Disclaimer & warning: see Prologue
Sakura Lisel: Point 1: They refer to him as a boy because they think he's fourteen, but that tall because James and Lily were tall people. He is also 21, since he was 20 when he found his mum and it has been a year since Stoik died. No, no one asked him his age. They're assuming. Point 2: I forgot about that law ^^' thanks for the reminder. But Toothless arrived with Hiccup, and as such, they can't really do shit... Hope that clears it up!
"Regular Speech"
'Thoughts'
Chapter 4
1994, Headmaster office, Durmstrang ship
Two redheads, a brunette, and a blonde were sitting in front of the desk. The Headmaster, Igor Karkaroff, had sat behing his desk, awaiting the Aurors. The two carrots had snuck up onto the ship, a Bulgarian territory, without persmission from anyone aboard, to kidnap a Guest on the Chief Warlock's orders, which was two crimes of an international scale. The Bulgarians were staring at the two Brits.
Then the floo went green, and Karkaroff let those who were asking entry come through.
Two Aurors from the International Confederation of Wizards stood in front of the mantel. One was tall, with black skin, black curly hair pinned in a deutch braid, and surprisingly, bright purple eyes. The other was rather small, one might assume part Goblin, or part Dwarf. He had pale skin, black straight hair neatly combed, and beautiful brown monolid almond-shaped eyes. Both wore the neutral gray battle robes with the ICW emblem proudly displayed on their right breasts, showing they were not tied to one country, but the whole of winzarding kind.
''Aurors Arabella Bakker and Zhào Akeno, Headmaster Karkaroff. You have illegal border crossers?'' said the taller one.
Karkaroff nodded. ''Indeed. My students also have heard they were trying to abduct our guest under the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Supreme Mugwup of the International Confederation of Wizards, and Chief Warlock of Britain's Wizenmagot's orders. Our guest is named by birth Harry James Potter, though he had reappeared here in Hogwarts with the name magic accepted, Hiksti Hræðileg Haddock III, and is an adult aged of twenty-one years, as such he has the right to choose the emplacement of his stay.''
''Indeed'' sneered Auror Zhào. ''We shall take them from you. We will get to the bottom of this.'' he told Karkaroff, without taking his eyes off of the two readheads.
''May we meet this guest, to verify his identity?'' asked Auror Bakker.
Karkaroff agreed, and so Jonas went to fetch Hiksti.
Hiccup was lounging in the room Headmaster Karkaroff had offrered him, trying to find sleep. He kept thinking of what the other students had told him, both about the White Man, and stuff that could help his village. They taught him, through diagrams and examples, how to build stone and mud houses, given him ideas to better integrate dragons into the village without overrunning it like had happened back on Berk, taught him a few spells to help crops, the forge, food, dragons, clothing, had taught him a few rituals of protection, and how to make ward stones.
Toothless was sleeping on the rock the Headmaster had Conjured for him, and had been for the last few minutes.
As Hiccup was just about to get up and go to the desk to write and draw down his ideas, a knock came at the door, causing Toothless to wake and both of them looked at the door, ready for anything, like any proper Vicking.
As he openned the door, Hiccup saw Jonas standing there.
''Yes?'' simply asked Hiccup.
''Headmaster Karkaroff would like to see you in his office. Now.'' answered the Bulgarian.
Hiccup raised an eyebrow. ''Lead the way, then.''
As Toothless and Hiccup followed him, Jonas explained the situation.
''So he already has started making his move. I will need a Maces and Talon board to better plan his moves.''
''A what?'' asked Jonas.
''Maces and Talons is a game using strategy and wit to conquer your opponent. It is mostly used for futures chiefs to learn how to make better decisions and what to do in case of a war. There is the Vicking Chief, the Marauders Chief, the Impostor or Traitor, eight Hunters per side, two Accomplices, two Dragons, two Kingships, and two Longships. The Traitor always die at the end. It is mostly a war game, but it is mighty helpful when planning against opponents. If you know the game like the back of your hand, you can plan your opponent's moves. If you can plan your opponent's moves in the game, why not apply real life to the game pieces, so that way you can better plan and fight in real life too.'' explainned Hiccup.
Jonas looked pensieve. ''That sounds rather close to Chess. The White Man is known for playing life like Chess, so you'd simply be applying the same concepts, just with a different game. I just hope no one actually dies, though.''
''So do I. I don't want to kill, but I am not afraid to do so. Especially not to protect those I love.'' grimly replied Hiccup.
Before the conversation could turn awkward, they arrived at Karkaroff's office, and Jonas knocked. At the Headmaster's command, the Bulgarian, Vicking, and Night Fury entered the office.
Hiccup and Toothless made a quick sweep of their surroundings and the people present. There were two people he had never seen standing behind the chairs facing the desk, and two redheads, clearly siblings, cowering in the chairs. Karkaroff was sitting at his desk, a carefully blank mask on his face. However, Hiccup had been trained from a young age to read people, especially their emotions, and could see in the man's eyes that he was furious.
''Hello, Chief Haddock,'' said the woman spoke. ''We would like to confirm your identity. Would you agree to a Ritual of Confirmation?''
Hiccup merely looked at her. She had spoken in English, so he hadn't understood a single word. Karkaroff, however, had expected this, and immediately translated.
''Ja.'' Hiccup said.
That was all they needed in order to start the Ritual.
Auror Zhào pulled a parchment out of the pouch that sat at his hip, along with a white potion, and a Gronk Steel Dagger. Auror Bakker took over from there, as it was obvious her collegue did not trust these children as far as he could throw a mountain.
Auror Bakker put the parchment on the desk, and, with Karkaroff translating again, asked Hiccuo to put twenty-one drops of blood in the vial, after making a shallow cut on the inside of his thumb with the Dagger. Hiccup complied, and the cut healed completely as soon as the twenty-first drop left his body. The Auror swirled the potion clockwise five times, during which the potion turned bright red, then pourred it onto the parchment, which absorbed it immediately. Words started to appear onto it in All Speak, in a rather pleasing royal blue. The Auror read it, confirmed the identity, then passed the parchment onto Hiccup. It read:
Name accepted by Magic:
Hiccup Horrendeous Haddock III
Name at birth:
Hadrian James Sirius Potter Black
Birth mother:
Lilian Jenifer Potter, née Evans
Adoptive mother declared by Magic:
Valka Ingrid Haddock, née Jorgenson
Birth father:
James Charlus Potter
Blood-adopted father:
Sirius Orion Black
Adopted father declared by Magic:
Stoick Haddock The Vast
Title(s):
Chief of Berk (Magic adoption right)
Lord Potter (birth right)
Lord Peverell (birth right)
Heir Black (blood-adoption right)
Lord Slytherin (right of conquest)
Lord Hufflepuff (right of conquest)
Lord Ravenclaw (last of descent)
Lord Griffyndor (last of descent)
Dragon Master (respect and Magic given)
Dragon Alpha (respect and Magic given)
''Sir, what does that mean?'' asked Hiccup to Karkaroff.
The Headmaster's eyebrows disapeared in his hairline at the list. ''That means we need to plan you a trip to Gringott's Goblin Bank as soon as possible.''
1994, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Durmstrang ship
''Why must we attend this, again?'' whined Ingrid. ''I mean, I know why, because we are Durmstrang delegates and representatives, but still... Why?''
Most of the Durmstrang students seemed in agreement.
''I think it is a very good opportunity to both have fun, and keep an eye out on your enemies. For you can tell a lot about someone's personality in the way they dress. Do they want to turn heads? Do they not put any effort into their clothing? I might be a Viking, but even we have dressing standards when we have official events.'' said Hiccup. ''Beside, I think you would look pretty in formal clothing.''
They all looked interested at that. ''What kind of formal dressing do you have in your area? I mean, in this time, formal clothing is far from practical, it's all about being the best looking person, and being the most impressive.'' asked Jonas.
And so, Hiccup started to educate them on the proper wearing of clothes, which of course, included having your weapons on you, or at least nearby. Ingrid was delighted to be reminded of Shield Maidens.
Yule Ball 1994, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Hiccup managed to get himself a date for the ball. Charlie (shocking, I know) accepted to go on Hiccup's arm, and had even been learning Old Norse in order to better communicate with the Chief of Berk.
Viktor and Hiccup had gotten there before the others, simply because they were Champions. Viktor was wearing a nice red velvet jacket, with a brown fur coat descending to his mid-back, dark brown pants, and black leather boots, and had a sword, in its' scabbard, strapped to his hip, within easy reach.
Hiccup had chosen a forest green cotton tunic, under a sleeveless vest. He had his axe on his back, his sword on his leg, and a dagger in his new boot.A dagger was hidden in a holster in his left sleeve, and both arms had armguards. The Hogwarts' Four ring sat on his left middle finger, the Potter and Black Lordship rings on his right index and middle finger, and the Peverell Lordship ring sat on his left index. His peg leg had received the greatest cleaning and shining he could provide, and as such, it looked new (if you ignore the little chips that some encounters had made over the years...). The boot, vest, and armguards were all made from Toothless' shed scales. On his properly combed hair sat a golden circlet, transfigured for him by an Elf. He looked every bit the Viking Warrior and Chief he was.
Jonas walked in, wearing a nice midnight blue silk tunic, embroided with gold thread on the hems in swirl patterns. His boots were a nice brown leather, and his pants about three shades lighter. A dagger was hidden at the small of his back, and an obvious hammer was strapped to his hip.
On his arm was Ingrid. She had braided her hair back the same way he had described Astrid's hair to be, and had a glintering silver circlet on her brow. A few pearls decorated her braid, which laid over her left shoulder. She wore a light gray long-sleeved shirt under a nice vibran ocean blue, almost teal, corset, which was embroided with gold thread in swirl patterns all down the bodice. She had a leather skirt falling slightly above her knees, with a embroided gold crossed battle axes at the bottom of each stripe. Her legs were covered with a gray legging, and she wore ankle boots the same shade as her skirt, embroided with swirly patterns along the edge of the sole, and the top of the boot, in the same color as her corset. A mace was strapped to her back.
Magnus walked in behind them, and he wore the same thing as Viktor, but in emerald green, with an axe on his hip.
Followed Isaac, who chose to wear something very similar to Hiccup, the only differences, were that he had two boots made of black leather, and had no vest. Instead, he had strips of black leather tied around his mid-section, almost like belts. His tunic was green also, though almost black. He had a throwing ax on each side of his hips.
Charlie was the last of their little group to walk in. He wore a forest green tunic, embroided with bronze tread in the shape of little flames all along the edges, with now clean Dragon hide boots (No dragon was harmed; they had died and in respect of the animal, its' death was going to be useful to others' lives.) and he had braided his hair in a style that was elaborate, yet practical as it kept the hair out of his face.
Hiccup forgot how to breathe for a moment. Charlie was walking towards him, the tinniest sway in his hips, a soft smile on his face.
If that wasn't the best sight since Berk being filled with dragons, Hiccup didn't know what it was.
A young girl, dressed in a beautiful (if impractical) blue gown, was descending the stairs, towards Vikor, who walked over to greet her. She was Viktor's date, a Herminnie Grandger. She, like Charlie, decided to learn Old Norse to talk with him. Viktor had explained to him that she was a scholar, and loved to learn, especially rare (or simply uncommon) knowledge.
''þú sjáðu dásamlegt í kvöld.'' complimented Herminnie to the group in her broken Old Norse. It was technically correct, exept none of the words were accorded to one another.
''It's 'þú lítur dásamlega út í kvöld.' But thank you. You look wonderful too.'' corrected Ingrid.
Herminnie managed an embarrassed 'Takk' before the doors opened for the ball to start.
'' Now, the Champi- Igor! Why are your students armed?'' started politely, then exclaimed, Minnie.
Direktor Karkaroff looked at his students up and down, and answered: ''They barely are. These weapons are decorative. Well, make no mistake, they can indeed fight with those, but it'd be a shame to dirty them.''
''They're still weapons! This is a ball, not-''
''Deputy Headmistress McGonagall. Everyone here is armed, for a wand is not only a tool, but a weapon also. I am certain everyone here has their wand on their person at the moment. The fact that these are muggle weapons changes nothing. They have them, it doesn't mean they will use them.'' condescendly cut in Karkaroff. ''Now, we have a Ball to start, so get on with it.''
Properly rebutted, the Deputy Headmistress adressed the students once more, though this time, looking at the Durmstrang students (and one Harry Potter) with disdain and disapointment.
''As I was saying, the Champions will open the Ball with a waltz. Chief Hiksti, you are exempt from the dance due to your leg. Now follow along.''
No one bothered to translate to Hiksti beside that they had to dance the dance the Durmstrang students trained Hiksti in since the Ball was announced.
Viktor had Herminnie, Hiccup had Charlie, Cedric had a girl with peculiarly stretched eyes (he wondered if her eye-shape affected her eyesight) with black hair, who wore a deep blue (again, impractical) gown, and Fleur had a drooling boy on her arm, who reminded Hiccup of Tuffnut when he got struck by lightning and was a drooly mess for two days. Ruffnut had cared for her brother but at the end of the second day she had broken down and told the others she couldn't live like this, since it was like she had lost her brother and she'd do her best to join him in this half-life state. Luckily, Tuffnut had come back to himself with Gothi's help before she could execute her plan.
Hiccup danced like all the other Champions (and dates), and then they had sat down for the meal. Everyone seemed surprised he could dance, and Charlie (under a translation charm for the night) had explained that they thought he wouldn't be that coordinated because of his leg. Which is stupid, it had been cut off now six and a half years ago. Loki help them, they were so... Urgh.
The White Man showed them how to order their meal, and Hiccup ordered in Old Norse, because why not? And apparently the House-Elves who worked in the kitchen understood because he received exactly as he had ordered. A buttered mutton leg with a horn of ale, with carrots and potatoes.
Not as fancy as everyone else's meals, but this was good for a Viking Feast. He noticed the Durmstrang students, Charlie, and redhead twins (Charlie's little brothers) who reminded Hiccup of Ruffnut and Tuffnut, ordered something similar to him: a plate of meat with some side veggies and ale.
Although, when Hiccup tried the ale, he was pleasantly surprised to notice this wasn't butter ale like they had previously served him: it was real Viking ale.
The rest of the night went wonderfully, Charlie and Hiccup danced to their heart's content, and went out on a walk when it started to feel stuffy in the Great Hall.
Author Note: Well, this is all, my friends. Next up: The second task! If you want me to write about something in particular between the tasks, feel free to give me ideas! I have ideas for the tasks, but in between, I'm kinda... White paging it.
Also, I'm very busy with school and real life, and I have less and less inspiration to write this fic, since I kinda forgot where I was going with this. Anyways, I hope you liked it!
Have a nice day, and see you next time!