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Chapter Text

Shadows

Chapter 1: Arrival

Harry Potter’s POV

“-Intent of preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited.” Umbridge took her seat to only a few claps. Most students still appeared to be dazed and had not noticed she’d finished her speech.

Dumbledore stood after he finished clapping and surveyed the students agreeably.

“Well, that was most illuminating.” He grandly announced. Hermione scoffed from next to Harry. “As I was saying, Quidditch tryouts will be held,”

Dumbledore was interrupted for a second time. This time not by means of a little ‘hem, hem’ but by the wall above the Slytherin table bubbling with shadows and oozing a dark magic power.

“Bloody hell! What’s going on over there?!” Ron demanded eyes wide.

On the wall, the darkness seemed to condense itself and looked almost like a membrane. The great hall was in chaos as everyone scrambled frantically trying to get away from the strange phenomena.

Then, like a balloon, the shadow membrane popped; depositing someone right on top of the unfortunate Malfoy who hadn’t been able to escape in time.

“Hey!” Malfoy protested, as the strange teen rolled off of him and onto the Slytherin table. The room went eerily silent for a moment before one of the first years asked;

“Is he dead?” Their hand barely grazed the boy’s shoulder, before a scream erupted from the poor child as the teen scrambled to his feet. Harry gasped as he caught sight of the boy’s eyes; the eyes of a crazed beast. He twisted and turned, he almost seemed to be looking for something.

Reaching out his left hand he pointed towards a previously undiscovered sword, which flew to him from just down the table.

“All right, I know you’re there. Come out and fight me!” He glared at the wall of shadows that still hadn’t disappeared. The same bubbling happened again, but this time a huge black dog erupted from it instead. Teeth bared and eyes flashing this hound that was as big as a car lunged itself at the teen to the evident horror of the students who screamed and cried out.

The boy didn’t panic and seemed to anticipate this, performing a front flip over the beast to land squarely on its back. He then plunged his sword into it making the dog (?) cry out a guttural howl before turning into what appeared to be gold sand that was absorbed by his sword along with some purple substance.

“Bloody hell. What is that thing ‘Mione?” Ron asked. Hermione mutely shook her head. Well damn. If she didn’t know, they were all screwed.

The boy stumbled on his feet a little. He looked exhausted.

“Young man!” Umbridge called out. “Put down your weapon immediately!” The boy turned to her and must’ve been making a pretty scary expression because the toad went back to hiding behind the teacher’s table. He seemed to be just about done and moved to get off the table. The emergence of another monster ruined his plans. The shadows grew and expelled a new horror into the great hall.

“Another one?!” The boy angrily demanded, reading his sword once more. This new creature wasn’t the same black beast as before, but rather a humanoid figure with serpent legs and the largest sword Harry had ever seen.

“What the hell is going on here?” Harry asked, receiving no reply as the boy flew into action once more. He lunged and feinted, getting locked with the beast in quite an impressive show of swordsmanship. Then with a final feint, he managed to get through its guard and slice it cleanly down the middle. Same as the previous monster, it dissolved into gold dust and was absorbed by the black metal.

With a sigh and a stumble, the boy dismounted the table to wobble on the floor. He said something and the sword in his hand disappeared in a flash of black.

Then, he slumped over.

-Fancy Line Break-

Percy’s POV

Nico was missing.

Now usually, this would not be cause for concern. That goth went missing every other week, and it usually turned out that he wanted authentic sushi from Japan and had decided to go there and get some.

In truth, I probably wouldn't have known or even thought anything of it if I hadn’t lost my shield.

See, I'd been hanging out with him at his cabin last night forcing him to do a Disney marathon after learning he’d never seen any of the movies, and this morning I hadn’t been able to find my darn shield.

So, naturally, I went to look in the last place I’d had it. IE; the Hades cabin.

The place was completely trashed.

Blood streaks on the walls, gold monster dust on the floor, knocked-over dressers, broken chairs, the whole nine yards.

“What the Hera happened in here?” I muttered, taking a few steps into the room to properly survey the damage. What was going on? No one was dumb enough to attack the son of Hades in his own darn cabin.

Yet, there was inexplicable proof right in front of me.

A ripped and bloody lime green T-shirt. With it a broken sword. No trace of the person to whom they belonged, but it definitely wasn’t Nico. He’d never be caught dead in lime green.

I looked closer and thoroughly inspected the trashed cabin hoping to find any other leads. Nothing. It was like he’d been kidnapped. My heart was beating too loud. The laughs of those outside blissfully unaware grated on my nerves.

“Where are you Nico?” I asked the room desperately.

“Huh? Did you say something seaweed brain?” Perfect! Just the person I wanted to see! I twirled around to see,

“Annabeth! Hey,” I attempted a smile. She frowned all too knowingly.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, taking another step forward.

“It's Nico. I think something happened to him. He’s gone.” I gestured to the chaos that surrounded me. She took it all in, a calculating glint in her eye.

“You don’t think he did this himself I assume,” She muttered, still surveying the level of damage.

“No. Not likely at all.” I held up the tattered green shirt. Her grey eyes stormed.

“I see. So, what are we going to do?”

“I’m not sure. But I’m sure we’ll figure something out. Right, wise girl?” I offered.

“I sure hope so,”

-Fancy Line Break-

Nico’s POV

Ow.

My head was absolutely pounding. I concentrated my breathing, trying to take stock of my body. I could still feel all of my fingers and toes, so that was probably a good sign. Whatever I was lying on also wasn’t painful. I brushed my hand over it, it felt like sheets. I wearily cracked open an eye.

The room was bright wherever it was. I closed my eyes again abruptly. Opening far more slowly this time, I appeared to be… somewhere.

Where the Hades was I?!

I had certainly never been here before. So that ruled out the camp infirmary. I sat up and tried to get a bearing on my surroundings. Some medical equipment in the corner but not a lot. I wasn’t hooked up to any wires so not in a hospital,

An older woman rounded a corner and upon seeing me awake bustled over.

“Hello dear,” She smiled. She radiated a sterile kind of comfort. I held back a flinch as she leaned in closer. “How are you feeling honey?”

“I’m fine,” I murmured. Damn, my voice sounded like monster dung. Where was I? It certainly wasn’t a hospital. So then where?!

“Now, now honey, you were just attacked and fainted from exhaustion. How are you really feeling?” She pressured.

The events of last night finally clicked into place. I had no idea where I was. Schist.

“I’m fine,” I muttered again, dammit! I needed to get back to camp ASAP!

This answer did not appease her. She clicked her tongue at me. “Listen here dear, I’ve been a Mediwitch for many years. You can’t fool me.” A what now? I glared at her.

“Look, lady, I don’t know where I am, or who you are, but I’m fine. Alright!?” She took a step back, no fear in her eyes, but her posture was definitely more cautious than a few moments ago.

“That’s Madam Pomfrey, and you are at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.” My neck must’ve popped with how fast I swirled around to find the source of that voice. It was a rather strangely dressed old man in the doorway. His appearance didn’t fool me though, he’d snuck up on me. Not many people could do that.

“And who might you be?” The old guy asked, still coming closer. I narrowed my eyes.

“It’s rude to ask someone's name without giving your own,” I countered.

“Ah, my apologies!” He smiled a rather large smile and his eyes seemed to twinkle. Ew-. “My name is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, headmaster of the school. However, my students call me Professor Dumbledore.” Well, if that wasn’t the longest freaking name I’d ever heard-

“My name’s Nico. Nico di Angelo.” It felt rude to not give him my full name after he gave me all five of his names. Although, that might not have been the best plan. This guy just rubbed me the wrong way. Like he was trying too hard to be the ‘grandfatherly’ type.

“Well, Mister Di Angelo, you made quite the entrance last night.” His eyes twinkled again. Gods that was really disconcerting.

“I would be rather worried if it were commonplace,” I retorted.

“Well, you see dear boy,” -Ew I hope he never calls me that again- “You attracted the attention of the minister of magic.” The who what now?

“Who’s that?” Minister of magic? And what? Was he a wizard? Something tickled in the back of my brain about the name of the school. What was it again? Warthogs? Wollymogs? Hoggywalls? Meh, don’t remember.

“The minister of magic. His name is Cornelius Fudge, he is the leader and president of the Ministry of Magic.” He smiled patiently. I would like nothing more than to throttle this old weirdo.

“And what is the ministry of magic?” It sounded kind of like a terrorist group.

“Ah, it’s England’s magical enforcement group.” Oh. Wonderful. A terrorist group with political power. Just my freaking luck!

The old man’s stare narrowed as if to pierce my skin and uncover the truths lying beneath. I responded in kind.

“And, Mister Di Angelo, by their laws, Ubrakinesis of any kind is strictly prohibited.” He said this as if I should know what the hell that was.

“I’m sorry, Umbra-ka-what now?” I asked. He’d lost me.

“The ability to manipulate the shadows, my boy.” Ew! He said it again!

“Oh-. That,” I looked down at the bed. Well, Shit- time to come up with a good cover story!

“Well, you see, where I’m from, Umbr-what you said, is not prohibited. It’s actually considered a great talent, and its practitioners are highly regarded and valued assets of their communities.” If only. All of Camp was terrified of me.

“And where might that be? Mister Di Angelo.” His eyes twinkled again. That really freaked me out, and I’d seen some pretty freaky stuff in my time.

“Uh, New York?” It came out as a question.

“What institution in New York?” Damn. He really wasn’t giving me a break, was he?

“You see, I can’t tell you. I’m,” Quick think of a cover story! “I’m uh, under oath not to disclose any more information.” Please buy it, please buy it.

“I see.” He nodded wisely. Ah, thank Hera! He’d bought my lie! At least, for now.

“So, you now have two options before you. You can go on trial for the use of Umbraportation, or you can become a student at Hogwarts and be granted diplomatic immunity of a sort.” He was smiling while saying this but I was lost.

“Umbraportation?” I asked. It sounded familiar, I just didn’t know.

“The method in which you arrived, young man. It’s the use of Umbrakinesis to transport oneself from one place to another.” He really was good at explaining all this to me.

“Oh. Where I’m from we call it ‘Shadow-travel’. It’s interesting to know it has a proper name.”

“Interesting indeed,” Dumbledore stroked his beard a few times. He seemed to be lost in thought for a moment.

Well, back to the options presented to me. It seemed I had two options; Stay at a school for ‘magic’ of which I wasn’t sure I had, or be put on trial in a foreign land, in a magical society for doing something I didn’t know was illegal. Great options.

“I guess, with these options, my choice should be evident. I’ll stay at your school headmaster, but I warn you, I am not defeated so easily.” My statement didn’t seem to affect him at all.

“To avoid detentions, I’d advise you to obey all the school rules.” Dang it. He was right. “Now, how old are you?”

“Oh, I’m 15, Sir.” I added the ‘Sir,’ as an afterthought. And to hide the snicker as I immediately thought ‘Oh, only if you don’t count that I was born in 1934’

“Don’t call me Sir. It makes me feel old.” He chuckled a little at his own joke. It might be a bit too late for him to ‘feel’ old, but I kept that thought to myself.

“Well, Nico my boy, I’ll make the arrangements. Good day,” and with that the old bastard left.

I really needed to stop getting myself into these situations. But I really wasn’t in a hurry to get back to camp. Someone there had tried to assassinate me in my sleep, and I didn’t fancy sleeping with one eye open. At least here no one knew about my parentage, and wouldn’t ridicule or avoid me because of it.

I might actually be able to make some friends!

End of Chapter 1.

Chapter Text

Shadows

Chapter 2: A New Face

Nico’s POV

“Can I leave now?” I asked for what felt like the umpteenth time. It felt like I’d been in the stupid ‘Hospital Wing’ for ages! The matriarch gave a heavy sigh.

“You can go, but,” She waited till I made eye contact to continue. “You may not do any severe magic. Understood?”

“Yes ma’am!” I agreed happily. Finally! I couldn’t wait to get the Hera out of here! I beelined for the exit. Only to be met by the creepy old man again.

Great.

-Fancy Line Break-

Harry Potter’s POV

“What do you reckon happened to that kid from last night?” Harry whispered to his friends. The great hall was boisterous with noise.

“Not sure,” Hermione answered, looking around the table.

“Do you think he’s all right?” Harry pressure. Hermione turned her attention back to him, annoyance flashing in her eyes.

“I’m not sure Harry. Besides, it’s not wise to get tangled up with people like that,” she trailed off the last of her sentence. Ron didn’t seem to get this as a hint to not press and butted in.

“Why not ‘Mione?” He questioned. The brunette huffed and turned her body back to face the two boys.

“Because Ronald, he used Umbraportation. That’s highly illegal magic.” She explained as if Ron should’ve known this. Ron’s cheeks flared up to his hair color and he muttered out a little ‘oh,’.

“Hey guys, it looks like Dumbledore has an announcement,” Harry stated, pointing up to the stage where the headmaster was standing arms wide.

“Hello, dear students!” The man started, slowly surveying the room. “If you didn’t notice, we had a young man drop by last night.” Harry snorted at that. Who could’ve missed that?!

“Well, that young man is our new transfer student from America. Everyone, please welcome Mr. Nico di Angelo!”

Nico’s POV

“…Everyone, please welcome Mr. Nico di Angelo!”

Well, that was my cue to enter.

I swung the great hall doors open and stalked up to the staff table amid a right hailstorm of stares. Damn, this room was huge! I hadn't had time last night to properly inspect it, but now that my life wasn’t in imminent danger, I had the luxury of noticing the architecture, as well as the fact that the ceiling seemed to be made out of stars.

“Now Mr. Di Angelo, have a seat, would you?” I obliged the headmaster and took my seat on a stool that definitely wasn’t made for those of my age or stature. A lady in a green robe stepped forward with what looked like a rather dusty old hat. She then placed this musty artifact on my head.

‘Ooh, a demigod! I haven’t seen one of your kind in quite some time!’

What in the hell? Where was this voice coming from?

‘Oh, don’t worry, they can’t hear us. So then! Let’s have a little peek at your memories now, shall we?’

A little what now?! This ancient thing wanted to peek into my mind?!

‘How rude! I will let you know I’m not that old. I also only need to see your memories to see which house suits you best.’

Ah, okay. That made sense, I guess. I tuned my mind to try and hide some of my darker memories. This poor hat was used to young kids, after all, it didn’t need to see that shit.

‘I can't sort you properly if you hide your memories.’ The hat chided me.

Ah, sorry, I guess. I undid my mental tension and allowed the memories of the wars to flood my senses. The dying screams of my friends rang out through my head as if on repeat. The horrors of the dismembered corpses and mutilated survivors. I felt the hat stiffen before it was jumped scared by my face-to-face with the lord of the pit.

The hat began to scream.

“GET ME OFF OF HIM! GET ME OFF!” McGonagall promptly followed. I watched intently as the hat mumbled out a small “G-Gryffindor.”

The hall was dead silent. I rose to my feet and walked calmly over to the table with red ties. From what I remembered of the headmaster’s earlier lecture this was the Gryffindor table. I took my set agreeably away from the rest of my peers at the end of the table. However, a group of three who appeared to be around my age rose and walked over after Dumbledore announced food was served and the tables filled with a variety of foods.

“Hello, my name’s Hermione Granger,” the only girl in the group introduced herself, hand out in front of her. I didn’t take it. She didn’t seem too miffed about this and took her seat across from me.

“And I’m Ron, Ron Weasley.” The ginger hadn’t taken the hint and also offered me his hand. I once again ignored it. He flushed and took his seat next to the girl. The third boy sat down next to me silently and just started filling his plate. He had green eyes and unruly black hair. Looked almost like Percy’s cousin.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence next to this stranger, I turned to him. “Do you not give out your name?”

He looked rather surprised by this and opened his mouth to speak before he was interrupted by the bushy-haired girl.

“You mean you don’t know who he is?!” She gasped, as if personally offended I didn't know the name of a complete stranger. I glared slightly at her.

“You’re right. I normally go around with an omniscient knowledge of everyone I meet.” I deadpanned. Her cheeks flushed softly as she retook the seat she’d abandoned in astonishment a moment before.

“But how can you not know him? He’s like super famous!” Ron said through a mouthful of food. Well, if that wasn’t just lovely. I gave the ginger my best deadpan.

“Look buddy, I just got here yesterday. I haven’t had time to research every famous witch and wizard.” I turned my attention back to the Percy-look-alike. “So, your name?”

“It’s Harry, Harry Potter. Just your average normal student.” He held out his hand too. He was promptly ignored. I decided I might as well eat something. I grabbed a small portion of both chicken and potatoes and tested out the first piece. Not horrible.

After a few moments of quiet eating, Ron turned his head up to me.

“Sho, dgi joo wsht cho bse insh Gryshenduer?" He asked. What?

“Ron!” Hermione admonished, “don’t talk with your mouth full!”

He paused and swallowed his food before posing his question again. “So, did you want to be in Gryffindor?”

“Well, considering I only found out about the houses this morning, I really didn’t have time to pick a favorite,” I admitted. Ron seemed surprised by this.

Just then, the food disappeared, being replaced by heaping piles of deserts. Damn, this place was weird. The three around me each grabbed some and shoveled that in too. I didn’t see anything worth eating so I remained abstinent. Hermione noticed this.

“Do you not like dessert?” she asked, taking another bite of her pudding.

“No, it's not that. I’m just not used to eating such rich food. I don’t want to have a stomach ache later.” I faked my best smile which seemed to appease her as she returned her attention to her plate.

After the tables were cleared of desserts, the three of them stood up.

“Here, follow me. I’ll show you to the dormitory.” Hermione offered with a smile. I went agreeably. It seemed that everywhere I looked someone else was looking at me. Great. Already a celebrity.

We made it to the dorms after stepping over a ledge behind a portrait. It seemed that the whole room was filled to the brim with people. I made my way over to an armchair whose occupant quickly scrambled out of it. Plopping myself down I surveyed the stares of those in my presence. Some of the older ones were pretending not to look at me while the first years were unabashedly staring. I sighed.

“Do you want something?” I asked. It came out a little colder than I’d intended if the shivers of the younger students were anything to go by.

“Don’t be so harsh, they’re only curious,” Hermione reprimanded. I turned my gaze onto her for a moment before another long-suffering sigh escaped me.

“Fine. If there’s something you want to know, ask away,” I punctuated my sentence with a sweep of my hands.

“Where are you from?” An older student from the corner asked. He seemed to be about 16-17.

“New York City,” I responded, causing whispers to break out among them.

“Then, why are you here?” A little boy of around 13 asked, face contorted in perplexion.

“I actually didn’t mean to come here.” That was an understatement.

“How did you do that thing?” A little girl peeped up. Her peers shushed her, anxiety woven into their actions.

“Which part?” Which thing was she talking about?

“The um, the thing where you, um, just, like, appeared?” She stumbled over her words. A ghost of a smile lit up my face.

“Ah, you folk call it ‘Umbraportation’,” A gasp went around the older students, I plowed on. “Where I’m from, we call it shadow travel, and it’s considered to be a great talent and quite coveted.” Another round of gasps from the elder students.

“Oh,” The little girl appeared satisfied with my answer. I stretched.

“All right. I’m tired. If you have more questions, they’ll have to wait till tomorrow. I’m going to bed.” I announced, standing up and plodding off towards the stairs labeled ‘boys’. The crowd parted for me, and I ascended.

Once I’d found the 5th-year dorms, I found the only bed that didn’t have a trunk next to it. It must’ve been mine. Nice. I kicked off my shoes and plopped fully clothed onto the covers.

Soft.

I closed my eyes and drifted into sleep.

-Fancy Line Break-

Percy Jackson’s POV

“Yes Chiron, I have reason to believe Nico was either kidnapped or forcibly removed.” I sighed and stared dejectedly at the table.

“What gave you that idea young Percy?” Chiron asked, settling down next to me.

“Well, I was in his cabin looking for my shield, and it was completely wrecked. Monster dust and blood all over the floor and all the furniture was tipped over or destroyed.” I relayed.

“And you have reason to believe that was caused by an outside source?” He asked, taking a sip from his tea.

“Yeah, this.” I held up the tattered green shirt. “Nico would never in a millennia wear something of this color. It’s definitely not his.”

“I see. I will call a meeting with the gods to discuss this. See if they know anything,” HE stood with a sigh and took one last sip of his tea.

“Thanks, Chiron,” I nodded my appreciation and left the big house. Dammit! This just plain sucked! Nico was missing, most likely kidnapped, we had no leads other than a darn T-shirt and to top it all off I still couldn’t find my shield! I steered myself towards the lake to try and calm my mind.

“Well aren’t you just a ray of sunshine,” Grover joked, coming up behind me. I turned my annoyed glare on him.

“Well Grover, if you just found out your cousin was most likely kidnapped would you be in a good mood?” I seethed. He bowed his head and trotted over.

“Oh, sorry Perce. I didn’t know someone was kidnapped,” He murmured.

“It’s fine. It’s not public knowledge yet. I only just told Chiron about Nico,” I sighed and sat on the beach. The waves slowly pushed up the sand on the shore. Grover took a seat next to me.

“Well, I’ll have the nature spirits help look for him.” Grover offered.

“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”

Where in Hades was Nico?!

End of Chapter 2

Chapter Text

Shadows

Chapter 3: A Student at Last

Nico’s POV

I woke up with a startle to a shout of; “Good Morning Di Angelo!” Damn, morning already? Ugh. I stretched out. My back gave a few very rewarding ‘pops’. I itched at my dirty clothes. I must've forgotten to take them off last night. Probably for the best as the supposed celebrity, Harry Potter himself yanked my curtains open.

“Hey, did you hear? Get up! I’ve got to take you to Diagon Alley!” He glared at me, clearly upset over losing his Sunday morning to take me shopping.

“I’m getting up, sheesh,” I grumbled, kicking my legs over the edge. Well, considering the only clothes I had were the ones on my back I couldn’t really get dressed. I pulled my combat boots on over my dirty socks. Hey, wouldn’t be the first time. Then, seeing as Harry was frantically trying to get dressed, I strolled over to a doorway that was revealed to be the entrance to the communal bathroom. Just great. I definitely wanted everyone here to see my gay ass naked. Just fabulous.

“C’mon! We’ve gotta go!” Harry barked from the other room. Gods he was irritating.

“I’m ready.” I returned from the bathroom and crossed my arms. “How are we getting there?”

“I don’t know!” Harry said, hastily tugging his shoes on. “We’ve just got to meet Headmaster Dumbledore,” He paused to look at the clock then paled. “In five minutes!”

“Well, after you then,” I dramatically bowed as he cussed yanking his second shoe on to dart out the door. I followed right on his heels as this stupid place confused the heck out of me.

After running across what seemed to be the entire castle, we made our way to a stone statue of a gargoyle.

“Peppermint Patties!” Harry gasped out, leaning against the wall to catch his breath. The statue moved aside revealing; an…escalator? Alright then. Harry got onto the moving set of stairs still panting from our light jog. We went up to a large oak door on which Harry knocked once and then entered without getting permission.

Dumbledore’s office was insanity personified. A myriad of small objects lined a shelf and all of them made the most obnoxious noises. There were also dozens of paintings of moving (Moving?!) people lining all the walls. The man himself sat behind his desk in god-awful fuchsia robes and a red hat. Gods, the Aphrodite campers would have a fashion heart attack.

“Ah hello my children,” Ew- “I see you’re punctual as ever.” Harry bowed his head blushing profusely. I didn’t. it wasn’t my fault we were late. “Well, no matter. Grab onto Fawkes’ tail and hold on tight!” The old man directed. Harry grabbed a hold of the tail of what appeared to be a Phoenix. What one was doing with this grimy old fart was beyond me. I followed the other boy’s lead and suddenly my world tipped upside down.

When I felt the ground beneath my feet again I promptly let go and grabbed onto the nearest wall to hold myself up.

“I am Never doing that again.” I groaned. Harry gave me a side-eye.

“How do you plan on getting back?” he reasoned. I stood myself back up.

“I got in once, didn’t I? I’ll be fine.” He looked like he wanted to argue so I cut him off. “So, where to first?”

-Fancy Line Break-

“Alright, all that’s left now is,” Harry checked the list again. “a wand. The best place for that is Ollivander’s.”

“Fabulous. Lead the way.” I followed after him wordlessly wondering who this ‘Ollivander’ was.

We arrived a few moments later, door jingled softly open. The shop appeared deserted.

“So uh, do I just grab one?” I asked, stepping in to glance around the rather cramped store.

“The wand chooses the Wizard!” an old man lunged out from behind a shelf. My hand instinctively went to the shadows ready to grab my sword at a moment's notice. Harry grinned at the old man. Oh, this must be Ollivander then. I put my hands back at my sides before someone noticed.

“So, you’re Ollivander then?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“Yes indeed! You must be the ‘Mister Di Angelo' the headmaster was telling me about!” He stepped closer. He had crazy eyes that were almost completely clear. He almost looked…blind.

“So. A wand?” I asked, taking a step back. This guy gave me the ‘ick’.

“Right! Let’s get you a wand, Mister Di Angelo!” Ollivander turned and grabbed a box seemingly at random from off the shelf. He handed me the box. I opened it up to reveal a stick inside. “Well, don’t just stand there! Go on, grab it!”

“Oh, right, sorry.” I picked up the stick (-Wand- I reminded myself). It was then immediately snatched from my hand, and another thrust at me. This strange occurrence continued with each unwanted stick -Wand- being unceremoniously tossed on the floor.

“Oh!” Ollivander suddenly grasped his forehead. “Why didn’t I think of that?! Stay right there!” He commanded before ducking away to the back of his shop. The sound of a loud ‘crash’ followed by some creative curse words followed. The old man then returned holding, yep you guessed it, another box.

“Here, try this one. Nearly cost me my life.” He opened the box to reveal a slightly off-white wand that reeked of dark energy. I reached out and picked it up. Warmth flowed from the wood heating up my entire hand and forearm. The room seemed to darken considerably. Holy Hera. This felt like holding my father’s helm.

“That is a very special wand you’ve got there, Mister Di Angelo. Made of Pomegranate wood with the heart made of a dementor’s cloak. 13 inches, completely unyielding. I think we can expect quite grand things from you.” Ollivander noted, taking a step back. This wand was completely wicked.

“I see. I’ll do my best to live up to those expectations.” I bowed. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Ollivander.”

“Of course! That’ll be 11 Galleons.” Ollivander turned to Harry as he said this, and the boy handed him the money from the pouch the headmaster had given us. Then he cheerily waved us out of his store.

“Alright, that’s everything on the list. Are you ready to go home?” Harry asked me.

“Actually, can we take a detour?” I turned and gestured to an alleyway nearby. Harry shook his head.

“That’s Knockturn Alley, we aren’t allowed in there.” He turned to walk off.

“Why not?” It didn’t look all that scary.

“Because it’s full of dark magic and dangerous people,” Harry replied sounding exasperated with me. Oh.

“That’s too bad.” I followed him as we walked back over to where Fawkes was waiting for us.

“Well, hold on.” Harry directed, reaching his own hand out to grab the bird’s tail.

“No thanks. I’ll get my own way back.” Harry was just about to argue with my statement, but the bird disappeared in a trail of smoke. Finally, someone who listens to me! I turned on my heel and made my way over to the entrance to Knockturn Alley. There weren’t very many people here, and the ones around were not paying me any attention. I slipped gracefully into the shadows and popped out of the dark corners of the stairs heading up to the headmaster’s office.

Once again at the top, I knocked politely at the door.

“Come in,” I entered at Dumbledore’s command. Harry was already here and looked equal parts scared and pissed.

“Hey there!” The corners of my mouth might have twitched at the other boy’s sad attempt at a glare.

“Ah, Mr. Di Angelo. You gave Mister Potter here quite the scare when you didn’t come along with Fawkes.” Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled again. Gods that was so freaking creepy. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it. The bird in question just gave a small noise and poised gracefully on its perch.

“Well, no use in worrying about it now is there?” I asked, leaning up against a free portion of the wall. One of few. The portraits around the room tittered with chatter.

“No, there’s not.” Dumbledore agreed, twinkle diminishing for a moment before coming back full force as he turned his gaze momentarily on Harry. “I take it you got everything on the list?”

“Yes Sir.” Harry acknowledged. Dumbledore nodded, not meeting Harry’s eyes. Strange.

“Good, good.” He turned his infuriatingly sparkly gaze on me. “Ah, and I have something for you my boy,” -Not that again- Dumbledore handed me a pair of thin-framed glasses. “These are magically enchanted to diminish your dyslexia.” Oh, that’d be helpful.

“So, they're… reading glasses?” I asked slowly, putting them on. It didn’t seem to affect my vision at all.

Dumbledore chuckled. “I do suppose you could call them that. Now, here is your course schedule Mr. Di Angelo, you two better head off to lunch!” We were thus dismissed from the headmaster’s office.

We headed towards the great hall, with me tucking my new glasses and schedule into my new book bag. All of my clothes and books were in my trunk which the nice man had shrunk for me and put in my pocket.

We made our way to the great hall and walked over to the same table as last night. I took my seat as far away from everyone as possible, and no one came over to change that. I said a small prayer to the gods for my food, and lo and behold a portion of it actually disappeared. Well, good to know I could still sacrifice my food. Although, I’d totally forgotten to do that last night. Oh well, one missed sacrifice wouldn’t hurt anything.

After nibbling around most of the items on my plate and discovering none of them good enough to commit to eating I left the great hall and wandered the castle. Damn, this place was huge! How was I supposed to find anything in this place if the dang stairs and hallways kept rearranging?!

“Hey, you there!” I stopped and turned to find the source of the call. It was a blonde, around my age with two rather overweight boys behind him who also appeared to be about the same grade as me.

“Uh, did you want something?” I asked. This guy gave me a bad vibe.

“You’re Nico di Angelo, aren’t you?” He asked, taking another step forward. The two behind him followed like well-trained dogs. My posture stiffened. This guy was definitely a schoolyard bully. And the two behind him must be his goons. I already wanted absolutely nothing to do with them.

“I’ve been called many things,” I hedged. I didn’t like this guy at all.

“I’m Draco Malfoy,” he held his hand out to shake. I ignored it. The way he’d said his name was as if he was someone important. Well, not in my book.

“Okay. If that’s all,” I turned to leave.

“You will soon learn Di Angelo that some wizards are better than others. You wouldn’t want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there.” His hand was still extended. I cocked my eyebrow at him.

“Yeah right. Look, thanks but no thanks. I’m plenty capable of deciding that for myself.” I started walking again.

“Be careful who you make your enemies Di Angelo!” He called out after me. Gods this kid was irritating. As if he was worthy to be called my enemy!

I looked down at the time. Ah, shoot! I had a meeting with McGonagall in 10 minutes, and I had no idea where she was! I resumed my search of the castle hoping to run into someone who could help me. Then I did, literally. I ran right into someone who was floating.

“Oh! Hello there,” The thing began before screeching to a halt. “My Lord! I am so terribly sorry! How can I assist today your Highness?” I looked the ghost up and down.

“What is your name, and why are you here?” I asked. Was Thanatos chained again? That would be a big problem. The amount of work I had to do last time was not fun.

“Oh, right sorry my Lord. I am Sir. Nicholas De Mimsy, and when I met my unfortunate demise, I left my imprint here so I’m not able to pass on into the underworld.” The ghost explained. Ah, thank gods! Not a Thanatos problem then. But that did mean that wizards defied all laws of death. Great. Just great.

“I see. As long as you aren’t causing problems here, I have no reason to send you there.” I nodded, and he let out what I assumed to be a sigh of relief. “Now, can you take me to McGonagall’s office?”

“Of course, my Lord!” he seemed enthusiastic at being able to help.

“Ah, one more thing. Don’t call me ‘Lord’ it'll tip off the other students and I’m trying to keep my identity under wraps.” I instructed as we began our trek to my head-of-house’s office.

“Yes, my l- Nico.” We took way too many turns that I was never going to remember before we stopped in front of a door with a plaque.

“Here we are young master, McGonagall’s office.” Well, I suppose that was better than ‘lord’.

“Thank you, Sir Nick, that will be all for now,” McGonagall announced, stepping from around the corner. Ah good, I wasn’t late. She opened her door and gestured me inside. “Mr. Di Angelo, if you would,” I walked through, and she followed.

After we both took our respective seats, her behind her desk, and me in the rather comfortable armchair across, the witch steepled her hands on her desk.

“Mr. Di Angelo, you were sorted into Gryffindor. As such, I expect you to try your hardest in all your classes. I and the other teachers have been made aware of your lack of magical upbringing. This is something we hope to remedy. Every Saturday, excluding Hogsmeade weekends, you will have remedial classes with all your professors. They will continue until you are on par with your year-mates. Understood?” She pushed her glasses a little higher on her nose.

“Ah, yes Professor. Although, I do have a question if I may.” I stated.

“What is it?” She asked, sitting back in her chair a little, thus relaxing her posture.

“Well, I was wondering, is it strictly necessary for me to do divination? I know I wasn’t here in the third year when extra courses were selected, but I really don’t think divination is the class for me. I am happy to attend care of magical creatures and ancient runes; both of those sound delightful. But divination is a different story.” I’d had enough of prophecies in my lifetime thanks.

“I see,” McGonagall seemed to hunch under a heavy burden. “I wish I could help you out Mr. Di Angelo, however, with your remedial lessons, the only options available to you were these three, and you must take three. I’m sorry. Astronomy, and Muggle studies both have Saturday meetings that are required for the classes.” Damn.

“I see. Thank you for your assistance. I will do my best in all my classes.” I stood to leave.

McGonagall recentered my attention by clearing her throat. “Before you go, may I ask; what did you do to the sorting hat?”

“Ah, yes.” I smiled sadly at her over my shoulder. “I merely gave it what it wanted; my memories. Good day, professor.” I left her with that tidbit of knowledge.

End of Chapter 3

Chapter Text

Shadows

Chapter 4: Finally; Classes!

Nico’s POV

I had eventually made it back to the dorms after my meeting with McGonagall, but there was no hope of me finding my way again the next day. Although, my long day meant I fell asleep easily without any problems.

The same could not be said for my awakening.

“Morning! Get up! We’re already late for breakfast!” Someone yelled, yanking my curtains open. I blearily opened my eyes to see the horrified expressions of my dorm mates.

“It’s too early for this shit,” I whined, trying to pull my covers back up and go back to sleep.

“What the bloody hell happened to you, mate?!” Ron asked, gesturing wildly in my general direction. I cracked my eyes open again to look at what he was gesturing to. Oh. Oh shit. I wasn’t wearing a shirt. I pulled my blankets up as quickly as possible.

“What the hell guys?! Do you not know what privacy is?!” I was so going to get ousted to the teachers. Then I’d have to go back to the nurse. Gods dammit! My outburst made them all look away guiltily. I took that moment to secure my curtains back around my bed but the damage was done. I could hear them whispering about my scars. Well, I guess they’d have found out eventually. Can’t exactly share a room with 5 other guys and expect them to never see me without a shirt on.

Well, here went nothing. I pulled my curtains open again. The conversations all stopped. I needed to change clothes. Walking over to my trunk which was at the foot of my bed felt like a mile with how much they all stared.

“Did you need something?” I glared, opening up my trunk to grab out my school robes.

“What happened to you?” One of them, Seamus I think, asked. I sighed and finished grabbing all of my attire.

“You saw the monsters I fought in my entrance, right?” I asked. At their hesitant nods, I continued. “That was not the first time, nor will it be the last. Sometimes they get a lucky hit. Sometimes I'm careless. Shit happens. Okay?” I shrugged my clean shirt on. They all went about their own business. Once all five had left the room I changed my underwear and pants. The clock read 8:13. Breakfast was over in 32 minutes. The first class was at nine. That meant I had about 40 minutes to find the transfiguration classroom.

Grabbing my bookbag, and shoving my schedule, glasses, and all the books I'd need for today in it along with my wand and pocket knife in it I was ready.

Lucky for me, I once again ran into Sir. Nick who was more than happy to show me to the classroom. I made it there before anyone else and was already seated when McGonagall entered. Oh, so she taught transfiguration then. She sent me a look that had far too many emotions for me to decipher and took her seat at the head of the class.

One by one my classmates filed into the room with the trio I’d first met coming in not a minute early.

“Alright class. Today we will be reviewing the basics of transfiguration, and you will prove your aptitude by turning these forks, into glasses.” She levitated each of us a fork. Except for me. Must be because I’m so far behind.

While everyone else was struggling and turning their forks into glasses, McGonagall approached my desk.

“Mr. Di Angelo. Here,” She handed me a book. “I want you to read the first 5 chapters by Saturday. Be prepared to cast the first spell in your class with me.”

“Thank you, Professor.” I nodded and set to reading.

After the dual period was over, I reached into my bag to see what I had next. I retrieved my schedule, and to my absolute delight, I had a free period next. Just as I was about to leave, McGonagall called on me.

“Mr. Di Angelo, stay a moment.” She instructed, not even looking up from her desk. Damn it.

“What did you need professor?” I asked, once all the other students had left. She locked me into her piercing gaze.

“Why weren’t you at breakfast this morning?” Ah, Hades- My classmates had ratted me out, hadn’t they?

“I, uh, wasn’t hungry?” It came out sounding more like a question than an answer. This did not convince her in the slightest.

“I expect you at mealtimes, is that understood?” She instructed. At my nod, she continued. “Now you may go. Don’t forget to read those chapters.” I hurried away and promptly got lost. Damn, this castle for being so inordinately huge!

I wandered around aimlessly for quite some time, and I most definitely missed lunch. Welp, McGonagall was so going to have my ass for that. Oh well, nothing I could do about it now.

According to my schedule, my next class was ‘Charms’. Where the hell the classroom was located, was anyone’s guess. I saw a group of students who appeared to be about my age.

“Excuse me!” I ran over to them. The four of them gracefully stopped for me. “Hi, I um, I’m looking for the Charms classroom?” I asked. The girl immediately to my right smiled gently at me.

“Ah, you’re Di Angelo, aren’t you?” At my nod, she continued. “You’re in luck! Gryffindor’s have charms with us Ravenclaws. Come along, we’re headed there now.” I followed the nice group of students with blue ties and listened in on their conversation. They were having quite a riveting discussion on what the best method of murder would be.

“No, cause if you stab someone, then the murder weapon is more easily identifiable!” The only male in the group argued angrily. I piped up

“Not if you stab them with an icicle.” The four of them turned to stare at me. “See, it leaves a wound that is nigh impossible to heal from, and also just melts so no fingerprints.” I tried to explain. The boy nodded.

“Now that would be a good weapon. Huh. You should’ve been in Ravenclaw! We’d have the best talks!” The girl who had originally talked to me announced. I smiled slightly. These people were quite nice to hang around.

“I mean, we can still have talks, we just have to do them in the library. Oh, by the way, where is the library?” I asked, right as we reached the Charms classroom and entered it. I took my seat next to the group, even though it seemed the rest of the room was split by house.

“The library is on the ground floor. I’ll show you it after, I’ve got a free period.” The second girl smiled. I nodded my thanks just as a rather short man climbed a stack of books and began to teach.

The charms lesson was engaging and had the potential to be one of my favorites; had I been allowed to participate. The professor (‘Flitwick’ one of my new friends had informed me) was quite nice to listen to, and unfortunately had ordered me to watch but not try and replicate anything that happened. This sucked! My damn ADHD brain couldn’t wait till I had the chance to try out the spells.

I mean we were learning a color-changing spell! That sounded so freaking cool!

After my sad observance on spells that I wasn’t allowed to use was finally over, the nice girl I’d met, Lisa, her name was, showed me the way to the library where she took her leave to go research some obscure topic. Well, might as well make full use of those glasses Dumbledore gave me. I had an hour before History, that should be plenty of time.

I popped on my ‘reading glasses’ and got to work. I skimmed over titles at random hoping to find some evidence somewhere. It didn’t seem like this was quite the right section as I passed yet another book about trolls.

I looked through book titles for another solid 15 minutes before a tome caught my eye. ‘Human-Like; A Guide to Sentient Magical Beings’. Perfect. I picked up this book a few from around it. Taking my new content over to a comfy-looking armchair I settled in for what would be a good study session.

I was wrong.

“Ah, what do we have here?” I looked up. In hindsight, that was probably a bad idea. That blond boy from the night before was standing there. Great.

“You’re blocking the light,” I stated, turning my eyes back down toward the text I was pouring over. This particular section didn’t exactly have what I was looking for. I heard a scoff from above me.

“You know Di Angelo,” The way he said my name sounded like a curse word. “You ought to be more respectful to your peers.” His sneer was so thick. Gods I really wanted to punch this kid. No, keep it together. It wouldn’t do to punch a kid on the first day of classes. I sighed and quickly memorized my page number before picking up the other three books from the floor and standing.

“I see. Thanks for the advice. I’d best be off now. Don’t want to be late to History now,” I sidestepped him and his goons to go check out the books with Madame Pince. After leaving the library I checked my pocket watch. It was only 2:37. Damn. I had almost half an hour before I had to be in history. Well, it actually might be a good thing. Who knows how long getting to the classroom would take?

-Fancy Line Break-

Ancient Runes had been the last class of the day. It was pretty neat and the teacher had actually let me do something so that was nice. I followed Hermione back from it because otherwise, I would never have found the darn dorms again. This stupid castle was just way too big.

“We have about an hour till dinner,” Hermione informed as we walked back. I nodded.

“I see. Then I can use that time to study my Transfiguration.” I muttered, mostly to myself. I could also use that time to finish reading the book I’d been reading when Malfoy interrupted me. I found an empty armchair in the corner of the common room and settled in to finish reading.

An hour or so later, Hermione came over and announced they were going to dinner if I wanted to tag along. I wasn’t really hungry even after not eating all day, but I agreed if only to appease McGonagall.

I followed along and took my usual seat at the very end of the table. However, this time the ‘golden trio’ came to sit with me. Ugh.

“Hey, Hermione!” Ron greeted, plopping down across from her and me. Harry took his seat much quieter next to the ginger. The table filled with food then, pausing all conversations as everyone took a portion for themselves. I should at least eat something or else people will suspect something’s wrong. I took myself a small portion of what looked like shepherd's pie. Hermione frowned at my portion.

“Nico, you really should eat more,” she mothered. I cast a glance at her.

“Hermione,” I paused. How to phrase this? “I know you mean well, but it’s in everyone’s best interest if you keep your nose out of my business.” Well, that came out a little meaner than I meant it to. With a sigh, I relaxed the tension in my shoulders. I needed to get in some training. The lack of physical activity was driving me mad.

“Why weren’t you at lunch today?” Ron asked with a harsh glare. Well, harsh to a normal 15-year-old. He looked like a kicked puppy to me.

“Well, you see, I got completely and utterly lost. By the time I’d found my way, it was already past lunch and time for charms.” It wasn’t a lie. I was lost at the time of lunch. I just omitted the part about me not actually wanting to be there.

“Nico, you should’ve asked someone for directions.” Hermione scolded. Gods she got on my nerves! I turned to face to nosey witch.

“Listen, just drop it. What happened happened, so drop it.” My usually tight grasp on my control slipped a bit and some of my aura (or I guess these wizard folk would call it ‘magical power’) slipped out. Her eyes widened. Schist.

I stood. “I’m full,” I announced like I’d eaten even a single bite. Before they could protest, I turned and left the great hall. Great. Just great. I needed to get my shit together! I needed to recoup my strength, and then I was going back! No more of this silly wand waving, no more trying to fit in with these normal boring kids who’d never seen war. I was going home!

‘And where is home?’ a small voice asked. Shut up me! Home was back at camp! But, was that really my home? I’d never really felt at home there. Ah, gods dammit! I’d been attacked there for Hera’s sake!

I sighed and leaned against the nearest wall. This was stupid. I shouldn’t stay here. It's not like they’d track me down to come find me back in America. I should just leave now.

But did I really want to?

This place, Hogwarts, was cozy. Comforting even. Did I really want to leave this newfound peace so soon?

 I didn’t have an answer.

End of Chapter 4

Chapter Text

Shadows

Chapter 5: A New Day

Nico’s POV

I’d eventually found Gryffindor Tower again and by some stroke of luck one of the boys from my dorm (Neville, his name was, I think) was outside going in, and he was all too happy to let me in too.

I spent the rest of the evening thankfully uninterrupted and I could finish my book. Not quite the information I was searching for. The next book seemed promising. I mean, with a title like; ‘Intelligent beings and their horrors’ it was bound to be a good book.

I went up to bed earlier than I usually did, and spent my night plagued by lovely nightmares. How fun.

The next morning by some wonderful hand, I was the first to wake. It meant I could take a shower in peace without the constant fear of someone walking in on me and sending me up to the nurse’s office for my many injuries. Honestly, it was a miracle the woman had let me out of there. She must not have done her job thoroughly or she’d have noticed all my clear signs of malnutrition and mental health issues. I mean, if the scars littering my body, and the clear outline of my ribs were anything to go off of.

Taking what was probably the fastest shower known to mankind I toweled off and put on my clothes for the day. A glance at the clock put the time at only 6:58. Damn. I had a whole hour before breakfast. I grabbed my bookbag with all my things and set out to the common room making sure to shut the door as quietly as possible.

I spent the next half hour completely alone in the common room where I could read peacefully in the corner chair.

At about 7:30 people started coming downstairs. Thankfully none of them seemed to notice me. Or maybe they just didn’t care enough to come over and bother me.

The first person to come downstairs from my dorm was the same boy as the night before. Neville saw me and came over.

“Uh, h-hi,” he stuttered and stopped face lit up red. I memorized my page number and shut my book.

“Can I help you with something?” I asked in my nicest voice.

“Ah, no! No. I just, uh, I was um, going to, going down to breakfast, and I um, I just,” he kept tripping over his words, as he got more and more embarrassed. I smiled softly.

“Were you inviting me to go down to breakfast with you?” I asked. He nodded vigorously, an appeased smile on his face.

“Yeah, that, that’s what I was trying to say…” he trailed off, a hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck as he looked away. I stood, placing my book in my bag.

“Sounds good then! I accept your offer. Lead the way!” he nodded at my words and we left the tower together. It was nice having him walk me to breakfast because I knew for a fact that I would never have found it alone. He even came and sat next to me! How sweet.

“So, Herbology is first, right?” I asked, taking a slice of bread for breakfast. Neville nodded while piling eggs on his plate.

“Yup! Herbology is my favorite class! I think we’re learning about Fanged Geraniums today!” Neville gushed. It seems his shyness was forgotten in his excitement over his favorite subject. Adorable really.

“I see. Well, maybe you’d be my partner. Plants don’t really like all that much. I guess you could say I have a ‘black thumb’ of sorts.” That was an understatement. The Demeter cabin had banned me from their gardens because all the plants I touched died.

Neville lit up at my request. “I’d love to help you out! I’ll help you make sure that the fangs don’t penetrate, and that the…” he kept talking I mostly tuned him out, all the words not making much sense to me anyway.

A “Mr. Di Angelo,” startled me. I turned to see Professor McGonagall behind me. Ah schist, what did I do now? Neville stopped his detailed explanation of Puffapods, seeming to clam up around her.

“Ah, yes Professor?” I asked, placing the second half of my toast back on my plate.

“I distinctly remember telling you to attend all meal times, yet your presence was absent from lunch yesterday. Kindly explain.” Oh, she was pissed.

“Well, you see, I actually go so lost that I couldn’t have gotten to lunch even if I’d have found my way. I only made it to charms because I somehow ended up near the Ravenclaw dorms and a kind group of them let me tag along to class.” As I explained her anger slowly drained away.

“I see. I will excuse you this time, but you are far too skinny to be skipping meals. Please do not repeat this. Understood?” She reprimanded.

“I won't.” I nodded. She accepted my answer and turned away to go to the staff table.

“Professor McGonagall is scary,” Neville whispered beside me with a small shiver. I let out a small chuckle.

“Yeah. Not someone whose bad side you want to be on.” I took one last bite of toast before deciding that was plenty of food, and turning away to scan the hall. It seemed that the students came to breakfast in waves, with more coming in towards the middle. Probably because that’s when mail was delivered, with a horde of owls swooping in all at once. Well, that was terrifying.

I pulled my schedule from my bag and popped my glasses on. It looked like I had Herbology first then Care of Magical Creatures. Then was a free period before lunch. Not too bad of a morning. After lunch, there was some class called ‘Potions’. Did that mean like actual fantasy video game-esque potions?

“Hey, Neville, what’s potions class?” I asked, turning back to the boy. He went partly white in the face.

“It’s uh, it’s a class where you, um, you m- make potions. P-professor Snape teaches it.” He managed to stammer out. Huh. Guess he really didn’t like potions class.

“I see. Sounds interesting. I’ve never made a potion before.” I muttered, placing my schedule and glasses back in my bag, and standing up. Neville shoved the last bit of his eggs in his mouth and stood with me.

“I’ll show you to the greenhouses then. Follow me!”

-Fancy Line Break-

Herbology had been interesting, to say the least. I’d only touched one of the plants and when it actively withered in front of the professor, she had put me in the back of the class under strict orders not to touch another thing. Neville looked slightly saddened by this, but it didn’t really bother me. She gave me my second piece of homework which was a 6-inch essay on Fanged Geraniums and the dangers they posed. Dang. I had to do school here huh?

After class, Neville once again volunteered to be my guide to my next class. We walked around the greenhouses over to a set of what seemed to be picnic tables. Neville took a seat at one, and I sat next to him. Over the next few minutes, everyone filtered into the available seats. I noticed with disappointment that we seemed to have this class with the Slytherins. Great, that meant; yep. The git Malfoy took a seat at the table next to us. Great. Just fabulous.

I just wanted my first week to go smoothly. Honestly, was that too much to ask?

The ‘golden trio’ sat down at our table, exchanging greetings with Neville, and slightly skeptical looks at me. Hermione piped up and said hello on their behalf. I nodded back to her, and then we ignored each other like proper teenagers.

Not too long afterward the professor showed up. He was an older gentleman who appeared to be missing a few of his limbs. I heard the golden trio muttering something about some guy named ‘Hagrid’ or something. I didn’t care enough to eavesdrop.

Then, just my freaking luck, we got partnered up into teams. And, since my table had 5 people, I got put with the table next to me. Which meant, yep, I was paired up with Malfoy. Great.

“So, Di Angelo,” Malfoy spat my name like it personally offended him. I sighed. I did not have the patience for this shit.

“What do you want asshole?” I asked, trying hard to actually pay attention to the instructions Professor Kettleburn was giving out.

He reeled back. “How-! How dare you insult me!” Oh, he was mad.

“Look, I’m actually trying to work here,” I glared at him. He was making this class way harder than needed. He seethed and turned away in clear indignation. Great. Just freaking fantastic.

Damn, Malfoy and his wounded pride. We were put in pairs so one of us could hold it while the other sketched. I grabbed the stupid thing around its neck and held it not so gently, sketching as fast as I could.

Then, because I’m petty, I let it go.

“Oh dear, it seems the Bowtruckle has escaped. Oh dear, Oh golly. It seems you won’t be able to draw it.” I fake lamented, drawing the blond’s attention. He seemed to panic for a moment at noticing we no longer had our Bowtruckle before turning his fury on me.

“Hey! You have to go catch it!” He demanded.

“Nope!” I smirked, waving my sketch. “I’m already done. Better get to hunting!” I smirked as he flushed, and hurried up to go find the stupid little creature that was already booking it for the forbidden forest. I got an amusing show as he struggled to get the stupid little thing.

“Why’d Malfoy run off like that?” Hermione asked, peeking her head over. Gods, nosy as ever I see.

“He seems to have lost something he needs,” I muttered. She looked at my table and put 2 and 2 together.

“Did your Bowtruckle escape?” Her tone was so freaking condescending. Gods this girl irritated me!

“You could say that. It seems negligence on the part of our aristocratic friend has resulted in this unfortunate turn of events. How sad.” My face did not match my words. It’s probably what gave me away.

“You let your Bowtruckle go?! You’re going to get in trouble!” She threatened. I shook my head, smirk widening.

“Plausible deniability.”

Then, my fun game of watching Malfoy struggle ended in disappointment as he returned triumphant to the table, Bowtruckle in tow.

“I see you managed to intercept the runaway,” I said conversationally as if I wasn’t the reason he’d just made a fool of himself for the last 5 minutes. He merely huffed and seated himself gracefully down.

“I am going to draw it now. No more funny business.” He glared. It was a sad glare really. Some of the Aphrodite campers had better glares than his.

Only after an intense moment of him trying to hold the squirming creature in one hand did the reason we were put in pairs finally dawn on him. Of course, his pride was already too wounded for him to even think about asking me for help, so he just struggled.

Then it bit him and got away.

“You know Malfoy, your partner was supposed to hold it for you while you drew, and then switch roles. So sad that you weren’t a good partner. I might have helped you.” My words were met with another sad glare. “Run along now, the Bowtruckle isn’t going to come back by itself.”

-Fancy Line Break-

We got to the Potions classroom with about 5 minutes to spare. Walking around with Neville was so much nicer than trying to navigate this hell by myself. We seated ourselves in the back.

“Are, are you sure you want me as a partner?” Neville asked, fingers twitching and grabbing onto each other. I smiled softly.

“I’m sure I want you as a friend,” I responded. His whole face lit up in the most breathtaking smile. Which was promptly shattered by the emergence of our teacher. It was a rather tall, greasy-haired man whose glare silenced the entire classroom in seconds. Damn, what a nice skill for a teacher to have.

He got to the front of the room and turned his gaze upon each student in the class, his eyes bored into mine. I stared back. He moved on first.

“Well, it seems we have a new student today.” His voice was a grating drawl. Great. He continued a rather long monologue about how he was so glad he wouldn’t have to deal with most of us next year and then told us to brew the potion he put up on the whiteboard. I pulled out my reading glasses and turned my attention back to the board. This didn’t seem so hard. Kind of like cooking really.

“Alright Neville. This seems like it shouldn’t be too hard. Let’s double-check every single line of potion before we progress. That should keep us from making a mistake.” I read over the ingredients again before we got to work. Neville and I seemed to make a pretty good team. He was excellent at the preparation portion of the potion. It just seemed that whenever he went to add anything to the cauldron or stir it, he just got a case of intense nerves and somehow managed to mess up. I took over that part and gave him instructions on how to help.

After about half an hour, only our potion and Hermione’s were giving off the correct silver smoke. Some others had a dark grey but our two were the only ones with a slight metallic shimmer to it. Harry’s potion was giving off green smoke.

“Potter, what is this?” Professor Snape asked the boy, standing far too close for what would be considered appropriate.

“My potion Sir,” Harry replied, visibly leaning away from the man.

“Tell me, Potter, can you read?” He sneered. Harry’s eyes frantically found the board and scanned it before his eyes went wide.

“I forgot the syrup of Hellborne Sir.” Harry looked dejected; Snape looked victorious.

“Then this slush is utterly useless.” He waved his wand, and the potion vanished. My brain wondered where it went. Did it just disappear? Did it get sent somewhere? Was it just like being transported to the trash? I missed the next thing Snape said, but suddenly the classroom was alive with motion.

“Uh, hey Neville. What did Snape just say?” My question earned me a weird look.

“He said to put a portion of your potion in a bottle, label it, and put it on his desk.” He smiled and scooped some of the potion into his bottle. “Thanks so much by the way, I’d never have figured this out by myself.” I nodded, and put some of the potion in my own bottle, and handed it up at the front with the other kids.

“Is this some kind of joke Di Angelo?” Snape questioned, glaring harshly at me. What?

“No?” My statement sounded a lot more like a question. Snape turned my bottle back around to face me. I looked at it trying to figure out why he was disapproved. Oh, oh.

“Ah, sorry professor. I usually sign my name in Greek.” I took my bottle back signing my name in English underneath. “I really didn’t mean to, apologies again.” I handed him back the bottle and wove my way out of the crowd of students. I made it back to Neville and he fell into step with me.

“What did you do?” He asked the moment we were out of earshot of the other students. I sighed and leaned against the wall for a moment.

“Nothing. I just accidentally signed my name in Greek, since it’s the language that comes naturally to me.” I half lied. Eh, it was fine. Neville nodded and smiled.

“Well, off to Divination!”

End of Chapter 5

Chapter Text

Shadows

Chapter 6: Interlude

Percy’s POV

“What do you mean?! Why shouldn’t I go to the Underworld to tell Hades?!”

Chiron sighed, and his age showed. “Because, Percy, this is not good news. We can’t rule out the possibility that he’ll kill the messenger, and we can’t lose you.” Dammit! He made a good point. Damn it all!

“Fine,” I retook my seat. “What are we going to do about Hades then?”

A rumble rocked the room. “I would very much like to know,” I startled, turning my head and uncapping riptide prepared for the worst. Hades stood glaring at me. I must’ve sighed with relief, as I dipped my head.

“Oh, it’s you, Lord Hades. Say, what brings you here Uncle?” I replaced the cap on my sword, putting riptide back in my pocket. Hades sighed, running a large hand down his face in a sparse show of obvious fatigue.

“I tried to IM my son, but when he didn’t answer I came here to speak with him.” Hades crossed his arms. Ah, schist. ‘Father,’ I mentally prayed ‘Please don’t let him turn me into a grease spot!’

I turned back to the lord of the dead, face set in stone.

“We are actually gathered here on that particular issue. You see, a few nights ago Nico disappeared from camp without a trace. Usually, when he goes off on his exploits, he returns within 48 hours. However,” I paused to throw the bloody green shirt on the table. “I found this in your cabin. It certainly doesn’t belong to Nico so we’re here trying to figure things out.”

Hades snatched the shirt up, anger flashing dangerously in his eyes. “Pray tell, what were you doing in my cabin?” Ah, schist-

“Ah, actually I was in there a few nights ago and lost my shield. I was just peeking in to see if I’d left it in there. Then, when I saw the place, I knew something was wrong.” I tried my best to explain, hoping beyond hope that he wouldn’t smite me where I stood. Hades sighed again and set the shirt down.

“I see. I want my son found. If he is not returned by the Winter Solstice there will be hell to pay!” The god then disappeared in a whirl of darkness. Great. I returned to my seat and surveyed the other campers there. Rachel and Annabeth sat on my left and right respectively. Each of the head campers of the cabins also sat seated around the table. Chiron was in his wheelchair across from me and looked quite sober. Mr. D was absent.

“Well, it seems we have a quest on our hands,” I announced grimly. Gods dammit!

“True,” Rachel intoned, drawing the group's attention. “If you want, I can see if I have a prophecy for you.” She offered. The rest of the head councilors nodded grimly.

“That is the next course of action. Well then, let’s see.” Chiron nodded. Annabeth and I both stood so we could let Rachel some more room at the head of the table to work. She took a seat on a stool and closed her eyes.

“Alright, here goes nothing,” I muttered. Standing up taller I posed my question. “Where is my cousin Nico di Angelo?”

Rachel’s eyes turned green, and her mouth started to let out smoke before that always haunting voice of the prophet filled the room.

‘To the British school of wizards, you must go,

Find the son of darkness at his new home

Beware the foes that lie therein

With hunter's help, you might win

Bonds stronger than the test of time

Bind him to what you may find.’

She then collapsed with Annabeth and I rushing forward to keep her from falling all the way to the floor. When she’d regained her senses, we all retook our seats and repeated the prophecy for her benefit.

“Well, it seems we might need to contact Lady Artemis.” She took another sip of water. The room filled with soft words of agreement.

“Well, it seems we need to start organizing a questing party.”

-Fancy Line Break-

Dumbledore’s POV

“Ah, thank you for coming McGonagall,” He smiled up at the witch who to her credit did not glare at him despite the abrupt summons.

“Why did you summon me, Headmaster?” She asked. Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled as infuriatingly as ever.

“I was just wondering how young Mr. Di Angelo was doing in his classes. Is he adjusting well?” he steepled his fingers and smiled. McGonagall sighed and took an uninvited seat on the armchair across the desk.

“He is doing exceptionally well. If you hadn’t told me about his lack of magical upbringing, I’m not sure we’d have known it from how quickly he learns. He seems to fit in well with his classmates. The only problem I’ve had with him, well it isn’t even really a problem in the frankest sense,” McGonagall stopped for a moment, seeming to reorganize her thoughts. “He seems to get lost around the castle easily, though I shouldn’t be surprised. He is quite like a first-year in that regard. He also seems inappropriately thin. I admit, I’m worried about his health.”

“I see,” Dumbledore sighed. He’d thought about as much. It would interfere with his plans if this boy grew too smart, or if the teachers got too attached. “Well, I assure you that he was thoroughly checked out by Madam Pomfrey and is in good health.” Well, that might have been a slight alteration of the truth. Madam Pomfrey had only checked him for signs of magical exhaustion. McGonagall nodded fears clearly appeased.

“I see then. Well, I must be off headmaster. I have papers to grade.” She stood.

“Ah, sorry to have kept you. Thank you, Minerva,” Dumbledore watched her leave his office and sank into deep thought.

This Nico di Angelo could pose a huge threat to his plans. He’d have to keep a close eye on him.

“Ah, Fawkes. Things never do seem to go according to plan, do they?”

-Fancy Line Break-

Nico’s POV

The next class of the day was divination which was in BFE for no good reason. Thankfully, this class period was all theory and no actual work so I didn’t have to participate in any bullshit. Then was a break before history, both of which passed in a blur. Before I knew it the last bell rang, signaling an hour's break before dinner.

“So, Neville, think you could help me find the library?” I asked, turning to my new friend. He’d been my guide all day and quite frankly it was fantastic not having to blindly wander the halls. He perked up.

“Sure thing! It’s this way!”

We made our way quickly to the library where I returned the first two of the four books I’d checked out and headed back to the section to see if there were more on the subject. Neville took his seat at a table and pulled his Herbology textbook from his bag setting to work on the paper we were assigned. I sighed, as no new books were discovered.

“Alright if I join you?” I asked, pointing to the chair next to him. Neville smiled and nodded.

“Sure! Feel free to ask about it too!” He turned his eyes back to his own paper as I took my seat. Welp, guess I might as well do the homework too.

After our study session and then a light -on my part- dinner. We made our way back to the boy’s dorms. I threw my bookbag on the floor and slumped onto my bed. Gods, this had been a long day. Neville stood fidgeting after placing his own bag down on his bed. I tilted my head.

“Did you want something?” I asked.

“Oh!” He half jumped at my inquiry. “I, um, I was wondering if you’d like to talk?”

“Sure, come here. Have a seat.” I gestured broadly to my bed, scooting myself over to make room for him. He sat down tersely, and with a rigid back.

“So, Neville. How was your day?” I asked, leaning myself back onto my pillows.

“My day was alright, good, actually. What about you?” he asked. The door opened letting all of the other boys into the room.

“My day was interesting honestly. You know how I got paired with that git Malfoy for Care of Magical Creatures right?” At his nod, I continued, “Well, he wasn’t paying attention and our Bowtruckle just so happened to ‘escape’ before he could draw it.” Neville snickered.

“You let your Bowtruckle escape?” He chuckled. I faked being astonished.

“What! Me? No! I would never!” I did my best aghast tone of voice. His chuckles evolved into full-blown laughter.

“You really are funny Nico, you know that?” he wiped a small tear from the corner of his eyes. My eyes tightened as I noticed the silence.

“Yeah, although the rest of our peers seem to think this is any of their business,” I stated, loudly enough that a few people coughed. The activity in the dorm picked back up.

“So, your favorite class is Herbology right?” he had seemed to be quite knowledgeable on that subject. Neville’s eyes lit up.

“Yeah! I want to get my apprenticeship in it! What about you mate?” He asked. I snickered. “What?”

“Sorry, it’s just you said ‘mate’. Back in America, we use ‘dude’ or ‘bro’. Mate just sounded like you were calling me a pirate or something.” I tried to explain. Neville nodded sagely.

“I get it, bro.” He intoned. I busted out laughing. Oh gods- that was awful! I reeled myself back into the absolute silence in the room. All my dorm mates were staring at me.

“What?” I asked. What was going on?

“You laughed,” Neville tried to explain. I chuckled again.

“I have been known to do that on occasion.” I intoned. The others looked away, cheeks red resuming whatever they’d previously been doing.

“But why did you laugh? Did I do something funny?” Neville asked, a frown marring his face.

“Ah, no. It’s just because you said ‘bro’ and it sounded quite strange in your rather British accent. It was just funny to me is all.” He nodded in understanding. I smiled, “Well goodnight, mate!” I gave a wink. He giggled a bit before saying his own goodnight, leaving my bed to go back to his across the room. I pulled my curtains closed, and pulled off my school robes. I’d sleep in my other clothes though. Didn’t need the others to get a free glimpse of me without my shirt on again.

Well, time to try and sleep without any nightmares!

Yeah, as if that was going to happen.

End of Chapter 6

Chapter Text

Shadows

Chapter 7: A Mistake

Nico’s POV

It had happened. I knew it would, but still. This was bad

I was so going to get it now.

Shit.

Honestly, I should have seen this coming. School life had been treating me well, for my life some would say too well. I realistically should’ve expected this. After going almost 48 hours without incident it was ludicrous to even think I’d keep my peace for longer.

And, of course, it had to happen in Thursday’s Divination class. Gods dammit. This was why I didn’t want to take this stupid class.

It had started out fine, Neville walking beside me back to BFE to go up the ladder to the trapdoor. We were first in class and took our seats in the back.

“Hello dears, I saw you coming.” The slightly cooky professor announced, appearing from who knew where in this awful smoke-filled room. She was undoubtedly nothing like our seer; Rachel. If I had to guess, she’d either made some really good predictions or one half-assed prophecy that somehow came real and now was recognized as the pinnacle of achievement. She was a nutcase.

Slowly the others entered the room filling in where there was space and taking seats on fluffy poof stools that were somehow incredibly uncomfortable despite looking like clouds.

Harry and Ron decided for some reason unknown to man, to come and sit at Neville and I’s table. Before I had a chance to argue or make a passive-aggressive statement Professor Trelawny spoke up again.

“Welcome, welcome.” She tittered, spreading her arms wide not unlike a certain ‘grandfather figure’ I despised. “I see all of you have made your safe returns. I had divined as much. Today, we will be interpreting our dreams. Everyone pair up with those at your table.” She instructed. Great.

She instructed us to open up our divination books and take turns interpreting the other people at our table’s dreams. Well, if this wasn’t going to be the largest load of baloney ever-

“I’ll start,” Harry offered. Ron agreed with him and the two of them set to interpreting Harry’s dream that I’m pretty sure he made up on the spot. It was some ludicrous one about buying shoes or something. Ron consulted the textbook and informed him that he was going to suffer, but be happy about it. This naturally elicited a hearty laugh from everyone at the table besides me.

“Something you wish to share with the class dears?” The professor asked, appearing like a specter behind us.

“Ah, no ma’am. Sorry.” Ron blushed, pulling his book up to hide his face, which only had the effect of muffling his words. Trelawny tutted and walked away. Neville untensed his spine next to me. Damn, he had a huge fear of authority, didn’t he?

“Well, I, um, I’ll go next,” Neville offered. I nodded and opened my book. One look confirmed that this was a load of horse shit.

“Well, I had a dream about uh, brooms? I think? And I um, I can’t really remember,” He muttered and looked down embarrassed. I nodded.

“Well, according to this book, not remembering a dream means something is coming in your future.” I sighed. What a waste of time this class was.

“Alright mate, your turn,” Ron exclaimed. Uh, how about;

“No.” I sure as hell didn’t want to relay my dreams about the pit and everyone I loved dying. I knew what they meant; I didn’t need a book to tell me I had some severe PTSD!

“You, err, you know you have to, right?” Harry tried. I turned my ire upon him.

“No, I don’t.” My voice came out harsher than I’d intended if the small shred of fear in their eyes was any indicator. Dang it.

“I, uh, I guess I’ll go then,” Ron spoke up, eyes shifting away from me back down to his textbook. His dream was by far the most interesting and was about playing Quidditch on dragons without any fire protection. Yeah, I doubted that had any real meaning or value. But alas, by the law of the book,

“It says that you’ll find the girl of your dreams on the quidditch pitch,” Harry announced. Ron’s face lit up. “Ah, but this part says you’ll never marry.” His hope instantly crumbled away. It was humorous to watch.

“So, you’re saying that Ron finds the girl of his dreams, but she dumps him?” I intoned, drawing all three pairs of eyes back to me. Ron’s sad attempt at a glare was thrown in my direction.

“Just don’t talk to any girls on the quidditch pitch Ron, and you’ll be fine!” Neville offered helpfully. Ron sent a harsh glare in his direction causing the poor boy to violently shiver.

“Shut up Longbottom!” Ron growled. That ticked me off. Neville hadn’t done anything wrong!

“Hey, cut that out. Neville was trying to help,” My words brought the ginger’s attention back on me. his eyes locked with mine. Just what was he thinking? Being mean to Neville like that? I increased the intensity of my glare but he held fast. Just what was he thinking?!

My questions were abruptly answered as his thoughts began flooding my brain. And what a swirling mass of confusion they were. Gods, it was like a tsunami of teenage angst! Thousands, maybe millions of floating lights were flooding my senses. Each one shimmered and offered up a memory therein. What a mess. Attempting to sift through the information I grasped onto one of the floating lights.

I found myself in a small bedroom. Judging from the height of my eyes I was about 4 or 5. Two other people were here in this memory. It seemed I was sitting in Ron’s point of view looking at a much younger version of who I assumed were the twins. This memory seemed pretty normal by all standards. Some noise was coming from an adjacent room. Mostly pots and pans with some words. Cooking then.

Little Ron picked up his stuffed bear and started walking away from the twins towards what looked like stairs.  Then, he (we? Seeing from another’s point of view was strange.) looked down at the bear. Although, no teddy bear was there. Just a rather large and terrifying spider. Little Ron screamed and I was abruptly thrown from his mind. Ow.

Regaining my senses about me, I finally noticed Neville and Harry anxiously looking between me and the ginger who had a look of utter horror on his face.

“You,” he managed to stutter out. “You’re a Legilimens?!”

Well, shit.

It had happened. I knew it would, but still. This was bad

I was so going to get it now.

Shit.

Quick Nico, think! Come up with an answer that can save your ass!

“Something like that I guess. I, I’m not really sure, to be honest. It just kind of happens sometimes.” I lied. Damn, that was a terrible excuse!

“What the hell man?! You can’t just peer into someone’s mind like that?!” Harry whisper-yelled, clearly trying to not get anyone else involved. That worked to my advantage. If the teachers got involved this would get infinitely harder to cover up.

“It’s not like I was trying to. It just sort of happens. I haven’t really got any control over it.” I lied again. I needed to start keeping track of what I was telling them. I didn’t want to contradict myself later on.

Then the Fates seemed to shine upon me and the class bell rang. I shot up faster than anyone in the room and booked it down the trapdoor. I heard Neville call out after me. I’d have to apologize to him later because right now I needed to get the hell out of there! I booked it to the Charms classroom thanking all my lucky stars that I could remember the way.

-Fancy Line Break-

“Hey, Hermione! Have you seen Nico?” Harry asked, sitting in the armchair across from the witch.

“No? I don’t think so. Why?” She asked, barely looking up from her tome. I shifted closer in the shadows under the chairs to catch what they were saying. Yeah, that was right. The shadows. I would never spy on my classmates. Not me.

“Can you keep this a secret?” Harry whispered. At her nod, he continued. “Nico is a Legilimens.”

“Are you Sure?” She gasped; her book completely forgotten.

“Positive. He confirmed it himself. Plus, you saw how Ron looked when he came back.”

“Like he’d seen a ghost,” Hermione muttered, eyes glazing over. “But then, that means-,”

Harry cut her off. “Yeah, I know.” what did he know? That I was a demigod? That I was a danger to society? The reasoning behind the scars littering my arms? No, I scolded myself. He couldn’t know anything about that. I hadn’t done anything!

‘Yet’ A small voice reminded me. Shut it me. I wouldn’t slip. I’d keep my human façade perfectly around these magicians. I missed part of the conversation lost in my own head.

“-a Death Eater,” Harry whispered. I couldn’t stop the snort that escaped my lips. Ah shit, well my position was officially exposed anyway so,

 “Who in their right mind would want to eat Thanatos?” I asked stepping out of the shadows. Their eyes widened almost comedically in fright. Harry recovered first and I found myself at wand point. It was sad how little he scared me.

“How much did you hear?” He demanded, arm shaking. Gods this kid was truly terrified of me, wasn’t he?

“All of it,” I shrugged. That was a lie. I’d totally missed like half their conversation. Hermione’s eyes turned almost desperate, pleading.

“You, you can’t tell anyone what you just heard!” She demanded. I smirked, and let a malicious smile grace my face.

“And why not?” I infused as much disdain into my words as I could.

“Because that was a private conversation!” Harry stated coldly. Well, as cold as could be with shaking legs and a rather visible drop of sweat on his brow. Honestly, I was more intimidated by Blackjack the Pegasus than this teenager.

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t be having ‘private conversations’ in the common area where anyone could overhear you.” I put finger quotation marks around ‘private conversations’ to really emphasize my point. And because I thought it’d make them mad. I was right, Hermione also pulled out her wand.

“Please Nico, don’t make me do this,” she pleaded. That got my attention.

“And what exactly were you going to do?” From the sound of it, nothing pleasant for me.

“Erase your memories of what you just heard.” Oh, hell no! I was not going to let anyone tamper with my memories again, not after the Lethe.

“No, you’re not.” I shifted into a relaxed fighting stance. Feet further apart, and legs coiled to spring. I wouldn’t be making the first move.

Hermione raised her wand to point at my head.

No time to lose.

I pounced.

I grabbed Hermione’s wand first, yanking it into my hand before kicking Harry’s legs out from under him. He went down sputtering. I plucked his wand out of his hand as well and stood back to glare at the both of them.

“So, what’s the plan now?” I asked, tucking both their wands into the pocket of my robes. It was truly funny how powerless a wandless wizard was. Like did they never think about doing martial arts for this exact kind of scenario?

Harry scrambled to his feet, a wide variety of curse words spilling from his lips.

“Why the bloody hell did you do that?!” He demanded, with what I assumed was his harshest glare. His voice caught the attention of the others in the common room. This was turning into a scene and that was the last thing I wanted. I sighed.

“Because it’s considered quite rude to threaten to erase people’s memories. Please refrain from doing so.” I tossed their wands onto the ground at my feet and turned on my heel quick as could be. I was up the stairs and closing the door to the dorms before either of them had even retrieved their wands.

I dropped into bed and just laid there for a moment. Gods this school was a fucking nightmare. It was almost preferable to go back to camp. At least the people there left me alone because they feared my father’s wrath. I yanked the curtain around me closed and tried to fall asleep, ignoring that it was only like 5 pm, and dinner hadn’t even passed yet.

The voices of my year-mates ruined my peace. I heard the door open

“-Think we should look through his stuff?” The voice of Seamus asked, followed by footsteps.

“No. I got burned when I tried that.” Ron grouched. Of course he had. I’d had my chest warded after all. Wouldn’t want some kids getting their souls sucked out by the stygian iron daggers in there.

“Is he in the bathroom?” Dean asked, followed by some more shuffling.

“Not sure,” Harry replied.

“Why don’t we just leave him alone? I mean, it’s not like he broke your wands or injured someone.” Neville offered. Wow, I was surprised to hear him defending me. I was sure he was a coward by nature, or so I’d observed. I might have to change my initial assumptions about him. Well, now was as good a time as any. I threw my curtains open and dramatically stepped out of bed.

“Hello everyone,” I offered peaceably. Harry drew his wand, which while completely expected it; was still disappointing. He wasn’t the only one, however, as both Ron and Seamus also drew their wands. Interesting. I shrugged and held my hands up in mock surrender.

“Um, how has your day been?” Neville asked, clearly trying to break the awkward tension of having your dormmates threatening each other.

“Ah, it was pretty good till after lunch.” I retook my seat on my bed. Neville also took a seat on my bed uninvited. I didn’t care as much as I probably should have. Ron and Seamus both dropped their aim and repocketed their wands. Harry just lowered his arm.

“Really? How so?” He asked. He sounded genuinely curious, so I acquiesced.

“Well, it’s like this. You see, when everyone else in this room is listening in on our conversation, they all seem to unconsciously try and be as quiet as possible, especially Ron who doesn’t understand that he’s doing a terrible job of watching us out of the corner of his eye.” I stated this as blandly as possible. Ron’s ears went particularly red and the others busied themselves with their own conversations thereafter. Well, all but Harry. I cocked my eyebrow at him.

“What? I’m just returning the favor,” He snarked, crossing his arms. I smirked back,

“And should I return the ‘favor’ you and Hermione were going to do me?” I asked, eyes hardening. He grumbled something under his breath and turned away to do his own thing. I turned my eyes back to Neville only to be met with a look of complete confusion clouding his face.

“What-, Happened?” He asked tentatively.

“I, err, overheard a conversation earlier that was apparently private and Hermione threatened to wipe my memories. That’s what all the commotion was about downstairs,” I said, loud enough for only Neville to hear.

“Wow, they actually wanted to erase your memory? It must have been really secret,” He murmured.

“Yeah, and I intend to find out why,” I stated, grabbing my school bag to pull out my homework.

“You-! But-, Didn’t they threaten you?! Wouldn’t that be dangerous?” He worried, eyes darting over to Harry whose back was still turned to us.

“Yeah. It will be.” I replied, my hand finally finding the bottle of ink I was searching for. “Now, I have that stupid Divination homework to do, so if you don’t mind.” I pulled out the parchment, ink, and quill -Honestly, these wizards needed to learn about spiral-bound notebooks and pens- and set to work on my homework.

End of Chapter 7

Chapter Text

Shadows

Chapter 8: Nightmares, and Nightmare Teachers.

Nico’s POV.

“Help! I can’t hold on!” Hazel screamed clinging on for dear life to the side of a chasm.

“I’ve got you! I’m coming just hold on!” I desperately looked around for anything to pull her up with. Nothing.

“I can't! Nico, I’m going to -” Her voice faded into a scream as her fingers slipped. Time slowed impossibly as she fell, hair haloing around her in a mock show of symbolism. This wasn’t happening, it couldn’t be happening!

My throat felt raw. My throat hurt. Someone was crying, someone else screaming. It was loud, too loud. My ears hurt just hearing it.

“-ico,”

Oh, it was me.

I was the one screaming.

“Nico!”

My eyes flew open, hand reached out to grab Hazel’s falling form. She wasn’t there. I blinked a few times as my surroundings finally came into focus. Taking a special note of the water I felt on my cheeks.

“Nico? Are you alright?” I turned to find the source of the words. Neville was standing beside my bed, eyes wide, and figure trembling.

Thank the gods! It was just a dream. I wiped the water off my face roughly and went to respond. My throat hurt. Ah, shit; I’d been screaming out loud then.

“...Nightmare,” I rasped out, pulling the sweater at the end of my bed on, to swing my legs out of bed. Neville seemed to take the hint and left. I made it all the way to the bathroom before I collapsed against the cold marble tiles. Gods, that stupid nightmare kept happening. I needed to talk with someone about it, but that was unlikely to happen.

After taking the quickest shower possible, I threw on my uniform and got back in bed. Flipping off a staring Harry like the responsible teenager I am.

Then, my rest was once again interrupted at 8:15 when the rest of my dormmates decided to go down to breakfast. I tagged along mostly for McGonagall’s sake and took my regular seat away from the majority of people. That was until the ‘golden trio’ came to sit next to me.

“Great, just great. I really wanted to deal with this shit first thing in the morning,” I muttered under my breath as Harry-Irritation-Potter took his seat next to me.

As I passed time ignoring the food in front of me, I closed my eyes to let my senses roam. There was a lot of power that floated around in Hogwarts. I guess it would be the latent magic that imbued the place. I could feel this power, but not do a whole lot with it. As I was thus entertaining myself, I felt something quite unusual. A concentrated bit of magic, that wasn’t quite to the level of a person. I half expected it to be coming from a house elf or other such magical species. Nope. The signature traced back to the scar on Harry Potter’s forehead. Upon further inspection of it, I had deduced it was either a magical mole or a piece of soul. I was more inclined to the latter.

“You done staring at me?” Harry snipped, glaring at me. I lowered my gaze off the scar to meet his eyes.

“Only if you want me to spill your secret,” I motioned vaguely to his face. The look of confusion I earned was amusing. That probably indicated he was unaware. How entertaining.

“What do you mean by that?” He demanded.

“Oh, you don’t know, do you?” I teased. This was not what he wanted, as he slammed his fork down with enough force to rock the serving dishes.

“What are you on about?!”

“Oh, I can’t tell you!” I let a teasing lilt decorate my words. “That goes against the rules!” I gave a jaunty wave and left the breakfast table without having actually gotten any food. Meh, it wasn’t like I was hungry anyway.

-Fancy Line Break-

“Nico,” I turned to find who’d called my name. It was Potter. Damn, only one class and he already couldn’t wait. I was sitting with Neville in our first double potions class. Harry and Ron had graciously taken the table next to us. I assumed it must’ve been so that Harry could pester me for information.

“What do you want Potter?” I asked. Gods this kid was annoying.

“I want to know what you think you know about me.” damn Harry did not have a way with words.

“And what makes you think this is different than the other twenty times you’ve asked?” I sighed.

“I will find out.” He threatened. Well, attempted to threaten.

“You can certainly try.”

“Watch yourself, Di Angelo, you don’t want me as your enemy.” He seemed to be trying to sound threatening or even like he was a big deal. This kid scared me less than Francis my driver, and that was saying something.

“Well, I don’t consider you to be a high enough caliber to be my enemy so don’t worry.” I snarked. Before he could respond, Snape entered the classroom effectively silencing all of us.

Percy’s POV

Annabeth, Grover, Leo, and I were finally off. It had taken a while but now we were halfway across the world of Leo’s dragon Festus who apparently had a boat mode. Even though we had contacted the Hunters and they were in the area, I was still worried. We had a meeting in two days to discuss plans and tactics. This whole thing was just stressing me out. The lines of the prophecy just kept playing on repeat.

Beware the foes that lie therein, with hunters' help you might win. Bonds stronger than the test of time bind him to what you may find. I just couldn’t shake the feeling that we were walking right into a trap.

“Hey! Seaweed brain,” Annabeth’s voice shook me out of my musings.

“Yeah, wise girl?” I looked at what she was pointing at.

“Are we almost there?” She asked. I checked my internal bearings.

“Yeah, about a mile to go,” I confirmed. She smiled.

“Thanks,” She gave me a chaste kiss.

“Hey Annabeth, what time is it?” Leo asked, head peeking out from where he’d been tinkering on Festus.

“About 5 am,” she replied immediately. Her internal clock was both a blessing and a curse.

“Thanks,” Leo retreated back to his hole. Only resurfaced a few moments later after a particularly loud creak from Festus.

“Hey, Festus is having some problems, we’ll have to take some time to fix him when we stop if we want air travel,” Leo announced. Great, more time wasted.

Shortly after, we ran around in England. Now to find some wizards. Couldn’t be too hard, right?

I woke up Grover, who somehow was still sleeping.

“Wha-?” he asked, blearily rubbing his eyes, and shifting around.

“We’re here man,” I announced.

“Oh, so the plan is the lovebirds meet the hunters while Hoof-man and I stay here to fix Festus?” Leo asked.

“Alright Leonaids,” I snickered at his flush and then all three of us burst out laughing at poor Leo’s expense.

“I might not fix Festus for you!” He threatened. Annabeth scoffed at that.

“Yeah right. We all know you love your dragon too much to not fix him.” Her words rang true and he sighed in defeat.

“Yeah, yeah. Say hi to Pinecone Face for me,” He muttered, grabbing out some more tools from his belt.

I quirked an eyebrow. “When did you find out about that?” I asked. He grinned almost maniacally.

“A while ago… Kelp head.” Annabeth and Grover found that highly amusing. Me, not so much.

We left to go find some wizards.

Nico’s POV

The day was upon us;

It was finally time for the dreaded first defense against the dark arts class. The class taught by the walking pink toad I’d thankfully had little interaction with up until this point.

Walking to the classroom with Neville meant we took our seats about five minutes early. A cursory glance showed the room to be nothing out of the ordinary. It almost seemed too normal considering this was a freaking Magic school. Decorative commentary aside, the room and occupants thereof were completely and uninterestingly normal.

The first order of the class a: “Wands away!” cheerfully said, did little to brighten my hopes for an actually interesting class period. Having not even thought to take my still unused wand out, I had a moment while others deposited theirs to observe the toad. She was wearing a glaringly magenta and fuchsia outfit that if stared at too long I’m sure would cause some sort of blindness.

“Well, good morning class!” She squealed out in that unnaturally high voice of hers. A few mutters of ‘morning’ swept the classroom. She clicked her tongue at us like we were preschoolers.

“Now that won’t do! When I say ‘Good Morning class,’ you are to respond with ‘Good Morning Professor Umbridge.’ Now, let’s try this again. Good morning class!”

“Good morning, Professor Umbridge,” Chorused around the room. I stayed silent and raised my hand.

“Yes, Mr. di Angelo?” She questioned, nose already upturned in distaste as if I’d run over her cat and handed it to her.

“Did you want us to lie?” I asked, not bothering to elaborate. She paused.

“What does that question have to do with this class?” She asked, eyes narrowing in displeasure.

“Well, you said we are to say ‘good morning’ but what if we’re not having a good morning? Did you want us to lie for you?” I asked again, lips turning up into a smirk. Her displeasure morphed into actual barely controlled anger.

“You will respond with ‘good morning’ regardless of your personal feeling on the day so far!” She announced as if victorious. I nodded in false understanding.

“Understood, I will lie to appease you as ordered. Good morning professor.” I responded cheerfully. The damage had been done mutters stormed the classroom. I was grinning maniacally on the inside. She now had two options. Tell me it was okay to say I wasn’t having a good morning; undermining her authority in the classroom, or do nothing and let the rumors circulate that lying in her classroom was required. Her cheeks started to gain more red color as her glare hardened to a level I could respect but wasn’t scared of.

“Now, now Mr. di Angelo. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were trying something here,” Her smile was so fake it was almost physically painful to look at. I put on my best innocent façade.

“Not sure what you mean professor. You asked me to lie for your benefit, and I have complied. Is that not what you instructed?” I added in an innocent blink just for good measure. Her cheeks were clearly red now.

“Why you-!” She cut herself off and breathed out heavily through her nose. “Mr. di Angelo, I will not tolerate this disrespect in my classroom!” She announced. I almost grinned.

“Of course! I wouldn’t want to disrespect anyone. If you could tell me which part of what I asked was disrespectful and why, I’ll make sure never to do it again.” Gods this was the most fun I’d had all week!

“Why its-, when you-, you can just-!” She sputtered. Damn, making assholes lose their control was still one of my favorite hobbies.

“It seems you are having trouble identifying where I was disrespectful. I’m not sure how I can avoid it in the future without this vital information,” I morphed my face into one of disappointment, and rested my chin on my hand in my best impersonation of a wistful gaze. “Well, I suppose I shall never know,”

Needless to say; Umbridge was not appeased, however, she couldn't give me detention for it because by the rules I’d done nothing wrong.

Dumbledore’s POV

"-and I will not tolerate his presence in this school!" Umbridge finished her rant with a red face and heaving breasts.

"Minister Fudge,” Dumbledore responded, turning to the man “Nico is at Hogwarts because I let him. The rules around it date back to the founding of this school. The boy hasn't done anything wrong and has not harmed anyone. Therefore, he may stay as long as he wants. That is final" Fudge turned scarlet, but he was interrupted by Umbridge who had now recovered from earlier.

"Hem hem, may I suggest a guided tour of Azkaban? Spending some time there might help him understand why these rules are in place. Or maybe even spend a night there, with a dem-" Her ludicrous idea was cut off by an irate exclamation from Minerva.

"He's fifteen! Fifteen! You would have a fifteen-year-old boy spend a night with murderers?!" Umbridge went to say something but McGonagall wasn't finished "That will have the opposite effect on him! Use your brain for just a minute. Put yourself in his shoes. You Accidentally go to a magic school on a different continent, get accused of doing something illegal -that isn't illegal where you're from mind you- and your only way out is to spend a year at a strange school. What would you do?" Silence reigned for a moment before the Minister broke it,

"It’s all for naught. If that boy steps even a single toe out of line, he will be arrested!” Fudge had been going for a commanding tone, but Dumbledore just smiled

"All well then. Good day Fudge." Taking the not-so-subtle hint, Fudge hightailed it out the floo. Umbridge left, nose in the air shortly thereafter.

"What are we going to do about Di Angelo?" Minerva asked him as soon as the other two left.

"I'm not sure. Did you find out anything about his family?" Dumbledore’s eyes lost a little of their twinkle as she shook her head.

"No headmaster. He isn't in any databases. The first record they have is him going to some military school. No birth records, no prior school records, no family records. No records of any kind!" Minerva seemed particularly annoyed by this. Dumbledore pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Very well. Come find me if you learn anything," With that she was dismissed.

End of Chapter 8

Chapter Text

Shadows

Chapter 9: Duels and Discussions

Nico’s POV.

“Mr. di Angelo, a word please,” McGonagall requested. I turned to smile at her. Ah, I was in trouble again, wasn’t I?

“Sure, thing professor,” I smiled goodbye to Neville and followed her to her office.

She pointed to a chair. “Have a seat.” I sat. “Have a biscuit,” I snickered. Her eyebrow raised.

“Sorry, we call them ‘cookies’ in America,” I explained. She was not amused. I had a cookie too.

“Mr. di Angelo, you are most likely aware of why you are in here,” She started. I kept quiet. If detective movies taught me anything it was to never incriminate yourself. She sighed, “The incident with Professor Umbridge has been escalated to Dumbledore,” She announced.

Damn, that toad actually went and tattled on me.

“I’m sorry professor, I don’t see what was escalated. As I’ve told Professor Umbridge, I can’t change my actions to not be disrespectful if she doesn’t inform me of how and why I have shown disrespect. She could not explain why my actions were wrong or in any way not according to the rules, so I’m not sure what this meeting is about.” I crossed my legs smoothly and smiled at my head of house. She cracked a small grin.

“I agree with you, Mr. di Angelo. Keep in mind that Umbridge will not take too kindly to this affront, and will target you from now on. Be careful, and I want to see you at dinner. Dismissed to your next class.” She shooed me out the door.

I thanked her and took off running. My next class was the last of the day and was freaking Divination. I hated that class already.

I made it to the trapdoor just as class started.

“My deepest apologies Professor Trelawney! Professor McGonagall wanted a word with me!” I explained, rushing to the open pouf by Neville.

“No worries my dear, I had seen this. You are right on time,” She said in her whimsical tune. Gods she was annoying.

Thankfully, the rest of the class passed uneventfully as Neville and I snickered quietly about our ‘dreams’ and their meanings.

The bell rang and I started packing up my things.

“Hey uh, Nico?” Neville asked, voice hesitant. I looked up,

“Yeah, Neville?” I asked, stuffing my textbook not-so-gently into my book bag.

“Would you, um, would you like to study with me in the library again?” He asked, eyes shifting around.

“Oh, sure thing! I’ve got some potions homework to work on, so I’m down!” I replied, slinging my bag over my shoulder. His smile was far too bright for it to be a normal gathering of friends. If I graciously overlooked this fact no one needed to be the wiser.

The two of us set up our books and things in a quiet corner and traded soft jabs and advice until dinnertime.

And all too soon did dinner come. Just as Neville had finally broken almost completely out of that reserved shell he kept himself in the clock struck 6:00. Neville started at the muted chime and his guard went flying back up as the rest of the library’s occupants began to pack up and leave.

I sighed and shoved my unfinished Transfiguration homework into my satchel and walked in amicable silence with my only friend to the great hall.

The meal could not pass uneventfully as that wouldn’t keep in fashion with my life, and thus an aggravating drawl filled my ears. A voice that belonged to a certain irritating blond with a lack of common sense.

“Longbottom, still as meek as ever I see,” He spat, giving Neville a nasty look. The poor boy just curled up on himself not even bothering to fight the blatant bullying. Then because it was too much to ask for me to enjoy my Friday, Malfoy turned his sneer on me. “And you, di Angelo, it seems you don’t know which sort of wizards are better than others.” He leered, his two cronies echoing praise for their ‘master’. I dropped my gaze back to my mostly untouched beef roast.

“And it seems you still only know how to insult those who you consider weak.” I replied evenly, taking a bite of my food if only to chew it as a direct insult to the now fuming Slytherin.

His ears tinged the slightest red with his fury. “You insolent-!” He took a breath to calm himself. “You, me, outside the hut by the forbidden forest tonight at midnight.”

His voice sounded like he was trying to threaten me but it just fell flat in face of my memories of even the weakest demigods.

“No thanks,” I took another grueling bite of food. Neville was watching our interaction with an almost palpable fear in his eyes. He really needed to learn to stand up for himself and others.

Malfoy sputtered. “And why not?!” He asked, as if the mere idea that someone would say no to him was scandalous.

“Because I don’t have time for your childish ideals, Malfoy. I have no interest in fighting someone so sheltered.” I could hear him grind his teeth together.

“You bring dishonor on your whole family!” He sneered. I sighed; this boy just didn’t know when to quit, did he?

“My whole family is in the underworld; I doubt they care about any ‘shame’ I bring upon us.” Neville audibly gasped and I purposely avoided making eye contact with the boy. Malfoy floundered for a few more seconds before abruptly deciding to leave and safe himself some face.

“I, I’m really sorry about you, your family,” Neville sputtered out once the git was out of hearing range. I cast a small smile at the boy.

“Don’t fuss over it. I’ve had plenty of time to come to terms with my situation.” I took one final bite of food before standing. “I’ll see you later, I’m going to go blow off some steam.” I turned heel and briskly strode out of the great hall before Neville had the chance to reply. He really was a sweet kid. A little sheltered, and missing his entire spine, but he did have a courage that was rare to fine nowadays.

I broke out of my musings to find myself completely and utterly lost. Damn this school for being so confusing. I prided myself on having excellent navigational skills, but those skills came from memorizing shadow locations. And with all the latent magic, moving staircasing, and casually rearranging corridors, my set of skills were basically useless.

More wandering and I seemed to only be getting further away from Gryffindor tower. From what my senses and eyes were telling me, I was underground. In the dungeons then. Not exactly tower level.

I turned a corner to find another empty classroom. This one had the remnants of what I could only guess was a swordsmanship club as wooden swords and training dummies lined the walls. Hefting one up it seemed to be magically preserved as it wasn’t yet rotten despite the thick layer of dusk that had accumulated. I took a few practice swings before the familiar motions lured my brain into sweet quiet, no errant thoughts breaking up the sequence of strikes, dodges, and martial arts that made up my unique fighting style.

So engrossed in my training was I that I failed to hear the door creaking open or notice a pair of eyes that carefully watched my every move.

Only when my blood froze as clapping broke the silence did I notice my audience. I turned around, body instinctively poised for combat to see;

The golden trio?

“What brings the three of you down here?” I asked, shifting into a less threatening stance. They all shared a short look before stepping fully into the classroom. Hermione shut the door behind them. A private conversation then.

“Nico,” She started.

I interrupted. “You don’t have the permission to call me that.” I glared until she relented.

“di Angelo then, we wanted to speak to you about what you overheard the other day,” She announced, taking a cautious step forward. I didn’t lower the wooden sword, eyes trained at both the boys who were fiddling with their wands in their pockets.

“Well, spit it out. I don’t have ESP.” I grouched, ignoring the fact that I did, in fact, have the ability to read someone’s mind.

She floundered a moment for words before steeling herself. “You must promise not to share anything you overheard.”

Harry and Ron both drew their wands at my eyebrow raise, although they didn’t point them at me quite yet. I sighed, and lowered the sword. This talk would go much better without violence. I wanted to make it at least a week without stirring up any more trouble.

“Look. I don’t care about anything I heard. You guys can rest assured that I won’t spill the beans. What you do with your time is up to you.” I paused a moment to collect my thoughts before continuing. “In return, I ask that you don’t attempt to discover or spread any information about me. I know you three enjoy digging up people’s secrets and pasts, but I much prefer mine to stay that way.”

The three shared another secret look before nodding in consensus.

“Yeah, sounds like a fair trade,” Ron grumped, replacing his wand in his pocket. Seemed like a dumb place to keep it but hey, who was I to judge? Harry had yet to re-sheathe (or was it ‘repocket’?) his own weapon, instead deciding to aim it at my face; much to Hermione’s chagrin.

“One more thing. Spill the beans about my so called ‘secret’, or else.” He was obviously trying to be threatening but he mostly resembled an angry chihuahua who’d been denied treats. I shook my head.

“Now that’s an unfair trade. I agreed to keep your secrets for you keeping mine. If you want me to give you knowledge, you have o pay for it. So, what do you have that’s worth this caliber of info?” I smirked. My only joy at this school was going to be messing with these rather sheltered children. Damn if I was going to give up my pastime so easily.

“Why should I have to pay for information about me!?” Harry sounded rather angry at me. I shrugged good-naturedly.

“Info is info, regardless of personal connections. In fact, maybe this knowledge is even more expensive considering you are the’ chosen-one’ after all,” I spread my hands in faux diplomacy. Harry’s eyes flickered with unreleased rage and it was oh so very amusing to see this kid, who was technically my age, struggle to come up with an answer.

“Well, I’ll leave you to contemplate the matter, okay?” I didn’t wait for an answer before slinking into the shadows to return to Gryffindor tower the only way I’d be able to considering I had been completely lost down there for a while.

My bed cushioned my fall from the top of the frame, as an ‘oof’ punched itself out of my lungs. I closed my eyes to wait for the residual nausea to fade from my overuse of my powers. Sure, they were convenient, but for such use past wards and such I was going to need some ambrosia if I didn’t want to have fainting spells.

“Nico? Was that you?” Neville’s voice echoed with uncertainty just outside my curtains. I threw them open to smile at the boy.

“In the flesh!” I announced, as he flushed a little pink from the sudden confrontation. His reactions really were just too cute!

“I’m glad you’re okay. I got worried when you left by yourself. The layout’s different at night,” He fretted, coming over to sit uninvited on my bed. I didn’t mind it as much as I probably should.

Something to file away for later, as our casual conversation continued from where we’d left off in the library.

This really was too peaceful to last. But alas, I am but a selfish creature after all.

End of Chapter 9

Chapter Text

Shadows

Chapter 10: Remedial lessons, oh joy!

Nico’s POV.

My musings were unfortunately proven true when I was quite rudely awakened to my situation during my remedial lessons the next day. I had to spend all morning and half of the afternoon in classes with the professors of each subject. Some of whom I was certain would rather be doing anything else.

Another minute gruelled by as Professor Snape hovered ominously over my cauldron.

“Mr. di Angelo,” He drawled, wand swishing threateningly over my concoction. “I do believe I said to add three drops of Hellborne, not the entire bottle.”

I sighed. This had been going on for at least the last half an hour with me only getting a few steps into the process before he found something to complain about.

“Professor, I haven’t even added it yet.” I lied, casually hiding the bottle in question up my unreasonably billowy sleeves.

“Don’t lie to me brat,” He sneered, reminding me a little too much of a certain blond. “Ten points from Gryffindor for your mouth!”

This was horrible and it was only 10:30 am.

Not to mention my dream last night kept flashing gravely every time I shut my eyes.

*

Four figures stood calmly around a table. Their voices mixed in swirls of understanding, a few words leaking through

“-Waltzing in is a bad idea. It’s bound to be heavily armed.” A voice I unfortunately recognized as Annabeth’s announced. The other three nodded sagely.

“You’re right Hogwarts is-,” Her voice swirled out. It was a new voice, not someone I knew then. “-show up and demand his return.”

Whose return? Mine? What if I didn’t want to go back? Would I be forced too?

“Good plan, ---- the prophesy?” I didn’t catch the entirety of what Annabeth asked as the figure to her right nodded.

‘Percy’ my brain supplied as he started speaking “Welp, here it is:

‘To the British school of wizards, you must go,

Find the son of darkness at his new home

Beware the foes that lie therein

With hunter's help, you might win

Bonds stronger than the test of time

Bind him to what you may find.’

There you have it, the prophesy.” Dream Percy crossed his arms as the others tittered with mumbles, and more noise came from just outside my viewpoint.

“Well, we’d better hurry then,”

*

And thus, had I awakened to my first Saturday at Hogwarts with a pounding headache and more questions than answers.

Thoughts abruptly refocusing as Snape vanished my potion for the nth time, I sighed and began working from the beginning once more. It wasn’t like this was particularly difficult, I was just far too tired to be putting the ingredients in correctly.

After watching me suffer for an hour Snape must’ve had his fun once 11am hit and it was time for my next teacher to come into the remedial classroom. They’d decided it was drastically easier for them to come to me as my sense of direction was still majorly lacking.

Professor Flitwick entered the classroom and my wandering thoughts were corralled for the next hour of remedial lessons. Joy.

-Fancy Line Break-

At 2pm I once again regretted my entire lifetime’s worth of decision-making skills as the pink toad herself entered ‘my’ classroom. The Runes professor nodded to her as he made his exit, leaving me alone with the horrid woman.

“Ah, Mr. di Angelo!” She squeaked out. I sighed, and pulled the blandest book I’d ever even opened out of my bag in preparation. Only to be told that we wouldn’t be using it today.

“I see,” I replaced the book and steeled myself for whatever the nasty fuchsia witch had in mind. She pulled a roll of parchment and a red quill from her bag to place in front of me. No ink though. Suspicious.

“We will be doing dictation!” She announced cheerily, and pulled a copy of the book I’d replaced from her own bag. Great.

I eyed the supplies she’d put on the table, decided they were too sketchy to touch, and pulled my own ink, quill, and parchment from my satchel. She tutted with disdain.

“You won’t be needing those; I’ve provided some for this lesson!” She spoke with even more of that fake enthusiasm.

I dropped my best deadpan on her. “Sorry professor, I have a habit of not touching things I don’t trust. It’s kept me alive well these last few years so you’ll have to forgive me for using my own writing instruments. Unless not using offered supplies is against the rules of course,” I set up my inkwell, and dared her silently to force the issue, if for nothing else than a distraction from the irritation flowing through my veins.

She huffed clearly annoyed but didn’t press it, only swiping the proffered items back into her back to begin the most boring all the remedial courses I’d had.

She did nothing but read the text out loud. I could have done that myself.

3 pm couldn’t come quick enough!

-Fancy Line Break-

A completely useless lesson later, and I was finally free for the rest of the day!

And instead of relaxing leisurely in the common room for the foreseeable future, I was met with a gaggle of students crowding around the door, some not even from Gryffindor.

“What’s going on?” I asked of the nearest Ravenclaw.

“Oh, you just get here? There’s some kind of rainbow magic going on in the Gryffindor common room! Some girl is speaking through it and demanding to see the transfer student!” She gushed, still not having turned around to see she was in fact talking to the student in question.

Wonderful.

I tried my best to push through the crowd, only succeeding to move a few steps outside the entrance before abruptly coming to a halt at the angry voices I could now hear.

“Where is he?! What have you freaks done with my cousin?!” Thalia’s voice rang out loud and clear over the throng of students gathered. My heart skipped a beat. I hadn’t seen her in months, maybe even a year.

What was she doing here?

I elbowed students out of the way deaf to their cries of protest as I shoved my way inside to find her. Where was she? The girl responsible for Bianca’s death!?

I managed to push my way into the circle clearing by the fireplace and my eyes snapped to the image shimmering in midair.

Thalia’s face blinked at me from a rainbow cast by someone’s abandoned crystal ink well by the only desk in the sun. What rotten luck.

Her face lit up as I came into view. “Nico! Oh my gods, you’re okay!” She sounded overly relieved. “Hey Percy! Annabeth! Death breath is fine!” She shouted over her shoulder. Great just great. I leveled my glare at the Iris Message, trying my best to ignore the wizards’ murmurs.

“What do you want Thalia?” I crossed my arms in annoyance. This really was not how I wanted to spend my Saturday.

She seemed to be slightly taken aback. “What do you mean? We’re coming to rescue you, dummy.” She sounded proud of that.

“Thalia, I’m not sure what kind of drugs you’re on, but I don’t need ‘rescuing’, I’m perfectly happy here thanks so much.” I placed ‘rescuing’ in air quotes to fully convey my displeasure.

“What?” Thalia’s expression darkened, “What do you mean you’re fine Ncio?! You are literally being held hostage by a huge group of dangerous individuals! You have got to come back home to camp-,”

I cut her off. “Back home? Home where, Thalia!? Someone tried to kill me in my sleep at camp, why the fuck would I willingly go back there?!” My words sent ripples of whispers around the common room. This was going to be a mess to explain. I noticed the pink toad out of the corner of my eyes and my displeasure grew.

Thalia seemed to not accept my words as she glared at the other occupants of the tower. “What have you done to my cousin?! Tell me you bastards!” Her hair was starting to raise with static electricity. Oh shit, I could not explain demigods today. I’d lose the little slice of heaven I’d finally found for myself.

“They have done nothing. I am fine, I am here of my own volition, and I absolutely do not need you or anyone else from camp to show up and cause problems. Goodbye Thalia.” I swiped my hand through the IM before she could respond or expose any more of my secrets.

The room fell eerily silent after that, all those congregated tittering about on the edge of decisions.

I pulled up an armchair and dropped into it heavily.

“So,” I looked around the room, noting McGonagall and Umbridge as the only present adults. “Who wants to begin the interrogation?”

End of Chapter 10