When Nicos not at camp (Book the second)

Harry

Kill the basilisk. Sure, that's a totally reasonable suggestion. After all it probably seemed like a small thing to Nico. He did this kind of stuff all the time. But at the moment hes only a ghost. but how can I kill the basilisk? I don't even have my wand. Just then I hear a bird screech. Dumbledores phoenix fawkes appears in a burst of flame carrying a dirty package. he drops it in my hands then dives for the basilisk. its the sorting hat. I stick it on my head and whisper "Help." Suddenly a heavy weight drops onto my skull. I pull off the hat to see fawkes pecking out the basilisks eyes. I reach into the hat and pull out a ruby encrusted silver sword. suddenly I remember what Nico had said about the chink in the basilisks armor.

when riddle sees the sword he raises my wand. im not sure if he can even cast spells in his memory form but before he gets the chance to try, Ghost nico grabs him. Where Nicos ghost touched riddles memory black flames erupt. Riddle drops my wand and screams. he tries to retreat back to the diary but Nico's spirit is stronger. he holds riddle in place and begins to chant. the basilisk hisses and begins swinging its head. with its master incapacitated its become confused. I jump up onto the monsters back as Nico begins to chant.

The chanting is in a language I don't recognize but I somehow understand its meaning. and it sounds not like a spell but almost like a prayer. he chanted about fear, and anger, and hate. about darkness, and decay, and death. he chanted about fate, and time and endings. and he called forth a terrible power not meant for the world of mortal men. He called it to serve him. to strengthen him. and to smite riddle, until everything he was, and everything he had done was erased from the earth. As I climbed the basilisks back towards its neck he watched as black energy swirled around nico and riddle. it rose up taking on the shape of great beasts. lions, wolves, bears, and other things I didn't want to know. The beasts lunged forward and began tearing riddle apart. his wails of agony were horrifying. I know instinctively that what im seeing is only an illusion. that if I perceived the dre nature of nicos spell it would break my mind. as I reach the basilisks head I look down and see the gap in the monsters scales. exactly as nico described. I plunge the sword in. the monster screeches and falls to the ground.

Riddles diary is on the ground in frontof me. a smoking hole burned through the middle of it. I look up to see Nico standing alone, the black energy fading away. Ridlle is gone. I walk over to nico. Hes panting heavily. Can a ghost pant? His form begins to flicker. he must have expended a ton of energy. "Are you dead." I ask. "No. Just astral projected." "Astral projected." I respond. "You can astral project now?" Nico shrugs. then he begins to fade.

Ginny gasps then wakes. she begins to cry. "Harry!" she wails. "it was riddle. He tricked me. "We need to get out of here ginny." I urge. she sniffles. "Nicos going to kill me." she sobs. I lift her to her feet. "Nico got his pound of flesh from riddle. as we clamber out the top of the pipe we find all the ghosts waiting nervously. they all go silent when they see nico. he looks up. "Its done." the ghosts cheer then fly off to spread the news.

as we follow fawkes back to dumbledores office I realize nico is barely able to stand. I guess his battle with riddle took a lot out of him. its strange to think about nico being exhausted. he always seemed to have an endless store of power. Nico throws open the door to dumbledores office. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are talking to Dumbledore and Mcgonnogal. Nico collapses into a chair. Agrius pops into existence next to him looking concerned. Ron and I take the lead in explaining what happened in the chamber. that is until we reach the moment that nico astral projected in. I glance nervously at him. "Nico battled riddles memory. He... I don't know what he did exactly, but..." I placed the diary down on dumbledores desk." Dumbledore examines the book then looks towards nico with a look of interest and, while he hid it well, a hint of fear. "I told you once." Nico announces. "Im a wretched thing.

After Dumbledore sends ginny and her parents to the hospital wing he explains about tom riddle. suddenly the door bursts open and Lucios Malfoy storms in followed by dobby. He sneers and opens his mouth to say something,but before he can Nico interjects. "Keep your forked tongued behind your teeth you vile wretch or I may find cause to cut it out." His voice makes us all jump. he had been so quiet we had forgotten he was there. I wish he wouldn't do that so much. Nico rises to his feet. lucios looks at him nervously. he opens his mouth to speak. "quiet." Nico says. his voice is calm and even but nobody dares to defy him. Nico walks up to lucios. "I know you did this." Nico grabs the diary off the desk. "You sent this to school. You slipped it into ginnys cauldron at flourish and blots." Lucius sneered.

"Why don't you prove it." He snarles. Nico smirks. "I don't need to prove it. My agents have discovered the truth and im holding you personally scoountable for this mess. and before its over you will lay dead at my feet luscious Malfoy." The room was deadly quiet. I glance sideways to professor Dumbledore who had discreetly drawn his wand. Lucius smirks. "So much rage. So much hate. Tell me. How can a soul exist with so much darkness bound up inside it?" "I just do the best I can with the tools that nature gave me." Nico responds coldly. Lucius' face twitches. The he turns and storms out. That was when I finally understood what made nico so dangerous. it wasn't his immense power or his vast knowledge or his untold secrets. it was his resolve. Nico would never stop fighting. Not if he was bloody and broken. not if he was outmatched, outmanned, and outgunned. not if all was lost and there was no hope left. he would still find a way to fight back. He would pay any price and bear any burden but he wouldn't let go of his grudge until the day he died. or Lucius did

As Lucios leaves nico turns to agrius and , seeming to feel this interaction was hardly noteworthy, says "I definitely want a house elf." Agrius pulls a clipboard out of thin air. "Is that a business expense or personal?" "Split it 60-40." Nico responds. "Uhh,nico." I interject. Nico looks up. "Huh?" I stare at him incredulously. He seems more surreal right now than the actual chamber of secrets. I point to the diary. "Can I borrow that?" He raises an eyebrow. "Just for a minute.

The whole school was in an uproar. All the petrified people had been revived and hagrid had been freed from jail. For his bravery in trying to shield Justin flinch-fletchly, nico had promoted nearly headless nick. He had been named knight of the order of cabin 13, duke of Hogwarts, and prince of all wizarding ghosts. whatever the hell that means. but now he floated around with three silver medals hanging from his chest and an atmosphere of pride and honor. But all the celebrations came to an abrupt end when nico walked into the great hall.

as the dorrs slam open the whole crowd goes silent. everyone can tell that something momentous is about to happen. Nico marches silently up the center isle. when he reaches the front he turns. in a shimmer of black light his ghostly crown appears on his head. behind him an eerie fog swirls into existance and forms into the shape of a chair. Nico sinks silently into is throne. all the ghosts sink to their knees and I realise its them hes speaking to. finally he speaks.

"A very wise friend once told me that all things must come to an end." I glance at Sir nicholas who is facing straight towards the ground. "It turns out as always he was right. I have committed a grave sin. and for that I must now atone." Agrius tried to rise up but nearly headless nick pulls him back down. NIco continues. He holds up riddles diary. "this abomination of nature. this plague upon the earth. this crude and desperate attempt to break the natural order. he may think hes clever. but his cleverness has betrayed his ignorance. for in his quest for immortality he has suffered upon himself a fate worse than death. and while the world itself is turned against me his servant orchestrates a plot of insanity." Nico drops his head and looks towards the ground. "But i too am guilty." He whispers. only audible in the silence of the great hall. " I have been selfish. I have been reckless. I have made all the wrong choices for all the right reasons. And now i must set things right." Nico looks up. and i could swear i saw him lock eyes with hermione. "And i will return victorious. or never again." and he melts into the shadow.

"Well that certainly was cheerful." Dumbledore muses.