Black Magic: Nico visits Hogwarts

15: Nico

I groaned as a followed the crowd out of the Great Hall. At Potter's end of the table, his friends had jumped up and started to lead the students towards what I assumed was the dormitory. Behind me, I heard Seamus whisper something to Dean. My attempt to befriend them had been awkward, since I didn't really have much to speak about, and no intention of really enjoying their company. It was simply a test run for Harry and his trio.

The stairs moved as we walked up them. This seemed to surprise the younger years, and if I hadn't been subjected to many strange happenings in my life, I would have been surprised too. However after spending eighty years frozen in time in a casino, waking up and finding out that two World Wars had happened right under your nose, and that the twentieth century had dawned, moving stairs were about as plain as sliced bread.

It wasn't just the stairs that did strange things. The paintings moved too, and spoke. When we finally came to a halt a painting with a rather large lady asked the ginger boy for a password, to which he replied,

"Mimbuius mimbletonia!"

I wondered how much Latin the Wizards must use. From what I'd read I could only assume a lot, and often poorly read and translated too.

The portrait swung open, revealing a room. The room was rather plush looking, with worn but comfortable sofas and armchairs, rickety tables and a roaring fireplace. The red and gold house colours were the basis for the colour theme, and it made a rather homely and comfortable place even nicer.

On Ron's advice, I followed the first years up to the boys dormitory, where I found the fifth years. Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan had reached the dormitory first and were in the process of covering the walls beside their beds with posters and photographs. I smiled thinly, and noticed a noticed a trunk in the far corner of the room beside a four poster bed identical to that of the other students. The only other time I'd slept in a bed quite as fancy was my time in the Lotus Casino after Bianca had asked for a four poster.

The door swung open, and there entered Harry Potter, along with a slightly pudgy boy.

'Hi,' he said, walking to his own trunk and opening it. I did the same, starting to unpack my clothes.

'Hey, Harry,' said Dean, who was putting on a pair of pyjamas in blue and purple. From what I could decipher from all the posters on the wall, they were in the colours of a soccer team by the name of West Han United. 'Good holiday?'

'Not bad,' muttered Harry. 'You?'

'Yeah, it was OK,' He began.
'Better than Seamus's, anyway, he was just telling me.'

'Why, what happened, Seamus?' The pudgy boy asked as he placed a cactus carefully on a shelf beside his bed.

Seamus did not answer immediately; he was tediously ensuring that a poster of a Quidditch team was perfectly straight. Then he said, with his back still turned to Harry, 'Me mam didn't want me to come back.'

'What?' said Harry.

'She didn't want me to come back to Hogwarts.'

Seamus turned away from his poster and pulled his own pyjamas out of his trunk, still not looking at Harry.

'But--why?' said Harry, astonished. I knew, it was clear in Seamus' eyes that it was to do with Harry.

Seamus did not answer until he had finished buttoning his pyjamas.

'Well,' he said in a measured voice, 'I suppose ... because of you.'