Nico fell to the ground, almost unable to get up. The portkey drained the rest of the energy from him. Then he felt a weight on top of him.
"Nico!" Harry sounded frantic. "Nico, are you okay?"
Nico just lay down limply on the ground. He groaned.
"Professor!" Harry screamed. Nico wasn't sure which professor he was talking to.
"Harry!"
"Nico!"
Voices and screams of terror rang through the air, footsteps drew nearer...
"Nico!" Nico couldn't identify the voice, but when hands pushed his eyelids up, he could see the worried face of Thalia.
"He's back," Nico croaked, suddenly aware of all the demigods hunched around him. "He's back. Voldemort."
Suddenly, the image of Dumbledore's face came up quite close to him. Nico blinked groggily.
"Here." Dumbledore reached into his robes and pulled out a small vial of a golden drink. "Nectar."
"Nectar doesn't work," Nico managed to murmur. "Not as well. Unicorn... draught..."
Dumbledore pressed the vial into his hand anyways. "I'm short of that. Drink this first, then we can find you some unicorn draught. But you need to go to the hospital wing."
"No!" Nico wrenched his eyes open. "No time! He's back!"
Dumbledore waited until Nico drank the whole vial, then turned to the demigods around him. "Follow me."
NIco could feel himself being lifted, and squirmed. Even with the nectar running through his veins, every movement still hurt.
"Calm down," Hazel said from where she was supporting his head. "Voldemort's not going to come charging in right now."
"Don't jinx it," Thalia warned her.
Nico lifted his head an inch, and spotted two retreating backs. Mad Eye Moody and Harry, heading to the castle. Suddenly, everything came into focus. Nico rolled off the hands supporting him, ignoring the pain.
Wait here!" He whisper-yelled to the demigods. He could hear a sound of protest and whirled around. "I know what I'm doing! Get Dumbledore!"
Nico slipped after the two, filled with adrenaline. He could hear murmuring ahead of him, drawing closer... he was moving faster than them. Remembering Moody's eye, he morphed with the shadows of the wall, slipping along. Then, a door opened and closed. The voices disappeared.
Nico stuck to the wall, breathing hard. He didn't know what had pushed him to follow Moody. Then he slowed his breathing and vanished into the shadows completely, re-appearing inside the room. He slunk against the wall, listening intently to their conversation... his mind couldn't process what he was hearing...
"He is back, Harry Potter," Moody hissed. "You did not conquer him-- and now-- I conquer you!"
He reached his hand into his robes, as did Harry-- Nico leapt forward at that moment, his sword out in a flash-- he swung the blade-- it cut into Moody's back and Moody fell-- alive, but just barely-- "Stupefy!" the door splintered open-- Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall swept in-- words, meaningless words--
"Nico." The gentle hand of McGonagall rested on his shoulder. "You and Potter need to go to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey has some ambrosia for you there--"
"No." Dumbledore put up his hand. "They need to stay, Minerva. They need to understand."
Nico could see before him Mad Eye Moody, and yet it wasn't... his skin began to change, magical eye and wooden leg popped out of it's sockets... Then Snape was there, and he poured a potion in the imposter's mouth and he began to speak... words... meaningless words... and the whole time, blood seeped from his wound Nico gave him.
"I offered to carry the Triwizard Cup," fake-Moody whispered. His skin was growing pale from lack of blood from his back, which neither of the Professors seemed to notice. The words managed to penetrate the fog in Nico's brain. The Triwizard Cup. The cause of everything. Nico hated those words. Triwizard. Triwizard Cup. Triwizard tournament. "I offered to carry the Triwizard Cup into the maze before dinner. Turned it into a portkey. My master's plan worked. He is returned to power and I will be honored by him beyond the dreams of wizards."
Then suddenly, his head rolled down limply. The blood had finally soaked through the cushions on the chairs and dripped to the floor.
Dumbledore stood up. "Dead," he murmured.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
"I swear I didn't mean to, Professor!" Nico gasped suddenly. "He was about to attack Harry-- I only meant to wound him--" Nico's legs shook, not from fear, but from exhaustion.
Dumbledore reached out and grasped Nico's shoulders. "It's alright," Dumbledore said. "He was weakened by our stunning spell and the Veritaserum. The wound only sped up the process." But his face was grim. "Nico, I want you to go to the hospital wing. Severus, please escort Mister diAngelo. Harry, I want you to come with me."
Nico followed Snape numbly. Then they reached the door, and Snape turned. His expression didn't change. Nico stared at Snape back. They had a sort of staring contest. Then, without another word, Snape swept back down the hallway. Nico stumbled in, and Madam Pomfrey led him to a bed.
"Here you go." She handed him a very large bottle of nectar. "Drink up, then sleep. You need rest. Professor Dumbledore will take care of this."
"It doesn't work that well," Nico murmured thickly. But he sipped the nectar anyways. Then he heard the unmistakable sound of a centaur, and he turned his head.
Chiron pushed through the doors. "Those stairs have gotten longer," he said to nobody in particular.
"Chiron!" Madam Pomfrey stared at the centaur, open-mouthed. "What're you doing here?"
"Oh, hello, Poppy." Chiron smiled at her. "Daughter of Apollo, yes? Came when you were ten, left at seventeen? Quite a while ago, I remember. So, you moved to England. Couldn't get far enough away from the gods, I suppose."
Madam Pomfrey smiled, then the smile dropped. "I'm afraid if you're here for Nico, you'll have to wait. He needs rest."
"Maybe," Chiron reached into a bag slung over his shoulder. "But he also needs unicorn draught." His eyes twinkled as he handed him a plastic water bottle filled with a silvery liquid. Attached to the bottle was a slip of paper.
I swear to the gods, Nico, if you ever need to use this, I'm going to kill you. No underworldly stuff, I don't care how long you've been there. -Will
Nico smiled and drank the unicorn draught, finally feeling his emotions settling and head clearing. Then he instantly fell asleep, as if drunk. Again.