The next morning, Hiccup rose and dressed with the other first years, all of them marching down to the great hall in a sea of black. Once seated, he immediately looked around as he absently grabbed some fruit, hoping to see any of the three friends he had made on the train. He was about to give up when he saw a bright spot of red moving to sit with the other gryffindor. He quickly waved as Merida glanced in his direction, receiving a smile in return. The next one he spotted was Rapunzel, people falling behind her as they tripped over her long blond hair. Jack was harder to spot with his plain brown hair but eventually Hiccup saw him as well and waved. He saw Merida wave as well only to be forcefully turned away by an older student. Uncertain what had happened, Hiccup turned back to his food and tuned in just as professor Dreems was handing out class schedules.
Hiccup read over it and joined the first years on their way to the first class, charms. He followed the rest of the group as they made their way through the large castle, twisting and turning, only pausing to let a staircase move to the correct spot. He was careful to make note of the route they took, each classroom they passed, each passageway, knowing that without a map the entire place was like a maze. Or at least without a good memory. Finally the group ended their short trek in front of a plain wooden door, the small slivers that stuck out telling it's age.
With the basic introduction done, Hiccup could already tell Professor Joy was a little different from how he had thought a teacher would act. She was exactly like her name, joyful, with pure blue hair that seemed to sparkle and a bright yellow robe. She eagerly went over the basic levitation charm, with only a few students successfully getting their feathers into the air. Even when someone missed their feather and tipped over their pot of ink, her huge smile never left her face. Hiccup soon had his feather floating gently into the air, easily sending it through a series of cartwheels and figure eights as though he held it in his hand.
"Good job, Hiccup. Maybe you can give some people a hint. Now, I want everyone else to practice this spell as homework tonight. Let's get those feather to go up up up." the teacher said, true to her name as the students slowly filed out, a few glaring at Hiccup as they left.
Entering the greenhouse for herbology class, Hiccup was pleased to see Jack there as well, standing off to the side of a group of slytherins just outside. He started to head over the meet him when a thick hand pulled him back. He turned to see the same boy from the first day looking at him nervously.
"You shouldn't go over there. Slytherin house, known for being cunning, ambitious and resourceful. Colors: green and silver. Founder: Salazar Slytherin. Believes in pure blood hierarchy. 98% of Slytherin graduates are extremely bad people. Most famous graduates; Severus Snape, He Who Must Not Be Named, Lucius Malfoy, Belatrix Lastrange." the boy says, spouting facts so quickly, that Hiccup could barely see his small mouth move.
"I'll be fine. My friend is in that house and I know he isn't evil or anything. Besides, only 98% are bad. That means 2% are good. Just watch." Hiccup said before heading over. The blonde boy still reached out to try and stop him but he was determined. Jack's eye light up as Hiccup got closer.
"Hey Hiccup, how are you? It's kind of sad that we all got sorted into different houses huh? I wish I was in a different house. I tried talking to some people in my house but all they wanted to know was who my parents are and if they are both magic." Jack glances over to the group and Hiccup saw some of them looking over from the corner of their eyes.
"Its cool. Do you want to meet someone from my house?" Jack perked up at this, nodding his head. Hiccup smiled and went to get the same boy from earlier.
"Do you want to meet my friend? I swear he's nice and he doesn't really like his house right now." Hiccup asked, receiving a nervous nod before they both went back to Jack.
"Hey Jack this is…" Hiccup started before turning to the boy, realizing that her never asked for his name.
"I'm Fishlegs." the boy said quietly.
"Cool. Hey Hiccup, looks like you aren't the only one with a weird name huh? I'm Jack." he reached out a hand, giving Fishlegs a single shake while grinning. By this point, Professor Easter had opened the doors, ushering the students in. Unlike Professor Joy, he was serious and straightforward. His introduction was cut short when one boy from Ravenclaw decided to practice their levitation spell. Fortunately for him, it worked perfectly on the small empty pot he was practicing with. Unfortunately, he couldn't control the direction too well and it fell right on top of the professor's head, leading to the classes first lecture on conduct.
The three boys, having become closer during the single class, walked together back to the great hall for lunch. They split up upon entering, the two boys from Ravenclaw moving to sit next to each other while their friend walked over to his own house, sitting on his own on the end of the long table.
Once lunch was over, Hiccup and Fishlegs left to their first potions class while Jack headed off to his own charms class. Entering the dungeon like classroom, Hiccup immediately notice the long blond hair that trailed along the ground. The owner of said hair had a small blush on her face as students stepped over it in order to get to an open seat. Next to her sat a boy with dirty blond hair. Once again, Hiccup lead the two over and sat opposite the two Hufflepuffs.
"Hey Rapunzel." He said, taking the open seat across from the girl. He winced as another student almost tripped over the long hair. "Are you sure you can't just cut your hair? It would probably be a lot easier."
Rapunzel hesitated before answering, glancing at the other two boys seated at their table.
"I told you on the train, I can't." Hiccup looked at her, silently begging her to tell him why with a Ravenclaw curiosity. She bit her bottom lip, again glancing at the two blondes. Eventually she sighed, opening her mouth to answer when Professor Dreems entered the classroom.
"I'll tell you along with the others later." she whispered quickly before turning her full attention to the front where the professor was writing instruction on the board. Soon Hiccup was also focused on the lesson as the professor went over the different kinds of vials that would be used throughout the school year. Still, in the back of his mind he wondered what exactly Rapunzel was going to say.
Hiccup ran to his Defense Against the Dark Arts class, eager to finish quickly and meet up with his friends to learn Rapunzels secret. He soon slowed down when he realized Fishlegs was having trouble keeping up, the large boy evidently not into sports. Together they entered the classroom and settled into their seats, waiting for Professor Black to begin. He waited a few seconds for the eager chatter of the students to quiet down before beginning the lesson.
"Alright students. Since today is the first day of class I'll start by testing your abilities. Everyone should know the Lumos spell. Perform the who can't will write a paper on the exact pronunciation of the spell, history of the spell, and use of the spell, including at least three scenarios in which you would use said spell. Begin." The students all stared at the professor, uncertain if they had heard correctly. After a few seconds they realized he was serious and quickly pulled out their wands to practice the spell.
"Lumos" the word came quick to Hiccup's lips, trying to light the tip of his wand. Two more tries and he succeeded, almost too well. The wand light up, filling the room with a white glow that caused some students to turn away due to the brightness before it settled to a gently glow.
"I guess at least one person won't need to do the homework. Continue." Professor Black said, giving Hiccup a cursory glance.
The rest of the class spent their time trying to light the tips of their own wands, with Hiccup helping those who struggled. Soon enough the class ended with just over half of the students succeeding, most of them thanks to small tweaks suggested by Hiccup though they would deny it when asked. With a bit of time left before dinner, Hiccup headed to the library to meet up with his friends from the other houses. As agreed earlier, they joined together in a small corner by the back. There they could talk without fear of other listening in, so long as they were quiet.
"Sooooo..." Rapunzel began, still uncertain at the prospect of telling the group her secret. They were all silent for a few moments as she seemed to have in internal debate over whether she should or shouldn't tell.
"Oh for the love of… just tell us why you can't cut your hair. Stop with the hee hawing and spit it out."
"Merida's right. Just tell us. We're friends right? We aren't going to leave you just because of your hair."
"Ya so come on. Besides, you're stuck with us until we can figure out these mark thingies." Jack leaned forward from his seat across from the blonde girl. She took a deep breath, having made a decision.
"Okay. the thing about my hair is… well… it can heal!" Rapunzel said the last part quickly when she saw Merida about to interrupt about the hee hawing as she called it. The entire group looked at her in shock, not at all expecting this to be the answer for her long tresses.
"When you say heal ya mean…" Merida trailed off.
"I mean I sing a song and my hair glows and it heals stuff like cuts and bruises and i've had since forever and my parents didn't want to cut it for me since they think it is a gift and if I cut it, it doesn't glow anymore and they wanted me to choose if I wanted to keep it or not and I liked it and I liked helping people and healing people and please don't tell anyone." Rapunzel finished, out of breath from all that she had said. Hiccup's and Merida's jaws dropped from the revelation, while Jack looked at his friend with glee.
"That is so cool. I didn't know that could happen. Do other wizards have magic hair or a magic finger or something?" The nervousness that was on her face disappeared with this question, a small giggle forcing it's way out of her mouth. Even in a world of magic, it wasn't normal but that was what made Jack so fun. He was still learning about this world and gave the rest of them some perspective. His comment soon broke the others out of their shock, filling their little corner with laughter.
"No, no. No one else has anything like this, at least not that I know of. My parents only found out when my mom sang a lullaby and my hair glowed. Turns out that a rare herb my mom took when she was sick somehow gave me this hair." Rapunzel explained. Merida smiled while Hiccup had a puzzled frown on his face. While the girls talked more about what had happened and what she could do, Jack noticed the focused look on Hiccup's face.
"What's up?" He asked, putting his arm around Hiccup's shoulders.
"I'm just wondering how it affected Rapunzel. The herbs that I know of couldn't do something like this."
"Who knows? But it's not like this is a huge deal or anything."
"Ya, I guess you're right."
"Not you guess. I am right." Jack gave another one of his signature smiles before being drawn back into the conversation. Soon the group was laughing and talking, though very quietly as they were in the library.