Hiccup wasn't sure what Jack would do without him, but it would probably involve flunking out of school. The addition of Quidditch practices three nights a week made him not only unwilling to do homework, but almost unable.

It was nearing the end of October and leafs the color of fire fell to the earth before getting crunched and stepped on by students in dash from the greenhouses to the castle. The two boys were sitting in the library mostly dominated by older students who seemed on the brink of a nervous breakdown. One even came over and snapped at them, asking why two first years weren't "studying" in their common room, before noticing the different colored robes and walking away in surprise. This was the usual reaction.

Hiccup didn't really understand people's confusion. If Ravenclaw was supposed to be smart and Slytherin was supposed to ambitious, well, didn't that have a lot of overlap? And he couldn't help but remember the sorting hat's words, that he and Jack would've done well in Gryffindor.

"Weren't you the one saying we needed to focus?" asked Jack, looking pointedly at an Astronomy essay due in... eight hours.

Hiccup sighed and flipped the page in his textbook. "Yeah, yeah. I'm looking."

"Why would he assign an essay on the difference in orbit of nine planets? There's hardly anything to write about."

"Well," Hiccup tried to sound a tad more confident than he was. "We can mention the elliptical orbits and I think the orbits of Uranus and Neptune cross...or is it Neptune and Pluto?"

Jack groaned. "I'm never going up into space, what's the use of learning this?"

"Who knows? You like flying so much, maybe it could happen." There hadn't been anyone in Hiccup's group that instantly grasped it like Jack, but Hiccup himself found that with some thinking, flying wasn't all that difficult.

"Can I just write 'I have no idea' on the paper and turn it in?"

"Do you want him to give you a negative score?" asked Hiccup without looking up from the textbook.

Jack was trying to balance his quill on his nose. "This is boring." The quill suddenly fell off his nose and he looked wide eyed at Hiccup. "Do they celebrate Halloween here?!"

"Come again?"

"Halloween!" Jack had brightened up. "You know, with bonfires and dressing up in terrible masks to frighten away evil spirits and playing pranks on neighbors and throwing flour and demanding sweets?"

Hiccup shook his head. "Not ringing a bell. We don't really celebrate the normal holidays on Berk. We just celebrate the solstices and equinoxes and, more frequently, successful dragon counterattacks."

"Oh, it's one of my favorite holidays!" Jack's excitement was infectious. "It's time for practice anyway, I'll ask Ali. See you tonight!" And with that, he was off.

"Crazy kid," muttered Hiccup, rewording what a book called Ordinary and Extraordinary Objects had to say about orbits.

"Who's crazy?"

Hiccup looked up. It was Belle, one of the Prefects, looking as though she was done trying to concentrate. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you."

Belle laughed lightly and closed her textbook. "I could've moved. It's ridiculous how much work I've got piled up that I'm not interested in doing."

"Right. Sorry." said Hiccup awkwardly. He felt bad for the Fifth years and dreaded being one, although he was four whole years away.

"Do you need help with that?" asked Belle. "I'm rather good at Astronomy." She paused before shrugging. "Or, at least as good as Professor Black allows us to be."

Hiccup smiled, a little nervously, but flipped through what he had to do. "Actually, Astronomy is boring but I think I get it. If you're any good at Defense on the other hand..."

Belle winced a little. "I'm not awful or anything... I just don't..." she sighed. "It's not my best subject either, but I can handle some First Year work. Let's look at it."

"You don't mind?"

"I need the review anyway."

Belle scooted up next to him, looked at the textbook with almost-nostalgia, and started to go through. Hiccup found that trying to tackle problems the way Gobber instructed wasn't useful in the slightest and that Belle's analytical approach made a lot more sense.

Little did he know he was being watched by none other than two people who had so far excelled at Defense Against the Dark Arts, and who weren't exactly spying, just observing.

"Who's he talking to?" whispered Astrid.

Merida squinted. "I don't know." she said, peering over a row of books. "Looks like an older student, though."

"Why are we doing this?"

Merida sighed. "Because my mum wrote in my last letter to watch out for him. Apparently Professor Gobber wrote his father that he wasn't doing well in the class, which is true, and his father wrote my father who passed it on to mum who passed it on to me."

"I still don't get why you're actually listening to her," said Astrid. "From what you've said, you never listen to your mother."

"She won't let me try out for archery if Hiccup fails the class," admitted Merida. "Although why that's my responsibility, I have no idea."

Astrid, meanwhile, was still staring at the two. "Ravenclaws and their books," she scoffed. "C'mon, let's get out of here. Libraries are weird."

The Gryffindor girls left quickly, entering the busier, louder hallways with relief.

"Did you see Jack Frost earlier? Before that girl started talking to Hiccup?" asked Merida.

"Yeah, why?" Astrid's face broke into a grin, or as much of a grin as she could muster without actually moving her mouth. "Sounds like you've got an obsession."

"Do not!"

"Then why do you care?"

Merida bit her lip. "I've been wanting to ask him how he flew so easily. I keep wanting to in Astronomy but I don't want anyone else to be there." she shuddered. "Imagine, me sounding like I'm asking for help. Which I'm not."

"I'm sure you'll figure something out." said Astrid, without offering any advice.

Two days later, on the 31st of the month, Merida still hadn't thought of a way to ask without sounding weak. That day also happened to be one of her least favorite holidays, a holiday neither Rapunzel nor Hiccup had celebrated, and Jack's favorite: Halloween.

"Can you stop bouncing up and down like you're six years old?" she hissed during History of Magic.

Jack's eyes were practically mirrors they were so shiny. "I'm excited for the feast!" he half whispered back. "Halloween with real ghosts! Although I'm a little disappointed there's no bonfire..."

Merida was too, though she didn't admit it. "I'd think you'd get sunburned if you got too close to a bonfire."

"Then I'll stay away from you and your hair." said Jack impishly.

God, why was he so quick? Still, Merida, loath to show amusement, turned her back to take up a conversation with Astrid. Unfortunately, Astrid was asleep.

"Everyone in this room is going to fail this class." she said, in wonder of why Binns hadn't been fired yet.

"That would be pretty unfortunate." agreed Jack, but not looking too bothered. "At least Hiccup and I won't. He takes great notes and lets me read them."

"Think he'd let me read them, too?" asked Merida, the words out before she could stop them.

Jack looked surprised. "Probably. He might grumble but I bet he would."

"I'd take notes but..." she gestured hopelessly to her page which started out nice but gradually transformed into a field of targets with a girl shooting arrows. It wasn't a pretty drawing, but it looked accurate.

"Like archery?"

Now it was Merida's turn to light up. "Love it." she said. "It's my favorite thing ever."

"I've never done it." said Jack.

"You've never flown before and you were pretty good at that, from what I saw."

Jack shrugged. "Yeah, but I don't think you can just pick up a bow and suddenly shoot well, right? Flying's a little different."

This was her chance. "Then what's flying like? How do you do it so well?"

He didn't answer for a second, choosing instead to stare off into space. "I...I don't know." said Jack, finally. "I feel the wind around me and my body just wants to go higher and higher...I don't really think about it."

"That's weird," said Merida. "Cool, but weird."

The class ended abruptly and Jack looked quickly at Merida. "See you at the feast?"

"Yeah," she said, somewhat distractedly as she was waking up Astrid. "Try not to pee your pants in excitement."

But he had left already, fast as a shadow. Merida sighed, picked up her stuff, and dragged a half-asleep Astrid out of the room.

She did indeed see him at the feast and found herself just as enthralled with the decorations in the Great Hall as he was. Even someone who hated the holiday would've found it mesmerizing: thousands of live bats flew in low clouds, just above the floating candles and glowing pumpkins, and food appeared on their golden plates, as it had for the sorting ceremony.

"What is all this stuff?" asked Astrid in wonder, captivated by the eerie glow.

"It's for Halloween," said Merida, before remembering they didn't celebrate it on Berk. "Which is a holiday where even the Muggles celebrate magic. Personally, I've always found it irritating on account of my brothers who always play tricks, but this is pretty neat."

"Alright," said Astrid, sitting next to Ruffnut. "Then let's eat!" She scooped out some mashed potatoes and poured gravy over them.

Merida joined both girls in their quest to stuff their faces, after quickly looking over at a certain boy sitting at the Slytherin table. A thought occurred to her sort of suddenly: if today was the 31st, then she would see Jack fly very soon indeed in the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match in about a week's time. That was sure to be an interesting game.

OoO

A week later, Rapunzel had never seen so much animosity between people of different houses. This whole Quidditch thing was starting to feel to her like a dangerous division in the school. When she voiced these concerns to Tooth, she didn't get much of a response.

"Oh, it's always been like this. Or, at least, that's what my mum told me. It doesn't get as bad when the other houses play, but Slytherin and Gryffindor always hate each other."

"Why?"

"Why?" scoffed Tooth. "Because they're so different! Different temperaments, you know? We always root for Gryffindor, by the way, unless they play Hufflepuff, and they usually do the same for us. Or, that's what my mum told me, anyway."

Rapunzel frowned. "But I have a friend on the Slytherin team. Can't I root for him?"

Clearly, Tooth hadn't thought about this. "I've got it," she said finally. "We'll just go in our Hufflepuff robes and sit with the other First Years. It'll be so loud, no one will notice who you cheer for."

"Sounds alright with me!" said Rapunzel with a smile, throwing on her robes and sticking a daisy in her hair.

The two girls walked with the others in a yellow and black huddle to the enormous Quidditch Pitch, where every other student seemed to be as well. It had gotten cold very quickly and Rapunzel shivered a little as she made her way to the high stands. She spotted a bit of blue in the Hufflepuff section as they drew closer, but it wasn't until she was a few feet away that she saw who it was.

"Hiccup!"

Hiccup turned around, looking lost, but smiled upon seeing Rapunzel. "Hey, how're you doing?"

"I'm cold and excited." said Rapunzel, finding a spot next to him for herself and Tooth. "Are you lost?"

Hiccup shook his head and looked furtively around. "No, I'm trying to avoid Fishlegs. If I hear one more trivia fact..." He trailed off, but no doubt had something violent in mind.

The pitch started to grow quiet as Madam Flora came out, and then a voice was magnified throughout the arena, magically louder.

"GREETINGS ALL TO THE VERY FIRST QUIDDITCH PATCH OF THE YEAR!" roared the booming voice of someone who sounded very excited. "ARIEL WEASLEY HERE, COMMENTATING!"

Rapunzel leaned over and saw a pretty girl with dark, red hair in a box next to Professor Mode. The next second, there was a very loud whistling sound from the referee, and fifteen brooms rose into the air. She scanned the air for Jack and saw him mounted on his broom, looking a little nervous but mostly very excited.

"Have you ever seen him fly before?" asked Hiccup. "From what I hear, he's pretty good."

Rapunzel was about to say 'Never', but she was distracted, not by the game, but how effortless Jack looked in the air. She wasn't the only one who noticed either.

"The new Slytherin seeker, mind you, is only a first year! Learned how to fly less than two months ago! How's that for talent?" said Ariel's enchanted voice. "Aaaaaand Lee takes the ball for Gryffindor, flying down the field-"

Rapunzel tried to watch the game, she really did. It was exciting and viscous and she didn't know what was happening most the time, but for some reason, Jack was distracting her. She didn't understand. He had started flying the same time she did, yet he made it look so easy! Everyone in her class found it hard even to float in midair, but here was Jack, floating a hundred feet up in the air.

"So why is he looking around?" asked Rapunzel.

Hiccup frowned. "I think he said something about being the Seeker which I guess means you look for stuff?"

"You two are terrible," said Tooth. "See the three on each team trying to score goals? Those are the Chasers. The person protecting the goal is the Keeper, the two flying around hitting balls with bats are the Beaters, and the Seekers have to look for the Golden Snitch."

"What?"

Tooth sighed. "Both of you aren't even Muggle-born. The Snitch is this tiny, gold ball that flies around and the Seeker that catches it gets 150 points for their team and the game ends."

"That sounds important." said Rapunzel. "So he's looking for the Snitch."

"I would hope so." said Hiccup, squinting and looking up. "Although how he could see it, I have no idea."

Suddenly, both boys above the crowd dove sharply and starting flying fast. Ariel was quick to report.

"And we have both Seekers on the move! I repeat, both Seekers on the move! First-year Frost for Slytherin and Third-year Pan for Gryffindor, on the hunt!"

But while the Seekers were looking for the Snitch, the other players continued to fight. Rapunzel watched Jack fly intently; he seemed so totally focused. Both him and Pan looked they could've flown without brooms they were moving so fast.

But only one of them could take the Snitch, and as they got closer to the ground, Pan seemed nervous. At the last possible moment, he shot upwards while Jack thew out his arms, so close he could hear the wings fluttering, and clutched his hand around the struggling ball before flying up in joy.

Rapunzel and Hiccup cheered loudly, and even Tooth seemed excited. The Slytherin House roared with approval, a big crowd of green and silver people and flags. "Oh, he looks so pleased!" said Rapunzel about Jack, who was being congratulated by his team. "Let's go talk to him!"

"Zel, wait." said Hiccup. "Maybe later."

"Why?"

Hiccup hesitated. "Well... He's with his House now. It might be weird if two kids from the other houses go down there. Some people get really touchy about Houses."

"It shouldn't matter." said Rapunzel, but she knew he was right. The only people who looked happy were dressed in green, the only people on the field were dressed in green, and she wasn't wearing green. "He flew so well!"

"He was brilliant." agreed Hiccup, staring somewhat wistfully at the sky. "Absolutely brilliant."