~The Big Five at Hogwarts~

Chapter 19

Jack

We can't risk going to the courtyard where Merida had seen the wil' o' the wisp with all of Headmaster's guards surrounding the walls. Not to mention I'm not sure any of us can keep our eyes open a minute longer. Knowing this, we decide to meet there tomorrow night, under the cover of darkness once more to check it out. Until then, I trudge down to the Slytherin common room in the dungeons. When I run into a teacher, I just tell him that I had detention and he leaves me alone. Then it's off to my messy waiting bed. I collapse in it, without even changing my clothes or pulling back the wrinkled covers.

Before I know it, I'm raising my eyelids to the light of dawn; I've always been a light sleeper and an early riser. The whole day seems to pass by at the speed of a Blast Ended Skrewt in a blizzard. That is to say, very slow. I go through the motions, scribbling down notes and only half listening to professors. I'm just too busy lost in thought.   

Lunch finally arrives, and the Slytherin house--in Headmaster' s precious little lines--get there earlier than everyone else. Hiccup comes over to me from the head table, looking concerned.

"Have you seen Astrid around?" he asks. I shake my head no.

"That blond girl? No. Why?"

"Nothing. She just she'd meet up with me and I don't know where she is. She's probably still mad at me."

"You think so?" I raise an eyebrow. He shrugs his shoulders, but that's when the Ravenclaw students file in--much neater than the Slytherin, I might add. I see Elsa sitting alone, probably reading that ice spells book for the fifth time. I sit down at my own House table, but since the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables are next to one another, I can sit so that our backs are directly across from each other.

"Hey," I lean over and whisper. She's jumps a little in her seat, dropping the book.

"Don't do that, you startled me," she bends down to pick up the book. I laugh and pluck a roll off her plate. She looks annoyed, but then laughs. We start to talk about school, magic, home. Not that I have one, which I told her.

Things get especially awkward when I ask if she has any other friends outside of Hiccup, Rapunzel, Merida, and I.

    "Well, no not really," she says quietly, hugging her arms. I guess I've never realized how alone she is; kind of like me.  I suddenly have the urge to take her hand, kiss her cheek, so we can forget all our problems. But I don't. I sit there like an idiot. "I don't need any friends anyway," she says, snapping me out of my thoughts. She sounds like she's reassuring herself more than me.

"If you don't need us, then why did you keep helping us with finding Cribrune?" Elsa stutters, finally at a loss for words. "Everyone needs friends," I answer for her. I turn around to my food and we don't talk much after that.

***

I manage to slip the guard outside the dungeon room door a sleeping draft to give me a chance to sneak out. It's a poorly made one, of course, but it's enough for now. I run out to the courtyard, where the others are waiting.

"You guys listen to me. We cannot get any deeper into this. If we do--something tells me we'll regret it." Hiccup sounds surprisingly desperate, but I still think it's just his paranoia.

"Relax," I reassure. "Anyway, I thought our little group should have a name. Like The Big Five or something."

"Or not." Merida cuts off my smile-nodding with a scoff as if that's the stupidest idea ever. Elsa shrugs cheerfully, and Rapunzel just chuckles.

"So what are we looking for anyway?" Rapunzel asks. But before anyone can answer, something big lands directly in front of us, blotting out the stars.

"I'm sorry I have to do this to you guys." Hiccup' s pinched voice sounds from behind the dragon, "Toothless, go ahead." Suddenly, the girls and I are being backed up against a stone wall by a growling Toothless the dragon, right beneath a mounted torch. I am too stunned to speak, so Merida beats me to it.

"Hiccup, what do you think you're doing?!"

"Don't worry, he won't hurt you. But I can't let you guys continue." He answers. I really want to believe him, but the hot, fish-smelling breath on my face makes me doubt my friend.

"I'm afraid it is too late for all of you, Mr. Haddock. Which means I cannot allow you to continue." We hear an eerily calm voice from the shadows. Hiccup freezes right where he is, and so does Toothless. He keeps his cat--like eyes on us, and since it's dark, no one sees the huge net thrown over the dragon until he's already writhing in pain on the ground.

"TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup's cry sounds so scared it hurts to listen to. We all rush to surround the now motionless reptile. His breathing is shallow, and the parts of his body wrapped in the net are glowing gold.

"He will be fine, and so will the rest of you if you stay still and listen to me." We don't see the owner of the voice until a short, chubby, balding man steps out with two other bulky guys.

"And who are you?" Elsa demands, her voice seeming much braver than her expression.

"Haven't you figured it out yet? My name is Archibald Cribrune." Finally, two more men dragged a bloody and bruised Astrid into the circle of torch light.