When Nicos not at camp (Book the second)

Hermione

When Nico offered to make Agrius his secretary, or more speciffically his Executive special assistant for management and administration, the young ghost was extatic. Apparently its a very good job. As we walk to history of magic, Nico gives him some quick instructions about his paperwork and agrius vanishes in a pop. Nicos cat ajax and his new phoenix are in the midst of a kind of game of tag, in which the bird flies ahead a few yards and perches somehwere only for the cat to slink up and try to pounce on it. at which point the bird would fly off again. Nico, infuriatingly(and adorably, dont tell ron) proceeds to walk casually to history of magic as if the events of the past eighteen hours had been perfectly ordinary. as we reach the classroom Nico reaches out to grab the handle but instinctively i grab his hand. He looks over and raises an eyebrow. "Youre not gonna try to kiss me are you?" I face palm. i just want to make sure ... i want to make sure youre okay." Nico stairs off into the distance as if hes a million miles away. "yeah." He says flatly. then turns around and enters the classroom.

Ajax slinks off to wherever cats go when they dont want to hang around people.But the phoenix, apparently enjoying the novelty of having hatched, proceeds to fly around the room. all the students stare in astonishment at the magnificent bird. finaly it settles itself on nicos desk. i put up my hand. "professor. I was wondering if you could tell us about the chamber of secrets. Professor Binns seems startled by the sudden surge of interest in his class. "Miss Granger, my class is history of Magic. i deal with cold hard fact, not legend and rumor. "Answer the question Cuthbert." Nico instructs. Ro turns to Harry and mouths the word cuthbert. Professor Binns sighs. "As you wish."

Professor Binns explanantion of the Chamber of secrets was quite informative, but he was quite certain it did not exist and became increasingly irritated with the students suggestion that it might. "Enough" he proclaims finally. "the chamber of secrets does not exist. it is a myth!" at this point he makes eye contact with Nico, and the two of them  fall apart into fits of laughter at some inside joke only the two of them are in on. back at the common room there was much intrest in Nicos extraordinary gifts from his father. While The phoenix flew happily around the common room for everyone to see, and Nico readily retrieved the Penseive from wherever he had stored it, he refused on principle to produce the book of dark magic. much to the annoyance of Fred and George. "How come you get to read it but you wont share it with us?" Nico chuckles. "Because its my fucking book. its not my fault the most fascinating thing your dad sends you is spark plugs." Fred sulks but cant argue with this logic. "I love this bird." Says lavendar brown. "Hes gorgeous." "She." Nico corrects. "its a girl." Lavendar frowns. "How can you tell?" "Male phoenixes always have an odd number of tail feathers. Females always have an even." I raise an eyebrow. "How even do you know that?" Nico opens his mouth and pauses as if trying to pick the best way to frsme his statement. "The summer camp i go to teaches classes about monster fighting. You learn all kinds of weird trivia."

Eventually the common room clears out as everyone starts to go to bed untill eventually only the four of us remain. "So." Ron asks matter of factly. "Are you gonna tell us where you went last night." "No." Nico states flatly. We all stare at him unsure of how to proceed. we all know Nico is fond of his secrets, but we had built a lot of trust last year and we all thought that our friendship had reached the share your secrets phase. Nico seems to know what we are thinking. "Look, where i went last night was... it was personal, and it didnt go the way i wanted and you wouldnt believe me anyways. Just let it go Okay. its best not to concern yourselves with the secrets of scary people." Harry, Ron, and i exchange a look. ib think about Agriuses statement to Nico that terrible things happen to people who mess with the laws of nature. and for the first time i realise that maybe there are some questions i dont want the answer to. "Okay then." Ron proceeeds. "Will you at least explain why your dad insist on communicating with you primarily through half explained riddles and passive agressive gifts?" Nico sighs and rubs his face in a decidedly exhausted manner. "Because hes an obnoxious ass." Ron shrugs. "Fair enough." Finally we ask Nico about the strange girl who had claimed to be his favorite aunt and vanished through the fireplace. Nico appears simply astonished. "She talked to you?" "Who is she?" i ask. Nico staris off into the distance with that miliion miles away look he gets. Finally he holds out his arm and his phoenix lnads on it. "Ive picked out a name for you." He declares. "Hestia." then he turns back to us. "we should all go to bed. Quidditch tommorrow." As he stands up theres a oud pop and agrius appears infront of us with a stack full of papers. "Hey neeks. I as jsut wondering what organizational system you had been using." "Okay." Nico says exasperatedly. "Alright." "Its called the alphabet Nico. Give it a try." Nico glares at him. Agrius glares back. BUt then Agrius blinks and Nico breaks out laughing. "Damnit." Agrius curses with a smile on his face, and disapears with a pop.