Sliver Of Shadow

Punishment

The next morning passed in a blur, in which Will IMed Nico again at breakfast (earning him some strange looks from the wizards), and forced him to eat some toast. The same happened at lunch and Nico was now sure he would explode from eating so much in such a short time (his diet usually consisted of one piece of fruit a day).

Soon, it was time for Care of Magical Creatures with Professor… Grub-Plankton? Something like that. Nico slowly followed behind Draco Malfoy and his group of Slytherin admirers - who were very maturely running around and laughing like idiots, as their leader made a joke about Harry Potter (yet again).

A clump of sticks were brought out and introduced as "bowtruckles".

…Tiny dryads?

But as Nico watched, they stood up and revealed themselves to be what looked like tiny pixieish creatures made of wood, each with knobbly brown arms and legs, two twig-like fingers at the end of each hand, and a funny, flat, bark-like face in which a pair of beetle-brown eyes glittered. They were definitely not dryads. Eyes widening, he scowled, suddenly recognizing what they were. He had never seen one in person before, but they'd been described to him many times during his stays in the Underworld. ραβδί ανδρών - creations of Persephone.

This suspicion was confirmed as all of them simultaneously turned and hissed at him. Nico tried to back away, but soon found himself surrounded by the little creatures. They pointed their sharp fingers at him, hissing in Ancient Greek:

"Son of Hades… die die die... Hades's son… die now."

"Blimey!" Someone shouted behind him. "What's going on?"

Nico's fingers itched to draw his sword. But he needed to keep undercover… Sighing, he took out his wand, unsure of what to do with it. Before he could decide, however, the black wand jerked in his hand, emitting a gray steam. The bowtruckles' eyes glossed over in terror. Chittering and screeching, they ran off into the woods, much to Nico's (and everyone else's) astonishment. His ADHD ran wild.

Okay, that was kind of creepy… almost like my wand was sentient. Wait - the core was a "him"! Could it be? No… Father would never allow it. But Hecate made it - and she's never liked Hades anyway… Nico shook his head, confused. He'd ask Hades about it later.

Meanwhile, Professor Grubbly-Plank was glaring at him. "Five points from Slytherin for provoking the bowtruckles. Everyone now has a three foot long essay on them for homework."

Many of Nico's classmates shot him dirty looks at this.

Hey! It's not my fault for existing! Nico sighed. So much for staying undercover.

He headed back to the dorms, deciding to skip the last period of the day - the Slytherins had Transfiguration which equaled use of wands. Nico was definitely sure - no matter how powerful his wand - that he could not do real "wizard" magic yet.

Besides, he needed to figure out a plan for his upcoming detention.

~
At five, Nico slowly dragged himself out of bed, cursing Umbridge in five different languages (English, Italian, Ancient Greek, Latin, and he'd learned a little French from Piper), and left for her office on the third floor.

When he entered it, he was nearly sick all over again. The surfaces had all been draped in lace covers and cloths. There were several vases full of dried flowers, each residing on its own doily, and on one of the walls was a collection of ornamental plates, each decorated with a large technicolor kitten wearing a different bow around its neck.

Gods of Olympus… He gaped in horror. What disgusting spirit could possibly be possessing Umbridge? There was almost next to nothing of a chance that someone could be this horrible.