Legally Auburn (HTTYD)

Part 6

Chapter 6

Hiccup was up early on the day classes started, showering and dressing in his finest nerdy engineer gear, his light-brown khakis pressed and his favourite Einstein T-shirt carefully on under his shirt. Despite the fact he had apparently aced his LSATS, he was incredibly anxious about the classes, wondering if Heather was typical of the students he was likely to run into or if they would just accept him for who he was.

Astrid had been amazing-teasing him when she realised that he was feeling self-conscious and a little out of his depth and she had treated him to a cinnamon Danish as well as the coffee, talking to him like an old friend instead of a beautiful woman he had never seen before and likely, would never see again. And he had slowly relaxed and explained that he had come because of Heather and that she had dumped him and was now blanking him when he had earned his place on merit. And though she had listened carefully, she hadn't been at all judgemental when a sane person would have asked him what he was thinking about doing such a stupid thing with his future. Instead, she smiled and gave him her cell number-in case he needed someone to talk to.

But now he was at the door of the classroom, peering in and seeing Heather seated on the third row, talking to a pair of lanky blondes, male and female who looked so uncannily like one another that they had to be twins. And on her other side was a husky guy with a round, amiable face, kindly green eyes and short blond hair. He gulped and ducked back again.

"You won't learn anything from out here," a voice said behind him, the clipped accent making the words very clear and precise. Hiccup stared into a tall, elegant woman in a black shift dress and coat, her strawberry blonde hair cut in a page cut, her green eyes calm. He almost jumped.

"I...er...was just biding my time..." he said desperately.

"Until what?" she asked him pointedly. He looked back at her and realised.

"Um...until you arrived...Professor Queen?" he mumbled. She nodded.

"I think you should take your seat now, Mister...?"

"Haddock," he said, blushing fiercely. "Hiccup Haddock." She nodded and he opened the door and slinked in, taking the nearest seat at the end of the front row and ignoring the curious stares he garnered. Everyone else was neatly dressed and the girls had all definitely made an effort to create the right impression. He suspected he had created an impression...though maybe not the one he was hoping for. The woman walked in behind him, stopping and facing the room full of new students.

"Good morning, class!" she said clearly. "I am Professor Mala Queen and I am the Freshman Year Tutor as well as your lecturer and module lead for Litigation and Contract Law." He looked around. "I see many fresh faces. Some of you will be successes, some of you will fail and leave, or transfer to other, lesser courses. I have no time for those who are not interested in the subject or who imagine Law is an easy ticket to a career in Politics or Public Life. It is not. It is a noble and ancient profession, the arbiter of what is right and wrong, the defender of the innocent and prosecutor of the guilty. Lawyers control your property, your personal life, defend your rights, avenge wrongs done to you and prosecute you if you harm others. Aristotle said that the law is the application of Reason without Passion. You must learn to be dispassionate, even-handed and just. If you cannot do those things, do not waste my time."

She stared at the assembled students and Hiccup felt she was talking just to him. He could hear Heather whispering and sniggering and he caught her gesturing to him.

"Turn to page 35..." she snapped and they all flipped through their textbooks to find the right page. "Now for your first lesson..." And Hiccup flipped his pad open and began to write.