Words without AN: 5,478

=Rapunzel=

I didn't notice when Merida stopped spending time with us, leaving for her other friends but eventually it just became me and Hiccup. It was sad sometimes, being alone. There were days where Hiccup couldn't face me, when he was fighting with himself and didn't want me to get hurt. There were days when we would be sitting together and wishing that we weren't alone. Sure there was the team who had started to pull Hiccup and me (because when wasn't I with him lately?) Into all of their social activities after their defeat of Gryffindor at 210 to nothing. Then finally when the last game came we once again beat Slytherin 160 to 150, the only reason they got any points being that Jack, seeing as nothing was getting passed Hiccup, caught the snitch right after we scored another point. Hiccup had been carried back to the common room and I swear the party lasted days. It was the first time Ravenclaw had won the cup in ages.

After the excitement, finals rolled in and Hiccup and I dove into our studies. Wanting to pass and get it over with as soon as possible with the highest grade imaginable. Then finally, we had our few days of freedom. We decided to spend at least a whole of one with Toothless, we had been taking turns watching over the dragon this year. Hiccup heading out every morning that he could and I took the days where he had slept in late or needed to be up for practice or something along those lines. The day started with us just hanging out in the meadow and ended with a sunset flight around the school and the next day we remained in the yard between the school and Hagrid's hut talking about mostly nonsense things like art or what our plans were for break, or when we'd get to see each other again.

When we got up for dinner, I stumbled a little bit, knocking Hiccup off balance and we rolled down the hill some, Hiccup ending up on top of me. "I'm sorry," he pushed himself up, then we just stared at each other for a while before he lent down and pressed his lips to mine. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, mostly because a third year from the Quiddich team yelled out.

"It's about time!" Embarrassing us both and we stood, faces red and Hiccup half glaring at the girl who only laughed it off and continued back inside with her friends. I noticed a bit of white, and glanced up the hill to see Jack standing there. He was looking at the both of us.

"So, um..." Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck and I took his gloved hand in mine, squeezing it gently and getting a smile from him. "Dinner?" He asked and we walked back up the hill towards the school. Entering the dinning hall that evening we had been teased by a lot of the upperclassmen as well as the team, and were even invited to sit with them. Two spots reserved right in the middle of everything, the entire time we didn't let go of each other.

"Write to me?" He asked as we sat on the train heading back to Kings Cross station. He explained that he would be a bit busy this summer, finalizing everything with the Dragon school and helping his dad around the village so even if I did come and visit he wouldn't be able to spend too much time with me.

"Every day," I nodded resting my head against his shoulder. His rose wound into the top of my braid and had permanently become an accessory for me. Sometimes as a part of a necklace or bracelet but mostly wound in with my hair. I watched him draw, which had become one of my favorite pastimes, it wasn't in his small sketchbook but that didn't matter much. He had already put me in that one earlier this year. This time he drew what the train would look like outside, as it drove across the country waiting for the station to appear.

Then, we parted ways, him giving me a kiss on the forehead, then much shyer, on the lips. And I smiled, promising to write to him as soon as I got home and we spent most of the rest of the summer apart. Only after our school letters arrived did he invite me to Berk, which was alright. We met at Diagon Ally and spent the day shopping together then returning to Berk and spending the evening down at the beach. "I must be loosing myself," Hiccup frowned a bit, picking up a petal that had been apart of his rose.

"It's just one," I commented, taking it from him and frowning when it didn't spring back to life with my touch. The magic on this one died. "We'll keep it that way." I said to him and he smiled at me, linking our fingers together.

"With your amazing healing and trust in me, I'm sure we'll keep Pitch at bay." He agreed, smiling and we spent the rest of the evening peppering my hair with flowers I grew. I kept them in for the rest of summer. Partly because I didn't want to untwist them from the braid and partly because I liked them there.

I spent a lot of time with Astrid when Hiccup was busy, she was fun to hang around with when she wasn't trying to kill Snotlout. Which was almost every time she stepped out the door. "You're so lucky." She told me when we escaped into the woods. "Your admirer's backed off when you started dating Hiccup. I'm sure my stalker won't even get the hint if I get with someone!" She sat on a rock overlooking a small pond.

"I have admirer's?" I asked, sitting next to her. We were waiting for Hiccup to finish his work for the day.

"Lots of them," she nodded. "From all the houses," she added. "Don't you notice that guy's are nicer to you than most people?" I shook my head.

"I just thought they were being nice." I commented and she laughed.

"Some of them yes, but most of them aren't usually that nice." She told me. "Ah, well. We should head somewhere else, Hiccup wont come near here." She stood and looked at me. "He should be coming looking for us soon."

"He wont come here?" I wondered, then thought about his story's to me. This must be the lake that... I stared at it for a moment before standing and walking with her back towards the village. Astrid shook her head.

"He refused to last summer, wouldn't be surprised if it was the same this year." She told me. I nodded and we stayed quiet for the rest of the walk.

The school year started and I could see some changes in Hiccup. He stopped avoiding Jack, instead he would occasionally ask him for a supply that was near him or answer a question Elsa would ask one of us. His relationship with the girl hadn't seemed to changed much because he openly talked with her, sometimes jokingly and sometimes showing her a drawing, or one of my paintings I added to his sketchbooks.

"We broke up over the summer," Elsa told Hiccup and me as we walked out of our potions class. "It just wasn't working any more." She shrugged and smirked at our hand holding. "So when did this start?" She gestured to us.

"Few days before summer started." Hiccup answered. Elsa nodded, as if she already knew this. "So, you wanted help with the essay?" He asked her.

"Not so much for me, but for Jack." Elsa sighed. "If you don't mind that is." She said sheepishly.

"We don't have much else to do, Quiddich doesn't start up for a while yet and Punzy's training isn't during the week days" He responded.

"Hiccup if you don't want to help I can do it." I told him, Elsa watched us.

"I honestly don't think I can trust myself if I leave you alone with him." He sighed. "Pitch makes too many comments that I have a hard time ignoring..." His eye drifted to the ground. "It's been getting harder to ignore him. Even with Autumn's help." The three of us stepped into the old classroom we used to hang out in and he sat on a bench, I sat next to him rubbing my fingers against his gloved hand while Elsa stood in front of us.

"Your arm?" She asked. "How is it?" I glanced at the door after seeing something, but nothing was there.

"Spreading again," he responded. "But, still slowly. Rapunzel's healing really helped. I'm sure Pitch would've had control by now if she hadn't..." He looked at me and gave me a warm smile

"I could try to heal it again." I offered but he shook his head.

"I don't think it can be healed anymore." He told us both. "We can try but..."

"This weekend, come see me while I'm working." I told him and he nodded. "If it doesn't heal like before, we're going to have to try something else. How's Autumn holding up?" I wondered.

"He's..." He paused. "I'm not exactly sure, he tells me that he's fine but it's hard to know when I can't talk to him all the time."

"How long does he think you have?" Elsa wondered.

"End of sixth year? Maybe middle of seventh?" Hiccup shrugged looking up then frowning. "Is that your sister?" He asked. Elsa turned to see a girl standing outside the door on the opposite side of the hall. She was with Hans and they were kissing. Elsa's face lit up bright red.

"I'm going to kill her." She marched out of the room and we followed behind slowly. After that it was a few days before Hiccup visited me in the hospital wing. I had to block his cot off from the few others that were in there as I tried to heal his arm. As he expected, it didn't change. The gray looked darker than it had before, it had reached up a little farther above his elbow but nothing too bad. All the while I tried not to focus too much on my shirtless boyfriend and that was a hard task. He had several scars on his chest and one looked like a burn mark, I assumed that these were from dragons, and he was quite tone from his time spent training himself to use Autumn's magic. And it was clear to anyone that bothered to pay attention to him in the previous years that he had grown to be much more hansom that anyone would've thought. He was leaner, defiantly had muscle on him and had lost his child like features, his hair was still long and covered his eyes if he chose for that and his green eyes still sparkled with an intense desire to learn.

He turned away from me to put his shirt back on, which I found to be quite pointless considering I had already seen him shirtless, but I saw that there were a great deal more scars on his back than his chest I gently traced some and he shuddered. "There from Toothless." He told me after I pulled back my hand and he finished dressing. "When he saved my life a few years back."

"Oh," they looked quite painful to have but I didn't comment on that. I'm sure that the doctor's in St Mungo's had fixed it right up before he even had the chance to feel it.

"I'll see you at dinner," he told me, before kissing me and leaving. And I sat there for a while trying to imagine what he must've gone through these last few years, and then wondering how he's still doing it. The only answer I could come up with is because of his friends. He doesn't want to loose them. That thought was quite bazaar considering within two years he had managed to loose two of his closest friends and date the last one. The rest of the day, I wandered about from student to student in a half focused state until Madam Pomfrey finally dismissed me for supper.

Things seemed to move along smoothly for the next few weeks until the first Quiddich match, Griffondor against Slythrein and their feud seemed to be on an all time high this match. I had to work overtime which was fine because Hiccup stayed and helped to take care of the five students that had been brought in with broken bones or some more minor injury's. Merida had even been brought in along with a beater from Slytherin named Flynn. I had to make sure that they were separated because they were fighting even as they had been brought in.

Hiccup, who had missed the match to spend the day with me up here was more than entertained when she was brought in cursing up a storm with Astrid walking behind her, a small cut on her forehead but nothing serious. "Yer a filthy cheater Rider!" Merida yelled at Flynn who I was currently taking care of. And they had just been the first two of the five to come in. Hiccup was sitting with Merida and Astrid talking about what exactly had happened though I'm sure she still had a grudge against him for beating them last year.

"So, Blondie," Flynn said to me. "You free after all this, cus I'd sure like to take you out." The silence that followed was chilling, even Merida couldn't come up with something to say.

"I'm sorry," I told him. "It's a kind offer but I'm with someone." I said and he frowned. "And I'm sure you would just end up right back here if you tried anything."

"What, that Hiccup kid?" He asked, and I wondered if he realized that Hiccup was here with us. Another player was brought in. "He couldn't hurt a fly." And I found him next to me a moment later, abnormally calm which was the scariest part.

"Flynn right?" He asked, he held out his hand as a form of greeting. "I'm sure we haven't met. I'm Hiccup Haddock," I could see dark aura washing off of him like waves. "If you wouldn't mind, please don't flirt with my girlfriend." He squeezed Flynn's hand and a crack echoed in the silent room, followed by a look of pain from Flynn.

"Hiccup we're supposed to heal people here, not injure them." I scolded the boy, pushing him away from Flynn but grateful that he was willing to fight for me. He gave me a sheepish smile. "Go keep Merida company, I'm sure she's going to need more than Astrid when Madam Pomfrey starts healing her up." I saw him rub his arm but didn't bring it up, he nodded and walked back over to Merida.

"Ow," Flynn managed and I just grabbed his hand, pointed my wand at it and mumbled a healing spell. It cracked back into place, and I'm sure hurt just as much as it had when it broke. "So, how is he a Ravenclaw?" He asked. "I see him as more of a Slytherin or Gryffindor." I rolled my eyes.

"That's because you pissed him off." I responded, moving from him to the person next to him. It was silent for a while.

"Hay, a petal fell off your flower." Flynn told me.

"What?" I turned to face him, he was picking it off the ground.

"Is that thing real?" He asked, I tried not to look at Hiccup as I took the petal from him.

"Yes, it's enchanted." I responded, sliding the petal into my pocket and turning back to my work and I tried to ignore his comments the remainder of the time I worked. When Madam Pomfrey finally dismissed me, Hiccup and I left, heading towards the dinning hall where we would find out who won the match. We didn't go right away, instead we stayed in the old classroom. "The poison?" I asked, he rolled up his sleeve, it had indeed spread. His moment in the hospital must've been triggered by Pitch. I traced my fingers along the border of gray and peach.

"I'm sorry, he slipped out for a second because I was jealous." He told me. "Rapunzel, what if it's not safe for us to be together?" He asked me, pain in his voice. "If I end up hurting you-"

"We'll fix this." I told him, determined. "The two of us, and Elsa. We can fix this, we'll get Pitch out of you."

"Even if we do there will always be this darker side of myself." He told me, I held onto his hands. "He's held onto part of my soul for too long, it'll always be like him. If I can't control that..." I pressed a hand against his cheek, wiping away a stray tear.

"You'll learn." I told him, his eyes closed and he cupped my hand to his face. "I'll help you, even if we aren't a couple when it happens I'll always be there for you. No matter the outcome." I promised him. He nodded and we stayed like this for a while before I finally leaned forwards and kissed him. It lasted longer than our normal kisses, but it was still slow, shy and cautious, like Hiccup was trying to restrain himself.

The kiss seemed to replicate our relationship from then on. We took things slowly, which was alright with the both of us because we were only in our fifth year of Hogwarts, we had time. Our actions were shy, which reflected the both of us, shy around others and slightly less so when it was just us. But everything Hiccup did was cautious, he restrained himself more than half of the time and sometimes I wanted to hit him for it. I understood why he did it, constantly battling Pitch for control over himself, he didn't want me to get hurt or anything. But there were times where I wish he wasn't so cautious around me, like the night of our first Quiddich victory, which was of course, our first match. Hiccup and I were celebrating with everyone in the common room and everyone was edging us on to kiss. We did, of course and it was our first french kiss to add to it, but after he had to separate himself from the party. Another petal fell from the rose that day.

Then the winter holiday rolled around and he stayed with me again. He told me that he was scared of returning on the winter holiday, especially after what had happened with Jack few years ago. He didn't want the constant reminder by staying home, mostly alone. We played a lot of games together this year, sat around cuddling by the fire, and of course visiting Toothless regularly.

"Do you think you could help Autumn?" Hiccup asked suddenly as we sat around Toothless's clearing while the dragon munched happily on his lunch. "Heal him, I mean. He's having a hard time keeping up with Pitch even with me lending him my strength."

"I could try." I responded and then once a week Hiccup would visit me while I worked and I helped strengthen Autumn, these sessions seemed to improve Hiccup's mood for several days after. He was more energetic, more like his old self and not as cautious when it came to things like kissing.

Hiccup wasn't the only one that came to me on a weekly basis, Flynn was also in the hospital quite often. Though I wasn't always sure if he was telling the truth whenever he got an injury. Some days it would be something stupid, like a joke treat that didn't have the cure, and some days he would be truly injured. Hiccup, who was clearly annoyed with him, didn't protest when he came on the day's of our sessions but I could tell that he was jealous.

"I know," he put his hands up. "There's nothing to be jealous about." We were walking out of divination, which neither of us enjoyed much. "His weekly checkups are annoying but I can't do anything about it. Let the moron hurt himself just to see you." I laughed a bit at his comment and he gave a sheepish smile. "I get you every day." His hand slipped around mine and tangled our fingers together. We walked towards potion's with the Slytherin's, which was an annoyingly long walk being that it is several floors below.

"You're taking it better than on the first day." I noted and he gave me a smirk.

"Well, I'm not intentionally hurting myself just to see you." He said. "When he starts to realize that you'd talk to him outside the hospital wing, I might be a bit more protective." He told me and I laughed at it, knowing that what he said would be true and entertaining to watch at least.

When Valentines day arrived he surprised me with a box of some of the sweetest chocolate's I've ever tasted and a giant teddy bear that currently rests next to my bed. Then February faded and turned into March and we had our first fight. It was over something stupid and Elsa sorted it out fairly quickly. I had noticed him and a girl in the library and without asking what he had been doing we were fighting. It turns out that he was helping her get a book off of a top shelf when his cousin tripped him and he fell on her, his prosthetic leg not able to properly support his weight with his surprise. After he couldn't blame me for being jealous because he was of Flynn but teased me about it. After all, she was a first year.

After that there was more tension in our relationship, more times than not I would find myself with Elsa and Jack talking out my worries to which Elsa would straighten up while Jack just gave me an annoyed look. "If you don't trust him then why don't you break up with him?" He would ask after the tenth time. "Relationship's are founded on trust you know." And Elsa proceeded to hit him hard with a book.

Hiccup also had felt the tension between us, given that when we weren't together he was often flying, either practicing for a Quiddich meet or out with Toothless. I had known for a while that he goes flying more than normal when he needs to think, being in the sky helps him straighten his thoughts. Then finally our OWL's rolled in making our relationship near impossible to maintain. We had both agreed that breaking up would be the best thing to do if we wanted to keep our friendship in tact. This seemed to repair the rift that started dividing us.

It was after testing was over that I noticed how small his flower had gotten, I had stopped wearing it and kept it in a vase next to my bed, one afternoon when I was dropping my bags off so Hiccup and I could go to the Quiddich pitch and play a game with the team and several other people that wanted to join in I looked at it and my heart sank. There were maybe five or six petals left, the rest had gone. "Hiccup," I pulled him to the side before we went into the pitch. I showed him the flower and he looked at it, his face unreadable and I wondered if he had known this for a while now.

"I'll show you in the Hospital wing, later." He said to me before leading me into the pitch for the game. Afterwords we sat in the private cot, with everything blocked off from the few other students here and he took off his shirt. The poison had been working overtime, it matched what it had been before I healed it last year and was even a bit further down his chest, and starting up his neck.

"Even with the sessions? How did it get so far?" I asked, tears swelling in my eyes. "You said that Autumn could hold out another two years."

"I'd be surprised if he manages to keep me through the summer." Hiccup said, sliding back into his shirt. He carefully put on his glove. "Remember what I asked you to do?" He wondered. "If... When Pitch gains control?"

"Look after Toothless." I nodded. He smiled a bit. "There has to be a way to stop this."

"There is," he agreed. "But you won't like it, it's the only way to ensure that he's completely removed from my body." There was a long pause. "You'll have to kill me." The silence that followed was thick. "Rapunzel, if anything happens, I don't want Pitch to use me for his plans. I ask that you kill me, before he get's too far."

"I can't," I looked at him, panic flooding my mind.

"There's a way for me to come back, Elsa can teach it to you. I saved Jack with it. But it's dangerous, it's a risk." He told me. "If you rebind Autumn to me, after I've died. The chance of me coming back is high."

"Hiccup you're asking me to kill you." I said, "how can I? I love you. It might not be the romantic love but I still do." He wiped away my tears.

"I know." He said. "I love you too." He told me. "You are my best friend, the best I could've asked for. Bit when it comes down to it, it's my final wish." He pulled me into a hug. "It'll be hard but I'm sure you'll have help."

"Am I interrupting something?" Flynn's voice pulled us apart. Hiccup had a slightly annoyed look on his face.

"Maybe, depends on what you need." He responded.

"Madam Pomfrey told me to get Blondie." He responded, pointing out of the blocked area. His intrusion ended our conversation and we didn't have time to bring it up again before the end of the year.

Summer was long, and boring for most of it, until once again Hiccup invited me to Berk and he kept me busy with everything. I spent more time with baby dragons as well as hanging out with Astrid, who surprised me by having Elsa over for unknown reasons. Neither of them would tell me and when I asked Hiccup, he shrugged it off saying something about being murdered if he said anything. Then we were back on the train to school, the four of us sitting in an compartment and talking about what we expect from the new year, finally being able to choose what classes we wanted to more than others and what we expected to happen with Quiddich. That conversation was mostly between Astrid and Hiccup though, neither Elsa and I were vary interested in the game.

It was about a week after classes started when the last petal fell. I was at a lesson with Madam Pomfrey who had accepted me as a normal student and was teaching me official medical and healing things, the flower resting in a vase that I had started carrying with me at all times. Hidden in my bag most of the time. He was brought into the room unconscious and by two people I didn't expect to work together. "What..." I moved to his side, ignoring the look that Flynn and Astrid gave me, I saw the gray that was usually hidden rising up his neck at an easy pace. Without a word I pulled out my wand and ran it down his shirt, splitting it open and trying hard to ignore the gasp from Astrid. The poison had reached his heart. "Find Merida," I turned to them.

"What? Rapunzel what is that?" Astrid asked me.

"There's no time, find Merida now!" I demanded of them both and they ran off. "Madam Pomfrey I'll be back," I told her and she nodded. I rushed down to the basement and grabbed the first Slytherin student I could find. "Listen to me," I demanded of them. "Get into your common room and bring out Elsa Arendelle and Jack Frost now. I swear if you don't I'll make sure you don't leave the hospital wing for the rest of the year." I shoved them forwards and watched him run off in the direction of the common room. I felt people staring at me as I waited impatiently for the two to show up. My arms crossed over my chest and glaring at anyone who tried to approach me. Until finally the two walked out, ever slowly damn them and came to a stop in front of me.

"Rapunzel? What's going on?" Elsa asked me.

"Hospital wing, now." I told her and she nodded slowly.

"Why?" Jack asked me, not going to move without a answer. We don't have time for this. I grabbed onto his ear and started dragging him off towards the hospital wing, Elsa running to keep up. "Ow, is this necessary?" He complained and I just ignored him.

"I don't think she'd be so violent if it wasn't." Elsa told him.

"Let go of my ear I'll follow you." Jack said and I did, he fell onto the ground with the sudden release and pushed himself back up. "If you just told us what was going on,"

"You'll figure it out when we get upstairs." I said, climbing and glancing back every now and then to make sure they were following. When we finally reached the hospital wing, Merida was already here standing next to the cot and turning when I stepped in.

"Rapunzel how did this happen?" She demanded of me.

"Well the poison's been in his system for years now. It's just finally spread to his heart." I said. "Started in his hand." Elsa rushed forwards, pushing past Jack to see Hiccup. She gasped.

"When... he said there was at least another year!" She said.

"Right now I'm pinning all of this mess on Jack." I said.

"What did I do?" Jack asked confused, moving towards us.

"Almost killed him." I replied. He saw Hiccup.

"Almost killed him? He tried to kill me!"

"He saved your life," Elsa and I said together. "Then Pitch took over his body," Elsa continued. "Honestly Jack why would Hiccup, who was your best friend, try to kill you? Didn't you ever think it was odd."

"If he would've talked to me about it-"

"Don't try to make us feel guilty for you about this." She scolded him. "You didn't have the guts to talk to him, he was waiting for you to approach him about it. Then when you finally went to do it you ran away because he got together with Rapunzel!"

"Can someone explain to me why Hiccup is turning gray?" Astrid stepped forwards, "you all seem to know. What's happening to him?" There was a long silence.

"I'll explain everything later," Elsa said to her. "It's extremely complicated and right now I need you and Flynn to leave." Astrid tried to protest.

"No she's right," Madam Pomfrey shooed them from the hall. "I suggest you work quickly Elsa or you'll risk all their lives." Elsa nodded.

"Everyone on a cot, I'm sending you into Hiccup's subconscious to try and save him." She pushed each of us down onto a cot, and spoke a few words in a forging language before my mind slipped into darkness.