When Nico's not at camp (book the first)

Nico

I dont know how i always manage to get roped into these kinds of shenanigans. Circumvent a literal assload of protective enchantments to steal a stone from one of our teachers before it can be stolen by another of our teachers. Only a big three kid can get into this much trouble. As we approach the third floor corridor Harry tells us his plan. Which seems to consist mostly of winging it. Finally Hermione unlocks the door and we step into the chamber, fluffy stirs and rises to face us. He growls and bares his teeth. I pull a red rubber ball out of my pocket and toss it to him. Immediately he stops growling and starts fighting with himself over which head gets to play with the ball first. Ron opens the trap door then turns to Hermione. "Ladies first." He says.  Hermione rolls her eyes, then jumps into the hole. Followed by Ron, then Harry, then me.

I hear three soft thuds then my foot grazes something soft. Immediately it shift away from me and I fall a little further landing with a loud crunch. I scream and curse in, english, Greek, Latin, Italian, and even a little Chinese. My freaking leg is bent back and forth at weird angles and hurts like living hell. I look up and see a squiring mass of black vines. Devils snare. Of course the plants just avoided me altogether and let me drop onto the hard stone and break my leg. My friends are screaming above me. I pull out my wand at shoot a jet of red hot flames at the vines. They retract and they drop softly onto the ground. I try to stand up but i cant put any weight on my leg. "Styx!" I curse. "Why didnt the devils snare catch you?" Hermione asks. "Plants dont like me." I say "But..." she begins to protest. "Look, its not important." I ssa as i pull my flask of nectar out of my pocket and take a swig. there's an intense burning in my leg and a loud crunch as my bones begin to shift back into place. " I cant keep up with you guys like this. You need to go ahead. Ill stay here and make sure Snape doesn't try to get away with the stone." The three look at each other apprehensively. But they know they don't really have a choice.

I sit in the chamber sipping my nectar. My leg rapidly healing together. I focus all my energy on sensing my friends. Sensing if they have passed into the underworld. So far so good. I wonder what percys up to. And annabeth and Grover. And even that enigma will solace. What kind of game is he playing. Sending me birthday presents. Telling me he wants to see me at camp. Saying he hopes I'm doing okay. What the Hades is he up to. I dont trust it one bit. I wonder if percy has thought about my offer anymore. Hes going to have to take a dip in the styx if he wants a chance of beating Kronos. As I'm getting lost in my thoughts i suddenly hear footsteps running towards me.

I prop my self up against the wall. Sword in one hand, wand in the other. But it isn't Snape that came through the doorway. It was ron and hermione. "What's going on?" I ask. "Where's harry?" Hermione looks on the verge of tears. "He..." she begins. "Went into the last chamber alone to face the big bad one on one." I finish the statement matter of factly. Ron raises an eyebrow. "How did you..." "eleven times." I say coldly. "Go send an owl to Dumbledore." After they leave i take one last big swig on nectar. With an especially loud and painful crunch m,y bones bind together. I Put a little weight on my leg. It seems to hold. I take a deep breath. The shadows envelop me and i step out of them in a large room.

Harry seems to be fist fighting. Apparently forgot he's a wizard. Except the bad guy isn't Snape. Its quirrell. I dont have time to be surprised by this. I can feel myself losing strength as we speak. It turns out i didnt have enough strength to shadow travel. I walk towards the fight where quirrell is smoking at Harrys touch. He has a second face in the back of his head. Must be hosting what's left of voldemorts spirit. I grab quirrell by the collar of his cloak and pull him off Harry. He barely has time to look surprised before i run him through with my sword. At the touch of Stygian iron the two souls sever from each other. Voldemort flees the castle and quirrell passes into the underworld. Harry is unconscious on the floor. It look rather refreshing so i decide to pass out too. But instead of hitting the floor, i fall into someone's gentle but firm arms.