A/N: And we go back to Hogwarts for this chapter! Featuring special guest stars Elinor and Toothless. Hope you enjoy and leave a review!

Merida and her mother walked through the Forbidden Forest, side by side. Afternoon light, already dusky, streamed through the trees. Merida's Gryffindor tie was all unkempt and her shirt unbuttoned, while her mother wore elegant green robes befitting a former Slytherin, and a guest lecturer. The last class bell had rung an hour ago, and that meant Elinor's lectures for the day were finished.

The two of them walked with great calm, considering they were in one of the most dangerous forests in the United Kingdom. Elinor, after a long pause, commented on it:

"You seem quite at home here."

"Oh… yeah, well, I do a lot of rummaging around here. There's lots of interesting things to see."

"Do you usually come by yourself?"

"Oh, no… well…" Merida squirmed under her mother's glare, "sometimes. But usually I'm with friends. There's Rapunzel – I'm usually guarding her back, she comes in here to collect plants and things. And Jack, you probably met him today, he's a Slytherin. He's wicked powerful." Merida waited for the reprimand, but her mother didn't seem to mind the language. She went on, "And there's Hiccup, of course."

There was a silence, the kind of silence that only Elinor could generate, where you got the sense she was understanding a lot more than was being said. "I've mentioned him in me letters home," Merida added.

"He made a Gryffindor banner for your Quidditch game, yes?"

Merida turned with surprise. "I didn't think you'd remember that!"

"Of course I do. And he's a Ravenclaw, you said?"

"Aye – it was real surprising. I, um," she tucked a lock of hair behind one ear, "didn't expect that. An' I didn't expect you to notice, either. Ye're not that fond of my Quidditch playin', an' all."

"Well," Elinor hitched up her skirt out of the moss, and spoke haltingly, "Merida, it's clear… well, you're in your fifth year now…"

"An' still not a prefect, I know—"

"That wasn't what I was going to say. Merida, you became Quidditch Captain remarkably young. It seems to me that's what you're really happy with. And I'm hearing of your talent and what a good captain you are from every quarter – I'm proud of you. I'm only sorry I took so long to see clear."

Merida started to grin and couldn't stop grinning. "Well, besides, there's still the triplets to follow in yer footsteps as prefects and Head Boy."

Elinor laughed. "Which one d'ye think it'll be? H—" She froze midsentence, and her head swung to the other side of the clearing, where they could hear something crashing through the underbrush – getting closer. Merida took out her wand, just before a massive black dragon burst out of the underbrush and make towards them, its eyes wide and maddened.

Merida squeezed her wand tightly, a handful of spells ramming through her brain – 'Stun, petrify, freeze, wait, will any of them even work?' – but before she could pick one, she heard a pop, felt a whoosh of air, and the ground beneath her tremble.

"Mum!" she cried, turning to face Elinor, who had vanished. In her place stood a massive brown bear, which fell to all four paws and roared out a challenge that made Merida's ears ring. The dragon paused, accepting the transformation of 'Woman-to-Bear' and then 'Threat,' and then snarled, baring his white teeth.

"Mum, please, you don't understand, this dragon is –"

Elinor reached out a massive paw and shoved Merida to the ground. When she picked up her head, she saw a fourth figure entering the fray: a scrawny boy in torn robes, running towards the dragon at full tilt – and stopping in his tracks when he saw the bear.

"Hiccup!" she yelled.

He turned. "Merida? What are you doing there?" He sped towards her to help her up, keeping his eyes on the dragon and bear. "And what is that – that thing?"

"That," Merida said, her family pride bristling, "is my mother."

Now he turned his eyes from the battle to stare at her. "Wait, what?"

"Mum's an Animagus!" she yelled. "Come to lecture today, or were ye not listening—"

"Elinor Macbeorn? Your mother is Elinor Macbeorn?"

"Oh, ye've heard of her." Merida looked back at her mother. "Now what's wrong with Toothless?"

"I was trying to treat his right forepaw—"

Elinor the bear took matters into her own hands. She drew Toothless on, dodged him, and then, like a wrestler, leapt atop him and pinned him to the ground with all of her weight. She roared to get her daughter's attention, and the attention of that scraggly ragamuffin she was talking to.

"Oh! Great, that's convenient," Hiccup said, slinging his dropped schoolbag over his shoulder and hurrying to Toothless' right forepaw.

"Thank you, Mum," Merida said, with a pointed look at Hiccup.

"Um…" Hiccup regarded the massive bear's head, and nodded, more frightened of her than of the dragon. "Merida, can I get a Freezing Charm here?"

She flicked her wand and the trembling paw was steady. With a pair of pincers, Hiccup carefully extracted a thorn from Toothless' paw webbing, and soothed it over with a potion.

"Did ye get that from Rapunzel?" she asked, watching the proceedings with great interest.

"Yes… how did you know?"

"The little flowers painted on the bottle gave it away."

"Oh, right." He carefully screwed the stopper back in. "Um… Merida… is your mother also… in the Ministry of Magic?"

She nodded. "Right up there in government." She added, "And she can understand what we're saying now."

Hiccup's eyes widened. He shoved the potion back into his bag and hobbled back to his feet. The bear stood up on her hind legs again and let Toothless go. Hiccup said to the dragon, "Go, go! Go now!"

The dragon, looking confused, wary, but above all tired, looked once between the bear and his human before reluctantly trotting into the woods.

Hiccup stared after him for so long that Merida wanted to ask what was wrong. But before she could, there was a pop and she felt her mother's hand on her shoulder. Elinor was trembling with anger.

"Young man," she asked, "What is your name?"

"I think you heard it, ma'am," he said, without turning around. "It's Hiccup Haddock—"

"Turn around when you're speaking to me." Elinor commanded.

"Mum, don't be mad, this isn't—" Merida pleaded.

"Merida, you are not blameless here, either. So." She said, as Hiccup turned to face them. "Hiccup Haddock, was it?"

"Yes. And I'm a Mudblood," he added.

"Hiccup!" Merida balled her hands into fists. "Ye're nae allowed to talk like that!"

"Well, it's true!" he said to her, blood rushing into his cheeks.

"You're Muggle-born?" Elinor asked, clamping her hand more firmly on Merida's shoulder. Hiccup nodded. "Have you tamed that dragon?"

"… I've befriended him. He's not mine; he's just… my friend."

"And how long has this been going on?"

"Since…" he shifted uneasily. "Since October last. Hallowe'en."

"Does anyone at the school know?"

"No, no one. Except Merida."

'And Rapunzel and Jack,' Merida added in thought.

"Well." Elinor sighed, and her grip on Merida's shoulder lessened. "Ye sent the dragon away, I guess, because ye didn't want him to be caught by the Department of Magical Creatures. Is that right?"

He nodded.

"Well," Elinor said again. She frowned. "Ye've broken the law, Haddock – putting yerself and yer classmates into more danger than ye could imagine."

"Oh, I have quite an imagination," Hiccup countered, half under his breath.

Elinor glared at him. "I can see ye're responsible and brave towards the beast – but I'm going to have to report this. I can't let ye…"

"I understand." Hiccup said, but his voice sounded as little and lost as Merida had ever heard it, and she wanted to run between him and her mother, as she'd run between the dragon and the bear, and defend one against the other until they both saw clear. If she was still an irresponsible first year, she might have just managed to get away with that. But she was older now, and she had to learn to get by in her mother's world. Damn it all!

"Well, let's go," Elinor said with a sigh. Hiccup didn't move.

Merida ran to him and seized his hand. She squeezed it and his gaze started up at her in surprise.

"Ye're not going to face this alone, Hiccup," she promised. "I'm here, aye?"

"But – your mum—" Hiccup glanced to Elinor, who watched with as much interest as he.

Merida looked at her mother, and then to Hiccup with a wry smile. "Y'see, being at loggerheads with me mum is nothing new to me. Ye've got someone with real experience at yer side!"

Elinor smiled – with exasperation, affection, and maybe a bit of pride – and led the way back to the castle. And all the way to the Headmaster's office, Merida didn't once let go of Hiccup's hand.