As Nico raced through the forest, he carefully analyzed the aura of the monster he sensed. Or monsters, as it were. There were three of them, and he had never felt anything like them before. They radiated fear and despair, and their presence seemed ethereal, like ghosts. Nico felt a tinge of unease, but wasn't sure why.

Suddenly, Nico was in the clearing. He lurched to a halt as he saw what faced him. Three dark, spectral figures floated silently in the middle of the clearing. They had hoods over their heads, so Nico could not see them, but he felt suddenly afraid. These things felt unfamiliar to him, and their aura was like a mini black hole, sucking warmth from the land around them. Nico carefully edged over to his sword and knelt to pick it up. His fingers grasped the handle.

Then one of them turned its hood to face him, and the world dissolved to pain.

Luna ran through the forest, not entirely sure why she was doing this. Why was she still following him? She couldn't still be worried about him, Not after what he'd done. Yet however irrational, no matter what she told herself, she could still feel a connection with Nico.

Then she was back in the clearing, and in front of her was a scene out of a nightmare.

The first thing she saw were the three dementors, closing in on-

Nico.

Luna's wand was out in a moment. "Expecto Patronum." She said, but happy thoughts refused to come.

"Expecto Patronum!" She said again. The dementors drew closer and closer to Nico.

Then she thought of Nico. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" And out of her wand leapt her patronus, a hare of pure white, scattering the dementors and pushing them out of the clearing.

Luna quickly rushed over to Nico. He was curled up on the ground, shuddering, his eyes open but unseeing, clutching his sword with a death grip. "Nico?"

"B-bianca..." Nico said through chattering teeth.

Luna quickly rummaged through her bag and found a chocolate frog.

"Here," she said, "eat this." She offered the frog to Nico, but he made no move to take it. Luna grimaced, then picked up her wand. "Apertum os." She muttered. Nico's mouth opened. Luna placed the chocolate frog gently in his mouth. "Claudere os." She muttered, and his mouth closed.

After a moment, Nico's eyes focused again. "Luna? What... what just happened?"

"You got attacked by dementors. I've never seen someone react like that before besides Harry."

Nico groaned. "Since no one else is telling me, would you mind filling me in on the whole Harry Potter situation?"

Luna smiled softly. "It feels very odd to actually have to tell someone about this. Everyone in the wizarding world knows. So, several years ago, there was a huge war between the wizards as a whole and a man named lord Voldemort. He and his followers, the death eaters-"

Nico chuckled. "Death eaters? Seriously? Why would anyone want to eat death?"

Luna frowned. "They killed thousands of wizards and muggles, tortured many to insanity, and racially purged everyone who was born from muggle parents."

Nico's smile faded. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

Luna gave him a small smile. "Do you want me to finish the story or not?"

Nico suddenly realized that Luna was holding his head in her lap. Strangely, he didn't feel uncomfortable.

Luna continued. "Anyways, the war waged for a long time. Voldemort was winning, and the wizarding world was practically under his control. Then one night he went to the Potter's house. He murdered Harry's mother and father, and he tried to kill Harry too, but somehow the curse backfired and Voldemort died instead. Harry was celebrated as the savior of the wizarding world."

Nico sat up and turned to face Luna. His face was solemn. "And now Voldemort has returned, yes?"

Luna 's eyes held a small trace of fear. "Yes."

Nico looked back up at the castle, which was barely visible in the distance. "Sucks to be Harry, then." He said quietly.

He turned back to Luna. "So the Wizards are preparing for another war?"

Luna nodded.

Nico sighed. They sat in silence for a moment. "Back to Hogsmeade, then?" Nico asked.

"Yes. We don't want anyone to miss us. Oh, Nico," Luna's hand flicked past his ear, drawing back with a struggling creature in her hand. "Nargle." She said, her eyes twinkling.

They laughed, and the seriousness of the situation was forgotten as the two friends headed back up to the village.

On the way back, they encountered Harry and Ron.

"What were you doing?" Ron asked suspiciously. "You aren't supposed to be this far away from the castle.

Luna glanced at Nico, but he kept his eyes on Ron. "What a coincidence! Neither are you."

Ron glanced around nervously. "Easy, mate, we're just looking for Hermione."

Nico's mind went blank for a moment. He had no idea what Hecate had done with Hermione. Luckily, Luna was ready. "We met her too. She said she was going back up to the castle. She looked a bit flustered, and her face was a bright tomato color." Luna leaned in conspiratorially. "Personally, I believe she had an encounter with a crumple horned snorkack."

Harry and Ron glanced defiantly at Nico, who held up his hands. "Hey, it's possible. Certainly a lot of monsters in this region."

Harry and Ron gave him an odd look, then headed back up towards the castle. Nico and Luna continued back to Hogsmeade.

As they entered the town, Nico got a weird feeling on the back of his neck.

He glanced around, and then he felt it, right behind him. Careful not to turn his head, Nico looked at the reflections in the shop windows, and saw it. It was actually a her. Katie Bell, a girl he'd been introduced to briefly. The presence was coming from the brown package in her hand, and her eyes were fixed intently on the back of his head.

Nico carefully tilted his head to Luna, who was walking next to him. "Walk ahead. I have something I need to take care of." Luna gave him a concerned glance, but she walked a little faster and got ahead of him.

When he reached a dark alleyway, Nico quickly turned and walked in. When he reached the end, he turned around and waited. After a moment, Katie bell appeared at the other end, brown package still in hand.

"Katie." Nico said. "Why are you following me?"

"A gift." She said, holding up the package. She began to walk closer.

"It's not my birthday. Why are you giving me a gift?" Nico asked. Katie didn't respond. Nico looked into her eyes and saw behind them. He cursed. Katie had been brainwashed.

"Okay, back this up." Katie was getting uncomfortably close, so Nico drew his wand.

"Take it." Katie said.

"Yeah, no." Nico said. He looked back and was confronted with a stone wall. Nico sighed, then flicked his wand across katie's eyes, making her blink, and in that moment he fell back into the shadows.

Luna was waiting for Nico behind the Three Broomsticks. He'd been gone awhile already, and Luna was beginning to worry a little, when she suddenly felt a person right behind her. Nico smiled at her astonished expression.

"You're very sneaky, Nico." Luna's eyes were still wide. "You startled me. You weren't there before... so either you apparated, or... you can travel through the ground?"

Nico was surprised. "Close. Shadows, actually."

Luna nodded. "Death, shadows. That makes sense."

Nico glanced up and down the street, a concerned expression on his face.

"What is it?" Luna asked.

"It's... well, Katie Bell is brainwashed. She's been sent after me." Nico looked back at Luna and saw her worried expression. "Hey, don't worry." He said, giving her a smile he didn't really feel. "I can handle it. I've had worse."

Nico put his arm across Luna's shoulders. "Besides, you'll be here to save me if I get into any trouble. Thanks, by the way." Luna looked up at him, confused. "For what?" She asked.

"Saving my life, again." Nico smiled at her, and Luna could see he meant it this time. She smiled back, and they walked back up to the castle, as the sun began to go down.

Malfoy watched the two figures slowly draw nearer. He'd waited for hours for goth boy and Looney to come down the path, and his toes had started to numb from the cold. Crab and Goyle had been complaining the entire time.

"I think my nose is gonna fall off." Goyle said.

"Malfoy, why can't we use our wands to heat us up?" Crab whined.

"I already told you." Malfoy said, annoyedly. "I've said it three times: heat magic would give us away."

They sat silently in the snow foxhole they'd made 3 meters away from the path.

"Oh, hell." Crabbe pulled out his wand and flicked it, and suddenly they were warm.

Malfoy stared daggers at Crabbe. "Damn it, Crabbe!"

He looked back at the road. The two had stopped, and were looking around alarmedly.

Malfoy drew his wand. "Stupefy." He muttered, pointing his wand at Nico.

At that moment, Luna cried out in alarm and tackled Nico, and both of them fell out of sight under the stone curtain wall.

Malfoy cursed. "Lets get out of here while we can." He muttered, and the three of them scrambled out of the foxhole and down into the forest.

Luna sat up, carefully glanced over the stone wall, and ducked back down. Nico groaned under her, and Luna realized she was straddling him. She quickly got off him, crouching to avoid being seen above the wall.

Nico sat up, holding a hand to his head and grimacing. "That's going to hurt in the morning. Mind if I ask why you tackled me?" he said.

Luna motioned for him to be quiet. "Someone tried to stupefy you." She whispered.

Nico extended his senses, and felt three retreating presences. "Malfoy." He muttered angrily.

Luna looked around concerned. "We should get back to the castle." She said, grabbing Nico's hand and pulling him along.

Nearby, a crow took flight from a branch, winging its way back to report to its master.