A/N: Hello, so I realized that a few chapters back someone on here pointed out that I got the name of Nevill's toad wrong along with a couple other things and then I forgot to thank them in the last chapter. That person was TheGoodeRavenclaw and I'm sorry it's taken so long it mention it but I really am thankful that you pointed it out.
Also, Bean89 asked if Solangelo is an established thing right now in the story and I thought it would be best to answer that here so that there isn't any confusion. No Nico and Will are not currently a couple. I have yet to completely decide on ships for this story because I don't usually write in romance and am still figuring it out. Please be patient with me as I do this.
Finally, as always thank you for reading and/reviewing this story. I love the feed back. Now, back to the originally scheduled update.
Adrian's right when he said we were early for breakfast. There's barely anyone else in the entire Great Hall, and by that I mean there's only one other person who beat us here. A certain Son of Hades which makes no sense what so ever since Nico is in no way a morning person. Yet here he is with a single slice of buttered bread on his plate, still ignoring anything of real substance. Seriously, when will he learn that he need to eat more than a bird?
"Woah, where are you going?" Adrian puts a hand on my shoulder to stop me when I start walking towards the Slytherin table. "Didn't you just get in trouble for sitting at the wrong table last night?"
Nico must hear us because he looks up from his uneaten bread to give us an odd look. "Nope, in fact I got permission to do just that as long as I sit with the Hufflepuffs during dinner." So ha.
Adrian raises an eyebrow and cocks his head in disbelief. "Really?"
"Yes really, now come on. I'm sure no one will mind if you join us." Ignoring his protests, I grab the hand that had been on my shoulder to drag him to where Nico is. "Morning Neeks, you're up early." Too early. Did he get nightmares again? He has been doing a lot better the past couple of months. I hope he hasn't relapsed.
"Jet lag," he mumbles in explanation. " And don't call me Neeks."
"Whatever you say Death Breath." He scowls at me, making my smile grow bigger. "Nico meet Adrian, Adrian this is Nico di Angelo." I let go of Adrian's hand to gesture from one to the other.
"Sup." Adrian smiles and gives him a half wave which receives a simple nod in acknowledgment. "Friendly guy you've got there." Adrian whispers in my ear, making chills run down my spine.
"You'll get used to him." I think so. Nico can be a little stand offish. I just hope him and Adrian can move past that point.
Adrian grimaces at the idea." I sure hope not." he comments as he fills his plate with bacon, sausage, and a strew of other breakfast foods.
"See Nico, that's a healthy amount of food," I point out.
Nico of course rolls his eyes. "What? Enough to give yourself a heart attack? I'll pass." He takes a huge bite out of his toast to prove a point. He can be really annoying sometimes; I hope he chokes on it.
Nico visibly swallows and immediately starts coughing. I didn't really mean that! He grabs for a goblet to take a long sip and clears his throat. "Stupid food." Thank goodness he's okay.
"Don't blame the food, it's your fault for taking too big of a bite," Adrian scolds while calmly eating the rest of his food.
Nico stiffens and I can already tell that the next thing out of his mouth isn't going to be anything nice. Before he can get that far I give him a little kick under the table and send him a look warning him that he better not start a fight. "Whatever." Nico takes another bite, this one much 'smaller than the first.
"Great Merlin, they've multiplied." Draco collapses onto the bench across from us.
I quickly hide my surprise at his sudden appearance with a friendly smile. "Nice to see you too Draco. Are you planning on eating this morning?"
"I was going to, but then I saw you and lost my appetite. "The blond scowls. Despite his words, Draco puts a few pieces of fruit on his plate.
"Be nice or get lost," Nico warns, sending a weak glare in Draco's direction
"Yeah, no one asked you to sit here, " Adrian agrees. Maybe they're finally starting to get along. Probably not.
"The same can be said about you Randell, " Draco sneers at Adrain. "Why are you here anyways?" He bites back and into a banana.
"Actually Will invited me and there's no way I'm letting my fellow badger brave the vipers nest alone." Adrian drapes his arm over me and pulls me close.
"Fine, but who invited Dr. Sunshine here?"
"Nico of course," I reply off handedly, more focused on whether I've been pressed into Adrian's side for too long to be normal.
"I didn't have a say in the matter," Nico pipes up.
I pull away from Adrian to give Nico my full attention. "Do you want me to leave?" More people have entered the hall by now and are giving our group weird looks including Harry and his friend. Are they making Nico uncomfortable? Am I?
"No, you're fine," Nico tells his plate.
Draco huffs. "Fine, but when you don't get your schedule because you're at the wrong table don't blame me."
"Well it looks like we'll find out now. Here comes the professor."
A lady maybe in her late twenties with waxy raven black hair cut just below her chin weaves through students, handing out schedules without once stabling despite her tall, dark blue heels that match her robes perfectly.
"Draco Mal," she starts when she reaches us before Draco cuts her off.
"That's me."
The teacher purses her lips and hands him a slip of paper. "William Solace?" I don't have time to tell her who I am before a paper like Draco's is shoved into my hand. Turning to Adrian, she hums in consideration. "I wasn't given a schedule for another Hufflepuff, but since all eighth years are the same you should be able to look off of a friend's until you can get yours from your head of house." Adrian sends Draco a 'ha' look and leans over to see what classes I have. "And finally, Nico di Angelo." She all but glares at him. "Is that you?" she asks even though it's clear she knows exactly who he is.
"Maybe, who's asking?" he responds with the same hostility.
"Nico!" I swat him on the arm. She may not be nice, but that's still no way to talk to a teacher. What if he gets detention? "Don't be rude."
"No it's fine. I should have introduced myself from the beginning. My name is Viola Oscuro though you can call me Professor Oscuro. I'm the new head of Slytherin and Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." She gives a little bow and smirks at the sight of Draco's eyes widening.
"Sorry, is that name supposed to mean something to me?" If possible, Draco's eyes get even wider. They'll pop out of his head if he get even more surprised.
"It would if you were a true di Angelo, but then again it's not uncommon to find people using the family name for fame and power." she looks Nico up and down in inspection. "Pity, I actually thought you might be the real deal. Looks like I was mistaken." Nico doesn't answer, not that he needs to. The shadows reaching towards him and the sudden drop in temperature speaks volumes. For the first time, Professor Oscuro's smug composure cracks. She looks surprised and maybe even a little scared.
That's my cue to calm Nico down before he ends up harming those around him or even himself. I don't need him turning into a shadow during this quest. "Well, we should be going now." I pluck Nico's schedule out of her hand. "We don't wan to be late on the fist day of class after all." I grab Nico and forcefully pull him up and out of his seat where he's frozen glaring at everything.
Yanking him from the hall, I try to snap him out of it by channeling my healing abilities though my touch. "Hey, are you okay?" I ask while transferring my grip from his upper arm down to his wrist so that I can check his heart beat. It's fast.
"I'm fine," he insists, but just to be careful I also check his forehead to see if it's warm. Nope, cold as a corpse as ever. "I told you I'm fine." he batters my hand away from his flushed face.
"True, but you always say that so excuse me for not believing you," I huff. Why can't he give me a straight answer for once? Doesn't he know I'm just trying to care for him? "Look, I know you don't like to talk about your family or, Apollo forbid, your feelings, but that was quite the show of accidental powers for something that's 'fine'"
"Will," Nico warns me against trying to push any farther, but it lack the usual venom. He slips against the grey stone wall with a sigh. "Will," he repeats.
"There you guys are." Adrian rounds the corner with Draco trailing behind him. Nico automatically stiffens at their arrival and I can already tell that if he was going to say something to me then there's no way I'm ever going to hear what it was now. "You just left us with that scary lady. It was awkward," he complains.
"Yeah, sorry about all of that back there." I rub the back of my neck, not quite sure what else to say.
"Which was what exactly? I've never seen any magic like that." Draco tries to stare Nico down in search of answers. Too bad he doesn't know that he's wasting his time.
"Really? I thought everyone here has seen accidental magic before." At least Nico isn't lying. Showing his powers was an accident and to those that don't know about demi-gods they do look like magic.
Adrian hums. "Is that all it was?"
"Of course, what else would it have been?" My voice sounds high even to me. I hate not being good at lying.
"I don't know, it looked a lot like umbrakinesis to me."Adrian shrugs casually, yet his tone is sharp and accusing. No one says anything right away. I don't because I don't trust myself to come up with a convincing lie on the spot and Nico doesn't because he's too busy looking like someone forced him to swallow a lemon. Draco is looking back and forth between us with a far away look in his eye like an Athena kid when they've almost solve the puzzle they've been woking on. Adrian taps his foot causing the sound to echo though out the empty hall. "Well?"