Sleep decided not to leave him for the remainder of the day. After waking late he had to rush and resist shadow travelling to the great hall. Nico didn't think he'd be able to form an excuse.

So he was reduced to running. It wasn't hard or exhausting as he had been through worse but it was confusing. Ahead of him, another staircase moved. Nico stopped for a few seconds to orientate himself.

"Need help?"

Startled he whipped around and faced a painting. "Excuse me?"

"I asked if you needed help. You look lost."

"That's cause I am." He muttered. "Would you?"

The man in the painting smiled. "Follow me."

"Follow? You're…"

He watched in fascination as the man walked to the edge of his painting and appeared in another next to it. "Well come on. Don't have all day."

Nico snapped out of it and caught up. "First day then?" the painting asked.

"Yes. The school is too big."

"It is indeed. It's a wonder why Sir Nick didn't show you the way. He usually directs the Gryffindor first years around."

"I wonder why."

The small talk ended then as Nico began to feel restless. "The great hall is below us right?"

"Yes. We just need to wait for the stairs under us now to move."

"Thank you. You can go back now."

"Oh no. It is my duty to lead young wizards to their classes."

He gritted his teeth. He couldn't do anything in front of the man. "I doubt there's anyway I can get lost now. Don't you have something else to do?"

"Of course not. My main concern is getting you there before breakfast ends. Now the stairs are almost here so get ready."

Nico sighed and focused on Peeves. Soon enough the ghost popped up looking terrified. "Er…"

He gave his command silently and the ghost left. "I have to go. I'm sorry."

Nico managed to look surprised. "It's alright. Why the rush?"

"Peeves is causing trouble again. That damn ghost." The man mumbled a bit more than ran back to his own painting.

Smirking Nico glanced down at the stairs and realized that the great hall was at the very bottom. He easily jumped over the side and jumped down. Within minutes he was opening the doors and slipping in. Once more he used the shadows to seat himself before throwing away his cover. He was a bit disappointed when he only received a small gasp. At least the people nearest him scooted away.

Nico looked around for Harry and his friends and saw them doing the same. 'They must be looking for me.' Nico thought. A feeling of amusement filled him and he commanded the shadows to mask him once more. It was a bit reckless and stupid as people were still watching him. If he were to suddenly disappear more questions would be asked.

However, he did it anyway; what kind of son of Hades would he be if he didn't make some amount of trouble for people when he was actually doing them a favor?

As he did so, Dumbledore started his speech. All that was said included: two new teachers –one of whose name translates to wolf- and an explanation of Dementors. Nico noted that Harry paled at the mention of them and a blonde boy at another table laughed.

There was a connection and he planned on finding out. He couldn't have failed his quest already.

As deep as Nico was in thought, when the food showed itself he immersed himself quickly. Just as he did last night, Nico sent some food over to camp Half-Blood so Annabeth could burn it for the Gods.

In his opinion the food left much too soon. Since he hadn't eaten much during the war and after, his appetite had come back with a vengeance.

With the food gone, students began leaving for their classes. Nico looked at his timetable and cast a quick spell that converted it to Ancient Greek. Hecate had been thoughtful and given him the spell in time like this. He read it quickly and stuffed it back inside his bag. Care of magical creatures was first. Nico recalled in the announcements that someone new was teaching, hopefully it wouldn't be a boring class.

When he left the great hall he realized he had no idea where he was going. The timetables didn't tell him anything and he knew no one around him.

'To the ghosts it is then.' The closest one near him was Nick who was wandering through the walls aimlessly. Within seconds he was in front of Nico, looking scared for his afterlife.

"Can you tell me where the care for magical creatures is?" Nick stayed quiet. "Hello?"

"M-m-my lord, i-i-it wo-would be c-c-close to t-t-t-the game-gamekeepers hu-t-t."

Giving a large sigh, Nico released the ghost from his hold. "Thanks I guess."

It took him another ten minutes to find his way outside and to the house. Hut was the proper word for the building. He arrived as the blond boy from breakfast spoke, something about stroking an object. He looked up at the teachers face to find it down crested. Harry, being the hero he was (note the sarcasm), stepped up as the large ogre of a man left.

"Shut up Malfoy."

"Careful, Potter, there's a Dementor behind you-"

"Oooooohh!" Some girl at the back managed.

Dementor. The creature was mentioned more than once while Nico hadn't been protecting Harry. Commotion started in the group of students and Nico glanced up to find large birds. Griffins? (Pg 87)

"Gee up, there!" the large man roared. "Hippogriffs! Beautiful aren't they?"

Nico looked at them closer. From a distance they could be mistaken as griffins, however as the beast got closer he could see the differences. The most obvious being that the hippogriff didn't have the body of a lion, nor the tail of one as griffins do.

As he examined the beast he realized that all the other students had moved back leaving him at the front. He looked at Hagrid, a bit surprised. "What?"

"Yer want to ride Buckbeak then?"

He looked to see the beast glance up at the name. Nico felt the same nervousness he felt on the first day. First water, now sky. Couldn't they do anything that related to the underworld?

Looking up at the large man he could see a pleading look in his eyes. "I'll do it."

"Good man, Nico!" Hagrid roared. "Right then- let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak."

He approached the creature slowly, maintaining eye contact at all times. "What do I do?"

"Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink- Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much…"

Nico felt his eyes water for a bit, but he didn't dare shut them. The hippogriff- Buckbeak- had turned its head towards him and was staring at him with one orange eye.

"That's it," said Hagrid. "Tha's it, Nico… now, bow…"

Nico didn't feel like bowing and exposing his neck to the creature, but he forced himself to trust the man's directions. He bowed as low as he dared then raised his head to watch the creature's reaction.

Minutes passed and the creature remained as it was. Hagrid was getting nervous and advising he move away, but Nico kept his ground. As he stared into the griffin's eye he gained a new perspective. All the creature wanted was to be set free and fly. Slowly Nico changed the emotion shown in his eyes. He softened and relented, giving into what the hippogriff demanded.

Slowly, but surely, the hippogriff bowed to Nico and allowed him to touch his feathers.

"Well done, Nico!" said Hagrid, excited. "Right- yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!"

Nico reached out and lightly grazed the creature's beak. It closed its eyes and relaxed. He heard some distant clapping in the background but he focused on the hippogriff.

"Righ' then, Nico," said Hagrid, "I reckon he migh' let yeh ride him!"