind all the way. As he ran, he eventually got the attention of the group. The Girls in the short skirts, as he always thought about them. He was used to their harassment, the blowing kisses and the way they would sing song his name. Ja~ack as if the words were flying through the air.

"Why the hurry?" One of them said.

"Stay a little bit."

"Just give us a minute!"

"Get that skinny ass over here!" They all giggled.

Here is the thing: most fifteen year old boys would love this attention. Most of them would easily envy Jack for his looks, or jinx the odds for giving him this advantage in the girl's world.

Jack would hate it.

If anything, he felt violated, almost. No one bothered to ask what Jack wanted. To be left alone, that is what he wanted. Especially when he would walk close enough to those girls, avoiding them near the walls, still enough range for their sly hands to… SLAP!

The burning feeling on his butt did not make him as angry as it made him embarrassed. The girls giggled even louder, waving their fingers maliciously at him. One of them was tall and skinny, the black hair falling in waves over her shoulder. She only smiled at Jack, chewing on her gun as she blinked deviously.

#

As soon as Hiccup woke up that morning, he felt something curious. This immense and contagious warm feeling in his chest. It would put on a smile on his face for the first time in a long time.

"Good morning!" He actually said to the first boy that he saw as he left the common room. Said boy only stared at his silhouette as Hiccup sprinted out the entrance.

"Whatever happened to Haddock?" The boy next to him whispered.

Hiccup knew very well what happened. The urge to see Jack happened. The idea that perhaps not everything was meant to go downhill this year. That was more than he could ever ask for.

He didn't get far.

"Hiccup Haddock?" A small voice rose up to him as soon as he reached the main staircase. A fifth year girl from Ravenclaw with dashing dark hair called him, raising her hand with a paper note. "Professor McGonagall wants to see you in her office."

Oh her chest, Hiccup recognised the prefect badge.

"Oh, come on, right now?" Hiccup asked, grunting.

"Yes, now." The girl simply replied. "She asked me to take you there.

With a final grunt, Hiccup let the girl scout him back upstairs.

#

Jack kept on waiting at the bottom of the grand Staircase. Waiting for Hiccup. People would see him. Then wave at him. Some would even smile. He kept waiting. Hopeful.

Until the bell rang. And waiting became a waste, so he gruntingly went to his first class. Alone.

#

"Here we are." The girl said. "Twisted and Turned," she sang, and not a minute later, the eagle statue in front of them turned around itself, rising to a spiral staircase.

"Go on." She nearly commanded. "She is waiting for you."

Hiccup gulped before walking forwards, the frown back on his face. He did not take two steps upstairs before they began to lift him up by themselves.

He nocked at the wooden door, unsure.

"Come in." He heard, and then the door swung open.

The boy took in the surroundings of the Headmistress's office. Frames after frames of past Headmistresss surrounded the room, covering the walls. Planetary globes, piles of books and a thousand artefacts Hiccup couldn't name. And after the desk, Professor McGonagall looked at him, her eyes alert behind the glasses.

"You asked to call me, Headmistress?" Hiccup spoke.

"Mister Haddock, yes, I have." McGonagall spoke. "Please, have a seat."

Hiccup sat down on the wooden chair in front of the Professor. His looks went from the books ahead of him, to the letter she was writing, then to the frame of Professor Dumbledore on his left. The right arm of the Headmistress.

"Mister Haddock, I have some questions concerning you that I think we might need to discuss."

"Sure." The boy replied. "About what?"

"I've been informed by some students that there is a growing concern about their security around you." The Professor resumed, scrambling the papers on her desk. "Just yesterday I've received a letter from the family of a student, after your duel in class landed him in the Hospital wing…"

"If Agnus McCollen ain't that good with his defensive charms it's not really my fault, Headmistress." Hiccup said before he could get a hold of his voice. "It was a fair duel, in Shacklebolt's class. Perhaps setting unprepared scholars to duel should be one of the teacher's concerns, if I can make a complaint."

"I'm pretty aware of the nature of Quim's classes, mister Haddock." She said, even. "If I still remember, we've been together during the Hogwarts' Battle, I'm sure you are in pretty good hands."

"Brilliant." Hiccup said. "So, what's the actual concern?"

"I've been hearing the rumours, mister Haddock." She said, squinting her lips. "Students are getting afraid. I'd like you to know that even though I do not support the use of force in bullying, a squinting hex would be very appropriate for a few bullies."

Hiccup's eyes darted up. The Professor stared at him with an amused smirk.

"I only want you to understand that whatever you are going through right now, you have a choice." She said, leaning forward. "There are people here that can support you through whatever it is."

"What do you mean?"

"These are dark times, Haddock." She said. "People are starting to get afraid. Have you read the Daily Prophet lately? As long as that bloody Skeeter isn't writing in it… The smallest things are setting everyone uneasy."

"So I'm setting people off uneasy?" Hiccup asked, a hint of irony on his voice. "That's interesting. Perhaps I should befriend someone, and then things would go truly wild."

"Oh, for sure they would." She agreed, leaning back on her chair, now staring at Dumbledore's frame through her round glasses. She pouted her lips. "People are disappearing, Ministry officials are under arrest and Muggles are getting each time more aware of the situation. You can trust no one these days."

An awkward silence fell between student and Headmistress. Minerva McGonagall studied Hiccup carefully with her tired green eyes.

"But there is one thing I need to ask you before I let you resume your classes: which side are you on?"

Hiccup cocked his eyebrows, feeling the unworthy energy rising in the entire castle.

"Considering I got nothing to lose… My own." He said. "Can I go now?"

The Headmistress stared at him, nodding in both defeat and approval. She was proud. Hiccup got back to his feet, already turning and ready to leave when McGonagall called him again.

"Mister Haddock." The Headmistress was looking right through him. "Trust no one." She said.

Hiccup nodded one more time, smirking before turning on his heels and shutting the door behind him.

#

"Open your books at page 137." Professor Binns spoke, his ghost unknowingly floating behind the desk in front of the class. Jack was, once again, alone at this class. Astrid and Aster were two rolls in front of him, and the place next to him was empty.

As the professor began his lecture, Jack sank his head on his elbow, furrowing. Why wasn't Hiccup there? He thought.

That was when the doors of the classroom opened, and everyone stared up at the incomer.

"Late, Mister Haddock." Professor Binns announced.

Hiccup stayed quiet as he walked past the desks until his eyes met Jacks all the way to the back of the room.

"Where were you?!" Jack hissed as Hiccup took the seat next to him.

"Sorry, long story." Hiccup replied. Two rolls ahead of them, Astrid and Aster turned their heads back, their eyes fix on the two boys.

"Well, it better be more interesting that this story," The white haired boy gestured to the lecture ahead of them.

"It probably is," Hiccup said. "Professor McGonagall wanted to see me." Jack's eyes nearly popped out of his skull.

"What? Why?!"

Hiccup only looked at him, biting his lips in defeat, the explanation visible on his expression.

"You were in trouble." Jack asked, which Hiccup nodded, a half smile forming on his lips. "Why?"

"The duel yesterday?" Jack nodded. "McCollen was sent to the Hospital Wing, and since the Head of Educational Standards has disappeared, his parents got scared. They sent a letter to McGonagall last night."

"Oh, God…" Jack said.

"So, apparently I am the new school terrorist, and I'm targeting Astrid next if she won't stop looking at us," Hiccup smirked at Astrid, caught off guard when she realised that Hiccup had seen her. She quickly turned back to her desk.

What Hiccup did not notice was that Jack was looking at him, a small smile pulling on his lips as he admired the boy next to him. As far as he could tell, Hiccup was impossibly mysterious and clever. And damn, did Jack like it.