Nico Di Angelo at Hogwarts (book 1)

The Midnight Duel (Part 1)

Disclaimer - I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson

Hermione's POV

After the commotion during the flying class, I headed back to the Gryffindor common room to read over my transfiguration notes. I was starting to realise that Harry was a magnet for trouble. Perhaps it would be better if I kept as much distance from him as possible. Not to mention that boy, Ron, who seemed to encourage any rule-breaking that Harry could think of. In fact, he was doing just that when I walked into the Great Hall for dinner. From what I heard, Harry was not being expelled, but rather had become a member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, which Ron was overly excited about. His brothers, Fred and George approached Harry and congratulated him on this position, having heard from the captain (Wood, I think his name was), as they were on the team themselves. Not long after they had left, Draco Malfoy also turned up, accompanied by Crabbe and Goyle. He, however, was not here to congratulate Harry. They traded petty insults at one another for a while, before Malfoy proposed a wizarding duel. My eyes widened. He couldn't be serious! Harry looked a little confused, so Ron stepped in, agreeing to the terms, further rallying Harry to rule-breaking. Once Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had left, Harry turned to Ron and asked,

"What is a wizarding duel? And what do you mean you're my second?"

"Well, a second's there to take over if you die," said Ron casually, stuffing his face with his cold pie. Seeing the horrified look on Harry's face, he quickly added, "but most people only die in proper duels, you know, with real wizards. The most you and Malfoy'll be able to do is send sparks at each other. Neither of you knows enough magic to do any real damage. I bet he expected you to refuse, anyway."

"And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?"

"Throw it away and punch him in the nose." suggested Nico, who had managed to sneak over to our table again. A few people jumped a little, having not previously noticed him. There was something off about him, I just couldn't put my finger on it. Before the boys could continue scheming, I turned to them and said,

"Excuse me!" The three of them looked up at me.

"Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" asked Ron. I ignored them and spoke to Harry, to see if I could dissuade him.

"I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying-"

"Bet you could," Ron muttered, and I sent him a glare.

"-and you mustn't go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really selfish of you."

"And it's really none of your business," said Harry.

"Goodbye," said Ron, with a sarcastic edge. I got up to go, very disappointed, but determined to stop the duel from taking place.

I stayed up all night in the Common Room, waiting to see if they would really be so stupid: and it seems they were. After several hours sitting alone in the dark, I heard them creeping down the dorm-room stairs. They were almost at the portrait hole, when I called out,

"I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry." I flicked on the lamp nearest me, glaring up at the two boys.

"You!" Ron said furiously, "Go back to bed!"

"I almost told your brother," I snapped. "Percy - he's a Prefect, he'd put a stop to this."

"Come on," Harry said to Ron, looking annoyed as he pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady and climbed through the hole; but I wasn't going to give up that easily. I followed Ron through the portrait hole, hissing at them to go back inside.

"Don't you care about Gryffindor, do you only care about yourselves, I don't want Slytherin to win the House Cup and you'll lose all the points all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about-" Someone cleared their throat, cutting me off. We all turned around, looking for the source of the noise. There stood Nico, seeming to blend in with the shadows and looking very bored.

"Are we going or not?" he said.

I bristled at his question.

"You can't be encouraging this too!" He raised an eyebrow at me. "The rules are there for a reason, and you can't just go around breaking them."

"Go away," said Ron.

"All right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so-" I cut myself off. I had turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady to get back inside and found myself facing an empty painting. The Fat Lady had gone on a night-time visit and I was locked out of the Gryffindor tower.

"Now what am I going to do?" I asked shrilly, beginning to panic. If I couldn't get back in, the professors would surely find me and this would be the end of my days at Hogwarts.

"That's your problem," said Ron. "We've got to go, we're going to be late." I ran up to them before they got to the end of the corridor.

"I'm coming with you."

"You are not."

"Do you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me? If he finds the four of us I'll tell him the truth, that I was trying to stop you and you can back me up."

"You've got some nerve-" said Ron loudly.

"Shut up, both of you." Harry said sharply. "I heard something." It was some sort of snuffling, I could just about hear it.

"Mrs Norris?" breathed Ron, squinting through the dark.

"It's not Mrs Norris." replied Nico, who had reached the source of the sound. It was Neville.

Thanks for reading, sorry for the slow updates. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see in the next one (hopefully lol).

-GazelleRLG