Nico di Angelo and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter Two: The most awkward dinner

Art by bittlenobody

Having a meal with the Weasely family was... Better? Worse? than I expected. I'm not sure. It's definitely weird having Will there, already having gotten used to the magic. In a world of gods, magic isn't that hard to accept.

"Nico, dear, you need to eat more than that, I insist." Mrs. Weasley says for probably the fourth time in ten minutes.

"I'm fine, Mrs. Weasley."

"Aw, c'mon, Nico dear. You need to eat." Will scoops a bit of salad onto my plate. I glare at him, to which he just returns a sunny grin.

"So... You're Nico's friend from America?" Harry asks Will.

"Uh." He glances at me. "Yeah... Our families send us both to the same summer camp, and he's finally stopped running away, so I was finally able to really meet him."

"You ran away!?" Hermione looks to me in shock. "Multiple times?"

I shrug, sinking down in my chair and wishing I could shadow travel away.

"Oh look, a change of subject." Will says, pointing over to the sink, where dishes are cleaning themselves. "What's going on with that?"

As Mrs. Weasely explains her cleaning magic, I take a moment to look around better. There's a grandfather clock with many hands, Weasley names, I assume, and places instead of numbers. 'Arthur and Percy' are at work. There was traveling, hospital, grave peril, among others. We should get one of these at camp.

There's a large fireplace, cushy chairs, many stairs leading up, and self doing chores everywhere. Needles are knitting by themselves in the corner. That kind of feels like cheating to me, and doesn't that take the fun out of it?

I tap on Will's arm, drawing his attention, and the attention of everyone else.

"Um..." I look around at them, then back to Will, and whisper to him. ""

He shakes his head. ""

"Will-"

""

"Fine." I grumble, stuffing a piece of salad into my mouth.

"Will..." Hermione asks after a moment of awkward silence. "Where do you go to school?"

"My mom homeschools me."

"How's that work?" Ron asks, getting elbowed by Hermione for eating with his mouth full.

"I don't learn magic, for staters." He grins.

"Yeah, you're really talking this well." Harry points out.

Will shrugs. "I've seen weirder."

They stare at him.

"How?" Hermione asks.

"I'm- I'm a doctor." Smooth Will. Nice save. A sixteen year old doctor won't raise and questions.

This sparks Hermione's interest, drawing attention away from me for a while, giving me a moment to calm down, to think of what to do.