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Everyone knew that the animosity between houses normally rested between Gryffindors and Slytherins. Sure there were some rebels, but after traditions of clashing ideas and butting heads, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs did not try to interfere and withheld their judgment. However, after six years at Hogwarts, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, a Ravenclaw with a keen eye and a constellation of freckles dotting his round face, had made some observations about each house and came to a conclusion that would have had a line of Slytherins high-fiving him in a line:
There is nothing worse than a boisterous Gryffindor.
And the thing was it wasn’t even all boisterous Gryffindors that seemed to irritate him to the ends of the Earth—he was friends with a few boisterous Gryffindors and didn’t mind it when it was just them. It was just the one Gryffindor that Hiccup just so happened to be absolutely irritated with. Granted, it wasn’t entirely his fault and most of the annoyance was just on Hiccup’s side, but there was just something absolutely frustrating about the energetic Gryffindor sixth year that really pushed Hiccup’s buttons.
Maybe it was his snowy white hair that just screamed for attention or maybe it was those beautiful blue eyes that could change from a calm, kind look to an icy glare within a moment’s notice. Maybe it was his overly-friendly disposition and endless amounts of charisma that seemed to simply ooze out of him. Maybe it was the fact that he winked at Hiccup or the fact that he was touchy-feely or the fact that he seemed to hover over Hiccup in the library and bother him constantly. Maybe it was the fact that he did that to everyone else as well.
Maybe it was the fact that Hiccup found himself so undeniably and irrevocably attracted to this stupid Gryffindor.
Also, his name was Jack Frost—how pretentious-sounding is that?
Today was no exception to his discontent, Hiccup noted, as he sat at his desk in his extra advanced Defense against the Dark Arts class, working on his homework before it began. Jack had plopped himself in front of the lanky Ravenclaw, resting his head on his hands as he looked up at Hiccup with wide blue eyes.
“Well, good morning, Haddock,” he said with a cheeky grin. “Studying during breaks as usual?”
“No, I just have a quill in my hand and my Magical Creatures essay in front of me,” Hiccup countered. “I probably could be working if you would get your arm off of my parchment, though,” he said, nudging Jack’s elbow with his quill.
Jack hopped back up to his feet and sat on the other side of the desk. “You know,” the Gryffindor began, “I’ve been having trouble with that essay for a while now—maybe you could tutor me someday? Say, next weekend at Hogsmeade over dinner?”
Hiccup’s poor heart skipped a beat at Jack’s proposal. He’d be lying if he said he had never fantasized about going on a date with Jack and even then he was under exaggerating. The first thought in his lovesick mind was to scream yes, but he pushed that aside. Jack was like this with everyone and for Hiccup to take him seriously was just silly.
Hiccup opened his mouth for retort when he was interrupted by Astrid, another Gryffindor and Hiccup’s best friend.
“You can flirt with Hiccup after class, Frost,” she said, pulling her chair out, “but for now, I need you to get your butt off of my side of the table.”
Jack seemed to open his mouth to argue, but at the sight of Astrid’s rather terrifying warning glare, he raised his hands in surrender and slid off the desk.
“Take your seat, Mr. Frost, before I get you a seat in detention,” their professor said as he walked into the classroom, dropping his books on his desk. Their professor, a strict Australian man with tattoos covering his body, seemed to have a sort of unspoken irritation with Jack, one that Hiccup could sort of sympathize with (but probably for different reasons). However, everyone in the class knew that, this particular class was just an extra class Professor Aster taught for students he had handpicked himself. He saw potential in them and, for those who were willing to take extra classes, he taught them advanced spells during the later hours of the days. So everyone knew that, despite his berating and exasperation, Aster had a soft spot for Jack Frost.
“So, I know you all are just ready to hop into this, and we will, but I have to remind you of safety regulations anyway,” Professor Aster said. “No attacking each other, no aiming spells at each other—if I see anyone goofing around I’ll send you straight to detention, got it?”
Everyone nodded in unison, their wands clenched in their fists, the students at the edge of their seats.
“Alright, and on another note, you guys all should know that this is a very advanced spell,” Aster continued. “Some of you won’t be able to cast one at all and that is perfectly normal. You’re barely O.W.L. level, so I don’t want to hear about anyone making fun of each other. This is just an extra lesson.”
Their professor looked around the room sternly, looking for anyone who dared to disobey him. “Alright,” he finally said after a lengthy silence. “I’ll be walking around the room—be mindful of your surroundings.”
Everyone had nearly leaped out of their seats with excitement and no sooner had the professor let them run wild was the room filled with bright flashes of lights and booming shouts of “expecto patronum!”
“Expecto patronum!” he heard Astrid shout. A thin white shield erupted from the end or her wand and she held her head high, a wide grin on her face. “Can you imagine what our patronuses will look like when we learn how to make corporeal patronuses?” she asked him eagerly.
“Hopefully not stupid,” Hiccup replied, shuddering at the thought of having something silly like a sloth as a patronus. “Frost’s might be though,” he added distractedly, watching the white-haired sixth year balance his wand between his upper lip and nose as sparks erupted from the wands around him.
“Oh please,” Astrid said, rolling her eyes, “everyone already knows that—“
“Hey, hey, quiet down,” Hiccup said frantically, putting a finger to his lip. Despite the hustle and bustle of the classroom, the fact still remained that there were only about fifteen people in the room—all of whom could hear them loud and clear.
Astrid scoffed, but lowered her voice nonetheless. “You do realize that everyone is well aware how much you like Jack, right?”
Hiccup frowned. “That is a humongous exaggeration,” he retorted.
“Honestly, it really isn’t,” Astrid shrugged as Hiccup let out an exasperated sigh. “Oh, don’t be such a baby—it’s not like you’re doing anything about it anyway. Why don’t you just ask him out?”
“Easier said than done,” Hiccup stated simply as he watched a wisp of white-blue float past them idly.
“It really isn’t, I mean, doesn’t he already ask you out like every day?”
Hiccup opened his mouth, trying to think of a clever counterargument, but finding none that wouldn’t make him look like an idiot. “C-can’t you let me practice my magic in peace?” he protested.
Astrid snorted, a victorious smirk on her face. “Oh no of course, go right ahead,” she said amusedly.
Hiccup took a deep breath, closing his eyes and searching the archives of his mind for a happy thought. So he thought about his mother and his father. He thought about his cat, Toothless. He thought about the first time he flew on his broom and when he heard that he had made seeker on the quidditch team.
He thought about the first time his name slipped from Jack’s lips.
“Expecto Patronum.”
He heard Astrid gasp and the noise around him settle down. Hiccup opened his eyes and his jaw dropped at the sight of a magnificent dragon made of an ethereal light flying about the room, its jaws open in a silent roar.
The classroom stood in awed silence as they watched Hiccup’s patronus soar.
“That’s amazing, Hiccup!”
Hiccup’s focus faltered and his dragon dissolved as his green eyes found Jack’s blue ones. Jack’s face had a look of childish amazement etched upon it and a smile that could easily be mistaken for pride. For a split second, Hiccup had realized that, when the whole class was staring at the dragon, Jack had been looking at him.
“I mean, er—Haddock,” Jack corrected himself, frowning as he sat back down in his seat. “Nice one.”
“Nice work, Mr. Haddock,” Professor Aster said, giving Hiccup a hard pat on the back that almost sent the lanky boy flying. “The rest of you—keep at it.” Everyone turned away with a few people giving Hiccup congratulatory pats on the back like he had just won the Quidditch House Cup. Astrid began to furiously chant the charm over and over until the only thing that came from the end of her wand was sparks of white light.
“What about you, Mr. Frost?” Aster said, walking over to the white-haired Gryffindor who had been sitting slumped in his seat. “Why don’t you give it a shot?”
“Uh, yeah,” Jack stood up, looking at his feet—an action that baffled Hiccup, who was so used to seeing him very happy and upbeat. Even as Jack looked back up, his wand hand firm and his eyes set, Hiccup could still feel that something was off.
“Expecto Patronum.”
Hiccup braced himself for something amazing—an explosion, a halo of angelic light, anything. Everyone knew that Jack was, not only a popular and charismatic student, but also a magical prodigy. Everything he did was with a bang and everyone around him admired him at least a bit.
But there was nothing—no ethereal creature, no shield, no wisps of white light, no sparks. Jack grimaced, looking disappointed, but unsurprised.
“Better luck next time,” Aster said before going to check on the next student.
“At least I’m on equal par with Frost,” Astrid said bitterly as her wand choked out a few more feeble sparks.
--
When class had ended, Hiccup had stayed back for a while just out of tradition. After all, every time they finished a class, Jack liked to hang back and pester Hiccup for a date until they parted ways, and Hiccup would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the attention. However, this time, even as Hiccup slung his book bag over his shoulder and called out a farewell to Professor Aster, Jack had lingered at his desk, looking dejected.
The young Ravenclaw felt his heart sink and a knot form in his stomach to see the normally energetic Gryffindor looking so forlorn. So, against his better judgment and nature, Hiccup turned at the door, and stepped towards Jack.
“Er, Frost? Are you alright?”
Jack jolted up out of his seat at Hiccup’s voice, a smile plastered on his face like it was a routine for him to put on the fakest smile he could manage. “Yeah, hey, Haddock,” Jack said quickly, pulling his bag strap over his head. “Sorry, I was just thinking and stuff.”
“That sounds dangerous.” The words had spilled out of Hiccup’s mouth before he could stop them and his face went red. “Er—uh, I didn’t mean—“
Jack only laughed, a genuine smile crawling onto his lips and his eyes shining. He placed a hand over his heart. “Oh, Haddock, you really know how to break a man’s heart.”
Hiccup searched for words—some witty reply or sarcastic comment, but found none. He was just absolutely stunned at the sudden change in Jack’s expression.
“So what did you need?” Jack asked, pulling Hiccup out of his stupor and into a harsh world called reality.
“Oh, right,” Hiccup said aimlessly. “Actually, I, er—“ he gulped and his heart beat so quickly it almost stopped. “I was wondering… if you’d like me to… help you with your patronus.”
It was a regular question, it really was, but to Hiccup it sounded so blunt. He was so sure of himself that he was asking a powerful magical prodigy like Jack if he wanted help casting spells. It was a premise so ridiculous—so absurd—that Hiccup almost died of embarrassment. His face turned red and he was fully prepared to sprint out of the room as fast as his bony legs could take him.
That is, until Jack’s face seemed to light up.
In fact, Jack looked absolutely ecstatic. His eyes seemed to light up and his smile was wide. He bounced up and down on his feet like a child and nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, sure! I, uh,” Jack ran his hands through his white hair, his stupid smile still plastered on his face. He looked so incredibly silly that Hiccup couldn’t help but find him adorable. “That sounds great,” Jack said, regaining his composure. “When are you free?”
“How’s tomorrow night? I’ll meet you in the Great Hall after dinner,” Hiccup said as calmly as he could manage, his heart feeling like it would burst out of his chest.
“Sounds good to me,” Jack replied. “So, I guess I’ll see you around then?”
Hiccup opened his mouth to speak but as no sound came out (other than the most pathetic wheeze), the Ravenclaw just nodded and waved in parting as the white-haired Gryffindor walked out the door. He stared at nothing for a while, running through the last five minutes in his head over and over, unable to grasp the reality of the situation.
“Oh my gods,” he finally whispered.
“Mr. Haddock, if you’re going to swoon, I’d appreciate it if you could do it outside,” Aster called from his desk nonchalantly as Hiccup snapped back to reality. “I haven’t had to take a student to the hospital wing for almost a week and I don’t want you to ruin my record.”
--
Hiccup had not expected his, uh, rendezvous with Jack to go very well. Sure, he had fantasized about the perfect date with the fun-loving Gryffindor over and over again, only to be reminded of the horrible reality that he was just another faceless person in Jack’s crowd, but he knew the dangers in having unreachable expectations. In fact, he had expected to be utterly repulsed by Jack by the end of it.
Yet, when they sat out near the quidditch pitch, he had managed to make Hiccup laugh so many times he couldn’t even count. They talked for hours and, before they knew it, the sun had set and the stars started to twinkle above them. The two had even been productive—Hiccup helped Jack with his homework and Jack gave Hiccup some pointers on spell casting, and the Ravenclaw found himself sitting closer to Jack, their fingers inches apart.
Hiccup, in spite of himself, realized that Jack was just as charming and friendly in private as he was in a group of his admirers. And, at this point, as Hiccup began to wallow in an even deeper emotional ditch that he had been in before he could only think of one thing:
He had fallen in love with Jack Frost.
However, all dates come to an end, and, much to his disappointment, Hiccup knew his would be ending soon as well.
“You know,” Hiccup began, “we were supposed to work on your patronus, but we haven’t even talked about it.”
In the dark, it was a bit difficult for Hiccup to register the expression on Jack’s face, but he thought he had seen him flinch.
“It doesn’t really matter,” Jack shrugged. “I mean, it’s not like I have to learn it anyway—I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it on my own.”
Hiccup frowned. “Jack, are you alright?”
There was a moment of silence and he watched Jack’s silhouette slump its shoulders. “No,” he said, his voice cracked with emotion. “Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to cast a patronus—happy isn’t my thing.”
Hiccup blinked in confusion. “’Happy isn’t your thing?’” he repeated. “Jack, you’re basically the happiest guy in Hogwarts.”
“Then why can’t a produce a stupid patronus?” Jack scoffed, bringing his knees up to his chest. “I haven’t been able to think of a single happy memory since we started learning about patronuses in class—it’s ridiculous.”
A silence enveloped the two of them before Jack sighed, burying his head in his arms. “Sorry,” he said, his voice muffled. “I didn’t mean to drop that on you.”
“N-no, it’s alright,” Hiccup said quickly. “I just… never expected the most popular guy in Hogwarts to be… unhappy.”
“Who, me?” Jack said, a look of genuine incredulousness on his face that perplexed Hiccup.
“Well, yeah, who else would I be talking about?” Hiccup said, feeling slightly annoyed at Jack’s ignorance of his own status.
“That’s stupid,” Jack retorted childishly.
“Oh, yeah? Then, what do you call the hoards of people that follow you everywhere you go—or the fact that I literally cannot walk through a hallway without hearing your name in at least one conversation?” Hiccup pointed out. “You’ve got people throwing themselves at your feet and you’re telling me you haven’t noticed?” Hiccup’s irritation bubbled inside of him like boiling water and he was suddenly aware that it was showing in his voice.
Jack seemed to sense it too as his voice was raised slightly. “And not one of them actually asks me to hang out with them, do they? None of them consider me their best friend or even think about me as a person. They just want to hang out with a “magical prodigy”—I don’t even know what the hell that means.” Jack said, looking ahead of him at some invisible figure that he blamed for his woes. “I couldn’t even get you to talk to me for the first two years.”
Silence found them again and Hiccup found his brain muddled with questions. His emotions were mixed like a potion gone wrong that he could not fix. He drew his knees up to his chest as well/ “Why would you need to talk to me,” Hiccup scoffed. “You’ve got loads of other people you could talk to.”
“You’re the only one who matters.”
Hiccup’s heart seemed to stop for a minute and the ground below him as well as all of his surroundings suddenly disappeared. It felt like it was just the two of them as Hiccup’s heart stopped. “W-what?” he stammered feebly.
“I mean, you’re the only one who treated me like my own person instead of some sort of weird creature for display,” Jack said. “I mean, sure you called me an asshole a few times, but you always smiled when you said it like you were joking.
And has anyone ever told you that you’ve got this amazing smile sometimes? It’s crooked and adorable and your eyes just sort of light up like it’s Christmas. And you work so hard, like you’re trying to prove yourself to someone, but I don’t think you need to—I mean you’re pretty amazing as it is.”
Hiccup stared at Jack, his mouth gaping open as he searched for something to say. He wanted to thank him, to deny his claims, to say “look who’s talking,” but it was so much for him to take in. Heat rose to his face and he curled the fingers of the hand sitting right next to Jack’s.
“I-I mean,” Jack stammered. “I guess what I’m trying to say is… I really like you, Hiccup.” Their eyes found each other and Jack leaned forward. Their breaths mingled in the cold night air and Hiccup’s heart beat like a drum.
Now, despite being a Ravenclaw, Hiccup was not a stranger to doing potentially stupid things. In fact, he had made a habit of it and has to tell himself repeatedly that he probably shouldn’t do impulsive things in fear of embarrassment or mistakes.
However, as Hiccup leaned forward and pressed his lips to Jack’s, he decided he could risk it just this once.
--
A thin, freckly Ravenclaw and a white-haired, pale Gryffindor sat under the stars in the light of the moon. The Ravenclaw’s head rested in the crook of his boyfriend’s shoulder, their fingers were intertwined like they had never been apart. They whispered back and forth, teasing each other and nudging each other with elbows and shoulders, but never breaking their contact. No one bothered them nor paid them any heed, even though they had been the talk of the school two months ago.
Hiccup took a deep breath and sighed contently at the mix smell of the fresh grass beneath them mixed with the smell of mint and snow that seemed to linger on Jack. Jack was surprisingly warm for someone who was basically the personification of ice.
However, Hiccup’s comfortable spot on Jack’s shoulder was broken for just a bit as Jack shifted in his spot, his hand rummaging through his cloak’s pocket for his wand.
“What are you doing?” Hiccup asked, his eyebrow quirked.
Jack held a finger to his lips, a calm smile on his lips as he pointed his wand at the air in front of them. “I’ve been practicing,” he said simply.
“Practicing what?”
There was silence for a moment, Hiccup felt Jack’s shoulder heave up and down as he took a deep breath.
“Expecto patronum.”
Hiccup watched in amazement as wisps of white light emerged from the end of Jack’s wand. They twirled and danced in the air like smoke as they began to form a creature. Hiccup’s breath hitched and his mouth dropped in awe. No words were spoken, but Hiccup knew what Jack’s patronus meant. Hiccup’s fingers curled around Jack’s as he shifted in his seat, making himself comfortable as he pointed his wand ahead of them and repeated the spell.
The two of them watched as Hiccup’s patronus danced around Jack’s before forming its own shape. Two dragons made if white and blue light danced in the night, rivaling the light of the moon and stars, illuminating the blue and red robes that seemed to be wrapped in each other near the quidditch pitch, and the two sitting there, heads together and breathing in sync, wouldn’t have had it any other way.