⊹₊⟡⋆ auds ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪

“i think it’s ridiculous that they’re allowed to be here,” said a girl with darker features, and slightly curled hair.

she was looking directly at me. my eyebrows rose, “you think you’re so high and mighty?”

“you americans are all the same,” she said smirking, looking to her peers for approval, “halfbreeds, and mudbloods. not a single care about blood purity.”

in the back of my mind, i remembered audreigh, and ella mentioning that hogwarts wasn’t as welcoming to others as much as beauxbatons, or ilvermorny.

i was prepared to bark back but felix’s hand softly pressed onto my shoulder. professor gaunt, our escort from ilvermorny, and professor dumbledore reappeared from the great hall.

“the sorting ceremony is about to begin,” dumbledore explained, “hogwarts first years will be sorted first, then ilvermorny students.”

in a matter of minutes, the large crowd of students that were once on the grand stairs, were in a clump in front of entire student body of hogwarts.

my eyes couldn’t help but admire the floating candles, and enchanted ceiling.

after all of the first years were sorted, it was time for us to be sorted. it felt strange being back in the shoes of a first year. only this time an entire school was watching, not just a professor, and four enchanted statues.

professor gaunt held a scroll with all of our names listed in alphabetical order. “anderson, billie,” his voice echoed off of the back wall.

billie walked up to the stool, took a seat, and nearly as soon as the hat tapped her head, it shouted a singular word. “hufflepuff!”

“belmonte, audrie,” professor pronounced with the same volume.

my feet trailed up the few stair to the stool. once the hat touched the crown of my head, it didn’t shout something out automatically. it started talking inside of my mind. not really talking, more like thinking, and allowing me to eavesdrop.

“i know where to put you,” it mumbled, almost angrily, “slytherin!”

i couldn’t help but smile, as i walked down to the tables upon my new classmates, i noticed a familiar smile.

“audreigh!” i muttered through the thunderous applause.

audreigh barnes jumped up from her seat and embraced me with a hug. although the beauxbatons exchange programme was a few months ago, it was wonderful to see an dear friend.

as the sorting continued, river was also sorted into slytherin. dahlia, everett, and joel were sorted into ravenclaw. felix, and nyx were put in gryffindor; darren, and lily-mae joined billie in hufflepuff.

“do you know what classes you’re in this term?” audreigh asked, handing me a bowl of potato soup.

i shook my head, placing the bowl in front of me, “i’m not sure. we haven’t be given our schedules yet.”

“i heard,” river placed down her chalice, “we’ll have classes with students we know from the beauxbatons exchange programme.”

that made sense, sure we’d all meet knew people since we had gotten sorted into the hogwarts system. but there was something comforting about having a few friends already.

after the feast concluded, headmaster dippet stood from his seat. “prefects, please direct the new first years to their dorms. head boy, and head girl, along with the ilvermorny exchange students, please stay behind.”

river and i parted ways with audreigh, and made our way back up to the front of the great hall.

“while you study here with us,” professor dumbledore began, “you’ll wear our uniform. we’ve had custom robes made for the each of you. the inner lining of your robes will be dark red, similar to what you normally wear.”

professor gaunt continued to explain, “you’ll wear the ilvermorny crest on your right of your robe, and your hogwarts crest as well.”

“you’ll be apart of our school, and still apart of your own,” headmaster dippet proclaimed. “your belongings have been places in your dorms, in your common rooms.

“head boy, jugson podmore, will direct the hufflepuffs, and slytherins. head girl, aurelina rosewood, will lead the gryffindors, and ravenclaws.”

“i do not believe i should remind you to be respectful, and responsible during our time here,” stated professor gaunt, “once you’re in your dorms, get good rest, tomorrow you’ll explore the castle and become used to it.”

once the group of us made it out of the hall, we began to bid our ways. felix made he way to my side, “it’s gonna be odd not being in the same common room.”

“for you maybe,” dahlia pointed out, “it’s going to be odd to be in the same one as joel.”

at the mention of his name, rosier put his name around crouch’s shoulders. he shrugged, “i won’t mind it.”

dahlia giggled, the two of them had been dating since our second year, and at ilvermorny, they were in different houses. crouch and rosier had constantly been voted as the cutest couple of our year.

billie continued to quote the article, “madme president seraphina picquery ordered aurors to arrest the dark wizard known as gelert grindlewald. apparently,” she looked up from the paper, “this guy from england revealed his identity.”

“england?” felix asked, taking the paper from her.

my eyebrows furrowed, “why was he here?”

“it doesn’t say, but i got a letter from my mom,” billie started to fix her lunch, “she was taking notes for a meeting the president was having, some girl ran in, and she was claiming that the english guy had a briefcase full of creatures.”

“newt scamander,” i read, “i’ve heard that last name before.”

river took a seat next to billie, “what name?”

“scamander,” billie repeated.

“you’re right,” river nodded, “it sounds familiar.”

i let the name infect my brain. where had i heard it before?

“great, now she’s thinking,” felix marked sarcastically.

billie snatched back the newspaper, stuffing it in her school bag as a professor passed our table.

“i got it!” i remembered, “he’s probably related to theseus scamander! he’s an auror, my mom worked with him over the summer last year.”

although ilvermorny was never in immediate danger, something did feel different. we were about half way through the spring term, and this entire year was like stepping around occamy egg shells.

“an auror?” felix arched his eyebrow, taking a bite of a pancake.

river rolled her eyes, “i swear you can’t remember anything.”

i giggled, taking a drink of my apple juice. i hadn’t noticed until now that practically the entire hall was bubbling on about the headline in the paper.

“you’re family does so much it’s hard to keep up sometimes,” felix shrugged.

“i need you to come with me,” he said rather quickly. his eyes and head flew to his left and right, as if he was worried someone would see him.

i understood why. dragons attacked the village less than an hour ago. the sun had begun to rise, beginning it’s trail in the sky.

i looked back at my family, who were all speed selling bread, and other food goods. my eyebrows furrowed; my face reflecting my confusion, “go where?”

“to find the night fury.”

confusion left me entirely. it was almost replaced with anger, “hiccup, how-“

“please, audryigh. even if i didn’t hit it,” his eyes gleamed of hope, and anxiety, “i trust you, and if anyone in this village is going to humor me, it’s you.”

he was right. i knew he was right.

i let out a sigh; trying to think of how i was going to get out of the house. “give me five seconds,” i nodded.

he smiled, “okay.”

“hey, mom?” i asked, starting to pack a basket full of bread loafs, fruit, and a few other things.

she hummed, taking a trade from the butcher. “put that in the ice bucket,” she handed the packaged meat to my brother.

“the fire brigade is checking the forest for fires, and other things,” my voice fell off, “they asked if i can go with them, so can i?”

she nodded, “of course, dear. just be safe.”

i smile spread across my face, “thank you,” i kissed her cheek before running out of the building.

“ready?” he asked, his notebook and pencil in hand.

i nodded, “let’s go find a dragon.”

for the sun barely being in the sky, it felt like this day at lasted for forever. the forest was as green as ever, even though winter was drawing nearer.

we checked everywhere on the island. even the complete opposite side of where hiccup thought it could be.

the sun sat in the middle of it’s trail. the heat beamed down through the tree’s canopy.

“how could i lose and entire dragon?” hiccup angrily smacked a small tree branch. it swung back, hitting hiccup in the face.

i chuckled, but he turned to me and held a finger up to his lips. then he pointed down at the ground.

something had torn up the grass and shrubs then fell on the other side of a large rock. hiccup waved me over to follow him.

sure enough, after peaking over the rock, it was undeniable. the night fury.

the dragon was tangled in ropes, which i assumed came from hiccup’s shooting contraption.

hiccup let out a proud laugh, “i did it! i shot down a night fury!” as he placed his leg up on the dragon, it grunted, scaring hiccup enough to jump back, and nearly knock both of us to the ground.

of course it wasn’t dead. “what are you gonna do?” i whispered.

“what do you mean?” he asked, his arms largely gestured to the dragon, “i have to kill it.”

“kill it?”

“audryigh, this is what i’ve been waiting for for years! this might be my only chance to make my mark.”

i nodded softly. i knew this. my eyes drifted to the dragon. he was defenseless. “i’m gonna go,” i stated simply, my voice still a mutter, “you should do this alone.”

hiccup looked at me, “audryigh are you serious?”

“look, i’m sorry, hiccup, but i-“

“i get it,” he almost shouted, then he softened his tone, “just if i ask for you to vouch for me, you better.”

a loud scream left my throat nearly dry. the wind surrounding us being like a vacuum. “hiccup!” even i didn’t know i could get my pitch that high.

“it’s a minor dragon dysfunction,” hiccup replied as my arms quickly wrapped around his waist, “i don’t know what he’s doing!”

toothless was flying all over the place. he wasn’t acting crazy, but being reckless. who was i to judge? with me, someone who’d just threaten to cry dragon to the entire village, on his back.

my left hand carefully reached for the dragon, “toothless, i’m sorry!”

“did you hear that, bud?” hiccup’s voice shouted as toothless dodged through arches of rocks, “she said she’s sorry!”

i could feel the scales of toothless under my fingertips. through the wind, i heard a sound of what resembled a chuckle from toothless.

toothless’s wings flung out, wind catching under them, and forcing is into a glide across the water hundreds of feet below us.

everything slowed down. the wind stopped attacking, i felt more relaxed. well, as relaxed as i could be on a dragon flying through the air. gracefully, our height grew. the clouds reflected a pink, and peach color as the sunset under the horizon.

my hand moved from toothless’s side. the clouds felt like nothing. a mist that my hand easily glided through.

on top of myself easing into a calmer state, i could tell hiccup did too. my right arm didn’t move from his waist. almost directly after i thought of removing my arm, toothless flew in a lupe-d-loop, and soon followed by soft corkscrews.

“it’s beautiful up here,” i mumbled, toothless found a glide over the darkened sea.

the moonlight was the only thing brightening our view. i swore i saw glowing dragons in the water.

hiccup nodded, “yeah, it is.” i don’t think he was looking at the view around us.

toothless dipped closer to the sea level, his feet slightly skimming the water. i began to wonder how far we could really go. how long we could travel away from berk without stoick sending vikings out to find us.

“so you aren’t going to run home screaming about my pet dragon?” hiccup asked. his voice changed pitch, like he was nervous to ask.

i laughed softly to myself, “no,” i shook my head.

“good,” he nodded, “then we won’t drop you into the ocean, and feed you to hungry water dragons.”

we shared a laugh, which lead to us sitting in silence for a bit, then something in the air changed. toothless jerked his head, as if he was shaking water off of his body.

“toothless, what’s wrong?” hiccup asked.

the dragon took off. adding more feet to our distance from the ground.

monstrous nightmares, gronckles, night terrors, and other races of dragons appeared. all in their claws, they cluched animals of all kinds. sheep, hippo, smaller dragons.

“they’re hauling in their kill,” hiccup muttered.

“weeks?” his voice rose with his eyebrows, “weeks ago?”

i nodded, “i’ve been walking around place cachée for fun. actually, i believe i’m getting the essay back tomorrow.”

“i can’t believe it,” he turned to face our mutual friend, billie, “did you know about this?”

“what?” she asked, oblivious to the conversation felix and i were having.

“she finished the project, anderson,” i could hear in felix’s voice that he was genuinely shocked.

billie nodded, “oh yeah! she gave me some of her notes, after she turned it in.” she took a seat next to me, handing me a cookie.

as i thanked her, felix sat on the other side of the coffee table. his contribution of his group’s notes were scattered across it.

“what creatures did you find?”

i swallowed a bite of the cookie, “why would i tell you?”

he gave me a glare filled with annoyance. he knew i had a fair point.

“right,” billie nodded, “you guys are always trying to one-up another, like you guys have something to prove to the other. why would she give you any notes, or even answer your questions?”

“what are you three up to now?” saraphina, one of the seventh years on the exchange programme, asked walking into the dormitory.

“she finished the project!” felix exclaimed while point at me dramatically.

saraphina’s eyes grew, “really?” she plopped down on the couch which billie and i were leaning against, “do you think i could borrow some of your notes?”

“yeah! i had to turn some of them in, but i’ll get them to you once professor gives them back.”

“what?” felix shouted.

“would you stop yelling?” i turned my gaze back to him, “people are sleeping.”

i swore i saw his eye twitch, “you’re giving your notes to moonstone, but not me?”

“you didn’t ask for notes.”

“the one you’re always bickering with,” her heels clicked as she walked down the stairs that lead to her office, “what is his name?”

“felix?” i slipped a box onto the shelf.

she clapped her hands, “yes, felix! i thought you two did not like each other?”

“we don’t,” i shrugged, “we didn’t. i think we’re friends?”

“you think or you know?”

i paused; i froze. “i don’t know,” i answered honestly, “something’s shifted between us while we’ve been here.”

“well yes, that’s why i asked what is happening, mon chere.”

“i don’t think anything’s happening. i mean, sure things are different now, but not really.” i shook my head, sliding another wand box into it’s place.

cosme nodded, “d’accord, but i see the way you look at him.”

i looked at her, my confusion reflecting on my face.

“you might not to understand what you want, but your heart is telling you. it is up to you to listen to it.”

the door opened, “hey!”

my head swiveled to see who it was. i didn’t really need to, i recognized his voice.

“felix,” i smiled semi-forcefully, “what are you doing here?”

“madame,” he took a bow towards cosme, who gave me a knowingly smile before walking away. “what’s up with her?”