Chapter Sixteen
Merida-
Merida helped Hiccup bath is shoe in the bubbling potion he had made. "How did it destroy the spoon, but your shoe is intact?" Merida asked.
"Magic," Hiccup answered shortly. Merida raised her eyebrows, but didn't press him for more information. After the shoe was thoroughly drenched Hiccup used his wand to make it float. "Maybe now no one will get hit with it," he said.
"Hey wolfy," Merida called. The werewolf turned his furry head towards them. "Catch this," Merida tossed the shoe towards him. Instinctively the werewolf grabbed the shoe in his mouth.
At first nothing happened then he collapsed on his side and whimpered. "Is it dead?" Gowthur poked it with his shoe. It growled and he jumped back.
"I'm gonna say no," Jack smirked. "Riddikulus," he pointed at the wolf. It shrunk into an ugly looking puppy and snored loudly as it slept. "So did all that do is knock it out?" he asked.
"I have no idea," Hiccup shrugged.
"Thanks for the help," Gowthur said before he plunged back into the throngs of students.
"Do you think he'll act different now?" Rapunzel asked.
"Nope," Merida stated. They nodded their agreement.
"Goblins," Hiccup pointed behind them. They whipped around to see several goblins had cornered Florence.
"Let's go," Jack started to run to help. They all followed him.
"Stupefy," Merida cried, freezing one of them.
"Incendo," Hiccup yelled. The goblins shrieked and backed away from the flame.
"Petrificus Totalus," Jack froze one of the goblins. Hiccup repeated the spell on another goblin. Rapunzel, Merida, and Florence froze the rest of the goblins. "What kind of goblins are these? They sure don't look like the ones at Gringotts," Jack stared at one of them curiously.
"These are redcaps. They are much worse than regular goblins. They have to continuously wash their caps in blood or they die. To get the blood they have to keep killing things," Florence shuddered. "Thanks for helping me." Florence pushed up his glasses and shook his blond hair from his eyes.
"Think nothing of it," Merida said. "We are in the same house after all," she grinned. She didn't hang out with him much, but he seemed nice.
"But they aren't," he looked at Rapunzel, Jack, and Hiccup.
"We like helping other people," Rapunzel smiled. "Besides we've already faced our fears," she said. Jack shuffled his feet.
"What is it Frost?" Merida asked suspiciously. She could see he was thinking about something.
"I haven't found my fear yet," he answered.
"Really?" Hiccup asked. Jack nodded. "You should find it. You might be deducting points from your house for being so late."
"That's the least of my worries," Jack said pointedly. He's got a point, Merida thought.
"Ouch," Rapunzel rubbed her head and scrunched her eyes closed.
"What's wrong?" Merida asked. She stepped forward worriedly.
"Nothing. I just had a pain in my head," she shrugged it off. Merida glanced at Jack and saw a look of worry across his face. Hiccup looked worried too, but his face was over laced with curiosity. "Look, Tyler is fighting Gawk," she pointed at her fellow Hufflepuff. Without waiting for them she charged off to help.
Merida let out a sigh and ran after her to fight off the Slytherin Head Boy.
Jack Frost-
Jack glanced around the room after helping Tyler defeat the Bogart version of the Slytherin Head Boy. It seemed like most of the students were done fighting their fears and were currently helping others.
Bounder was helping Pally fight off a vampire. As Jack watched Ellen and Blake ran over to help. Dorian was done with her snake and was shooting squirrels away from Ashley. Suddenly Jack realized he hadn't seen Tess through the whole competition.
"Hey guys," he called to his friends. They glanced over at him from where they were currently resting against the wall. "I'm going to go find Tess," he said.
"Do you want someone to go with you?" Rapunzel asked.
"Nah I'm fine. You guys go help some other people. It looks like Raviare is dealing with a giant," he pointed at the Hufflepuff girl. They nodded.
"I hope you find her," Rapunzel called as they ran off to assist yet another student. Me too, Jack thought. He grabbed a broomstick from the wall and flew into the air. Keeping low he flew over the students, searching for his friend.
"Hey Bounder," Jack called down to him after he had defeated the vampire. "Have you seen Tess?" Jack asked.
"I think I saw her over there a few minutes ago," Bounder pointed towards one of the boxes.
"Ok thanks," Jack flew over to the box Bounder was pointing at. "Tess," he called. He saw a blond and green highlighted head pop out from behind the box.
"Jack," she looked at him. He raised an eyebrow and refrained from laughing.
"What are you doing back there?" he tilted his head.
"What does it look like?" she asked. "I'm hiding."
"Hiding? Slytherins don't hide," he grinned teasingly.
"This one does," she put her head back behind the box. Jack chuckled and dropped off of his broomstick.
"Come on Tess. Everyone's gotta face their fears or we'll be stuck in here forever," he pointed out. Suddenly Tess let out a loud screech and shot out from behind the box. Jack stumbled backwards in surprise. "What? What is it?" he asked. Tess pointed a trembling finger at the box.
Jack cautiously looked back to see a great big…beetle crawling towards them. He looked back at Tess. "Seriously? A beetle?"
"I hate bugs," she defended herself. Jack rolled his eyes and reached back behind the box. He grabbed the beetle and brought it out from behind the box. Opening his hand he revealed the bug sitting on his palm.
"Just look at it," he said. Tess closed her eyes and turned around. "Ok, ok," Jack sighed. He pulled out his wand and froze the beetle. He dropped it in the box. "It's gone now," he told Tess.
"Thanks Jack," she hugged him. "You do understand that you can't tell anyone right?" she pulled back and looked him in the eye.
"I won't. Don't worry," he smiled.
"Good. Because if you do," she formed a fist with her hand, but her eyes were bright with amusement.
"Oh goodness. I'll never tell now," he teased. Tess grinned.
"I guess I better go help people to make up for hiding," she said.
"Yea, you better," Jack prompted her. Tess shook her head at him then ran into the fray of students.
"Jack," a cold, slow, calm voice said behind him. He knew that voice anywhere and it made his breathing hitch. Slowly he turned around. Standing behind him stood none other than Nicholas Jurntry. He was dressed in his black robe and his brown hair was pulled back from his face to reveal his piercing hazel eyes.
"P-professor Jurntry," Jack stuttered. "What are you doing here?"
"You've been expelled," Nicholas said. "You are to never return to this school and you can never interact with any of the students who attend this school. You must live alone because you are a terrible influence," he said. His voice had risen from the clam cold voice he normally used. He was practically screeching at Jack.
"No. I don't believe you," Jack yelled back.
"You are to forever be alone," Nicholas cried. Jack could feel tears burning behind his eyes but he refused to let them fall. He never cried and he especially wouldn't cry in front of this man.
"Never," Jack shouted. His voice was shaking.
"You're friends don't even like you anyways. I'm doing them a favor sending you away. I'm doing everyone a favor," Nicholas rambled on. Jack plugged his ears with his hands and backed away.
"Stop it," he pleaded, his voice ending in a sob. Nicholas walked after Jack.
"No Jack. You must face the truth. Nobody wants you. Your parents didn't want you, your so called friends don't want you, Alex doesn't want you. You are a disgrace to the wizard world," Nicholas grinned evilly.
A few of the tears fell from Jack's eyes. He stumbled to the ground and pulled his knees up to his chest. He wrapped his arms over his head and began to yell.
"I don't believe you. You're lying," he shouted.
"No Jack, I'm not. You know how Merida feels about you. She'd be happy if you left. Hiccup is tired of being in your shadow, he wants you gone too," Nicholas said. His voice had risen over Jack's shouts.
"Rapunzel wants me here," Jack sobbed.
"Why would Rapunzel want you here? She's far too bright and pretty to like you," Nicholas laughed. Jack gripped his head against his knees. He willed what he was saying to not be true, but everything he said made perfect sense. "Now Jack. If you really cared about them why don't you just make this easier and-," his words were cut off.
"Jack," he heard Merida's voice. He peeked out from under his arms to see Hiccup, Rapunzel, and Merida fighting off Nicholas.
"What are you doing? You'll be expelled," Jack whipped away his tears and got to his feet.
"What are you talking about? This is a Bogart. It can't expel us," Rapunzel said. Merida dumped the Bogart into the box then she and Hiccup turned to face him.
"You ok Slytherin?" Merida asked. Jack glanced at them. They all looked worried. Not one of them looked like they didn't care about him. Jack pulled them all into a big hug.
"Ugh Jack," Merida protested, but she hugged him back.
"I'm fine." Jack glanced at Rapunzel she smiled at him. "I'm better then fine," he hugged them all tighter and they hugged him back tighter.
Hiccup-
Hiccup pulled away from Jack after he let them go. "So what was that about?" he asked.
"I'll tell you guys later," Jack said. They nodded. "Let's get back in on the action," Jack pointed to where the few remaining boggarts were struggling against the students.
The four friends stuck together as they went from students to student, helping them fight their fears. A few of the fears were rather easy to defeat. Gloriana was scared of being ugly so her Bogart was an ugly version of her. That was easy.
Flamper was scared of veela. That one was a bit more tricky.
As they continued to fight Rapunzel continued to get more and more headaches. Once she had almost got bit by one of the bats that Deb was scared of because she couldn't move it hurt so bad.
"Maybe you should go lay down," Merida suggested.
"No. I'm staying with you guys," Rapunzel said fiercely. Merida gave them all a worried look.
"She's going to hurt herself," she whispered to Hiccup.
"We've got to help everyone defeat their fears so she can go to the hospital wing," he whispered back. Merida nodded. Hiccup saw Mary standing off to the side behind them. "Hey Mary," Hiccup called. "You wanna help us fight off Rallis's skeleton?" he asked.
Mary's face was pale and her eyes were large. "Um sure," she hurried over to them. She kept glancing around the room. Hiccup and Merida exchanged a look.
"What's wrong?" Merida asked. Mary glanced at her and her eyes grew so wide that the whites showed.
"That," she pointed behind Merida. They twirled around to see a figure in a black cloak. Hiccup knew who it was immediately. It was floating off the ground and had the cowl of the cloak over its head. Its face was cast in shadow so all you could see was its glowing red eyes. The cloak was wrapped around its body, hiding its form.
"The shadow," Rapunzel gasped. Without thinking they all grabbed each other's hands and stepped in front of Mary as if to protect her. Hiccup's heart hammered and his breath was ragged as the 'shadow' approached them. His mind was blank, unable to think of any spells that would protect them.
Suddenly Alex jumped in front of them. "Riddikulus," he shouted and the 'shadow' shivered then turned into nothing more than a cloak that fell to the ground. "The competition is over," he turned around to face them.
"You four. Go to my classroom. We need to talk," he gave them all a look and Hiccup gulped nervously. Alex turned and walked to the other teachers who had arrived unnoticed by the four friends.
"What about the house points?" Mason asked.
"They will be announced at dinner tonight," Professor Starling said. "Now it's late and everyone should get ready for dinner." She flicked her wand and the doors opened. The students began to file out.
They let go of each other's hands and followed the others into the hall. "I wonder what he wants to talk about," Merida said thoughtfully.
"Maybe he knows something about the 'shadow'," Jack shrugged. Rapunzel squealed and grabbed her head. They all stopped and looked at her. "You ok Rapunzel?" he asked.
"Oh yeah I-I'm f-fi," she collapsed to the ground before she could finish her sentence.
"Rapunzel," they gasped and crouched down next to her. "Professors," Hiccup yelled. Their teachers hurried into the hall. They looked shocked to see Rapunzel's body lying on the ground.
"Get her to the hospital wing," Professor Starling ordered. The teachers rushed over and picked her up.
"You three come with me," Alex said. He led them to his classroom. They each took seats next to each other and he stood at the front of the room. "Who's Bogart was that?" he asked.
"Mine," Merida lied. Jack and Hiccup glanced at her. She gave them a look that said 'don't question me'. Alex looked at her.
"Do you know what that is?" he asked.
"I know it's formed by extra lives someone has gathered," she said. Alex looked startled.
"Who told you that?" he asked.
"I heard it somewhere," she shrugged.
"Do you know what that thing does?" he asked.
"It's a slave to whoever created it," Merida said. Hiccup wondered why she was telling him this and why he was so interested.
"Yes but do you know what it can do?" Merida shook her head. "It kills people," Alex said. "You must not get involved with it. How did you even know about it?" he asked like it was a second thought.
"I was wandering the castle after class because I was bored when I came upon this room. I was looking around when I saw it," she said. Her voice had remained casual and almost uncaring through the whole conversation. Alex's eyes were unreadable, but his figure was rigid.
"I-it was in the castle?" he checked. Merida nodded. "This is not good," he shook his head.
"What does it mean?" Jack asked. Alex glanced at him.
"There is a dark wizard in the school. It would have been impossible for the 'shadow' to get in here on its own. The master must have already been here," he explained. Hiccup nodded, they had already guessed that.
"Do you think it's a teacher?" Hiccup asked. "I mean the school is too protected for someone to sneak in," Hiccup pointed out. He was trying to see if their ideas were right.
"Yes. It must be," Alex nodded. "Wait. How did you two get involved in this?" he looked at Hiccup and Jack.
"Merida told us about seeing the thing," Jack lied. Hiccup nodded. Now Alex turned back to Merida.
"I almost forgot to ask you. How did you get away from the thing? It almost never leaves its victims alive," he said.
"Right after I saw it it disappeared. I almost thought it was my imagination, but those red eyes were burned into my mind and I knew it wasn't my imagination," Merida lied again. Alex looked troubled.
"You are very lucky," he said. "Now I want you all to not get involved. This is something purely for adults. For your safety forget about it," he said. "You should go get ready for dinner."
They arose and headed towards the door. "Oh and don't tell anyone about this. I don't even want to think about what would happen if this gets out," he shook his head.
"Shouldn't people be warned?" Merida asked.
"Hopefully this matter will be resolved soon," Alex said. Hiccup doubted him, but he didn't argue.
"Can we go check on Rapunzel?" Jack asked.
"You should eat first. Then I'm sure Madam Lawson will let you bring her dinner," he smiled. They nodded then hurried away from his room.
Rapunzel-
Rapunzel awoke in a hospital bed. The curtain was drawn around her so she couldn't see anything other than her bed. Blinking she sat up. Her head ached painfully, but it felt much better than it did before she collapsed.
There was something else about it head. It almost felt…heavy. Curious she brought her hand up to her head to see if anything was on it. All she could feel was her hair. Her hair was tangled and messy from sleeping on it.
She grabbed a brush from the table next to her bed. Slowly she started to brush out all the tangles. After some time her arm began to grow tired and briefly she wondered why it was taking her so long to brush her hair. Suddenly she realized it.
"My hair," she screamed.
Madam Lawson pushed back the curtain and hurried to her side. The opened curtain allowed light to stream in. Now she could see her hair was wrapped around her bed. It had to be at least 15 feet. Rapunzel screamed again.
"It's ok dear. It's just the effects of the potion and the spell," Madam Lawson comforted her. Rapunzel took a few deep breaths to calm herself.
"C-can we cut it?" she asked. Madam Lawson gently patted her hand.
"We tried that deary, but it won't cut. We even tried using spells, but for some reason your hair won't cut," she said. Rapunzel fell backwards onto her bed. She was stuck with 15 feet of hair. "Are you ready for visitors because some of your friends are waiting outside?" Madam Lawson asked.
Rapunzel sat back up. "Jack, Hiccup, and Merida?" she checked. Madam Lawson nodded. "Wait," Rapunzel grabbed her hair and wrapped it up behind her. "Ok. I'm ready," she said. Madam Lawson smiled sweetly and walked away, closing the curtain behind her.
After a few minutes the curtain burst open again to reveal Hiccup, Jack, and Merida. "Punzie," they all cried and jumped on her bed. Merida tackled her in a hug while Jack hugged them both. Hiccup placed her dinner down then wrapped his skinny arms around them all. Rapunzel gasped as they squeezed the air from her lungs, but she didn't mind.
When they finally let her go she took in a deep breath. "Hey guys," she grinned.
"How are you Punz? What did the potion and spell do?" Merida asked.
"Don't freak out," she warned. They all glanced at each other. Rapunzel twisted around and pulled her wound up hair around so they could see it.
"Wow," Jack gasped. Hiccup's jaw dropped and Merida gently touched it. "That's a lot of hair," Jack grinned. Rapunzel gently shoved him.
"Can you cut it?" Merida asked.
"Madam Lawson said they tried, but it wouldn't cut," Rapunzel explained. Hiccup picked some up in his hand and raised it up to his eyes to examine it.
"Can it do anything?" he asked.
"I don't know," Rapunzel laughed.
"I was just asking," Hiccup shrugged. Jack rolled his eyes. Rapunzel grabbed the tray of food they had brought and started to eat. She was famished and she briefly forgot her manners and just gobbled the food. Her friends stared at her.
"Sorry," Rapunzel mumbled, rubbing her mouth with her napkin. They all laughed. "So what did Alex have to say?" Rapunzel asked. They briefly told her about to the conversation with the teacher.
"Do you think he has anything to do with it?" Rapunzel asked.
"He probably was just worried that we were in danger," Jack said. They nodded. "So why are you scared of your room?" Jack asked, changing the subject. Rapunzel glanced down at her lap.
"Well," she sighed. They all looked at her expectantly. "I-I don't think my mum is my mum," she finally said. For a moment her friends just stared at her.
"Why?" Merida asked. Rapunzel told her about the memory she had.
"My biggest fear is that I was kidnapped. My room reminds me of it so that's why my Bogart turned into it," she explained.
"That's a pretty big fear," Hiccup said. "If you ever want to look into it, I'll help," he offered.
"We all will," Merida said.
"Thanks, but it's probably nothing," she shrugged it off. "What about you Jack? Why are you so scared of Nicholas Jurntry?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Jack looked away. Rapunzel felt a twinge of annoyance that he made her share her fear, but he didn't share his. She pushed it away, he probably had his reasons for not wanting to share.
"Come on Jack," Merida urged. "You already know my fear and now you know Punzie's. You've gotta share." Jack glared at her.
"Please Jack," Rapunzel pleaded. He sighed.
"Fine," Jack gave in. "Nicholas Jurntry told me I was expelled and that I could never interact with the wizard world or with you guys," he said.
"Why is that so scary?" Hiccup asked.
"I've never had any real friends. My whole life I've been going from one family to another. I've never really stayed anywhere long enough to make friends. Not that I ever really tried. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you guys," he looked down and wringed his hands. Rapunzel held back tears.
"Oh Jack," she hugged him. "I don't want to lose you guys either." They all murmured their agreements and moved into another big hug. "So who won the competition?" Rapunzel asked when they broke away.
"Ravenclaw," Merida fake glared at Hiccup. "Hiccup got the most points out of any students."
"Good job," Rapunzel smiled. "How many points did you get?"
"80. The rest of you all got 60. Everyone else was lower," he answered.
"Not to bad," Jack commented.
"Not bad at all," Rapunzel agreed.
A/N:
So there you have it. Jack's biggest fear is being alone. I think that's the cutest fear a guy can have. It's like awwww. Yea, I know I'm weird haha. So what do you think about Alex? Can he be trusted? Oh and here's a heads up. Werewolves are going to be very important during year two. At least they will at the end hehe. So Rapunzel's got long hair now. Will it have the healing properties or not? Hmmmm. Everyone needs to check out my new story called RADIOACTIVE. I'm co-writing it with starskulls. Thanks to Guest, bug349, AlexJohnD, AdmiringRoseBlossom11, Clio, Shara Raizel, zez34, 4everETRNL, Kasha Eliz, Bailey24, zedetta, ROTBTD FANGIRL, and jackunzel lover1 for reviewing. You guys are awesome. Thanks to you I made it to 100 reviews! So proud and happy and ecstatic and just like wow. Thanks so much! Here's a few words from the Big Four!
Jack: Thanks for reading about me!
Rapunzel: Thanks you guys. We really appreciate it.
Hiccup: Thanks for everyone voting for me. It's nice to be loved.
Merida: Oh shut it Ravenclaw.
Jack: Is Merida mad?
Merida: Jack, you shut-up too. I'm not scared to teach you a lesson.
Rapunzel: Why are you scared of Hiccup?
Jack: She's not scared of him, she loves him!
Merida: Jack, I'm going to kill you.
Hiccup: What?
Merida: Nothing. Jack didn't say anything!
Me: You guys are supposed to be talking to our readers, not each other.
Merida: Sorry.
Everyone: THANKS FOR READING!