A Penchant for Mischief [Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons Hogwarts AU]

Rites of Passage

TW for unintended (non-fatal!) injury to an animal (it's mostly offscreen) in Hiccup's scenes.

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Six Years Later

She could think of at least a thousand places she'd rather have been than here.

Perhaps on the pitch, darting through the clouds to the thunderous applause of her classmates, her vibrant curls whipping in the wind as she dove for a quaffle, like a fireball on a broomstick. Or on horseback, galloping through her beloved glen with her recurve bow, despite what her mother had to say about ladies participating in such activities. Or in the cobbled courtyard of DunBroch Castle, swinging her sword in graceful, sweeping arcs as she charged her father during a practice duel. Or speeding through the woods on her broom, rehearsing aerial manoeuvres against the trees in place of rival players.

Instead, she was cornered and corseted in a suffocatingly stuffy ballroom.

House Dunbroch was in the Book of Gold, after all, one of three enormous books known as the Olympus Tomes, which served as a public archive of those magical families with the most highly esteemed pureblooded lineages. The pages of the Olympus Tomes were regarded as proof of pedigree, and for those families listed within their pages, maintaining the status of their blood purity was of utmost importance.

Merida, however, thought the whole matter was rubbish.

It's tradition, Elinor had told her sternly. Your brothers will have their turn when they're of age. End of discussion.

But that had not soothed Merida's aggravation in the slightest.

Ai Zheng, the professional matchmaker that her mother had employed to assist with arranging her betrothal, never smiled. Merida couldn't help but wonder why someone who seemed to hate people so much had chosen to work in a role that involved interacting with so many of them on a daily basis.

Stout in stature and crotchety in temperament, few things seemed to make Ai happy, and Merida couldn't help the suspicion that perhaps she enjoyed making people as miserable as she was. After all, according to their motto, her matchmaking agency focused on creating unions that brought honour to one's family. And Merida would have been willing to wager that happiness wasn't even part of that equation.

But, honourable or not, Merida had no interest in marrying or entertaining suitors of any sort.

It was only Elinor's iron grip around her daughter's arm that kept the redhead in check. And so, Merida had taken to protesting silently, by refusing to speak to or even acknowledge her suitors. She could see the tightness in her mother's jaw and knew there would be hell to pay later, but she didn't care. Fire and fury blazing was more Merida's style anyway.

The Matchmaker made her way over to join them as Elinor made conversation with a spoiled boy in Merida's year, a Gryffindor named Kuzco. He was scrawny, arrogant and completely self-absorbed, and Merida hated him just on principle.

"Hm." Ai cleared her throat, studying Merida thoughtfully. "Her wide hips will be good for bearing children."

Merida blinked, momentarily too stunned to speak.

"Don't be embarrassed, it's a good thing." The woman assured her, giving her an appraising nod.

And in an instant, the girl's anger had boiled over into white hot fury, like a cauldron left on the fire for far too long, her blue eyes narrowed dangerously as she yanked her arm free of her mother's grasp and whirled to face the matchmaker. "How dare you! I'm not a bloody broodmare, ye miserable old hag!"