Babysitting Hogwarts {Book 1}

Busted

Will

Idiot. Nico had caught a cold and he refused to get help. I admit, it looks adorable when he walks around snuffling his nose, but he's going to contaminate the entire school! 

"Shuddup," Nico snuffled when I insisted that he eat something. He pokes his pancakes with a fork. "I don't wanna eat. Malfoy tried to spell me the other day. He could have put something in the food." I rolled my eyes. 

"You're overreacting. Maybe next time, don't pick a fight with someone who knows more magic than you." 

"Malfoy has been in league with Umbridge" Hermione whispered over the table,  "I think she knows something is going on." 

"We have to be more careful with the DA then," Jason said, shoving pancakes in his mouth. 

"Quiet!" Piper shushed Jason. He shrugged, his mouth too full to say anything. 

"Well, we do have a meeting later." Harry whispered. 

"Cool, well I'll be off." Percy stood up. 

"We'd better go too," I say grabbing my bags. "I need to take Princess here to the school nurse." I grabbed Nico's arm and led him away from the table. He started resisting but I kept dragging him to the nurse's office. 

"Madam Pomfrey," I say as I walk in. 

"Ah, Will dear. I was just going to call for you, how is everything?" Madam Pomfrey asked me as she walked across the room carrying a handful of medicine and bandages. 

"Very well Madam, but I'm afraid Nico here has caught a very bad cold." I push him forward.

"I'm fine," Nico snuffled before coughing so much I thought his lungs were going to come out of his mouth. 

"Oh dear. Well, I'll see what I can do." Madam Pomfrey ushered Nico over to an empty bed and made him - very reluctantly - sit down. She took his fever and tutted. "I'm sure he'll be fine in a few days, I'll just have to give him something to get that fever down and maybe help with the coughing." She walked off. I sat down next to Nico. 

"I said I was fine." Nico huffed. "This is so embarrassing." He buried his head in his hands. 

"Why is it embarrassing?" 

"Because I'm not supposed to get sick!" He looked around to check if we were in earshot of anyone. "Because a demigod can't be sick," he said in a hushed voice. 

"Oh nonsense." Madam Pomfrey said as she walked back over. "Even the bravest warrior can get sick." She poured a tablespoon of a greyish mixture and fed it to Nico. He glared at me as if to say how does she know? 

"I told her when I was learning the 'tricks of the trade' you could say," I replied to his glare. 

"Gods, you sound like an old man." Nico said. "What does she know?"

"Oh, basically that we're demigods and I'm the son of the god of medicine. I have told her a little about you though." 

"Don't worry dear, I won't tell anyone. I just wanted to know how he knew how to heal so quickly." Madam Pomfrey. 

"And does Chiron...?" 

"Yeah, I asked him and he told me it was fine."

"Will has been teaching me more about it and he has even helped me with some patients - Nico lie down!" Nico frowned and succumbed to her pushing. "You have a very high fever of over 40 degrees!" 

"What?" Nico asked me.

"104 degrees Fahrenheit," I translated.

"I don't know how you can still talk and move around." She shook her head. "I'll have to try something stronger," she muttered and walked away. 

"You know, she's right. With a fever that high you shouldn't be able to get out of bed." I stated. 

"Nectar helps." Nico murmured. 

"Nico! Nectar is for injuries, not a flu!" 

"Yeah, well. I didn't want to come to the hospital wing but I'm here anyway." 

"Why didn't you want to come here?" I asked.

"I spend enough time in the infirmary at camp."

"Oh." Madam Pomfrey came back and ushered me out. She said that Nico needed his rest and that until the fever had gone down that he should stay in bed. I left with a shrug and a wave to the dozing Nico who was falling asleep thanks to whatever Madam Pomfrey gave him. I found my way to the common room where Harry and Hermione were leaving. 

"Come on, we have a meeting now." Hermione pulled me around. 

"Alright," I said and followed them to the Room of Requirement. Most of the wizards were there, but Percy and Annabeth were late. They rushed in at the last minute, breathless. 

"So today we will be learning how to use the reducto curse, which will be useful in battle." Harry explained. In the centre of the room was a dummy. Harry turned to face it, raised his wand and yelled,

"Reducto!" The dummy exploded into a cloud of mist. The students gasped in excitement. Each wizard took a turn at destroying dummy after dummy. 

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"Don't forget that the next meeting is in a week. Hermione will contact you," Harry called to the students as the left, staggered so Umbridge wouldn't suspect anything. Soon it was just me, Harry and Percy left. Percy and I were helping Harry clean up because Annabeth wanted to do homework with Hermione and Nico was in the infirmary. 

"Cool spell Harry," Percy said. "Although, I still couldn't get it. How did you wave your wand?" Harry smiled and went over to show him how to perform the spell correctly. I went over to the corner next to the door to clean some of the dust that had made it's way to the door. Suddenly I began to hear hurried footsteps outside the door. Percy and Harry seemed to hear them as well because we were all facing the door when it was blown open. I staggered back. Umbridge, Filch, Draco and some other Slytherins were standing outside the door. They all looked triumphant. I cursed in greek under my breath. I heard Percy do the same. 

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Filch wheezed. Draco and the other Slytherins held their wands at us like knifes and we were led out of the room. 

"Let's see how Dumbledore reacts to hearing about this," Umbridge grinned. "Filch, be a dear and search their room. Come on boys. Let's go see the headmaster."

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A/N

Sorry about the late release. I've been sick all week so this chapter was written in staggered stages (the times when I felt well enough to think about the story). I still hope that you guys like it, and I really appreciate all the comments and reads. Thank you!

~pearjam