Nico slid into an empty compartment. The son of Hades had been several minutes early, if the emptiness of the train was anything to go by. He had been sent as a quest for Hades to destroy the philosopher's stone along with the blessing of Hecate so that he could properly blend in. In addition, he'd been returned to his 11 year old body, and it irritated him greatly. Fortunately, all of his powers were intact. He absentmindedly watched various wizards and witches bounce around outside, excitement flowing in their veins.
Within minutes, the train was bustling with noise. In fact, two people just opened the door to his compartment. There was another presence, one that Nico couldn't identify, but he shook it off. One was a boy with the most messiest hair Nico had ever seen, and another was a boy with red, orange fire like hair. The black haired boy was scarily similar to Percy Jackson, and it freaked Nico out.
"Hi, do you mind if we sit here?" the red one asked.
Nico waved his hand as if to say, "go ahead". The two sat across from each other, both grinning wolfishly.
"So are you really Harry Potter?" the orange inquired, voice full of curiosity.
Nico perked slightly at the name. Harry Potter, the one Tom Riddle was targeting, the one that had survived death. The one his dad sometimes grumbled about. The one forcing a backlog of paperwork and jams. Nico was about to kill two birds with one stone, as he was almost certain Riddle would come back to finish the job on Harry.
Harry pushed up his hair with his hand and exposed a bright red scar in the shape of a lightning bolt. Nico looked at it and immediately felt what had bugged him. A tiny piece of Riddle's soul was in Harry. He felt it peacefully resting in Harry, unable to be taken out without death to the host. How unfortunate. Nico really didn't want to kill Harry to kill Tom Riddle, seeing as it will anger Hecate very much.
"Cool!" the orange one exclaimed. "I'm Ron. Ron Weasley."
The boy turned to Nico and asked, "Who're you?"
"Nico di Angelo," he replied.
Just then a cart rolled in front of their compartment. An array of sweets Nico hadn't seen before lay atop the cart, their dazzling colors making his mouth water. Nico shook his head to clear it, and slumped against his chair.
"Care for some sweets, kids?" the lady asked, voice light and sweet.
Harry looked back at the two and smiled, "We'll take the whole cart."
The lady looked surprise for a moment, but quickly regained herself and dished out the entire cart to them while Harry gave her a large bag jingling with coins. Ron eagerly dug into the chocolates and Harry quickly followed. Nico politely declined, as he wasn't hungry. They shrugged and continued to eat.
Silence, save for the sound of food being devoured, stretched on until the compartment door slid open once more to reveal a girl with bushy brown, gold hair.
"Have any of you seen a toad?" she asked, every word clear and precise.
They all shook their heads "no", and Ron pulled out his wand.
"Are you doing magic? Let's have at it then," the same girl said, sitting down next to Ron who then pulled out his rat.
Ron took a deep breath and recited, "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow."
Nico stifled the urge to smile as he heard the "spell" worthy of Apollo.
As the rat stayed grey, the girl rambled, "Are you sure that's a real spell? I've tried a couple at home and they've all worked for me. Nobody in my family's able to do magic, so it was quite a surprise when my letter came. I hope I'm good enough, I've read all of the course books, and I've heard Hogwarts is the best school of witchcraft there is. Oh, by the way, my name's Hermione Granger, and who are you?"
Nico widened his eyes at how much she resembled a daughter of Athena and how much she reminded him of Annabeth, bright, young, and smart. He saw out of the corner of his eye, Harry and Ron exchanging fearful glances, most likely about if they were good enough.
"Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.
"Nico di Angelo," he chimed in.
"Harry Potter," Harry said.
"Are you really?" Hermione asked. "I've read about you in a couple of books."
"Books, really?" Harry said, dazed.
"Of course, anyway, do any of you know what house you're going to be in? I've been asking around, and it sounds like Gryffindor's the best. I hope I'm in it, I've heard Dumbledore himself was in it, anyway we better keep looking for Neville's toad. You three better start changing, we're almost there."
Hermione left with a swish, and the three boys looked at each other.
"All of my family's been in Gryffindor. I don't know what'd they say if I weren't," Ron sighed.
"What other houses are there?" Harry asked.
"Well there's Gryffindor, the brave, Hufflepuff, the loyal, Ravenclaw, the smart, and Slytherin, the cunning,"
"Wasn't Vol- I mean, You-Know-Who in Slytherin?"
Ron nodded, "Yeah, cunning's just another word for evil. All of the evil wizards and witches come from it."
Nico frowned slightly as he listened to their conversation. He toyed with the hem of his jacket. The two boys started talking about "Quidditch", but he tuned them out. The son of Hades wondered what house he would be sorted in, perhaps he'd be put in the notorious Slytherin. He thought that Slytherin couldn't be all bad, there must be at least some good witches and wizards in it. Just then, the compartment door slid open once more, but this time there was a blond haired boy flanked by two large bodyguard like boys.
"It's true isn't it? You're Harry Potter," the blond gestured at Harry.
Harry eyed the two bulkier boys, "Yes."
"Crabbe, Goyle," the pale boy said carelessly, "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."
Draco looked over at Ron and scowled, "Oh, a Weasley. My father's told me all about them, red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."
Ron frowned just as Draco turned to Nico and asked, "And who are you?"
"Nico di Angelo," he replied nonchalantly.
"Di Angelo? Where are you from?"
"America."
"Why come here?"
"School's better."
Apparently satisfied, Draco Malfoy addressed to Harry and Nico, "Good, you'll both find that some wizarding families are better than others. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."
"No thank you," Nico refused just as Harry said coolly, "I think I can tell who the wrong sort are, thanks."
Draco narrowed his eyes, "I'd be careful if I were you. Unless you're a bit politer you will go out the same way as your parents, Potter. And di Angelo, you're going to want to start out somewhere good. You hang out with these people, and they'll rub off on you."
"Say that again," Ron threatened, face red.
"Going to fight us, huh?" Draco sneered.
"No," Nico said, causing everyone to look at him. "They aren't worth the effort."
"Scared, huh?" Draco taunted as Nico gave off a cool air of indifference.
"We're not scared!" Ron angrily yelled.
"Oh really?" Draco scoffed as Goyle forced himself into the compartment.
Ron hurriedly ducked as Goyle swung his fist at him. Eyes wide, Harry stood up and held off Goyle, as Ron turned to face Crabbe. Several uneaten sweets flew into the air as the boys struggled and fought. Nico stood, waiting for the perfect opportunity to help his new acquaintances. Draco stood, pleased in the background, watching his goons fight. Ron ran out of the way when Harry somehow managed to push Goyle across the compartment and into Crabbe. The force knocked the wind out of the two students, and a frown encased itself upon Draco's face.
Harry and Ron smiled at their triumph, but Nico saw the imminent sign of danger as Draco pulled out a brown stick, a wand. Halfway through his incantation, Draco lifted his wand just as Nico stealthily twisted said arm behind the blond boy's back. Draco dropped the wand in shock, and Ron picked it up.
"What is going on in here?" a familiar bushy haired girl cried out.
Nico dropped Draco's arm as Hermione Granger stood in the hall, a look of surprise on her face. The compartment was a mess, sweets were strewn across the floor and the other boys had light streaks of blood on their faces. Malfoy scowled at the sight of Hermione.
He waved his two bodyguards over and warned darkly, "My father will hear about this."
Nico sighed. So much for avoiding trouble, he thought. Malfoy then pushed roughly past Hermione and left.
"Those two came in here, and tried to beat us up!" Ron muttered.
"Over what?" Hermione asked.
"Over nothing! They're Malfoys! The Malfoys are always evil, they were one of the first to come back after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched, my dad doesn't believe it,"
Hermione frowned and shook her head, "I'll tell the teachers, but I can't believe it, term hasn't even started yet and you've already found trouble. You'd better change into your robes, we're almost there. You don't want to get into anymore trouble now, do you?"
She left in a flurry of bouncy hair. Ron glared after she left. Nico looked out the window and saw that indeed, the train did seem to be slowing down. The sky was a rich purple, dotted with vast forests and large mountains. He wondered how Hogwarts looked like. The trio changed quickly into their robes, and Nico frowned at how impractical they were. Long and heavy, they hindered his movements greatly. He'll probably trip over them several times. He saw that Ron's robe was slightly shorter than him while Harry's and his own fit perfectly.
An announcement came overhead, saying that there were five minutes until the train official docked. Nico looked around and saw that Harry and Ron had matching looks of anticipation. He himself felt slight excitement, but his face betrayed no emotion. He blamed the sudden, bubbling excitement as a side effect of being in his 11 year old body.
They bumbled into the hall along with all of the other students. Nico grimaced at the sheer amount of people. They hurried out into the darkness of the night, and Nico exhaled, finally away from all of the people. The other students shivered in the chilly night, but he reveled in the familiar air. A lantern suddenly cast light onto all of the students.
"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" a booming voice directed.