"Get back here right now, Hiccup!"

"Dad, Toothless isn't going to wait."

"I don't care, it's too risky. What if someone sees you?"

Hiccup sighed. "Dad, what's the use of having a dragon for a friend if we can't go flying? And I fly above the clouds. No one catches me up there."

"I know, and I thank you for taking precautions." Salazar sighed, a wearier one than his son's, "But there aren't any clouds today. Look!" He pointed out the window of the dilapidated castle at the clear blue sky. "I'm sorry, but you can't go flying today. You'll have to wait for nightfall."

"Can I at least go see him, to tell him I'm alright? He worries." Hiccup looked up at his father. It was a long ways. Sometimes he wished the man wasn't so tall.

"Yes, but do not let anyone hear you. If someone found out…well, I don't need to remind you about what happened last time."

Hiccup shuddered. No, he did not. The boy was in the doorway when he turned back and looked at his father. The man sighed again. He seemed to be doing that a lot these days. "What else?"

"Thank you." And Hiccup slid through the doorway of the crumbling keep, through the ruins of the rest of the town and into the woods where his friend waited.

Salazar Slytherin grinned. It was good to know that all the trouble they'd been through had not changed his son's kind heart. He knew very few children appreciated what their fathers did for them.

"Mother,"

Helga looked down at her hand and back at her chastising daughter. "It's just a scratch, dear. Can't tend roses without being bitten by a few thorns."

But Rapunzel wasn't buying it. She grabbed Helga by the shoulders and sat her down on one of smaller rocks at the foot of the boulder wall that shielded the garden from prying eyes. Then she proceeded to scold. "You should wear the gloves I made you." She drew the pin out of the massive bun on her head, picked up the end of her impossibly long braid of hair and began winding it around the injured hand.

But Helga pushed Rapunzel away and scolded in turn, sounding exactly like her daughter. "We can't do that in the open. You know what happened last time." She reached up and brushed back the small lock of brown hair sticking out of her daughter's braid. "Dear, your gift is too valuable to waste on a little scratch. Now help me with the weeds and I'll take the cuttings back to the village. I hear Lady Gryffindor wants new roses for the castle."

So Mrs. Hufflepuff and Ms. Hufflepuff finished pulling out the green interlopers and dragged their baskets of rose clippings back to the house to bag up the roots.

Godric was in the middle of entertaining his three sons when his daughter burst through the doors. "I did it, Dad!"

He stopped his storytelling for a moment. "Did what?"

She giggled. "I made an arrow float, just like you showed me!" She ran towards him and threw her arms around his massive bulk in a hug. "Now we can try bigger things, like you promised! You can teach me how to make a sword float!"

"Godric," his wife called from across the table, "I thought we agreed to stop the magic lessons until we could find a suitable teacher."

He huffed. "I don't see a reason to keep her from it. The lassie is gifted. And we don't need a tutor when it's just her. I can teach her."

Eleanor sighed. "Your magic always involves fighting. She should be learning to heal, using her abilities for a lady's duties, not using them on her weapons. A lady should not have weapons, in my opinion."

"She's got to be able to defend herself. If she's going to get in trouble for that gift o' hers, she should at least know a few things about fighting with it."

Eleanor won many arguments concerning their daughter Merida, but this was one she always lost. Godric did not see the point in hiding something so unnatural, probably because it was from his side of the family and the reason he was lord.

Well, there were always other things she could teach Merida.

Rowena woke up covered in snow. An immediate frown covered her face. She yelled "Jackson!"

The culprit came down off the rafters and hovered above his mother. "Well it's hot outside. I thought you might appreciate a little cool air." The smirk belied the sweet words.

She blew her frazzled hair out of her eyes and gave her son the eyebrow. "That would be true, if not for the fact that you've done this every day this week. That's it, I'm grounding you. Hand over the staff."

He pouted. "But don't you want to see the new trick I learned?"

As much as she loved exploring new magic, she had to be firm or he'd walk all over her. "You can show me when you're not grounded. Now hand it over." He relinquished the staff, but not before covering her in snow again. "Jackson Ravenclaw, you thaw me right now!"

He chuckled from the rafters where he'd perched. "But you look so cute as a snowman."

She shook herself to loosen the snow. "Honestly, you'd think I wasn't your mother with how much respect I get. You won't even stay where I can see you when I'm talking to you."

She mumbled the last part, but Jack still heard it and replied with a mumble of his own. "Well, maybe I would, if you paid attention when I was talking instead of getting all focused on your latest spell. Sometimes I feel invisible to you, and you're my mother."

But Rowena Ravenclaw didn't notice. She was too busy using a new combination of spells to hold her hair away from her face. Jack gave her one more look and flew out the window and into the woods. Rowena never noticed that both the staff and her son were missing for most of the day.

I'm back! By the way, I have no idea how to classify this, so I'm just going to use my favorite of the five (yes, five) different sources for this. I welcome reviews, PMs, and any questions you may have for me.