Hiccup sat in the common room for most of the next day. He wasn't interested in facing anyone. He wanted to stay inside with his best friend and be left alone. Toothless was all for the idea and helped push the other Vikings out of the room. They had all taken their dragons down to the Forbidden Forest where they would be meeting the keepers to discuss the first task. Hiccup didn't think he needed to be down there to help them, they could handle the dragons on their own.
Toothless grumbled as he shifted his weight, making Hiccup lose his concentration. He laughed and scratched the Night Fury behind his ears on his neck, making him purr slightly and fall to the ground as he moved his hand to the dragon's chin. Hiccup laughed as he watched the ferocious dragon lay happily on the ground, vulnerable and cute.
Hiccup leaned against the dragon and sighed unhappily. Everything they had worked for on Berk was slipping through the gaps. Fishlegs had raised a fair point too, which made Hiccup wonder. The book nerd Viking was pretty clever with things such as facts, but when he didn't know something and couldn't find the answer, it meant there was something that needed to be investigated. So that was what Fishlegs would be doing when he wasn't needed with the dragons.
Toothless sat upright and shot a plasma blast at the fire, instantly creating flames which spread over the logs. Hiccup leaned against his wing and looked at the roof. Toothless turned his scaly head towards the Viking boy and gave him a curious look, to which Hiccup smiled.
"I don't know what to do, bud," Hiccup said softly.
The dragon nudged his shoulder lightly, earning a small chuckle from his Viking. He didn't want anything to happen to his rider just as much as Hiccup didn't want anything happen to Toothless. He was still slightly angry that Hiccup hadn't let him go meet the other dragons - especially since there was one he would know - but he knew Hiccup would take him when he was ready. Toothless could wait for Hiccup forever, as long as he got his way eventually.
Hiccup moved his metal leg to look at it sadly. Toothless brought his tail around Hiccup, to remind him of what was there. Or what was not there, as the case may be, because Hiccup had taken off the saddle, and, in turn, the red tailfin.
The metal leg was a strong reminder of the lengths that Toothless would go to save him. The lost limb for the dragon was a harsh reminder that they used to be enemies…that Hiccup had wanted to kill Toothless, to be known throughout the village for that instead of uniting the Vikings and dragons.
Hiccup tapped his prosthetic leg and heard the satisfying ting of the metal. Toothless grumbled, strongly disliking the sound. Hiccup did it once more, for good measure, earning him a hard shove in the side. Hiccup laughed as he was pushed away from the dragon and onto the cold stone floor. He looked up to see a very smug dragon. He rolled his eyes and sat up straight, recovering his former position against the dragon's side.
Toothless put his head on the ground and breathed heavily. Hiccup chuckled to himself as he leaned against the cool scales of the near black but blue dragon. The wing shifted slightly and Hiccup readjusted his position so they would both be comfortable.
Hiccup pulled out his notepad and started to write. He was making a log of the dragons they were training, to see if the ones belonging to the wizarding world were any different from their own kind. It had been Fishlegs' idea, of course, and only he and Hiccup were following through with the idea. Hiccup had taken up training the most deadly of the dragons, the Hungarian Horntail, because he was the dragon the keepers would never go near. They were so scared of him that Hiccup couldn't help but laugh.
Fishlegs was taking notes – and training – the Swedish Short Snout, with Astrid on the Welsh Green and the twins and Snotlout working with the Chinese Firebolt. The twins were extremely happy to be working with said dragon because she was notorious for shooting flames all over the camp site.
Hiccup read through his previous notes, which were brief and little, but he'd made more of a start than the others had. They weren't taking it seriously because they didn't really care about the details and advantages of understanding new dragon species. They were all action and no thinking, especially Snotlout.
Toothless looked over Hiccup's shoulder at the sketches he'd already drawn of the Hungarian Horntail. He was a pretty deadly looking dragon, all green with the spikes lining his body. He looked like a deadlier version of the Deadly Nadder. His neck was longer and thinner, with razor sharp wings and a bad attitude. He wasn't the nicest dragon, and his first encounter with Hiccup had been a one off. Hiccup couldn't get close anymore, without fear of losing his other leg. None of the keepers dared to enter his space either, knowing full well that if Hiccup couldn't, they didn't stand a chance. It was Hiccup's job to train that dragon yet he was struggling. Really, the dragon was a nightmare to work with. He kept on shooting fire everywhere, not caring who or what it hit, thumping around in the cage, threatening the lives of everyone who went near it, including the other dragons.
"This dragon is even worse than you were, bud." Hiccup stated, giving Toothless a teasing grin. He grumbled slightly and looked cautiously at the dragon, as though assessing how much of a threat it posed. He snorted and gave Hiccup a slight glare, warning him not to go near the dragon again.
Toothless shook his scales and Hiccup gently patted his wing, scratching where his scales were dry. The dragon grumbled happily, purring in appreciation. The little one legged boy smiled fondly at his best friend as he continued to act like the baby that he was.
Hiccup added another note about how the Hungarian Horntail ate eels. There was only one other known dragon that had an odd diet preference and that was the Typhoomerang, a totally new dragon that Hiccup probably wouldn't have met if it hadn't been for the little baby one.
Toothless looked over Hiccup's words and grumbled lowly, baring his teeth slightly. Hiccup gently laid a hand on his nose, settling him down almost instantly. The dragon still wasn't pleased that his best friend was putting his life in danger by being around a dangerous dragon, he didn't need to know that the dragon didn't like Hiccup at all.
"It's alright, bud. I won't let him hurt me," Hiccup assured the dragon. Toothless didn't feel reassured, though. He wanted to meet this dragon, just to make the rules clear. This dragon wasn't going to be messing around with his Hiccup. Not if Toothless had something to say about it.
Hiccup closed his notebook and grabbed his other sketch pad. This one consisted of designs for Toothless' tail among other things. It was his most worn out book, having some drawings of machines that Hiccup had designed before he'd met the dragon, including the one he'd used to shoot down the Night Fury. That was one of the first machines to actually work, and he was conflicted as to whether he was happy or not that it did.
Toothless stood up and Hiccup fell back, causing the dragon to laugh in his face. Toothless shifted himself so he was looking directly over Hiccup's shoulder, to see what he was drawing. By the looks of it, Hiccup was sketching some sort of dragon lead. Toothless looked at Hiccup warily. The measurements were all wrong to be of use for Toothless, and the Night Fury knew that Hiccup wouldn't put him on the leash. He was smarter than that.
Hiccup noticed Toothless' curious glance and chuckled slightly. "It's for the Hungarian Horntail. Maybe we could fly him together...maybe after he stretches his wings he might be alright to train," he was very optimistic, Toothless knew this, but it wasn't one of the worst ideas that the Viking had come up with.
Toothless went back to watching him draw the plan. It wasn't very detailed, with Hiccup not knowing many of the materials that would be strong enough to hold the dragon back. Hiccup sighed and closed the book, pressing his fingers to his temple as he relaxed his mind. Toothless nudged him slightly and he hugged his best friend.
"Thanks, bud. I'm sorry. I know this must be really stressful for you," Hiccup stared into Toothless' eyes as he said this. Toothless gave him his famous 'are you kidding me?' glance and Hiccup shrugged it off. He wasn't in the mood for Toothless' constant sarcasm, especially when it was at his expense.
Hiccup sighed and looked around the room. "We really need to get this place in some sort of order, there are things everywhere," he exclaimed. Being Vikings, they weren't the neatest of people; they didn't have time to bother with that sort of thing. Hiccup knew that being clean was a rarity amongst his house, and amongst his friends. Astrid sometimes tried, but usually gave up very quickly.
Toothless grumbled to himself as he nudged Hiccup in the back. Hiccup spun around to face him, seeing the cute little eyes and the sad face on his best friend. Hiccup rolled his eyes and hugged him before putting a couple more logs onto the fire. Toothless sat on his back legs and watched Hiccup with fascination. He tended to do that, which used to creep Hiccup out, but he was used to it now. Now it was strange if he didn't watch Hiccup's every move.
Once Hiccup was satisfied with his area of the common room (he arranged the couch and pulled the blankets over it for his bed), he walked to the balcony. Toothless followed softly behind and made a gentle sound from his throat, staring at the sky wistfully. Hiccup sighed and shook his head, more to himself than to the dragon.
"Later. We can't go during the day. Harry almost saw us yesterday...that could have been disastrous," he said. Toothless gurgled in acknowledgement and Hiccup smiled, giving him a scratch behind the ears. He still couldn't believe they had been so careless as to fly around the school when there could have been people on the grounds, the thought just hadn't occurred to him at all. When he'd seen Harry outside of the rooms, it had given him a bit of a start.
The door to the common room opened loudly and Hiccup spun around to see who had entered. Astrid stood there with her hands on her hips, smirking at Hiccup. He sighed and pushed himself away from the edge. He walked towards her, smiling slightly.
Astrid opened the door wider and the Deadly Nadder walked through the door. Stormfly croaked before scattering towards the fire, curling into a small ball and closing her eyes. Whatever they'd been doing with the keepers had tired her out, obviously. Toothless glanced at her, conflicted about following his Viking or the dragon.
"You should have seen their faces!" Astrid couldn't keep a straight face, falling into a fit of laughter.
Hiccup looked over at his shoulder, seeing Toothless decide that he should spend some more time with Hiccup. He strolled over on his back legs, his wings casually hanging at his sides, his front legs held in front of him daintily.
"What happened?" Hiccup asked, wanting the details. He wanted to be there, but at the same time he had enjoyed the time with his dragon.
Astrid straightened up and looked at Hiccup. Her cheeks were flushed with laughter, her eyes shining a brilliant blue. Hiccup thought that she looked adorable. "Well, it was really Gobber's idea...but he said we should fly our dragons in...to see their reaction," she paused for a moment, lapsing into another fit of giggles. Hiccup rolled his eyes and sent Toothless a look. He returned it, knowing they both thought that Astrid was crazy.
After a moment, the tough Viking girl continued, "So we hopped onto them at the forest edge…I swear Charlie Weasley peed a little when he saw us! It was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time!" she exclaimed, falling back over to have another laugh, obviously remembering the hilarious encounter with the so-called 'dragon keepers'.
Hiccup exchanged another look with Toothless. This one was more an 'is she serious?' kind of look. That was the sort of thing the twins would talk about and laugh over for days, not the sort of thing Astrid would make a fuss over. She was usually the level headed one out of their little group. It must have been pretty funny for Astrid to be this excited over it.
A while later, Astrid recovered. She looked up at Hiccup from her sitting position on the ground. "Anyway, Harry and Hermione are looking for you," she said in her regular voice.
Hiccup gasped slightly, looking slightly concerned. Astrid missed it, but Toothless didn't. He nudged Hiccup slightly, giving him a comforting look. He knew what was going on, Hiccup had told him. It had been bothering him all morning and Toothless had caught on and pressured it out of him. Not that it had been that hard, really. Hiccup found it hard to keep his frustrations private.
Hiccup held onto Toothless for a moment, before sighing. "I'll be back, bud. Then we're going to go and see that dragon...," he sighed resentfully at the thought of the Hungarian Horntail. Luck wasn't on his side with that dragon. Toothless growled at the mention of the other dragon and bared his teeth slightly. Hiccup rolled his eyes and stepped around him.
Astrid held onto Hiccup's hand for a moment, making him turn. She smiled as she said, "We named the dragons. The new ones, at least. And yours? He's really mad," she added, watching Hiccup shiver. "The Swedish Short Snout, Fishlegs called her Moon Finger. My Welsh Green is Grass Glow and, no surprise, the twins named theirs Fire Starter. Snotlout named yours for you," she smirked at Hiccup knowingly as he groaned. "Razor Neck." And the names just got worse.
Hiccup had to try to keep a straight face. Astrid's dragon was slightly strangely named, but the others...they were just bizarre. He understood why the twins would call the fire starting dragon Fire Starter, but that was predictable and boring. Couldn't they think of something original? Then again, it wouldn't be like they would see the dragons much after the first task anyway. They would leave and never see these pitiful wizards again.
Just before he was out the door, Hiccup paused. "Hey, Astrid?" he asked cautiously.
She looked at him, curious. "Yeah?"
"Would you be able to ask the keepers if they have any material that would be strong enough to use as a...leash?" he asked warily, hating to have to resort to such measures. He didn't believe in keeping dragons against their will, but in Razor Neck's case, he had to make an exception.
She nodded slowly, looking between him and the Night Fury. "For Toothless?" she asked, slightly concerned.
Hiccup quickly shook his head, making sure that Toothless saw as well. "NO! Of course not! It's for Razor Neck. I think he just needs to have a fly around...it would be safer for all of us with Toothless around," he hurried to explain. Gosh, he wasn't going to use any sort of restraints for his dragon. Toothless didn't need them, nor should he have them anyway. He was a good dragon.
Astrid relaxed slightly. "Yeah, sure, I can do that. Now you go and find Harry and Hermione. They'll probably be in the great hall since classes are finished," she said.
Hiccup glanced up. "That late already? I promised Hagrid he'd get to meet Toothless today…," he sighed.
Astrid rolled her eyes and looked over at Toothless. He gave her a gummy smile and turned to Hiccup. The Vikings both laughed at the silly dragon. "I'm sure they won't mind if you go in later. I believe they need to feed Razor Neck," she added with a smirk.
Hiccup blanched. He did not want to deal with that dragon anytime soon. Toothless picked up on his sour mood and purred loudly. He smiled and announced he would be back later. Astrid waved good bye and Toothless watched him leave the room, following his every movement until he closed the door. Hiccup rolled his eyes as he heard the dragon's sad moaning from behind the door. He headed straight down the stairs and towards the great hall, hoping all the wizards weren't there. If he could just have a conversation with Harry and Hermione in private, it would be better for everyone.
After walking around the school for a while, Hiccup finally found the great hall. He never had been good at remembering his way around places which was why he tended to rely on maps. However, he hadn't been provided with one for the school so he would just have to make do.
Hiccup found Harry and Hermione deep in conversation at the head of the Gryffindor table. Much to Hiccup's annoyance, Malfoy and his goons sat on the table next to them, lost in their own world. Hiccup headed to his two friends – if he could call them that – and sat down opposite the pair. They looked at him and beamed, extending their conversation to him.
Hermione was talking about how Harry should get ready for all sorts of things that the first task could throw at them. Harry looked pretty nervous, though the task wasn't for another month or so. He shouldn't have been stressing, it was Hiccup that had the real challenge. He had the nightmare task of training and getting that beast of a dragon to behave and tone down the aggression.
"Do you have any ideas as to what the first task could be?" Hermione asked Hiccup suddenly.
He shook his head slowly, his eyes betraying his answer. How could he lie? These were people who liked him enough to talk to him, and he kept on keeping secrets. Maybe he could give drop some hints...or maybe he shouldn't. It was against the rules for him to tell anyone the contents of a task. Then again, Hiccup wasn't a wizard so maybe those rules didn't apply to him.
"Only a hunch," at least that wasn't a complete lie.
Hermione and Harry exchanged excited glances. "Care to share?" she asked.
Hiccup shrugged. "It's not something that I can tell you. You're not supposed to tell the champions what the first task is or what it contains," he said.
They both sighed and nodded, understanding why he wasn't saying anything. After a moment of thoughtful silence, Harry abruptly changed the topic. "So, what's your home like, anyway?" he asked.
Hiccup perked up. "It's cold. The type of climate that will give you frostbite on your spleen," he laughed at their horrified expressions. "My village is…sturdy. Berk is pretty old but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting and a charmingview of the sunsets," he explained.
Harry nodded slowly, trying to picture it. "Sounds nice."
Hiccup laughed. "It's really not. It snows nine months of the year and hails the other three." He didn't dislike the cold, it was more that he didn't like the hail. Sometimes that hail could knock someone off their dragon - which had never happened to Hiccup - and Snotlout had firsthand experience with the dangers of flying in hail.
The two wizards looked at each other before looking worriedly back at Hiccup. "It sounds dangerous. Where about is Berk, anyway?" Hermione asked curiously.
Hiccup paused for a moment. "Well, its twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. Located solidly on the Meridian of Misery but I think that's just a saying, I've never come across a place called Freezing to Death or Hopeless. It's just something we Vikings like to say," he chuckled to himself.
Hermione looked thoughtful. "Do you have any pets?"
Hiccup smiled inwardly at this one. Well, if you could count fire breathing dragons as pets, then yes. Some Vikings did consider them pets, but Hiccup liked to think of Toothless as nothing less than his best friend. "Well, sort of," he said slowly.
Harry wanted to ask more, Hiccup could see it in his eyes, but something held him back. Instead, he said, "What kinds of animals do you have?"
This made Hiccup chuckle again. "I have a giant lizard - he's huge - others have smaller lizards, one has sheep but we don't like to talk about him," he shivered at the thought of Mildew. He was the definition of a horrible Viking, with his constant death wish for all the dragons.
Hermione nodded slowly. "Wow, I've never heard of a giant lizard before."
Hiccup snickered to himself. Boy, were they in for a shock if they ever met Toothless. That wasn't something Hiccup wanted to miss - they would probably drop dead from shock or something.
Someone walked up behind Hiccup and he sensed the anger in the person's stance. Harry's face hardened too, which prompted Hiccup to turn around. It surprised him to see it was a positively seething Ron.
Harry stood up so he wasn't below Ron. They had a tough stare off, which neither of them really won and wasted some time.
"Spending your time with the Vikings now? Trying to see if they can give you any pointers?" Ron spat harshly, making Hiccup flinch.
He tried to interject before Harry could, but the other boy was quicker. "Yes, because he is totally going to help me get famous," he snapped.
Ron glared at Harry harshly. "Either that or helping you prepare for your next interview," he retorted.
Harry rolled his eyes and resumed his glare. "For the last time Ron, she made everything up!" he yelled.
Ron glared at him full force. "Sure, sure, because I believe the little liar who wouldn't admit to putting his name in the Goblet."
"I didn't put my name in that Goblet, someone else did. Do you really think I would want to put my life at risk for money and fame?" Harry asked rhetorically.
Ron shrugged stiffly. "Who knows?" he spat.
"Because being the boy who lived isn't famous enough!" Harry angrily said.
Ron shrugged once more. "I wouldn't know. I'm not the liar here. Believe what you want, Harry."
Hiccup stood there watching the two angrily exchange words. They were clearly in a rough spot. It reminded him of the time he'd been angry with Astrid for no apparent reason. She wasn't exactly in the best of sorts for a while and they didn't talk. Of course, Toothless was loving it, but Hiccup felt constant guilt. What kind of friend would he be if he didn't feel slightly bad to be avoiding the other?
Hiccup stood up and darted around Ron. "As fun as this isn't, I have somewhere else to be," he didn't stick around long enough for them to reply.
Without warning, Hiccup tripped over something and landed heavily on his stomach. He groaned as he looked up, seeing a smirking Malfoy looking down at him. He grumbled to himself as he pushed himself up. Malfoy stood up and was instantly flanked by his two goons. Hiccup scowled at them both.
"Enjoy your trip? I thought I'd catch you next fall," Malfoy snickered, earning a high five from his two goons. Hiccup glared at him, which had absolutely no impact on the pale haired boy.
"You laugh now Malfoy but I assure you, if you'd met Toothless, you wouldn't be so pleased with yourself," Hiccup said before getting the hell out of there, not waiting for him to answer. Malfoy aggravated Hiccup more than Snotlout usually did, and that was saying something.
Heading straight for the tower, Hiccup knew he still needed to go and see the dragons. He kept sighing to himself as he ascended the steps to get Toothless. On the way up, he heard the sounds of scratching against the stone walls. He wasn't very surprised to hear a whining voice, which he knew recognised as Toothless's. He rolled his eyes as he opened the door.
Toothless instantly jumped onto Hiccup, knocking them both to the floor. Hiccup laughed as the dragon presented him with a long line of saliva down his chest. He shoved Toothless off and hugged his neck, before shaking off the excess saliva. The dragon was always so excited, which wasn't a bad thing, of course, just unnecessary sometimes.
Hiccup laughed as Toothless sat up and made gurgling sounds from the back of his throat. "Yeah, I know you're all alone, bud. Did they go back to see the dragons?" he asked Toothless.
Toothless nodded his head slightly, confirming Hiccup's suspicions. The dragon didn't like to be on his own for too long, and Hiccup didn't usually like the result. He could go slightly crazy, becoming more attached to Hiccup, as he'd just shown. Hiccup didn't like to leave him on his own either, but it was more to do with the fact he was his best friend and he couldn't imagine life without Toothless.
"Well, let's go and see Razor Neck then. I'm sure this will be interesting," he finally said. Toothless grumbled lowly in the back of his throat, not wanting Hiccup to be near the dangerous dragon. Hiccup smiled and gently scratched the dragon's neck. Toothless purred and gave Hiccup the big eyes he adored.
Hiccup quickly put the dragon's saddle on and they dashed over to the balcony. They still had a few hours before dinner, but classes were over which meant it would be dangerous to fly the dragon and walk the halls with him.
Toothless waited for Hiccup to settle in the saddle before spreading his wings and taking off towards the keepers. Hiccup steered the dragon, but only lightly, knowing that Toothless was fully capable of listening to his voice instead of the steering system he'd created for the dragon. It was more for holding onto him so he didn't fall off.
They landed in the centre of the clearing, surrounded by the other Vikings and the three keepers. Hiccup laughed at the shocked faces as they stared at the Night Fury in the centre of the clearing. Toothless growled as he looked at all the caged dragons, not liking it at all. He stared at the baby dragon and hissed at the keeper next to it. Hiccup laid a gentle hand on Toothless, preventing him from doing something he'd regret later.
Astrid ran over to Hiccup and beamed, quickly followed by the blue and purple Nadder. Stormfly stood protectively behind Astrid, shielding her from the keepers view. She was pretty clever like that, just like Toothless, although he was more extreme.
"What did Harry and Hermione want?" she asked worriedly.
Hiccup shrugged. "Not much. She wanted to know more about Berk, so I told her," he explained blandly. She shot him a surprised look. He quickly added, "I didn't tell her anything about the dragons. I just said we had big lizards for pets."
She laughed and nudged his arm lightly, not wanting to do it too hard because he was sitting on Toothless, and the repercussions could be pretty disastrous for her. "Well, they sort of are," she said happily, walking back over to her chosen dragon. Hiccup rolled his eyes as he watched her leave. Her dragon was warming up to her already, she barely had anything left to do. Grass Glow was a pretty easy going creature, so Hiccup had been told.
Charlie walked over to Hiccup cautiously. The Viking hopped off the dragon and stood facing the keeper, standing in front of Toothless to prevent the dragon from attacking. Toothless bared his teeth and hissed loudly, making it clear to Charlie that he wasn't to take another step closer.
"Hiccup, I thought that you wouldn't be coming in today," Charlie said, standing as far away from Hiccup and the deadly dragon as he could.
Hiccup shrugged casually and grinned. "I wouldn't miss the chance to nearly get killed by Razor Neck," he exclaimed, making Toothless turn his attention to said dragon. Razor Neck was prowling around his large cage, hot steam breath escaping his nose every moment or two. His wings were opened and he wasn't hiding his anger at all. Toothless didn't want his Viking around this dragon. Hiccup wasn't strong enough and he knew it, but Toothless would be around to make sure the dragon behaved himself.
Charlie smiled slightly. "I'm sure you wouldn't. Who's this one, then?" he asked, gesturing to Toothless.
Hiccup patted Toothless on the head, earning a slight nudge to keep it up. He smiled and scratched behind his chin and laughed as the dangerous dragon made purring sounds, giving him a bad image. He looked anything but deadly. "This is Toothless, he's my best friend and a Night Fury," he emphasised Night Fury, because he knew Charlie wouldn't have a clue what breed this was.
Charlie swallowed slightly, looking nervous. "He won't hurt you?" he asked nervously.
Toothless gave him the 'are you insane?' look, which Hiccup chuckled at. "Everyone else but not me," he assured him.
It wasn't comforting for Charlie to hear that the dragon didn't do too well with other people. Hiccup didn't really want other people going near his dragon anyway, and he was pleased to see that Toothless didn't want anyone else near him anyway. It was pretty easy to tell who the dragon belonged to. Or which Viking belonged to Toothless, as the case may be. Toothless was pretty possessive of the scrawny, one legged Viking boy.
As if someone had shocked him, Charlie stood up straight and was back in business. "Well, Razor Neck needs some attention, you've got some work to do. We're going to be starting the real training next week which gives us two weeks before the task to get them ready," he explained, his voice formal and stern.
Hiccup nodded and sighed. "Of course. Thanks for the heads up." He looked up at Toothless who sat on his hind legs and followed the Viking.
They walked slowly over to the angry Hungarian Horntail. Hiccup swallowed as he gathered his courage and stood in front of the dragon. Razor Neck growled loudly and faced Hiccup. Toothless snarled at him, effectively shutting the larger dragon up. Hiccup laid a gentle hand on Toothless, restraining him from doing anything that could get him hurt.
"Hey, mate. You know I won't hurt you," Hiccup said gently as he stepped closer to the cage. Razor Neck breathed a heavy bout of fire and Toothless barely covered the Viking in time. He wrapped his wings around the boy protectively and aimed his most deadly glare at the Hungarian Horntail. Hiccup knew this would take a while.
Toothless let go of Hiccup once he was sure that he wasn't hurt from the fire. Hiccup had to admit, he wasn't expecting the blast. He watched helplessly as Toothless snarled at the larger, spikier dragon in the cage. The Night Fury snarled and shot a warning plasma blast at the floor of the cage. Razor Neck instantly hung his head in apology. He didn't seem to like Night Fury's, which made Hiccup wonder.
"It's alright bud, he didn't hurt me," Hiccup gently soothed the dragon and stepped back up to the cage. Razor Neck snarled and turned on his two legs to spin around, effectively shutting Hiccup out and turning his back on him rudely.
Hiccup sighed. This was going to take a long time.
After the incident with Ron in the hall, Hermione had dragged Harry off to the library. She'd apparently gotten some great idea about how to find out more about the Vikings. Harry wasn't too keen, but he didn't put up a fight. He didn't need to learn anything more than what Hiccup had told him. He trusted Hiccup enough to believe that nothing bad was really happening with them and he didn't want to dig into their personal history.
Hermione was looking through the history section when she let out a loud "yes!" and almost had them kicked out of the library. Harry rolled his eyes as they sat down at one of the numerous tables inside the library.
"I knew Hiccup didn't tell us everything," she muttered to herself as she read through the long and winded passages in the book.
Harry looked over her shoulder sceptically, not liking the looks of these pages. Among them he saw a bunch of runes and what looked to be a torn out page. He realised it had been pasted into the book, from another one. Hermione didn't seem to care, but Harry thought it was strange. Surely they didn't have actual evidence from another book? That would mean this was the only copy...
After a while of sitting there blankly, Harry decided to go and find a book for himself. He looked through many on creatures until he came across one that interested him. It was written by muggles, but had somehow found its way into a magical library. Harry read the title and chuckled to himself. Of course, muggles didn't know these creatures actually existed, but that didn't mean their information was incorrect.
Sitting back next to Hermione, Harry opened A Tour of Mystical Beings and looked at the contents. There were some creatures in there that Hagrid had shown the kids in his Care of Magical Creature's classes and Harry was familiar with. One creature really got Harry's attention; dragons. He thoughtfully turned to the page, looking at the graphic images of people slaying the beasts. He had never really learnt about dragons, not really believing they existed. He knew one of Ron's brothers worked with them in Romania, though, which confirmed their existence.
Hermione looked up and over Harry's shoulder, grimacing at the gruesome images. She didn't care much for violence, especially towards creatures that weren't treated fairly to begin with.
They lapsed back into silence for a while, Hermione and Harry both humming to themselves in their heads. Thoughts swirled around Harry's head as he read about the numerous different types of dragons that resided around the world. They didn't sound believable, though, with such farfetched names. They mentioned how the different dragons spawned in different seasons, while others were born from dark magic.
Hermione gasped suddenly, shaking Harry's shoulder violently. He looked up at her, wide eyed, as she looked like she'd seen a ghost. "They kill dragons!" she exclaimed in a whisper, barely loud enough for Harry to hear her. He could tell why Hermione was so shocked since he didn't think dragons were real, let alone hunted. Shouldn't they cherish having such unique creatures in their world?
"Does it say people in Berk do?" he asked curiously. It wasn't really his business, but he would have liked to know if Hiccup was a dragon slayer. The Viking looked too weak to kill a person, let alone a dragon.
Hermione nodded slowly, her eyes still wide in shock. "Yeah, this book is all about different Viking civilisations. It mentions Berk and how many generations have grown up to kill the dragons on their island. It doesn't say why or how though," she explained.
Harry sighed slightly. He still couldn't believe what he was hearing. Hiccup was a dragon killer? How could someone as small like him kill something as big and dangerous as a dragon? Didn't he have a heart? Well, they were Vikings, known to kill anything without a second thought. But Hiccup? That didn't seem right.
Hermione nodded and sighed deeply. She closed the book and gave Harry a sorrowful look. "I don't think these Vikings are people we should be hanging out with, Harry."
For once, he agreed.