Hogwarts Christmas part 2

[krystalkatzfics]

“Thank-you, for letting me sit with you and talking to me...” Nino muttered wincing at how pathetic he sounded. The Christmas feast was over and he had been intending to go back to his dorm and sit alone but now he was hugging his chess set to his chest and wondering if the head boy would like to play with him. As a Ravenclaw he knew that Sho was smart but he also knew that Sho was probably one of the brightest students that had come to Hogwarts since Hermione Wesley herself.

“It sounds horrible that you have to thank me for that, doesn’t anyone in your house talk to you?”

“Not much, I mean...Everyone in Slytherin still has to deal with the house being tainted and I am the last child of real Death Eaters in school...They want to distance themselves from me as much as possible...” Nino muttered hugging the chess set a little tighter while Sho let out a loud angry snarl.

“That is just stupid. If Harry Potter can put the past behind him and marry Draco Malfoy who was a death eater by all accounts then these people shouldn’t have a problem with you, you were what? Five? Six when Voldemort was around...” Sho grumbled in hot indignation and Nino gave the smallest of smiles. Harry and Draco was something of an upset for the wizarding world who had expected their hero to marry Ginny Wesley and pop out a few kids. It might have happened in another world but not in the one where Harry had decided to vanish for a year. To go and tame dragons in China where nobody knew him.

He had learned a lot about himself and without the expectations of others weighing himself down and the fear the Dursley’s had put into him about being freakish and abnormal he had figured out a lot about his sexuality. In the years after his sabbatical Harry had dated both men and women before meeting Draco again in Madam Malkin’s and the pair had started off the way they should have done in the first place. As a pure blood Lord Nino had been at the wedding to represent the family. He had been terrified but Harry had been extra nice to him.

“I was five...I don’t even remember my parents much. Even when they were alive they didn’t have time to be parents...” Nino shrugged before asking gently “Um...Do you...I mean would you play chess with me? I know you’re probably busy studying for NEWTS but...”

“I thought you weren’t going to ask, come on, we’ll sit by the fire...Near the tallest Christmas tree...” Sho suggested with a grin and Nino smiled and nodded happily following after him his chess set clutched in his arms like it was his most precious treasure.

Half an hour later he had a mug of Hot Chocolate in his hands and was just setting up the board for a rather convincing victory when Robert Daley came over to them his wand out.

“I don’t know what game you’re playing Death Eater but you haven’t got me fooled...” The Gryffindor snapped spittle flying out of his mouth and his waved his wand around. Thankfully he didn’t seem to be muttering any spells but Nino was wishing that the ground would swallow him whole. Six years, six years he had avoided being alone with other students, he never stayed in public areas longer than he needed to. He would only walk the corridors if there were teachers present but now he was in the great hall facing a wand. “You got me a detention and you’re making our head boy look bad...You filthy Death Eater shouldn’t even be near him...”

“...Sorry...” Nino breathed his eyes widening as a spark shot out of the wand and hit him directly on the nose. Nothing happened for a moment or two and then there was pain, pain like nothing he had ever felt before. It was as though the skin was being peeled back away from his muscles. It spread out from his nose and soon consumed his whole face before he knew what was happening he was collapsing into a heap on the floor. The last thing he was aware of before fainting was Sho casting a rather impressive spell before screaming his name.

Sho watched as the young Slytherin fell to the floor screaming in pain. He hadn’t heard the spell that Daley had cast but judging from the reaction that he was getting it wasn’t one that was taught at Hogwarts. Judging from the funny colour Daley’s face turned it was clear the boy hadn’t realised what the spell would do either, most likely he had read it somewhere and thought to try it out. With a flick of his wrist he had the Gryffindor on his back and was running over to Nino shouting, or rather screaming his name. He hated himself a little, he had promised himself that he wouldn’t stand for people bullying Nino just because of his name, he had always rather liked the cute, shy slytherin who couldn’t help being his parents’ son.

He had watched him enough to know that Nino was nothing like his Death Eater parents. The boy’s house elves adored him, so much so they had come to Hogwarts to be with him when he had started. Sho had often seen Nino talking to them or one in particular. Povey. It was an elderly house elf with grey hair poking out of his ears but there was a gentle grandfatherly nature about it that had Sho screaming;

“Povey, I know I’m not your master but he needs you...” A pop of house elf magic alerted him to the presence of the creature he had called. The old house elf took one look at the scene before him and howled before clicking his fingers and vanishing away with Nino’s body...No not body, body meant dead and Nino couldn’t be dead, not when he had only just started to talk to him. Getting to his feet he wondered what to do about Daley until he saw the Bloody Baron float through the far wall. Slytherin’s ghost looked as moody as ever but Sho knew that the house ghosts were honour bound to help the students of their houses. “Baron, a student in your house was attacked by this boy here, can you make sure he stays here...?"

“The Ninomiya child? This is not the first attack he has suffered, I will watch the criminal...” The baron answered almost menacingly and Sho bowed before turning on his heel and running out of the great hall. He sped his way through the corridors of Hogwarts making sure to miss all of the trick staircases before pushing himself into the hospital bay. The Medi-Witch was already working on Nino as he entered and Sho allowed himself some time to breathe before gasping;

“Is he alive? Please...”

“A nerve spell...How a student could perform such a thing on another child...I thought I had seen enough horrors in the grounds of Hogwarts...Your friend will be fine, he will be asleep for a time or two but he will recover...” The Medi-witch smiled in his direction and Sho sagged in relief before dragging himself to the bed and taking Nino’s hand in his own. It was tiny, and chunky and unbelievably cute just like the rest of the Slytherin.

“I’m sorry I let you get hurt” He whispered to the sleeping boy “And I’m sorry for leaving you alone for so long but I won’t leave you alone again. I promise, nobody will hurt you again...”

TBC

A/N: Sorry, this took a darker turn than expected...Um the bit about Harry and Draco was taken from a Harry Potter fanfic I wrote but never posted anywhere but if I did this is connected to that xD