Magical Demigods

Hermione didn't like the encounter with the giant dog. Harry and Ron thought that it was good fun. Draco was astounded when he heard about it ("What's a dog that big doing trapped in a small room?") Nico and Dawn were indifferent to it.

They chose to continue with their studies. Potions became easier with the translated instructions, History of Magic was boring, and Defense Against the Dark Arts was as much as a joke as ever.

Nico didn't ask Dawn about why she said 'not dream visions'. She'd made it clear that she didn't want to share it with anyone. Not yet, anyway.

Barlow was in obvious disbelief when he saw Harry and Ron the next day. Draco was happy, but lectured them for a good while in the stupidity of believing a bully would actually keep their word - especially a Slytherin bully, who was bound to be cunning in some way.

Yet Nico, Ron, Harry and Draco wondered what might be under the trap door Hermione had seen under the dog's foot. Harry filled them in on the package that had been moved from Gringotts to the school. It made Nico suspicious.

"It either really valuable or really dangerous," Ron said.

"Or both," added Harry.

Nico, being a demigod, decided to investigate and protect whatever was in there. If it was dangerous and likely to threaten the lives of hundreds of students, then he'd figure out a way to destroy it.

A week passed quickly. 

One morning, the owls flew in as usual. Nico looked up, hoping for a letter from Will, when he saw a package being carried by six owls. They dropped the package infront of Harry.

He was distracted by a weary owl landing infront of him. He took the letter and Dawn used Nico's fork to give it some bacon. He'd gotten used to her being extremely picky about food she didn't like touching her utensils. She'd had a melt down some days ago because of that. Nico had given her his fork that he hadn't used and uses hers. It helped slightly. 

The owl took the bacon thankfully, and flew off to roost. Dawn's raven, Riley, landed infront of her. She took the letter, gave Riley some bacon, and looked at Nico.

"Should we go investigate? Or should we wait a while?" She asked. Nico shrugged.

"Probably going to be told all about by Ron or Harry."

"True."

Nico opened his letter.

Nico,

It's me, Will. I was so happy when I got your letter at breakfast! I had to do my best to not get overexcited.

Im glad to hear that you're doing well at your new school. And you found a half-sister of mine there, too? Chiron would be happy of she could come. He says that we're going to need more healers for when the final battle comes. I have to agree with him. We lost a few when the fire was tipped over.

Anyway, I've also started school. My name's been down for a while. It's a nice school, though the uniform we have to wear isn't the nicest. I mean, blue and cranberry red? Seriously? I know that they've got uniforms in England, and I hope that yours looks better than mine. It probably does, to be honest.

Some of the lessons are boring (History) but some are interesting. I'm going to spare you the details of them.

I'd like to keep talking to you. It's nice to hear from you, and it's boring here at school. I'm not the most popular in the year. Some of the students make fun of me because my mom in a country singer. It's not a bad genre of music, though it's not a lot of people's favorite.

Please write back if you're able to.

Will Solace.

Nico couldn't help but smile when he finished the letter. Something inside him felt different when he talked to Will. It was a nice different.

He walked to class with Dawn, the letter carefully tucked away in his bag. He'd definitely write back to Will.

When lunch came, Nico was waved over to the Gryffindor table by Ron, who looked eager to share something with him. He noticed Draco sitting there too. Nico decided that it wouldn't hurt, and sat with them. Dawn went to join Hermione.

"So you know that package?" Ron asked. 

"Everyone saw it," Nico confirmed. Ron leaned forward an excited grin on his face.

"It's a Nimbus Two-Thousand," he whispered, loud enough for only them to hear. Draco gasped.

"Really?" He asked. Ron nodded. Then he looked over at Nico, who was just eating his food.

"Why aren't you excited?" He asked. Nico shrugged. "Bloody hell, mate. You'd want to get one if you want to try out for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team next year."

"Flying isn't my thing. The sky seems to hate me. Shadows are my friends," Nico told him.

"What?"

"I'm just saying. I'd prefer to travel in a way that doesn't require me to be in the air. If I could travel through shadows, I would." Ron looked lost and confused. As did Harry and Draco.

"There's Apparation?" Draco said.

"I was raised by Muggles and don't know much about this stuff. Could you perhaps elaborate?"

"Apparation is basically what the Muggles call teleportation. It gets you from one place to another quickly. It's supposed to be really hard, though."

"Oh, okay. I know how I'll be traveling, then." Nico continued to eat, and the conversation was turned to Quidditch. 

He finished before his friends and excused himself to go write back to Will. He went to the library and found a nice, quiet spot, where he took out some parchment and pulled out a quill and bottle of ink. He set to work.

Solace,

I've got to admit, it's nice to hear from you too. I don't get much mail (re: none) here, so it's nice.

I'm surprised that your school has a uniform. I'm even more surprised to hear that it's blue and cranberry red, though they probably go together nicely if balanced correctly. And yes, I do have a uniform. The color is black and grey, with a tie, sweater and jacket in the color of your house. I got placed into the yellow house for some reason, though I'm not complaining. The common room for my house is very nice, with plants all over the place. Our head of house likes plants.

History is boring, isn't it? We've got to take it here, and the teacher just drones on. It wouldn't make much difference if he died. He'd probably just get up out of his body and continue to teach.

Also, could we not talk about the war in our letters? I want to not think of it while I'm at school.

Sucks that people don't appreciate that your mom does what she enjoys. I haven't heard country music yet, but maybe you could show it to me at some point? No guarantee that I'll like it though.

Nico di Angelo.

The bell went to signal the end of lunch as he finished, so he packed up quickly and left the library to go to his next lesson.

Halloween arrived with red, orange and brown leaves falling off of the trees, and the somewhat strong smell of pumpkin coming from the kitchens. 

Dawn had to be taken into the kitchens to see what was being made or else she'd panic and be worried the whole day. She hated pumpkin anything.

The day was relatively normal. Nico went through his lessons and caught up with Harry, Ron and Draco.

It was during one of these catch-ups that Ron said that Hermione didn't have any friends because she was such a 'bossy know-it-all'. Hermione pushed past them, and Dawn followed not too long after.

"Wait, Hermione!" She called.

"I think she heard you," Harry said.

"She must know it's true," Ron replied. He looked uncomfortable.

Nico had to go to the feast, no matter how worried he was. It sucked, to say the least. 

Especially when he heard that Dawn was the only one able to comfort Hermione.

He tried to push it down, though, and started to plate food. 

"Troll! In the dungeons!" Quirrell shouted as he ran in. "Thought you ought to know."

Then he fainted.

The entire hall broke out into panic. Kids screamed until Dumbledore drew their attention to him with a few purple firecrackers from the tip of his wand.

"Prefects, take your houses to your dorms immediately," he ordered.

The Prefects jumped into action, and Nico could hear Percy Weasley ordering the first year Gryffindors into a line. Nico knew how much he values the role - he hadn't shut up about it since he received the badge.

Nico shook his head. He couldn't focus on that now. He needed to get to safety.

Then he noticed Snape. The man was going up the stairs, the opposite direction of the dungeons. He grew suspicious and, checking that no one was watching, went to see what he was doing.

Following him was easier said than done. He managed to get away from all of the students but lost Snape in the process. He muttered a curse under his breath in Ancient Greek. Not that anyone would understand him if he was around others, but he was still careful.

"Nico?" Harry asked. Nico jumped and turned around.

"Don't do that again," he hissed.

"Sorry. But Hermione and Dawn don't know about the troll," Harry explained. Nico froze.

That... Was true. Why hadn't he thought of that himself? Dawn and Hermione were a hundred times more important than whatever Snape was up to.

"Why're you guys here?" Draco asked.

"Why're you here?" Nico asked back.

"Touché."

"What?" Ron asked. 

"Muggle expression. Anyway, Dawn and Hermione," Nico said. 

"Wait, I hear footsteps. Might be Filch," Harry said. The four of them his behind a pillar, but the person who passed by them wasn't Filch.

"Snape?" Ron whispered when he disappeared around a corner. "What's he doing here?" 

"I don't know, but that's why I broke away from my class in the first place." Nico could feel Ron's eyes on him.

"I thought that Hufflepuffs were supposed to follow the rules?" Nico shrugged.

"Sometimes it's better to go with instinct than rules," he said cooly.

A smell started to fill the corridor. It smelled like a monster - raw meat and sour body odor. He knew that his friends could smell it too, but whatever it was, they would see a troll.

Nico covered all of them with the shadows.

"Hey, what?" Ron whispered, surprised.

"Shh." Nico watched and waited, like a predator stalking prey. Only he could end up as the prey.

The creature came into light. It was tall, and had an eye in the middle of it's forehead.

"I don't think that that's a troll," Harry whispered. Nico could feel a lump in his throat.

They could see it.

"You're right, it's not a troll," Nico whispered back.

The cyclops sniffed around. It looked into their direction, but fortunately it didn't see them. It went into a door.

"Look there's a key in the door, we could lock it in!" Ron said.

"No. We shouldn't," Nico replied. He moved to the door and entered the room as there was a scream.

Dawn and Hermione were there. Hermione was covering behind Dawn, who held a knife made of bronze. She glanced at him and an understanding passed between them.

"Oi, peabrain!" Ron shouted. Nico raised and eyebrow as the cyclops turned to face them.

"Four demigods and two mortals. A wonderful dinner for me!" It said. It raised its weapon, and Dawn pulled Hermione along over towards where the boys were. Nico's battle instincts kicked in.

He rolled to the side as the cyclops brought its club down, smashing the ground where Nico had been previously. He took the opportunity to pull out his knife.

Ron threw a tap at the cyclops, pulling its attention away from Nico and the girls.

"Go," he told them. Dawn nodded and took Hermione away. Nico noticed that Hermione was bleeding slightly from a cut on her head. Luckily it didn't seem too bad. In fact, he swore that it was healing.

But Nico couldn't focus on that. He had a monster to fight.

He rolled out of the way again as the cyclops swung at him again. 

"You missed," he said. He brought his weapon up. "Guess that you won't be eating us for dinner tonight."

The cyclops roared in rage.

"I will eat!" He insisted. 

"Oi, stinky!" Dawn's voice shouted. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over to see Dawn and Hermione hadn't left.

What happened next happened quickly. 

Dawn threw the dagger in her hand, and Nico watched as it flew into the cyclops' heart. The monster roared again, and tried to reach out to grab Dawn, but it dissolved into dust.

"Good one," Nico said. Dawn nodded.

"What was that? Why'd it say four demigods? Those don't exist!" Ron said, freaking out slightly. Dawn was silent as she reached over and grabbed her dagger. She hid it away as a necklace, pulling it over her head to keep it safe. Nico put his dagger away.

"What on earth happened here?" McGonagall's voice asked. All six of them turned around to face her. "Explain yourselves."

"Please, Professor, they were coming to help me. I've read all about trolls and thought that I could deal with one. If it weren't for the others, then I would have died," Hermione said. Nico and the others arranged their faces to make it seem like it was the truth. Professor McGonagall looked between them all.

In the end, Gryffindor's points didn't change, Slytherin got five more, and Hufflepuff got ten. The six of them returned to their separate common rooms where the feast continued.