Nico di Angelo and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 4: Mad-Eye Moody

Nico was trying to not act suspicious. After all, he wasn't the suspicious one. Thankfully, Nico could be very discreet at times. Sadly, this was not one of those times. 

It was around four in the morning on Thursday. This being the case, there was no reason why Nico should be wandering the castle. Well, he wasn't wandering, he was patrolling, but that didn't matter to the teachers.

He'd been hiding in Alastair Moody's office for around two hours now. The only reason he'd been able to sneak in was because the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was strangely absent. After all, the bedrooms for teachers were off of their offices.

But at four am, Nico heard the auror clomping his way back upstairs. He could hear him from a ways away-the wooden leg and the ghost helping him spy made it easy to notice anyone. Nico was about to turn the other way down the corridor, having just left the classroom, when he heard another set of footsteps.

Nico cursed under his breath in Greek. There was no way to escape.

The footsteps were drawing closer.

Nico closed his eyes, praying that they wouldn't notice him. He wished he was just back in the Gryffindor dorm. Then he wouldn't be in this trouble.

Nico slowly opened his eyes and gasped. He was in the Gryffindor dorm, standing in the center of his room. A few wisps of shadows curled around him.

How? Was the only question running through his mind.

An answer clicked into his mind. Shadow-travel. Of course. Children of gods did have abilities. He just didn't know. Curse Hera and her stupid cows.

Wait-children? That wasn't true. Nico knew that he was the only demigod in existence. At least that was what Hera told him, and she seemed trustworthy, however annoying she was.

Nico sighed and sat down on his bed. What was wrong with his life?

The curling shadows glided towards him, seeming to know his mood. Nico took a breath. I want to get out of here, he thought, flopping down on the bed. The shadows seemed to understand, wrapping themselves around him.

For a second, everything went dark. Then a light blinked. Then another.

Nico looked around. He was in a very busy city. It looked to be around seven pm, but he didn't know for sure since he couldn't see a clock.

A taxi sped past, splashing Nico with water. Nico winced, rubbing it off his face.

For a second he stood there, dripping wet, before deciding to walk. He passed a candy shop, Sweet on America, with delicious aromas wafting out.

Nico dug in his pockets, wanting a cookie or something, but he didn't have any money. They probably wouldn't let him in anyway.

Nico kept walking, until he made his way to an apartment complex. He climbed up the stairs until he got to a door. What was he doing here? Nico didn't even know this city.

Nico rose his hand and knocked on the door, seemingly being controlled by something else. Nico would never randomly knock on someone's door.

He waited for a couple minutes before deciding that no one was there, and started making his way back down the stairs when the door opened.

A middle-aged lady holding a small child at her hip looked at him. "Nico?" She whispered, seemingly shocked.

Nico froze. Why was he even here? This lady knew his name, and he was pretty sure he'd never met her.

"Don't leave," she begged. "Everyone's been looking for-"

Nico waved his hand. Her eyes turned glassy and she went back into her apartment. Nico knew that she wouldn't remember anything. Or she would at least not remember him.

But what did she mean by everyone? As far as Nico knew, no one cared about him. Why would anyone look? And it wasn't like he was missing. No one would care, even if he knew people. People never cared about him. Why would that change now? The only purpose he had was to protect Harry Potter. Other than that, why did he even exist? He was useless.

Nico clomped down the stairs, shaken. The lady seemed to know him too well, and that frightened him.

Nico stayed in the city for a couple more hours, sitting on a park bench, before he decided it was time to go back to Hogwarts. After all, the breakfast feast would be being served just about now, and he couldn't miss any of his classes.

Nico stood up, collecting shadows as he did so. Take me back to Hogwarts, he thought.

The shadows twisted, going black before lightening to show the Gryffindor dorm. A wave of exhaustion overcame him, making his vision go black again. Nico took one dazed look at it before passing out.

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Harry was in the Great Hall, piling eggs onto his plate. Ron came down when he was nearly done, yawning.

"Morning," Ron said, rubbing his eyes to stay awake.

"Morning!" Harry replied cheerfully.

Ron raised his eyebrows. "Why are you so happy?"

Harry answered in one word, still grinning. "Defense Against the Dark Arts is today."

Ron immediately perked up. "Awesome. Been looking forward to it all week."

They started talking idly, waiting for the bell to ring. It was their first subject.

After a couple minutes, Harry got so fed up with waiting he jumped out of his seat. "Come on, let's just go."

Ron shrugged in response, climbing up from his seat as well. "Alright," he mumbled through a mouthful of food.

Harry led at a fast pace through the castle, arriving at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. He entered, taking out The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection and setting it on his desk. Ron did the same, both of them saving seats for Nico and Hermione.

In the next couple of minutes, the entire class showed up, not wanting to miss a thing. The only people who weren't there were Hermione and Nico. Harry figured they were both in the library. They were big nerds.

Hermione showed up a minute before the bell rang, plopping down in her seat and taking out her book. Nico never showed up.