Nico at Hogwarts

Part 16

part 16

Neville and I panted as we parted again. We had been training in combat non stop for the past hour and I really started to notice improvement in his fighting. He could take down a couple of hell hounds around this time.

"Good job Nev," I panted slightly as I stretched my back. "Shall we try something new?" I asked. I knew that Neville wouldn't agree at all with my plan if he knew what I've planned.

Neville looked at me suspiciously as if he had a feeling of what I was planning before nodding. A grin broke out on his face, a genuine one. I've been doing that a lot more lately. Now I get why people need a chance of scenery sometimes.

I gestured for Neville to follow me and walked out of the Room of Requirement where we've been training since we discovered who he exactly was. We sneaked through the halls with ease, only coming across Filch once, but luckily Peeves helped us out with sneaking past him. All of the ghosts ignored me now, except for Peeves. After Ron and Harry started acting normal to me I ordered him to stop pranking them and gave him the job of helping the students getting safely to their dorms after DA meetings by distracting Filch and Umbrige. I've only told Neville, Hermione realized it quickly after I did it.

I handed Neville one of my celestial bronze daggers as we came outside and neared the forbidden forest. A look of realization came across Neville's fave and he started to shake his head so hard I was wondering if it was going to do a 360. I summoned my sword as I raised an eyebrow in question at him.

"Nope, I'm not going into the forbidden forest!" Neville protested. "Are you mad? There are dark creatures there like, like werewolves!"

"We are going into the forbidden forest. You can't expect monsters to fight like a human being. Getting some experience can come in handy, and no worries, you've got me with you. If somebody is going to get hurt it will most likely be me. And to answer your question; yes, I'm quite possibly mad." I said before continuing to walk to the forest, a very light skip in my step. Yes, it has been good that I wasn't attacked as much as I would be if I were still in America. But it was getting boring. I had the feeling that I was seriously slacking on my training and fighting even if I trained with Neville weekly.

I heard Neville sigh and follow me. In no time we were in the forest walking around quite loudly if you asked me, and with 'we' I meant 'Neville'. He stayed really clumsy even though he had gotten a lot more careful with his footing and such. It was the reason most of the time why I liked to do my missions alone, but now it didn't really matter. It would be quicker if we got spotted instead of sneaking up on them.

I stopped completely as I heard a growl on my left. I held my hand up, signaling Neville to stop. I slowly picked up a stone and threw it to where I heard the noise. I heard two soft thuds before a very angry hell hound jumped out snarling at us. This one was the size of a small truck, about two times bigger then Mrs. O'Leary. It was looking between Neville and I as if to decide who to eat first.

"Neville, meet hellhound. Hellhound, meet your end." I said as I unsheathed my sword from my belt. Neville, who had been frozen, snapped into a battle stance. His facial expression was unsure but his eyes glinted with determination. It was now that I could really see why Neville had been sorted into Gryffindor. He may be not the bravest person out there, but he wouldn't back down when he could.

Apparently decided that he wanted to start with Neville as a snack because it lunged at Neville. Neville smartly, although a bit clumsy, rolled out of the way and stabbed his dagger into the hellhound as it passed him. The hound howled in pain before turning back around again. It's eyes looking even more furious then before. I let out a low whistle, "Come here boy." I said tauntingly. From experience I knew that no hellhound, except for Mrs O'Leary, liked to be treated as a dog. The hound lunged again, this time at me. I stood calmly just before the last second ducking down so it flew over me. I slashed my sword upwards, cutting deep in it's paw. I laughed because of the thrill it brought me. I have actually missed this.

I hear the hell hound growling again as it turned, twigs snapping under it's heavy paws. I started to turn but stopped when something flew right past my head. I turned completely to see the hellhound whimper one last time, a dagger stuck between it's eyes, before it fell to the golden sand. I turned back to Neville, who stood still with his arm still outstretched and his feet apart.

Neville relaxed his stance and shrugged. "You were taking too long." Was all he said before an other roar sounded, this one sounded more human like but much deeper. Neville tensed again.

"What was that?" He asked.

"I don't know. But I'm going to find out." I took a few steps in the direction the sound came from before turning back to Neville. "You don't have to join me. But I would like it if you did."

"Who else is going to keep you out of trouble." Neville grinned before walking up to me.

[a/n]

Soo this took long to write. I have exams in like a week and I am writing to escape learning. It is quite a fill in chapter but I try my best to update as soon as possible. 

Fun fact: It is my birthday today. YAY finally 16. The age where you still can't do shit... at least here in the Netherlands.

Please Vote and keep the comments nice. (Which you guys have been doing an amazing job at. It just warms my heart to read all the nice stuff you guys say. [especially the AVPM ones ;P ]

XOXO
HERONDALE