Nico stirred. "Bianca?"
Hermione shook her head. "Hermione," she said hoarsely.
Nico sat up and clutched her arm, a haunted look in his eyes. "Bianca, don't leave me!"
"I'm sorry," Hermione whispered hollowly.
Nico finally seemed to regain his bearings. He tried to climb back onto the seat, but slid down to the floor again.
"Here, have some chocolate," the man offered, handing a large chunk to Nico. He then passed more chocolate around. "All of you."
"Thanks," Neville said, staring at Nico.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to have a word with the driver," the man continued, shooting another worried look at Nico.
"Who are you?" Ginny asked.
"Remus Lupin, your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor," the man answered, smiling thinly. With that, he left.
"What…what happened?" Nico asked weakly. He tried to eat the chocolate, but didn't seem to be able to lift it.
"A dementor," Neville explained. "One of the guards of Azkaban. Looking for Sirius Black, not you." He swallowed. "It made us all relive the moment you found out your sister was dead."
"W-what?" Nico tried again to sit up, without success. Hermione crouched next to him and offered him the flask of unicorn draught. He drank.
"You sounded very upset," Luna said serenely. "I'm sorry about your sister."
"Uh…thanks," Nico replied, disconcerted.
"We didn't hear anything that gave away who you are," Hermione whispered in his ear. Nico relaxed somewhat.
"But then…" Ginny swallowed. "You started…fading."
"Fading?" Nico repeated, his voice a little higher-pitched than usual.
"Professor Lupin had no idea why that happened," Neville said worriedly. "Or why we heard your memory. He said dementors normally force you to relive your own memories."
Nico shuddered. "It did."
"You can drain some of my life force if it will help," Luna offered.
Nico sighed wearily. "Luna, I don't actually drain people's life forces."
"Then how do you normally stay solid?"
"Normally, I am solid." Nico finally managed to pull himself onto the seat. "There was a, uh…problem, this summer. Shadow magic. Apparently I was out for three days, too insubstantial to move. I guess the dementor made the problem flare up again."
Professor Lupin reappeared in the doorway. "I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know."
Nico took a bite and was surprised to find that it helped. Hermione simply stared at her chocolate, still too queasy to imagine eating.
Professor Lupin started. "Oh, I apologize. Scourgify." Hermione's pile of vomit vanished into thin air.
"Thanks," she said quietly.
"Are you all right?" Nico asked, concerned.
"I think we should be asking you that question," Professor Lupin said wryly. "Nico, was it?"
Nico nodded. "I'll live."
"And I'm fine," Hermione lied, repressing a shudder. How was Nico still sane?
"Well, we'll be arriving shortly," Professor Lupin continued. "Let me know if you need anything."
Nico nodded, and Professor Lupin left. No one said anything; no one was sure what to say.
When they arrived at Hogsmeade, Nico found it impossible to stand up. He reluctantly asked Hermione for help. She looked oddly nervous about the prospect, but she agreed. The moment she actually touched him, her expression inexplicably changed to one of relief.
Leaning heavily on Hermione, Nico followed Neville, Luna and Ginny to the carriages. Luna cheerfully greeted one of the thestrals; apparently, she could see them too. Ginny didn't even blink, probably assuming that Luna was just being her usual bizarre self.
Inside the carriage, Nico had to take several deep breaths to calm himself. The dark, enclosed space eerily reminded him of the bronze jar. It didn't help that a pair of dementors flanked the gate to the grounds. A wave of anguish washed over him as they passed through.
Once they reached the school, Hermione helped Nico down from the carriage. Malfoy stared, looking like he was debating whether or not he felt brave enough to taunt Nico.
"Yeah, I got sick this summer, what of it?" Nico snapped, shooting Malfoy his best death glare. "Don't think I won't still beat you up if you try to bully my friends."
Malfoy took a step closer to Crabbe and Goyle and headed up toward the school. Nico and Hermione followed more slowly.
Once inside the entrance hall, Professor McGonagall's voice called out. "Potter! Di Angelo! I want to see you both!"
Nico tried to pull away from Hermione and nearly toppled over. She put his arm back around her shoulders and led him over to Professor McGonagall. Harry also joined them.
"Thank you, Miss Granger, you may go into the Great Hall now," Professor McGonagall said. "Mr. di Angelo, are you at all capable of walking on your own?"
"I, uh, don't think so," Nico muttered, embarrassed.
"Well you're not leaning on me," Harry replied, scowling.
Professor McGonagall frowned at him. "I would have hoped that after everything the two of you have been through together, you might have reconciled your differences."
"We have," Nico grumbled. "Doesn't mean we have to like each other."
Professor McGonagall sighed. "Di Angelo, lean on me if you must. Let's go."
Nico reluctantly pulled away from Hermione and clutched Professor McGonagall instead. She led him and Harry up the marble staircase and through several corridors to her office. Once inside, Professor McGonagall unloaded Nico into a chair and motioned for Harry to sit next to him. Then she sat in her own chair behind the desk. "Professor Lupin sent an owl ahead to say you were both taken ill on the train."
Before either Nico or Harry could reply, there was a knock on the door and Madam Pomfrey came bustling in.
"I'm fine," Harry said quickly, red-faced. "Definitely better than Nico, anyway, at least I can walk."
"Oh, it's you two," Madam Pomfrey said, bending down to stare closely at Nico. "I suppose you've been doing something dangerous again?"
"It was a dementor, Poppy," Professor McGonagall interjected. The two faculty members shared a dark look.
"Setting dementors around a school," Madam Pomfrey muttered, pushing back Nico's hair and feeling his forehead. He unsuccessfully tried to escape her ministrations. "They won't be the last to collapse. Yes, this one's cold as ice. Terrible things, they are, and the effect they have on people who are already delicate—"
"I'm not delicate!" Harry interrupted. Nico would have liked to say the same, but another voice in his head (one that also sounded suspiciously like Will) told him he wouldn't fool anyone.
"Of course you're not," Madam Pomfrey said absentmindedly, turning to feel his forehead and take his pulse.
"Professor Lupin also said that di Angelo suffered a…curious…effect," Professor McGonagall continued. "He said you…faded?"
"Faded?" Harry repeated, sounding baffled. He stared at Nico.
"And that Miss Granger's hand passed right through you?" Professor McGonagall added.
Madam Pomfrey froze and stared at Nico. "In all my years as a nurse, I have never heard the like."
"Had an encounter with some shadow magic this summer," Nico mumbled. "Had the problem under control, but the dementor made it flare up again."
"Shadow magic," Professor McGonagall said flatly. She raised her eyebrows. "Mr. Brunner assured me that you would be safe at that camp of his."
"Yeah, well, I had to get there first."
"Is this the same place where you took Leo?" Harry asked, frowning. "Where he died?"
Nico weakly rubbed his forehead. "It's a very long story, okay? Thanks to Leo, the place really is safe now. I swear."
"Mr. Valdez is dead?" Professor McGonagall repeated, looking pale.
"Yes," Nico sighed.
"I am very sorry to hear that."
Madam Pomfrey cleared her throat. "About our still-living patients…"
"I'll be fine," Nico insisted. "My healer from America gave Hermione some potions to manage my…problem."
Harry raised his eyebrows. "You mean that blond kid that was with you yesterday?"
Nico bristled. "Just because he's young, that doesn't mean he doesn't know what he's doing. I'm solid now, aren't I?"
Harry narrowed his eyes and lifted a finger as if to poke Nico, then thought better of it.
"Nonetheless, I think it would be wise if you spent the night in the hospital wing, di Angelo," Professor McGonagall said crisply. "As for Mr. Potter…"
Harry jumped out of his seat. "I'm fine, honestly."
"You should at least have some chocolate," Madam Pomfrey suggested.
"Professor Lupin already gave me some."
"Did he now?" Madam Pomfrey said approvingly. "So we've finally got a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who knows his remedies?"
"Are you sure you feel all right, Potter?" Professor McGonagall said sharply.
"Yes."
"Very well. You may attend the feast. Di Angelo, go with Madam Pomfrey."
Nico sighed and tried to stand up. He managed to stay standing for several seconds before he lurched and clung to the chair back. Madam Pomfrey threw one of his arms around her shoulders and hauled him away.
Once in the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey insisted on subjecting Nico to various kinds of tests. She failed to determine anything beyond the fact that some sort of dark magic was sapping his life force. He really wished she would just let him sleep.
Hermione walked into the Great Hall and sat next to Neville and Ron. "Do you know what that was about?" Ron asked curiously.
Hermione shook her head. "No, but Professor McGonagall didn't seem surprised that Nico was leaning on me."
"Harry passed out," Ron admitted quietly. "I thought he was having a fit or something…then Lupin made the dementor go away and went to check the rest of the train."
"And…did you start hearing his memories?" Hermione asked cautiously.
"Huh? No. He did mention hearing a scream, though…and no one screamed."
"So why'd that happen with Nico?" Neville wondered.
"What are you talking about?" Ron demanded.
"We heard him get the news of his sister's death…boy, he did not take that well." Neville winced in sympathy.
"But…we met his sister yesterday," Ron said, confused.
"You met his half-sister yesterday," Hermione clarified. "He had a full sister once."
Ron stared guiltily at his empty plate. "We spent so long convincing ourselves he was evil, we never bothered trying to actually get to know him."
"I don't think that's entirely on you," Hermione replied. "He tends to push away people who try."
At that moment, Professor Flitwick led the very soaked first years into the hall. He departed the Great Hall and quickly returned with a stool and the Sorting Hat. The Hat burst into song.
Once the Hat had finished, the students burst into applause. "That's not the song it sang when it Sorted us," Ron commented, frowning.
"Sings a different one every year," Neville shrugged.
Professor Flitwick unrolled a parchment and began calling up students. Almost all of them looked pale and terrified.
"Did we look that mousy when we were first years?" Ron muttered quietly.
"Be nice," Hermione scolded, clapping for a new Gryffindor.
The Sorting passed uneventfully. Once all the first years had been Sorted, Professor Flitwick took the Hat and stool away. Harry passed him in the doorway and went to sit on Ron's other side.
"Where's Nico?" Hermione asked.
"Hospital wing," Harry replied.
Hermione was about to question him further, but Dumbledore stood up to make the start-of-term announcements. First, on a very grim note, he warned that dementors would be guarding all the entrances of the school. He didn't say why, but everyone could guess—the dementors were there to protect against Sirius Black. On a happier note, Dumbledore introduced two new professors: Remus Lupin would be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Hagrid would be taking over for Care of Magical Creatures.
"We should have known!" Ron commented, joining in the applause. "Who else would have assigned us a biting book?"
"Well, I think that's everything of importance," Dumbledore said, smiling. "Let the feast begin!"
Food magically appeared on the table. Harry, Ron and Neville helped themselves with gusto, but Hermione had no appetite. She couldn't get over the memories she'd seen from Nico—or rather, the memories she'd experienced. She'd felt his anguish and hopelessness. How did he bear it?
How could she ever tell him what she'd seen?