When Nico's not at camp (book the first)

Ron

As we walk into the forbidden forest Hagrid breaks us into three teams. Nevile goes with Malfoy and fang. Harry and Hermione go with Hagrid, and Nico and i are paired up. As we all walk off into the forest with our wands drawn it takes all of five minutes before we cant see the others. Nico seems perfectly at ease walking through the creepy death forest.  Which shouldn't surprise me at this point because its totally in character. We walk in silence for a while. "What the hell is you're problem?" I blurt out before i can think of a more appropriat. Wording. Nico raises an eyebrow. He stops with a confused look on his face. "Excuse me?" "That came out wrong." I explain. "What i mean is..." I pause trying to chose my words more carefully. "Why...Are you so weird?" To my surprise Nico doesn't seemed angry or offended or upset, but genuinely perplexed. "Weird how?" He asks in a thoughtful voice as we resume walking.

"Like why the hell do you carry around a sword?" He raises an eyebrow. "In case i have to fight monsters." He says in a voice that very much implies a duh at the end of his sentence. I snort. "That's a common problem for you is it?" I retort. "Yes." He responds shortly. I look at him intently trying to figure out if hes making fun of me. But i have a nasty feeling that he meant exactly what he had said. "You've got a very strange life outside of school dont you?" I ask. Nico shrugs but doesn't answer. "Its okay. You can tell me if you want. Were housemates after all. And friends I'd like to think. I wont go spreading your secrets." Nico makes eye contact with me. And he gives me the saddest smile ive ever seen. "You remind me of ... well of someone else i know. Constantly eating, complete doofus, kind of a disaster magnet. But you can always count on him to sacrifice everything he has to help out a friend in need." I cross my arms. "I'm not constantly eating." Nico smiles a real smile this time. But its not lost on me how much this other person clearly means to him.

We walk in silence a little longer . Finally i cant stand it anymore and I blurt out the question i most want answered. "The ghosts Nico! What is the deal with the ghosts? Nico examines me with that horrible piercing gaze then sighs. " i have a sort of a special familiarity with ghosts. Its kind of a ... family hobby." I nod thinking back to the passage harry and i had read about the Diangelos affinity for the dark arts. " there was this one ghost in particular." Nico continues. "I wont tell you his name, you wouldn't believe me if i did. But he was the Ghost King." I frown. "I never knew that the ghosts had any sort of government. Nico nods. "This ghost had been king for, well for a very long time. But he was a horrible tyrant and all the other ghosts hated him. Over the summer he... he and i got into a disagreement." Nico pauses here with a look on his face clearly reflecting on horrible memories. "Any way to make a long story short i banished him and took for myself the title of Ghost king." I gape at him. "You're the ghost king?" "Yes." Nico responds simply as though i asked him if he likes chocolate. "You." I point my finger at him. "Are the King of ghosts?" "Correct." Nico confirms. "As in  Neil before me and obey my every command KING?" But nico isn't listening now. Hes gripping his wand very tightly. Gazing into the trees. "Wand ready Ron." Nico whispers.

The thing that Nico saw turned out to be a centaur.  He examines us absentmindedly until his eyes land on Nico."Ah one of Chirons campers. Yes he told us you would be coming to school this year." "Die Immortales" Nico curses(I'm assuming from context.) "Is there anything he doesn't know?" "Not much." Says the centaur casually. "My name is Firenze." "I'm Nico and this is Ron." Nico says The centaur nods. "You have come, i assume, because of the unicorns" Nico Buries his hands in his face. "Oh gods" Nico mutters. I frown. "What?" Nico looks up at me. This is the part where he tells us there's some some bigger plot. Probably some old big bad making a comeback. Most likely a betrayal of some kind. And i would be absolutely astonished if there wasnt a prophecy involved." I look at Firenze who nods in confirmation. "How did you guess all that?" I ask. "Ive seen this all before." Nico responds flatly. I raise an eyebrow. "You have?" "Eleven times as a matter of fact." "Things are stirring son of the shadows." Firenze says cryptically. "Yeah." Nico snaps. "So ive heard." Just then we hear a loud crack. We wheel around to see a ball of red light fly into the air and explode into a shower of sparks. "Get on my back." Firenze commands.