Sliver Of Shadow

Psycho Psychiatrist

"Whoa, Neville, calm down." Harry jumped in surprise at seeing the flustered Gryffindor before him. "What's wrong?"

Said Gryffindor was bright red, panting and nearly choking on his own tongue as he tried to catch his escaping breath. "Har-ry... I - heh - need - kuh -" He huffed and tried again. "D-di Angelo, he -" He was cut off by another fit of coughing.

"Er..." Harry stepped forward, a little cautiously. "Do you need to visit Madame Pomfrey?"

"No, no. Eh..." Neville raised a hand, taking a deep breath and finally calming down. "I just need to talk to you. It - it's about that di Angelo kid - you know, the exchange student. He... well -" He gave a furtive glance around the crowded hallway, as if the Slytherin in question were stalking them from the shadows. (Which, he very well could be.) "Erm, can we go somewhere more private? You'll need to hear this, believe me."

Raising an eyebrow at him, Harry nodded, quite interested in what had gotten the smaller boy so excited. After all, with so many of the crazy things that had happened already, one needed considerable effort to faze any student of Hogwarts. Gesturing towards Ron and Hermione, Harry and the rest of the Golden Trio quickly followed Neville into an empty classroom.

"Well...? What is it?" Though he tried not to let it, a nervous anticipation seeped into Harry's voice when he spoke. If Umbridge was screwing with him again... "What's happened?"

Neville looked at him ominously. The room temperature dropped several degrees.

"Nico di Angelo," he said, "has been sent here to kill someone."
~

There was one thing Harry knew for sure when Neville finished his explanation: he was screwed.

The other boy had forgotten the name of who exactly di Angelo had been sent to kill, but that didn't really matter. (Well, actually, it did - but Harry didn't know that.) What did matter to him, was that Harry was now sure his creepy classmate was a Death Eater. Ron and Hermione both agreed, too - there could be no mistake. Nico was a servant of Voldemort, young age be damned. And they had to do something about it. But how to stop him? How to freeze Voldemort's plans without that evil snake noticing?

Harry had no idea.

Therefore, he was completely and utterly...

Screwed.
~

Stupid Hades, stupid quest, dammitdammitdammit -

Nico slammed his fist into the wall, glaring angrily at the cracks it made. He had to kill Voldemort, but how? The guy had seven horcruxes! Seven. How in Olympus would he destroy all of them, while still trying to track the impossible to find Dark Lord himself? It was just impossible.

Especially with that tiny matter of...

Mesperyian.

Even Thanatos was afraid of her - part of the reason why he was pushing Nico so hard. The more power he had, the better to protect both himself (and the hitchhiking god) after all. But there was no way he could get to Voldemort without confronting her, and suffice it to say, Nico was not looking forward to it.

What in Olympus could he do?

Dammit, dammit, dammit...

More cracks appeared in the wall.

DAMMIT!

"You know," said a cold voice behind him, "you couldjust ask for help, instead of damaging school property."

Nico jolted and whirled around, unbalanced.

Who - ?

He stopped, and stared at the ghost before him.