Worlds Collide Harm(fully)(lessly)

Chapter 8

Nico blinked back at him, trying to look as innocent as possible but knowing that it was failing. "What do you mean?"

"Don't fuck with me." Dominic leaned in. "What the fuck did you do?"

"Language." Annabeth glanced over in concern. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." Nico sent a glare at Dominic. "How about you be quiet while in public?"

"How about you tell me the fucking truth."

"Language," Nico and Annabeth repeated.

Dominic rolled his eyes. "When have you ever cared about fucking language, you asshat-"

He was cut short by the remaining school arriving, their entrance into the hall followed by the Hogwarts students. Dominic gave Nico one last look before gesturing to the Hufflepuff table. "Shouldn't you be sitting with your house?"

"I'll sit here until they say something." Nico pulled Will closer to him. "I miss my boyfriend."

Will wrapped an arm around Nico's shoulders. "I can sit with you at the Hufflepuff table if you want, you know."

Nico shook his head. "Don't feel like moving."

Before long, the Golden Trio sat next to them. Hermione smiled at Dominic immediately, while Ron was staring at one of the Durmstrang students who seemed to be getting a lot of attention from everybody.

"Dominic, how's life in America?" Hermione asked.

"A lot better than here." Dominic's eyes followed Ron's. "Who's that?"

"Victor Krum." Ron breathed out. "I didn't know he was still a student-"

"Ron's obsessed," Nico cut in, glancing momentarily at Krum before looking back to the others. "It's like his man-crush or something."

"I do not have a-"

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and — most particularly — guests," Dumbledore started, his voice booming over the students. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable. The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast. I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"

The food appeared before them. Nico kept his eyes on Dominic, who kept his eyes on him, but other than that the meal was uneventful. Dominic knew, Nico could tell. He knew what mark was on his arm.

Eventually, the plates were clean again and Dumbledore was speaking.

"The moment has come," he started. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket —"

"The what?" Harry muttered.

Ron shrugged.

"— just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore continued, "and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts."

Nico finally took his eyes off Dominic to look up at Dumbledore. Voldemort wanted him to place Harry's name in that tournament...why?

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," Dumbledore said as Filtch put a chest on the table in front of him, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways . . . their magical prowess — their daring — their powers of deduction — and, of course, their ability to cope with danger."

Nico glanced at Harry. That face was so innocent still...

"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament, one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."

Dumbledore reached into the box and pulled out the wooden cup, which was full of blue flames.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet. Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete."

To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line."

Well, that wouldn't be a problem for Nico, and Voldemort knew that.

"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."

Nico zoned out the anger around him, his eyes on his lap. Voldemort...he was planning on getting Harry killed one way or another, and if Nico entered him into this tournament, it would be on him as well.

"We're sleeping on the Argo," Annabeth broke into his thoughts. "We're going to get going if that's alright."

Nico blinked again to see that everyone had started to file out. "Yeah...yeah, that's fine."

"We're talking," Dominic demanded. "Sneak onto the Argo if you need to. We're talking."

Nico breathed out heavily. "Fine. I'll shadow travel out there. Just give me some time to make people think I'm in bed."

Dominic nodded once before following the other demigods out, leaving Nico to run to catch up with the other Hufflepuffs. Some nodded in greeting at him, but most were concerned with other things going on. So many people were talking, and whispers kept getting louder, and he felt like he couldn't even think through the buzz the tournament had on people.

Well, maybe he didn't want to think anyway. Not when everything was filled with anxiety.

Dominic knew. Who was he going to tell? Would he hate him now?

He had been hated before, he had gotten through it. Because he was the traitor, after all, double-faced, spy. He had that reputation.