The Scythe of Kronos

Confrontation and Decisons

I REALLY WISH UMBRIDGE COULD POP OUT OF THE BOOKS FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF ME PUNCHING HER

I DON'T OWN THIS STUFF

Harry POV

The first few weeks of school passed without any big problems, which Harry was grateful for. Sure, they had some questionable teachers - ehem, Umbridge, Trelawney - but the Death Eater side of it all was quiet. Harry wasn't sure if that was such a good thing though, it made him feel uneasy, but Hermione had reasoned with him saying that no news is good news.

Nico and Will seemed to be fitting in well, they - Will for the most part- got on great with just about anyone and they were always being bombarded by fellow Gryffindors, asking for stories from America, and their adventures. Nico and Will both avoided those questions, changing the topic to how horrid Umbridge was, or anything of the sort. They were very shifty when it came to their past - or rather, future? - and Harry was becoming suspicious once again and shared as much with Hermione and Ron on their way back from dinner.

"All I'm saying is that they came out of nowhere! Are we really supposed to believe they are from the future? They said it and we believed them, but we had no proof." Harry ranted to his friends.

"Well, who else could they be? If not from the future, then what, Harry? You think they are Death Eaters?"

"Yes - No. I-I don't know, Hermione, why don't you believe me?" Harry said. He could feel his anger rising, and fought to keep it in check.

Hermione huffed out a breath. "I do believe you, Harry, I agree with you. Really! Something is definitely odd here, but I don't know if we are looking at it the right way, I mean Will doesn't have the dark mark, and you saw their reaction to it back at Sirius'," Hermione reasoned, pursing her lips in thought and shifting her grip on her books, "But I don't know if we are looking at this right, I mean, if they were Death Eaters, they would have to be adept at magic - to a certain extent at least - but you've seen them in class, haven't you? They have trouble with basic spells and being from America isn't an excuse for that, the magic there is perhaps more advanced than ours. I would expect Death Eaters to have a greater knowledge of magic, wouldn't you?"

Harry sighed heavily and nodded. 

"What do you think Ron?" He asked.

"I've been convinced Nico is a Death Eater from the beginning mate, he's a shifty one, that guy. Don't trust him. And in DADA today, he was writing something down and a bit of his sleeve came up, right? There was something there, all dark and creepy looking. I didn't get a good enough look at it though to be sure, but I'll bet you a chocolate frog it's a dark mark. I know it."

"Let's find a way to get him to admit it then," Harry said firmly, giving the password to the common room and leading them inside. "If we confront him in the dorm, he'll have nowhere to run to." Ron nodded with a stony face and started to follow him up the stairs, but they both stopped at Hermione's disapproving gaze.

"Did you two hear anything I said? I'm certain they aren't Death Eaters. You two are just making trouble, and Nico seems like one to hold a grudge."

"So we'll make it seem like we're asking about a birthmark or something," Ron said, "I don't know Hermione, doesn't he seem creepy to you? And that sword of his is scary. No normal person just carries that around."

"If you don't want to come it's fine," Harry added, "But we should figure out what their deal is before they cause trouble."

Hermione looked at the two of them with a frown. "They are just trying to get back home, Harry. I've been helping the two of them with their prophecy and we almost have it figured out. You two need to decide if you'll help though because they really do need our help. The prophecy says as much." With that, she turned away and disappeared up the girl's staircase without another word, and Harry and Ron went into their dorm room to wait for Nico and Will.

*Time Skip of like 30 minutes*

 "Hey Harry, hey Ron. Are you guys waiting for someone?" Will asked as he opened the door, Nico trailing along behind him, sword strapped to his belt as always.

"Actually yeah, we were waiting for you two, we just had a question for Nico," Harry said, and watched as Will and Nico glanced at each other with an unreadable look. Nico moved to his bed at sat down, shrugging his robe off and leaving it on his bed behind him.

"Alright, what's your question? Can't say I'll have an answer though," He said cooly, fiddling with his sword handle. Ron gulped and sat down next to Harry on his bed.

"Well, in DADA I noticed you had a mark on your arm. Erm... I just wanted to make sure it wasn't like a... a  burn or something. Potions class can get a bit dangerous, I guess?" Ron asked, his voice getting a nervous tone to it further into his sentence. Nico narrowed his eyes, and Harry realized he saw through their act right away.

"You two are still on the thing about us being Death Eaters aren't you? I already said we aren't. If I show you my arm will you stop?"

Harry looked at Ron, then back at Nico and nodded, already feeling bad about it. Nico and Will were his friends, he shouldn't be suspicious of them. But there was still that part of him that made him watch as Nico lifted up his sleeves and showed them his forearms. Harry's heart started racing when he saw a black tattoo on one of them, and his hand twitched towards his wand, before realizing something. Nico's tattoo wasn't a dark mark, it was... just a bunch of letters? Before he could ask about it though, Nico shoved his sleeves back down and glared.

"We're only here through an accident, and we're just trying to get home. I don't need you two to be treating us like the bad guys. We're not. Need I remind you who saved you all on our first day here? And who stood up to Umbridge with you? We did, that's who. Now, instead of accusing us of being evil, it would be nice to focus on getting us back to our home," Nico said angrily, and turned away and walked out the door.

"Just give him some time, guys. He's a little fed up with this whole situation. But uh, try not to accuse more people of being evil murderers all right?" Harry and Ron nodded and apologized quietly as Will walked out behind Nico.

Harry and Ron stayed silent for a while, not really talking. They would have to make it up to them somehow. And as sorry as Harry felt, he still believed that something was up. But, he reasoned with himself, they wouldn't have to deal with whatever it was that was off about the two of them if they got them home before it could matter. So that's what Harry was going to do. 

He was going to help Nico and Will get home.

Ok, so I'm just a little bit evil and I'm ending the story here :) 

Enjoy the cliffy! But pretty easy to imagine what happens: Nico and Will get home and live happily ever after. 

...Or do they ;)

Thank you for reading everyone, and thank you so much for all the support - it means the world to me!   <3