So, it's been awhile, and I'll admit that I haven't been updating all that often. I've just been a little...busy. A few things going on in life, no need to worry. I'll get through them, and there is no way I'll abandon this story. I will see it through till the end, rest assured! I may not be updating as often as I have been, maybe once a week instead of twice. Sorry about that, but I've hit a terrible bout of writers block and need to catch up on my writing. So, without further ado, onward with the next chapter! Enjoy!
Hiccup POVWe landed in the cove, with Merida talking excitedly in my ear.
"That was incredible!" She said as she jumped from Toothless's back onto the ground. I grinned and followed her down, though not quite as enthusiastically. I swung my right leg over and dismounted Toothless, scratching him behind the ear as I did so. I smiled at Merida.
"You're not so bad, beastie." Merida said, joining me in scratching Toothless. "Neither is your rider." She mock whispered to him.
I felt my face grow hot and I scratched the back of my head, trying to quell some of the heat rushing to my face. Merida laughed and threw her arms around my neck.
"Thank you for the ride, Hiccup." She said.
I stood there awkwardly for a moment, unsure of what to do. I felt a blush rise to my cheeks as I debated what to do next. Merida pulled away, looking a little red in the face as well.
"I do have a question for you." She said.
"Sure." I said, beginning to cast the spell over Toothless's tail fin to allow him to fly on his own, just in case something happened...
"Why didn't you tell me you were an animagus?" She said.
I lost my concentration on the spell I was casting and Toothless's tail fin sparked.
"Woah!" I said jumping back. Toothless turned around to look at me, eyeing the smoking tail fin. He narrowed his eyes, and I could practically hear his thoughts. Get it together. I patted it out and took a deep breath.
"Sorry, sorry. I'll fix it." I mumbled. How did Merida know I was an animagus? It didn't make sense. Even Jack didn't know about my ability, after months of following Toothless and I. No one but myself and Toothless knew. Well, at least that's what I had thought. It seemed like no secrets were safe anymore, at least not from Merida.
Speaking of Merida, she stood in front of me, her arms crossed across her chest, waiting.
"I uh, am not actually an animagus. It was just a spell and-"
"Ha! So you are one!" She said, triumphant.
"What? No-"
"I never said I saw anything, Haddock." She said.
Toothless warbled at me. He was asking me what I was going to do now. I wondered myself. Fortunately for me, Merida began talking first.
"So what's your animagus form?" She asked. "It's your patronus, right?"
"Merida, I'm not-"
"It is, isn't it? But then that means that day in the forest when that dragon attacked us...that was you!" Her arms dropped down to her sides as she pointed an accusing finger at my chest. "Why would you attack me? Why did you blast Jack into that tree?"
"To be fair, he attacked me first." I defended. "I was protecting myself. Besides, the shot wasn't lethal."
"But you could have hurt him. You could have hurt me." She said.
"I wasn't going to hurt you." I said. "I was trying to get you away from Toothless so the shadows wouldn't attack you."
"So you were that huge black dragon that was defending Toothless?" She asked.
"Yes." I took a deep breath. "Look, Merida, you can't tell anyone about this."
Her face was set into a frown. "Why not?" She asked. "Hiccup, this is huge! You are possibly the only animagus in all of the north, and you are the only known wizard ever whose animagus is a magical creature."
I ran a hand over my face, an old habit I found was resurfacing quite a lot lately.
"Merida, I'm not actually a registered animagus." I told her.
"What does that mean?"
"It means if the ministry finds out, I go to..." I grew quieter. "To Azkaban for who knows how long." I sighed. "I'd rather fly into Berk on a dragon during Snoggletog."
"They wouldn't do that, would they? The ministry?" Merida whispered in mute horror.
I nodded.
"That's terrible." She said. We were silent for moment before Merida looked at me. "I won't tell anyone, so long as you show me your animagus form." A small smiled formed on her lips.
I groaned. "Really?" I asked.
Merida nodded, trying to hide her smile. I grinned too, right before I transformed, startling Merida. With barely a second thought, the familiar feeling of my powerful limbs and huge wings returned to me. My senses were sharpened and everything seemed much smaller, including Toothless. I found a small spark of immature pleasure that came with seeing the shocked look on Merida's face.
"That's incredible." Merida said. She reached forward to touch one of my wings and I pulled back a little. I warbled at her, enjoying the child like awe that filled her at the sight of me. Her bright blue eyes met my own for a brief moment.
"Your eyes. They're the same." She said.
I nodded carefully and leaped up onto one of the huge pine trees surrounding the cove. The tree bent and groaned under my weight, but held as I stared down at the small figures standing in the cove. I enjoyed being up in the trees as a dragon, something I would never be able to do as a human. Toothless had decided to take a nap while Merida marveled at my new form.
"You can understand me?" She asked. I snorted. Of course I could understand her, I was a dragon, not stupid.
She laughed. "That's definitely Hiccup in there."
I let out a quiet roar, a small draconic chuckle.
"Can you breathe fire?" She asked.
I nodded slowly, anticipating what was coming next.
"Show me." She demanded.
I snorted, the dragon form of a sigh. I leaped off the protesting tree, positioning myself to land before Merida. It snapped back into shape with a sharp crack as I landed gracefully in the cove. I stretched a wing out and prodded Merida, trying to tell her to back up. She looked very confused and I rolled my eyes. I nudged her with my head, gently pushing her back.
I took a deep breath and released a small black orb of fire, allowing it to hit a huge oak tree, promptly splitting it in half. The tree fell and I winced as the booming sound echoed throughout the entire forest. My blasts were becoming stronger, I needed to learn how to control those better.
With the blink of an eye, I turned back into my human form. I looked over to Merida, who stood in front of a boulder, awestruck.
"You just killed a tree." She muttered.
I winced again. "Yeah, uh, didn't mean to do that. Gotta watch the intensity on those things."
"It's hard to believe it's you in there." She muttered. "The dragon is so...huge and you're so..."
"Hiccup." I deadpanned.
Merida let out a nervous laugh but didn't deny it.
"Are you going to use it during the tournament?" She asked me, coming over to my side. "You'd win for sure."
"Let me think." I said sarcastically. "Turn into my illegal animagus form during a deadly tournament, while ministry officials watch my every move, only to win something I'm hoping I'll just barely survive. Sure! It's not like I enjoy my freedom or anything."
Merida scowled. "I was just asking a simple question."
I sighed. "Sorry, sorry. There's just a lot going on right now and-"
Merida held up a hand. "The last time you said that, you left. You told me that you wouldn't be leaving again."
"Merida-"
"Hiccup you can't keep running away from all of your problems!" She said.
"I know." I said, floundering. I knew that I couldn't stay here, the shadows would start attacking soon. But I had promised Merida...
I couldn't leave her, or this school. Not after I just got back...
"Don't leave me again, Hiccup." She said, her voice cutting though my thoughts. The odd part was, they almost mirrored them.
"Not after I just got you back..." She was quiet now, and was standing very close to me.
I swallowed. "I don't want to leave you Merida. I don't want to keep running-"
"Then don't." She said gently.
"I can't." I said, my voice breaking slightly. "You don't-you don't understand. They're like nothing you've ever seen before-"
"Why don't you think we can't handle ourselves here?" She asked. "What's so dangerous you feel it's completely up to you to protect us?"
"They're giant shadow-like things." I said, trying to find the right words to describe them. "They feed off of people's energies and paralyze them with fear, children especially. I couldn't return because they would always be attacking me and they were-they're attracted to Toothless and I, Merida." I paused. "You can't defeat these things. The only reason I can is because...when I touch one, I absorb their energies, the life forces of other people. I consume the lives they stole from others and-" I stopped.
"Me being here endangers everyone. I think-I think that's what the scroll meant." I looked at her. "I'm not the one that's a threat to the students, I'm the one that attracts the threat to them. I'm the conduit, the connecting rod."
Merida was silent for a moment before light dawned in her eyes. The reason I had left was clear now.
"So when you cut the connector-"
"You cut the threat off." I finished. "There is no threat if there is no connector."
There was a strong silence, and I swear I could feel it hovering over our heads.
"How can we destroy these things?" She asked.
"We?" I asked.
"Well, if you're going to be attracting these shadow beasties, I want to know how to fight back." She said, determined.
"You can't fight back, and that's the problem." I explained. "I've only found two things that can destroy them. A dragons fire and...my touch."
The determined look still didn't fall from Merida's face. "You're still not going anywhere."
"Merida, I have-I have to leave. I can't stay not when-not when others could be hurt. After the tournament-"
"You'll be finishing sixth year here, along with the rest of us." She crossed her arms. "You're not leaving again, Haddock, even if I have to chain you and your beastie to a tree, I'll do it."
"That's a little harsh." I said, raising an eyebrow her way.
"I told you, you're not leaving again."
I nodded absentmindedly, lost in thought.
"We should get back." She said. "Curfew's in an hour"
"Yeah, curfew. Good idea." I said.
"Can we ride Toothless back to the castle?" She asked.
"No."
"What if you turn into that giant beastie and I ride on your back?"
"You're not riding either of us back to the castle."
"You're boring." Merida said.
"You're crazy." I quipped
"So are you." She said
"Valid point, princess."
"My point's are always valid, Chief." She grinned smugly.
I smiled. Reasons like this were the reason I left, they were what I wanted to protect. To protect them, I had to cut off the connecting rod, snip the conduit. I was going to make sure nothing was ever going to happen Merida, or to the students of Hogwarts, even if that meant leaving again. Even if that meant breaking Merida's heart.
Even if it meant breaking my own.