Chapter Two
Nico played a fascinating game called Exploding Snap for a good few hours with Ron, Harry, Hermione, his three other roommates; Nevil, Dean, and Seamus, along with multiple other Gryffindors. Nico found that most of the other kids were okay and by the time they decided it was time to go to bed, he had maybe even made some good acquaintances.
Right before he went up to his room, he grabbed Hermione's arm.
"Hey, do you know of a, like, soundproofing spell?" he asked nervously. Please don't ask questions
"Oh yeah, those boys are incredibly noisy," Hermione nodded. "Just give your wand a wave and say muffliato."
"Thank you so much, Hermione," Nico told her gratefully.
"No problem," she replied with a smile.
Nico did as Hermione said that night and thank the gods he did because his brain didn't like being moved to a different country without warning, so it sent him a nice batch of trauma memories.
He woke up screaming but at least he woke up at all because as he woozily looked outside his bed curtains to see if he woke up his roommates, he saw that Harry, Ron, and Neville were already gone and Seamus and Dean were finishing getting dressed.
"What time is it?" Nico asked tiredly.
"Time for breakfast,' Dean responded.
Nico slapped his hand to his face. Scotland was five hours ahead of New York.
He jumped out of bed and quickly threw on his white button up, black pants, red and gold tie, and robe before stuffing his wand in his pocket and following Dean and Seamus to the Great Hall.
The three of them walked in and sat across from Harry, Ron, and Hermione who were whispering as usual.
They ate and talked about random things like classes and spells, until the food disappeared with a poof. No one had gotten up from any of the tables when the food was gone, so Nico stayed put in his seat, waiting for an announcement or something as an explanation as to why he couldn't get a move on.
Professor McGonagall started walking towards them and handed out papers to each student. He didn't really care what that was all about so he decided his time was better used thinking about his plan on how to get Harry to like him until the professor came to him.
Unfortunately, that came much too soon.
"Mr. Angelo," Professor McGonagall said in her stern voice.
"Di Angelo," Nico corrected.
"My apologies," she replied. "Mr. di Angelo, you have not taken any O.W.L.s, I see?"
"No, ma'am," Nico answered, wondering why he would take any owls.
"We'll put you in the necessary classes then and you can pick up any extra classes you want if you can keep up." She handed him a paper and continued down the line.
Nico looked at the page and realized he was in big trouble. The font on the paper was like a stab to his dyslexic eyes. He would spend a whole class period just trying to read what his next class was.
"Hey," Nico snapped at Hermione, trying to get her attention.
She looked up at him and he asked, "Can you read this for me?"
Hermione gave him a weird look. "You can't read?"
"I have dyslexia," he explained.
Hermione's eyes went wide and her cheeks flushed. "I'm so sorry! Yeah, I can read it for you. Actually, I can show you to the rooms too. Ron and Harry will help aswell."
"Huh?" Ron asked, looking up between her and Nico.
"You're going to help Nico with his schedule," Hermione told him.
"Can't he read?" he asked.
" No actually," Nico told him, unable to hold back his sass. "I have dyslexia,"
"Was' 'at?"
"It's just really difficult to read things especially with this stupid ass calligraphy."
Ron choked on a laugh and Harry gave him a look out of the corner of his eyes.
"Don't worry," Ron told him, trying and failing to hide a smile. "We'll show you around."
The first hour they all had free time, so the trio went back to the common room with Nico trailing a few steps behind, trying to memorize the path they were taking so he could do it on his own some day.
As they neared the portrait, Harry said something to Ron and Hermione and then stopped walking to wait for Nico to catch up to him. Ron and Hermione threw a glance back before crawling through the portrait hole without them.
"Hey," Nico greeted when he came into step with the other boy.
"Follow me," was all Harry said before walking so fast down another hallway that Nico had to almost jog to keep up.
Of course he was confused as to why Harry was leading him away from the common room, but he had nothing else to do. Nico followed him through the castle and to a more deserted part of the school where he opened a door to an empty classroom. Now Nico was really starting to question Harry's motives but he had his sword inside of his skull ring so if needed he could just spin it and kill him. Hecate would forgive him . . . probably.
He walked into the room and almost coughed at the amount of dust that covered desks and chairs that were piled in a corner.
The door shut behind him and Nico turned to see Harry looking at him, any drop of kindness from before, gone.
"What are you doing here, Death Eater?" Harry accused.
Nico had to bite his tongue so as not to laugh. "W-what?"
"I know what you are," he told him, taking a step towards him. "You're a Death Eater sent here about me."
How did he know? Did Harry know he was a demigod? Are children of Hades called Death Eaters in the magical world?
"You're working with Malfoy aren't you."
"Who is-" Nico began to ask.
"Don't lie to me!" Harry yelled, pointing an accusatory finger menacing at him. If Nico was being truthful, it was almost more intimidating than his wand.
"I'm not lying!" Nico protested, putting a face of innocents on and trying not to laugh.
Harry was almost shaking with anger. "How do I know that? Death Eaters have taken everything from me! I will not let you take my friends too."
"I-" Nico was shocked by Harry's words. They were full of anger and threat but the words themselves are what threw him off. These Death Eaters had taken things from Harry but it was much more than just possessions. No one thinks someone is going to take people away from them unless it's happened before.
"I'm so sorry," Nico told him, trying to convince him he would never put someone in that position, especially since he'd been there himself. "I would never do that to anyone, trust me. I've lost family too-"
"Save it," Harry spat. "Just stay away from my friends or else."
He then walked swifty out the door and closed it behind him with a slam. Nico let him go ahead for a few minutes before coming out of the room himself, thoughts of Harry's possible past running through his head every minute.
Since the school was a maze and he had no idea how to read his schedule, Nico was late to his first class. He was running around the second or fourth floor before he ran into someone, well, more like ran through.
"Good graces!" the voice of the ghost Nico just stumbled through exclaimed.
Nico turned to face the man, "I'm so sorry, sir!"
The man tilted his head to the side, trying to see through Nico ro something, but he went too far and his head peeled off.
"Di Imortalis!" Nico exclaimed, taking a step closer to the ghost.
"I'm fine," the ghost claimed, propping his head back into place. "It's just . . . you seem . . . different from the other children."
Nico bit his lip. He had noticed from the first day that there were ghosts around but it didn't really seem weird since he spent time both at Camp Jupiter and in the Underworld. This wouldn't normally be a problem except that Nico was the Ghost King so they were bound to find out he was a demigod and that could mean he'd tell the Headmaster who would tell the school and soon everyone would know what he was. No, he couldn't let that happen.
"Okay, I'm going to tell you something sir . . ."
"Nick," the ghost answered Nico's trailing off question. "Nearly Headless Nick."
"I'm going to tell you something Nick and you should tell the other ghosts but no one can tell any of the wizards or witches.
Nick raised an eyebrow, "Oh, okay."
"This might sound crazy," Nico braced. "But I am Nico di Angelo, demigod Son of Hades and Ghost King."
Nick gasped, "the Ghost King!"
"Yes," Nico confirmed.
"Well, I will certainly do what you say, my king," Nick told him with a bow.
"Oh, please, none of that," Nico waved away the gesture. "I'm here to protect this place and I have to be undercover."
"Alright," Nick agreed. "I will inform the other ghosts of who you are and make sure no witch of wizard ever finds out."
Nico smiled, "thanks Nick."
The ghost turned to leave but Ncio remembered something.
"Hey Nick!" Nico called him back.
"Yes, king . . . uh, I mean, uh. . ."
"Nico."
"Ah, yes, Nico."
"Do you know where the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom is?"
With the help of Nearly Headless Nick, Nico was able to imagine the floor and the door to the room and shadow traveled outside of it. He pushed open the door and saw the whole class was pointing wands at each other while the greasy man Ncio remembered was named Snape, observed their silent casting.
"Ah, Mr. Angelo," Snape greeted slowly as he saw Nico enter the room.
"It's di Angelo, sir," Nico corrected. "Sorry for being late."
The man served him, measuring him up. Nico didn't like it. The whole class was looking at him and Nico just wanted to leave. He hated staring.
"Mr. di Angelo," the man said in a commanding tone. "Do you know what a nonverbal spell is?"
"Is it a spell you don't say out loud?" Nico guessed.
"Correct," the man snarled. Why was he mad Nico got the question right? "Have you practiced them in America?"
"I never went to school in America," Nico explained.
"And why is that?"
"They didn't have boarding rooms."
"Why not live with your family."
"Cause my family's dead."
There was a silence in the room and Nico just stared defiantly at the teacher. Technically he still had Hazel, Persephone and his dad, but that guy clearly had some issues and Nico was not going to be his punching bag.
Suddenly, Nico saw the man's hand flinch and a wand was in his hands and pointed at him. Nico ducked quickly as a light of something flashed above him.
"What the fuck?" Nico exclaimed, standing to face the man who just tried to hit him with gods know what.
"Swearing," the teacher drawled. "Ten points from Gryffindor."
"What are-?" Before Nico could ask a question, he was suddenly speechless. He couldn't talk. He opened his mouth but no sound came out. His throat was tight and the room seemed to swim and the walls closed in. He turned his eyes down and heard the teacher say something he couldn't hear over the pounding of his heart.
A memory of a dream he'd had before the trip to Tartarus with Will came to his mind. He had been in the Lotus Casino and Bianca had been sleeping next to him in her Hunter's uniform. He had tried to call out to her but realized that his mouth was gone. Was that dream now coming to life?
Someone tugged his sleeve and he was yanked to the side and plopped into a chair. There was a quiet voice and Nico breathed easier suddenly. He looked up and the teacher gave him one last look before walking to the other side of the room and people were shooting spells at each other again.
"Nico," the voice whispered to him.
Nico looked up and saw Hermione above him, holding her wand in her hand.
"What happened?" he asked breathlessly.
"I had to silence you," she told him apologetically.
Nico breathed a sigh of relief that it was Hermione and not a monster.
"Get up," she said urgently. "Snape's coming."
Nico immediately stood up and brought out his wand, copying the stances the students around him took.
"Shoot a spell at me," she whispered.
"I don't know any spells!" Nico whispered back frantically.
"Nico di Angelo," Snape sneered behind him. Nico looked back and saw that Snape was watching him. "Why don't you try."
Nico gulped. He knew only one spell and had only heard a few more. Wait, some of the spells were just Latin words. He knew Latin from his time at Camp Jupiter, so maybe he could just say something.
"Wingardium Leviosa," he said and to his relief, Hermione started to float.
"These are nonverbal spells, di Angelo," Snape criticized.
Nico bit back a retort. "Sorry, sir."
Snape walked over to where Ron and Harry were practising and Nico slowly lowered back to the ground.
"Pathetic Weasley," Snape's harsh voice called behind him. Nico flinched and turned to watch him shove Ron out of the way and point his wand at Harry. "Here – let me show you –"
A spell shot out from Snape's wand and Harry yelled, "Protego!"
Snape was pushed back by the shield spell and hit into a desk. The whole class turned to watch and a few gasped in horror. Snape scowled, flicked the hair out of his eyes.
"You and di Angelo must have short term memory," Snape snapped. "Do you remember me telling you we are practicing nonverbal spells, Potter?"
"Yes," Harry replied stiffly.
"Yes, sir."
"There's no need to call me 'sir', Professor."
Nico snorted and several people gasped including Hermione. Ron, Dean, and Seamus grinned appreciatively but Snape was now glaring at Harry. If Snape were Zeus, Harry would have been dead already.
"Detention, Potter and di Angelo. Saturday night, my office," Snape told them. "I don't take cheek from anyone. . . not even an exchange student and the chosen one."
After class, Ron complemented Harry on his comeback while Hermione scolded him. Their constant banter was getting a little repetitive so Nico hung back a bit from them, just letting them guide him through the school.
"Harry! Hey, Harry!" A voice called from behind them and Nico turned to see a boy, a little younger than himself, running towards them with a roll of parchment.
He ran right up to Harry and handed him the parchment, saying it was for him (duh) and then asking about trials for something called 'Quiet-ditch'.
"I'm not sure yet," Harry replied to the boy's question. "I'll let you know."
"Oh right. I was hoping-"
The boy kept talking but Nico didn't really pay attention. He didn't care much for the boy, but what he did care about was that this school had parchment. PARCHMENT! Why would anyone use parchment to send a message! Nico was from the 1930s and even he was appalled.
The boy walked off and Nico refocused on the trio.
"He enjoys Acid Pops?" Ron asked Harry.
"It's the password to get past the gargoyle outside his study," Harry explained in a low voice. "Ha! Snape's not going to be pleased. . . I won't be able to do his detention."
Nico rolled his eyes. Detention didn't sound too bad. He'd rather have that than a pack of werewolves or something.
Harry looked at Nico then and gave him a glare, as if to remind him of what had happened earlier and the 'agreement' they made. Harry made a mental note to ask Neville about Harry's past.
For their next break, the trio were talked in whispers by the fireplace while Nico played games and chatted with Dean, Neville, and Seamus. The boys were funny and always had some interesting game to play or a rumor they heard about anyone. Nico enjoyed listening to gossip, he and the Aphrodite cabin had gossip sessions every other Friday.
"Hey," Nico spoke up, trying to control his breathing after a good laughing fit. "What's up with Harry? What's his past like?"
The laughter of the other three boys died quickly. They all looked between themselves and then back to Nico.
"You don't know about Harry Potter?" Neville asked.
Nico shook his head.
"He's American," Dean reasoned and the other two boys nodded.
Seamus leaned in and talked so quietly that Nico had to lean in too just to hear him. "Harry's an orphan. His parents were killed by You-Know-Who himself."
"Who's that?"
"The Dark Lord? Voldemort?"
"What?!" Nico couldn't believe that story. "Why didn't he kill Harry too."
"Nobody knows!" Dean told him dramatically. "He tried to but something stopped him. The curse bounced back and You-Know-Who wasn't seen for years until last year in the Ministry. And he was only one year old!"
Nico glanced over to where Harry, Hermione, and Ron were talking. Harry had lost both of his parents when he was a baby. How many others had Voldemort taken? How many other people's lives had he ruined.
Neville looked up at a clock that was hanging on the wall, "our next classes start soon."
"Alright then," Nico sighed, standing up from his chair. "Hey, Hermione!"
He walked over to the brunette and held out his schedule. The girl took it and read his next class.
"You have potions with us," she told him, handing the paper back. "That'll start in . . ."
She looked at the clock and almost gasped. "We have to leave now or we'll be late."
Harry and Ron sluggishly stood up much Hermione's dismay and the four of them crawled out of the room.
They walked down about fifty flights of stairs until they came to a door that led underground according to Nico's limited underground senses. Hermione had told him on the way down that it was in the dungeons which was also where the Slytherins'd dorms were and Nico was confused. He'd asked why they got the basement of the whole castle and Hermione had responded, "because all evil wizards are in Slytherin". When Nico asked how many evil wizards they knew, Hermione went quiet.
"Harry," a Hufflepuff boy called to the trio as they approached the door. There were three Slytherins there as well as the boy and Nico wondered how they felt about living in a dingy dungeon.
One of them seemed a bit. . . Scared? Tired? Stressed? Nico wasn't quite sure which, but none of those things made sense for a kid only one day into the school year. He also was pale, like, really pale. His skin and blonde hair were thin and there were little bags under his eyes.
"Didn't get a chance to speak in Defense Against the Dark Arts this morning," the Hufflepuff boy continued. "Good lesson, I thought, but that Shield Charms are old hat of course, for us D.A. lads. . . And how are you, Ron -- Hermione?"
Before either of them could respond, a big man opened the door and gestured for everyone to get inside. The man greeted a Slytherin called Zabini, and Harry but mostly ignored the rest which Nico didn't really mind especially after Snape's class.
Nico walked in last and therefore got the last choice of seats. Zabini and a second Slytherin, sat next to each other and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the Hufflepuff were together, so that left Nico to sit with the Slytherin he had noticed earlier.
Nico silently sat down next to him and the boy gave him a disgusted look.
"Gryffindor," he mumbled.
"Wow, sorry a hat put me in a house you don't like," Nico whispered.
The boy seemed taken aback that Nico had responded.
"Maybe you should do the sorting next time," Nico continued as he leaned back on his chair. He didn't mean to be rude but the day had been exhausting and the jet lag was making him short tempered.
The blonde boy seemed to look at him with a bit of. . . respect? Nico again wasn't quite sure what the boy was thinking. He was good at masking emotions, just like him. Maybe he could make a friendship.
"Nico di Angelo," Nico introduced, holding out a hand.
"Draco Malfoy," he replied, taking the hand.
They gave a little shake and then turned back to the front of the class.
"Scales out everyone," the man called to the class. "And potion making kits, and don't forget your copies of Advanced Potion-Making. . . ."
"Sir?" Harry said.
The teacher walked over to Harry while Nico and Draco got out their things.
"Stupid Potter," Draco muttered as he dropped his book on the table. "Always the special attention."
"Don't like Harry?" Nico asked sarcastically.
"Why do you care? You're a Gryffindor. He's your pride and joy."
"Dude, I'm American. I don't follow these weird social rules you have here."
Draco's mouth turned up a bit like he was going to laugh.
"I don't think he likes me much," Nico told him as he positioned his scale.
Draco looked at him with curiosity, "why?"
"Not sure," Nico shrugged. "I think he thinks I'm a Death Eater or something."
The boy flinched at the word. Nico took notice but didn't address it.
"Hanging around you won't help that allegation," Nico continued.
"Why is that?" Draco asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
Nico paused for a second. He was about to tell Draco that Harry thought he was a Death Eater too, but something held him back.
"He doesn't like you much either," Nico said instead.
Draco scoffed, "the feeling is mutual."
"Now then," the teacher's voice called, addressing the class and catching Draco and Nico's attention.
He walked to the front of the class and gestured to cauldrons Nico hadn't noticed before. "I've prepared a few potions for you to have a look at, just out of interest, you know. These are the kids of things you ought to be able to make after completing your N.E.W.T.S –"
"Newts?" Nico asked himself.
"The Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test," Draco replied quietly. "The set of quizzes after O.W.L.s Ordinary Wizarding Levels."
Nico gave him a look of confusion and Draco seemed to almost crack a smile again. It seemed weird for his face, like he didn't do it a lot. Maybe he and Draco more similar than he'd thought.
"It's Veritaserum," Hermione was saying when Nico focused back on the class. "A colorless odorless potion that forces the drinker to tell the truth."
Nico's stomach churned. A truth serum? Right there in front of the class? He'd have to watch if he was drinking more carefully if it was that easy to make someone spill truths.
There was another cauldron with Polyjuice Potion that apparently makes you look like people and then the teacher pointed to a third cauldron that Nico could smell from where he sat. It smelled like blue birthday cake, Bianca and his mom's old perfume, Will's shampoo, Will's clothes, and . . . that's enough information actually.
"It's Amortentia," Hermione said quickly.
"It is indeed," the teacher confirmed. "It seems almost foolish to ask, but I assume you know what it does?"
"It's the most powerful love potion in the world!"
"Quite right! You recognize it, I suppose, by its distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen?
"And the steam rising in characteristic spirals, and it's supposed to smell different to each of us, according to what we love –"
Nico felt himself blush and Draco gave a dry chuckle.
"What?" Nico asked.
"You got a crush?" Draco asked knowingly.
"A boyfriend actually," Nico said without thinking.
Draco's eyes went wide for a second. "You're gay?"
"As gay as Hamilton."
"What?"
"Nothing. Yeah, I'm gay.'
"Cool. . ." Draco said, seeming a little unsure what to do with the information.
Nico looked back to the teacher. He realized then that he actually didn't know the name of the teacher.
"Wait, what's this teacher's name?" he asked.
"This is Professor Slughorn," Draco answered.
"You people and your weird ass names," Nico mumbled.
"What?!" Draco exclaimed quietly. "We aren't the ones who use Fahrenheit and miles."
"I didn't before! I was born in Italy!"
"I was wondering about that. You've got a bit of an accent."
"-take another five points to Gryffindor," the teacher, Slughorn said, gesturing to the middle caudron and Draco and Nico quit their chatting to actually pay attention. "Yes, it's a funny little potion, Felix Felicis. Desperately tricky to make, and disastrous to get wrong. However, if brewed correctly, as this has been, you will find that all your endeavors tend to succeed . . . at least until the effects wear off."
The class continued talking and Nico laid his head down on the table. He didn't get flashbacks or nightmares during the day, so he liked to take a nap or two every week whenever he could. He was also exhausted from the jet lag.
He was about to drift off when someone poked his shoulder. He opened his eyes and saw Draco was the one poking him.
"We're working now," he whispered.
"Ugh," Nico groaned. He looked at Draco's open book and opened it up to the same page.
He started working and found comfort with it. He seemed to know what to do without even looking at the page and he got so wrapped up in the flow of it that everything else disappeared.
"Hey," Draco pointed to Nico's potion as he added in his crushed beans. "You're supposed to cut the beans, not squash them."
Nico looked down at the book and saw that it said nothing about squashing the beans. The funny thing was that some instinct inside him told him that what he did was right.
Nico shrugged, "well, nothing I can do about it now.
After an unknown amount of time of potion making, Nico had a beautifully made potion.
"Woah," Slughorn said as he looked from Nico's potion to the one Harry had made. His looked exactly like Nico's except a step behind him so it wasn't quite done yet.
"What is your name, boy?" Slughorn asked him.
"Nico di Angelo," Nico replied.
"Could you be a relative of Maria di Angelo?"
Nico's heart stopped.
"Y-yes," Nico replied. "She was my moth- grandmother."
"Oh I loved having her in my class!" Slughorn laughed. "She was quite a joy to have around."
"She came to Hogwarts?" Nico asked.
"She didn't tell you?"
"She died when I was young."
"Oh," Slughorn patted his arm sympathetically. "What a shame."
"Yeah," Nico agreed uncomfortably.
"Well, Mr. di Angelo, you must come to one of my parties!" Slughorn smiled at him and Nico knew immediately he would do whatever he could to avoid the parties.
"Well, we have a winner," Slughorn cried. "Although Potter's is close, di Angelo finished first so here you go lad."
He handed Nico a small bottle of liquid and then dismissed the class.
"Hey, wanna study in the library tomorrow during the morning free periode?" Nico asked Draco as they packed up.
Draco looked up at him suspiciously, "you want to study with me?"
"Yeah," Nico shrugged. "Your fun."
Draco gave him a weird look and Nico assumed that he hadn't been called 'fun' a lot.
"Sure," he finally agreed.
The rest of the day was full of classes and homework. By the end of the day, Nico was exhausted but he couldn't let himself sleep until he got some of his outrageous homework done.
He plopped down on the couch of the common room and started reading one of the chapters he had to finish by Thursday.
Gryffindors came and went up and down the dorm stairs and many times he was tempted to join a game but then had to force himself to keep working. In hindsight, Nico should have asked Hecate to tell the Headmaster and teacher that he wasn't an actual student and then he would fail his mission and fail school at the same time.
It was probably midnight when his eyes threatened to close and never open until the morning. There was only Hermione, Ron, and Harry left in the common room, whispering as usual.
"See you guys tomorrow," Nico told them with a yawn.
"Good night, Nico," Hermione told him as he picked up his books and stumbled sleepily to the stairs.
"'Night mate," Ron said, equally tired.
Nico and Harry made eye contact. The boy's eyes narrowed and Nico couldn't help but wonder what was going on in his mind.
His feet led him up the staircase and he dumped all of his books by his bed before closing his curtains, casting the muffliato spell, and promptly falling asleep on top of his covers.