Nico di Angelo and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 15: The First Task

The hall starts to chatter, everyone turning to look at the boy who lived, who sits there in silent shock. Harry gets no applause like the others. Instead, the criticism is so thick it could be cut with a knife.

Nico lifts his head from the table. "Harry, why?"

Harry turns slowly, as if moving through molasses, and looks at his friends. "I didn't put my name in, you know I didn't."

"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore calls again. "Harry! Up here, if you please."

Nico can only watch as his friend gets to his feet, making his way up to the front of the hall and to the other room, like the other three had done. The head teachers, Bagman, Crouch, and eventually, Moody, all make their way back there as well, undoubtedly to figure out what's going on.

"I can't believe this." Ron huffs, crossing his arms.

"What? What are you talking about?" Nico gives him a look. What is he talking about?

"Why didn't he tell us he got his name in? Or how he did it? I thought we were friends."

"Ron-" Hermione scolds.

"Surely he would've told us, right? Let us put our names in as well. Nico, how did you do it? Did you put your name in?

"Of course not. I don't want to be in the tournament. And I don't- I don't know how I crossed the line. Maybe it was because I didn't enter willingly." Nico shrugs, not liking the way this conversation is heading. Ron can be a bit to accusatory sometimes for his liking, and the way this is going he can't see Ron's friendship with Harry coming out unscathed. 

"Liar." He huffs.

"Seriously? What do you want me to say? That I'm seventeen? Do I look seventeen?"

Ron deflates a bit. "You look twelve."

"Not my point. My point is I didn't out my name in, I don't know how I crossed the line, and I don't know why Harry got selected either. So grow up and stop being petty." Nico stands. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

He leaves before either of them can get another word in, skulking down the halls towards the dungeons. As he goes, he thinks. Why was Harry chosen? Surely he couldn't have gone into the circle to do it himself. Could he have levitated the paper over? Or had someone else put his name in for him, either for or against his will? Either way, Nico knows he cannot let Harry die. He just doesn't want to lose another  friend, no matter how dangerously reckless and stupid that friend may be at times. 

*

 The next few weeks pass in slow agony. Harry and Ron were not getting along, causing Hermione and Nico to pass between the two and sort them out. Hermione had been injured in an impromptu duel between Harry and Malfoy, though the result of her teeth being shrunk below their normal size afterward by Madame Pomfrey had done wonders for her self-esteem. Harry and Ron had had detention with Snape, as had Nico after berating him in front of the class. He may have called him a toadstool brained beetle, though he was so angry at the time it's hard to remember.

Nico was somehow finding this one of the hardest years at Hogwarts. He misses Jason, misses Will, Hazel, Reyna, even Hedge, in a weird way. It's the first time he'd had to leave behind those he cares about so much, even if he will never see one of them again. Luckily, he doesn't have much time to think about it. With Harry's torment increasing tenfold, he is being dragged into it. He had awoken one morning several days before to find that someone had magically stuck "Potter Stinks" buttons to the fronts of all his robes. Luckily, nothing prevents him from ripping them all off. Unluckily, all his robes now have large holes torn in them.

Finally, the morning of the first task arrives. Harry had told him what he had seen with Hagrid. Dragons. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Nico has the itching wonder if dragons go to Tartarus when killed, though he tries to ignore it. The thought of Tartarus still makes panic rise in his throat. He wishes Harry luck in the morning as the walk him off to the tent where the champions are gathering, but he and Hermione are soon shooed off to the stands.

It's horrible. The crowd is loud, cheering and jeering at the dragons and champions. Cedric goes first, and Nico can't seem to take his eyes away as he watches the boy dodge and weave, trying to snatch a golden egg from a nest guarded by his dragon. It's painfully entertaining, but he silently speculates to himself about Harry. Yes, he will have somewhat of the same challenge, with a different dragon. Cedric had been injured by fire, but he is relatively unharmed. Will Harry have such luck?

After the three older champions take their turn, Harry is called out into the arena. The roar of the crowd becomes deafening, and Nico can only liken it to water rushing past ones ears in rapids, amplified through ten loudspeakers. Harry walks into the area, looking almost completely absent even from the distance to the stands. He raises his wand in the air and... nothing happens. No sparks, nothing. The Horntail dragon watches him warily, the look only a corned animal can have gleaming in her eyes.

Off in the distance, Nico catches sight of a something zooming towards the stadium. Only when it stops beside Harry does he realize that it's his firebolt. Harry mounts it, taking off high, high above everything. Nico grabs Hermione's shoulder in a moment of victorious hope. He watches as Harry zooms and zips, narrowly dodging a breath of fire that would no doubt broil him alive. He does it once more a moment later, but is caught by the spikes on it's tail, ripping through the fabric on his arm. Hermione grips Nico's arm, the pair watching in tense desperation. Nico hates this, not being able to help him.

Harry keeps flying, zipping about, gaining height only a few feet at the time. The dragon is getting frustrated, roaring loudly at him.

"What is he doing?" Nico asks.

"I don't know." Hermione replies.

The dragon takes flight, going only about a dozen feet off the ground before Harry dives. He moves so fast that it's difficult to see him. Before they know it, he's soaring over the crowd, the golden egg clutched tightly in his arms. The crowd goes wild, cheering and booing. Hermione grabs the hands of both him and Ron, who'd been watching silently, and pulls them out of the stands. They head down, skirting around the arena and to the medic tent.

At long last, Nico watches Ron and Harry make up, which, for some reason, makes Hermione cry and run off. With a swift congratulations, Nico runs off to follow her, if only to make sure that that one pesky reporter doesn't make her crying out to be some sort of story. All in all, he can say that it's been a very successful day.