REVIEW REPLIES:
DaughterOfHecate: Hi there! I'm really glad you like it! I thought it would make sense that Draco knows how to read latin, seeing as old pure-blood families seem pretty old-fashioned. As for Ron.. well, I'm pretty sure that Harry, Ron, Hermione and Artemis saw Nico use his sword when they were fighting the troll on Halloween. It's a shame that you haven't got your hands on any of the books though. I hope you like this chapter!
Summer: I'm glad that you liked them! It probably would be pretty cool if he made it all the way to the Stone, but then he probably wouldn't find it too hard when they have to get past the obstacles to face Quirrell later on. I'm glad that their arguing made sense, and I hope you enjoy this chapter, even though it's a bit rushed.
Guest: I'm glad you think so!
A few weeks later, it seemed as though everyone in the school knew that there had been some sort of argument between Nico, Draco, Artemis and the Golden Trio.
Nico scowled as he buried his nose into 1000 medical herbs and fungi and curled up in an armchair in the Slytherin Common Room, trying to ignore the whispering voices around him.
"What do you think happened?" he heard someone whisper.
"Who knows? One minute those six are spending all of there free time together, the next thing you know, none of them will even look each other in the eye!" said someone who Nico assumed was Pansy Parkinson.
"It's probably for the best." another voice remarked loftily, "Those three will be much better off without three nosy Gryffindors on their backs. Associating with Gryfiindors won't do them any favors. They would definitely have made a lot more friends in their own house by now if it wasn't for the so-called golden trio. Who knows? Maybe they'll actually start socializing with other respectable Slytherins now."
Nico gritted his teeth, why couldn't people just leave him alone? First his father sends him to a magic school he never wanted to attend in the first place, then Fowl started getting suspicious of his abilities, and now the entire school was gossiping about their little argument! It seemed as though no one would let him wallow in peace.
True to his word, Nico had cut off all ties with Harry, Ron and Hermione after the trio had rejected the Slytherins help, and Draco had done the same. None of them even acknowledged each other anymore. Harry had approached him a few days ago and had asked him something about dragons. Nico did, in fact, know quite a bit about dragons, but decided not to mention that, seeing as Harry was so confident in his and his friends' abilities. He had said that he didn't need a Slytherin's help, after all.
What secrets are you hiding di Angelo?
Nico would never admit it, but Ron's remarks had hit a bit too close to home. He cursed himself again and again for being stupid enough to pull out his sword that day when they were fighting the troll. He had hoped that everyone had forgotten about it by now, but apparently they still remembered it. Vividly. And they were just too distracted to investigate at the moment. But when they did find the time... Nico had no doubt that Artemis or Hermione would figure something out. He might have exposed the existence of the Greek Pantheon to a potentially dangerous 11 year old boy. He wasn't too worried about Hermione, even if she did find out, she probably wouldn't abuse the knowledge. But Artemis...
Don't even get him started on that kid! As soon as he thought that he had the boy genius all figured out, Fowl went at tried to steal the very thing they were all trying to protect. There was something wrong with this whole situation. Fowl was a greedy gold-digger, true. But he wasn't someone who only did things half-way. Unless he was desperate. Really desperate. Something told him that there was more to Artemis' motives than just becoming a billionaire. He knew that he should probably talk to Artemis about it, and get to the bottom of this mess. But he didn't. He was tired of it. Tired of having to deal with people's emotions, a skill in which he was sorely lacking. Tired of all the distrust. All it had taken was one argument to throw them all off the deep end. Tired of Artemis , who was responsible for most of his problems. He didn't want to deal with any of this right now. Artemis could solve his problems by himself. He stood up abruptly, barely noticing how half of his fellow first-years' eyes were on him. He ignored the sudden lack of conversation and marched out of the common room. He was done with social interaction for the time being.
*****Line Break*****
"Alright, what in Merlin's name is going on?" Blaise demanded.
Artemis raised an eyebrow coldly, "I haven't the faintest idea what you're going on about." he responded icily.
"Don't bother trying to play innocent Artemis," Theodore advised gently, "We know that something is wrong."
"Nothing is wrong." Artemis said calmly, before returning to his Potions homework.
"Nothing is wrong?" Blaise asked sceptically, "Nothing is wrong? You, Nico and Draco aren't even looking at each other properly anymore! What happened? First, the three of you become friends with the golden trio, completely ignoring me and Theodore by the way, and now you've all had some sort of fight and won't tell anyone about it!"
"I fail to see how that is any of your business."
"Of course it's our business." Theodore frowned, "Look Artemis, we may not be the best of friends, but something is bothering you. We didn't say anything when you, Nico and Draco stopped hanging out with us, or when the three of you started keeping secrets from us. We were okay with that ! We made do with just the two of us," he explained patiently, gesturing towards himself and Blaise, "But now, the three of you seem to hate each other. Don't you get that you're not the only ones affected? Do you know how awkward it is, trying to keep up a conversation around you three when you refuse to acknowledge each other's presences?" he ranted.
"Take it easy, Theo." Blaise said, patting his shoulder reassuringly, "The point is," he continued, looking at Artemis, "The three of you need to make up, one way or the other. I don't care if you go and get all mushy on the Gryffindors too, but just... fix this." he said, giving him a pointed look that Artemis decided to ignore.
But I can't 'fix this' as you so eloquently put it. Artemis thought, And I'm not sure I want to. Artemis Fowl works best alone.
Artemis didn't mention any of this out loud, and simply gave the two boys a noncommittal shrug.
*****Line Break*****
"Well Mr. di Angelo?" Professor Snape prompted, gazing intently at the scowling boy before him.
"I don't see how the little disagreement me, Draco and Artemis had is important here Sir." Nico said with a frown, "You said that you wanted to talk to me about my potions work."
"Yes" Snape said, drawing out his 's' like he usually did, "It's rather difficult to produce quality work when you refuse to coordinate with your partner, isn't it?" he asked innocently, or at least, as innocently as he could.
Nico scowled, "Me and Fowl are doing just fine." he said curtly, "Our grades have barely dropped."
Snape sighed and massaged his forehead, "Your grades are not my primary concern at the moment Mr. di Angelo." he decided to ignore the baffled look on his student's face, "Both you and Mr. Fowl are smart enough to keep your grades up, no matter what you're going through. What I'm concerned about is your emotional state."
"My emotional state?" the boy echoed, looking and sounding hopelessly lost.
"Yes. Your emotional state" he growled, "As your Head of House, it is my job to ensure your wellbeing, both physically and emotionally. I have no idea what you and Mr. Fowl have been up to, or how you dragged Mr. Malfoy into this mess, but I suggest that you figure it out. You barely pay attention in class, and your peers aren't much better. Grades aren't everything, Mr. di Angelo. I still have to reduce points for not paying attention in class, and Slytherin really can't afford to lose any more points, after Mr. Malfoy went and lost us 50 points for telling tales about a dragon. " he said. It simply wouldn't do to let people think that he cared much about his students' personal lives .
"So this is about house points?" Nico asked, looking bewildered.
Snape groaned. He really needed to think of better ways to convey his point, "Just go and talk things out with those friends of yours already." he moaned, cradling his head in his hands.
Nico gave a reluctant nod and stood up, "Why me though? Why not one of the others?"
Snape lifted his head momentarily to meet the boy's eyes, "I have been a teacher for a very long time Mr. di Angelo. I know when my students are troubled. I seem to have landed myself with far more troubled students than usual this year, I'm sure you know who I'm referring to?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, "Mr. di Angelo, I'll admit, I'm not sure what to think of you. I met your friend Mr. Fowl back when he was just a boy, and as an old family friend, I assure you that he's far more troubled than he lets on. Draco Malfoy on the other hand..." he trailed off, "Well, you get the idea. As for why I asked you specifically to try and fix this, well, you seem as though you're more than capable of handling it."
Nico raised an eyebrow, "What makes you say that?"
Snape gave the boy in front of him a sly smile, taking in his guarded posture, and those dark brown eyes that held far too much pain and maturity for an 11 year old boy, "Call it a gut-feeling."
*****Line Break*****
Nico scowled and kicked at the ground as he paced up and down in the Owlery. The Owlery had eventually become Nico's 'brooding corner'. And today, he wanted nothing more than to brood in peace.
Why did everyone expect him to have the answers? Even here, where he didn't have the whole 'child of the Big Three' thing to live up to, people expected him to deal with stuff that was way out of his comfort zones! He was eleven for Hades' sake! He wasn't the one with a degree in psychology! And yet, he was the one who had been assigned the task of talking about emotions. He sighed, wishing more than anything that he could vent to someone. But who? There was no one out there who would understand what he was going through. Or was there...
"O' Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, show me Percy Jackson, uh... wherever he is."
An absolutely terrible idea? Yep. Most likely to backfire in a horrible way? Absolutely. But if there was anyone in the world who knew how he was feeling right now, it was Percy.
"Nico?" Percy asked with his usual dorky grin, "What's up man? You haven't called in ages!"
Nico just sighed, "Hi Percy.", he greeted, not bothering to pour any enthusiasm into his voice.
Percy's jovial expression quickly turned concerned, "Nico? Are you okay? What's wrong?"
"I wanted to talk to you about something." he admitted, feeling more than a bit embarrassed.
"Sure Neeks. Go ahead." Percy said with a reassuring smile.
"You know how I said that I was going to school in Scotland?" he asked, "Well, me and my friends had an argument. A big one."
Percy frowned, "Why were you arguing?"
"One of my friends got caught doing something... he wasn't supposed to. After that, everyone was so mad that they started arguing with each other. And now we kind of hate each other."
"Must have been something really bad that your friend got caught doing." Percy said with a grimace.
"It was." Nico confirmed, "But..."
"But?" Percy prompted.
"I can't help but feel that he had a good reason for doing what he did! Not the fake one he gave us! And now my teacher wants me to figure out what's going on and talk to friend about it! I can't do that! I don't know the first thing about emotions, or comforting people!" he yelled, starting to panic.
Percy raised a hand, gesturing for him to stop, "First of all dude, chill out. You're not going to get anywhere by just panicking. Now, why do you think that your friend had a good reason for doing whatever he did?"
"I just... do. He kind of reminds me of how I used to be last year. Desperate, alone and driven by grief. I want to help! I really do! But I'm no good at this stuff! Last time I tried to talk about it, I made him break down into a trembling mess! What if I do that again? I could do something wrong, and make things worse! It's- it's just too much." his voice caught at the end, as he finally let out all of his cooped up emotions. Well, some of them, anyway.
Percy gave him a sympathetic look, "Nico, I get it. Being a child of the Big Three is... hard, to say the least. Everyone expects you to do things perfectly, even things that you don't know anything about. I know what that's like. You're only eleven, you're way to young to have to deal with that stuff. But.. we demigods have to grow up early, huh?" he gave him a weak smile, "Nico, no one will blame you if you don't talk to your friend and get to the bottom of whatever mess you've got yourself into. But, if you think you can do something to help, well, shouldn't you give it a try?"
Nico looked up and met Percy's sea green eyes for the first time since he had called , "Yeah. Thanks Kelp Head." he said softly.
"Anytime Death Breath," he said with a chuckle. He gave Nico an awkward glance, "Hey, Neeks, it... it means a lot that you trusted me enough to tell me about his. I know that you have a problem with trusting people, and I'm glad that you trust me, even after, well, you know." he said looking away. I've always seen you as a little brother, to be honest, and I'm just really glad that I could help you out. Let me know if there's anything else bothering you, okay?"
Nico nodded. Little brother. Percy had confirmed what he had suspected all along. Usually he would have felt resentful that Percy saw him as nothing more than a sibling, but right now... he could live with 'little brother'.
"See you later Percy." he said with a small smile, " And don't forget to think about my offer."
Percy rolled his eyes, "You just had to bring that up again, didn't you?" he grumbled before slashing a hand through the mist.
Nico spent the next few minutes aimlessly watching the sun set and observing the dozens of owls flying to and fro.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps, climbing up the stairs. Nico frowned, not many people visited the Owlery this late in the evening. Nico scowled as he realized who the mysterious visitor was.
To be honest, the loafers and Armani suit were a big give away.
A.N:
Hey guys! I'm back! Still not home I'm afraid. The place I live just received a red alert for heavy rains, which means that I'm stuck at my grandparents house for another week or so. On the bright side, school has been cancelled for a few days. Right now, I'm really bored, so I thought that I'd post something or the other. I'm typing this at 11:40 PM so hopefully, there aren't too many errors.
As usual, please let me know what you think!
-Keera?