To Find What is Lost

Chapter 12: Gossip

Hi! I am actually posting twice today, (dun dun dun) because I suddenly feel motivated to write more and this chapter was just too juicy to wait XD  Also the meme idea comes from LuvLunaandMione, I really was running out of ideas and this one was so relatable I just had to put it in XD  -Emmi

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"For the last time, Zabini, I do not have a crush on Hermione Granger!"

"Yeah, right. So you just hung with her in the library for hours because you needed help with your homework? That's a bit sus dude."

"I do not-! Oh, forget it." he scowled furiously and he slammed the door on the way out of his dorm. He was met by Pansy, waiting below.

"Hey Pans-"

"Is it true you have a crush on Granger?"

"NO!"

The girl shrugged. "I thought so, but Millicent wouldn't listen to me."

"Oh."

Pansy grinned. "I'm not all gossip and giggle you know." she said in a mock hurt voice, "I'm only part that." She winked.

Nico rolled his eyes and stalked out of the common room to the great hall.

Slowly walking toward breakfast the grumpy ball of darkness cooled off, after all, it was just a silly joke between his dorm-mates. In fact he was starting to think himself that maybe the joke was a little bit funny, when he entered the great hall.

The second he walked in, the whispering and pointing started. He soon realised that the 'joke' was not at all confined to his dorm-mates, or even his year.

Everyone knew. Or thought they did. That the cold, dark, scary Slytherin who hated Harry Potter had a crush on the smartest witch of their generation, one of the trio who killed Lord Voldemort.
In other words, the snake was in love with the songbird.

As he went to sit down at the Slytherin table, a Ravenclaw boy shoved him roughly out of the way, and hissed to him as he passed;

"Stay away from Hermione Granger."

Nico was stunned, but he got the idea that everyone in the hall was of the same mindset. Except of course the Slytherins, who were possibly even worse. Voices raced around him, cruel sneers and disgusted looks;

"Filthy blood-traitor."

No! You don't understand!

"In love with a mudblood, di Angelo?"

That doesn't even-

"Honestly di Angelo, Granger? Are you going crazy?"

No-!

"Oh, shove off, Byrne." snarled Draco, grabbing Nico by the upper arm and marching him out of the hall.

Once they were out everything calmed down a bit, and Nico realised with a pang of guilt that he had been on the brink of raising the dead, and wisps of darkness were already swirling around him, the temperature was dropping.

The son of Hades frantically shook the shadows off, and willed the temperature to rise again. He glanced at Draco, there was no way he hadn't seen that.

"You've got to be more careful." the blonde hissed, his steel gray eyes locking on Nico's brown ones. Those eyes... hadn't Nico seen those eyes before? But he was still too angry to care if Draco's eyes were familiar to him. He gave a death stare to his friend.

"Let go of me!" he said angrily.

Draco did, but his eyes remained locked on Nico's. The Ghost King's death stare didn't seem to intimidate him.

"And you can put that look away," he said irritably. "I just saved your arse out there, you were one nasty comment away from blowing your cover!"

Nico scowled, "What cover?" he was suddenly nervous, did Draco know something?

"It's too long to explain, just watch the necromancy." and with that his friend turned and strode into the hall once again.

Necromancy?

But Nico didn't have time to ponder necromancy, as just then he heard a pair of footsteps approaching him from behind.

"I am not in love with Hermione Granger!" he shouted furiously, spinning around to find himself facing a brunette girl, one eyebrow raised.

"I would hope not, seeing as I have a boyfriend."

It was too much for Nico, and he turned tail and fled.