He Who Walks Between Worlds

School is not Cool

Beginning Notes

All characters are owned by J. K. Rowling and Rick Riordan.

Nico

School was hell. Nico slumped over his transfiguration book in the library, rubbing his eyes. It had been a week since he arrived at Hogwarts, and he was hating it already. He was pretty sure most, if not all, of the teachers were monsters. It didn't help that he was years behind pretty much everyone else in the year. He'd been studying nonstop just to keep up, and he hadn't even had time to research wizarding necromancy yet.

"You know what? Fuck this." Nico stood, slamming the book shut and earning a disapproving stare from Madam Pince. Sorry, he mouthed to her. She turned away, and he jogged towards her. "Hey, would you mind helping me look for some books?"

She smiled at him. "What now?"

She had been helping him all week, helping him read book titles and find resources. She could be a bit prickly at times, but Nico respected her. The respect, he believed, was mutual.

"Necromancy, this time," Nico said.

"Necromancy!" Madam Pince exclaimed, "Don't tell me they're teaching you that!"

Nico shook his head. "This is for a side project."

"Oh? What for?"

"History of Magic," Nico said. "If you write a three foot paper on a topic of your choice, you get extra credit."

"So you'll be wanting books on the history of necromancy, then?"

"Yep. Thanks."

"I'm afraid most of our books on the darker aspects of magic are in the restricted section," Madam Pince said, "You'd have to get a signed note from a teacher for that." 

"I can do that," Nico said. "Oh. Shoot. Professor Binns can't hold a pen."

"You could ask your head of house or the headmaster," Madam Pince suggested.

My head of house hates me and I don't trust Dumbledore. He agreed to me joining the Order far too quickly. But I'm being unfair. I may not trust him, but I shouldn't deny him the chance to earn my trust.

"Sure," Nico said, "Thanks."

Harry

"Hermione, come on!"

"No. We need to apologize."

They were in the library because (what else?) Hermione. This would have been bad enough, if it weren't for the fact that Nico di Angelo was there too. And Hermione wanted to apologize to him.

"What for?" Ron whined, and Harry agreed with him. Nico di Angelo had been avoiding them, not the other way around.

"You guys said some pretty nasty stuff about Slytherin. Think how he must feel right now."

"What did we say that wasn't true?" Harry demanded.

"It doesn't matter! We made him feel bad, and now we need to apologize." 

Hermione, apparently, was done arguing with them, because she marched towards di Angelo and Madam Pince. Ron and Harry reluctantly followed her. As di Angelo headed towards the door to the library, Hermione intercepted him.

"Hi Nico!" she said brightly.

A look of surprise flashed across Nico's face, but he smiled, a thin-lipped, tight smile. "Hi."

"We haven't seen you around that much."

He shrugged. "I've been busy. Lots of homework."

He doesn't even want to talk to us, Harry realized.

"What are you working on now?" Hermione asked. "Maybe I can help." Seeing Harry and Ron share bewildered looks, she sighed exasperatedly. "I like to help people with their homework; I just won't do it for them."

"Extra credit assignment from Professor Binns," Nico explained. "I need to get a signature from Professor Dumbledore because I need some books from the restricted section."

"Why not get it from Snape or Professor Binns?" Harry asked, and Hermione glared at him. What now?! It was just a question.

"I don't think Professor Snape likes me very much and Professor Binns can't hold a pen."

"Why doesn't Snape like you?" Harry demanded. "You're in Slytherin."

"Harry!" Hermione said. "That isn't fair. Snape doesn't like you. That doesn't mean he hates everyone from other houses."

Nico shook his head. "It's fine, Hermione. Professor Snape does show preferential treatment to Slytherins, but I think every teacher has a favorite house."

"That's not true!" Harry said.

"Yeah. Professor McGonagall is as mean to us as she is to everyone else," Ron added.

Nico coughed, but the cough sounded a lot like Dumbledore. Hermione snorted. "True. It's weird, since he wasn't even a Gryffindor."

"Huh?" Ron asked. "I thought he was."

"Me too," Harry said.

"Nope," Hermione said. "He was a Slytherin when he went to school. I was doing some research over the summer. I wanted to get some alternate views on the history of Hogwarts since Hogwarts: A History is selective in its information. Anyway, I was reading a book about the headmasters, and apparently Dumbledore was a Slytherin! I was really surprised too, but he had an extremely different personality back then. Apparently he dabbled in the Dark Arts. He was even friends with Grindelwald!"

"Wait, who's Grindelwald?" Harry asked. Hermione rolled her eyes. "Don't you ever read?"

"He was a dark wizard," Ron explained. "Rather like the He-Who-Must-Not be named of the early twentieth century. But Hermione, I thought Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald."

"He did. But for a while they were friends before that. The book didn't go into many details, but they had some sort of fight. Grindelwald left Britain and became a dark wizard, and eventually Dumbledore stopped him."

Harry's world was spinning. Dumbledore? A dark wizard? "I gotta go. Bathroom." He managed not to break into a run until he was out of the library.

End Notes

Hello peeps! Sorry about the short chapter, but school just started for me in earnest and I thought you'd prefer a short chapter than nothing at all. The chapter title may be my subconsciousness protesting homework. 

Don't forget to comment and vote! Bye!