I graduated today so I decided to reward myself by writing some Haddock family fluff.
Why are they so perfect?

It was a tradition of the Haddock family for them to go on voyages to spend some quality time together as a family. When that happened, New Berk was left for Valka to look after, and if Valka joined them, then Gobber took charge. Usually they only went on half-day trips because Zephyr and Nuffink were still very young and being on the sea was, after all, very tiring. No matter the amount of time spent together however, they were always a wonderful experience that somehow brought the family even closer together even though they thought that was no longer possible.

They had been to many places near New Berk, discovered many small islands and seen many different sea animals. On rare occasions, they even crossed paths with other sailors that were either Berkians or from some other island.

This time was different from many other voyages. Instead of just going where the wind on their sails took them, they had a destination and it was far from New Berk. They had already been sailing for four days, and both Hiccup and Astrid knew that it was only a matter of time that they would see the ruins of Old Berk. Neither of them knew how long it would exactly take to sail to their old home, for they had only done this journey on dragons, but the surroundings had started to give them both fragments of memories of their adventures with the gang when they were 18 years old; the towering rock formations on the water looked familiar and it felt as though the time had been put on pause around here. Everything seemed untouched.

"What was Old Berk like?" Zephyr asked as she leaned over the edge of the ship to take a better look at the sea underneath them.

"It was a beautiful place," Hiccup responded and instinctively moved a bit closer to his daughter in case she fell over the edge. "I am sure you would've liked it."

"Why can't I like it now?" she asked and looked at her father with her eyes that were always full of curious wonder.

Hiccup's mouth curled into a fond smile at the question. "Of course you can, it just looks very…different from what it used to be. Nobody has lived there for almost ten years."

It was clear on the little girl's face that it was difficult for her to understand how long ten years was, which wasn't a surprise – she was barely six years old herself.

Of course they had told their children many stories that had taken place in Old Berk; with Berkians having lived there for seven generations, there were quite a few tales to be shared. But it was difficult to convey the beauty of the place through words.

"Will Toothless and Stormfly be there?" Nuffink asked excitedly and took turns in looking at his mum and dad.

"No, sweetie," Astrid said softly. A wave of longing and sadness washed over her features, but luckily the kids weren't attentive enough to notice that. "They're living their lives in their own world, just like we do in our world."

Astrid and Hiccup shared a look. It had been almost six months since their first encounter with their dragons after over ten years. Ever since that day, Zephyr and Nuffink just wouldn't stop talking about dragons and how cool they were. Nuffink had announced proudly that when he was older, he would find the Hidden World and become the greatest Dragon Master in the whole of the archipelago, just like his father. Even after six months, the boy hadn't given up on his dream and he didn't miss a single chance to ask questions about Toothless and Stormfly.

At last they were on the shore of Old Berk. It was foggy around them and they couldn't see far ahead, but they could've recognised the docks anywhere. Hiccup felt a mixture of excitement and nervousness run through his veins. He hadn't found the chance to make this trip alone because his chief duties always kept him very busy, so it was the first time for him after ten years that he would be seeing his childhood home again. He didn't know what he was expecting. When he glanced at his wife over his shoulder, he saw her face was rather unreadable; she wasn't showing her emotions on the outside, but Hiccup knew that she was feeling the same way as he was.

"Alright, kids, we are here," Hiccup announced and earned two enthusiastic cheers from the little ones.

They docked the ship and Hiccup was the first one to hop off. Astrid lifted Zephyr and Nuffink up one at a time. Hiccup grabbed them by their armpits and lowered them on the wooden dock. It was remarkable how great a condition the dock was in; sure, the planks had turned greyish from being directly exposed to the sun for many years, and there were bird droppings everywhere, but other than that, it looked precisely how Hiccup remembered it as.

After their children were securely on the dock, Astrid got off the ship and helped her husband to tie it up on the sturdy, vertical planks. Zephyr and Nuffink were looking around frantically, probably wishing they could split themselves in half so that they could cover the whole of Old Berk faster. Being the kind kids that they were, they waited for their parents, although their impatient nature made them shift their weight from one foot to another, repeatedly.

When Hiccup and Astrid had finally tied up the ship steadily enough, the entire Haddock family walked off the dock and looked around. It felt strange to see their childhood home so deserted and so quiet, for life on Old Berk had always been busy because of all the dragons that first stole their sheep and yaks, and then began to inhabit the island.

The buildings looked abandoned and sad, and just like the dock the paint on them was weakened by the sun. They could still see where the Crimson Goregutter had swung its tail in the wrong place and knocked down a good chunk of the buildings in domino-effect. The view made Hiccup feel a mixture of nostalgia and melancholy.

They showed their children around; they visited by the buildings where they used to live, the Great Hall, Gobber's blacksmith workshop, and where the infamous Dragon Academy took place in. Hiccup described all sorts of dragons that lived on Old Berk in his impressive narrator voice that never failed to make Zephyr and Nuffink burst from exhilaration.

The kids didn't seem to mind the fact that the place looked exactly like it was abandoned several years ago. They didn't mind that there were old birds' nests on the buildings, or that some of the roofs had holes on them (had lightning struck them? Or had it been some bigger animal's doing? Hiccup couldn't tell for sure). The excitement of the little ones made both Astrid and Hiccup look at the place with whole new eyes – it no longer looked so sad, neither were their hearts filled with melancholia. It was simply marvellous how great an impact the high spirits of their children had on them.

"This place is gorgeous!" Zephyr told her parents with gleaming eyes. "It needs a little repairing, but I think I want to stay here."

"Me too! Can we, can we, can we?" Nuffink joined in and gave Mum and Dad the most pleading look they had ever had the fortune to witness.

Astrid couldn't stop the amused smile from spreading across her face, filling her eyes with fondness. She crouched in front of her kids and looked at them as she spoke: "Of course we can. Your friends will definitely miss you and you won't be having no more bowls of Uncle Gobber's delicious fish soup. And I guess here you won't be finding any use for the dragon wings that Dad has promised to make you, but I'm sure we will settle down."

The hesitation was written all over their faces now, which made Astrid smile widen even further. She knew she had pulled the right strings there.

"No dragon wings?" Zephyr asked quietly, clearly weighing whether her mother was being serious or not. Astrid shook her head no and replaced her smile with a serious look. The girl considered her options for a while before she spoke again: "I don't want to move here. New Berk is much better."

"Yea, I don't either," Nuffink agreed and crossed his arms across his chest with a stern look, as if to let his parents and big sister know that his decision was final and nobody could change his mind.

"Aw, that's a shame," Astrid told them, faking the sad tone in her voice. "Because your father and I here thought we'd stay forever."

"You did not!" they exclaimed in choir, eyes wide.

Hiccup decided to quit admiring the view before him and join in on the conversation. He, too, crouched next to Astrid and placed his left hand on Nuffink's shoulder as the boy was standing closest to him. "Yes, we did, we're going to be on our own from now on."

"We will feed on eels and yaknog," Astrid said and earned two loud 'ew's from her precious children.

"And we are going to sit by the fire every evening and talk about how much we love each other," Hiccup added and made a kissy face at Astrid.

That was too much for Zephyr and Nuffink, for they both jumped on their parents, sending them back first on the ground. Hiccup and Astrid burst out laughing as their children wrestled them with all their might.

"You are lying!" Zephyr exclaimed and started giggling, too, while sitting on her mother's stomach and trying to tickle her from the sides. Astrid surrounded to her little girl even though she could've easily stopped her, so she let her have her sweet revenge.

"Not at all," Hiccup assured but failed to sound convincing in between his laughter. He grabbed Nuffink by the waist and sat up himself, looking at his son with a beaming smile. Gods how much love he had for these three.

They sat there on the dusty ground for a while, just playing around and being the lovely family they were. At some point, Hiccup and Astrid told the two how they had found a secret, but a very dangerous way how they could turn themselves into Monstrous Nightmares, and how they were planning to set everything on fire. This the kids believed for a minute, until they grew suspicious again and accused their parents for lying. The entire so-called argument ended up with Zephyr and Nuffink being chased by their parents that had turned into fire-spitting dragons. When they caught them, they both grabbed them by the armpits, lifted them up and pressed their heads against their children's tummies and pretended to eat them, which made both Zephyr and Nuffink laugh hysterically.

When they had explored the rest of the island, they found a building that looked most fit for staying in for one night. They set their camp there and they spent the rest of the evening by an open fire, telling myths and legends about the first generation of the Hairy Hooligan Tribe. Although no kissy faces were made at anyone during that evening, or no 'I love you's were said out loud, they all could feel just how much love there was floating in the air, and this was exactly what Hiccup and Astrid would call 'quality time as a family'.

I hope you liked it! In the next and final chapter they will visit the cove in which Hiccup befriended Toothless, so stay tuned!