We were leaving the great hall when Draco stopped before Harry and Ron. "Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?" "You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you," said Harry coolly. There was of course nothing at all little about Reyna, Finley, Luna, Bianca, and I but as the High Table was full of teachers, the others could do more than crack their knuckles and scowl. "I'd take you on anytime on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only - no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?" "Of course he has," said Ron, wheeling around. "I'm his second, who's yours?" Malfoy looked at us, sizing us up. "Nico," he said. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room; which's always unlocked."

As Draco stalked past the Gryffindor table, I trotted up beside him. "Why'dya pick me? "I asked. "Lu and Fin seemed like they would go to war for you!" "Because Weasley, I could see your talent when Reyna introduced you to me. You can use those shadows to hide me during the duel. And maybe, I think you're cute." He winked and said, "All right gang, off to bed. We have a big night tonight!"

We left the common room at 11: 30 PM to head to the trophy room. I tried hiding us in the shadows, but I wasn't successful. I started to stress that we would be late, and my shadows came to me. I took advantage of the time I had them for and cloaked us. When we pushed the door open, Harry and Ron were there, Neville and Hermione standing a few feet behind them. "Oh, I didn't know this was a party, Potter. Should've brought the rest of the gang, eh Weasley?" He nudged me. Harry didn't seem to know what to do. "Come on Pottah, bow" he bowed, and they held their wands like a javelin ready to throw. "Expelliarmus!" Petrificus Totallus!" they yelled simultaneously. A beam of red light flew from Harry's wand and a white beam from Draco's wand met in the centre of the room. Both fighting for dominance, the point where the two beams met continually shifted closer and farther from the boys. "Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner." It was Filch speaking to Mrs. Norris. Horror-struck, Harry and Draco stopped immediately and in the silent scramble to flee, I accidentally followed the Gryffindors. Neville's robes had barely whipped around the corner when they heard Filch enter the trophy room. "They're in here somewhere," they heard him mutter, "probably hiding."

"This way!" Harry mouthed to the others and petrified; we began to creep down a long gallery full of suits of armour. They could hear Filch getting nearer. Neville suddenly let out a frightened squeak and broke into a run -he tripped, grabbed Ron around the waist, and the pair of them toppled right into a suit of armour. The clanging and crashing were enough to wake the whole castle. "RUN!" Harry yelled, and the five of us sprinted down the gallery, not looking back to see whether Filch was following – we swung around the doorpost and galloped down one corridor then another, Harry in the lead, without any idea where we were or where we were going – we ripped through a tapestry and found themselves in a hidden passageway, hurtled along it and came out near their Charms classroom, which they knew was miles from the trophy room. "I think we've lost him," Harry panted. "Nico, what're you doing with us?" he asked, puzzled. "Accidentally followed you. I knocked over my lantern and I couldn't see anything." "Who're you?" Neville asked. "Nico Weasley, Ron's Slytherin brother." He nodded, like 'oooooh'

I - told -you," Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest, "I - told - you." "We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower," said Ron, "quickly as possible." "Slytherin dungeons for me," I said.

"Let's go." It wasn't going to be that simple. They hadn't gone more than a dozen paces towards the stairs when a doorknob rattled, and something came shooting out of a classroom in front of them. It was Peeves. He caught sight of them and gave a squeal of delight. "Shut up, Peeves - please - you'll get us thrown out." Peeves cackled. "Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty." "Not if you don't give us away, Peeves, please." "Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know." "Get out of the way," snapped Ron, taking a swipe at Peeves this was a big mistake. "STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR" Ducking under Peeves, they ran for their lives, right to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a door - and it was locked. "This is it!" Ron moaned, as they pushed helplessly at the door, "We're done for! This is the end!" They could hear footsteps, Filch running as fast as he could toward Peeves' shouts.

"Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Harry's wand, tapped the lock, and whispered, 'Alohomora!". Nothing happened. "Here!" I said, pulling shadows from around me. I fashioned them into a lock pick and quickly picked the lock. The lock clicked and the door swung open. The tools dispersed and I rushed through the door after the others. I closed it behind me, and we all pressed our ears against it, listening. "Which way did they go, Peeves?" Filch was saying. "Quick, tell me." "Say 'please."' "Don't mess with me, Peeves, now where did they go?" "Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," said Peeves in his annoying singsong voice. "All right -please." "NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaaa!" And they heard the sound of Peeves whooshing away and Filch cursing in rage. "He thinks this door is locked," Harry whispered. "I think we'll be okay - get off, Neville!" For Neville had been tugging on the sleeve of Harry's bathrobe for the last minute. "What?" Harry turned around - and saw, quite clearly, what.

For a moment, I was sure we'd walked into a nightmare - this was too much, on top of everything that had happened so far. We weren't in a room, as I had supposed. We were in a corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor. And now we knew why it was forbidden. We were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs. It was standing quite still, all six eyes staring at us, and I knew that the only reason we weren't already dead was that our sudden appearance had taken it by surprise, but it was quickly getting over that, there was no mistaking what those thunderous growls meant. Harry groped for the doorknob - between Filch and death, he'd take Filch. I pulled my wand and summoned a rubber ball.

I held a red rubber ball the size of a grapefruit. It was labelled WATERLAND, DENVER, CO. Before anyone could stop me, I raised the ball and marched straight up to Cerbie. I said, "See the ball? You want the ball, Cerbie? Sit!" Cerbie looked as stunned as the others were. All three of his heads cocked sideways. Six nostrils dilated. "Sit!" I called again. I wasn't sure that at any moment we wouldn't become the world's largest Milk bone dog biscuit. But instead, Cerbie licked his three sets of lips, shifted on his haunches, and sat, with a loud THumP. I said, "Good boy!" I threw Cerbie the ball. He caught it in his middle mouth. It was barely big enough for him to chew, and the other heads started snapping at the middle, trying to get the new toy. "Drop it!" I ordered. Cerbie's heads stopped fighting and looked at me. The ball was wedged between two of his teeth like a tiny piece of gum. He made a loud, scary whimper, then dropped the ball, now slimy and bitten nearly in half, at my feet. "Good boy." I picked up the ball, ignoring the monster spit all over it.

I turned toward the others. "Go now." "But—" "Now!" I ordered; in the same tone I was using on Cerbie. Neville, Hermione, Ron, and Harry inched backwards warily. Cerbie started to growl. "Stay!" I ordered the monster. "If you want the ball, stay!" Cerbie whimpered, but he stayed where he was. "What about you?" asked Harry "I know what I'm doing, Harry," I muttered. "At least, I'm pretty sure. …" The others walked through the door. They made it through. I said, "Good dog!" I held up the tattered red ball and concluded that if I rewarded Cerbie, there'd be nothing left for another trick. I threw the ball anyway. The monster's left mouth immediately snatched it up, only to be attacked by the middle head, while the right head moaned in protest. While the monster was distracted, I walked briskly through the door and joined the others

"How did you do that?" I was asked by Ron, amazed. "No Idea?" I asked. "What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" said Ron after a minute. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does." Hermione had got both her breath and her bad temper back again. "You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?" "The floor?" Harry suggested. "I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads." "No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something." She stood up, glaring at us. "I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed - or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed." "Me too," I spoke. We parted ways.

When I finally got back to my dormitory, Draco had waited up for me. " Where did you go? Where have you been for the past hour?" "Sorry," I said. "I knocked over my lantern and accidentally followed the others. But that's the least of it. You won't believe what we stumbled upon." I went on to tell Draco everything. Then I passed out on my Four-poster from sheer exhaustion, still in my robes, wand in hand. What's the point of struggling? The voices told me. You're dead anyway. You'll never leave this place.

I could sink to the bottom and drown, let the river carry my body away. That would be easier. I could just close my eyes ... Life is despair, they said. Everything is pointless, and then you die.

I pushed forward, lungs burning. I opened my eyes to a red sky. I clawed my way out of the black water onto a sharp beach of red glass. My lungs heaved out the water from the Cocytus. I gulped lung fulls of air but then coughed, hacking out the acidic air. It tasted like the inside of your mouth after vomiting. I reluctantly took a rattling breath and wondered if the voices in the Cocytus were right. Maybe fighting for survival was pointless. I would be dead within the hour.

I stood, looking over the fields of glowing orange pustules. Ew. I drew my stygian Iron sword and experimentally stabbed one of the pustules. They looked like zits. What I didn't expect was for a three-chested man to emerge. "Oh, how I've been waiting for this revenge, Nico Di Angelo." He stepped toward me, and I ran. Spotting a house on a hill clear of monster zits, I ran inside. A woman in a black biker jacket was waiting for me. She closed the door and walked to the stove. "Care for a cuppa?" She asked, putting a cup of tea in front of me. I gulped it down. "I can't protect you for long Nico, but I do know that the giants know you are down here and will hunt you." There was a thumping at the door. "Go now! I will see you again." I rushed out the backdoor and woke up in a cold sweat. What did these dreams mean?

I dressed for the day and then realized it was a Saturday. I changed into a black skull t-shirt, aviator jacket, and black ripped jeans that I had bought at a thrift shop. I had Sewn on a sun patch, and a Jolly Rogers patch onto the dark brown leather jacket. I loved the oversized thing. It was super comfy, being silk-lined. It also had a soft but scratchy liner around the neckline. I walked out of the dormitory to find Draco and the others sitting by the fire, the former relaying my adventures to the group.

We headed up to the great hall and Draco grabbed a granny smith apple and bit into it, ringed hands in full view. As usual, I grabbed a pomegranate and dug in. The others had only persuaded me to eat more once before. We walked around campus for a few hours, talking about the events of the previous night. "And then our spells connected, and we fought for control. Stupid Filtch had to come and find us." Draco complained. "Who would've won Draco? If the git hadn't interrupted?" asked Luna. "Me, obviously!" he bragged.

A/N

Okay, guys. That chapter is complete! please know that comments are welcome. Dont mean to be mean but just remember if you comment, if you don't have anything relatively nice to say don't say anything. No one likes a hater. I know this is my first story, but still... Anyway, see you guys next time! BTW I wrote this chap in 2 hours when I couldn't sleep. Scratch that, 3 hours. haha :)