Worlds Collide Harm(fully)(lessly)

Chapter 11

Sunday morning was tense for everyone. Nico and Dominic, known friends being cold to each other. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley fighting as well. And a new rivalry between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

Nico never went to bed, and he found Ron early that morning and took the chance to talk to his brother privately for the first time in a while. They sat at breakfast together at the Gyrffindor table, it early enough that barely anyone else was there. Ron told him how he and Harry had started fighting and why, which basically came down to Nico. Nico put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire. He made his brother lose his best friend.

And that hurt worse than fighting with Dominic.

But as he listened to Ron rant and rant, he saw what the problem really was. Ron was jealous, it seemed. Jealous of Harry Potter. And Nico could think of how he also used to be that way, jealous of Percy Jackson. He just hoped Ron would never turn into what Nico had.

Nico couldn't help but feel proud of Cedric despite the hate against Harry, just as the other Hufflepuffs did. Loyalty was their house trait, after all. But he refused to wear those badges the others were.

The only good thing about the constant arguing and ridicule was that demigods really were in the back of people's heads. But even that couldn't cheer Nico up, not when one of his favorite homes was being torn apart.

The Saturday before the first task, nothing had changed but it was time for the trip to Hogsmeade. Nico found himself sitting with Ron, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan at the Three Broomsticks. The butterbeer warmed his stomach but his heart was still cold. Hermione and Harry should have been sitting there with them.

He noticed Hermione come in and sit by herself, but he was almost certain Harry was next to her, under his Invisibility Cloak. He could sense his soul. Hagrid and Moody came in, obviously talked to Harry, and left. But Nico seemed to be the only one to notice. Blame two wars for making you so attentive.

But that was the only interesting part of the trip, and later that night, Nico snuck around to visit Charlie, who had come to help with the dragons. When he first heard about those dragons, he had been shocked to the core. When he first saw them, he almost attacked. But Charlie stopped him, calmed him about the situation. He was Nico's big brother, after all.

He could have slipped the news to Harry, and was contemplating it until he felt Harry's soul approaching, under an Invisibility Cloak, wedged between Hagrid and Madame Maxime.

Nico followed Charlie over to them, knowing they didn't belong there also, so they probably wouldn't get him in trouble. He could basically hear Harry's intake of breath at seeing him, however.

"All right, Hagrid?" Charlie asked. "They should be okay now — we put them out with a Sleeping Draft on the way here, thought it might be better for them to wake up in the dark and the quiet — but, like you saw, they weren't happy, not happy at all —"

"What breeds you got here, Charlie?" Hagrid asked.

"This is a Hungarian Horntail," Charlie said. "There's a Common Welsh Green over there, the smaller one — a Swedish ShortSnout, that blue-gray — and a Chinese Fireball, that's the red."

Charlie looked at Madame Maxime. "I didn't know you were bringing her, Hagrid. The champions aren't supposed to know what's coming — she's bound to tell her student, isn't she?"

Nico almost snorted. Harry was right there, after all. A champion seeing the task beforehand.

"Really romantic date, Hagrid," Nico said, crossing his arms. His cloak was singed from the dragons' breakdown but the air was still cold.

Hagrid ignored him. "Four . . .so it's one fer each o' the champions, is it? What've they gotta do — fight 'em?"

"Just get past them, I think," Charlie said. "We'll be on hand if it gets nasty, Extinguishing Spells at the ready. They wanted nesting mothers, I don't know why . . . but I tell you this, I don't envy the one who gets the Horntail. Vicious thing. Its back end's as dangerous as its front."

Nico glanced over at the dragons. Luck would have it that Harry would probably get that one.

"How's Harry?" Charlie asked. "Nico here told me about how he's a champion, and mum read the papers."

"Fine," Hagrid said.

"Just hope he's still fine after he's faced this lot," Charlie said. "I didn't dare tell Mum what he's got to do for the first task; she's already having kittens about him. . . ." Charlie imitated his mother's anxious voice. " 'How could they let him enter that tournament, he's much too young! I thought they were all safe, I thought there was going to be an age limit!' She was in floods after that Daily Prophet article about him. 'He still cries about his parents! Oh bless him, I never knew!' "

Nico snorted but looked up when he noticed Harry's soul walking away. Oh well, he found out what he needed to.

And without thinking, Nico made sure Cedric knew, as well. He told him all he needed to know, because that Hufflepuff pride wasn't disappearing any time soon.