The Ghost King at Hogwarts (Percy Jackson/Harry Potter)

Angel

Nico di Angelo

Would Bianca have wanted this, Nico?

Don't be clichéd. (Draw your sword, Nico. Who cares what she wanted?)

But would she?  

I don't care. (That's right, draw your sword, Nico. Remember why she died.)

Draco Malfoy

Nico lunged at me, and I dodged, but my own shadow winded around my leg, and I tripped, crashing to the floor. The other boy stood above me, glaring down with his teeth clenched, and I shivered when I caught sight of his eyes; dark, cold, and emotionless. 

I knew a different boy once. One who used to play hide and seek with me. Dark eyes that filled with mirth, ones that I could constantly feel on my back, as I searched for what felt like hours without any success. Laughter at my fruitless attempts that seemed disjointed, that somehow never led me back to its owner, that was gleeful and never mocking. 

But Nico isn't that boy anymore. And I guess I'm not who I used to be either.

It's easier to think so, almost. Easier to think that it was someone different that fell hopelessly, childishly in love with Bianca di Angelo, that it was someone different who ran through the streets of Italy with Nico di Angelo, pretending to be warriors and heroes and soldiers. 

Easier to pretend that someone else did all those things with them. Someone else who died in the accident. Someone else who they mourned for.  Someone else who died and stayed dead, and never paid a price that was far too high to come back.

Better to pretend that there was a world where Julian Cambelle, dead and desperate and selfish, never betrayed his best friends.

Above me, Nico snapped his fingers and the shadows forced me into a kneeling position, my hands twisted behind my back so that I couldn't reach my wand.

Slowly, deliberately, he reached for his ring, like he was savoring the moment, and I felt something inside me wrench painfully.

This isn't the Nico I remember.

A glint of black steel flashed in front of me, and I closed my eyes. 

They say that you can see your entire life go past your eyes before you die.

Maybe that's why I saw Bianca's face. 

My fault. 

All my fault. 

I loved you, Bianca. And I'm sorry.

So this is how I die the second time.

"Was it worth it, Malfoy?" Nico sneered. 

Nico. My best friend. My executioner. 

I'm sorry, Nic. I didn't know.

Was it worth it?

My eyes still closed, I whispered back, "No."

I heard the sound of his sword cutting through the air as the blade fell.

And then-