Nico di angelo at Hogwarts

[12] The First Lesson

Nico took a deep breath to steady himself. He had to find out where the scent of death was coming from - and quickly.

It certainly couldn't be Potter - he'd spent a lot of time with him and this definitely wasn't him.

It was something... stronger... somehow much more fundamental than with Potter... could it be a child of Hades ?...

No... still it could hardly be that strong... but it didn't seem like a departed soul, even though it was strong enough... this was something he had never come across...

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Nico was confused with this situation.

He had trouble sleeping.

Also, his food intake had lessened due to anxiety and nerves (though he'd never admit it) since leaving CHB.

He had been kissed senseless by his boyfriend first thing in the morning.

Then, while he was engrossed in dissecting personalities, (which was a first for him) he had been assaulted with a completely unusual, albeit benign scent of death.

So excuse him if he walked into the wall !

What if the door was wide enough to let through five people standing side by side ?! It was still quite narrow !

Aren't people allowed to think while walking ?!

Isn't this a free country ??!!

(AN: sorry lol ;P this is just what I always do in situations like this)

"Gods, Nico ! Are you alright ?" Will was near frantic.

"Ughh..... 'M fine."

"Mister...Di Angelo," Nico looked up to see the Professor looming over him with a sneer on his face.

"While we're perfectly content to let your... romance... continue, some of us need to enter the classroom and actually study during the scheduled lecture."

Will blushed furiously as he grabbed a glaring Nico by the arm, pulling him to his feet and hurrying out of the way amid snickers from the students.

With one last sneer, Snape swept past the gathered students to his desk where he tapped his wand upon it and the equipment on it started laying itself out.

It was a curious lay-out.

In the center was a rolled up piece of parchment.

On the left (stage left) was a curved silver dagger and a square piece of what appeared to be glass.

On the right were what seemed to be two rods, their ends extending towards the students.

As the students took their seats beside their new partners, the materials hovered in place as the table slid over to the far left.

The rods moved away from each other, leaving a space of about five foot between them and then pointed vertically upwards. A sort of transparent sheen seemed to glisten between them.

The piece of glass came to rest in a notch on the left pole, jutting out, flat-side up. The dagger lay on the glass.

Snape turned from where he had been supervising the arrangement and cast a glance over the assembly. All noise immediately ceased.

8th year DADA equipment was not something to be messed around with.

Nico perked up from his seat beside Granger. Magic conducted so smoothly and apparently effortlessly was fascinating !

"Today," Snape drawled, dragging his gaze over every individual in the room, "we shall be doing a test."

Murmurs erupted. Test ?!! On the first day !!

Beside Nico, Hermione was muttering to herself the names of all the potions she had ever heard of and their uses, while Will was trying his hardest to avoid bursting into hysterics at the look on Ron's face.

Harry felt slightly panicked and glanced at his partner.

Malfoy seemed to be quite calm, serenely brushing back a lock of his hair and cupping his chin as he leaned forward and rested his elbow on the desk.

Harry suddenly forgot what it was that he was going to say.

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"A test," Snape continued, "of your magical core.

"All wizards have their own magical core which is the source of all the magic in them. The size indicates quantity, the colour indicates preference, the depth of the colour indicates strength in the preferred field. That is all you will need to know for now.

"There are a thousand little things that you look for before being able to at least speculate on the nature of the core. However, I shall not let a batch of 18-year-old dunderheads pass through my hands without at least attempting to alleviate their appalling ignorance.

"Another thing you need to know is that the magical core has absolutely nothing to do with blood, or rather, heritage. Although some may have us believe that blood makes a difference, this is not so.

"This misconception arose due to this test - commonly known as The Wizarding Test." He gestured to the apparatus behind him.

"Can anyone tell me how - anyone aside from Miss Granger, that is ?" Snape's lips curved in an invisible smile as the Granger girl slumped dejectedly in her seat her hand falling back to her side.

Old habits die hard.

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Snape swept his gaze around the classroom. No one seemed to be volunteering to answer. He had to call upon someone.

"Mister Malfoy ?"

There were a few murmurs at this.

Choosing the heir of one of the oldest, and most prejudiced pureblood families to answer this question was like asking a tiger to elaborate upon the advantages of following a vegetarian diet.

Malfoy stood up in the same quiet way with which he performed all his actions now. There was a certain grace to him, but Harry wasn't fooled. Malfoy may have become more fluid and flexible in his movements, but the leopard doesn't change its spots.

Harry could still remember in fine detail Malfoy's hair as it whipped around during one of his rants, and the way his eyebrows moved while stressing his words, and his lips...

Merlin, what was wrong with him ?!

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Meanwhile, a disgruntled Hermione had let out a small huff as Malfoy began to speak. He spoke in clear, precise words, yet in a much softer voice which somehow still had a certain lilt to it that had the students stop their under-desk activities to listen to him.

"To understand that we would first have to be aware of how this Test works..."

Harry found himself distracted by Malfoy's lips...