Nico POV
After a day of organising Bob a job as the Underworlds new janitor, and playing with father's Cerberus I am teleported back to Hogwarts.
"Sleep." I groan, falling face first into my bed.
'NICO!" a voice yells.
"Five more minutes." I mumble into my pillow.
My bone bed in the underworld isn't exactly comfortable. Sleep like the dead, my ass.
"YOU'RE COVERED IN BLOOD!" Will screeches.
I feel Will pulling me out of my bed.
"HEY!"
"You're clothes are practically in shreds, not to mention soaked in blood!" Will points out, attempting to carry me through the door.
"He's back?" Another voice asks.
"Someone tell McGonagall. I'm bringing him to Madam Pomfrey." Will tells them.
Huh? I'm just a bit scratched up, most of them won't even scar. And why McGonagall, I was only gone a day…
I feel myself falling into unconsciousness.
When I finally wake up I'm in a horrifically white room, with a horrible stench of medicine.
"Where am I?" I groan
"The Hospital wing, Mr Di Angelo. You gave us all quite the fright." A strict looking elderly woman tells me.
"Can I leave?"
"NO YOU MAY NOT!" She exclaims. "Your body is covered in bruises and you have several sword wounds over your body, not to mention the level of exhaustion your body is under."
"Can you not just heal it and return me to my dormitory." I groan. "I hate hospitals."
"Perhaps in a few days."
"What day is it?" I ask, suddenly.
"December nineteenth." She answers, looking confused.
It's been a whole year. I'm never going to see her alive again.
"Mr Di Angelo, are you alright?" she asks in a concerned tone.
"Yea." I answer, tears pricking my eyes. "Can we do this later?"
"But you have not even explained what happened?" she points out.
"I'll explain tomorrow." I mumble. "It'll give me more time to come up with a convincing lie."
She seems reluctant to leave, but notices my expression of utter heartbreak. "Fine, but drink this."
I drink whatever potion she handed me, before crawling under my duvet.
It's all my fault she's dead.
Will (POV)
We had spent the last two days searching for Nico, who seemed to have disappeared without a trace.
"Why can't we see him?" Kat moans.
"He needs his sleep, and he doesn't seem to be in the mood for any company today." Madam Ponfrey tells us.
Oh god. It's the nineteenth.
"Maybe he just needs a distraction." I suggest.
The day I let one of my best friends wallow in misery all day is the day I get a nose piercing.
"At least let us give him some chocolate." I beg.
"Wait, what's going on?" Kat asks.
I bite my lip. Should I tell them? He'd be pissed… "Today is not a good day for him."
"Huh?" Kat questions.
"Just tell them." I hear Nico groan from inside the infirmary.
"His sister died a year ago today." I explain, making them both look heart broken.
"Shit." Kat murmers.
"That poor boy." Madam Pomfrey mutters.
"Just leave me alone." I hear Nico say.
Kat and I share a look. No way in hell is that happening.
After a few minutes of begging we manage to convince Madam Pomfrey to let us see him.
Kat smothered him in the chocolate she bought off the Weasley twin, while we both entertained him with funny stories.
"Then the Weasely twins enchanted snow balls to follow Quirrell around and hit him in the head." Kat continues.
"Don't forget when they transfigured all the house elves's rags into Santa's elves costumes." I add.
"I think they liked it."
"This is nice and all, but you don't have to do this." Nico tells us.
"Nonsense. Here eat more chocolate." Kat says, shoving chocolate into Nico's face. "Do you think the elves will give us ice-cream?"
"You guys don't get it." He sighs, looking as heartbreaking as ever.
"Nico, when I was five years old they found me wandering around, asking for my Mummy and Daddy, with no memory. Since then I have been in ten homes, none of which could put up with me for long. One thing I have learnt is that wallowing is self-pity doesn't do shit." Kat tells him,
I never knew that about her.
"I was a mistake, and my Mom tells me that every day I'm only gotten one letter from her since I got here in with she told me that she's happy I'm not there because she can now focus on my half-brother, sister and stepfather her perfect family"
"Now, let's sneak you out of here and go beat the shit out of Malfoy." She announces, pulling him from the bed. Obviously changing the subject from the sadness.
"HE SHOULDN'T LEAVE THE HOSSPITAL WING!" I screech. "And you want to bring him to the boy who makes fun of us for having no family, today?"
He visibly falls at the mention of having no family.
"He's going to hear that shit in his mind anyway so might as well go beat the crap out of it. It's a metaphor, dear William." She explains, pulling us both out of the room.
"But-"
Nico (POV)
I admit, by the end of the day I was glad I didn't spend it alone.
"You never did explain why you look like you got into a fight with the incredible hulk." Kat points out, piling chocolate pudding onto my plate.
"I was with my family." I explain.
The both freeze "I thought…"
"My father and Step-mother are good as dead to me. I've only spoken to them a handful of time, none of which have been pleasant."
"Ah. Your father didn't…"
"No, we barely spoke. He likes to collect dark creatures, like Cerberus's. Some don't play very nicely." I explain.
Will doesn't seem to entirely believe me, but Kat just shrugs. "Cool. Can he give me a dragon? Or maybe a hell hound?"
"I have a pet hell hound." I admit, before thinking. "Well I share her with someone else."
She both stare at me in shock.
"Relax, she's a sweetheart." I shrug.
"You say the same thing about Fluffy." Will points out.
"Because he's- hi Harry." I begin, before noticing the Gryffindor.
"Hey Nico." Harry says awkwardly. "How are you?"
"Fine. I was just visiting my father, I forgot to check out of school for the weekend." I lie.
He doesn't seem to believe me.
"Did you have anything else to say?" Will asks him, with a meaningful look.
"Nothing at all." Harry answers.
What's going on?
"Right."
The semester quickly came to an end. Before I could blink Kat was already getting on the train back to her foster sisters.
"Don't hesitate to owl me." Kat tells me, waving her finger in my face.
"I didn't know you cared so much." I mock.
"Shut it, death breath." She says before hugging me.
Hogwarts's oddly sad without students everywhere. Thankfully Will had decided against flying halfway across the world for Christmas, so I wasn't going to be entirely alone.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Will yells, shaking my sleeping body.
"Fuck off." I grumble.
"IT'S CHRISTMAS!"
"Fuck off and have a merry Christmas, then."
I can practically feel him rolling his eyes.
We have the dorm room to ourselves as all of our roommates had returned home for the holidays.
"Wake up or you'll miss your presents."
"Someone gave me presents?" I ask, confused.
"What did you expect? Coal?" he jokes.
I pull myself from under my covers to see a decent sized pile at the end of my bed.
For a moment I think it might be some kind of cruel joke from Malfoy, but he's not that creative.
I smile. I have no idea what that means.
The next present is in obnoxious surfing santa paper, with a Hermes mail stamp. I open it to see a pack of mythomagic and blue cookies, from Percy.
I roll my eyes. Annabeth's right, Percy is a seaweed brain.
The next gifts contained: chocolate frogs from Harry, a book about Greek mythology's influence on the wizarding world from Lou Ellen.
"And here's me and Kat's present to you ." Will says handing me a small present wrapped in suns with Christmas hats.
I had sent Kat a prannking kit that I had ordered from Zonkos and chocolate frogs.
I mentally roll my eyes at the wrapping.
I unwrap it to find some kind of strings with black bulky things at the end and a silver thing at the other end, as well as a black metal thing with a skull on the back. As well as a packet of chocolate skeletons.
"What do you think?" Will asks.
"It's great… what is it?" I ask, making him burst into laughter.
"Sometimes I forget how clueless purebloods are." He chuckles. "It's an IPod, and these are headphones."
"Huh?"
After Will spends an hour explaining what an IPod is and how they fit all the records in such a small box (I still don't get it) I give him my present, which seems like nothing compared to this APods thing.
I have always like music, but demigods can't have electronics… meh my life's getting a bit boring, I could do with some monsters to kill.
He smirks when he sees the book on healing magic and singing candy.
"I LOVE IT!" He declares.
Eventually Will and I go to the great hall to have breakfast.
When we get to the great hall we see only about twenty students had stayed for Christmas, a quarter of them being Weasley's.
Will drags me over to the Gryffindor table to sit by the Weasely twins, who as always were matching (apart from the letters on their jumpers)
"Wow we can tell you apart for once." Will says when we sit down.
"How do you know we didn't swap?" they say as one.
I groan and start piling my plate with pancakes.
About halfway through the meal Hermes enters, holding a large crate.
"A DELIVERY FOR A NICO DI ANGELO!" He yells.
Oh Hades.
"Over here." I groan, raising my hand.
He walk over grinning. "Sign her please." Hermes tells me, placing the parcel next to me.
The parcel's huge, covered in air holes, and seemed to whimper.
"Thanks." I say, handing him a couple Draceama's
I asked him to deliver it for me, but I hoped he'd be a bit more subtle about it.
I notice the teachers staring at me in confusion.
"Bye kid." Hermes says before flying out of the great hall.
"What just happened?" Percy (Weasely) asks.
"An magical post man." I shrug.
"HEY HAGRID! CAN YOU COME HERE?" I yell at the caretaker, who had been sitting at the front table.
He gets up, almost knocking over the table.
"What is it, Nico?" He asks, looking confused.
"Have I mentioned my father collects rare creatures?" I tell him. "This little guy was the runt he wanted to kill off." I explain, signalling to the large box.
His eyes turn sad at the idea of killing any creature. "What is it?" he asks, studying the box.
"Yours." I answer, attempting to push the box in his direction. "Merry Christmas."
McGonagall looks like she's about to faint.
Hagrid gets an expression on his face that makes him look like a kid in a candy store.
He tears open the box to reveal a cage with a very large black puppy with red eyes and large fangs.
"He's a hellhound." I explain.
Quirrell actually does faint.
"WHAT A BEAUTY!" He exclaims, easily picking up the enormous puppy and nuzzling his face against his.
"Thank yer! Thank yer ser much, Nico. Imma call him Snuffles." He announces.
The Weasely twins start laughing, while McGonagall and Percy hyperventilate.
"I'm gonna get em settled in. Thank yer again, Nico." Hagrid says, before walking out, still cuddling the hell hound.
"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?" Percy yells.
"I didn't want… Snuffles to be put down, and Hagrid's so happy." I explain.
"That was a sweet thing you did for Hagrid." Harry says, with a small smile.
The rest of the day disappears in a storm of pranking with the Weaselys and food.
That night when I went to sleep I was oddly content.
"I can't do it. You're so much like her, an innocent little girl, just like my Jesabell."
I wake up with a start, not being able to remember anything from my dream, except a twist in my gut, telling me there's no chance of me sleeping again tonight.
I sneak out of bed, deciding to take a walk around the halls to clear my head.
I hear a horrible scream coming from the library. Did someone touch one of Ms Pince's books with sticky fingers?
When someone heads in my direction I disappear into the shadow, re-appearing in a random part of the castle.
If I wasn't lost before I sure as Hades am now.
I turn to see Harry staring dreamily into a golden mirror.
I walk up behind him, but he doesn't seem to notice me in the mirror. Oddly enough he's not in the mirror either.
A more olive skinned and happier looking me at kings cross station, giving my Mama a hug while my sister hugs my father and we get onto the train. Just like the normal magical families.
"Nico? When did you get here?" Harry asks suddenly, breaking me out of my trance.
"I-I don't know." I admit. I had been staring at the mirror for a while.
"Do you see them?" he asks me, suddenly.
"I doubt I see what you do you." I tell him. He must have seen his family as well.
"I see my family." He admits.
"And I mine."
After a moment of silence. "We should go." Harry tells me.
I nod, solemnly.
Harry picks up a silvery material from the ground, pulling it over himself, turning invisible.
"How-" I begin. It must be like Annabeth's cap
His head appears out of thin air. "It's an invisibility cloak." He admits. "Want a ride?"
"I'm fine." I tell him.
He merely shrugs and disappears.
I shadow travel back to my room and collapse onto my bed, trying to ignore the nightlight that is Will's hair.
The rest of the holidays disappears in a blur of reading, homework, hanging out with Will and visiting Snuffles and Fluffy. I never see the mirror again, some things are too painful.
"I can't believe you had a spare hellhound and didn't give it to me!" Kat exclaims, when we tell her about our holidays.
"I barely trust you with a wand let alone a hell hound." I point out.
She pouts.
"But there are some real gits who could do with a bite in the-"
"KAT!"
"Don't be horrible, Will. Why would someone want poor cats to be bitten?" Kat mocks.
"You obviously haven't met Mrs Norris." I mutter.
"Please, that thing isn't a cat. It's a demon." She replies.
