Chapter 3:

I can guess that you guys are all jumping to the most obvious conclusion. But there's really more to the curse than any of you guys may think. I'll be explaining it in later chapters, as the story progresses.

As easy as it was to believe that Hiccup had been there when the Weredragon had eaten the fish from the food storage, what was hard to understand was why he was limping. The Weredragon hadn't hurt him, and what was more confusing was that it was his bad leg that was hurt. The old wound seemed to have opened up again, and was now bleeding. Hiccup always used the same excuse for his injured leg. "The wound opened up when I ran away." As believable as it was, Astrid was more suspicious of him.

What was even more noticeable was that his leg seemed a bit uneven. It was almost as if someone had cut it off at a weird angle.

But the most noticeable feature was that Hiccup was beginning to spend more time alone. He didn't let any of his fellow Vikings come near him, and he stayed away from his friends no matter what they said to him.

Hiccup's behavior became even more strange as the days progressed. Every time the Weredragon appeared during the full moon, Hiccup spent more and more time alone, and his injured leg seemed to bleed more. He seemed to spend more time with dragons than he did with people. As he did so, Astrid's suspicion reached its peak. She had to find out what was going on. Whether Hiccup liked it or not.

Astrid found Hiccup at the Academy with Toothless. He was wrapping a fresh bandage around his leg stump, which Astrid was able to get a good look at before he wrapped it up completely. The wound was fresh, almost as if it had been cut off. There was no possible way that the wound would be that serious if it had previously opened up again. Ignoring this, Astrid walked over to her friend. "You've been acting very strange lately," she said.

Hiccup finished wrapped up his leg and looked up at her. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said, trying to cover up. "Don't think for a minute that I haven't noticed," Astrid said stubbornly, "You haven't interacted with anyone besides the dragons, you're always somehow injuring your bad leg, and coincidently it's always after the Werdragon has appeared." "Okay, so what's your point?" Hiccup asked. "My point is that either the Weredragon is who I think it is, or you're just trying to make an excuse to the raiding of the food storage," Astrid said, "And I'm pretty sure that it's the first option." Hiccup shrugged. "It depends on who you think it is," he said. "What is it you're suggesting?" Astrid asked. Hiccup sighed and stood up. "I'm saying that maybe we shouldn't be jumping to conclusions." Astrid glared at him, folding her arms across her chest. "For me, there's only one conclusion. And that's the identity of the Weredragon." With that, she started to exit the Academy. Hiccup chuckled. "You know, that's probably why everyone thinks that you're so hard to impress."

Astrid stopped in her tracks at what Hiccup had said. She turned to face him. "Excuse me?" Hiccup shrugged carelessly. "You know, everyone has been complaining about your stubbornness." "You have a problem with my behavior?" Astrid asked, her voice full of anger, "What, are you trying to dump me or something?" "Not dump you," Hiccup said, "I'm just trying to protect you." "Protect me?" Astrid asked, "How?" Hiccup turned away. "I can't tell you," he said. Astrid scoffed. "That's funny, because if I recall, you said that you could tell me anything that was bothering you when you needed help!"

Realizing what he had done, Hiccup turned to face Astrid. "Hold on a second, that's not what I meant, I just..." "No. If that's how you want to be, then that's fine! Don't tell me anything. In fact, don't even talk to me! We're done!" With that, Astrid stormed off, leaving Hiccup with Toothless.

Hiccup watched Astrid leave, his heart breaking. Toothless approached from behind, warbling sadly. He took one look at Hiccup before he left as well. Hiccup sighed. He regretted what he had done, but now it seemed too late to fix it.

He was alone now.

Astrid couldn't believe what had happened. The Hiccup that she trusted was now treating her like nothing. She was so angry, that even Stormfly, her Deadly Nadder, stayed a safe distance from her. She refused to pay attention where she was going, and eventually found herself storming into Hiccup's house. She suddenly noticed something on the table. Hiccup's journal.

Curiosity and suspicion got the best of Astrid, as she picked up the journal and started to read through it. She soon got to the page where Hiccup had written the rhyme.

He who is pure of heart and prays to the gods at night,

Might become a monstrous beast whenever the full moon is bright.

Underneath the rhyme was a picture of the Infector that Hiccup had drawn in his spare time. Underneath that was the warning about the hideous little beast.

Astrid shut the book and put it back on the table. This confirmed her theory about the Weredragon.

She headed outside, where Stormfly was waiting from a safe distance. It had gotten dark fast, and the full moon was rising. Astrid quickly got onto Stormfly's back. "We have to find Hiccup," she said. Stormfly nodded and flew off.

They searched the entire island, but there was no sign of Hiccup. What's worse, the full moon was rising higher and higher into the sky. If Astrid's theory was correct, then it was possible that Hiccup would find them first. Stormfly suddenly squawked and landed in a grassy field where the sheep were sent out to graze. The entire field looked like a war zone, with blood splattered everywhere. Scattered all around were the corpses of sheep, torn to shreds. A loud roar sounded, and the Weredragon rose into the air, blasting fire at the houses in the village.

The Weredragon had changed from a peace-loving creature, to a raging monster.

And there was nothing that could stop its new destructive ways.

Any of you figured it out now? I've decided to make this a short, like Legend of the Boneknapper, hope you guys don't mind. I'm guessing that Ferdoos might have figured it all out, since he/she's been basically one step ahead since Chapter 1. Review, follow, favorite, and tell me what you think!