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Nico slipped in beside Blaise, who was observing the Gryffindors through narrowed eyes.
"What did they want?" he muttered, trying not to draw Malfoy's attention to the incident.
"They were returning a stolen object." Nico told him shortly.
"What did they take?" Blaise was angry, but seemed chastised at Nico's raised eyebrow. The two hadn't quite settled back to their previous ease after their last confrontation.
"Oh, nothing of importance." Nico replied casually. Blaise shot him a withering look, obviously not fooled. Mercifully, he let the matter drop with no further comment.
Nico couldn't put Hermione's confusing behaviour out of his mind. He just didn't understand why she was acting so strange. She would often hang around at the end of classes to wait for him, biting her lip and looking anxious. He'd see her in the dungeons having just passed her in the entrance hall.
It was weird.
Nico didn't mention this to anyone after the first time, as Nott claimed he fancied her. The boy had shut up after Nico's patented deathglare. The Son of Hades had been pleased to note his classmate shiver slightly before he looked away.
Transfiguration would have been interesting, had Nico not been watching Hermione constantly out of the corner of his eye. As he wasn't concentrating properly, the fruit basket that he was supposed to turn into a fruit bat, instead morphed into a Stymphalian Bird, which immediately started attacking him. He repelled the foul thing with a revulsion jinx, but it then turned on Zacharias Smith, sitting alone directly in front. He yelled out in surprise and pain, resorting to batting the metal-feathered menace away with his textbook. It turned on Tracey and Daphne, clawing at their hair. Just when the bird careened away and aimed for Justin and Ernie, its wings shot back into the body, the metal reverting back to willow and the basket fell at Nico's feet.
"Mr di Angelo, I must insist you exercise more control over your magic, you could have caused yourself and your fellows serious harm!" McGonagall exclaimed, stowing her wand away. She turned to the rest of the students. "All those with injuries, you may go to the Hospital wing and get yourselves sorted by Madam Pomfrey."
Zacharias Smith leapt up, though he only had a small cut on the back of his hand. Tracey was quite shaken, and stood too. Her hair was a mess and there was a nasty gash near her hairline. Daphne whispered something, no doubt telling her friend that she'd get the homework and sort out any notes of the lesson for her. She seemed a little less composed than usual, but had fixed her hair so she looked a lot less dishevelled than her partner.
While he was leaving the transfiguration classroom, Nico spotted Scabbers scurrying down a (seldom used) corridor leading to the dungeons. He'd accio-ed the animal before it could get away, and trapped it in a transfigured potions vial. The cage wasn't spacious, but Nico had charmed it to be unbreakable.
Once he had the rat, Nico couldn't decide what to do with it. The meeting with Black had left him off-balance. He was loathe to let the thing free once he'd caught him however, so Nico had resolved to hand the filthy rodent to Lupin at the next possible chance.
Deciding he had nothing better to do (his patronus was still infuriatingly misty), the son of Hades glared at the seventh floor wall, willing it to reveal how to get in.
He'd already tried all the variations of 'I want to hide my soul piece' that was possible. He'd also tried to phrase it as a Death Eater would: like 'I wish to retrieve my master's object'.
Nothing.
So, it got him thinking. Perhaps the room could tell he was fibbing, and refused to cooperate because he was hiding his true intentions.
He tried outright asking for the horcrux so he could destroy it.
No change.
Swearing quietly in Greek, Nico felt his heart sink. He'd been so sure he'd cracked it.
In one last ditched attempt, Nico paced in front of the wall.
He turned, almost afraid to look.
Nico left the room, hurriedly stowing a tiara in his robes. Turning the corner, he almost collided with a large glittering phasmid. The stick insect had large eyes and smelled strongly of incense and cooking sherry.
"Hic - My poor boy, - hic - I see Death in your wake! It follows you…Beware a blue eyed girl, your doom approach – hic - ches!" Nico gagged as the professor moved towards him, convinced that breathing wasn't possible with the amount of perfume wafting around. The woman seemed quite demented, reaching to seize Nico's shoulders. The son of Hades was vividly reminded of May Castellan and slipped out of the clutching hands before they could get a firm grip. Mind racing, he realised this must be the Divination professor Daphne held such contempt for.
He hurriedly thanked the professor and pushed past her, leaving the woman shouting warnings behind him.
As with Pettigrew, Nico was at a loss at what to do next. The Doors of Death were open, meaning that Voldemort's soul piece could well escape the underworld before either he or his father could put it in a holding cell. He could tell that this soul-piece wasn't as big as the one in the diary, but it was still large enough to be stable. This was always a worry when dealing with soul fragments as when they got too small, they could splinter and instead of one Horcrux being made, dozens of tiny soul shards would be anchored in the mortal realm. Of course by then the soul pieces would be too small to be effective - there would be no resurrections for example – but the tiny splinters were a pain to track down and dispose of.
The idea of keeping the thing around indefinitely was repulsive. A Horcrux was unnatural, an abomination. If Thalia were still in the forest, he might have been tempted to ask her to hang onto it for him. He would have told her what it was, of course, and she would have kept it safe from curious Gryffindor girls and suspicious Slytherins, until Percy closed the Doors again.
He didn't like leaving it in the dorm room, but knew that he'd likely end up possessed if he kept it with him all the time.
Finally, he hid it on the rail of his bed hangings. He had first tried to put it under his mattress or something, but realised quickly that the delicate silver wouldn't bend, let alone distort enough to allow the mattress to lie flat on top of it.
The furniture in the dorm had plenty of false bottoms and hidey-holes, but each chest of drawers and bed was identical to the others. Everyone knew about the false back on the top drawer, and the hollow leg of the bed (front left) and the others. Nico checked carefully how opening and closing the drapes looked and how easy it was to spot the tiara from outside the hangings. Unless someone knew where it was, it was nigh impossible to see the diadem unless they were lying down on the bed. If he was brutally honest though, the hiding place was pitiful; but he wasn't about to hide it in his socks drawer like an amateur.
Because of the unexpected triumph of gaining a Horcrux, it took Nico until the morning of the next Defence class to realise that Scabbers was missing.
The cage was kept out of sight under a cloak in his trunk; Nico had heard that keeping animals in dark spaces kept them calm. The transfigured prison was still there, and inside the small dish of water and several gnawed carrot ends – the remains of the food Nico had left for the rodent when he last checked on him. But no rat.
Blaise noticed Nico's foul mood and raised his eyebrows at him. Nico waved him away irritably. He quickly assuaged the other's pride by explaining that he was just anxious for the week to be over, and to get out of the castle.
The Slytherin nodded, but shot a remark about the over-pricing of Hogsmeade goods. Nico quipped that he wasn't interested in the village, but Lupin entered the classroom before the other could demand an explanation.
The son of Hades forcibly stopped worrying about the missing rat. It wasn't his fight; the Horcruxes were his priority. He felt time crawl by as the class examined the subject of this week's lesson: Kappas. If Professor Lupin noticed his preoccupation, he didn't say anything and Nico was grateful.
At last Saturday dawned, and Nico made his way to the magical village with most of his classmates. Blaise didn't accompany him, as he was meeting his mother for lunch. This gave Nico the perfect opportunity to wander down a side alley and disappear.
Panting slightly at the exertion (and cursing himself for not keeping fit), Nico collapsed on his bed in Camp Half-Blood. Groaning slightly, he realised he hadn't accounted for the time difference, rolled over and fell asleep.
He emerged an hour later, sipping nectar cautiously, and made a beeline for the Hecate cabin, tiara in handd.
He was completely taken aback to find the cabin empty, with the beds not slept in, and a cold feel to the place.
Dropping the diadem back in his own cabin, Nico wandered around camp, finally bumping into Clarisse.
"Watch where you're going, punk!" Her eyes widened when she saw who had knocked into her. "I thought you were off doing Hocus Pocus over at Magic school."
"I got the weekend off. …Clarisse, d'you know where the Hecate kids are?"
"They're off at Magic school too aren't they, where'd you think, punk?"
Nico's face fell, and Clarisse rolled her eyes and marched off to challenge one of her half-brothers to a sparring match.
Feeling a little stupid and a bit annoyed at coming all this way for nothing, Nico prepared himself for the voyage back to Hogwarts.
After appearing back in the Slytherin dorm (mercifully empty), Nico decided, reluctantly, that he couldn't feasibly go to London in the same weekend as trekking to New York and back.
He was much happier now that the diadem was firmly away from curious snooping eyes. Nobody would dare enter his cabin at camp without permission.
So with his next leads only available on weekends (with careful planning so people didn't notice his absence), Nico decided to devote all of his energy and attention to conjuring a Patronus.
Each failure just made him even more determined to succeed, so much so that he collapsed from magical exhaustion and had to be sent to the infirmary.
The matron was not amused. She ranted and raved about how she had enough to do reversing magical accidents – potions gone wrong, spells misspoken and Quidditch - without pupils deliberately running themselves to the ground. Nico tried to point out that he hadn't depleted his magical core on purpose, but it made no difference.
He was prescribed bed rest, and was given a dose of sleeping draught to drink after he attempted to sit up and protest. Nico knew all he needed was a half-square of ambrosia and he'd be fine, but Madam Pomfrey would not be denied and he reluctantly threw back the disgusting brew in one swift movement and slumped unconscious on the bed. The matron tutted as she plucked the empty glass from her patient's slack grip and vanished the drops of spilled potion from the bed linen.
Infuriatingly, he wasn't released until breakfast Monday morning, meaning he had to endure the Slytherins' curious stares as he sat down. He ignored them all and asked Tracey to pass the toast.
Mindful of over-exertion, Nico continued to practise the patronus, but with a lot more care of the power he was using.
With this new distraction, the week passed as a blur, and it was Saturday again.
Wandering around the castle looking for a quiet spot to disappear from, Nico ended up by the third floor where the philosopher's stone had been hidden in first year. The son of Hades still hadn't worked out how he couldn't shadow travel in, yet could escape whenever he needed. He dismissed it as a quirk of the magical protections guarding the object. There were no such limitations on his abilities today as he melted into the shadows.
He stumbled slightly as he reappeared in the shadow of Gringotts bank, feeling disorientated. He could have sworn that he felt a piece of soul nearby as he travelled. He plastered himself against the white marble wall and closed his eyes, trying to pinpoint where the gut wrenching unnaturalness was coming from.
It was no use, he couldn't feel anything now.
Sighing as he realised it wouldn't be that easy, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and strolled down Knockturn alley.
Borgin of Borgin and Burkes was a slippery character, and didn't like Nico's questions on bit.
"What d'you want?" the shopkeeper scowled.
"To ask you about an employee, Tom Riddle?" Nico answered, trying to seem disinterested as he looked at the merchandise. The man's eyes widened.
"You'd best be careful … bandying that name about, little boy…you don't want something unfortunate to, ah …happen… to you?"
Nico turned away from the shrivelled hand, his face cold and unforgiving.
"Tom Riddle worked here. I want to know."
"I won't answer dangerous questions from nosy little brats!" The man lost his temper. Nico reacted, drawing his sword as Borgin lunged at him.
Once the shopkeeper saw the blade, he backed away, and Nico raised it threateningly, raising his wand in the other hand for good measure.
"Tell me. Now."
"He was an... assistant"
"What did he do? What was he like?"
"Smart, too smart. And cunning, and powerful... yeeees."
Nico's wand twitched.
"… He liked the jewels, especially the old, rare ones… and he was obsessed with the Hogwarts founders! and their relics… Oh, he tried to hide it, but he couldn't fake disinterest completely, not to me…"
Nico lowered his wand, but kept the sword ready. He decided to see what else he could get of of the shopkeeper. He placed a bag of Galleons on the counter, and watched as the man's eyes darted from the bag to his face and back.
"Hepzibah Smith, poisoned by her house elf fifty year ago - what do you know of her?"
Nico saw the man start at the name and smirked inwardly.
"She was a...collector, and a good customer, bought some of my more valuable pieces. I was sorry to hear of her passing. Her family, though, I won't have them in here! Accusing us of stealing and trickery..."
"Did she have a relic of the founders? For sure?"
"Of course I know for sure, I bloody sold it to her!" the other man snarled, then paled drastically.
"What was it? What did you sell?" Nico asked urgently.
Borgin replied by spitting on the floor.
Nico narrowed his eyes, but decided he'd got all he wanted from Borgin for now.
"And where is Mr Burke, Mr Borgin?"
"Mr Burke is no longer a partner of this establishment, now get out!"
Nico nodded his head politely, as if he had expected this answer (which he had), and left.
Hepzibah Smith, Hepzibar Smith. Zacharias Smith was in Nico's year, and he found him to be a horrible snot who at first seemed to be partial to the blood-prejudice, but was more swayed by money than the Slytherin purists. For example, Smith had no trouble with Justin Finch-Fletchley who was muggle-born, but very well off financially. As most pureblood families had money, and old manor houses, Smith ended up seen as racist, but was really a different type of wizarding snob. He hung out with Justin, Ernie Macmillan and Cormac Mclaggen most often, though sometimes he would exchange pleasantries with Daphne.
After one such occasion, Nico asked Daphne quietly what Smith's problem was.
"Oh, he feels privileged because his family are the last living descendants of Helga Hufflepuff - probably why he's in that house at all, because he certainly isn't loyal or hard working – and all the other founder's lines have died out… Ravenclaw with her daughter, the Dark Lord was the last scion of Slytherin, and Gryffindor never had any children."
Nico made a non-committal noise, thinking.
Perhaps Hepzibah, a possible relative of Zacharias, and by that, Helga Hufflepuff, had seen a Hufflepuff heirloom in the porn brokers and had bought it. Perhaps, since she was a collector, it had been the Ravenclaw diadem.
But really, it didn't matter. He'd follow up this lead, and ask Hepzibah's ghost exactly which object she'd bought.
But more importantly, Riddle was obsessed with the founders. Ravenclaw's diadem. A relic of Slytherin, of that he was certain, and Gryffindor and Hufflepuff heirlooms were both possibles.
Knowing what he was looking for helped marginally, but ultimately, knowing where Riddle would have hidden each piece was more important.
Though Borgin hadn't said in as many words, it was obvious that Riddle was obsessed with status and grandeur. He liked the old and rare pieces, which were notable because they'd belonged to certain people, or had been in a family for generations. It made sense – Riddle needed to cement his claim to the Slytherin name, and what better way than a lost gem that once belonged to so-and-so. No one would dare imply that it was anything other than a precious relic passed down through the generations to end up in Voldemort's hands. After all, who would believe that he'd bought it from Borgin and Burkes of all places?
But where did the diary fit in?
Perhaps it was symbolic – the shedding of his ordinary school-boy persona, which was left behind in a blank book so Slytherin's monster would be unleashed again.
Whatever it was, it didn't matter anymore.
So symbolism and grandeur, significance.
He grew up in an orphanage, so heritage was important. If there was a Slytherin manor, a Horcrux would definitely be there.
Places he'd performed extraordinary feats of magic? Places where he'd proven to the world he was the most powerful, the best…
He was back at the diary again. The testimony that he'd found the chamber, he'd worked it out and released the monster…
How in Hades would he find such places anyway? He couldn't just do a grid search on buses; that would take forever! He wasn't even sure how many had been made!
It was infuriating!
Easter had come around, and Nico travelled back to camp, praying to Hades that the Hecate cabin had similar holiday dates.
He felt a wave of relief when he saw Lou Ellen sprint past his door, chased by an angry Will Solace who had cacti for ears.
Grinning, he grabbed the diadem and strolled up to cabin 20.
Morgana was sitting on the roof, and her eyes lit up when she saw Nico.
When she leapt down, Nico was astonished to see her float to the ground, landing impossibly lightly.
Nico handed over the diadem with a small smile. Morgana examined the tiara minutely, fascinated.
"This is Rowena Ravenclaw's lost diadem. No one has seen it since Helena stole it from her mother." She sighed. "Such history… such a shame…"
"You will dispose of it properly, won't you? It must be after the Doors are closed, but soon –he's been known to possess people…"
Morgana looked at him, and Nico had a strange feeling that the girl wasn't sure she would destroy it.
She straightened, holding the diadem to her chest.
"Well, I consider your end of the deal upheld, and I had such plans if you'd reneged…" grinning cheekily, she snapped her fingers and disappeared.
Smirking, Nico addressed the air.
"You still have a shadow, you know. Being invisible doesn't change that."
Morgana reappeared directly in front of him, though a bit further away, her smile still broad. "Well then, we'd best say good bye the normal way."
She stuck out her hand for Nico to shake, which he did, bemused. Turning on her heel, she went back inside her cabin.
Safe in his own cabin (avoiding Rachel, who's glare was a thousand times more threatening that Thalia's), Nico practised the patronus charm to exhaustion, and finally two days from the end of vacation, he managed it.
His patronus was a raven.
The first time, it circled him in a lazy glide before vanishing. It was beautiful.
Nico was elated. He tried again immediately and this time the bird stayed longer. It flew out of his wand like before, and then it seemed to land in mid-air and hopped around a bit, ruffling its sleek glossy feathers, and opening its beak as if to caw. He was slightly disappointed that no sound came out, but didn't know if that was normal or not.
He continued recasting every time the animal vanished and only stopped when the drain on his energy became too great to ignore.
He sat on his bed, panting slightly and grinning like a loon.
He wondered vaguely if it was possible for a patronus summoning memory to be that of summoning a patronus. He mentally shook his head, not caring, and fell into Morpheus's embrace.
The rest of term seemed to fly by.
The searches of his things had ceased, and neither Black nor Scabbers had reappeared.
Nico was much more relaxed now that the debt had been paid. Conveniently, it also meant he'd kept his promise to Helena Ravenclaw's ghost whom he'd met in first year.
Soon, the end-of-year exams were upon him.
It was Thursday afternoon, and Nico had just finished a horrible Runes exam, where time had seemed to freeze, leaving him stuck staring at the gibberish with rising panic.
He sat outside in the courtyard, trying not to think of all the questions he'd left unanswered.
"Admit it Hermione – your cat killed Scabbers, and you don't want to say so."
"Ron, I swear I..."
"Guys, not to be rude or anything, but shouldn't we be thinking of ways to save Buckbeak?"
Nico sat up straight and pressed himself into the stonework. The trio passed by without spotting him. Nico crept behind them, trying to hear more.
Unfortunately, it was still early evening, and the twilight wasn't dark enough for him to hide in the shadows. He was forced several times to halt out of earshot to avoid being seen.
"I still think…Snape...You-know-Who"
"Really Ronald, he can't possibly…"
"believe...rat...dorm"
"I can't believe they're going to kill…too horrible…"
Finally, he found a large boulder to crouch behind, but the trio had already made it to Hagrid's hut, and gone inside.
He waited, staring curiously at the large horse/bird hybrid that stood tethered in the pumpkin patch. It glared at him fiercely.
After a while, Nico heard voices behind him, and swung round to see Dumbledore, a portly man in a lime green bowler hat and a man dressed all in black holding a giant axe.
Realising he would be in trouble if spotted, he ran to a large willow tree. It was close enough to the Gamekeeper's hut for him to see when the trio left, but far enough away that they wouldn't see him.
Something stung his arm. Nico looked down. There was nothing there. Suddenly, there was a large thump just to the left. Jumping to the right, he saw a giant branch lift off the ground, mere inches where he had been standing. Looking up, he gaped as the entire tree came alive, whipping its branches around like a giant demented octopus.
Dodging a branch looking to trip him, Nico ducked another that would've taken his head off. He tripped over a protruding root, stumbled forward almost to the trunk, and fell hard. Instinctively, he brought his hands up to protect his face. Feeling them hit a large knot; Nico thanked his stars that he had good reflexes. If his head had hit that, he'd have been seriously hurt, and with a tree that tries to kill you, a few moments of disorientation is a few too many.
Struggling upright, Nico looked around wildly for the next branch to avoid. He stared, incredulous, at the now-frozen tree. Looking back, he realised that the adults were out of sight. Knowing that the trio would be leaving Hagrid's hut soon or risk getting caught, he edged around the tree.
He lost his footing and fell into a small hollow.
He gaped at the tunnel that opened up before him.
Unable to resist his curiosity, Nico made his way down the passage.
So, that's the chapter! What happened to Scabbers? Will Nico confront the trio? Can they explain themselves?
Will Nico help Sirius be proven innocent?
All to be revealed shortly!
Let me know what you think! Please review
Swiss
lolly1010: I hope you like the chapter, and Nico's patronus!
RedRangerBelt: Most of your questions are answered in the next chapter, but i hope you like the form of Nico's patronus.
MCat9905: All will be answered soon! Next chapter, definitely!
PadmeEponine24601: Thanks! My plan is to keep going (slowly) book by book, but I love that you're so enthusiastic about my series! Hope you likes the chapter!
TheAlmightyPyro: Thanks, I loved writing that scene! Hope you like the chapter!
dixonhpboosh: I agree, and Hermione's reasons will be explained in the next chapter... but I hope you like this one, even if it doesn't explain anything.
CrimsonGamma: Nico's identity is coming under increasing scrutiny, but I agree that it shouldn't be revealed until he absolutely has no choice...
HazelPrincessofJewels: Thanks! hope you like the chapter!
omega2199: Thank you! A lot of people were uncertain about the stealing, so I'm glad you liked it. All will be revealed soon... (cue ominous music) hope you liked the chapter!
purple sky always: At the moment, a possible Lupin/Artemis meeting isn't on the cards, as he didn't have the courage to ask when the opportunity presented itself. Hope you like the chapter anyway!
SummerSpirit18: Thanks, hope you like the chapter!
TeamLeo: Spoilers! Spoilers! All will be revealed next chapter...
guisecullen: Don't be too mad at them, they have a good reason!
Finwitch1: I totally agree with you about the Poseidon/Neptune thing. I didn't know that priests on a ship was bad luck, I thought it was just women! We'll just have to see how Rick decides things, but I can't help feeling Nico's not going to make it... He isn't one of the seven so it would be a sort of twist if he dies...
DerangedOtakuFangirl: Thanks, hope you like the chapter!
ClaraOswald4Eva: I love long reviews :) Thank you! I know I keep asking if the scenes are ok, if the characters are alright, and I'm so happy to hear that they're just as they should be! Hope this chapter met your high expectations!
