Chapter 3

Nico was fitting into the school a lot easier than he expected. Luna was a big help, and hung out with him practically all the time. At first it was slightly uncomfortable, to be hanging out with someone who wasn't dead for so long, but Luna soon started to grow on him. Harry was a cool guy too; he helped him a lot learning how to work a broom stick. His two friends Hermione and Ron had been hesitant of him at first but started to warm up to him after a while. He wasn't trying to be mean, but he kind of liked it better when they didn't. Ron stole his food all the time and would pelt him with questions 24/7, which annoyed the heck out of Nico. During one of his lessons, Nico made the fatal mistake of asking her to help him catch up on his lessons. Now every night she would give her at least three thick books of homework to finish by the next day, and would pester him constantly about if he finished this essay and that project. As if the headache all the dyslexia was giving him wasn't bad enough. But still, Nico didn't hang out with them very often, really only at meals and in class. Even though he was with Luna a lot, whenever she was buys he would talk to the ghosts of the castle. He used them to find out what was happening outside the confines of the castle. Nothing was happening with the giants as of late, but that didn't stop Nico from worrying.

Even so, Nico was catching on to his studies pretty easily. Once he had gotten the hang of it, it was like shadow travel, easy, but very tiring. He had to stop after only five spells. Luna helped him out a bit, but usually when the hung out they were playing with Rex. Luna really like Rex, and would often take care of him when Nico was getting mauled by Hermione.

Today was no different. Nico had been at Hogwarts for about a month, Nico was going outside to meet Luna, after Harry had helped him figure out a defence against the dark arts spell. Luna was playing fetch with Rex; the other students were still just getting gout of classes. Nico was walking towards her, both hands stuffed in the pockets of his aviator jacket, when he heard a rustling from the bushes. He stopped for a moment, and looked over the bushes. Silently, he walked around the bush, and saw a boy, kneeling behind it, watching Luna through the bushes.

"Hey." Nico called. The boy jumped in surprise. Nico actually recognized him, he hung out with harry and his friends some times. Nico made a face at him. "What are you doing?"

"Nico!" the boy yelped "I err, I was um."

"Where you just..."

"I wasn't stalking Luna!" Neville blurted out.

There was a bit of an awkward pause. "I, I didn`t say you were." Nico said slowly. There was another awkward pause.

"What's going on?" Luna asked. They both jumped, and turned. How she had snuck up on them Nico didn`t know, or how she did it with Rex. Rex jumped up happily seeing his master, putting his front paws on his shoulders and licking his face.

"Aw yuck, Rex down boy down!" Nico said, trying to calm down Rex.

Neville's face was beat red, dripping with sweat. "I, err, Luna! I um, I was just, I mean, we were." Neville stuttered on and Nico couldn`t help but laugh.

"You were just looking for dabberblimps." Both of them starred at her. "They do like playing in the bushes, but I find it's easier to find them at the river." Luna turned and pointed at the river a little ways away from them.

Nico could see the relief on Neville`s face. "Err ya yes that's what I was doing! Thank you Luna!" Neville practically sprinted away.

Nico frowned. "You're gonna let him get away?"

Luna looked at him confused. "Get away what do you mean?"

"He was staring at you! Don`t you want to get him back?"

"I don`t see why I should get back at him for that? Why did he make you angry?"

Nico clenched his fist. He couldn`t explain it but for some reason after seeing Neville watch after Luna, he wanted to hunt him down and punch him in the face. Nico took a deep breath to calm his nerves. "No. Nothing I`m fine."

Luna looked at him for a moment. "Then why are you angry?"

"I`m not." Before she could ask again she interrupted. "Let's get going, people are getting out of class. Let's grab some lunch before everyone else gets out." Nico turned, and stalked off towards the buildings, followed in heel by Rex. Luna blinked, but then jogged to catch up, then skipped along easily by his side. Nico`s hand stayed clenched, and he was afraid to open it. Suddenly, he felt Luna`s small hand encase his own. Nico looked at her in surprise, but she offered no explanation, and just starred on as she skipped. Nico felt his hand relax, and slipped his hand out of her grasp.

"Thanks." He mumbled, looking away, feeling his face turn red. Luna smiled, and skipped ahead. Nico watched after her, trying to figure out why his heart was beating so fast. Rex looked up at his master, and barked, almost in confusion. Nico smirked at his dog, and scratched him behind his ears, before he followed Luna.

Nico and Luna walked in late, most everyone else was already there. They both left to go sit at their own tables. Needless to say, the slight red blush on Nico`s face did not go unnoticed by our favourite brunette.

"Look at that Harry!" Hermione said, pointing at Nico.

Harry looked up from his soup. "Hmm? What Nico? What about him?"

"Is he blushing?" Hermione asked.

Ron snorted. "Ghost boy? Blushing? I highly doubt it."

Harry frowned. "I think that he is." Hermione gave Ron an `I told you so` look. Ron stuck his tongue out at her. "Any idea why?" Harry asked.

"Isn`t it obvious?" Hermione asked. The two boys gave her blank stares, and she sighed in exasperation. "You two are so hopeless. It's because of Luna! It's obvious he likes her!"

Ron spit out a big of his noodles, receiving a well deserved glare from one of the other girls. "Ghost boy likes Looney girl? Sorry I don`t see it."

Hermione glared at him for his nicknames. "Its obviously there. She follows him around everywhere, and she`s the only one that Nico puts up with outside of class." the two still looked at her. She sighed again. "You boys are hopeless. It's a wonder if either of you ever get a date." Ron recoiled at her.

After lunch, Nico went to his gardening class. This was probably his least favourite class, curtsey of his step mother probably. Nico sat down next to Hermione, seeing as there were no other seats. Luna was with the other Raven tails, who were preparing for some special dance that their house was putting on in a few weeks. Nico frowned, seeing Neville sitting in a seat at the back. Nico had decided to label his anger down to the fact that he really didn`t like the boys shoes.

"Hey Nico!" Nico looked in surprise, and almost jolted out of his seat when he saw how close Hermione was, starring up at him.

"I, uh, hi." Nico said, feeling extremely uncomfortable. "what`s going on?"

"Soo, did you hear about the Raven tail dance?" Hermione said slowly. The teacher was talking now, but she was so focused on the plants she had at the front she didn`t notice the students talking.

"Um. Yes?" Nico said slowly.

"sooo. Are you going to ask someone?" she asked, scooting closer to him.

"I don`t dance." Nico said.

"What!" Hermione cried exasperated. They received some stares, but they all quickly looked back. Nico was thankful that the teacher was wearing her earmuffs. "But you have to ask her! It would be so cute, and it would be a lot of fun and if you don`t..." Hermione went on and on. Nico just sat frozen in his seat, trying to figure out what he had done wrong. All he was hearing was blah blah blah you did this wrong blah blah blah but you half to blah blah.

"Um. Sorry?" Nico said hesitantly.

Hermione looked at him with a glare, and Nico wished he hadn`t said anything. "Didn`t you listen to a word I said?"

"Was I supposed to?" Nico blurted out. Hermione immediately glared at him, and was about to say something when the teacher spoke out.

"Hermione granger and Nico Di Angelo if you two don`t mind I would like to continue my class."

Hermione turned to the teacher. "Our apologies Ma`am. It won`t happen again." The teacher nodded and turned back to the board. "Meet me after class." Hermione whispered to Nico. Nico looked at the board. He knew he should have stayed in bed this morning.

After his agonizingly painful class Nico waited back in the class till everyone had left. He was hoping Hermione's always on time record would cause her to forget, but just his luck, after everyone had left she stuck her head back in.

"If you don`t hurry up I'll put an orchideous spell in your hair, and you`ll go walking out of the school with dandelions." Nico groaned. Not wanting to risk being called pansy head for the rest of his life he got up and followed her. He found her outside the classroom tapping her foot impatiently.

"Alright I`m here. So what the heck was that all about?" Nico asked impatiently, checking his watch impatiently.

"What do you mean you don`t dance?" Hermione said, after glancing around to make sure no one was there.

Nico blinked. "In case you haven't noticed, I`m not exactly social."

"Except with those ghosts that follow you everywhere." Hermione noted.

Nico ignored that. "So being in a big room with most everyone in the school acting like maniacs to a rhythm is not exactly my idea of fun. I tend to steer clear of school dances."

"But you can`t!" Hermione jumped. "You have to ask her to go with you so you two can finally start going out, and then you can be the perfect couple!"

Nico starred at her as if she had just fallen from Apollo`s chariot. "What the heck are you talking about?"

Hermione sighed. "Must I explain everything to you?" Nico nodded. She sighed in annoyance. "I'm talking about Luna! You have to ask her to the dance!"

"Oh thank goodness, I was scared you wanted me to ask you to the dance!"

"What? No! You`d be lucky if I ever said yes to someone as messy as you!"

"Or just someone who isn`t Ron Weasly."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Nico decided to drop it fast. "Never mind. Besides what do you mean Luna and me? There's nothing between us!"

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh really? Then why were you blushing at her earlier?"

Nico winced. "I wasn't blushing!"

Hermione made an MmmmHmmm? Sound. "Nico how stupid do you think I am." Nico decided it would be wise not to answer that question. "Think about it. You`re smart for a guy. Who in this school do you put up with more than Luna? I have never seen you able to stay in the same room with someone for more than an hour at most, while you hang out with Luna practically all the time!" Nico didn't comment. "Oh come on, would you just admit it? I see how you look at her."

Nico clenched his teeth, "is it that obvious?" he growled.

Hermione grinned, as if she had just won. "No. Most people in this school are far too slow to see it." Nico frowned. "Also, if you don't mind me saying, I've never seen Luna as happy with someone as I've seen her with you." Nico felt the corner of his mouth involuntarily lift in a smile, but it vanished as quickly as it came. "So?" Hermione pestered. "Are you going to ask her to the dance?"

Nico paled. "That doesn't change. I'm not good at dances. You said it yourself; I'm not good with people."

"Oh come one!" Hermione moaned. "It's not like she'll say no to you!"

"Doesn't change the fact. I'm not going." Nico turned and started walking away.

"If you don't ask her soon someone else will!" she called after him. Once again, Nico ignored her and walked on. Nico would never tell anyone, but it had nothing to do with the fact of a big crowd that made Nico shrink at the idea of going to the dance.

Nico's day after that was exhausting. Another day of just figuring out how to read all the spells and potion with his Dyslexia, and receiving five new essays that he would have to finish by the end of the week. He sighed. Why had his father sent him here? Wasn't 1 month enough?

Nico looked up, and saw Luna skipping towards him, from the other end of the hall. Nico waved at her, and she happily waved back. He started walking in her direction, when someone burst forth from the hallway next to Luna. Nico stopped in his tracks, as he saw Neville go up to Luna. She stopped and turned to him, and they talked for a moment. Nico stopped in his tracks, his fist clenched, but not wanting to get in on the conversation. After they were finished, Neville turned and walked past Nico, with a large grin on his face. Nico walked over to Luna, who didn't look to happy, her bottom lip coming out in a pout.

"Hey what's up?" Nico asked. "What did Neville want?"

Luna sighed. "Nothing. He was just asking me to the dance."

"What!" Nic said shocked. He never actually expected Neville to have the guts to ask Luna. "What did you say?"

Luna looked at him puzzled. "I said yes. Isn't that what you're supposed to do when someone asks you?"

It was three days later on the night of the ball; Nico was outside in his regular clothes, playing with Rex in the fields. He wanted to shadow travel back to camp, but every time he tried, his father intercepted his travel and sent him right back to where he started. Nico hadn't spoken to Luna after he found out she was going with Neville. He had consciously avoided her all over the school. He was sure she was confused with his actions, but he really didn't care right now. He didn't want her to see him in this state. He couldn't explain his rage, but it was there. A few times he had been tempted to shadow travel Neville to the underworld, or just send him there the old fashion way.

All week he had gotten pestered by Hermione, after a while he decided to avoid absolutely everyone till the dance was over. Not even the ghosts dared to come near him right now. He heard the music for the dance going on, and huffed in annoyance. It wasn't a lie when he said that he didn't like dances. He never had, they were far too noisy for his taste. He probably wouldn't have asked Luna even if Neville hadn't.

"Then why am I so angry?" Nico mumbled to himself.

"Excuse m young man!" Nico looked up, to see Mrs. Umbridge standing over him. She was wearing the stupidest puffy pink dress he had ever seen. It made her look like a cupcake, with way to much frosting. "All wizards in this school must attend the dance!"

"Who made up such a stupid rule?"

Mrs. Umbridge's face turned red, and Nico assumed that it had been her. "Young men should know better than to talk back to a teacher! The youth these days are so disrespectful!"

"I'm older than you are." Nico thought, but didn't say anything.

"If you do not attend, you will receive detention!"

Was that supposed to be a threat? From her face, Nico thought it was. Nico would have loved to see Mrs. Umbridge in an actual battle. He could picture her yelping around like a chiwawa, as a chimera chased her. But Nico thought of how his father would kill him if he got in too much trouble here. He sighed, as he stood up. "Fine, lead the way."

Mrs. Umbridge looked at him in shock. "You're going dressed like that?"

Nico looked down at his clothes. He wasn't wearing his aviator jacked, having left it in his dorm. He wore a black t-shirt with a flaming skull on it. He wore black track pants with white lines going down the sides. "What wrong with it?" Nico asked, honestly not knowing.

Mrs. Umbridge stood in shock; as if not able to comprehend that a boy could be lacking such fashion sense. "Whatever just follow me."

Nico walked into the dance, Mrs. Umbridge leaving to start scolding some other poor soul. Nico looked around the room. He knew how underdressed he was, but he didn't really care. He saw Ron dancing with Hermione, who looked like she was trying hard not to smile. Harry was sitting to the side, talking to the other ginger, Ginny, Nico thought her name was. He looked around the room, not wanting to see who he was looking for. Unfortunately, he found her, and his mouth dropped in a slight o. She was wearing a long blue dress, with a silver chain tying it around her waist, the symbol of her house on the front. It had one this strap wrapping around her right shoulder. Her hair was flowing down her back, in light curls, sparkles adorning her hair, and a silver rose tucking in the top of her hair nicely. Nico couldn't take his eyes off her, her dress spinning around her. But then Nico's daydreaming was crushed, when he saw she was dancing with Neville. The boy looked like he was sweating, his hair sticking slightly to his forehead. He was also a horrible dancer, which pissed of Nico. He stumbled a lot, and stepped on Luna's feet a lot. Nico clenched his fist. Promptly, he walked towards the couple, earning his a bunch of surprised looks from others. Neville looked up surprised when Nico walked up to the two.

"Excuse me," he said, but it was close to a growl. "May I interrupt?" Neville looked surprised at his mannerly actions. Nico cursed himself for it, but it was too much of a habit.

Even so, his tone made it clear to Neville that he was not asking. "Y...yes of course!" Neville said, embarrassed. He let go of Luna, and immediately skittered away like a rat.

Nico huffed, thinking that any real man would defend his right to dance with a girl. Suddenly Nico got worried, wondering if Luna would be mad at him for scaring off her date. Nico looked at her, and was surprised, at the wide smile adorning her face.

"I didn't expect you to come Nico!" she said smiling. "You haven't talked to me in days! I've missed you!"

Nico immediately felt guilty for leaving her for those days. "Sorry." Nico took her hand, then wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close. "Hopefully I can make it up to you with this dance." Just then an old slow song came on, something that Nico would have heard during his time. The two started dancing, Nico easily talking the lead. Nico was an amazing dancer, of the likes not many people in Hogwarts had seen in years. His dancing was old-fashioned, extremely, but he was so good at it, the two of them looked like something out of a children's fairytale. Most if not all couples stopped to watch the two dance, as Nico spun Luna around the room. Nico's face went a bit red, knowing how stupid he must look, dancing like this, and wearing such sloppy clothes. But he looked at Luna, as she laughed in enjoyment, and his worries vanished.

"I'm surprised Nic, you're a really good dancer!" Luna said smiling at him.

Nico grinned. "You're not so bad yourself." He twirled her around

"Where did you learn how to dance?" Luna asked, as she turned again to face him.

Nico blushed slightly. "Actually, this is one of the reasons I wasn't going to come." Nico cursed himself, wondering why on earth he had said that.

"Oh?" Luna said, immediately curious. "Why would being a good dancer make you not want to dance?"

Nico's face turned red, looking away. He saw Hermione and Ron watching them, Hermione looked close to tears. Stupid girl. "My parents were... old fashioned." Nico started slowly. "They both danced a lot. My sister wanted to learn how, so my mother always made me dance with her so she would have a partner."

Luna giggled, at him, causing his face to burn even more. "That's a cute story." Nico looked at her, feeling a bit better seeing she wasn't going to make fun of him. "I'm glad you decided to come, it was getting really boring."

Nico looked surprised. "But I thought you were enjoying yourself, dancing with..." Nico couldn't bring himself to say his name without spitting.

"Neville?" Luna asked. "He's sweet, and I didn't want to hurt him. But I don't like liars."

Nico frowned, "what did he lie about?"

Luna grinned. "My my, Nico! Don't you know? Neville said he was looking for dabberblimps, but everyone knows that dabberblimps hate bushes, and they cannot stand being near water!"

Nico grinned, remembering the conversation. "I can't say I knew that."

"Oh yeah!" Luna said, her face shinning, Nico knowing how much she loved talking about her creatures. "dabberblimps and water Nymphs have a terrible relationship, so they refuse to go anywhere near water."

Nico laughed, "You're crazy, you know that?" Nico said, not trying to be mean.

Luna grinned. "Of course I am! The world is so much more fun like that!" The two hadn't noticed, but the music had come to a stop. They stopped, dancing, people around the clapping. Nico winced at the attention, his face going red again. Luna squeezed his hand. "Don't worry; sometimes a little attention is good for a person, especially when they have a friend with them." Nico glanced at her smiling face. Suddenly, without warning, Luna went up on her tiptoes, and kissed Nico on the cheek. More cheers filled the room. Nico looked at her for an explanation, but she gave none, just continuing smiling at him. "You know, your face has been going red a lot recently, maybe you should get that checked."

Just them Mrs. Umbridge clapped her hands, demanding everyone's attention. "Well then, its 11 o'clock, everyone must return to their rooms now, there are classes in the morning." Everyone groaned openly, but obediently started returning to their rooms.

Luna smiled at Nico again, before letting go of his hand, and following her house mates. "See you tomorrow Nico!" she called back.

Nico stood there stunned for a moment. He felt a thud on his back, and looked to see the golden trio standing behind him. "Way to go man!" Ron said, thudding his back again. Nico would have slaughtered him on any other day, but right now he was in a good mood.

Hermione smiled at him. "Don't worry! I won't say I told you so!"

"Geez man, where did you learn to dance like that?" Harry asked.

Nico frowned. "Nowhere, I just knew." Before the group could pester him any further, he left, returning to his room.

He found Rex sleeping at the end of his bed like usually. Nico walked over to him, and scratched him behind the ear. Rex looked up at him, with a confused look. Nico could swear he was asking, did master bring me meat? Nico laughed. Nico's good mood seemed to confuse his dog even more. Nico just scratched him behind the ear, and plopped on his bed again.