Hiccup and his friends were in the Forbidden forest on time. They found Hagrid's hut, he was a huge giant who led them towards the dragons. Hiccup wasn't surprised to see them all fussing. They were in cages - ones which prevented them from moving, and they had muzzles to stop them throwing fire everywhere, not that it worked very well.
It was a site Hiccup thought that he would never have to see again. The poor treatment of dragons wasn't something Hiccup was comfortable with. He was glad that Toothless had stayed back in the room, he didn't think that the dragon would take as kindly to this sort of treatment as Hiccup was, but saying that, Hiccup couldn't believe that these people were the best dragon keepers in the wizarding world. What did that say about the others? They just kept them on the verge of death or something?
The keepers, only three, walked over to the Vikings. Standing next to them was the headmaster and Hagrid, who had joined them after leading the Vikings there. The keepers seemed to notice the Vikings distaste for the way the dragons were caged, though they said nothing and Hiccup knew it was a smart move.
"These are the dragons which the champions will be facing." Dumbledore said pointedly.
Hiccup nodded. "How many champions are there?" he asked.
"Three. But there are more dragons so that we have spares and can also choose the best ones." Hiccup didn't like that. Spares. So if one died... he didn't want to think about that.
Dumbledore didn't notice Hiccup's anger. The other Vikings did however. "So what do you want us to do?"
This time it was the keepers who stepped forward. It was a tall man with orange hair and pale skin. He reminded Hiccup of Ron. "We are professionals, but we have heard that you don't even need magic to calm down the beasts." He said.
Hiccup shrugged. Gobber stepped forwards. "That doesn't explain what you need us to do. Because we can still refuse." Hiccup gasped. Gobber!
Dumbledore said nothing and Hiccup paled considerably. The keepers exchanged looks. "From what I have heard, you don't have a choice but to help us."
Astrid rolled up her sleeves and Hiccup held her back patiently. She glared at the keepers and headmaster equally. So, they weren't in her grace books. That wasn't such a good thing. For them.
"Well, it won't be necessary until after the champions are chosen, but we will need your help to keep these dragons calm." The orange headed Ron almost lookalike said.
Hiccup swallowed. "And how long will that be?" he asked nervously. He didn't want these dragons in the sole hands of the keepers for very long.
Dumbledore answered this time. "In two days. Don't worry, young Hiccup, the dragons are in very safe hands."
Hiccup didn't felt reassured. None of them did. Not even Gobber. In fact, Gobber felt the need to speak up. "Right. Well, when we come to help, if I find a single one of those dragons in these cages, I'm going to be very angry." He warned.
The keepers exchanged looks. "We can't change them." Ron lookalike said slowly.
Gobber laughed darkly. "Why not set them free? They're loyal, they'll stay with you." He said.
Ron Lookalike shook his head. "They are dangerous beasts which don't have any mind unless it's to kill. They are mindless and forget things the minute after you tell them something. So they shall stay in their cages."
Hiccup's blood boiled. "They are not mindless beasts!" he shouted loudly. He worried for a minute that Toothless had heard him, but after hearing nothing in return, relaxed. He couldn't let Toothless see this, not now.
Dumbledore hushed Hiccup down instantly as he gave him a knowing look. "You will help these keepers. End of story." Then he turned and disappeared into the dark. Hiccup growled and punched a tree. He looked at the dragons, to see they were watching him as well. He darted around the keepers and towards one that he recognised, well, he recognised the species.
The Nadda crowed to him and pecked at the cage. Clearly, she was angry. She didn't want to be in there anymore than Hiccup wanted her in there. Hiccup sighed and walked over to her. She realised that Hiccup meant no harm and calmed down, stopped her pacing and breathed heavily. Hiccup smiled and reached his hand up to her nose. She leant forward to meet it. They had done this before - there was no way that a dragon, a wild dragon, with treatment such as these, would trust Hiccup this quickly.
Hiccup stopped touching the Nadda and walked around her cage, looking for anything which would set her apart from the other Nada's which they had come across. There wasn't anything that he could tell. She looked like any other blue Nadda which always surrounded places around Berk.
Then he saw it. This Nadda came from Berk. On her tail was a distinct initial. She belonged to someone. Hiccup felt his blood boil. See, some Vikings like to put their initials in their dragons skin. Whilst Hiccup thought it cruel at the start, it worked quite well when one went missing and they couldn't tell whose was whose. Not that it should be too hard, but it didn't hurt the dragon either, they barely even felt it, it was the same temperature as their skin.
"Where did you get the dragon?" Hiccup fumed angrily.
The keepers turned around hurriedly, surprised that Hiccup was all the way inside the circle of cages. The Ron Lookalike groaned and stepped forwards. "We found it near the beach. It was causing havoc around the muggles."
Hiccup groaned. More words he didn't know what they meant. "This dragon is not an it, she is a she. And she was looking for food, probably for her babies, and she would never hurt anyone. She is one of the kindest dragons that I have ever met."
Astrid walked forwards and towards the Nadda. She gasped when she came to the same conclusion as Hiccup had: the dragon belonged to one of the women in the village. Her name was Stringlove, she was a beautiful Nadda and had beautiful babies to a wild male Nadda before Stringlove was bonded to her rider.
Hiccup gently stroked Stringlove's blue snout. The Nadda groaned unhappily. Hiccup knew that she wasn't going to be very happy, but she couldn't leave - Hiccup knew that these wizards wouldn't let her leave.
The keepers exchanged looks. "She's a deadly dragon. You need to stay away from it."
Hiccup laughed. "I don't know why you guys brought me here. It's clear that you guys don't think I can help."
The keepers exchanged looks. "It is clear to us that someone as small cannot control one of these dragons. We just need your leader, the dragon trainer." The taller dragon keeper said. He had darker skin and hair and looked completely different to the other two.
Hiccup laughed. "You realise that I'm the dragon trainer?"
The keepers looked shocked, but recovered quickly. They started to laugh and then turned away. Hiccup scowled and stalked off towards the tower. Toothless was the only one who could calm him down now. His friends respected his mood and followed softly behind him. They left the stupid dragon keepers to their business. They didn't need anyone's help. The dragons should kill the champions just for having such poor living conditions.
Hiccup's mood didn't increase as he climbed the large amounts of stairs. His metal leg thumped angrily against the stone floors as he fumed and put more pressure on it than necessary. It was a good thing that it wasn't hurting too badly today. There were days where it was worse than others. This one, maybe getting better. But flying with Toothless would help.
The room getting closer, Hiccup's mood lifted only slightly. He pushed it open and startled the Night Fury. Hiccup apologised as Toothless growled and stretched, hating haven been rudely awaken by the young Viking. Hiccup walked over and scratched the dragon under his neck. Toothless purred and collapsed on the ground. Hiccup laughed, his mood gone and happiness replaced. Toothless always made him feel happy.
Hiccup opened the window and stepped onto the balcony. Toothless followed quietly behind and waited for Hiccup to regather his thoughts. Hiccup leaned against the edge of the balcony and ran a hand through his hair angrily. He looked to Toothless and he walked up to him and nudged his shoulder with his head.
Toothless grumbled anxiously as Hiccup started to get worked up again. Toothless didn't like his best friend being upset, it made him feel useless instead of Toothless. He licked Hiccup and pushed him over, landing against the rail of the balcony. Hiccup laughed.
"Alright bud, I'm alright now." Hiccup reassured the near black but blue dragon. Toothless purred happily as Hiccup scratched the dragon under his head and under his wings, where he wouldn't be able to scratch himself.
Hiccup stood up and looked over the saddle on Toothless' back. He made sure that the connecting tail and fin was safe and then mounted the dragon. Toothless excitedly pawed the ground as he waited for Hiccup to clip himself in and move the tailfin. Hiccup rolled his eyes and let the dragon leap off the group.
Toothless screeched loudly and the sound of his wings was heard as they shot straight up towards the clouds. Hiccup leant forwards and smiled as the wind rushed against his face. He loved being in the air. Being with Toothless. He always felt so free. Able to be who he truly was. The dragon was the added bonus. Toothless was amazing and never did anything Hiccup wouldn't want him to. Most other dragons didn't care about their riders the way that Toothless did. But none of the other riders cared the way Hiccup did.
Once the duo were in the clouds, Toothless opened his wings out fully and glided amongst them. Hiccup leant back against Toothless' flat back and looked up at the stars. He loved watching them. Toothless flapped his wings slowly as they glided around the school grounds. They were safe from watching eyes, nobody would be up now, it was past curfew, which thankfully didn't effect Hiccup or their gang.
Toothless dove straight towards the lake and Hiccup grabbed back hold of the saddle, holding one hand out and laughing. The wind made his hair whip angrily around his face, yet Hiccup didn't care. He bounced around as Toothless roared again, louder, and shot a blue plasma blast along the water surface. The water reflected the colours and rippled as the blast exploded and the force sent a blast of wind rippling back.
Hiccup turned Toothless over in spirals and they shot straight back to the clouds. Toothless grumbled as he effortlessly avoided the clouds. It was their game. They had obstacles which constantly changed, they couldn't touch them. Hiccup loved it because of how hard it became at night. Especially when there weren't very many around.
Toothless shot several more blasts above the clouds, dispersing the larger ones and causing them to leak water towards the school. Hiccup shrugged as the dragon charged through the little rain and shot back towards the ground.
Hiccup landed Toothless on the balcony again and hopped off, hugging the dragon. They both stayed that way for a moment, Hiccup not wanting to let go of his best friend. Of course, Toothless was the one to break it up. He pulled away and licked Hiccup all along his body. Hiccup laughed as he shook off the dragon saliva.
Toothless squawked and pushed Hiccup inside the room, afraid that his rider would get cold. It was his own fault though, really. Hiccup laughed and allowed the dragon to push him inside.
Astrid and Gobber were waiting up for Hiccup once he got back. Toothless stood behind him as the two Vikings confronted the smaller one.
"Are you alright, Hiccup? You seemed pretty worked up before." Astrid asked gently. She was pretty upset with the way that the dragons were treated, but she didn't care as much as Hiccup. Hiccup was the first Viking to ever not kill a dragon and he felt it his duty to make sure that no one else did. But these people... it was different. Even Astrid didn't understand it.
Hiccup nodded slowly and put his hand on Toothless. "Yeah. I am now. I just got really aggravated. And when they started to bag my own dragon skills? They should just release Stringlove. She did nothing wrong." At the mention of Stringlove, Toothless perked. He gave Hiccup a quizzical glance. He and she weren't very close, but he did know her. She was one of the few dragons that were afraid of him, and he tried to be as nice as possible around her.
Astrid nodded slowly and sat down, encouraging Hiccup to sit down next to her. Toothless hurried to curl up and let Hiccup lean against him. Hiccup laughed and leant against the dragon. Toothless mumbled and closed his eyes, tired and ready to go to bed.
"It'll be alright. You'll be able to look after the dragons. None of the rest of us could get as close to them as you could." Astrid reminded him.
Hiccup sighed and looked at her with dull eyes. "Yeah? I wish I could be that confident." He admitted.
Astrid smacked him lightly and stood up. "Well, night Hiccup. Just remember that I believe in you. You always do the right thing." Then she went to her room with Roughnut. Hiccup sighed and slid down on the floor, breathing heavily against Toothless.
Toothless blinked and opened his eyes. Hiccup smiled and gently stroked his head. Toothless purred and closed his eyes again. Hiccup laughed gently and grabbed a blanket from the couch. Hiccup realised that it was one from the beds. He would have to thank his friends the next morning.
Hiccup curled up close to the dragon and Toothless curled his wing around Hiccup. They both fell into a dreamless sleep. Hiccup didn't think once about the other dragons, he was happy about that.
Harry wasn't ready for his next day. They were going to be hearing about the tournament. He wanted to enter, but he knew the chances were slim. The chances of survival for those entered were slimmer. Harry just wanted to enter his name and then he would give up.
Ron and Harry headed towards breakfast. Ron was talking fast about what they were doing. Who was going to be the champion for their school? Names circled Harry's head, yet he wasn't paying attention. He couldn't think about anything. He was worried, and it wasn't for himself - it was unnecessary worry, for those who were going to enter. For Voldemort. No, he didn't want him around. That's what he was worried about. That he was.
Harry was surprised to see that the Vikings were already seated in the same seats as the previous day when they arrived downstairs. The taller, and bulky one was at the teachers table as was previously. Strangely, Harry found it difficult to believe that he was the leader of the group. He didn't seem like... leader quality.
Hermione joined her two friends and sat next to Hiccup. Hiccup seemed grim this morning. Harry wondered what had crawled up his butt and died. Hiccup barely looked up at the entrance of Hermione or Harry. Astrid put her hand on Hiccup's shoulder and shook it, he barely smiled.
There was definitely something wrong with Hiccup. It couldn't be something that the Slitherins had done, could it? Surely they wouldn't stoop that low, Harry wondered, but the young Viking seemed really depressed - like something really terrible had happened.
Hermione was the one to finally ask. She was nosy and kind, and she cared. They were the qualities which sometimes didn't go quite to plan, but this time, it seemed alright, except they had the attention of all the Vikings except that at the teachers table.
"Are you alright, Hiccup?" she asked gently.
Hiccup sighed and looked up at Hermione. Harry noticed that his eyes were sparkling with un-shed tears. "Yeah. I'm alright. It's just... complicated." He replied. His voice was soft and Harry knew that something terrible was going on.
Hermione shook her head sadly. "You can talk to us, Hiccup. We don't bite."
Hiccup smiled a little at that. Astrid smacked his shoulder and smirked. There must have been an inside joke that Harry didn't understand. "I know. I only have one friend who does." He joked. Then he went back to his dull mood. "But you wouldn't understand. No one here does. I mean, would you keep a cat in a cage all its life and make it suffer? No? Then why do it with-" he cut himself off and breathed deeply.
Astrid sighed as Hiccup stood angrily and stuffed some fish into his pockets then left the breakfast hall. No one stopped the Viking as he left the hall. Except for Malfoy. Harry sucked in a breath as the Slitherin boy stood up and tripped Hiccup.
Hiccup landed on his face and stood back up instantly. Harry couldn't help but admire his reflexes, apart from the falling over part, he didn't want to fall over all the time.
"Have a nice trip?" Malfoy snickered.
Hiccup scowled and went to step away from the Slitherin when Malfoy restrained him with his hand. Hiccup wasn't strong enough to pull away. Poor little Viking, Harry thought. "I don't want any trouble, Malfoy." Hiccup muttered.
Malfoy snickered and pushed Hiccup. "Shame, real shame. One legged man like yourself. Say, what did you do to lose your leg? Fall down a well? Crash into a brick wall?" he smirked.
Hiccup glared at him and stood up. He tried to rise over Malfoy, but Harry knew that he was failing miserably. Harry could see that the Viking was smaller in more ways than one. The wizard was just stronger than Hiccup.
Harry glanced up as Astrid and Snotlout hurried to Hiccup's aid. The twins followed quickly and then Fishlegs sighed as he left his food sadly. Harry didn't know what was going to happen. Malfoy getting his butt kicked seemed likely though.
"You leave Hiccup alone or you're going to wish you'd never even heard the word Viking." Astrid growled angrily at Malfoy. Harry had to admit, she scared him. More than Hermione ever would. He glanced at Hermione and saw her nodding her head approvingly. She seemed to like this Astrid.
Malfoy swallowed, but his pride kept him going. Harry knew that he should just give up. This was a dangerous game, especially with strong Vikings in the area. "Yeah? He's so weak that he thinks a girl can defend him." Malfoy turned to his friends briefly as he said this, but turned back to face the Vikings.
Snotlout laughed. "Wow. That's the same excuse he used yesterday." He remarked. Hiccup turned to him and smiled. Snotlout smirked and rolled his eyes. So, Harry thought, Snotlout was nothing like Malfoy. Just a pain.
Hiccup ducked away and towards the exit of the great hall. Malfoy called out and was cut off. Harry saw Astrid's hand covering his mouth. The twins were cheering her on. What was with them anyway? These Vikings sure were strange. Hiccup smirked just before he left and then he was gone. Harry didn't think that he would see the young twig of a Viking until later.
Harry sat back in his chair and looked at Hermione. The Vikings came back to sit and they all seemed rather angry. Harry looked at Astrid. She stabbed her fish angrily. Did they ever eat anything normal? Of course, granted, they were ancient in their ways, they lived in wooden houses and didn't have electricity. Not too different from Hogwarts, but Harry also lived in the muggle world.
Hermione started to talk to Astrid. They seemed to become good friends by the end of it. They were similar: they were both protective of their friends. Astrid seemed to avoid talking about Hiccup a lot, but she mentioned a Stormfly quite often. Harry thought it was her pet - maybe a dog or a cat, or an owl, but these were Vikings. For all he knew... it could be a lion.
Fishlegs and Snotlout struck up a conversation. Harry couldn't hear what they were saying, and it wouldn't have helped anyway - they were speaking in Norse. There was no way that he could learn something so ancient anyway: there weren't any books on the forgotten language.
Harry talked to Ron for a while. They talked about their classes which they had today. Unfortunately, it included classes with Slitherin. That meant with Malfoy. They were the worst. The only thing worse than having a class with a Slitherin was having a potions class with Sliherin.
After a while, Dumbledore called the attention of the students. Harry perked up instantly. A huge covered statues moved into the room and Harry gave it a glance before drawing his attention to the headmaster. Dumbledore waved and the students waved back. This wasn't quite usual.
"As you are all aware, this year is the Tri Wizard Tournament. Because of past tournaments, there will be an age limit of only over seventeen year olds. To make sure that it is adhered to, I will be casting an aging line around the goblet." Dumbledore announced loudly. The room was silent. Too silent.
Dumbledore passed over to Barty Crouch. A member of the Ministry of Magic was the leader of this whole operation? Harry couldn't help but be confused. But then, it is a world famous and acknowledged event. Harry knew this even without knowing much of wizards.
"For those of you who want to enter, you have until tomorrow to enter your name into the Goblet of Fire. Once entered, you can't undo it." Barty Crouch announced loudly. Everyone in the room stayed silent. People were glancing at each other excitedly however. The Ministry member uncovered the Goblet and gasps went around the room. The blue flame was quite magnificent, sitting atop a gold Goblet. Harry was in awe of it. He didn't wish to be seventeen, yet he did wish that he could touch the shiny object. Harry looked at the Vikings and noticed that they were in shock of the Goblet, but it was nothing new.
Barty Crouch explained a few more things: that the champions would be chosen at dinner tomorrow, the first task wasn't for another month; the champions weren't allowed to know what the tasks were in advance. No one but the organises were. When Barty Crouch said such a thing, the Vikings exchanged looks and were smug. Harry knew there was something going on but said nothing.
The teachers finished their breakfast and left the Goblet where people could put their name in. Harry finished his breakfast and headed outside. The fresh air was nice. He headed for the tower and collected his books for first class. He liked to be on time when there were special events going on, and people would still be with the Goblet.
Harry bumped suddenly into someone in the courtyard. He looked down to see Hiccup on the ground holding his head. Instantly the wizard felt bad, he'd hurt the young Viking. He swore he hadn't meant to. On the bright side, Hiccup wasn't looking so unhappy. In fact, he looked really happy. His clothes were slightly windswept and dishevelled, and his hair more so, but he looked in a good mood.
"Oh, sorry, Hiccup. I didn't see you there." Harry apologised as he bent down and offered his hand to Hiccup.
Hiccup shrugged and pulled himself up. "It's alright. It's nothing I'm not used to." He said. He dusted himself off and headed towards the edge of the school. Harry watched the strange Viking leave the school grounds and head towards the Forbidden forest. What was he doing around there? Maybe seeing Hagrid...
Harry shrugged it off and headed towards class. He had a long day and wanted to get started. He couldn't help thinking of why the Viking was so upset earlier. There was something wrong and Harry wasn't the sort of person to let someone be upset like that, neither were either of his friends. Hermione would get to Hiccup. She would tell Harry what the problem was, and then they could help to fix it.
Hiccup couldn't believe his rotten luck. Not only had he bumped into Malfoy earlier, but he'd been called into the forest by none other than mister charming headmaster Dumbledore. He couldn't imagine how the students actually liked the guy. He was such an ignorant... not caring little twit!
Toothless made Hiccup happy though. Whilst the other Vikings were inside the hall eating their food, Hiccup and Toothless had had their morning flight. Toothless had enjoyed it and received the fish which Hiccup had stuffed into his pockets. They were getting fish by some unknown staff, but Hiccup still liked to give the dragon his own treat.
Hiccup kicked pebbles as he headed towards the dragons. Dumbledore had told him that there was a problem and they needed help early. Hiccup wasn't happy, but Dumbledore had happily reminded him of their little... deal. Hiccup wasn't happy at all.
Once Hiccup reached the dragons, he found the keepers outside what looked like a Monstrous Nightmare. It was a dark shade of blue, yet not quite Toothless and had red through its coat. Hiccup had never seen a Nightmare quite like this one, but it had to be one from the way it lit its body on fire. That was pretty cool, Hiccup had always admired that about the species.
The three keepers looked as though they were trying to feed the dragon, yet they couldn't open the cage to get the food into it. Hiccup sighed angrily and stalked towards them. When they turned, they seemed surprised to see Hiccup there.
"We thought Dumbledore was getting the dragon trainer?" the Ron Lookalike said, shocked. He almost lost grip on the dragon's cage due to his shock. Hiccup smirked.
"I am the dragon trainer." He announced proudly. Sure, be proud now, Hiccup, he scolded himself.
All three keepers laughed. "Sure. Sure." They all agreed in teasing manners. They couldn't believe that someone of Hiccup's build wouldn't be able to control a dragon? Well, he'd show them. They just had to wait to meet Toothless, and then they'd get the real shock.
Hiccup shoved the three keepers out of the way. The dragon stopped moving around for a moment and Hiccup stared at the creature. He moved around a bit and snorted, his breath coming out in hot puffs. Hiccup stepped back and showed to the dragon that he had no weapons. The dragon huffed and glanced at the Wizards. Hiccup rolled his eyes for a moment.
When the dragon stilled, Hiccup stepped forward and grabbed hold of the fish. The dragon jostled forwards and tried to grab the fish, but the cage stopped him. Hiccup glared at the wizards and then put the fish through the bars. The dragon swallowed it whole.
"Well. That solves that problem." Hiccup said, wiping his hands. The dragon clicked to Hiccup and insisted upon more. Hiccup rolled his eyes and looked at the keepers. "Go on. He won't hurt you if you don't hurt him. It's a mutual thing." He explained. Hiccup took a step back and admired the dragons in the day time. He pretended that the cages weren't there and found that there were four in which he didn't recognise the breeds, but there were a few which he did. There was a zippleback, a Gronkle and a terrible terror. That was a joke, right? There were two Nada's as well. Stringlove and another brown one. There was a Typhoomerang, which surprised Hiccup incredibly. They were massive. But this was just a baby. That made Hiccup angry. They shouldn't have a baby dragon in their cages, babies were innocent, they had to have a free life.
Hiccup noticed a change wing. The keepers probably thought that the silly dragon escaped all the time, but that wasn't the case, the dragon was just extremely good at camouflage - you could only see them if you were looking hard enough.
The keepers turned to Hiccup. "Thankyou, Hiccup."
Hiccup rolled his eyes. "You know, I still don't know your names."
They laughed and exchanged looks. The Ron Lookalike said, "I'm Charlie Weasly. You might know my brother, Ron." He introduced.
Hiccup nodded and looked to the taller darker one. "Jeremy Gerard." He said.
The last one was a pale and shorter one, with brown hair. "And I'm Kingsly." He didn't provide a last name, which shocked Hiccup. He wouldn't be needing the last name anyway. He wasn't an idiot, he called people by their first names, he always did, it was standard protocol.
Hiccup turned and waved goodbye to the keepers. He would be back to make sure that these dragons were in good hands, but for now, he had a dragon which needed some comfort, or the other way around. Either way, Hiccup wanted to spend the day with Toothless. He loved his friends, but he loved Toothless more. And there would never be a competition between them. Hiccup would always save Toothless first.
The school was quiet. That meant that classes were already on. That meant that Hiccup and Toothless were free to wander around aimlessly. Hiccup beamed and headed towards the rooms where they were staying. He stopped at the door when he heard someone talking inside. It sounded a lot like Dumbledore and that Barty Crouch person.
Hiccup entered and immediately everyone stopped talking. Toothless dashed over to Hiccup and growled loudly at the two professionals in the room. Hiccup didn't even bother calming the dragon. He didn't want to. Toothless could growl all he wanted.
Dumbledore noticed that Hiccup wasn't going to stop the dragon and sighed. "We might have started on the wrong foot."
Hiccup looked down at his left foot, shaking a little and smiling inwardly. "That's hard, considering I only have one." he said with a slight teasing hint in his tone.
Dumbledore ignored him and continued, "But I am thankful that you did decide to come along."
"Because I had a choice?" Hiccup said sarcastically.
Dumbledore, once again, ignored him. "Yes. If you didn't, though, we would have killed every dragon here though. It really was your choice."
Hiccup bent his head and his eyes snapped open. He knew this deal, but he'd never said it quite like that: like he was still going to do it. "You will not." He forced out. "Because if you do, you're going to wish you were never born." Hiccup snapped. Toothless growled loudly and crouched into a spring position. This time, Hiccup gently restrained the dragon.
Dumbledore nodded. "Right. Well. I'd like to see you try. But you've proven my point. You can tame the wildest dragons and make them safe. That's what you're going to do for the dragons in the tournament." Dumbledore explained.
Astrid stepped forwards, as did Gobber. "You're forgetting that Hiccup didn't tame Toothless. He befriended him. Toothless and Hiccup are best friends. You just don't realise this." She snapped.
Dumbledore and Barty Crouch exchanged glances. "Well, you're going to have to make the dragons more placid. It will take time. They're pretty wild."
Hiccup laughed, the sound not as nice as it usually was. "See, I was just there. A Monstrous Nightmare practically ate from my fingers. Imagine what would happen if he was free? Out of his cage? Do you know what cages do to dragons? You just don't cage them. They are wild. Born to be free." Hiccup explained.
Astrid looked surprised. "You went without us?" she asked, shocked.
Hiccup nodded, keeping his head down. "I had to. I didn't have time. They were going to hurt the Nightmare. I couldn't let that happen."
Toothless gave Hiccup a proud smile in his eyes and turned back towards Dumbledore. Hiccup apologized to Astrid briefly before watching Dumbledore's next excuse. He was such an idiot.
"Right. Tomorrow I expect you to be working with the dragons then. I don't want them let out of their protective cages." Dumbledore said.
Just before he walked out of the door, Hiccup snapped at him, with words, of course. "Who are you protecting? The dragons or the keepers?"
Hiccup didn't want an answer. He stormed towards the balcony with Toothless in tow. They looked out and down the castle, now that it was lighter, Hiccup was able to see where everything was and was able to draw a much clearer picture. Toothless curled up beside Hiccup and watched the drawing. Astrid stayed with Stormfly until she couldn't bear to wait any longer.
"Hiccup, I know that this is hard for you, but we're your friends. We're here for you." Astrid said, placing her hand gently on Hiccup's shoulder.
He sighed and looked up at her. "I know Astrid. I know. I just... when Dumbledore threatens the lives of all those dragons, I feel like I have to do something. I can't just watch, you know?" he sighed and felt himself slide down. Toothless pushed against Hiccup's lap and he laughed.
Astrid nodded and sat beside Hiccup, watching as he continued to draw the school. Hiccup put in all the details which he could remember, and he had a pretty good memory. He was running low on ink, but he had a feeling that the school would have some. They were pretty basic - primitive - but not as low as the Vikings, but Hiccup enjoyed their way of life.
The group stayed silent until they heard someone snore. Hiccup laughed and shoved Toothless slightly, instantly shutting him up. Toothless drifted back to sleep, thankfully without snoring. Hiccup scratched his head lightly and stood up. He would give Toothless some time to relax.
Astrid stood and followed Hiccup to the living area of the dorm. Gobber was in his rooms, but everyone else was in the common area. They looked up and waved. The twins, of course, were devising a plan for them to blow something up with Barf and Belch without anyone noticing. Snotlout was looking at himself in the mirror. Fishlegs, of course, was reading books. But surprisingly, they weren't on dragons.
"Hiccup!" Roughnut shouted as she jumped over her brother and headed towards Hiccup. "We're going to blow up the flags on the roof. It takes skill to hit only the flags. You want to join? You've got the dragon with the best aim." She insisted.
As much as Hiccup wanted to blow something up on the school, get even, he knew he shouldn't. "Well, the offer sounds nice," he received a punch in the gut from Astrid, so he wheezed on. "But I'll have to refuse." He bent over and clutched his stomach.
Astrid rolled her eyes. "OH, come on, I didn't hit you that hard." She teased. Unfortunately, she didn't know her own strength. And that was unfortunate for everyone around her.
Hiccup nodded as he doubled over and put his hand on the back of the chair for support. He liked Astrid a lot, but she was just a bit rough on him, and he was still the weakest Viking Berk had ever seen, so it wasn't hard for her to be stronger than him.
Toughnut walked over to them and started babbling about how much fun they were going to have blowing up the flags. Hiccup wondered when they were going to do such activities. When he voiced his concerns, he got the "During classes next hour." In return. Hiccup sighed and shook his head, standing up straight.
Fishlegs joined them and started talking about what wizards could do to prevent such attacks on the school. Hiccup didn't actually think that they would be smart enough to put things up like that.
"Well, as much fun as you guys aren't." Roughnut started.
Toughnut finished for her. "We're going to get our dragon ready."
Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Just don't get seen, alright? You don't want that to happen."
The twins both nodded, as though it was the silly-est question they'd heard all day. Hiccup shrugged them off. They were pretty silly sometimes, morons even, but they were still friends and Hiccup couldn't help but worry over them.
Hiccup watched the twins leave the common room and prepare their dragon in their dorm. Well, he didn't watch them in the dorm, but he knew that they were in there. Hiccup went back to the balcony where the sleeping Night Fury was still, well, sleeping.
Astrid joined Hiccup and lent against the railing. Hiccup smiled as they looked out at the sky. The light clouds which circled the school, the huge turrets reaching up to the clouds. Hiccup could tell that they were in the tallest tower by the way that he could see over everything.
Hiccup heard Toothless grumble and looked down. Astrid rolled her eyes at the dragon and called to her own. Stormfly croaked and thudded towards them. Toothless immediately shot awake and stood in front of Hiccup. Upon realising that it was Stormfly, he grumbled and leant back down and closed his eyes. Hiccup laughed lightly at the dragon.
"Hey, girl. We need to go for a fly, don't we?" Astrid asked as she patted the Nada's scaly nose. Stormfly clicked and pushed against her own rider. Hiccup always liked their relationship, only because it was nearly similar to Hiccup's and Toothless.
As Harry had predicted, they didn't see the Vikings for most of the day. They had been in class and heard what sounded like bombs going off. As soon as they'd gone out to investigate, there was nothing out of the ordinary, until they'd looked at the flags atop the turrets - they were up in smoke, but there were no people around who looked guilty. It was probably Fred and George Weasly, the notorious twins who were always up to no good.
By dinner time, the Golden Trio were ready for their dinner. They were pretty hungry. The Vikings were already seated and talking about something. They looked pretty happy. Harry noticed that Hiccup also looked cheery, a first for the young man.
Harry talked to Hermione and Ron as soon as they sat down. They didn't bother toning their conversation to level that the Vikings would understand. They shouldn't be listening. Harry got the feeling that they weren't. They were all deep in their own world with their own language.
"Who do you reckon is going to be chosen from Hogwarts?" Ron asked.
Hermione looked up from her dinner and listed some people whom she thought might be good candidates for the cup. None of them were people who Harry particular liked. But that didn't matter. As long as the Champion wasn't a slitherin. They would never hear the end of it from Malfoy.
"I think the age thing is stupid." Harry looked up as Fred and George entered the conversation. They sat next to Harry and Hermione, near the Vikings. Fred was the one who had spoken.
Harry rolled his eyes. "The ageing potion didn't work?" he teased.
Fred and George glared at Harry, but said nothing. Their silence told the Golden trio more than they'd thought. Of course the ageing potion wouldn't work. Dumbledore wasn't silly enough to let the circle be fooled by an ageing potion.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course it didn't work. Dumbledore isn't going to be stupid enough to be fooled by something as stupid as an ageing potion," she remarked.
Fred and George muttered something which Harry didn't quite catch. "That was why it would work." Fred started.
"Because it was so incredibly stupid." George finished.
Harry laughed as he watched Hermione glare at her food. That wasn't really necessary, Harry thought. But it had shut his friend up, and that was sometimes a good thing. Hermione did get carried away and it annoyed practically everyone, yet they didn't say anything. She was easily hurt.
Hearing snickering, Harry looked up. Of course, he thought angrily. Malfoy and his goons were laughing and pointing at the Vikings. Couldn't he just give it a rest? He'd been at it for ages now. Granted, he'd been pestering Harry and his friends for ages, but that didn't mean that he could start to annoy the Vikings, and especially not the small one. Hiccup was clearly something special. They wouldn't have brought someone so scrawny around here for no particular reason, he had to be special.
Harry sighed and looked back at his dinner. If Malfoy was going to pick a fight on the Vikings, he didn't realise what he was getting himself into. Harry knew that the Vikings were strong. They were Vikings and history always portrayed them as the toughest of the tough.
Dumbledore ended the dinner with the usual farewells. He also reminded the students that they had until morning to put their names in the Goblet. Harry wondered who was left to still put their names into it. There wouldn't be many, they'd put their names in early.
Harry stood up to leave. He and Hermione left the Great Hall after most others. The Vikings stayed back and waited for their friend at the teachers table. Ron left with his brothers. The Vikings were strange people, Harry had to admit, but they seemed friendly enough.
Hermione looked sad as they left the dining hall. Harry wondered why, but she didn't answer. She just kept glancing behind her as though looking for someone. Once they reached the tower, she explained. "It's Hiccup. It seemed like false happiness at dinner. But not only was that... he was hiding something. I could sense it in his voice. He was holding back something. When I asked him who his best friend was... well, I also asked if he'd brought them along. Hiccup didn't answer."
Harry shrugged. "It's not really any of our business. I'm sure Hiccup will tell us when he wants to."
Hermione didn't seem at all comforted. Harry knew that she just wanted to know everything about them. That was the way that she was. She didn't like not knowing things. It made her seem weak. "I'm not sure. It seemed as though he'd brought someone else... someone we haven't met yet."
Harry almost laughed. "You make it sound like such a bad thing. I'm sure they just brought along a friend or someone who doesn't like company. Or they could just be hiding them from the tournament. Maybe that's the first task." He joked.
Hermione glared at her friend. "Yeah, maybe." She slowly said. She wasn't convinced. She would get to the bottom of it. She wasn't going to be left in the dark for any amounts of time. She couldn't do that. Harry was more worried for the Vikings than of her, they didn't know what they were in for.
Harry heard the sounds of footsteps and knew that the Vikings were walking up to their rooms. They'd done that for the past while and Harry was used to it. Hermione grinned and grabbed her wand. She cast a hearing spell and tried to listen to what the Vikings were saying, then Harry saw her glare at the fake ear.
"They are talking in Norse." She grumbled angrily. Harry laughed. Of course they were - they weren't stupid, and English wasn't their first language, either. They were only speaking it here because of the wizards chosen language, to be polite. Harry was quite glad that they knew some, though he didn't understand how they did.
Harry said goodnight to his friends and headed to the dorms. He read one of his books and then closed it. He looked out the window and leant against the window sill. He heard something which sounded like a screech... from an animal? He saw something pass across the scarce clouds and block out the stars for a moment.
The figure passed quickly and Harry almost thought that he'd imagined it. But there it was again, though this time closer to the tower. Harry saw the creature circle the Gryffindor tower, as though looking for somewhere to land. To Harry's amazement, it landed without a sound. Harry was sure that he was imagining things, though the figure was perched on the edge of the common room balcony where the Vikings were staying. Hermione was right: they were hiding something.