Harry

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The Gryffindors were all furious when they found out about the points Ron, Hermione, Neville, and I had lost. What was worse, they all believed that Neville had been caught up in a prank on Malfoy, so in addition to costing them any chance of winning the house cup, they also considered it a personal betrayal. As a result, when they had arrived in the great hall for breakfast none of the other Gryffindors would sit within ten feet of them. Nico hadn't come down to breakfast with them. He had been very upset after his argument with the teenage, ghost so they had decided to let him get his rest( After checking that he hadn't hurt himself again).

Breakfast was half over by the time Nico made his way to the great hall. His black cat padding along next to him. Half the students stare at him as he makes his way to the end of the table and takes a seat next to Ron. "Hey", he says as Ajax jumps onto his shoulders and wraps around his neck. His bronze cereal bowl of fire materializes in front of him and he scrapes some sausages into it. " Good morning Nico." Hermione says in an odd anxious sort of tone.. "Are you... How are you?" She forces a smile. Nico raises an eyebrow. "What the hell is the matter with you?" " its just that... we were worried... and after last night..." "We were worried you might try to off yourself again." Ron clarifies in between bites of waffle. "That was very delicate Ronald." Hermione pouts sarcastically. Nico smiles sadly. "No I'm not going to ... I'm fine." Nico sounded like he mostly believed himself. "Its just", I comment. "You seemed really upset after you spoke to..." "Is it true you were summoning spirits?" Dean Thomas asks, interrupting our conversation. The rest of the gryffindors have apparently forgotten how made they were at us and had filled in the spots around us.

"What of it?" Nico asks accusingly. "Its just... that's really dark stuff." Seamus finnigan replies. Nico crosses his arms. "So?" Seamus opens his mouth to answer but apparently couldn't think of a response to this and closed his mouth again. "How did you disappear at breakfast yesterday?" Nevile asks. "You're not supposed to be able to apparate in hogwarts." Nico sighs. "That wasn't apparating. Its called shadow travel. Its a very rare form of umbrikinesis." "Umbrikinesis is the ability to control shadows." Nico ads, seeing everyone's confused faces. "Could you teach us to do it? Ron asks excitedly.Nico shakes his head."you cant just learn shadow travel. You have to be born with the ability." Everyone sits quietly for a few minutes. "What did you mean." Fred asks breaking the silence. "When you said the ghosts like you because you killed their king?" Nico stares off into the distance as if remembering bitter memories. Finally he turns back to Fred. "You wouldn't believe me if i told you." The other Gryffindors try to protest.  But for the first time i begin to appreciate how much I don't know about Nico. And how complicated his life outside of Hogwarts must be.

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