It Looks Like a Lie

You're Not Evil

As soon as Charms ends, I try to find Nico. I don't know what got into Ron and Harry, but I can't believe them. There's no way all Slytherins are evil. Look at Nico, he's a hero and Draco, sure he's a little mean, probably a little depressed, but not evil. At least I don't think he is.

"Wow, I never thought I would see the day when William Solace isn't smiling," Nico says from somewhere to my left. With all the students changing classes, it's hard to find him among the blur of black cloaks. "What cloud covered up your sunny disposition? Do I need to duel someone?" Nico practically materializes next to me. I realize that for once Draco isn't shadowing him. Actually, I don't see Adrian around either. They must have gone on ahead to our next class.

"What? No. No!" Then in case he doesn't understand, "Don't go getting into duels with anyone."

"It would be a wizarding duel."

"That doesn't make it better. Actually I think it makes it worse." I stress.

Nico shrugs innocently. "What do we have next? You still have my schedule," he changes the topic without agreeing.

"Oh, right." I riffle through my stuff to find the piece of paper. " We have," it takes a moment for my brain to make sense of the cursive wording, "Defense Against the Dark Arts." Oh.

Nico's eyes narrow and a shadow looms over him. "No," he decides.

"Nico," I warn

"No. I refuse to go to that class."

"We can't  skip," I insist, though it sounds unconvincing even to me. "The class is important." It must be.

Nico rolls his eyes. "Will, I am the dark arts. What do you think she can teach that I don't already know? Or maybe you want to know how to defend against me?"

"I think I can handle you perfectly fine, thank you very much." I cross my arms, a little offended that he would think of such a thing.

"Great, so we don't need to go then." Nico smirks.

No, that's not what I meant. I can't believe I walked right into that. "Fine, what do you want to do instead?" I give in with a sigh. I'll have to make sure he goes to the next class, but maybe keeping him away from the teacher will be a good thing for now. What am I thinking?

"Hmm," he considers it for a moment. "You could tell me what happened to make the sunny Will Solace annoyed. Honestly, I thought only tough patients could make you get frown lines." Concerned, I poke at my face to see if he's right before quickly realizing that he was joking. I want to be mad, but his small smile of amusement makes the slight humiliation worth it.

"You mean patients like you?" I tease. The hallway has emptied besides one or two students lingering around and a cat stalking behind a suit of armor.

"Whatever," he mutters, rolling his eyes. "We're going this way." he nudges me towards a side hallway that leads who know where and, like an idiot, I let him.

I don't know how he learned the lay out of the castle, but he ends up directing me until we make it outside. The air is crisp with the beginnings of fall and the sky is over cast as if we're still in London. Honestly, it's all rather depressing. The little sunlight that peaks through the clouds is weak and there's more dying grass than living. This doesn't deter Nico from making a bee line toward the forest, the dark one that I'm pretty sure we aren't supposed to go in.

"Nico," He stops right at the tree line. "I don't think we're supposed to be here. What if someone sees that we're skipping class?"

"Simple, I'll blame you." the corner of his lips twitch up into a smirk. "Though that might not work. Who would believe an evil Slytherin?" He glances at me before something turns his attention to the ground.