ROTBTD: Hogwarts

Chapter Seventeen: Oh, Toothless

I still don't have any comments on chap sixteen... I hope that's a good thing...

Also, eight hundred reads! Thank you peeps so much!

Enjoy!

The wait for Merida, Harry, and Dumbledore was tense and silent. Hiccup sat on the floor, his cheek resting on his fist, while Sirius, the dog, paced the room in his human form. Sirius didn't even seem interested when Hiccup told him who he was. This left Hiccup tired and bored, and he simply sat and stared at the floor. Astrid would know by now, obviously. He wondered what she was doing, or if she would consider sending a letter to their friends back home. Hiccup's father would panic. Hiccup smiled at the thought of the chief of his village freaking out about his son. Gobber, a family friend, would of course try to help, but Hiccup was one of the only people who could actually talk to his father. With Hiccup so far away, how could anyone help his father?

These now-depressing thoughts (Hiccup wished slightly that he was back home, even if he had to endure Snotlout and the twins, who were annoying on a good day) ended when Merida, Harry, and Dumbledore walked in. To Hiccup's surprise, Astrid was with them. Sirius practically attacked Harry when they entered, and Hiccup rushed over to Merida. The meeting began with Dumbledore telling everyone what Barty Crouch, previously known as Mad-Eye Moody, had said. This came as a particularly strong blow to Astrid, whose fiery personality had certainly caught Moody's attention. Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, flew over to sit on Harry's knee close to the end. Dumbledore finally silenced and looked at Harry, who wouldn't return the gaze.

"I need to know what happened after you touched the Portkey in the maze," he said.

Sirius instantly began to protest, but Merida cut him off as she began the story. Hiccup sat in a numb silence while she told them of Wormtail, Cedric's death, and the spell. She was interrupted here by Sirius and Dumbledore. At their request, Harry stretched out his arm, and Astrid gasped when she saw the cut underneath Harry's robes. Harry explained that Voldemort wanted Lily Potter's protection inside himself, because then Voldemort would be able to touch him. Previously, whenever Voldemort so much as touched Harry, he was put into terrible pain.

"Very well," said Dumbledore. "Voldemort has overcome that particular barrier. Continue, please."

Merida and Harry helped each other with the story of Voldemort, the Death Eaters, and the wands connecting. When they began talking about the forms of the people Voldemort had killed emerging from his wand, Hiccup was instantly and unintentionally taken into the scene, but instead of the people that Merida and Harry described, it was Hiccup's own mother... Hiccup had been a baby when she was taken, but somehow he could remember it well... every day Hiccup had some reminder of his mother's absence, but this was the worst... even though he knew that it was dragons, not Voldemort, who had killed her, he couldn't help thinking that he may have seen her again...

Dumbledore's voice suddenly got Hiccup's attention as he heard his own name. "Hiccup, Astrid, stay here. Sirius and I will take Merida and Harry to the hospital wing."

Sirius transformed into a dog again and the two left. Hiccup collapsed into the chair Harry had just vacated, still thinking about his mother... he may remember the day she was taken, but he couldn't remember her... no face, no name... this made him feel terrible...

Astrid was talking, but Hiccup didn't know what she was saying. He said "Mm-hmm" a few times, but had no idea why. Astrid grinned and said, "Hiccup, do you know what you just agreed to?"

"What?" Hiccup started. "I --"

"Nevermind," she laughed, shaking her head. "You don't wanna know."

"Mm," said Hiccup, his thoughts leaving Hogwarts again.

Astrid seemed to know what he was thinking. She stood up from the floor and walked behind him. When she spoke, her voice was quiet. "Hiccup, she can't come back. I know it hurts, but..."

"It's okay, Astrid," Hiccup said quietly. "I just wish I could remember."

She walked around to sit next to him, and they sat like that until Dumbledore returned. When he did, neither moved. The headmaster got straight to the point.

"So, Hiccup," he said, smiling, "I believe you have some explaining to do."

Hiccup started. "A -- about what?"

Astrid, too, looked wary.

"I believe it has something to do with a dragon?" Dumbledore said, grinning. "He scared quite a few students."

Hiccup dropped his head into his hands and groaned. "Oh, gods. What happened?"

"He appeared to be very concerned about you, and Astrid here ran into the forest to hold him. She managed to, until the field was mostly clear. Here he abandoned all pretense and tried to run into the castle."

Astrid grimaced. "Sorry. I really did try."

Hiccup sighed. "Great. Just great. What's gonna happen to him?"

"Nothing for now, as this was caused by the stress of the moment. But if you are to bring him next year, arrangements will have to be made. What is his name?"

"Toothless."

"Interesting."

"Well, Night Furies have retractable teeth. When I first saw him, he didn't have them out, so I thought he was toothless."

Dumbledore continued to smile at him. Hiccup realized what this meant. "Oh. So you've heard."

"Indeed, I have. And I have also heard that you greatly dislike your nickname?"

"Very much so, yes."

Astrid laughed.

"I do need to bring him, because he is the closest friend I have -- besides you, Astrid, of course --" (she had just punched him) "-- so what should we do?"

"I believe he will be fine in the Forbidden Forest, although we need to find time for you to visit him during the day. I will look into it. If that is all, then you may return to your common rooms."

As they walked toward the Hufflepuff common room, Astrid turned to Hiccup. "Remember when you agreed to something and you didn't know what it was?"

"Yeah. But you said it was okay."

"Ha! I wouldn't let you off the hook that easy."

"So what'd I agree to?" said Hiccup slowly, now scared.

"To tell the whole school that Toothless is yours."

Well, Dumbledore knows about Toothless now. And apparently the whole school will too, lol.

I just finished watching Dawn of the Dragon Racers and IT IS AWESOME! If you haven't seen it yet, somebody on YouTube has it in twenty-six one-minute parts, it's tedious but worth it to cycle through them all. I love the way they showed Hiccup and the others at the beginning and end as they probably will be in Dragon Masters, I seriously CANNOT wait until spring!

Bye!