Hermione didn't care that they'd lost the match; she was too busy trying to decide whether she was more freaked out by the appearance of roughly a hundred dementors or the fact that Harry had fallen off his broom. At least Nico had left the pitch before the dementors showed up.
Or…she thought he had. He wasn't at dinner, and he wasn't in the common room either. Increasingly concerned, she decided to take a peek in the third year boys' dormitory.
"Hermione!" Seamus yelped, looking startled. "What are you doing in here?!"
"Sorry," Hermione muttered, red-faced. "Have either of you seen Nico?"
Dean shook his head. "Haven't seen him since this morning."
"Okay, thank you." Hermione hurried back down the stairs, fighting panic.
Nico took a few deep breaths, trying to make the world stop spinning. He felt both queasy and hazy. And far too weak. He reached for his flask of unicorn draught, then gasped in pain. Looking down, he noticed that his leg was tightly splinted. His wand lay next to it. Odd. How had he broken his leg and who had splinted it?
Nico shakily pushed himself to a sitting position and took a long drink of unicorn draught. Looking around, it took a moment for him to recognize his surroundings. For some reason, he was underneath the Quidditch stands. Felpato whined at him, looking concerned and slightly apologetic.
Oh. Right. The black shape that had knocked him off balance right as he reached the stairs. He must have fallen. He really needed to stop falling down stairs at Hogwarts.
Although…he was nowhere near the base of the stairs now. Someone must have moved him out of the wind and rain. "Felpato, did you drag me over here?"
Felpato glanced upwards, looking mildly disturbed. Nico wasn't sure what that meant.
"Who splinted my leg?"
Felpato quickly looked away.
"…okay, stupid question. Obviously, you can't tell me." Nico sagged back to the ground and tried to remember Annabeth's story of how she defeated Arachne. How had she managed her broken ankle? "By any chance, have you seen something I could use as a crutch?"
Felpato shook his head, then staggered out into the rain. He didn't seem to be in very good shape either. A few minutes later, he came back with a long, thick branch that must have come down in the storm.
"Thanks," Nico said, trying to haul himself to his feet. Felpato gave him a nudge to help steady him. Once Nico had gained his balance, he noticed his wand still on the ground. "Oh, Styx. I really should have picked up my wand first."
Felpato clumsily picked up the wand with his teeth and offered it to Nico.
"Thanks," Nico said again, sticking the wand back in his pocket. He began hobbling back to the castle.
Hermione made her way to the hospital wing. Right as she reached the door, it opened and the mud-spattered Gryffindor Quidditch team emerged. "Is Nico in there?" Hermione asked anxiously.
The players shared a look of confusion. "No, why?" George replied. "Did something happen to him?"
Hermione nervously bit her lip. "I haven't seen him since before the dementors showed up."
Katie frowned. "You think the dementors did something to him?"
Hermione swallowed. "Back on the train, they…affected him pretty badly…"
"Talk to Professor McGonagall," Angelina suggested.
Hermione grimaced. "Yes, I think I will."
"Styx," Nico muttered again, staring in dismay at the front doors. They were now firmly shut, and no amount of pushing or pulling would open them. Nico pulled out his wand and cast Alohamora. Still nothing.
"Just let me in, damn it!" Nico exclaimed in frustration, pounding on the doors. No one answered. With all the tightened security, Nico had a feeling those doors were going to remain firmly shut until morning. He let loose a creative string of Ancient Greek curses he hadn't realized he knew, then sagged against the doors. "Wonder how dangerous it would really be to shadow-travel right now…"
Felpato gave him a funny look.
"No, better not," Nico decided. "If I get myself killed just because I didn't want to spend the night outdoors, Will is going to make a special trip to the Underworld just to kill me again."
Felpato took a few steps away, then barked.
"What?"
Felpato took a few more steps, then looked over his shoulder.
"You want me to follow you? You do realize I've got a broken leg?"
Felpato nodded, then lifted a paw and beckoned.
"Fine, but this better be worth it."
"Professor, I'm worried. After what happened on the train…I'm scared there won't be anything left for us to find."
"We'll find him, Miss Granger, don't worry," Professor McGonagall replied. She looked pretty worried. "You're sure he ran afoul of the dementors?"
"He had just left the pitch when they arrived. He could have walked right into them."
"Foolish boy," Professor McGonagall sighed. "Wandering the grounds alone, with Black and the dementors on the loose…"
Hermione gasped and clapped her hands to her mouth. "Black? You think he might have been found by Black?"
Professor McGonagall winced, looking like she'd said too much. "Please, Miss Granger, return to Gryffindor Tower and let the teachers handle this."
"Yes, Professor," Hermione reluctantly acquiesced.
"You're taking me to a magic tree?!" Nico shouted over the wind, keeping out of range of the tree's flailing branches. "Do you have any idea how much plants hate me?!"
Felpato looked up at the tree, hesitated for a heartbeat, then wove through the branches until he reached the trunk. Suddenly, the tree froze.
Nico warily hobbled forward. The tree did not attack him. He joined Felpato and discovered a large gap in the tree's roots, leading to an underground tunnel. "Well, I suppose it's shelter," Nico conceded. He carefully lowered himself into the tunnel.
Now out of the rain, Nico would have been content to stay where he was, but Felpato had other ideas. He padded down the tunnel, then turned back and beckoned with his paw again.
"Fine," Nico sighed. He hauled himself back to his feet, though he had to bend over to avoid hitting his head on the low ceiling. For once, he felt thankful that he was short for his age.
Eventually, the tunnel rose. A patch of light shone through a small opening. Nico hauled himself through the hole and found himself in a room. A dusty, dirty, chaotic room with boarded windows and broken furniture. Some of the furniture looked suspiciously like something had taken large bites out of it.
"Please don't tell me this is a monster's lair," Nico groaned. "I'm in no condition to fight. And I'm not Annabeth, I can't talk monsters into defeating themselves."
Felpato gave him another funny look. Then he gently nosed Nico toward a shadowy hallway with a staircase. Nico reluctantly let Felpato help him up the stairs.
Finally, Felpato showed Nico to a room containing a magnificent four-poster bed. Nico collapsed onto it with a sigh. "Okay, this is better than hanging out in the rain by the front doors. Thanks."
Felpato climbed onto the bed and curled up on the other side.
"You are full of mysteries, Felpato," Nico continued, yawning. Drained from his adventure, he rolled over and shut his eyes. Within minutes, he was asleep.
When Hermione woke the next morning, she dressed as quickly as possible and hurried down to the common room. Spotting Neville on his way to the portrait hole, she quickened her pace to catch up to him. "Did Nico ever turn up?"
"Turn up?" Neville repeated worriedly. "No. I was wondering why his bed was empty…"
"He left the Quidditch pitch right before the dementors showed up," Hermione explained. "No one has seen him since."
"Why don't we see if Vescia can find him?" suggested a voice behind them.
Hermione and Neville whirled around to see Ginny holding Vescia in her arms. The former two shared a look, then Hermione shrugged. "Worth a try, I suppose." She opened the portrait hole and climbed through it, followed by Ginny and Neville.
Ginny set Vescia on the ground. "Can you find Nico for us?"
Vescia sat down and cocked her head.
"Nico? Your owner?"
"Mew?"
Ginny made an exaggerated broody face. "Nico. Find."
Vescia stared at Ginny, then licked a paw.
"Hang on a minute," Hermione said, an idea coming to her. "Trova Nico."
Vescia immediately stood up and began trotting down the corridor. Neville and Ginny both stared at Hermione. "Was that Italian?" Neville asked curiously.
"Nico has been teaching me," Hermione explained, following Vescia. "And I've noticed sometimes he talks to Vescia in Italian…"
Neville looked back at the cat. "Huh. Well, good idea…"
Several corridors away, Vescia stopped opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. She whined, looking back and forth between the end of the corridor and the blank wall opposite the tapestry. Then she tentatively lifted a paw and poked the wall. Emboldened, she began scratching furiously.
"There must be a door somewhere," Hermione muttered, rounding the corner. Neville and Ginny searched too, but none of them could find a way into the area Vescia was clearly trying to reach.
"I'll get McGonagall," Neville offered.
Professor McGonagall had no more idea how to get in than they did. After casting several spells in a futile effort to make a door reveal itself, she gave up and fetched Dumbledore.
Dumbledore paced back and forth in front of the wall, muttering to himself. After several minutes, he sagged in defeat. "I am sorry. If Mr. di Angelo is truly inside, we cannot get to him."
"We're just giving up?" Hermione asked in a small voice.
"I am afraid, Miss Granger, that we have searched everywhere we can. It is, of course, my sincerest hope that there is somewhere we have overlooked. But for now, there is nothing more to be done."
"Thank you, Professor," Neville said quietly. He picked up Vescia, who was clearly reluctant to abandon her attempts to dig through the wall, then he turned to Hermione. "Come on. If Nico does turn up, he'll come back to the common room."
Hermione stared blankly at the fire. "I should have gone with him."
"You can't blame yourself," Neville said earnestly. "You couldn't have known."
"What am I going to tell his sister? What am I going to tell his b—his healer? And all his other friends back in America? I promised I'd keep Nico out of trouble…"
"We don't even know he ran into the dementors," Neville argued, trying to convince himself. "Maybe he wandered down to Hogsmeade or something."
Hermione swallowed, petting Crookshanks. "You saw the way he faded, back on the train. That was just one dementor. There were hundreds at the match…"
Neville sighed, also staring at the fire. "I was so worried about Harry yesterday…I can't believe I didn't think of Nico sooner."
Hermione picked up Crookshanks and hugged him tightly, ignoring his indignant squawk. "Nico was the first real friend I ever made. I can't…I can't just lose him…"
Crookshanks wriggled out of her grip, looking supremely annoyed. He dashed toward the portrait hole.
Felpato growled menacingly, his eyes fixed on Scabbers. Scabbers squeaked and scurried away, darting through any small spaces he could find. Felpato relentlessly pursued the rat.
Nico blinked open his eyes and stared at the wall. That had been a refreshingly weird dream. Usually he only remembered demigod nightmares.
Then he heard footsteps from somewhere below him. Human footsteps. He struggled to his feet and limped over to the landing. "Hello?"
There was an odd clatter. Then Felpato trotted up the stairs. He picked up Nico's crutch in his mouth and held it out to Nico.
"Uh…thanks. Someone down there?"
Felpato shook his head.
"Thought I heard footsteps…"
Felpato stared blankly, then took a step down the stairs. He looked back at Nico.
"All right, I'm coming. Suppose I should get back to school before they lock up for the night again."
Nico carefully made his way down the stairs. It was much easier than coming up had been the previous night; the unicorn draught had significantly sped up the healing of his leg. Once he reached the ground floor, he took another drink of unicorn draught. He grimaced as he noticed that he was almost out. He'd have to ask Reyna to send more.
In the main room, Felpato had somehow acquired a small pile of chicken legs. Suddenly realizing that he was ravenous, Nico grabbed one and tucked in. He had just started his second chicken leg when another noise made him look up. Crookshanks had entered the room and was staring haughtily at Nico.
Nico stared in disbelief. "Does every animal in the school know about this place?"
Crookshanks sniffed disdainfully and tried to nudge Nico toward the tunnel.
"I know, I'll go back, but let me eat, I'm hungry."
Crookshanks hissed and lifted a paw to shove Nico. Though the cat didn't draw blood, Nico could definitely feel his claws.
"Okay, okay." Nico tried to stand up. "Um…Felpato, help?"
Felpato helped Nico get back to his feet.
"Thanks." Nico followed Crookshanks back through the tunnel.
By the time they reached the other end of the tunnel, Nico was starting to feel like the splint was more of a hindrance than a help. He sat down in order to undo the splint and take it off. Gingerly experimenting, he found that his bad leg held his weight.
When he climbed out of the tunnel, Crookshanks was pressing something on the tree. He continued to press whatever it was until Nico was well out of range of the aggressive tree's branches. Then Crookshanks scurried away from the tree and led the way back into the castle, tail held high.
Nico had just reached the second floor landing when he ran into Professor McGonagall. She gasped when she saw him, clutching her heart. "Mr. di Angelo, thank goodness! Where have you been?"
"Oh…um…" Nico sputtered, surprised. It hadn't occurred to him that people would notice he was missing. "I…fell off the Quidditch stands, or something. Got knocked out. When I woke up, the castle doors were closed for the night, so I went to go find shelter."
"Shelter where? We searched the grounds for you."
"I don't know. Some old house."
Professor McGonagall frowned. "The only house on the grounds is Hagrid's hut, and you weren't there."
"Huh. Maybe I was hallucinating?" Nico suggested, baffled. "Actually, considering I woke up with a splint on my leg and then a dog led me to that house—which looked like a monster's lair, for some reason—that's probably the most logical explanation." He didn't really think so—Felpato had done weird things before—but he had no explanation for the splint. Unless perhaps Apollo was in a good mood. Stranger things had happened.
Professor McGonagall sighed. "I think it would be best if you get yourself checked over by Madam Pomfrey. Especially considering what happened the last time you had a run-in with dementors."
"Dementors?" Nico repeated, confused.
"The dementors decided to attend the Quidditch match. You didn't see them?"
"No…though, come to think of it, that probably explains why I fell."
Professor McGonagall sighed again. "Go to Madam Pomfrey. Don't think I didn't notice that hallucination or not, something really is wrong with your leg."
Madam Pomfrey concluded that, while Nico was still suffering from that mysterious dark magic, his health had in fact improved since the start of term. She was also very impressed by his mostly-mended leg, and asked for the recipe to unicorn draught. Nico admitted he'd gotten it from a friend and had no idea how it was made. Crookshanks hung around by Nico's heels, clearly impatient for him to get going.
Hermione was still staring at the fire when she heard Crookshanks meow. She turned to look at him…then looked up at the pale, scrawny figure behind him. "Nico!" she screamed, tackling him in a hug. "Where have you been?! Do you have any idea how worried I've been?! I thought the dementors had killed you! I thought Will was going to murder me!"
"I'm fine," Nico mumbled, clumsily returning the hug. "Passed out when the dementors came, and when I woke up, the front doors were locked for the night. Found somewhere out of the rain. That's all."
"You scared me half to death!" Hermione continued, still clinging to him. "Don't ever do that again!"
"It wasn't intentional!" Nico protested, trying to break free of her grip. Hermione didn't seem inclined to let him go.
"Let him breathe, Hermione," Neville chimed in. "Good to have you back, Nico. You gave us a right scare there."
"I'm fine," Nico insisted, finally escaping Hermione's embrace.
"Sorry," Hermione said, wiping a tear from her face. "But really, Nico, be more careful. Please."
"I will," Nico promised. "Excuse me, I need to change." He limped up the stairs to the boys' dormitory.
Inside, Scabbers was sleeping on Ron's pillow. Nico thought back to his dream of Felpato chasing Scabbers, then shook his head. That had to be an ordinary dream…right?
A/N: Sirius's 'mildly disturbed look' was because he didn't drag Nico out of the rain; Nico phased right through the stands.
