Is it bad I feel really accomplished for posting two stories in one day? Well I figured I wrote this a while ago, and I need some PJ on my dash.

Enjoy :D

~palmtreedragons

Nico, as people learned from day one, was totally not a morning person.

He was infamous for glaring at anything that so much as looked at him. Some people claimed they could feel a dark gloom surrounding him. Everyone at the Slytherin table made sure to sit a good five feet away.

Nico was gnawing on a muffin half-awake when he nearly jumps out of his robes, hearing a plate slam down on the table next to him. He gives the cause of this sudden noise a glare that would make Voldemort quiver in his snake-skin boots. The Hufflepuff, practically the definition of sunshine, seems oblivious.

"Hi! I saw you sitting alone!" The voice seemed sweeter than a bucket of straight up sugar.

"Crawl back to where you came from, loser," Nico growled. The boy didn't seem to hear. Is this guy deaf or something? The Hufflepuff grabbed a muffin from the plate Nico received his from. Every Slytherin knew to leave the muffin plate for Nico. Who does he think he is, taking a muffin from my plate? "Go back to your own table."

"Actually, I'm trying to make a point here," Sunshine said matter-of-factly.

"By sitting with the unwelcoming?"

"By sitting at another table. I think we need more inter-house mingling. Who set rules that we have to sit by houses?" Sunshine went on to talk about the importance of equality and rules and friends and whatever rainbow crap usually came out of a Hufflepuff's mouth. Nico really wasn't listening. He thought he was having an aneurism.

Nico leaned in close, only an inch or two from the boy's nose. The talking ceased. Nico could see the loose threads on his yellow scarf. "Just stop. Leave."

The boy frowned. Nico leaned back, making a dramatic shooing gesture with his arms. "Go. Go on, shoo," he said, like he were talking to a pet. A few people stared.

The light seemed to fade from the Hufflepuff, like when a cloud passes over the sun. Nico felt in the back of his mind a twinge of regret. It was like he had just kicked a puppy. Not that he'd know or anything. He wasn't that evil. The boy looked like a kicked puppy, though.

"Oh." His voice was small and completely un-chipper. "Sorry. I just . . . I thought you needed a friend." He slowly picked up the plate and turned to walk away. If he had a tail, Nico thought, it would be between his legs.

Nico watched as the boy took a seat, a good distance away from the other Hufflepuffs, all clustered in little groups of friends. Nico sighed. Either leave it and finish my muffin, or be a good person. . . . God damn consciouses.

The Hufflepuff jumped as a plate dropped next to him. He turned to see the gloomy Slytherin staring at him with a—was that a smile?!

Nico plopped down on the seat next to the Hufflepuff. "Inter-house relations or whatever." Will couldn't help but grin. Nico shrugged. "You gonna finish that muffin?"

If people weren't staring before, they were now.