Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter nor Devil May Cry.
Challenge accepted from Gin no Kaze
The Victims of an Ignored War: (Part 1)
Zacharias Smith: "Pay Attention!"
Nero laid in bed quietly feeling an empty space on his small bed where there shouldn't be. His arm pulsed uncomfortably and has been doing so since dinner ended. He hasn't been left alone, so he couldn't investigate the issue – not that it will stop him. But something tells him in his gut, that if he were to look, he would find nothing. (If there is one thing Nero trusted indefinitely, it's his gut.) Besides, the painful pulsing was different from the throbbing of a demon nearby.
Just as he closes his eyes Nero hears a floorboard creak, the creaks continue getting louder as the footsteps gently get closer to him. Softly, Nero moves his hand to Blue Rose hidden underneath his pillow.
"You awake," a male voice whispers. "I saw you move."
"It's freaking late man," he croaks pretending that he woke up at that moment.
The voice scoffs, "Yeah, you keep pretending. I know paranoid bastards when I 'em, after all – I'm equally as paranoid. Com'on I need to talk to you."
He briefly debated to continuing to ignore the short stack or just listen to what he had to hear. "I know what type a person you are, you're the type that can't help but want to know. Betcha wondering why Diggory called that meetin' and what they were on about, huh? Well I keep my ears to the ground if that'll get yer arse off the bed. 'Member what Diggory said, I'm the 'to go guy'."
"Alright," he said tiredly. "What ya' got?"
Zacharias Smith was quick to shush him and frantically waved him over walking out his dorm to the common room. "Heard ya' made friends with the Weasley's and that Granger girl, also heard ya' managed to make sense with that loony girl too. She and I talk a lot, girl may take crazy but that doesn't mean her crazy talk carries no weight. From what I've heard, muggles have this saying; there's method to her madness, yes?"
Nero not quite understanding what he was getting at nodded in agreement, while Luna may be off her kilter, that didn't make necessarily make her an idiot.
"Granger and I, we have quite a lot in common – if I do say so myself – she is just as paranoid as myself. Heard she was gonna burst them newbies bubble. Frankly, I don't care but I thought since you're a fellow Hufflepuff I'd let you in on a little secret. Dumbledore is crazy, not anything new, but that stunt that he just pulled. That's absolutely insane! Hiring that politician – don't expect anything from her. Anyway, how did Dumbledore get you to come after being gone for so long?" Smith whispered.
Nero snorted –
"Don't answer that – you see, I suppose he said some things to get you here and pulled the rug off your feet too? Looking at you, I also suppose you don't care much of anything considering you're a foreigner and all."
"I – "
"Well you should know: people are dying. Left and right, good and bad. We lost three house members last year and the school as whole lost ten students this year is what I heard! Some of 'em might not even by dead – prisoners of war I suspect. The ministry is trying to pretend nothing is happening. The Prophet claimed that 'scared' parents were 'pulling students out' to keep them safe, but I know better – we all do. There dead, some might actually be pulled out though – who knows really."
"Granger is gonna tell 'em how they were lied to though, she's gonna tell 'em how some of 'em are now second class citizens. It's sad but that's our world now."
Zacharias Smith was looking at his hands by the time he was done talking, now that he really looked at the paranoid kid he saw his sunken and blank stare.
Nero remained for a moment before asking quietly, "Why are you telling me all this?"
"I dunno, you look like you really didn't care 'bout us or what's going on. You really don't understand, being so careless about what's happening will lead to one too many mistakes – like what happened to Weasley and Granger. Weasley was a loud mouth fool and Granger an ignorant muggle-born. Their stupidity caused something really terrible to happen – almost got the school shut down. Tragic that it didn't get shut down."
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