In the morning, Neville emerged from the portrait hole to find Nico standing outside, still in Muggle clothing. "Nico? You okay now?"
"Ah, I'm fine," Nico said dismissively. "What's the password?"
"It's…um…" Neville trailed off, embarrassed and slightly frustrated. Only one night, and he'd already forgotten the password.
"Fortuna Major," a passing first year said helpfully.
"Yeah. That," Neville agreed. He should really write that down.
"Great. Thanks." Nico entered the common room and made his way up to the dormitory. Neville hesitated, then followed him—just to make sure he really was fine.
Nico only stumbled once on the way to the Great Hall, so Neville decided he was probably okay. At the Gryffindor table, Hermione seemed less convinced. "Nico, what are you doing here?"
Nico helped himself to eggs and hash browns. "Eating, what does it look like?"
"Madam Pomfrey's been looking for you. Apparently, she never cleared you to leave the hospital wing."
"She just wants to run more tests to figure out what's wrong with me," Nico grumbled. "I know perfectly well what's wrong with me."
Neville frowned. "Then why don't you just tell her?"
Nico jumped; he'd forgotten Neville was in earshot. "Uh…because I'd really rather not let her know just what my family is involved in. The teachers would never let me leave the castle again…assuming they don't lock me in an asylum, or whatever the wizarding version of that is. And don't ask, because I'm not telling."
"Don't ask…what your family is involved in, or what an asylum is?" Neville asked hesitantly. "Because I've never heard of an asylum."
"An asylum is a place for insane people," Hermione explained.
"Oh." Neville suddenly looked a little green. "I, uh…I don't think you're crazy, Nico. Not the kind that gets locked up in St. Mungo's. Trust me."
"Uh…thanks for the vote of confidence," Nico replied, mildly confused by Neville's reaction.
"Course schedules, by the way," Hermione said, handing each boy a parchment.
Nico scanned his timetable, his dyslexia making it difficult as usual. "What do we have first?"
"Divination," Neville answered. "Should be interesting."
"I'm not taking Divination, though," Nico responded. He frowned at his schedule. "An…Ancient Runes?"
Hermione glanced at his timetable. "Yes, followed by Transfiguration."
Just then, Hagrid stopped by Harry and Ron on his way to the staff table. "All righ'?" he said loudly. "Yer in my firs' ever lesson! Right after lunch! Bin up since five getting' everythin' ready…hope it's okay…me, a teacher…hones'ly…"
"He's a teacher now?" Nico asked, frowning.
"Care of Magical Creatures," Hermione explained. She frowned at the dead polecat swinging from Hagrid's hand. "I wonder what he's been getting ready…"
"I better go," Neville said, getting up. "Divination's at the top of the North Tower, it'll take ages to get there. See you later."
"See you," Nico replied, pulling out his quill and inkwell so he could translate his timetable into Greek.
Ancient Runes was taught by an elderly witch named Professor Babbling. Hermione and Nico were the only Gryffindor third years who'd signed up, so they shared their class with the Ravenclaws.
"Welcome," Professor Babbling said, smiling. "Welcome to the study of Ancient Runes. I know that this class is often maligned for its lack of wandwork, but a thorough knowledge of ancient scripts is essential to understanding the foundations of magic—and thus, to the casting of magic. Do you all have your copies of Spellman's Syllabary?"
"Yes, Professor Babbling," the Ravenclaws and Hermione answered. Nico merely held up his book.
"Good. We'll be starting this class with Elder Futhark Runes. If you progress to N.E.W.T. level, we will branch out into Ancient Greek and Old Italic." Professor Babbling turned to her blackboard and began writing on it. "Now, at the very basic level, the Elder Futhark runes are in fact an alphabet. Many of the runes coincide with letters and sounds from the Latin alphabet with which you are all familiar."
Nico narrowed his eyes at the blackboard, waiting for the runes to start dancing. They didn't. He couldn't automatically understand them, but his dyslexia wasn't interfering either. He might just come to like this class.
After Ancient Runes ended, Nico and Hermione were the first to arrive at Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall immediately gave Nico a severe look. "Madam Pomfrey informs me you are still meant to be in the hospital wing."
"I just needed sleep, that's all," Nico insisted.
"You don't look like you've had nearly enough."
Nico groaned. "I have spent the last month in and out of the infirmary! Trust me, I don't look any worse than I have for weeks! And this is school, where I sit at a desk all day! I'd say that's pretty restful!"
Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "As opposed to?"
"Sword fighting. Or the climbing wall. Or capture-the-flag."
Hermione cleared her throat. "Professor, he'll probably exert himself more sneaking back out of the hospital wing than he will just attending class…with me keeping a constant eye on him," she added with a stern look at her friend.
"Very well," Professor McGonagall relented, looking unhappy about it.
Nico and Hermione took their seats. Eventually, the rest of the class entered the room, all unusually silent. Everyone seemed to be staring at Harry. Harry sat at the back of the room, obviously uncomfortable with the attention.
Professor McGonagall began a speech about Animagi, wizards who could turn into a specific animal at will. She capped off the speech by turning into a cat. It didn't seem so very impressive to Nico, who'd seen Frank Zhang transform into a veritable menagerie of animals.
Hermione clapped, though she was the only one and she quickly stopped. Professor McGonagall turned back into herself with a faint pop. "Really, what has gotten into you all today? Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation's not got applause from the entire class."
Everyone's heads turned toward Harry again, but no one seemed keen to speak. After several tense moments, Ron raised his hand. "Professor, we've just had our first Divination class, and we were reading the tea leaves, and—"
"Ah, of course," Professor McGonagall interrupted, suddenly frowning. "There is no need to say any more, Mr. Weasley. Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?"
There was another long silence. "Me," Harry finally said.
Nico gave him a contemplative look. With that soul fragment in Harry, it was just about impossible to sense whether Harry was really near death or not. The soul fragment drowned out everything else.
"I see," Professor McGonagall said stiffly. "Then you should know, Potter, that Sybill Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet—"
"Leo did," Ron interrupted, his voice taut with worry.
Professor McGonagall sighed and briefly shut her eyes. "One student out of twelve. The odds are in Mr. Potter's favor."
"She correctly predicted that it would be a fiery death," Ron added.
"And she predicted that Neville would break his cup," Lavender chimed in.
Professor McGonagall's nostrils flared. "Seeing death omens is Sybill's favorite way of greeting a new class. If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues—" She stopped and took a moment to collect herself. "Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience with it. True Seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney—" Professor McGonagall stopped again. "You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."
No one laughed. The entire class remained subdued throughout the period.
Once Nico and Hermione had sat down to lunch, Hermione cast a worried look in Harry's direction. "Well, Nico, you're the expert—do you believe in death omens?"
"I am a death omen," Nico replied, serving himself a bowl of stew.
Hermione turned to stare at him. "What?"
"That was a joke," Nico clarified.
"A…joke."
"Will tells me I need more humor in my life."
Hermione shook her head. "Nico, that really wasn't funny. And definitely not an appropriate moment for a joke."
"Joking in the face of impending death always seemed to work for Leo."
Hermione put her head in her hands. "Nico, please, just…save the jokes for Will. And you haven't properly answered my question."
"Sure, death omens are real—but there are also plenty of things that people think are death omens but really aren't."
"Like what?"
"Broken mirrors, cry of the screech owl—those are real enough. Black cats meowing at midnight, clocks striking when they're not running, putting the clothes of a living person on a corpse—those are just superstition."
Parvati and Lavender passed by as he spoke. "Superstition?" Parvati repeated. "You don't believe in the Grim?"
"That one's real," Nico conceded. "Although true Grims are rare. Usually people just see a big dog and panic."
"Was that Harry's death omen?" Hermione asked. "The Grim?"
Lavender nodded. "Professor Trelawney saw it in his tea leaves."
Nico frowned. "Never heard of death omens in tea leaves."
"Maybe you should have taken Divination, then," Lavender suggested.
Nico gave her a funny look. "Why would I want to go looking for death omens?"
"That's the most sensible death-related thing you've said all day," Hermione muttered, half to herself.
Parvati gawked. "How many death-related things has he said today?"
"Didn't even mention death until lunch," Nico grumbled.
Parvati looked slightly disturbed. "Death. Lunch. You know what, I think we'll sit over here…" She led Lavender farther away before sitting down.
After lunch, the Gryffindors headed toward Hagrid's hut for their first Care of Magical Creatures lesson. They were joined by the Slytherins, much to their displeasure.
Hagrid was waiting for them. "C'mon, now, get a move on! Got a real treat for yeh today. Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"
Hagrid led them all along the edge of the Forbidden Forest until they reached an empty paddock. "Are…are we studying thestrals?" Hermione asked uncertainly.
"Huh?" Hagrid said, sounding surprised. "Nah, won't show yeh those until upper years. Nothin' there right now, I'll get the creatures in a minute. Now, if yeh'd all open yer books—"
"How?" Malfoy drawled.
Nico rolled his eyes and pulled out his book. "You stroke the spine, obviously. Or it would be obvious if you had ever tried being nice."
Both the Slytherins and the Gryffindors stared at Nico and his perfectly-docile book. "Being nice," Seamus said flatly. "Obviously."
Nico looked around in disbelief. "Did no one else figure that out? Seriously?"
"Apparently, you're the only nice one here," Hermione told him, taking out her own book.
"World gone mad," Harry muttered, stroking his book and removing the belt he had used to keep it shut.
Hagrid looked nearly as baffled as Nico. "Right, er…five points ter Gryffindor fer common sense. Anyway, yeh've got yer books, so…so now yeh need the Magical Creatures. Yeah. So I'll go an' get 'em. Hang on…" He strode away into the Forest and out of sight.
"God, this place is going to the dogs," Malfoy said loudly. "That oaf teaching classes, my father'll have a fit when I tell him—argh!"
Nico had whispered a spell to break the rope binding Malfoy's book. The Gryffindors all laughed while Malfoy struggled to keep the book away from his face. Crabbe and Goyle tried to help, but they ended up knocking Malfoy off his feet and pinning him to the ground.
"So…that was funny?" Nico quietly asked Hermione.
"Better," she agreed, smiling.
"I wasn't trying to be funny, I just wanted Malfoy to shut up…" Nico mumbled.
"Oooooooh!" Lavender squealed, pointing toward the paddock.
Hagrid had returned, leading a dozen creatures that were half horse, half giant eagle. "Hippogriffs!" he roared happily. "Beau'iful, aren' they?"
No one responded; the entire class looked a bit wary. Nico in particular got the impression that several hippogriffs were eyeing him with malice. He took off his ring and stuffed it into his pocket, determined not to risk revealing his sword if he got startled.
"So," Hagrid said excitedly. "If yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer—"
Most of the class seemed unenthused by this idea. However, Harry and Ron cautiously approached the fence. Hagrid began a speech about how hippogriffs were proud creatures and you should never insult them. He then went on to explain how one should bow when approaching a hippogriff, and wait for the hippogriff to bow back before touching them.
"Right—who wants ter go first?" Hagrid asked.
Most of the class backed farther away, Nico included. Harry and Ron stayed where they were, though they looked nervous. After a few moments, Harry volunteered, despite Parvati and Lavender reminding him about the Grim.
Hagrid introduced Harry to a gray hippogriff named Buckbeak. Harry bowed and waited. Buckbeak stared haughtily as Harry visibly sweated, but eventually returned the bow. At Hagrid's encouragement, Harry patted Buckbeak's beak, to the hippogriff's apparent enjoyment. Hagrid took this to mean that Buckbeak would even let Harry ride him. Harry looked like he wanted to protest, but Hagrid helped Harry mount the hippogriff and then slapped Buckbeak's hindquarters. Buckbeak took off and flew a lap around the paddock. Once he landed, Harry looked very relieved to slide off his back onto firm ground. The Gryffindors cheered.
"Good work, Harry!" Hagrid said proudly. "Okay, who else wants a go?"
Emboldened by Harry's success, the rest of the class cautiously climbed into the paddock. Nico reluctantly joined Hermione at a chestnut hippogriff. The hippogriff bowed to Hermione, but squawked angrily at Nico.
"I'll just…let you pat him…" Nico said edgily, keeping his distance.
"Surely a big, smart hippogriff like you can tell that Nico's a good guy?" Hermione cooed.
The hippogriff snorted and gave Nico a thoughtful look. Nico was about to step forward and try bowing again, but then he heard Malfoy call Buckbeak a 'great ugly brute'. Instantly spotting the sudden aggression in Buckbeak's stance, Nico reacted without thinking. He shoved Malfoy out of harm's way and tried to summon his sword to fight off the hippogriff. Since he had put his ring in his pocket, all he accomplished was putting his arm in the path of the hippogriff's talon.
Hagrid quickly restrained Buckbeak while Malfoy began shouting. "Did you see that?! That thing tried to kill me! It's dangerous—ought to be put down! The whole lot of them!"
"You're welcome," Nico grumbled.
"You're bleeding," Neville noted.
"No I'm not," Nico said quickly, less than pleased by the idea of returning to the hospital wing. "It just got my sleeve, that's all." He quickly shifted his sleeve to hide the gash in his arm.
"Nico, you're bleeding onto the grass," Hermione pointed out. "You really should see Madam Pomfrey."
"I'm fine!" Nico insisted.
"Nico…" Hermione tried again, moving toward him.
"No! I'm fine! Leave me alone!" Nico turned and ran out of the paddock, heading into the Forest.
"Uh…Hagrid?" Neville said worriedly. "You should probably get him before he gets himself into trouble…"
"Right," Hagrid agreed, very pale. "Uh…class dismissed." He lumbered into the Forest after Nico.
The rest of the class headed back to the castle. "They should fire him straight away!" Pansy Parkinson shouted.
"It was Malfoy's fault!" Dean snapped.
"Want to say that again, you filthy Mudblood?" Malfoy sneered.
Dean stood his ground. "Hagrid warned us not to insult the hippogriffs."
"Ah, so if I hex you now, that's your fault for insulting me?" Malfoy said smugly.
"Are you calling yourself a hippogriff?" Seamus retorted.
Malfoy went red in the face. He opened and closed his mouth several times, then sped up. Crabbe and Goyle followed, leering threateningly at Dean and Seamus.
Neville glanced back toward the Forest. "I hope Nico's okay…"
"What did he go and defend Malfoy for?" Ron grumbled.
"It was kind of impressive, though," Parvati said thoughtfully. "He was bleeding, and he just brushed it off like it was nothing…"
"Doesn't mean it was nothing," Hermione said worriedly. At this rate, Will was going to murder her.
Nico tore through the undergrowth, not really paying attention to where he was going. Eventually, he sat down on a log and examined his gash. It was long, but not too deep. He poured a bit of unicorn draught on the cut, then tore off a piece of his sleeve and wrapped it around his arm.
A snuffling noise made him look up. A large black dog was staring at him. It was hard to be sure, but the dog looked slightly concerned.
"Huh," Nico said. "You look a bit like a Grim. I'd say you're too thin, but then again, you haven't run away from my death-scent…"
The dog cocked its head. Then it slowly moved forward and sniffed Nico. A few moments later, it whined. It definitely looked concerned.
"I'm not going to hurt you. At least, so long as you don't hurt me."
The dog tentatively licked Nico's face.
"Okay, then." Nico cautiously petted the dog. "What kind of dog are you? Could be a death omen, I suppose…maybe those dementors pushed me past the point of no return…but I still think you're too thin. Seriously, when did you last eat?"
The dog whined again, looking forlorn.
"Well, I'd give you food if I had any. All I've got is unicorn draught…which, now that I think about it, would be safe to give you. Want some unicorn draught?"
The dog gave Nico a curious look. Whatever it was, it definitely seemed to be more intelligent than the average dog.
"All right. Here." Nico took out the flask of unicorn draught again and carefully poured some into the dog's mouth. The dog swallowed, then perked up and wagged its tail.
"Good dog." Nico looked around and suddenly realized that he was lost. "Uh…do you know the way back out of the forest?"
The dog wagged his tail again, then turned and began weaving through the undergrowth. Nico followed. After about five minutes, the undergrowth gave way to a wide trail.
Almost as soon as they reached the trail, lumbering footsteps heralded Hagrid's arrival. The dog darted back into the undergrowth. "Nico!" Hagrid exclaimed, sounding relieved. "What were yeh thinkin', runnin' off into the Forest?"
"I'm not going to the hospital wing," Nico said defiantly. "I can treat a basic cut."
Hagrid glanced at Nico's makeshift bandage. "All righ', but let's get outta here. 'S not safe."
Nico opened his mouth to protest, then sighed. He could take care of himself, but Hagrid wasn't to know that. He silently followed Hagrid back out of the Forest, slipping his ring back onto his finger.
As they walked, his thoughts drifted to the strange dog. Some time when he had the chance, he intended to come back with food. That poor dog clearly needed it.
A/N: Just to be clear, McGonagall hadn't known that Leo was one of the students whose death Trelawney had predicted.