☆
_________
RAPUNZEL
The next day was better for Rapunzel. At least today, Snape didn't comment on her hair. She plopped down on the seat next to Elsa and Kiara. She had learned so far that they were nice people, thankfully.
"Hi, Punz!" Kiara punched Rapunzel on the arm playfully. Unfortunately, Kiara was really strong and it seriously stung.
"Ow, Kiara! You're really, really strong." She rubbed her arm.
"Thanks." Kiara beamed.
"Alright, children!" The toady pink woman smiled gruesomely.
"Take out your textbooks, Defensive Magical Theory, and turn to page one! Read until class is over, then reread whatever you finished as homework!"
Rapunzel shyly raised her hand. Umbridge looked at her sharply.
"Yes, dear?" Her voice was sickly sweet, a cloying perfume to disguise a snakes venom.
"Um... Aren't we-we- going to, you know-"
"Do actual, real, defensive spells?" Kiara finished loudly. Umbridge laughed.
"Oh, no, I'm afraid that's much too dangerous, darling! Now, get to work, no more-"
"Then isn't this class useless?" Kiara glared at the poor excuse for a professor. The perfume in Umbridge's voice grew to a suffocating stench.
"No speaking unless you are called on, Miss Lione. 10 points from Ravenclaw." Umbridge pronounced it 'Lee-own', instead of 'Lie-on'.
"But-"
"10 more points."
Kiara fell silent, seething quietly.
_______
HICCUP
Hiccup walked out by the lake and stopped under a shady tree, taking out his homework.
"Oi, it's Hiccup!" Merida plopped down beside him.
"Hey, Merida." He raised a hand.
"Whatcha doing?"
"Homework."
"When it's such a nice day out?"
Rapunzel skipped over, interrupting Merida.
"Hello! Oh your doing homework? I was doing mine, too! Making we could work together and-"
"Relax, Punz." She laughed.
A snowball suddenly hit Hiccup. He arched his back and turn around, the cold seeping into his robes.
Jack was standing there, laughing without making a noise.
"How'd you do that?" Merida demanded.
"It was a spell. But it's the second day of school... Why would Jack know a snowball spell?" While Hiccup was puzzled, Merida seemed to understand it immediately, a grin stretching her face. Rapunzel got it a few seconds later and jumped up next to the red head.
"Jack's studied on his own! Jack likes-" Merida's mouth glued shut mid-shout.
"Shhhh, idiot." Jack hissed.
Merida glared at him, hands clenched.
Rapunzel giggled. Hiccup glanced at her for a moment, before the bell rang and the end of outside-free-time-or-whatever-it-was-called ended.
_____
JACK
The Slytherin dorms were cold. Very, very cold. The blankets, at least, were thick and comfy, though the beds were hard as if they had never been used.
Jack turned over, trying to fall asleep. Eventually, he did fall asleep, even if he didn't like what he dreamed about.
The lake was freezing cold, even chillier than the Slytherin dorms. A few bubbles floated from Jack's mouth and hit the ice above, popping silently.
The giant squid shifted slightly in his home, uncomfortable with the cold.
'We all are, squid, we all are.' Jack thought numbly. He didn't dare open his mouth.
The cold was making his brain sluggish- it seeped into his bones and dragged his ankles down, his heart, his mind, his soul, everything. A mermaid briefly zipped by him, like it were just an illusion. The mermaids hair was long and dark, her eyes glowing green, no whites, and slitted pupils, like a cat-or a snake.
Jack sank even deeper. Now the cold was dragging and pulling the life from him, making him more and more dead everything second.
He faintly heard yelling from the hole in the ice where Amycus Carrow had thrust him into the water. Jack still didn't regret his choice to stand up for that first year Gryffindor boy; Jamie, maybe?
A pale hand reached down from the surface and gripped his shoulder. The hand was still warm, and it hurt to feel the heat of blood pumping through veins. The hand started pulling, but lost its grip in the icy water and slipped, letting Jack sink deeper. A sudden wave of heat made jack realize- someone had followed him down here. Someone-
Jack woke up, drenched in cold water. There was too much to be sweat. It was as if Jack had actually been drowning in the lake.
He weakly looked at the wall where a silver mirror hung, looking in amazement as a lock of his thick hair faded from stark white back to chocolate brown.
No doubt Hogwarts had magic of its own, now. No doubt at all.
