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

Lost Causes

Content warning for manipulation, gaslighting and emotional abuse as well as descriptions of drowning, anxiety and minor injuries.

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"I'm sorry, did he say death?" Rapunzel asked, green eyes wide with alarm as she cast an apprehensive glance towards their white-robed Headmaster, who was settling back into his seat at the extravagantly decorated teacher's table on the dais.

Around them, the hall erupted into a flurry of whispers and motion. Plates of food began to appear on the tables, offering a splendiferous assortment of foods, the likes of most Rapunzel had never even heard of before. Normally, she'd have been eager to sample a little of everything, but at present, she wasn't sure she could have even managed a single mouthful.

She was far too nauseous.

This had to be some kind of joke, right?

How could the school administration revive such a brutal tradition? The headmaster had even recognized the immense danger it posed, as well as the potential loss of student life. And they were moving ahead with it anyway?

Mother would be positively distraught when she got the news. She'd had done everything in her power to keep Rapunzel safe, made countless sacrifices to keep her out of harm's way. And then Rapunzel had gone and thrown it all away like the ungrateful, spoiled girl she was.

She should have just left well enough alone, and then perhaps she wouldn't be forced to compete in a deadly tournament with or possibly against her peers. She should never have written to accept her invitation to Hogwarts all on her own – she should have waited for Mother to get home. She should have asked Mother what she thought about it before writing them back. And she most certainly should never have gotten on that train.

Even though Mother always knew what was best for her, Rapunzel had pushed her into allowing her to attend Hogwarts. Mother had told her that she wasn't ready, that it was too dangerous. But she'd insisted anyway, and now here she was.

If only she had listened to Mother.

Pushing herself to her feet, she somehow managed to extract herself from the crowded bench and made her way towards the large doors at the back of the hall. If she could get back to the train, maybe it would take her back to London. Back to her home. Back to Mother.

Forcing open the large wooden doors at the end of the hall, she slipped out into the castle's main foyer. As the massive door thudded closed behind her, Rapunzel found herself in a room she didn't recognize. A grand room with a ginormous staircase and a ginormous set of doors.

This wasn't the way they'd come in.

Turning back to the door that she had just come through, she pulled it open and was met with a sudden swell of sound from within. Stepping back into the Great Hall, she found herself staring out across a sea of black cloaks and it occurred to her that she wasn't sure which door they'd entered the hall from.

Her chest aching, she hurried out past the massive wooden door once more and made her way back into the foyer. Clawing at her chest, she grabbed a handful of her robes, pulling at them as she desperately tried to loosen the fabric around her throat so that she might be able to breathe again.

Why it was so unbearably warm in the castle, she couldn't fathom. And how the aforementioned heat didn't seem to be bothering anyone else was beyond her.

She had to get out of there.

Hurrying to the far side of the entrance foyer, she wrapped her trembling hands around the handle of a familiar trunk – the trunk she'd spent so many hours painting and packing over the summer – and pulled with all her might.