Rapunzel readjusted her satchel across her shoulder. It contained the books that she would require for first year Herbology and Charms. Oh, and Pascal, her pet chameleon.

No, not pet, Rapunzel chastised herself as she hugged her heaping of golden hair to her chest. My companion. She beamed around at any of the students or professors who would pass her, not only with her smile, but with her pastel green eyes too. Most people told Rapunzel that her best feature was her eyes, which were gentle, empathetic and excited, reflecting her moods at all times. Her mother, Gothel, had told her so many times that it was her hair which was the special thing about her. Gothel had cooed it into Rapunzel's ear for as long as she could remember, and Gothel was her mother, so she had stuck to her words.

"Brrreep!" Pascal chirped from down below, and Rapunzel glanced downwards to see the little green chameleon pop his head out from the satchel pocket. She paused to offer him her hand to climb onto, and he accepted it immediately, scurrying up her arm to perch upon her shoulder. Rapunzel checked the bag again, before she continued to walk.

The satchel was brown leather with a brass buckle, and had so many patches that people thought that it would break at any second. To tell the truth, it actually was threadbare, but Rapunzel knew that it wouldn't break for her; Eugene Fitzherbert, a childhood friend, had given it to her after the sorting ceremony the other day, as soon as she had joined the Hufflepuff table. Rapunzel felt a shiver of pleasure as she recalled the sensations of excitement as the hat had whispered into her mind, "A loyal, hardworking girl, I see… and you do not lack brains, either! Quite intelligent, aren't you… what would your preference for you house be, eh?"

"I don't know," Rapunzel had replied, feeling a little nervous now. She hadn't been anxious at all recently, but now she could feel it all jamming up in her mind.

"Well, let's see… do the odds add up to the even…? Hmmm… then you must be… HUFFLEPUFF!"

Rapunzel had stood up, grinning widely as the Hufflepuff table exploded into applause, and Professor T. Toothiana, who also occupied the position as the Transfiguration professor, took the hat from Rapunzel's head, and she began to run excitedly towards her new house table, forgetting all about her hair which she had to keep a keen eye on at all times.

"Miss Corona!" Professor Toothiana had exclaimed, and Rapunzel's hair had tangled into the feet of a not-yet sorted redheaded girl who had stood three people behind Rapunzel. The girl was taller-than-average and slim, though she was strong, judging the way she stood planted on the spot when Rapunzel should have pulled her down with her hair. Rapunzel, however, was not so lucky, and tripped over.

"Ooh!" The whole Great Hall echoed, and the professors called for silence as they hurried to help untangle all of the golden hair from two first years.

"Beh careful next time, will yeh?" The redheaded girl shouted over the ruckus in the hall, and Rapunzel could make out the Scottish accent as she tried to get to her feet again.

"Need help?" A pair of hands heaved Rapunzel up, who, flustered, smiled shakily at.

The boy had slightly shaggy brunette hair and dark green eyes, he was extremely lanky, and had a bit of a nervous expression. Not just for the sorting ceremony, Rapunzel noted, but it seemed like a permanent expression.

"Thanks," Rapunzel had mumbled, looking around to see the redhead attempting to step out of the hair while Toothiana and another professor helped to climb out of it.

"No probs," the boy said as he headed back to his place in the line. He stood not too far from the redhead, behind a boy with white hair.

"I could try to cut that hair if it's too much trouble, Blondie," the boy with the white hair called over. He reached into his pocket for his wand. "I learnt a spell which should do the job. Was it Sveritira, or maybe svet– no… what was it again…?" Before Rapunzel could open her mouth to tell him no, the boy who had helped Rapunzel up previously plucked the wand out of his fingers.

"Hey–!"

"It's severeta," he told the white-haired boy matter-of-factly, before handing the wand back. Rapunzel shot him a grateful look, which was not missed by the extremely helpful boy.

"Next!" Toothiana shouted over the noise, and nodded to Rapunzel, who looked behind to see that she had been freed. "Davis, Holly…"

Rapunzel gathered her hair up and dragged it behind her to a free seat at the table, next to Eugene, who smiled widely.

"Hey, Punzie!" He whispered, and Rapunzel shot him a crooked smile.

"Hey."

Looking around, Eugene dropped something into Rapunzel's lap. She looked down. It was his satchel that he had carried everywhere. Rapunzel tried to recall a time which he hadn't had it slung over his shoulder, but found that she couldn't think of any.

She shot him a questioning look, but Eugene hissed into her ear, "a little welcoming gift." Rapunzel beamed at him, not noticing the fact that heat rushed up his face as she looked away while Gryffindor cheered for Holly Davis, and Slytherin for Harper Dobson.

"DunBroch, Merida!" That was the redheaded girl with the Scottish accent from earlier. Rapunzel craned her neck to watch as Merida walked up confidently, noticing how graceful her movements were, though they were extremely tomboyish at the same time.

It didn't take very long for the sorting hat to scream, "GRYFFINDOR!" Rapunzel hadn't had her doubts. From the way that Merida DunBroch talked, anybody could tell that she would have been sorted into that house.

Several people later, the boy with the white hair came to the front of the line, and Rapunzel flinched as she remembered when the boy had attempted to cut off her hair.

Never again, she promised herself, slowing her increasing heartbeat again.

"Frost, Jack!" Toothiana called from her list, and the boy strode up without a second glance, not unlike Merida. At the thought of Merida, Rapunzel looked around to see how the Scot was fitting in. Easily, it seemed. She was already surrounded by her new housemates.

"SLYTHERIN!" Jack Frost jumped up from his seat with a smug expression as he joined the Slytherin table, rumpling his hair as he went in an arrogant style. Rapunzel wasn't sure whether she liked Jack all that much. It hadn't taken long for the hat to scream Slytherin. The hat hadn't even considered it. As soon as it had touched Jack Frost's head, the words had come. Rapunzel wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not.

"Haddock, Hiccup!" The boy with the shaggy brown hair and green eyes. Rapunzel couldn't help but hope that he would be put in Hufflepuff. He seemed like a friendly enough character, though he looked as though he could do with a little boost in his confidence, Rapunzel noticed as the boy walked up edgily.

"Nice name," Eugene sniggered into Rapunzel's ear while his friends agreed with a, "I know, right, Flynn?" amidst, "Who in their right mind would name their kid Hiccup?" Rapunzel frowned, not liking the cocky insult one bit. Was this how he always acted at school? Maybe she didn't know Eugene as well as she thought that she did. And who was Flynn? Since when was Eugene called Flynn? She edged away slightly from the older guys, waiting for her moment to move seats.

"RAVENCLAW!" The sorting hat declared, and Rapunzel noticed Hiccup let out a long, steamy breath as he hurried to get to the blue table. Rapunzel remembered her disappointment, yet still felt happy for him when she saw the relieved smile on his face.

"ARGH! LIZARD! SNAKE! WHATEH'VER IT IS, GET IT OFF AH'F ME!" Somebody was screaming out on the grassy terrain. Rapunzel snapped back to the present, and looked around. She had reached the corridor, which opened up to the terrain.

"Who would be screaming so loudly this early in the morning, Pascal?" Rapunzel wondered, looking down for the chameleon. What? He had vanished! "Pascal?" Rapunzel asked desperately, opening her satchel to check that he hadn't hid back in there. "Pascal!" Rapunzel got a better grip on her bundle of hair and began to search the floors. No sign of him. She started searching the grass, wondering whether he had decided to play a game of hide-and-seek.

"EW! HEY, YOU! HELP MEH!" Rapunzel looked up to see Merida, waving a bow, a quiver strapped to her waist, running towards Rapunzel from the grassy grounds. She had obviously been doing some before-school working out, as she looked rather sweaty still, even though she had obviously just had a shower from her damp hair. And perched on her head, looking rather terrified as he camouflaged himself red was–

"Pascal!" Rapunzel exclaimed, hands out in front. "Stop! Don't hurt him!" Merida looked as though she thought that it was a good idea to bonk the chameleon over the head with her bow and then squash him.

"Hurt him?!" Merida exclaimed, batting at her head desperately. "He's the one who's– oh no!" Rapunzel ducked fast as Merida let loose the arrow which she had had notched before, and Rapunzel screamed, "LOOK OUT," to anybody who might have been walking past.

"AGH!"

Rapunzel heard the crunch, then twang of the arrow meeting one of the stone pillars behind. Merida had frozen, staring with wide eyes at Hiccup, who was pressed up against the stone pillar, the arrow merely centimeters from his nose.

"Help," he croaked, before collapsing on the ground, foiling his brand new Ravenclaw robes. Rapunzel cracked open an eye, and began laughing in relief, before hopping over to Merida and taking Pascal, who was shivering and breathing fast, from her head. Merida blinked a few times, and the Rapunzel finally noticed her facial features.

A slightly upturned nose with a pale dusting of freckles, big, smoky blue eyes and red hair which was untamed. Untamable, actually. In a good way, though.

Rapunzel tapped Merida lightly, who spurted to life suddenly.

"Ah'm so sorry! Ah'm not usually tha' careless… are yeh okay? How 'bout yeh?" She directed towards Hiccup, who didn't move from his position on the floor. Rapunzel giggled slightly, which directed the attention back to herself. Merida blinked slowly, realization dawning on her face.

"Why am ah apologizing?" She exclaimed, and Rapunzel backed away uncertainly. "I's tha' lizah'rd who should apologize!" Pascal chirped indignantly. Merida snorted.

"It's not Pascal's fault!" Rapunzel exclaimed, grabbing one of Hiccup's arms, while Merida took the other. "He tends to run off sometimes…" They both heaved Hiccup to his feet. He became alert suddenly, patting his pockets, then grabbing Rapunzel's shoulders.

"Where's my book?" He panted, eyes huge and frightened, his breath shaky.

"What book…?"

"My sketchbook! It's not in my pocket! Have you seen it?" Rapunzel blinked.

"No… we can get you a new one…" Hiccup rolled his eyes and huffed, moving to Merida, how scowled into his face. Hiccup froze momentarily as he stared the Scot, and Rapunzel could have sworn that she saw a faint blush creep up his face, before it vanished.

"How about you? It's your fault if I lost it! You and your idiotic arrows and bow…!"

"Don't yeh insult mah bow! Or arrows, fer tha' matter!" Merida barked, standing straighter so that she neared Hiccup's height. "And ah didn't steal yer book!"

"Incoming!" A voice echoed from down the hall, and Rapunzel spun around along with the other two. It was the boy with the white hair, Jack or Jill whatever his name was. Rapunzel hadn't bothered to try and remember it, but her jaw dropped as she watched him surfing the wind, balanced on what seemed to be a little platform. He was moving toward them fast, and seeing their awed expressions, the Slytherin grinned, urging his little platform to go faster. However, his cockiness was too much and the increasing speed made the platform wobble and stop altogether above them.

"Don't–" Rapunzel, Merida and Hiccup all said at the same time, but then the platform dropped, and Jack flailed in the air momentarily, before tumbling down and landing on top of them all. Nothing happened for a few moments. Then the unmistakable voice of Merida mumbled, "Geroff meh."

"You're squashing my stomach!"

"You're so heavy! Ow! Crap, I think you've broken my wrist!"

"Sorry!" Jack scrambled up, battered and bruised. He folded his collar down, brushing himself off. "I was just testing the air currents. I learnt how to make the wind obey me." He grinned apologetically, though at the same time was boasting.

"Obviously not well enough," Hiccup said wryly, getting to his feet. "That wind isn't very trainable, in my opinion."

"Yer crazy!" Merida snapped, standing up.

"Even I know that wind is one of the natural elements of Earth, and those shouldn't be fraternized with, or there could be dangerous consequences," Rapunzel said with an air of satisfaction, checking Pascal, who gestured towards her books in the satchel, and down the corridor.

"Oh! Quite right, Pascal." She interrupted the three of them bickering, and said brightly, "Well, nice to meet you! But I have to get to Herbology, and I'm not willing to be late so… ta-ta." She took a step, but stepped and half-slipped immediately on the 'platform' which Jack had been using. A leather-bound sketchbook which had a name scraped into it.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III.

Rapunzel picked it up, a opened it slightly to see sketches of, wow, dragons. Detailed sketches at that! She looked over at Pascal with a shrug, who pointed at Hiccup behind them with a chirrup.

"Hey, Hiccup," Rapunzel called over. Hiccup looked over, leaving Merida and Jack to fight. "I think this might belong to you…"

Hiccup's jaw dropped, and his rushed over, grabbing the book from Rapunzel and checking the binding, before hugging it to his chest and heaving a deep sigh. Then his eyes darkened, and he turned to Jack.

"Using this?" He asked loudly, holding the book up. Jack fell silent, as did Merida, as they had been rambling on about quidditch and more 'training the wind'.

"Oh yeah. I just found that lying there so…"

"Your dirty footprint is all over the cover!" Hiccup squeaked in outrage. Jack held up his hands.

"Look, I'm sorry. But next time don't leave them lying around."

Hiccup scowled, shoved the book into his robes and picked up his scattered books finally.

"I'm leaving, too, so goodbye to you all!" He sounded rather grumpy. Rapunzel started to walk away again, and Merida went and pulled her arrowhead from the stone pillar, before walking in the same direction as Rapunzel with a "hmph."

The gathering was over.

"Jack Frost, Slytherin, half-blood," Jack piped up suddenly, rumpling his hair.

"What?"

Jack repeated what he'd said and continued to talk. "My hair is not bleached like you may think. I was born a brunette, but it turned white strangely, and I grew uncanny powers over ice and snow and wind. Which is why I train the air."

Hiccup stopped in his tracks, as did Rapunzel. Merida lost her frown as she realized what Jack was doing. Rapunzel understood straight afterwards and started to speak.

"Rapunzel Corona. Muggleborn. I think. Mother Gothel, she's a squib, so…" Rapunzel drifted off. Then she continued to talk. "I… am a child of the sun. I contain a drop of sunlight in my hair, which is why I can never cut it. It's magic."

"We all are," Jack said. Rapunzel smiled slightly, touching Pascal with her hand as she listened to Merida speak up.

"Merida DunBroch. Pureblood, no' tha' ah rae'lly care," Merida spoke casually. "Ah'm Princess of DunBroch, ah wish ah wasn't, ah have three brothers who're more like wee devils, and ah prefer to spend all mah time out in the forest with Angus, mah horse, shootin' arrows. I haven't missed a target fer years now!" Everybody turned and faced Hiccup expectantly. He sighed, giving in.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. Half-blood."

"Hello, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third," Jack said loudly, as though they were in one of the confession meetings.

"Shut it," Merida snapped. Hiccup shot Merida a thankful look before continuing reluctantly.

"I… train dragons. End of story, goodbye!"

"You train dragons?" Rapunzel exclaimed.

"Yeh train dragons?" Merida breathed.

"You train bloody fire-breathing scaly-heads?" Jack whistled. "Good for you, mate!"

"Not a word!" Hiccup warned, holding a finger up. "Now what's done is done. I have to go now."

"A friend in each house," Rapunzel spoke up. "Now I'll know someone in every class."

Silence. Nobody spoke as they all glanced at each other wearily.

"I don't know whether we're friends, Blondie," Jack chided, bending down for his Transfiguration books.

"Who would believe a Gryffindor and a Slytherin were friends?" Merida added. "We know each other, but nothing more, okay?" Those simple words were what made the difference.

"Okay." They all echoed the word.

"Herbology," Merida said, reading her schedule.

"Same here!" Rapunzel beamed, linking her arm through Merida's despite their previous words. "I mean–" She released Merida's arm guiltily.

"Yeah."

"Transfiguration?" Hiccup guessed what Jack had.

"Sure thing, Hic!" He gathered his remaining books, and the four of them scanned the empty floor. Nobody was around. Class must have started already. There was no sign of the recent drama.

"Crime scene cleared," Jack stated, and the four exchanged looks before parting ways as unlikely friends.

And so it all began with the book, the arrow, the wind and the chameleon.

The end! This was just a one-shot, so yes. I mentioned in the summary that this was a sequel to "Potions". This is set during their first year, so BEFORE that story.

I hope that you liked this story, so check out my other ones if you did! They're in progress, but my other RotBTD one (Potions) is up to it's final chapter so no long wait for that one! Long reviews please! Long like Toothless's tail, long like Rapunzel's hair, long like Jack's staff, long like Merida's target range.

~Black Cat Widow~