When Nicos not at camp (Book the second)

Hermione

Harry and Ron somehow managed to miss the train. I cant imagine how. They were right behind us all the way up to the barrier. But none the less once Nico and i settled into the compartment along with Ginny and Nevile and the train started moving we realized that they hadn't got on. Nico found the whole thing absolutely hilarious. he was rolling on the floor struggling to breathe through his laughter. "Its not funny." Ginny moans. "They Might be hurt or something." "They're not Hurt Ginny." I assure her. "They're just stupid. They probably got distracted in the train station and forgot to go through the barrier." "That does sound like them." Nevile agrees. Nico Manages to calm himself down and stop laughing. It's nice to finally see a smile on his face. hes always so gloomy. it cant be good for his mental health. "My cousin Percy." Nico says and suddenly his face falls but he recovers almost instantly. "My cousin percy has the worst kind of luck with that stuff. He's been kicked out of nine schools in ten years because he's an absolute disaster magnet. it's usually not even his fault. Everything just tends to turn to shit around him."

The story of Nicos Diarhea hex against Malfoy had spread like wildfire and he spent most of the train ride teaching our fellow Gryffindors the Hex and counter hex (Using random slytherins as our unknowing practice subjects.) Neville even managed to get Crabbe once. But something definately seemed off about Nico. HE seemed uneasy and his eyes kept glancing up to Ginnys trunk, though he ssemed not to notice it. and he kept fidgeting with something in his pocket. my guess was it was the bottle of pills he had bought from the apothecary in diagon alley. "its okay you know." I say. He looks at me with a blank expression on his face. "the medicine." I clarify. "Its okay to need medicine. its nothing to be ashamed of." He raises an eybrow then smiles sadly. "Shame and anger are not the same thing. trust me. ive got plenty of both. Hes cute when hes cryptic. I think to myself. but almost immediately i imagine the very imature gagging noise Ron would have made in response to that comment.

A FREAKING FLYING CAR! i wonder if its physically spossible for those two to be any stupider. Honestly i wouldnt be surprised if their collective IQ was somehow negative. the next morning as we sit down to breakfast Harry begins explaining about The house elf dobby and how all his letters got intercepted. "Well that explains it then." I declare "I was wondering why i hadnt gotten any responses from you. I was starting to get worried." I turn to Nico who is busy scraping half a pancake into his offering fire. "So Nico. How was your summer? He looks up from his pancake. "My summer. Fantastic. Just great. there was exciting adventures, ferocious monsters, every night a fight for life. Everything a kid could hope for. and definately not even a single existential crisis of identity to dampen the excitement." Harry Ron and I exchange a worried glance. "Uhm, Nico." Ron says gently. "Is there something you want to talk about?" Nico begins cutting up his pancake with an intensity that was deeply unsettling. "Nope. Nothing."

"Hey Nico!" Harry exclaims. "I saw you on TV this summer." Nico stuffs a piece of pancake in his mouth. "Did you?" "when was this?" I ask. As far as i know Nico isnt a child actor. But as that thought crosses my mind i realise that i know almost nothing about Nicos personal life and he very well could be a child actor. he lived in america so there was a decent chance i wouldnt have seen anything he was in. "It was after that huge storm in manhattan. he was in the background of a newscaster talking about solar flares or something. I frown and think back. I had been focused on the news report but now that i thought about it ... "Was that you with those two older kids?" I ask. Nico grips his knife so hard his knuckles turn white. "Yep. That was me and Percy and Annabeth." we all do a double take. "So that was the famous Percy Jackson." Harry asks. we alll heard alot about percy last year. he was practically all Nico talked about. He spoke about him with a mixture of awe and contempt that none of us quite understood. "Yeah. Nico almost growled. That was the legendary Percy freaking Jackson.

" Now at this point most people would have recognized that Nico was upset and dropped the conversation. As it was i chose to respond with "He looked Hot."  Cracks spider webbed across the floor all the torches blew out. and the temperature dropped a good ten degrees. "Well hes dating annabeth so your styx out of luck." He whisper screams. then jumps to his feet. "Wheres sir Nicholas? I need to speak to sir Nicholas." and with that he walks out of the great hall with jsut about everyone staring at him. Dumbledore breaks the silence. "Well,breakfast has gone on quite long enough. you all had best move along lest you be late to class on your first day. off you go." everyone stands up to leave.