Chapter Eight: Bond
Jack spent the day with Hiccup. Throughout classes, the two boys would be as close as possible. Surprising for Hiccup, he assumed Jack would prefer to spend at least a few classes with his other friends, but instead, he kept near him at every possible moment until Dinner, when they had to part to their respective tables.
Such change of friends didn't go indifferent to Astrid.
"What's up with the Fishbone?" She whispered to Aster.
"Who?" He asked.
"That twig from Ravenclaw that Jack won't get away from, what's up with him?" She hissed.
"I dunno," He said. "Why are you so bothered anyways?"
"It's just weird, Jack went off all suddenly and just now started to hang out with him." She frowned at the two boys ahead of her, the way Jack would start taking to Hiccup a bit too close for her taste.
"Jealous much?" Aster smirked. Astrid's elbow hit him up his ribcage, earning a moan of pain from the taller boy.
"I just want to know what is going on." She said with finality.
"Just wait for dinner time." Aster said. "He will have to sit with us then."
Astrid huffed. Jack did sit with them for that night, but barely spoke as he devoured whatever food he could place his hands on, and then he'd leave before Astrid could make any questions. He'd repeat this act for an entire week, until Friday, when the levitating candles lightened up the four tables of the Great Hall. The lines of students chatting wildly in the night.
All but two of them.
"Where is he?!" Astrid hissed again, gesturing with her knife to the empty seat next to her where Jack should be. Aster shrugged, devouring the peace of chicken on his hands.
Jack was obviously with Hiccup.
The two boys were wandering through the halls of the seventh floor for an hour now, where they knew most people would not climb up to, especially at that time. Hiccup would laugh as Jack would hold his hand and make him spin around in the mid of the corridor, the two boys losing their heads at the complicity of being out so late.
"Wait, so she actually asked you which side were you on?" Jack asked in the mid of his laughter, earning a roll of nods and chuckles from the smaller boy.
"And I literally said 'my own'," He replied, and Jack bended himself over his stomach in maniac laughter.
"Oh gosh, that was great." He said, slowing down his circle steps as he still held Hiccup's hands. Both boys were dizzy. Suddenly Hiccup looked very serious, as if his mind just registered something.
"Do you really think something is up?" Hiccup said, his voice lower than before. Jack looked puzzled again. "Like, with all these people gone missing and Dementors showing up… do you think there might be… you know?"
Jack only stared at him, still breathing heavily. "It is… just like it used to be before." He said. Feeling the warmth from the other boy hands, Jack nearly choked realizing how strange all that was, suddenly losing his grip on the freckled hands.
"So, uh… Wanna do something right now?" Jack asked, trying to ease the tension. Hiccup was the same as him by that point, noticing how his heart was now beating for an entirely different reason. Both boys started walking further into the halls, still quite close one to the other.
"Oh, I wanted to ask you something, actually." Hiccup said.
"Shoot."
"How come you never talk about your family?" The words left Hiccup's mouth, and suddenly, Jack flinched.
"Um, let's say that's because no one really asked." Jack said simply. Hiccup was left still waiting for more.
"Well, in this case I'm asking." Hiccup said. "I want to know."
Jack placed his hands on a pillar near a window, noticing the bluish-green lights that came from it.
"Well, it used to be just Flee and me." He said, the usually bright side of his features turning sober and darker. Hiccup ended up leaning against the window in front of them, listening. "She was my sister." He added, a downed expression on his face.
"What happened?" Hiccup asked.
Jack stared at the floor.
"We're Half-bloods." He said. "I think dad was a wizard, but to be honest I don't remember them much…" Hiccup was nearly asking who Jack lived with, but he didn't. Now was not the time for those details. "She was just a couple years younger than me. We were in South England back then. There weren't any Death Eaters seen in months…"
Hiccup's eyes were wide open, his hand covering his mouth.
"There was an attack in Brighton that day. Flee and I were far from each other when they came. The muggles couldn't see them, but I did. I ran for her, but it was too late, someone casted a spell right on those gas vaults that Muggles use. Seven dead, right there. Including Flee."
Hiccup was speechless. Jack's eyes were watered, holding back a single tear he wouldn't let go.
"I'm so sorry, Jack." Hiccup said.
Jack shrugged. "It's been six years now." He said, finally, wiping his face with the back of his hands. "Are you a Muggle born?" Jack asked, his voice cracking.
"No," Hiccup said. "My mom was."
"What happened to her?" Jack asked, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the pillar.
"She was an Auror, in hunt of Death Eaters." Hiccup explained, looking out the window. "She was caught this last summer." He said, Jack's mouth opening in shock. "She was after a former Death Eater that's been on the run ever since the Hogwarts Battle."
Jack only looked at Hiccup, dreading the way it would sound horrible to say he was sorry. He was now taking Hiccup's place as a comforter.
"She's been missing ever since Summer started. They haven't found her body, but it's pretty obvious by now that she's been taken." There was a long silence. "I haven't really told this to anyone." Hiccup said. "I miss her."
Jack looked down at him, a tear also threatening to escape before he took back the hold on Hiccup's hand, rubbing his thumb on the freckled skin. Hiccup gave a sad smile to the gesture.
"You know, they haven't found the body… doesn't mean she's not alive."
"Yeah, but I wish I was that optimistic." Hiccup retorted. "If she's not dead, then she probably wanted to be."
There was another long silence.
"How about your father?" Jack asked. Hiccup only shrugged.
"Haven't you heard? I'm the abort of Gryffindor." The smaller boy said, and Jack immediately understood what that meant.
"Stoick Horrendous?" He said.
"Horrendous Haddock, more like it." Hiccup smirked, sarcastically. "He wanted me to be in Gryffindor. He doesn't really like the wisecracks on Ravenclaw. I'm basically on my own now." He finished, looking at Jack's blue eyes.
Jack thought about it for a second before saying, "Not really, you're not."
Hiccup's cheeks turned red, but he smiled softly, taking in his new bond with Jackson Overland, squeezing back at Jack's hands, still linked to his.
#
After Jack left Hiccup at the entrance of his Common Room, he went back to his own. He was still trying to process in his mind everything that had happened. He had Hiccup. Not in the way he wanted to, but for tonight, he was sure that in the very least, he had his true friendship, which was more he could have ever asked for.
That was until he reached Gryffindor's common Room at the Seventh floor, stepping into the Fat Lady's portrait hole before facing the angry blue eyes of Astrid.
"Nice to see you joined us." She said, skittish. Jack rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, I was with…"
"Your new friend?" Astrid's voice was rough, sharp as a knife. "Look, I usually don't really care who you walk with, but what is it about the Fishbone that you just can't step away from him?"
"Why do you care?" Jack's anger matched Astrid's, worse. "It's not like you actually gave a shit about him when you're neighbours. Why care when I start hanging out with him?"
"Because he's weird, Jack." Astrid said, gesturing at nothing around herself. "He made you literally disappear for a week now… He's always been this pathetic useless until now and then decided to hex everyone, including you!" Jack rolled his eyes. "He's dangerous."
Jack looked at Aster for support, said boy sitting on one of the red couches by the fire.
"Don't look at me, she's the one who's flippin'."
"Thank you for your support." Astrid yelled at Aster, raising some suspicious looks from whoever was in the room.
However, when Astrid looked back at Jack, though, she found nothing.
Jack was a pro with sneaking out of uncomfortable situations. In a second of distraction, he managed to sneak into the stairs and slip into his room. He sat down on his bed with a 'hump', he was barely annoyed at Astrid. He knew the girl disliked Hiccup from the very beginning, but he was more than willing to simply stop talking to her if that meant keeping Hiccup's friendship.
Still, it didn't mean he wasn't upset. He liked Astrid. Sure, skittish, rude and wild Astrid who was one of the best a duelling he knew, still losing for Hiccup now. But still, he liked the friendship. But if keeping her meant being judged for having Hiccup, then he would choose Hiccup.
Jack looked near him, where on the dresser near his bed, he found the old picture of Flee. A crooked smile, her wide brown eyes shooting up in wonder. Except for the hair and eye colour, she looked like Jack. The same facial structure that made the mark of their blood link.
Jack pressed his two fingers against his lips, then pressing them against Flee's forehead on the picture, before tucking himself for bed.
