Nico had to admit, Hogwarts was a pretty cool place. He glanced at his fellow classmates to see them all staring at the castle in awe. They had just got off the Hogwarts express and were standing next to Hagrid at the small station, but even from there ,they could see the medieval-looking castle looming in the distance. Nico wasn't as astonished as the others, after all, he lived in a castle a lot bigger and creepier for most of the year. Everything was going perfectly until Hagrid ordered all the first years to get in a fleet of small rowing boats without paddles. Nico felt as though an icy hand was squeezing his heart. Poseidon did not hate his brothers' kids as much as Zeus did, but Nico didn't want to know what Poseidon would think if he willingly entered his domain. Nico looked around frantically. There was no way in Tartarus that he was getting on that boat. He would rather go home and risk his father's wrath than get turned into a patch of seaweed by his uncle. He noticed Harry looking at him in concern.
"Are you alright Nico? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Nico smiled wryly. If only that were the case. "Don't worry about it Harry. It's nothing important."
He turned to Hagrid.
"Hagrid, these boats will take us to that side entrance, right?"
Hagrid nodded. Nico smiled in relief. He turned to Harry when people started boarding the boats.
"Harry, you and Ron go on without me. I- I think that I forgot something back on the train. I'll just run back and get it before the train leaves."
"Alright, but hurry!"
Nico headed back onto the train, where the trunks seemed to be unloading themselves . He closed his eyes and envisioned his destination. He felt the familiar feeling of shadow enveloping him. When he opened his eyes, he was in the bushes outside the entrance. He really needed to work on his aim, he had been trying to get inside the school, not outside. He shrugged, it was better than ending up in China again. Although, it had been a while since he had visited Mrs. Wong. He shook his head, stupid ADHD.
"Come along everyone! Stay together."
Nico blended tried to blend into the darkness, hoping to join the group without anyone noticing. His plan worked, well, apart from the 'without anyone noticing' bit. Being the extraordinarily fortunate person that he was, he simply had to join the line at the place where Fowl was. He felt a bit ashamed about his outburst the last time they bumped into each other, it wasn't his fault that his parents had given him the name of a certain man-hating goddess that he despised. But still, what self-respecting person would name a male child Artemis? Maybe his parents had been expecting a girl ad hadn't bothered to choose a new name when they found out that it was a boy?
"Di Angelo? What are you doing here? Why weren't you on the boats with everyone else?"
Nico cursed, why did he have to run into Fowl of all people?
"What do you mean? Of course I was on the boats, how else would I have gotten here?"
" You're not fooling anyone di Angelo. I know that you didn't get here on a boat. I'm not sure how you got here, but believe me when I say that I will find out."
Fowl was too observant for his own good. Nico couldn't of a way to explain how he had magically teleported across the lake. He noticed 3 other boys standing nearby listening to their conversation with rapt attention. Thankful for a change of subject, he snapped, "Well, don't you three have better things to do? This is between me and Fowl here."
One of the boys suddenly got defensive, "Maybe you should be more polite, unless you want us to tell one of the professors. And as for why it's our business, Artemis is our friend. So his business is our business."
Artemis seemed a bit surprised at that, and so was Nico. He could tell that Fowl wasn't sure whether he should be pleased, or if he should be annoyed that people were going to poke their noses in his business. He was about to reply, when a group of ghosts floated into the room. Nico heaved a sigh of relief, even if every student at this school hated him, at least he'd have some company. Contrary to popular belief, ghosts were not actually afraid of Nico. Usually, he only pulled them away to gossip, rather than to threaten them. So he usually enjoyed their company. One of the ghosts caught his eye. Their conversation ceased for a minute. Nico tried to shake his head without being to obvious. He didn't want to attract attention on his first day by exciting all of Hogwarts' ghosts. He didn't miss the fact that Fowl's eyes seemed to be watching his every move. Thankfully, the ghost seemed to get the gist and whispered something to his companions. The ghosts moved on, still whispering and arguing with each other.
Just then, the doors burst open and a stern looking woman with a tight white bun entered the room. She led them into a beautiful hall with a ceiling that opened up into the sky. He heard someone nearby whisper that the ceiling was only enchanted to look like that. Nevertheless, it was still impressive. The woman, who's name was apparently Professor McGonagall, stepped forward and placed a musty old hat on a stool. Just when Nico thought that nothing could surprise him anymore, the hat burst out into song.
'Just great!', he thought, 'That is exactly what I need right now. A singing hat.'
He watched curiously as student after student tried on the Soprano Singing Hat and got sorted into their new houses.
"Di Angelo, Nico"
Nico froze. This moment would determine the next 7 years of his life. He walked shakily up to the stool and let the hat be placed on his head.
'Well what do we have here?'
Nico couldn't even find it in himself to be surprised anymore. Of course the hat talked. Why wouldn't it?
'It's been a while since I've seen a demigod around here. Now, I know how touchy you lot can be, so I'll just say it. I need to look through your memories. Before you ask, no one else will know about it, no, you don't have a choice in the matter, and yes, the headmaster makes sure that I don't have any lice'
Before Nico could even think of a snarky comeback, the hat started shuffling through his memories. Nico wanted to yell at the hat to stop, he couldn't relive the last few months of his life. Not now, when he was just starting to move on. But his voice didn't seem to be working.
'...Wow kid. You've been through some pretty rough stuff. Look, I know that you're afraid of people judging you for your feelings and who you are, but take it from the centuries old hat, it'll turn out alright eventually, you'll see.'
Nico was surprised, first the hat sorted through his memories without permission, and now it was giving him life advice?
' As for your house, I know that you don't want to be an outcast again, but I think that you'd find that there are people out there who feel just as lonely and excluded as you do. I'm no oracle, but even I can tell that the so called outcast house is where you could find people with whom you belong. So...'
"SLYTHERIN!"
The last bit was shouted out for all to hear. Nico could feel nothing but dread pooling in his stomach as he made his way to the Slytherin table. Harry was looking at him with an expression of pure horror. It was like figuring out that he was a son of Hades all over again. He barely paid attention to the rest of the ceremony and ignored the other student's attempts to talk to him. Fowl and his three 'friends' were also sorted into Slytherin, although they seemed a lot happier about it than he was.
Of course, Harry, Ron and the Granger girl all got sorted into Gryffindor. Nico thought bitterly that the Fates had decided to torture him with another black-haired, green-eyed golden boy. Nico was fairly sure that he didn't have feelings for Harry. It was just the fact that the boy reminded him so vividly of Percy Jackson, the very person he was trying to avoid. Why did his life have to be plagued by stupidly noble heroes?
A.N:
Hey there, people of the internet(that just sounds cheesy)! I know that a lot of you will complain about the fact that Nico's in Slytherin. To be honest, he could be in any house. But for this story to work, he would have to be in Slytherin. Also, the sorting hat sorted him into Slytherin because he thought that Nico would fit in with everyone else there, the outcasts of the school. I'm planning to make Nico and Artemis friends eventually, but I want to know what you lot think. Do you think that they should make friends early on in the story or later on, towards the end? Let me know in your reviews! Remember, I'm always open to new ideas. Keera out!