Chapter Ten
Merida-
Merida took her seat with Rapunzel, Liam, and Ashley in potions. Liam and Ashley were having a heated argument about which broomstick was faster, the Lightning or the Nimbus 2020. Merida would normally have been very interested in the matter, but lately she had only been thinking about the 'shadow'.
So far they were still trying to get the list of drowned students from Madam Lawson. Their latest attempt had involved some Puking Pasties ordered from Diagon Alley. Madam Lawson had seen through it right away and hadn't even allowed them into the hospital wing.
Merida sighed. Liam glanced at her, pausing their argument. "You ok ginger?" he asked.
"What do you think?" she asked.
"Just asking," he defended himself.
"Merida's just in a bad mood," Rapunzel smiled at him.
"What's up?" Liam asked.
"I don't want to talk about it," she stated. Liam shrugged and turned back to Ashley. Just then Professor Starling walked in.
"Hello students," she said.
"Hello Professor Starling," Rapunzel replied sweetly.
"Now I have an announcement to make that I'm sure will just ruin your day," she said with a twinkle in her eyes. "All potions classes have been canceled today for the potions duel between Ravenclaw and Slytherin First years," she announced.
"Yes," Blake cried. He jumped on his table and did a little dance.
"Mr. Stellrock please restrain yourself," Professor Starling said sternly. Blake jumped down and sat back in his seat. "Also if you so wish to watch the duel I can write you an excuse to get out of class. If you would like one please raise your hand." Everyone's hand shot up in the air. "That's what I thought," she smiled.
"I didn't think Hogwarts had so much interaction with the houses," Liam thought aloud.
"Every Headmaster teaches differently," Professor Starling explained. "Nicholas Jurntry chooses to make lots of activities that allow the houses to interact."
"Why?" Ashley asked.
"He has his own reasons," was all Professor Starling said. "Now I've got to write these excuses. The duel will be held in the largest dungeon. I advise you all to go find seats." The two houses rose and walked out of the room.
Instead of going upward, as they always did before, they walked down towards the other dungeons. The largest one was the one at the very bottom. It was almost as big as the Great Hall.
When they got there it was filled with chairs. All of them were facing one very long table that was covered in cauldrons and many ingredients. Merida and Rapunzel sat at the front.
"I wonder who will win," Rapunzel murmured.
"Slytherin," Liam spat. "Professor Starling is the head of their house. She probably has given them all secret lessons." Merida found it hard to imagine Jack going to secret potions lessons.
"But Ravenclaw is smart. I think they'll be more than able to challenge Slytherin," Ashley pointed out. This got her and Liam started on another argument.
"I hope Jack wins," Rapunzel whispered.
"Ten Galleons says Hiccup crushes him," Merida said mischievously. Rapunzel gave her a sideways look.
"You're on," she shook her hand. Just then Slytherin and Ravenclaw arrived. Slytherin stood on one side, Ravenclaw on the other. To Merida's delight Hiccup and Jack were facing each other, and they were right in front of Merida and Rapunzel's seats.
"Go Jack," Rapunzel cheered. He had his back to them so he had to turn to grin at her.
"Get him Hiccup," Merida cried. Hiccup blushed a slight pink.
"Students of Slytherin house, and Ravenclaw house," Professor Starling called. She stood at the head of the table with Alex. "Today you will be asked to brew one of the most difficult potions of all. It took the last wizard eight years to make it." A few of the students paled and gulped nervously. "Of course we are not going to hold this out for more than today, so we are only asking you each to make one step in the potion. The winning house will win 150 points for their house," Professor Starling explained. "Are you ready?" she asked.
The room was deadly quiet. Alex flicked his wand and some parchment flew to each student. "You have received your instructions," he said. "Now begin."
"What's the potion called?" Rapunzel asked. Merida shrugged.
"Centaur's Tears," Ashley answered.
Hiccup-
Hiccup had step seven. He scanned the list of ingredients. Since yesterday after potions class he had been studying the steps and the ingredients to make them. He recognized some of the things from his Short Cuts for Difficult Potions book. Half of it was new to him though.
Across from him Jack was already adding the first ingredient. Hiccup snapped back into the present and grabbed the alfalfa grass the potion needed. He dropped it into the cauldron with some mushy oats and clear spring water. He stirred it seven times clockwise, then ten times counterclockwise. It turned a bright yellow with oat chunks floating in it. Hiccup held in his gag and reached for the next thing on his list.
"How's it going Ravenclaw?" Jack asked casually as he dropped a horse hoof into his cauldron.
"Quite well," Hiccup replied smugly as he stirred in the next ingredient.
"Step seven?" Jack guessed. Hiccup nodded. "I got step five. I think it's one of the easier ones," he smirked.
"Good, cause you're going to need easy to beat me," Hiccup said with a sly grin. Jack laughed. Hiccup felt confident as he created his potion. This was something he knew he was good at.
He could feel Jack's eyes watching him move. "You must like this stuff. I've never heard you be so cocky," Jack noted. Hiccup shrugged. They grew into silence as the steps began to get harder.
The supplies around Hiccup were beginning to run out. He noticed several students had already run out. The next thing he needed was some possum urine. The small vial with the gross stuff was missing from his pile.
He looked around for it. It wasn't on the floor so it hadn't rolled off, it hadn't rolled into his neighbor's piles either. Getting frustrated he dared to travel down the line of students to try and find it.
He saw the glint of a crystal vial through some shoulders. Moving in between them he saw Jasper smirk at him and poor it into his cauldron. Hiccup huffed and walked back to his cauldron, unsure of what he should do.
"What's up?" Jack asked when he returned.
"Jasper took my possum urine," Hiccup sighed.
"I hope he drank it," Jack said. Hiccup couldn't retain his laughter. "Well what do you know, fingernails are the next thing on my list and it looks like he's got a nice supply in his pile," Jack said slowly. He shot Hiccup a sideways smile then slunk off to steal Jasper's supplies.
Hiccup looked around and noticed a number of students were stealing from their neighbors. He glanced at the Professors, they weren't saying anything. Nervously he looked around for another vial of possum urine. To his pleasure he spotted one, to his disappointment it was in Gowthur's pile.
Taking a deep breath he approached Gowthur. The short boy was standing in a chair so he could reach the table. Hiccup swallowed his laughter. "Hey Gowthur," he said. Gowthur turned around to face him.
"What is it Hiccup?" he asked.
"Look at that," Hiccup said lamely. He was surprised when Gowthur actually turned to look where he was pointing. Grabbing the vial of urine he raced back to his place. When he returned some of his supplies were missing, but none of them were of importance.
"Nice move back there," jack said without looking up from his work. Hiccup smiled.
"I'm surprised he fell for that. It thought it only worked in movies," he confessed.
"I guess you never know till you try," Jack shrugged. Hiccup poured the contents of the vile into his cauldron and stirred. The potions turned a sickly green and bubbles rose from it. They popped in the air and made loud exploding noises. Hiccup was frightened he had done something wrong, but he was relieved to see Jasper's potion was doing it too.
"Keep going Hiccup," Merida cheered from behind Jack. Jack wagged his eyebrows at him and Hiccup threw some hay at him. Jack laughed.
"Focus boys," Professor Starling snapped as she walked by them, inspecting the progress the students had made so far.
Jack Frost-
Jack dropped in some apple slices and then sprinkled it with oats. His potion was bright red and was like a solid mess. Secretly he thought he was doing something wrong, but he kept his cool, laid back attitude.
"Come on Jack, come on," Rapunzel encouraged him. Jack could feel the heat in his cheeks and he was happy she couldn't see his face. Jack didn't know why he was blushing, he never blushed.
"I'm almost done Frosty," Bounder said from where he was working next to him. "Just need some moldy hay," he walked off to steal it.
"Can I use this?" Hiccup pointed to the small pile of flies next to Jack's cauldron. Jack winced.
"'Fraid not Hic. That is my last ingredient," he reached down to grab some.
"Mine too," Hiccup sighed. "See any extras?" he asked scanning the people round him. Jack shook his head. Hiccup sighed again and walked off to find some. Jack counted out the number of flies he needed. He had just enough. One by one he dropped them into his potion.
The little black bodies sunk into the red substance and made it sizzle. The surface of it shivered and made a groaning noise. It all heaved to one side of the cauldron then gave one big shudder and melted into a liquid the color of Jack's hair.
"Done," he called. Professor Starling came and checked.
"Well done Jack," she patted his shoulder. Jack grinned. He turned around to smirk at Rapunzel and Merida. When he turned he saw Merida dropped ten golden Galleons into Rapunzel's hand. He raised his eyebrows at them.
"I voted on ya," Rapunzel smiled.
"And I didn't," Merida grumbled. She looked mad that she had lost the bet. Jack laughed.
"Tanks for the support Rapunzel," he nodded to her. She smiled brightly.
"Done," Hiccup called from behind him. Jack turned back around to see Alex checking Hiccup's potion.
"Well done Mr. Haddock," Alex nodded approvingly. He moved back to where he and Professor Starling watch to wait for the others to finish.
Finally everyone was done. "Line up in order of your steps," Professor Starling instructed. Everyone grabbed their cauldron and moved into the right position. Jack was towards the front. "Starting with step one, pour the contents of your cauldron into the next person's cauldron." Slowly they started to pass the potions down the line. It wasn't that full when it got to Jack and he had no problem sending it along.
At the end the two cauldrons were sitting at the end of the table, both of them sending out little sparkles and fizzes. Professor Starling and Alex carefully looked them over. They whispered to each other and dropped little pieces of hair into the cauldrons. Finally they looked at each other and nodded.
Professor Starling straightened up and looked over the rows of students. "We have found the winner," she announced. The students grew quiet. The room seemed to be holding its breath. "Ravenclaw has won their house 150 points," Professor Starling said. The Ravenclaws erupted into cheers.
The Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors cheered too. He could hear Rapunzel and Merida yelling behind him. "Hiccup, Hiccup, Hiccup." Hiccup whooped with the rest of his friends. Jack gave him an approving smile and nod.
"Good try Jack," Rapunzel said from behind him. He quietly chuckled at her.
"You are all dismissed from here," Alex called. The four houses rushed out of the room. Ravenclaw was boasting and yelling at the Slytherins. Jack caught up with Rapunzel and Merida to avoid being picked on.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey," they replied. "Was that hard?" Rapunzel asked.
"Nah," Jack shrugged. "If all the Slytherins were as good as me we would have won," he puffed out his chest. Merida rolled her eyes.
"You should have helped them," Rapunzel said. Jack shrugged. "How did this thing even come about?"
"Oh, hehe, well yesterday in potions we Slytherins were being a little cocky about our potions ability," Jack began sheepishly.
"Can't say I'm surprised," Merida mumbled. Jack ignored her.
"So the Ravenclaws were arguing with us about it. Pretty soon no one was working on the potions, but getting into fights about who was better. Professor Starling got mad and decided to turn it into a way to get house points."
"Oh. Cool," Rapunzel said.
"Looks like you were wrong," Merida noted. "Shouldn't have been so cocky." Jack gave her a look. She stuck out her tongue at him.
"Tut, tut, tut Miss Donbroch. That's very immature," he said in his best grown-up voice. Merida laughed and shoved him into the wall. Jack shoved her back.
"You guys," Rapunzel stepped in between them. They glanced at each other then squashed her in between them. "Hey," Rapunzel yelped in surprise. They let her go and then they all started to laugh.
Rapunzel-
Rapunzel pulled out the crumpled piece of parchment from her pocket and dropped it in front of her friends. "She said I could stay," she declared. Merida grabbed it first and her blue eyes scanned over it.
"That's great Punzie. My mom said I could too," she grinned.
"So did my dad," Hiccup added. Jack looked thrilled he wouldn't have to spend the holiday alone. Christmas was coming up and most students were returning home to spend it with their families, but the four had decided they should try and stay to find out about the 'shadow'. Merida, Hiccup, and Rapunzel had secretly agreed not to leave Jack here alone.
"So now we've got plenty of time to focus on the mystery," Rapunzel said. They all nodded.
"Where do we even start?" Jack sighed. Merida shrugged. Rapunzel sat next to them at their usual table in the library. Hiccup was staring thoughtfully into the distance.
"We should make a list of everything we know about this shadow," Rapunzel suggested. Jack produced some parchment and a quill. "So we know it lives at the school."
"It preys on the students," Merida said.
"It's powerful enough to hide itself from the water," Hiccup added.
"How do we know that is a great task?" Merida questioned.
"The water is old. It must be very strong," Hiccup explained. Rapunzel nodded. Jack jotted down what they had said.
"Ok, what else?" he asked. They were silent. "Well this is absolutely nothing to go on," jack said leaning back in his chair.
"I know," Hiccup ruffled his hair. "But how are we supposed to get more information?" he wondered. Rapunzel thought for a moment.
"You know the Forbidden Forest is full of old creatures and such. Maybe we could find some answers," she suggested.
"It's also full of murderous beasts. Maybe we could find them," Merida pointed out. Rapunzel sighed.
"I still think we need to find out who was drowned," Hiccup said. They all groaned.
"How are we supposed to do that? Madam Lawson said that unless we were sick then we were banned from the Hospital Wing," Jack pointed out.
"But what else can we do?" Hiccup asked. Suddenly the other kids in the room got up and ran towards the door. They were all talking loudly and worriedly.
"What's going on?" Rapunzel asked Tanner as he hurried by.
"Mary in the lake," Tanner answered. The four friends looked at each other. As one they all got up and ran past the others down to the lake.
Professor Alex was gently pulling Mary out of the water. Professor Starling and Nicholas were there too. Nicholas watched them with narrowed eyes as they grew closer.
"Stay away," he called. "This does not involve you, return to your dormitories right now," he ordered. Professor Starling came forward to make the students leave.
"We can't leave, we have to talk to Mary," Jack whispered.
"She's from my house, I'll talk to her once she's better," Hiccup said. They nodded and allowed themselves to be ushered back to their dormitories.
A/N:
This chapter was not what I hoped it would be. I'm terribly sorry for the sloppiness and all the errors. I know that it's kind of impossible for someone to just jump in and start making part of a potion without starting from the beginning. I hadn't thought of that till after I started writing this and I was too lazy to start over so we're just gonna say this is a weird potion that can be done like that. Also there was a time jump for Rapunzel's pov. Next chapter is Christmas. I'm sorry this chapter is so short. Thanks to disnerd, XxXBlueRose23XxX, Bailey24, blazelight790, HeyDickGrayson, Snown'flowerz, AlexJohnD, Cristyceci, Guest, and Guest for reviewing. I think that's the most people I've had review on one chapter! Thanks for reading and please review!