Chapter Text
Nico's POV
Nico walked through the empty corridor fully aware that he was late for his first class of the day. The Slytherin Quidditch Team had decided to have an early morning training session in preparation for the match against Hufflepuff tomorrow. That meant however, he had to run back to the common room and get changed as well as collect his things for lessons. Which lead him to having to jog to his Divination lesson. He ran up the spiral stairs up to the top of the North Tower taking two steps at a time, by the time he got to the top he was out of breath but continued to knock on the door and quietly open it.
Professor Trelawney must have been in the middle of a dramatic speech, because she was standing on a stool, her arms were high in the air holding a pack of tarot cards. She looked towards the door still in position, "Er, sorry I'm late. Quidditch practice." Nico explained. Professor Trelawney shook her head and waved to one of the small tables which only had a single person sitting down at it "sit, sit," and then went back to her dramatic talk about the dangers one would face if dealt the death card. Really, Nico thought it was quite self-explanatory, though he wasn’t particularly listening. The table he had been told to sit at was occupied by Will Solace. He could already feel his face heating up 'hold it together di Angelo' he muttered to himself as he reached the table. Will gave him a bright smile as he sat down.
"Hey, Sunshine." Nico tried giving him a glare, but Will carried on grinning. "Don't call me that," Nico replied. Will gave him a wink and turned his attention back to their Professor, much to the relief of Nico. He couldn't believe his luck, first he had been late and now of all people he had to sit next to his crush. Nico looked at Will's yellow tie: Hufflepuff. Then sighed, ever since Nico's first match after he had joined the Quidditch Team as the Slytherin Seeker he had gone against Hufflepuff and that's where it had started. Unfortunately Will wasn't a Seeker so they didn't spend much of the game near each other. But Will was the Keeper which meant Nico always knew where Will would be if Nico wanted a quick peek without anyone noticing. Nico knew he had no chance, Will was way out of his league the blond curls, sky blue eyes, tanned skin and glowing smile. But the Hufflepuff was fairly popular and would never want to be with a Slytherin. In the Second year Will had briefly gone out with a Ravenclaw called Jake Mason, because of that Nico always had some stupid glimmer of hope.
Suddenly a hand was being waved in his face. "Earth to Nico," the black-haired boy swatted the hand away as Will gave a chuckle. "Last minute Quidditch practice, huh?" Nico straightened in his chair, "yeah."
Will gave one of his smiles "Slytherin panicking over tomorrow’s game then?" He teased. Nico rolled his eyes, "As if."
One level above them Kayla who was also a Hufflepuff, as well as the Beater on their Quidditch Team began to rub the crystal ball in front of her and looked into it as if she were predicting the future.
"I foretell that Hufflepuff shall win the game taking place on the 6th." Nico raised a brow, "Tomorrows the 7th." Will began laughing at his Housemates mistake, while Kayla threw her quill at him. "I knew what I meant!" she whisper shouted. Before turning her attention towards Nico.
"Yeah well as long as your Captain plays fair this time-" Nico narrowed his eyes "Luke never cheated." Kayla looked at him like she didn't believe him. He knew what she was trying to insinuate, a few months ago Slytherins Team Captain Luke Castellan who played as their Beater had been accused of cheating against a match with Gryffindor. Which resulted in two Gryffindor players to be in the infirmary. However, there was no proof so Luke was left off the hook. That didn't mean that the rest of the school were going to let it go so easy though, it was also rumoured that another Slytherin player who was their second Beater Octavian Godson was involved.
"Right," Kayla muttered, Nico didn't know if Luke and Octavian really did pull anything but they were still his team. Will quickly tried to change the subject, "so I think we are meant to-" pointing to the pack of tarot cards on the table but Nico still had something to say.
"Nothing was proven about Luke and Octavian." He ground out through gritted teeth. "Oh yeah? So explain to me how Jason and Zoe ended up in the infirmary?" Kayla replied. Nico was about to open his mouth when Will put a hand between them, "both of you drop it. We are meant to be doing tarot cards." Kayla turned back to her partner, who was a Ravenclaw called Ella, while Nico gave a huff and turned back to Will for the rest of the lesson.
After lesson was over Nico quickly got up to leave, Will tried to catch up with him but the Slytherin was still annoyed with Kayla's accusation. This was why Nico knew he never stood a chance with Will, everyone seemed to expect the worst from Slytherin. Looking at his time table he noticed it read Defence Against the Dark Arts. He cringed, ever since they learnt 'Expecto Patronus' he hated the lessons. Before that it was his best, he took a shaky breath as he recalled what had happened a few weeks ago.
Flashback
"Today we are moving onto something different," Professor Thanantos said as he lent on a table in front of the class. "As your Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, I feel that there is no telling what you will face outside these walls." Everyone in the room shifted in their sits. "So I think it's best if you are taught to stop any attacks should the event occur." Thanantos then began pacing in front of the class, "Of course as fourth years there are some things that must be taught when you are older, but there are some things which I can show you now. So tell me does anyone know of a creature called a dementer?"
At the mention of the name Nico's hand shot up. There wasn't a class he did extra reading in accept this one. Thanantos gave a nod and so Nico began talking, "Dementers are primarily used as guards for the prison Azkaban, they feed of happy memories and so victims are left in a vegetative state." Thanantos gave another nod confirming Nico's answer.
"Exactly, now we can't have you facing a dementer just yet, but we can get you all learning the spell, wand movement as well as controlling your Patronus." Excited whispers erupted, Thanantos eventually hushed them. "Now repeat after me, Expecto Patronus." His wand making a spiral motion. The class copied. Thanantos gave an encouraging smile "And again."
Once Thanantos was sure everyone had the correct wand action and right pronunciation he moved on. "Now when saying the spell think of the happiest memory that you can remember. A single memory which puts the biggest smile on your face." He paused for a few seconds allowing the class to think before talking again. "Okay everyone up and practice!" The Professor pointed his wand above the class and yelled "Expecto Patronus!" A silver light erupted from his wand which formed a crow that circled around the room.
The class began laughing with delight and started chanting including Nico. He thought of his most happy memory, Christmas at home with his Father and... Mother. He shut his eyes as he then remembered that those Christmas's didn't exist anymore, not without his Mother and sister Bianca. Nico shook his head, gods that wasn't happy he scolded himself. He tried again, the time he went for a picnic in a poppy field with his...right Mother and sister. Nico shook his head to clear the thoughts he looked around the room, Percy had a dolphin, Jason had an eagle, Annabeth had an owl, Katie had a doe, Hazel had a horse, Juniper had a rabbit and everyone else seemed to be getting their Patronus's fine.
Just think of good things at school, Nico thought. But the only things which came to mind where his first year when everyone avoided the weird Slytherin kid, the second year where everyone seemed to forget that he were still here and the third where everyone looked at him like they wondered why he bothered to come here at all. That was until his House realised he made good Seeker. Even now people looked at him weird though. He opened his eyes despite not realising he had closed them.
Thanantos seemed to notice he was struggling as he walked up to him, "Nico? How are you getting on?" He swallowed "I-I'm fine." Thanantos slowly nodded, "Care to show me?" Nico took a deep breath.
He made a spiral motion with his wand and said the spell and thought of his...his what? He didn't have any real friends, and his family is either dead or his dad was distant at best. The happy memories he did have were taken after- he quickly brought himself back to the present, he wasn't going to open that can of worms. Thanantos gave him a small smile, "It's okay, try again. Your wand action and pronunciation are perfect. Just think of something different." Nico nodded but inside he was screaming. How could he think of anything other than his dead sister and mother?
He said the spell again, but his thoughts were distracted as he realised he had no happy memories to call to. He had no family anymore, he didn't have a real friends. He again pulled himself to the present to find the once busy class now looking at him. The creepy Slytherin kid who couldn't even manage his own Patronus. Thanantos tried to quickly divert the classes’ attention but the damage had been done. For the rest of class he felt the stares of different class mates on his back. And word must have gotten around because he had heard a few people whisper in the library or corridors when he passed. Since then he refused to try again. Never again.
End of Flashback
Nico walked into class room 3C and sat on the first empty desk he could find, which was also luckily the desk in the far left hand corner. More people filed in and began filling the rest of the sits. Nico didn't look up but instead fiddled with his wand. Finally class started and Professor Thanantos begun giving out books about the dangers of Trolls. That is until Drew Tanaka was told to move places because of her bickering with another House member Piper McLean.
Drew huffed but did as Thanantos instructed and proceeded to the empty chair next to Nico who inwardly groaned. Drew was a Slytherin and was surprisingly on the Quidditch Team as one of their Chasers. Though Nico suspected she was only in the sport because unlike some muggle schools there was no cheerleaders to join.
Even though Drew was a little rough around the edges Nico didn't find her that bad. She was nicer to House members and even nicer to Team members. Though that didn't extend to Drew's rival Piper. He wasn't sure what had happened between the two but it had left bad blood between them and it was definitely noticeable.
"So what's up with you, Death boy?" Drew asked in a hushed tone. Nico scowled at the nickname, apparently his dark eyes, hair and preference to clothing accompanied by his pale skin gained him the nickname Death boy as well as other various names. "Nothing." He muttered back.
Drew rolled her eyes "Right, sure. Still whining over the fact you can't summon your Patronus?" Nico narrowed his eyes, "Your one to talk Drew. You can only create a non-corporeal Patronus." Drew shrugged, "Something is better than nothing." Thanantos looked in their direction, "Would either of you like to share what you’re talking about to the class?"
Drew just smiled sweetly, "Sorry Professor I was just telling Nico about the time I saw a Troll on the out skirts of the Forbidden Forest." Somewhere in the room someone scoffed, "yeah right Drew." It was Piper. Drew gave her a glare before Thanantos carried on the lesson.
"So you ready for the match tomorrow?" Drew whispered. Nico gave a nod, "Yeah though I don't know how friendly the match is going to be. Everyone still seems hung up about our last match." Drew rolled her eyes, "Please nothing was proven I don't know why everyone is so focused on it."
Nico nodded in agreement but there was a little nagging at the back of his mind. "So what do you think happened?" he asked. Drew gave him a sideways glance before answering, "You think they cheated?" Nico shook his head. "No I just- well I don't have much to say in defence other than nothing was proven."
Drew nodded in understanding, "Well the way I see it Jason fell off his broom by himself. Luke passed him beforehand sure, but he didn't actually fall off straight away it took a couple of seconds. That was Jason's own fault it's nothing to do with Luke if he can't balance himself. And Zoe just clearly wasn't looking where she was going." Drew gave Nico a sly smirk, "I mean accidents happen all the time right?" Slowly he nodded.