"Do not go in there, please."

The man was quite tall. He had a goatee that was well kept and groomed, unlike Stoick Haddock's beard, in which birds had probably laid their nests in long ago. His hands were folded behind his back, and he peered down at the seventeen year old boy in front of him with a professional smile, in a way that sent shivers down the boy's back.

"I'm sorry," Hiccup replied, not moving his hand from the doorknob, "but who are you, and why are you in my house?"

He let out a chuckle, and the teen's eyes narrowed. If he was a thief, he would be scampering by now, so what made him think he had the upper hand here? This was the Haddock household now, so who did this man think he was, telling him not to go in a room?

"My name is Viggo Grimborn." He extended a hand. "Mayor of the town. And you're Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third."

Hiccup did not shake his hand, feeling a dark blush spread across his cheeks as it always did whenever someone used or heard his name for the first time. Last time he checked, though, mayors were not exactly authorized to waltz into houses without a good reason.

"How do you know my name?" he challenged, his grip on the doorknob tightening. "Why can't I go in here?" He turned the doorknob and opened it a millimeter.

Mr. Grimborn's face darkened. From behind him, shadows erupted, and the man took out a knife from his sleeve. "I told you not to open the door, Hiccup." He walked forward, raising the knife, and lunging it straight into the boy's heart before he could call for help. Blood pooled, and Hiccup felt his vision blur as pain stung his entire body, and Viggo leered over him as he fell on the floor.

"You know, before you die, I'll show you what's behind the door." He gripped the doorknob and pushed it open every so gently, not making a sound. There was a screech, a crash, and then -

And then Hiccup woke up.

"Dammit!"

Ignoring the cold sweat on his forehead, he sat up. Not that dreams were exactly factual, but he had wanted to see what was behind the door, or what his subconscious thought was there. He placed a hand on his chest. It felt weird, because he had never been stabbed in his life, but in the dream, it had been so...vivid. He could almost feel the pain even now. And Mr. Grimborn's maniacal face.

Well, it had happened. Only he hadn't been stabbed. Stoick Haddock had come in and interrupted Hiccup's questioning, and then his dad had chewed him out for ten minutes after the mayor left. Apparently, this mansion wasn't just their home, but something of great importance to all the people living in this ragtag town. Hiccup sighed, that was harsh. It seemed ragtag to him, the way the mayor spoke yesterday made it sound like this was the City of Gold. And this house was like the last artifact from it, dating back a billion years.

That room was off limits. As Hiccup sat up and looked out the window, the now rising sun was bright and nice, not reflecting the dread he felt at all. He could not enter the room, his dad said, and the mayor was free to go in and leave at his own will. This was a traditional thing, couldn't Hiccup at least try to fit in instead of being such a sore disappointment for once? Okay, that wasn't what his dad had said, but he could read between the lines.

Viggo Grimborn just...didn't have the right aura about him. He practically reeked of wrongdoing. But of course, he was the mayor for a reason, and Hiccup wanted to find out why. He wanted to find out a whole lot about Berk, and then leave, because it would probably be all dark and twisted.

Or he could just stop reading the Sherlock Holmes series.

Slowly, he changed into his school uniform. Uniform. Why did uniforms exist, and why did this school require them? With uniforms, people couldn't think outside the box, they were just stuck with the code, with what people told them. Hiccup didn't really like the idea, but then to add on, the uniform made him look awfully...dapper. It consisted of a plaid shirt, or a red jumper with the school crest on it if it was winter, and dark pants. And a tie, which was probably what he disliked the most. It made him look professional, and he really wasn't. Everything had to be good and straight, nothing could be wrinkled, so he had spent last night ironing his clothes instead of exploring. Not that he could explore much, the door he had wanted to open was one of many that was off limits. Any room that he could not enter had been labelled now, except for the one Mr. Grimborn had kept him from going into.

How could his dad allow this? What if they had a bomb in one of those rooms, wasn't that something that they'd want to know about? But no, there was no persuading Stoick Haddock. There never was.

"Son!" boomed his dad from the door. Hiccup winced. The man came to sit down on the bed, and it creaked slightly under his weight. He clapped him awkwardly on the back. "How are you...feeling? Excited."

"I'm skipping with joy, dad," he responded tiredly and with the most sarcasm he could muster. As per usual, Stoick did not pick up on it.

"Ah, good man! Now, just…" He shuffled his feet. "Say goodbye to your mom and off to school you go." He took a deep breath. "And, er, have fun...and stuff."

Have fun...and stuff. What brilliant advice. His dad should have been a motivational speaker. He trudged downstairs, throwing a meaningful glance to the door near his room, which now had a sign like the rest of them. Do not enter. He shook his head. A Do Not Enter sign in his own house. It was completely ridiculous, and he was going to enter one of those rooms, one way or another. Maybe tonight. He would have done it last night, but he was too tired, and frankly, a bit creeped out by the encounter with Viggo Grimborn. He was scary.

Downstairs, the new Mrs. Haddock held a lunch bag in hand. She offered it to him with a shy smile. "Hiccup? I - I got your lunch, and, I hope you don't mind, I just -"

"It's fine, Kara." He waved his hand and saw her smile falter a little but she handed him the brown bag and then hastily excused herself to go upstairs. Hiccup shook his head. She wasn't bad or anything, he just didn't see a reason to call her mom. She wasn't his mom, she was just Kara, his dad's girlfriend - and now wife. Even though he had never exactly met his mother, the teen couldn't help but feel as though Kara was not her and she never would be.

It certainly wasn't Hogwarts. Or that school from High School Musical. This school looked...depressing. It had a certain magic to it, he supposed, but maybe if Hogwarts had been run by Voldemort, that would be more like it. The Berk crest stood proudly above the gates. It was a dragon, with a sword through it's heart. That poor, defenseless dragon.

He was too busy staring at it in disgust to notice that he was going to walk straight in to someone, and only when he heard the, "Hey!" did he realize. In front of him was a girl with golden blonde hair, bangs that covered a good quarter of her face, and deep blue eyes.

She was very pretty.

The girl narrowed her eyes at him. "Can you watch where you're going?"

"Sorry," he offered honestly, looking down at his shoes, which were suddenly very interesting. The school code called for them to be black, and shined to perfection.

"I know you," she claimed, putting her hands on her hips, "you're that new kid. The one who bought the Berk Manor."

The boy next to her gasped. Hiccup looked back up to study him; he had short blonde hair and was quite large compared to both him and the girl. "You're Stoick Haddock's son?"

"Yeah," he mumbled, fingering the strap of his bag. The way they were looking at him wasn't very pleasant.

The girl pinched the bridge of her nose. "I don't know whether to thank you or punch you."

"Punch me?"

"Our teacher was really harsh on us this month," the boy explained, "because of your family moving in. But we got the last week off since they were preparing for your arrival." He offered a hand. "I'm Fishlegs Ingerman."

He sighed. "I'm Hiccup. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third," he recited, repeating the name that was its middle part.

They both looked at the girl, who crossed her arms. "Astrid. Astrid Hofferson."

They turned away from him and walked towards the school. The Haddock looked up at the dragon crest again and winced.

"You coming?" Fishlegs called. Next to him, Astrid glared at Hiccup impatiently. He stammered an excuse and followed, very sure that her glare was capable of killing.

And so began his first day at Hairy Hooligans High School, in the small town of Berk.