The morning of the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, Nico slept in. Neville eventually came to wake him, worried that he would miss the match. "Good morning," Neville said loudly.

"Morning," Nico replied groggily. "What time is it?"

"About 10:30. If you hurry, you should still be able to grab some breakfast."

"Good." Nico rolled out of bed, yawning.

"You okay? You seem kinda tired."

Nico shrugged, opening his trunk to get some clothes. "I was dreaming when you woke me up."

"Dreaming…like those dreams you had about Quirrell?" Neville asked warily.

"No. At least, I don't think so?" Nico glanced at Ron's bed, where Scabbers was napping on the pillow. "There was this family of deer in a clearing. A stag, a doe, and a fawn. And then a rat was leading a snake into the clearing. The snake bit the stag and the doe, but you woke me before I could see what happened to the fawn. It was weird, though. The rat looked a lot like Scabbers. And it's not the first dream I've had about Scabbers, either."

"What other dreams have you had about Scabbers?"

"Just one where a dog was chasing him."

"Huh." Neville also glanced at Ron's bed, but it was now vacant. "What would that even mean, though? Scabbers helping a snake kill a bunch of deer?"

Nico shrugged. "I have no idea, which is why I'm not sure it means anything at all."

At that moment, Ron entered the room, carrying his bottle of rat tonic. He approached his bed, frowned, and started searching through it. Nico finished getting dressed and headed for the door. He had just reached it when Ron let out a strangled shout of mingled fury and anguish. Nico jumped and just barely caught himself before he could summon his sword.

"LOOK!" Ron cried angrily, holding up his sheets and showing off a small bloodstain. "SCABBERS IS GONE! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD HERMIONE TO KEEP THAT BLOODY BEAST UNDER CONTROL?!"

"What makes you so sure—" Neville began, but Ron cut him off.

"CAT HAIRS!" Ron showed a tuft of ginger fur. "THAT BEAST ATE SCABBERS!"

Nico frowned. "No, he didn't. Scabbers was here just a few minutes ago and he was fine."

"Oh really?" Ron said challengingly. "Neville, is that true?"

"I…er…" Neville stuttered. "I…uh…I don't remember. He might have been?"

"Oh, sure, take their side," Ron said bitterly. "I guess now we know who your real friends are." He stormed out of the dormitory, still clutching the tuft of cat hair.

"But…I…" Neville swallowed and turned back to Nico.

"Scabbers was there," Nico said flatly. "I know what I saw." He also left the dormitory.

Neville followed, feeling helpless and not entirely sure who to believe.

Down in the Great Hall, they found Ron ranting at Hermione, who indignantly insisted that the cat hairs could have been in the dormitory for ages and Ron had no real proof. Ron left in a huff when he saw Nico approaching.

"It wasn't Crookshanks," Nico said quietly. "Scabbers disappeared while I was getting dressed, and I would have noticed if…uh…" He glanced at Neville. "If Crookshanks had come in and eaten him."

"Ron's had it out for Crookshanks ever since Crookshanks jumped on his head in the Magical Menagerie," Hermione grumbled.

"You know, you could have made more of an effort to stop him chasing Scabbers," Neville suggested timidly.

"Whose side are you on?" Nico snapped.

Neville shrank back, then suddenly straightened. "Nobody's, I guess, if I'm not allowed to have an opinion!" He walked away, looking upset and irritated.

Word spread quickly, and it seemed that the Gryffindors were all on Ron's side; Nico and Hermione ended up sitting at the very top of the Quidditch stands because no one else wanted to be anywhere near them. "It's like Muggle school all over again," Hermione complained.

"Well, they'll all be feeling pretty stupid when Scabbers turns up alive," Nico replied.

"You…you did see Scabbers, right?" Hermione asked uncertainly. "You weren't just saying that to stick up for me?"

"Yes, I saw him. I distinctly remember it because I was telling Neville I'd had a weird dream about Scabbers."

Hermione frowned. "When you say 'weird dream'…"

Nico sighed. "I don't know. I'd have dismissed it as nothing, but with Scabbers disappearing like that, I'm starting to wonder…I still can't imagine what would be important about a snake killing a family of deer, though."

Hermione half-heartedly cheered as Katie scored Gryffindor's first goal. "I can't imagine it either."

The match went on, with Gryffindor rapidly building up a large lead. Eventually, right as both Seekers apparently spotted the Snitch, three cloaked figures came onto the field. Nico reached for his wand, but quickly realized something was off; even the boggart-dementor affected him more strongly than these three.

Harry shot something silver at the "dementors" without slowing his race for the Snitch. The cloaked figures shrieked and dived out of the way, landing in a heap. Suddenly, Nico understood what was going on. "Those μπάσταρδοι," he muttered. Then he realized that Hermione had pulled nearly a meter away from him. "Hermione?"

"Are, uh, are you all right?" Hermione asked nervously.

"Fine. I'm pretty sure those aren't dementors." Nico jerked his head at the pitch, where Flint and Malfoy's hoods had come off.

"Oh." Hermione heaved an enormous sigh of relief. Then she perked up. "Oh, Harry has the Snitch!"

"Great," Nico said, rather flatly.

Hermione gave him a funny look, then shook her head. "If I didn't know you so well, I'd think you couldn't care less."

"Yaaaay?" Nico offered tentatively.

Hermione stared at him. "You know what, go back to sounding completely unenthusiastic. It was less disturbing."

Nico shrugged. "Yay." He led the way out of the stands.

Hermione followed, keeping one eye on Professor McGonagall as the latter went to chew out the Slytherins. She thought back over the incident…and then realized something. "That spell Harry cast…did it look like a stag to you?"

Nico stopped short. "Huh. Yeah, it kinda did."

"Could that have something to do with your dream?"

"What, that Scabbers is some kind of threat to Harry?" Nico frowned. "If any more people or creatures start trying to kill him, I'm going to start wondering if he's a half-blood."

"He is a half-blood," Hermione pointed out, confused.

"I meant my kind of half-blood."

"Oh." Hermione thought about it. "I've heard people say he's the spitting image of his father, but with his mother's eyes. I think they're both his real parents."

"I guess bad luck isn't limited to demigods, then." Nico resumed walking.

Up in Gryffindor Tower, the Gryffindors had begun a victory party. Nico and Hermione initially tried to join in, but then Ron made a loud and pointed comment about how Scabbers was missing the party because he'd been 'eaten'.

"That's enough," Nico growled quietly to Hermione. "I may not be as good at sensing animals as I am people, but I'm just not getting any sense that Scabbers is dead. He's got to be around somewhere. If we find him, maybe we can get Ron to shut up."

"And get him to stop blaming Crookshanks," Hermione added. "I'll search the girls' dormitories, you search the boys' dormitories?"

"Works for me."

Nico headed upstairs and began a thorough search of his dormitory. He found Vescia climbing his curtains and Trevor lurking underneath Seamus's bed, but no sign of Scabbers. He did find a few more ginger cat hairs, which he decided to remove lest Ron use them as further 'evidence'. He then went around to search the rest of the boys' dormitories. He found a few more cats, and discovered that Fred and George had kept Leo's salamander, but there were no rats of any kind.

When he met up with Hermione again, she shook her head helplessly. "Anything?"

Nico sighed. "No. I guess he's not in Gryffindor Tower."

Hermione nervously bit her lip. "Has Scabbers ever gone missing like this before?"

"Not that I know of."

"And that blood…it's almost like he wanted Ron to think Crookshanks ate him…" Hermione mused.

"There's something not right about that rat," Nico decided. He was silent for a few moments, mentally reviewing everything he knew about Scabbers. "Back in Diagon Alley, Will examined him and seemed to think something was weird. He asked if Ron was sure Scabbers was an ordinary rat. I think I'd better write to him and ask exactly what he thought was so weird."

"Good idea," Hermione agreed. She also paused to think. "Your dream about a snake…maybe Scabbers went to Slytherin?"

"It's as good a lead as any," Nico shrugged. "I don't know where their common room is, though."

Hermione gave him a strange look. "Didn't you go to their dormitory last year?"

"I shadow-traveled straight into the dormitory. I have no idea where the entrance actually is, and I'm still not supposed to shadow-travel unless it's an emergency."

Hermione sighed. "Well, I suppose we could have a look around the dungeons…"

Nico and Hermione actually did end up finding a few rats in the dungeons, but none of them were missing a toe, so none of them could be Scabbers. The rats also found Nico much scarier than Scabbers did. "Maybe you should look…" Nico suggested, after the third time a rat tried to bite him.

"But you've seen Scabbers more than I have," Hermione argued. "You'd recognize him more easily."

"He's missing a toe," Nico retorted. "That's a pretty recognizable feature."

A throat cleared behind them. "What are you two doing?" Snape asked.

Nico pulled out of the alcove where he and Hermione had been somewhat squashed together. "Looking for a rat."

"A…rat," Snape repeated skeptically.

"Ronald has lost his rat and is convinced my cat is to blame…sir," Hermione added.

"And I know for a fact that her cat had nothing to do with it," Nico defended.

"I see. And what would a Gryffindor's missing pet be doing so far away from Gryffindor Tower?" Snape raised his eyebrows.

"It's, uh, complicated," Nico said awkwardly.

"Complicated," Snape repeated, sounding like he didn't buy that for a moment. "I suggest you take your 'search' somewhere more…private." With that, he walked away.

Hermione stared after him, then turned back to Nico. "Did he think we were doing what I think he thought we were doing?"

Nico stared at her. "Huh?"

Hermione shook her head. "Never mind. Now what?"

Nico stared for a moment longer, then shrugged. "I don't know, but I don't think we're going to find Scabbers wandering around down here. I also had a dream about Scabbers and Felpato a while back, maybe Felpato can help."

"Who's Felpato?" Hermione asked blankly.

"…Have I seriously not mentioned him all year?" Nico said, surprised.

"Uh…no."

"Huh. Come meet my dog, then." Nico led the way out of the dungeons.

"You have a dog?" Hermione exclaimed in disbelief, following him.

"Well he's not really mine, but I found him on the grounds and I've been feeding him. I think he's some kind of hellhound, because he's really intelligent and he's not scared of me."

"And…you're sure he won't be a threat to me?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"There's a hellhound at camp who's friendly to everyone, not just me."

"Well, okay…" Hermione said uncertainly.

Sure enough, Felpato was perfectly friendly to Hermione. As soon as Nico introduced Hermione as his friend, Felpato wagged his tail and licked her face.

"Ah…hello," Hermione said, cautiously scratching Felpato behind his ears. "You're…big."

Felpato wagged his tail even harder.

"Would you happen to have seen a rat around?" Nico asked. Felpato suddenly froze, staring wide-eyed at Nico. "Old, tattered, missing a toe?"

"Our classmate thinks my cat ate him, and we're trying to prove him wrong," Hermione added, scowling.

Felpato seemed to sag slightly, looking disappointed. He shook his head, tail between his legs. Then he looked up and cocked his head, looking inquisitive.

"The rat has gone missing," Nico explained. "I swear it's like he faked his own death."

Felpato nodded slowly, eyes wide again. It almost looked as if he were trying to tell them something.

"But we know he's not dead, because Nico saw him just a few minutes before Ron found blood on his sheets," Hermione continued. "So he's got to be around here somewhere. So if you find him…uh…bring him to Nico, I guess?"

Felpato growled and started sniffing the ground.

Hermione turned to Nico. "Uh…what's he doing?"

"Looking for Scabbers, probably," Nico replied. He patted the dog on the head. "Thanks, Felpato." He then led the way back to the castle.

"Strange dog," Hermione commented.

"I encounter a lot of strange stuff," Nico shrugged. "At this point, all I care about is whether or not the strange stuff tries to kill me."

"So you're not the least bit curious what that dog is?"

"A bit," Nico conceded. "If you want to research magical dogs, be my guest."

"I think I will," Hermione mused.