The Eight Part Soul

Truth Out?

"Hey, Hermione," I said, as I made my way through an overcrowded classroom with Daphne, Blaise and Michael toward the trio just as an ink pellet smashed at my feet.

I looked up and saw it was Peeves, who looked nearly apologetic for his mishap towards me. Instead I smiled and threw something up for him. He immediately grab it and when he looked at me, I pointed downward, stirred and closed the hand into a fist.

It was a signal for 'It's a prank for Umbridge, make sure she eats it'. Peeves got the innuendo and flew out, cackling and back to his happy self.

Everyone sighed in relief for the mad poltergeist out of their hairs but the trio and my friends were looking at me strangely. It was Daphne who asked.

"What on earth did you give him to be this happy?" Daphne asked me.

"The less you know, the better," I said with a smile. Daphne looked at me but decided it was preferable not to know.

Then, I directed my attention towards Hermione and lowered my voice to a whisper, "Hey, Hermione, they are interested, so is it OK?"

Hermione looked startled as she looked at the three Slytherins who were wearing a face of 'I'm fine with it' and then pulled out a piece of paper. She said, "If you are interested, please put your name here."

They did so without complaint, with a slightly interested look. Afterwards, she said, "Nico will tell you where and when, alright?"

They all nodded, then Blaise looked at me. "C'mon, mate. You promised me that you will help me with Charms."

"After you forced me into it," I mumbled. Thanks to knowing Latin, it somewhat improved my Charms progress so I was a good person to go for help.

"Hey, Nico, wait a moment," Harry said.

I turned around and asked, "What?"

"Can we talk... alone?" Harry asked.

With this, I immediately thought, 'What did I do wrong?'. So, I must come up with plenty of lies and excuses in my arsenal for whatever happened to me.

The one thing of a demigod life when the Mist doesn't work, we have to lie our way out. I've gotten very good at it.

I nodded, and followed Harry out. My friends were looking at me, but I gave a reassuring sign. "Meet you later," I said to them before following Harry. It was still pouring and so, we just found an empty class to talk to.

"So, what's up, Harry?" I asked.

Harry looked solemn, like he had too many thoughts and was unsure how to express any of them. Then, he opened his mouth.

***

Harry's POV

I was walking with Nico behind me, thoughts from last night still forming around my head.

I still remembered the letter I got from Sirius and at night where we talked to him.

Flashback

"Hi," Sirius greeted them.

"Hi," Ron, Hermione and I chorused back.

"How are things?" Sirius asked.

"Lousy. The Ministry has put up another Decree, banning teams like, forming Quidditch-"

"And secret Defense Against the Dark Arts group?" Sirius asked, smiling.

There was a shocked silence, when I was the first to speak, "How did you know?"

"Someone overheard you of course. You got a lot to learn," Sirius said, shaking his head.