Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Nico appeared in the Underworld throne room in his black tank top and skull pajama pants, half asleep and a little irritated by the suddenness of his calling.

It was 1am and he was pulled into the shadows to be brought to his father for reasons Nico hoped didn't end up in him going on another quest. When Nico had first taken a job as Hades' "quester" he usually didn't wear pajamas to bed. But, after being summoned one too many times to the Underworld in just his boxers, he decided to invest in some comfy sleeping clothes.

Nico yawned, stretching his arms out wide and rubbing away the blurriness still left in his eyes. "Wassup dad?"

Hades seem equally tired, probably kept up with the recent flood of paperwork.

"I have a quest for you," he said dully.

He looked up at Hades on his black throne with annoyance. "Really? This wasn't just a check in or something?"

Hades sighed, rubbing his face with his hands as if trying to wash away the sleepiness.

Nico sighed. there was no point in arguing, "So, where to now?"

"Scotland," Hades said in the same grey tone. As if the UK wasn't an ocean away.

If Nico had water in his mouth, he would have spit it out. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You have a quest request by Hecate. She needs you to go to her magical school-"

"Um, no," Nico stated, immediately declining the not offer. "I took up questing as a job rather than going to school. Questing! You can't make me do it!"

That was lie and both of them knew it. Nico had sworn an oath on the Styx to do the quests for his dad and the other gods of Olympus. The deal was that Nico would get paid for his work and he was also sworn to secrecy about any of the god's business.

"This isn't a normal school," Hades sighed, resting his head in one of his hands. "It's a magical school and . . . you know what? I'm just going to let Hecate explain."

As if on cue, there was a swirl of light and the goddess of magic appeared before him. She had pale skin like Nico's but her eyes were even darker than his own, and her black hair as dark as a moonless night as thick as a wool blanket. She wore a long, dark blue gown that made her seem like she was floating, which she could be for all Nico knew.

"Nicolo di Angelo," she said. She smiled and her eyes flashed green.

"Lady Hecate," Nico bowed, deciding not to correct her with his name. He had learned how to greet gods over the last few years of being a demigod, and bowing and knowing their name was always good way to start.

"I have a mission for you," the goddess told him in a delighted tone that should never be used that early in the morning.

"Bring it on," Nico sighed, just wanting to get it over with.

"Years ago," Hecate started dramatically (Nico had to suppress a groan), "when Ouranos was cut into pieces by Kronos, some humanlike creatures emerged from his ichor. They hid out through the Titan Ages and evolved into humans as Zeus took the throne, but they had some of the sky's blood in their veins, which granted them magical powers they learned to control through sticks they call 'wands'."

"Is this really necessary to the quest?" Nico asked as politely as one who was awake at 1am and sent to go on a possibly dangerous quest could.

"Yes, yes, I'll get to that. Now, when the gods took power, they came out of their little holes and showed off magic to the world and other, less powerful humans. When I became goddess of magic, I adopted these people as my . . . pets! The gods didn't like how they showed off their powers so to save them, I told them to go unground again, except not literally this time. They were to live amongst the mortals but only did magic in secret. As they lived and started making more and more babies with these powers, they started schools that are hidden from normal human's veiws and taught the kids magic. They also named themselves witches and wizards-"

"Wait," Nico interrupted. "There are actual wizards?"

"Of course there are wizards!" Hecate laughed like it was common knowledge that magical humans with sticks lived in the world. After a minute of laughter, she carried on.

"Anyway, there is a man by the name of Tom Riddle or as they call him, Voldemort, who has been brought back to life and is wreaking havoc across the wizarding and mortal world-"

"There's someone named Molywart?" Nico asked, unable to keep the question to himself.

Hecate gave him a stern look. The goddess' humor and patience seemed to have been waring off for the day. "No, Nicolo. His name is Voldemort and he is extremely powerful. For your quest, I need you to find and protect a trio of wizards named Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. They are very important in an up coming war."

So I'm babysitting, Nico thought. Great.

"When am I needed to go?" He asked.

"I will give you half an hour to pack," Hecate allowed. "Oh, and you must not let anyone know in the magical world you're a demigod. That could turn nasty. Oh, and you'll be staying there all year!"

"Wh-!" Nico's exclamation was cut off by a swirl of fire that spun around him. It surrounded him and almost covered his vision but not heat came from it's flames.

"Good luck, son," Hades called from his throne.

Then Nico disappeared.

Nico appeared back in his cabin and the light outside signaled that it was almost sunrise. How Nico had spent hours in the Underworld, he didn't know. Hecate's magic may have interfered when he was in the fire or something but it didn't matter he needed to start packing.

He started pacing up and down his cabin, grabbing things he'd need like clothes, ambrosia, and knifes. Nico piled everything on to his bed and realized that he didn't have anything to carry it all in. That was when a black duffle bag slammed onto his head and landed on top of his stuff.

"Great," Nico sighed, annoyed with his shitty morning. He had planned to see Will and his friends who were off at school that day and he hadn't even slept yet. Now he had to break it to his boyfriend that he'd be leaving for nine months, and have do it with no sleep under his belt. Not that he hadn't not slept before, but he'd gotten a better schedule since last year when he and Will had returned from Tartarus and Mr. D insisted on continuing their morning conversations.

Thinking back on it, Nico hadn't realized how much had changed in the last year. Reyna had now spent a year with Artemis and the Hunters, Hazel and Frank had been Praetoring together for more than a year now, the rest of his had gone to college together, and Nico had now spent nine months as a quester for the gods.

Nico opened up the duffle bag that had most definitely been gifted to him by either Hecate or his dad, and began shoving his things inside it. He didn't have much he needed so he was done in a few seconds, leaving eight or nine minutes to break the news to Will.

He dug in his duffle bag and brought out a metal machine, the size of two fists, in his hand. He pushed a button on the side and water misted out and a tiny flashlight beamed through a crystal on top, creating a rainbow in the air. When Nico had taken up questing and his friends went off to school, Leo made Nico a Iris message travel machine so he could always call when needed. Nico barely used it during his missions, but it was handy to have around.

A drachma was shining as it laid on top of Nico's shirt he packed. He grabbed the coin and threw it into the water.

"Oh, goddess Iris," he recited. "Please accept this offering and show me Will Solace."

The rainbow shimmered and in its place was the beautiful face of Nico's boyfriend. He was sitting with his back against a bed and a book under his nose. Sounds of the other demigods were heard in the background but Will was staring intensely at his textbook.

"Hey, Sunshine," Nico called to his boyfriend, a smile lighting up his face.

Will's eyes shot up to meet Nico's though the blurry IM, "Neeks!"

"Nico?" someone asked.

Soon Piper, Jason, Percy, Annabeth, and Leo were crowded into the screen of the Iris message.

"What's up Death man?" Leo asked.

"I got a new quest from my dad," Nico explained with a sigh.

Piper's face contorted in confusion, "at six in the morning?"

"I was actually summoned at one."

"Well, what is it?" Jason inquired.

Nico went into an explanation of the last . . . five minutes? Five hours? Whatever, he wasn't told not to tell his friends so he told them about the wizards and his job to go to a school to babysit other seventeen-year-olds.

"So, I won't see you for a few months," Nico concluded his story.

His friends were staring at him like he told them Zeus was abstinent. Leo was even hanging off the bed behind Will's head.

"Woah," Jason wowed from his spot on the floor.

"Are you sure you don't want help?" Percy offered, perched on the bed.

Annabeth bent down from her spot on the bed and picked up a small book and hit her boyfriend over the head.

"Oops, sorry," Percy apologized, rubbing the side of his head.

Nico laughed, "Yeah, you've done enough Percy. Even if Annabeth would let you go, I wouldn't."

"Aw, you do care Death Breath," he whispered lovingly with a hand on his heart.

"Still not my type Waterboy," Nico told him with an eyeroll. It was his one leverage against him to end a conversation.

"Are you going to be okay," Will asked, his caring face closer to the message than anyone else's.

"I'll be fine, Will," Nico told him earnestly. He was going to school, how dangerous could it get?

Will still looked worried but suddenly Leo pounced on top of him, blocking everyone's face except his own.

"Bring me back a souvenir!" Leo yelled to him.

"Will do, Valdez," Nico said, sighing to hide a laugh.

Green fire suddenly enveloped Nico's body for the second time that day and he could hear the screams of his friends on the other side of the IM. His ten minutes were up.

"See you later," Nico called to them reassuringly before the world before him disappeared.

When Nico could see again, he found he was in some sort of office. There were many things pushed to the edges of the room and a phoenix was sleeping in a cage to his right. It looked a bit like a hoarder's house to Nico but that wasn't the strangest past. He looked at the walls and noticed that all of the paintings of old people's faces and bodies were . . . moving. Nope, that wasn't weird at all.

"You must be Nicolo," a voice greeted a person in front of him who Nico hadn't noticed before.

He focused on the center of the room where a very old looking man was sitting at a fancy desk under a chandelier. He had long white hair and fair skin with wrinkles along with old man freckles dotting his face. Half moon glasses decorated his blue eyes and he seemed to be wearing a white robe of some sorts. He seemed to be a thousand years old and Nico couldn't decide if that made him wise or crazy.

"It's Nico," Nico corrected kindly, moving his attention from the staring panting to the old man.

"My apologies, I am Albus Dumbledor," the man told him with twinkling eyes. "Please, take a seat."

Nico looked warily at the chair that was across from the man. He didn't know if he could trust him or how much he knew about Nico and his world. He knew his name at least so Hecate must have told him something.

He walked over to the seat and sat down, staring at the man with a face he painted of curiosity and wonder, creating a character as to not show his suspicions.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Dumbledor greeted, gesturing with only one arm in the room. "I am the headmaster and I apologize about the state of the place.

"Nice to meet you, sir," Nico greeted politely. "No need to apologize, you must be very busy."

Dumbledor smiled and it seemed light enough but there was an undertone of something else underneath, something more sinister. The years he had lived had taken a toll on him and he seemed to find Nico's presence . . . interesting. And not in a curious way but in a way that made you feel like a rat in a science lab.

"I have been told you are a very special wizard," Dumbledore said, leaning towards him. "You are from America, correct?"

"Yes," Nico confirmed, unsure what he was getting at.

"You have never done magic before?"

"Not on purpose."

"And do you have a wand?"

Nico realized that he didn't. How could Hecate forget that!

"No," Nico replied shyly.

"Well, I was told to give this to you by your teacher." The old man brought out a box and set it on the desktop, but Nico wasn't looking at it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the man's hand was black with decay, like it would crumble away at any moment.

"Nico." Nico looked up at the man and focused back into their conversation, putting the hand out of mind.

"What were you saying, sir?" Nico asked.

Dumbledore smiled a twinkling smile. "I was asking if you would you would like this box?"

Nico nodded and took the box off the desk. He rested it in his lap and opened the top. Inside was a dark brown wand, if it were a few shades darker it would be black. It was about 10 inches and had dark carvings swirling around it and up to the point like some kind of wooden unicorn horn.

"You have never held a wand before?" the old man asked.

"No," Nico responded, holding the stick in his hands. It vibrated in his hand and he could almost feel all of the shadows in the room. "I didn't get to do much magic before. I didn't even know I was a wizard until a few hours ago."

It was all a lie of course, but Nico had gotten good at lying quickly and easily.

"How come you aren't schooling in America?" Dumbledore asked, clearly curious about Nico's 'specialness'.

Nico set the box on the ground before answering the question. "In America there are no boarding schools and I don't have any family to stay with so . . ."

Dumbledore looked like he was going to ask about his parents but thankfully someone came through the door behind them.

"Ah, Severus," Dumbledore greeted with a smile.

Nico turned to see a man in black robes and greasy hair walk towards them with a stride like a racehorse.

"The children are here," he said in a nasally voice that was said slowly as if his mouth was full of honey.

"Thank you. I'll send Nico with you to see he gets to his proper place."

He gestured to the greasy man and Nico got up from his chair with a quick bow before following the pale man out of the room.

Severus led Nico out the door of the office where there were winding steps down to a big hallway. They walked through many hallways and down many stairs that actually moved under their feet and saw more people moving in paintings, until they reached a small corridor with a door three times Nico's height at least.

"Wait here," the man snarled. "We'll sort the first years and when you hear your name called, you will walk out and put the hat on."

"Put the what?" Nico asked, but Severus was gone.

Many minutes passed and Nico could hear the muffled noise of people entering the room on the other side of the door. After a few minutes of voices chatting and something like chairs scraping the floor, more footsteps were heard except unlike the ones before, these ones were lighter. Probably younger children.

The footsteps came closer to where Nico waited than the ones of the older kids, stopping a couple of feet away by the sound of it. A hush fell in the room before someone was singing. They sang about coming together to defeat evil and four houses called Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Gryffindor. According to the song, Hufflepuff was for the hard-working, loyal, and fair. Ravenclaw was for the smart and wisdom seekers. Slytherin for the resourceful, ambitious, and cunning. And Gryffindor was for the brave, determined and courageous.

Nico had known that schools in Europe had houses so it didn't surprise him that Hogwarts did too. If he had to guess where he would end up, he'd say Slytherin. Most people wouldn't refer to him as 'smart' or 'loyal' or 'courageous', except maybe Jason.

After the song ended, a woman's voice started calling out names. She must've been calling them by their last name first because no one's first name was "Hughes". After a name was called there would be silence before a voice similar to the singing one would call out one of the houses and the room would cheer. From the sound of it, Slytherin was closest to him, then Ravenclaw, then Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor on the other end.

Once all the names must have been called, someone very close to Nico's door stood up and everything went silent.

"Now, we have something a little different this year," Dumbledor's voice, muffled but distinct, called to the room. "We have a new student that is joining our sixth years. He is an exchange student from America so I hope you will treat him with the utmost respect while he is with us. Please welcome, Nico di Angelo."

If he hadn't been trying to stay undercover, Nico would have shadow traveled into the room and made a scene starring him. But, no "Underworldy" magic according to Hecate so he just opened the doors and walked in like a normal person.

He came in behind what looked like a staff table and stretched out in front of him were thousands of kids in black robes sitting on benches by tables. He could see that his guess was right about who sat where which was a bit reassuring but with everyone staring he was getting nervous. Not wanting to make eye contact with anyone, Nico focused on the ceiling, not staring at it, but seeing it out of the corner of his eye. There were candles floating and the ceiling looked like it was open to the sky.

Nico walked past the table of peering adults and walked to a lady he assumed he was supposed to go to. She looked pretty old and wore green robes and was also holding a rolled up piece of paper under her arm.. He walked up to a witch and she gestured for him to sit down on a stool that had a hat on it.

He gave her a questioning look, but picked up the hat and sat. He gave the witch next to him one last look before placing that hat on his head. Somehow, it covered his eyes and he was placed in darkness that wasn't very comforting since he could feel the eyes that were still on him.

"Hello," a voice said in his mind.

Nico almost flinched but refrained so as not to cause any panic, "what the-"

"I am the Sorting Hat," the voice said. "I will be sorting you into your house."

So the wizards decide their houses via a talking hat, Nico thought. Lovely.

"Could you explain how this sorting and house stuff works?" Nico asked hopefully.

"Ah, yes. I see you are Italian but you've lived in America so here's how it works, I will yell out a name and the witch next to you, Professor McGonagall, will gesture to one of the four tables who are probably cheering the loudest, and you will take a seat there. The students can tell you everything else you need."

"Okay."

"Good. Now I'll take a look inside this brain of yours."

"Could you not actually?"

"No. It's mandatory."

"Well, can you not look at anything too personal?"

"I can try."

There was silence for a minute and Nico felt himself tense as he imagined the hat seeing his memories.

"Ah," the hat finally said. "I see a lot of loyalty to those close to you. You also take in much information from the world, very wise and smart indeed. Your cunning is definitely shown in your many battles and you are always resourceful. Your courage and bravery to save your friends without a second thought is very prominent. You could very well fit into every house but that is not an option so I know just where to put you."

"Thanks." Nico told him.

"No problem," the hat responded.

"Gryffindor!" The hat said out loud and there was a big round of applause as the hat was lifted from his eyes and was met with the cheers of many students.

Nico looked to the witch, McGonagall, and she gestured to a table with a red and gold banner above it who were definitely cheering louder than any other table. He walked down the steps to the tables and took a seat next to a curly brown haired girl who was smiling at him warmly. Her skin was white and eyes brown like her hair, giving her a warm feeling. She had the eyes of a child of Athena, filled with knowledge and the hunger for wisdom. It confused Nico why she was at the Gryffindor table and not Ravenclaw's.

"Hi," she greeted, holding out a hand. "I'm Hermione Granger."

"Hello." Nico shook her hand. "Nico di Angelo."

"Now," the Headmaster's voice quieted the cheers and all eyes turned to him including Nico's. "I believe it is time to eat."

In front of Nico, the whole table shimmered and food appeared magically on top of it. It reminded him of the camp's goblets that filled with whatever drink anyone wished.

"Thank Merlin!" a red haired boy next to Hermione cried. He quickly grabbed plates of food and dumped them onto his personal plate.

"Ron," Hermione scolded, swatting his arm.

"What?" the red head, Ron, complained.

So those were the two he was supposed to watch. They seemed easy enough. The only question was where was Harry?

He didn't have the energy to think about that now. Instead, Nico looked at the food in front of him and hesitantly grabbed some mashed potatoes and chicken. He had been working with Mr. D on expanding his diet by mass and he had a good, full meal most days, but being in a foreign place with people he didn't know made his stomach churn and his appetite dissapear.

"So," Hermione asked, looking at him as he choked down a bit of green beans. "What's magic in America like?"

Nico swallowed his food, using the silence to think of an answer. "Well, we don't really do much magic in America. Government doesn't like it."

Hermione frowned, "aren't there schools there?"

"Yes," Nico answered. As far as he knew, there were no wizards in America at all, but she could believe whatever she wanted. "They're pretty underground or have tight rules. Not really my style."

Hermione nodded. Suddenly, a giant door at the end of the room opened and Nico turned to see a boy with black hair, much like his own, walking in a stomp over to the Gryffindor table and collapsing into a spot in-between Ron and Hermione.

"Where've you-" Ron started to ask, but then he cut himself off when he looked at the boy's face. "Blimey, what've you done to your face?"

Nico leaned forward to see and was unimpressed. The guy's face was covered in dry blood from what seemed to be a nosebleed but Nico could see no injury except an old looking scar on his forehead. Of course a mortal would think an injury that mild was bad, but Nico had been in wars and helped out Will in the infirmary so he'd seen a lot.

"Why, what's wrong with it?" the bloody boy asked. He picked up a spoon and examined himself in the reflection, gasping at what he saw.

"You're covered in blood!" Hermione cried, stating the obvious. "Come here-"

The witch took out a brown stick, that was probably her wand, and said "Tergeo!" The black haired boy's blood dissolved and left a clean pale face beneath it.

"Thanks," he said gratefully, touching his newly washed face. "How's my nose looking?"

"Normal," Hermione told him anxiously. "Why shouldn't it? Harry, what happened? We've been terrified!"

"I'll tell you later," the boy said curtly.

"But-" Hermione protested.

"Not now, Hermione," Harry said a little darkly. He looked over to Hermione and gave her a look, but that's when he saw Nico.

"Who are you?" he asked rather rudely.

"I'm Nico. Nico di Angelo," he added quickly as he remembered he was in the UK and people usually call others by their last names.

Harry looked at him weirdly. "Are you American?"

"Technically, I'm Italian. But yes I'm an exchange student from America," Nico replied, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

Harry nodded, looking him up and down like he was trying to see through him, and then turned back to his friends.

Nico was prepared to eavesdrop on their conversation but a body suddenly shouldered into his, and he had to try to not fall over on the impact.

"Hi!" a cheerful brunette said, squeezing in next to him, a few of her friends took the opposite side.

"Hi," Nico said politely, scooching away from her as much as he could.

"So, you're American?" a blonde girl across from him asked, leaning towards him and twirling her fingers in her hair.

"Yeah," Nico replied dryly, trying to choke down a small spoonful of mashed potatoes so he had an excuse to not talk to them.

"You don't sound really American," another girl, short brown hair and shyer than the other two, pointed out.

"Yeah, I was born in Italy."

"Wow," the brunette next to him gasped. "That's so cool! So you speak Italian?"

"Yeah."

"Say something!"

Nico thought for a moment. "Lasciami in pace. Sono gay."

The girls giggled, unaware of what I had just told them.

"So. . ." the blonde girl across from him asked. "Do you usually live with your parents?"

"My parents are dead," he deadpanned (joke unintended).

"Oh no!" The brunette touched his arm and Nico filched and fought the urge to break her wrist. "I'm so sorry!"

He wiggled his arm away from her reach before responding, "yeah, I guess. . ."

"The best of evenings to you!" Dumbledor's voice echoed through the room. He was standing up at the staff table, arms wide in a big hugging motion. It would have been welcoming except for the fact that the headmaster seemed to forget one of his hands was decaying.

There was a gasp from behind and Nico heard Hermione whisper, "What happened to his arm?"

Whispers and murmurs flitted through the hall, Nico kept his eyes trained on Dumbledore, not disturbed by the black hand. As Nico was fixed on Dumbledor, he felt something on top of his foot under the table. He glanced over and saw the blonde girl smiling cheekily at him. He inwardly groaned and ignored the contact, moving his foot closer to himself and fixed his eyes back on the headmaster.

"Nothing to worry about," the Headmaster told them airily and shook his purple sleeved robe over the decaying hand. "Now. . . to our new students, welcome, to our old students, welcome back! Another year full of magical-"

Something touched his foot again, and Nico could now feel the girl tapping it gently. He hated contact, he was gay, and he was taken so his anger and annoyance was bubbling. It took all of his willpower to not snap at the girl or dislocate her kneecap. Nico kept bringing his foot away, but the girl didn't get the hint and kept sliding closer to him, almost falling off her seat. He couldn't even hear Dumbledor's speech because his heart was pounding his ears, begging him to slip into his instincts and do something rash.

"-let us therefore say good night. Pip pip!" Dumbledor finished his speech and was ready to bolt out of the room.

The food vanished from all the plates, and Nico was about to get up and wander the halls until somebody helped him find his room, but the girls weren't going to give up so easily.

"We'll show you to the common room!" The girl next to him squealed.

Nico was fully prepared to throw hands, and knives, when Hermione piped up behind him.

"We prefects will show him," she told the annoying girls and made a shoo-ing gesture towards them.

The girls gave her a dirty look and Nico one last smile and wave before scurrying off.

"Thank you," Nico told her sincerely.

"No problem," she replied with a smile. "Ron and I will show you to the common room."

***

Ron, Harry, and Hermione walked with him through the labyrinth of a school until they got to a portrait of a beautiful lady.

"Password," the lady said.

"Mimbulus mimbletonia," Hermoine said to the woman.

The portrait woman nodded and swung open to reveal a hole in the wall. Ron, Harry, and Hermione walked over to the hole and climbed through so Nico followed and did the same.

Going through the portrait hole was an intense experience for Nico, since his heart hammered and his legs shook as he crawled through the tiny tunnel. Eventually, he fell out into a cozy looking room filled with people and couches. There was a fire place where two couches, a comfy chair, a table, and a rug were placed around it. More chairs and tables and other furniture were placed behind them, and there was definitely a color scheme of red and gold.

"I'm going to unpack my things," Hermione told them and turned to one of the two staircases across the room and climbed up them, leaving Nico with Ron and Harry.

"I'd like to unpack too," Nico told them.

"Alright mate," Ron beckoned Nico over to the other set of stairs. "We'll show you our room.

Ron seemed chill, leading him up the stairs and answering a few conversational questions, which Nico appreciated since he was one of the three kids he was watching. Harry, on the other hand, kept giving him looks like he was watching a prisoner who was being escorted to the lunch hall. Having received those kinds of looks before, Nico didn't care too much, but it reminded him of when he wasn't seen as a hero or friend. He had gone to two camps and a few schools in his time and everywhere he went it was like he had to prove he wasn't bad.

"This is the room," Ron told him, gesturing to the door in front of us. "I'm not sure if you'll have a bed though now that I think about it."

"That's alright," Nico said. "If there isn't one I'll just sleep on the couch."

"Why would you sleep on the couch?" Harry asked invasively. "Why not the floor of the room?"

Nico gave him a questiong look. "Do you want to sleep on the ground?"

"I slept in a cupboard under a set of stairs for eleven years."

Nico was going to ask why, but instead he blurted, "Well, I lived in the streets since I was ten, so no, I don't wish to sleep on the ground anymore."

Harry looked at Ron but the redhead just shrugged. He opened the door and Harry and Nico's debate seemed to be over nothing because there were six beds inside, double the amount they needed.

"Wow," Nico said, stepping across the threshold and into the room. "They brought three extra beds?"

"No," Harry corrected. "We have three other roommates."

Nico froze. Roommates? He had never had a roommate before, except when Hazel stayed at the Hades cabin once and Will sleeping over didn't really count. It wasn't against people (although Nico hated that too) he just usually has nightmares that wake him up in a cold sweat and most of the time he screams. How could he not blow his cover now?

"We'll be in the common room if you need anything, mate," Ron told him, one hand in his robe pocket. He really wasn't looking forward to wearing those.

"Alright, thanks," Nico replied.

Harry and Ron left the room, closing the door behind them. Nico walked to a bed that had his duffle bag next to it, courtesy of Hecate he presumed, and sat down on it. It was a four poster bed and he noticed that there were curtains around it. Maybe he would get at least a bit of privacy. Perhaps there was a soundproofing spell of something that could save his roommates from being woken by his screams. He'd have to ask Hermione.

Nico bent down and dug through his bag until he brought out his IM machine. He took out a golden drachma and turned it on. Water sprayed and despite the bad lighting of the room, the crystal created a rainbow in the air. He said the usual words and the rainbow shimmered.

"Hey sunshine," Nico said and the blonde boy on the other side of the message, who was once again reading, jumped.

"Nico!" he exclaimed, half in fear and half in excitement. "How is it going in the UK?"

"Good," Nico sighed. "Two of the kids I'm watching are pretty nice, but one of them doesn't like me very much."

"Wonder why," Will thought playfully.

"Hey!" Nico exclaimed.

"What? You're not exactly Mr. Friendly."

Nico could come up with a response to that, so he changed the subject.

"Why are you awake at, like, 1am?"

"How would I not?" Will sighed. Med school was hard on Nico's boyfriend and he seemed to always have something he had to do for school.

"Med school is not good for your health," he informed Nico.

"How is med school hard for you? You're a child of the medicine god."

"That doesn't mean I'm good at writing essays."

Nico scoffed, "fair enough."

The door to the room opened and Nico quickly hid the machine and Will behind his back.

"Nico?" Hermione asked, walking into the room.

"Yeah," he responded, shifting on the bed.

"Oh, hi," she said a little awkwardly. "I was wondering if you wanted to play a game with me, Ron, Harry, and some other Gryffindors. Not those girls though."

"Alright," Nico agreed. "I'll meet you down there."

Hermione smiled and left. Nico brought Will back out and he seemed to be filled with questions.

"That was Hermione," Nico explained. "She's one of the people I'm watching."

Will nodded in understanding. "Who are the 'girls'?"

Nico felt his face flush with annoyance and embarrassment. "Some annoying girls who don't speak Italian."

He laughed and Nico felt his face go hotter.

"Okay, I have to go," Nico told him. "And you need to get some sleep."

"Alright," Will sighed, calming down. "I'll see you later, Neeks."

Nico and Will both wiped away the IM and Nico flopped down on his bed. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, thinking of Will and how nice it would be when he finally saw him again. After a minute to himself, he stuffed his IM machine back into his bag, and mentally prepared himself to spend another hour with people.

Chapter Text

Nico played a fascinating game called Exploding Snap for a good few hours with Ron, Harry, Hermione, his three other roommates; Nevil, Dean, and Seamus, along with multiple other Gryffindors. Nico found that most of the other kids were okay and by the time they decided it was time to go to bed, he had maybe even made some good acquaintances.

Right before he went up to his room, he grabbed Hermione's arm.

"Hey, do you know of a, like, soundproofing spell?" he asked nervously. Please don't ask questions

"Oh yeah, those boys are incredibly noisy," Hermione nodded. "Just give your wand a wave and say muffliato."

"Thank you so much, Hermione," Nico told her gratefully.

"No problem," she replied with a smile.

Nico did as Hermione said that night and thank the gods he did because his brain didn't like being moved to a different country without warning, so it sent him a nice batch of trauma memories.

He woke up screaming but at least he woke up at all because as he woozily looked outside his bed curtains to see if he woke up his roommates, he saw that Harry, Ron, and Neville were already gone and Seamus and Dean were finishing getting dressed.

"What time is it?" Nico asked tiredly.

"Time for breakfast,' Dean responded.

Nico slapped his hand to his face. Scotland was five hours ahead of New York.

He jumped out of bed and quickly threw on his white button up, black pants, red and gold tie, and robe before stuffing his wand in his pocket and following Dean and Seamus to the Great Hall.

The three of them walked in and sat across from Harry, Ron, and Hermione who were whispering as usual.

They ate and talked about random things like classes and spells, until the food disappeared with a poof. No one had gotten up from any of the tables when the food was gone, so Nico stayed put in his seat, waiting for an announcement or something as an explanation as to why he couldn't get a move on.

Professor McGonagall started walking towards them and handed out papers to each student. He didn't really care what that was all about so he decided his time was better used thinking about his plan on how to get Harry to like him until the professor came to him.

Unfortunately, that came much too soon.

"Mr. Angelo," Professor McGonagall said in her stern voice.

"Di Angelo," Nico corrected.

"My apologies," she replied. "Mr. di Angelo, you have not taken any O.W.L.s, I see?"

"No, ma'am," Nico answered, wondering why he would take any owls.

"We'll put you in the necessary classes then and you can pick up any extra classes you want if you can keep up." She handed him a paper and continued down the line.

Nico looked at the page and realized he was in big trouble. The font on the paper was like a stab to his dyslexic eyes. He would spend a whole class period just trying to read what his next class was.

"Hey," Nico snapped at Hermione, trying to get her attention.

She looked up at him and he asked, "Can you read this for me?"

Hermione gave him a weird look. "You can't read?"

"I have dyslexia," he explained.

Hermione's eyes went wide and her cheeks flushed. "I'm so sorry! Yeah, I can read it for you. Actually, I can show you to the rooms too. Ron and Harry will help aswell."

"Huh?" Ron asked, looking up between her and Nico.

"You're going to help Nico with his schedule," Hermione told him.

"Can't he read?" he asked.

" No actually," Nico told him, unable to hold back his sass. "I have dyslexia,"

"Was' 'at?"

"It's just really difficult to read things especially with this stupid ass calligraphy."

Ron choked on a laugh and Harry gave him a look out of the corner of his eyes.

"Don't worry," Ron told him, trying and failing to hide a smile. "We'll show you around."

The first hour they all had free time, so the trio went back to the common room with Nico trailing a few steps behind, trying to memorize the path they were taking so he could do it on his own some day.

As they neared the portrait, Harry said something to Ron and Hermione and then stopped walking to wait for Nico to catch up to him. Ron and Hermione threw a glance back before crawling through the portrait hole without them.

"Hey," Nico greeted when he came into step with the other boy.

"Follow me," was all Harry said before walking so fast down another hallway that Nico had to almost jog to keep up.

Of course he was confused as to why Harry was leading him away from the common room, but he had nothing else to do. Nico followed him through the castle and to a more deserted part of the school where he opened a door to an empty classroom. Now Nico was really starting to question Harry's motives but he had his sword inside of his skull ring so if needed he could just spin it and kill him. Hecate would forgive him . . . probably.

He walked into the room and almost coughed at the amount of dust that covered desks and chairs that were piled in a corner.

The door shut behind him and Nico turned to see Harry looking at him, any drop of kindness from before, gone.

"What are you doing here, Death Eater?" Harry accused.

Nico had to bite his tongue so as not to laugh. "W-what?"

"I know what you are," he told him, taking a step towards him. "You're a Death Eater sent here about me."

How did he know? Did Harry know he was a demigod? Are children of Hades called Death Eaters in the magical world?

"You're working with Malfoy aren't you."

"Who is-" Nico began to ask.

"Don't lie to me!" Harry yelled, pointing an accusatory finger menacing at him. If Nico was being truthful, it was almost more intimidating than his wand.

"I'm not lying!" Nico protested, putting a face of innocents on and trying not to laugh.

Harry was almost shaking with anger. "How do I know that? Death Eaters have taken everything from me! I will not let you take my friends too."

"I-" Nico was shocked by Harry's words. They were full of anger and threat but the words themselves are what threw him off. These Death Eaters had taken things from Harry but it was much more than just possessions. No one thinks someone is going to take people away from them unless it's happened before.

"I'm so sorry," Nico told him, trying to convince him he would never put someone in that position, especially since he'd been there himself. "I would never do that to anyone, trust me. I've lost family too-"

"Save it," Harry spat. "Just stay away from my friends or else."

He then walked swifty out the door and closed it behind him with a slam. Nico let him go ahead for a few minutes before coming out of the room himself, thoughts of Harry's possible past running through his head every minute.

Since the school was a maze and he had no idea how to read his schedule, Nico was late to his first class. He was running around the second or fourth floor before he ran into someone, well, more like ran through.

"Good graces!" the voice of the ghost Nico just stumbled through exclaimed.

Nico turned to face the man, "I'm so sorry, sir!"

The man tilted his head to the side, trying to see through Nico ro something, but he went too far and his head peeled off.

"Di Imortalis!" Nico exclaimed, taking a step closer to the ghost.

"I'm fine," the ghost claimed, propping his head back into place. "It's just . . . you seem . . . different from the other children."

Nico bit his lip. He had noticed from the first day that there were ghosts around but it didn't really seem weird since he spent time both at Camp Jupiter and in the Underworld. This wouldn't normally be a problem except that Nico was the Ghost King so they were bound to find out he was a demigod and that could mean he'd tell the Headmaster who would tell the school and soon everyone would know what he was. No, he couldn't let that happen.

"Okay, I'm going to tell you something sir . . ."

"Nick," the ghost answered Nico's trailing off question. "Nearly Headless Nick."

"I'm going to tell you something Nick and you should tell the other ghosts but no one can tell any of the wizards or witches.

Nick raised an eyebrow, "Oh, okay."

"This might sound crazy," Nico braced. "But I am Nico di Angelo, demigod Son of Hades and Ghost King."

Nick gasped, "the Ghost King!"

"Yes," Nico confirmed.

"Well, I will certainly do what you say, my king," Nick told him with a bow.

"Oh, please, none of that," Nico waved away the gesture. "I'm here to protect this place and I have to be undercover."

"Alright," Nick agreed. "I will inform the other ghosts of who you are and make sure no witch of wizard ever finds out."

Nico smiled, "thanks Nick."

The ghost turned to leave but Ncio remembered something.

"Hey Nick!" Nico called him back.

"Yes, king . . . uh, I mean, uh. . ."

"Nico."

"Ah, yes, Nico."

"Do you know where the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom is?"

With the help of Nearly Headless Nick, Nico was able to imagine the floor and the door to the room and shadow traveled outside of it. He pushed open the door and saw the whole class was pointing wands at each other while the greasy man Ncio remembered was named Snape, observed their silent casting.

"Ah, Mr. Angelo," Snape greeted slowly as he saw Nico enter the room.

"It's di Angelo, sir," Nico corrected. "Sorry for being late."

The man served him, measuring him up. Nico didn't like it. The whole class was looking at him and Nico just wanted to leave. He hated staring.

"Mr. di Angelo," the man said in a commanding tone. "Do you know what a nonverbal spell is?"

"Is it a spell you don't say out loud?" Nico guessed.

"Correct," the man snarled. Why was he mad Nico got the question right? "Have you practiced them in America?"

"I never went to school in America," Nico explained.

"And why is that?"

"They didn't have boarding rooms."

"Why not live with your family."

"Cause my family's dead."

There was a silence in the room and Nico just stared defiantly at the teacher. Technically he still had Hazel, Persephone and his dad, but that guy clearly had some issues and Nico was not going to be his punching bag.

Suddenly, Nico saw the man's hand flinch and a wand was in his hands and pointed at him. Nico ducked quickly as a light of something flashed above him.

"What the fuck?" Nico exclaimed, standing to face the man who just tried to hit him with gods know what.

"Swearing," the teacher drawled. "Ten points from Gryffindor."

"What are-?" Before Nico could ask a question, he was suddenly speechless. He couldn't talk. He opened his mouth but no sound came out. His throat was tight and the room seemed to swim and the walls closed in. He turned his eyes down and heard the teacher say something he couldn't hear over the pounding of his heart.

A memory of a dream he'd had before the trip to Tartarus with Will came to his mind. He had been in the Lotus Casino and Bianca had been sleeping next to him in her Hunter's uniform. He had tried to call out to her but realized that his mouth was gone. Was that dream now coming to life?

Someone tugged his sleeve and he was yanked to the side and plopped into a chair. There was a quiet voice and Nico breathed easier suddenly. He looked up and the teacher gave him one last look before walking to the other side of the room and people were shooting spells at each other again.

"Nico," the voice whispered to him.

Nico looked up and saw Hermione above him, holding her wand in her hand.

"What happened?" he asked breathlessly.

"I had to silence you," she told him apologetically.

Nico breathed a sigh of relief that it was Hermione and not a monster.

"Get up," she said urgently. "Snape's coming."

Nico immediately stood up and brought out his wand, copying the stances the students around him took.

"Shoot a spell at me," she whispered.

"I don't know any spells!" Nico whispered back frantically.

"Nico di Angelo," Snape sneered behind him. Nico looked back and saw that Snape was watching him. "Why don't you try."

Nico gulped. He knew only one spell and had only heard a few more. Wait, some of the spells were just Latin words. He knew Latin from his time at Camp Jupiter, so maybe he could just say something.

"Wingardium Leviosa," he said and to his relief, Hermione started to float.

"These are nonverbal spells, di Angelo," Snape criticized.

Nico bit back a retort. "Sorry, sir."

Snape walked over to where Ron and Harry were practising and Nico slowly lowered back to the ground.

"Pathetic Weasley," Snape's harsh voice called behind him. Nico flinched and turned to watch him shove Ron out of the way and point his wand at Harry. "Here – let me show you –"

A spell shot out from Snape's wand and Harry yelled, "Protego!"

Snape was pushed back by the shield spell and hit into a desk. The whole class turned to watch and a few gasped in horror. Snape scowled, flicked the hair out of his eyes.

"You and di Angelo must have short term memory," Snape snapped. "Do you remember me telling you we are practicing nonverbal spells, Potter?"

"Yes," Harry replied stiffly.

"Yes, sir."

"There's no need to call me 'sir', Professor."

Nico snorted and several people gasped including Hermione. Ron, Dean, and Seamus grinned appreciatively but Snape was now glaring at Harry. If Snape were Zeus, Harry would have been dead already.

"Detention, Potter and di Angelo. Saturday night, my office," Snape told them. "I don't take cheek from anyone. . . not even an exchange student and the chosen one."

After class, Ron complemented Harry on his comeback while Hermione scolded him. Their constant banter was getting a little repetitive so Nico hung back a bit from them, just letting them guide him through the school.

"Harry! Hey, Harry!" A voice called from behind them and Nico turned to see a boy, a little younger than himself, running towards them with a roll of parchment.

He ran right up to Harry and handed him the parchment, saying it was for him (duh) and then asking about trials for something called 'Quiet-ditch'.

"I'm not sure yet," Harry replied to the boy's question. "I'll let you know."

"Oh right. I was hoping-"

The boy kept talking but Nico didn't really pay attention. He didn't care much for the boy, but what he did care about was that this school had parchment. PARCHMENT! Why would anyone use parchment to send a message! Nico was from the 1930s and even he was appalled.

The boy walked off and Nico refocused on the trio.

"He enjoys Acid Pops?" Ron asked Harry.

"It's the password to get past the gargoyle outside his study," Harry explained in a low voice. "Ha! Snape's not going to be pleased. . . I won't be able to do his detention."

Nico rolled his eyes. Detention didn't sound too bad. He'd rather have that than a pack of werewolves or something.

Harry looked at Nico then and gave him a glare, as if to remind him of what had happened earlier and the 'agreement' they made. Harry made a mental note to ask Neville about Harry's past.

For their next break, the trio were talked in whispers by the fireplace while Nico played games and chatted with Dean, Neville, and Seamus. The boys were funny and always had some interesting game to play or a rumor they heard about anyone. Nico enjoyed listening to gossip, he and the Aphrodite cabin had gossip sessions every other Friday.

"Hey," Nico spoke up, trying to control his breathing after a good laughing fit. "What's up with Harry? What's his past like?"

The laughter of the other three boys died quickly. They all looked between themselves and then back to Nico.

"You don't know about Harry Potter?" Neville asked.

Nico shook his head.

"He's American," Dean reasoned and the other two boys nodded.

Seamus leaned in and talked so quietly that Nico had to lean in too just to hear him. "Harry's an orphan. His parents were killed by You-Know-Who himself."

"Who's that?"

"The Dark Lord? Voldemort?"

"What?!" Nico couldn't believe that story. "Why didn't he kill Harry too."

"Nobody knows!" Dean told him dramatically. "He tried to but something stopped him. The curse bounced back and You-Know-Who wasn't seen for years until last year in the Ministry. And he was only one year old!"

Nico glanced over to where Harry, Hermione, and Ron were talking. Harry had lost both of his parents when he was a baby. How many others had Voldemort taken? How many other people's lives had he ruined.

Neville looked up at a clock that was hanging on the wall, "our next classes start soon."

"Alright then," Nico sighed, standing up from his chair. "Hey, Hermione!"

He walked over to the brunette and held out his schedule. The girl took it and read his next class.

"You have potions with us," she told him, handing the paper back. "That'll start in . . ."

She looked at the clock and almost gasped. "We have to leave now or we'll be late."

Harry and Ron sluggishly stood up much Hermione's dismay and the four of them crawled out of the room.

They walked down about fifty flights of stairs until they came to a door that led underground according to Nico's limited underground senses. Hermione had told him on the way down that it was in the dungeons which was also where the Slytherins'd dorms were and Nico was confused. He'd asked why they got the basement of the whole castle and Hermione had responded, "because all evil wizards are in Slytherin". When Nico asked how many evil wizards they knew, Hermione went quiet.

"Harry," a Hufflepuff boy called to the trio as they approached the door. There were three Slytherins there as well as the boy and Nico wondered how they felt about living in a dingy dungeon.

One of them seemed a bit. . . Scared? Tired? Stressed? Nico wasn't quite sure which, but none of those things made sense for a kid only one day into the school year. He also was pale, like, really pale. His skin and blonde hair were thin and there were little bags under his eyes.

"Didn't get a chance to speak in Defense Against the Dark Arts this morning," the Hufflepuff boy continued. "Good lesson, I thought, but that Shield Charms are old hat of course, for us D.A. lads. . . And how are you, Ron -- Hermione?"

Before either of them could respond, a big man opened the door and gestured for everyone to get inside. The man greeted a Slytherin called Zabini, and Harry but mostly ignored the rest which Nico didn't really mind especially after Snape's class.

Nico walked in last and therefore got the last choice of seats. Zabini and a second Slytherin, sat next to each other and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the Hufflepuff were together, so that left Nico to sit with the Slytherin he had noticed earlier.

Nico silently sat down next to him and the boy gave him a disgusted look.

"Gryffindor," he mumbled.

"Wow, sorry a hat put me in a house you don't like," Nico whispered.

The boy seemed taken aback that Nico had responded.

"Maybe you should do the sorting next time," Nico continued as he leaned back on his chair. He didn't mean to be rude but the day had been exhausting and the jet lag was making him short tempered.

The blonde boy seemed to look at him with a bit of. . . respect? Nico again wasn't quite sure what the boy was thinking. He was good at masking emotions, just like him. Maybe he could make a friendship.

"Nico di Angelo," Nico introduced, holding out a hand.

"Draco Malfoy," he replied, taking the hand.

They gave a little shake and then turned back to the front of the class.

"Scales out everyone," the man called to the class. "And potion making kits, and don't forget your copies of Advanced Potion-Making. . . ."

"Sir?" Harry said.

The teacher walked over to Harry while Nico and Draco got out their things.

"Stupid Potter," Draco muttered as he dropped his book on the table. "Always the special attention."

"Don't like Harry?" Nico asked sarcastically.

"Why do you care? You're a Gryffindor. He's your pride and joy."

"Dude, I'm American. I don't follow these weird social rules you have here."

Draco's mouth turned up a bit like he was going to laugh.

"I don't think he likes me much," Nico told him as he positioned his scale.

Draco looked at him with curiosity, "why?"

"Not sure," Nico shrugged. "I think he thinks I'm a Death Eater or something."

The boy flinched at the word. Nico took notice but didn't address it.

"Hanging around you won't help that allegation," Nico continued.

"Why is that?" Draco asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

Nico paused for a second. He was about to tell Draco that Harry thought he was a Death Eater too, but something held him back.

"He doesn't like you much either," Nico said instead.

Draco scoffed, "the feeling is mutual."

"Now then," the teacher's voice called, addressing the class and catching Draco and Nico's attention.

He walked to the front of the class and gestured to cauldrons Nico hadn't noticed before. "I've prepared a few potions for you to have a look at, just out of interest, you know. These are the kids of things you ought to be able to make after completing your N.E.W.T.S –"

"Newts?" Nico asked himself.

"The Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test," Draco replied quietly. "The set of quizzes after O.W.L.s Ordinary Wizarding Levels."

Nico gave him a look of confusion and Draco seemed to almost crack a smile again. It seemed weird for his face, like he didn't do it a lot. Maybe he and Draco more similar than he'd thought.

"It's Veritaserum," Hermione was saying when Nico focused back on the class. "A colorless odorless potion that forces the drinker to tell the truth."

Nico's stomach churned. A truth serum? Right there in front of the class? He'd have to watch if he was drinking more carefully if it was that easy to make someone spill truths.

There was another cauldron with Polyjuice Potion that apparently makes you look like people and then the teacher pointed to a third cauldron that Nico could smell from where he sat. It smelled like blue birthday cake, Bianca and his mom's old perfume, Will's shampoo, Will's clothes, and . . . that's enough information actually.

"It's Amortentia," Hermione said quickly.

"It is indeed," the teacher confirmed. "It seems almost foolish to ask, but I assume you know what it does?"

"It's the most powerful love potion in the world!"

"Quite right! You recognize it, I suppose, by its distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen?

"And the steam rising in characteristic spirals, and it's supposed to smell different to each of us, according to what we love –"

Nico felt himself blush and Draco gave a dry chuckle.

"What?" Nico asked.

"You got a crush?" Draco asked knowingly.

"A boyfriend actually," Nico said without thinking.

Draco's eyes went wide for a second. "You're gay?"

"As gay as Hamilton."

"What?"

"Nothing. Yeah, I'm gay.'

"Cool. . ." Draco said, seeming a little unsure what to do with the information.

Nico looked back to the teacher. He realized then that he actually didn't know the name of the teacher.

"Wait, what's this teacher's name?" he asked.

"This is Professor Slughorn," Draco answered.

"You people and your weird ass names," Nico mumbled.

"What?!" Draco exclaimed quietly. "We aren't the ones who use Fahrenheit and miles."

"I didn't before! I was born in Italy!"

"I was wondering about that. You've got a bit of an accent."

"-take another five points to Gryffindor," the teacher, Slughorn said, gesturing to the middle caudron and Draco and Nico quit their chatting to actually pay attention. "Yes, it's a funny little potion, Felix Felicis. Desperately tricky to make, and disastrous to get wrong. However, if brewed correctly, as this has been, you will find that all your endeavors tend to succeed . . . at least until the effects wear off."

The class continued talking and Nico laid his head down on the table. He didn't get flashbacks or nightmares during the day, so he liked to take a nap or two every week whenever he could. He was also exhausted from the jet lag.

He was about to drift off when someone poked his shoulder. He opened his eyes and saw Draco was the one poking him.

"We're working now," he whispered.

"Ugh," Nico groaned. He looked at Draco's open book and opened it up to the same page.

He started working and found comfort with it. He seemed to know what to do without even looking at the page and he got so wrapped up in the flow of it that everything else disappeared.

"Hey," Draco pointed to Nico's potion as he added in his crushed beans. "You're supposed to cut the beans, not squash them."

Nico looked down at the book and saw that it said nothing about squashing the beans. The funny thing was that some instinct inside him told him that what he did was right.

Nico shrugged, "well, nothing I can do about it now.

After an unknown amount of time of potion making, Nico had a beautifully made potion.

"Woah," Slughorn said as he looked from Nico's potion to the one Harry had made. His looked exactly like Nico's except a step behind him so it wasn't quite done yet.

"What is your name, boy?" Slughorn asked him.

"Nico di Angelo," Nico replied.

"Could you be a relative of Maria di Angelo?"

Nico's heart stopped.

"Y-yes," Nico replied. "She was my moth- grandmother."

"Oh I loved having her in my class!" Slughorn laughed. "She was quite a joy to have around."

"She came to Hogwarts?" Nico asked.

"She didn't tell you?"

"She died when I was young."

"Oh," Slughorn patted his arm sympathetically. "What a shame."

"Yeah," Nico agreed uncomfortably.

"Well, Mr. di Angelo, you must come to one of my parties!" Slughorn smiled at him and Nico knew immediately he would do whatever he could to avoid the parties.

"Well, we have a winner," Slughorn cried. "Although Potter's is close, di Angelo finished first so here you go lad."

He handed Nico a small bottle of liquid and then dismissed the class.

"Hey, wanna study in the library tomorrow during the morning free periode?" Nico asked Draco as they packed up.

Draco looked up at him suspiciously, "you want to study with me?"

"Yeah," Nico shrugged. "Your fun."

Draco gave him a weird look and Nico assumed that he hadn't been called 'fun' a lot.

"Sure," he finally agreed.

The rest of the day was full of classes and homework. By the end of the day, Nico was exhausted but he couldn't let himself sleep until he got some of his outrageous homework done.

He plopped down on the couch of the common room and started reading one of the chapters he had to finish by Thursday.

Gryffindors came and went up and down the dorm stairs and many times he was tempted to join a game but then had to force himself to keep working. In hindsight, Nico should have asked Hecate to tell the Headmaster and teacher that he wasn't an actual student and then he would fail his mission and fail school at the same time.

It was probably midnight when his eyes threatened to close and never open until the morning. There was only Hermione, Ron, and Harry left in the common room, whispering as usual.

"See you guys tomorrow," Nico told them with a yawn.

"Good night, Nico," Hermione told him as he picked up his books and stumbled sleepily to the stairs.

"'Night mate," Ron said, equally tired.

Nico and Harry made eye contact. The boy's eyes narrowed and Nico couldn't help but wonder what was going on in his mind.

His feet led him up the staircase and he dumped all of his books by his bed before closing his curtains, casting the muffliato spell, and promptly falling asleep on top of his covers.

Chapter Text

Nico went up the stairs to his room, Harry following his every step. Once he disappeared up the spiral staircase, Harry leaned towards his friends.

"Doesn't di Angelo seem a little weird?" he asked them lowly.

Hermione shrugged and didn't look up from her paper, "he's Italian-American but other than that he seems fine. A little unsure about magic but that's not weird since he never learned it before."

"Well he was good at potions," Harry argued, wondering why Hermione couldn't see di Angelo's strangeness.

"I don't think you get to talk, Harry," Hermoine pointed out with a sigh.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "your precious "Half-Blood Prince?"

Harry rolled his eyes and ignored the comment. "What about you, Ron?"

"Hmm?" Ron asked, looking up from his book he wasn't reading. "Oh, yeah, Nico's pretty cool. Wonder if he's any good at Quidditch . . ."

Harry groaned. He'd been stepped on the face by Draco Malfoy, taken to the castle by Snape, and then found out there was a new sixth year who was from America and apparently "didn't know magic" but was as good as the Half-Blood Prince. It couldn't be a coincidence that Draco became a Death Eater and Nico di Angelo came to school at the same time. Voldemort must have sent the American to Hogwarts to spy on them. Harry was smarter than that though. Voldemort had taken his parents, Sirius, and Cedric. He wasn't taking Ron, Hermione, Seamus, Dean, Neville, or anyone else. nOt under his watch.

"I'm going to sleep," Harry decided. "I'm not getting any of this done

Ron yawned, "I'm coming too."

"Well, if you two are leaving then I'll get some sleep now too, I guess," Hermione sighed.

Hermione bid them goodnight and walked up her staircase. Harry and Ron walked up to their dorms and kept quiet for their roommates as they changed into their PJs and slipped into bed.

Harry set his glasses on the bedside table and curled to his side. He could see Nico's bed, the curtains drawn around it, and wondered why he would close them. He'd had them up the previous night too. Could he be hiding something? He couldn't find that out now. Not with Dean, Seamus, Neville, and Ron in the room. He'd investigate the next morning.

***

Harry woke to a dying scream coming from one of the beds. He jumped out of his bed and grabbed his glasses from where they were put on his nightstand, although it didn't do much good since it was still dark out. Everyone was in their beds as far as he could tell except, of course, Nico di Angelo.

Carefully and a little stealthily, Harry walked over to the new kid's bed. What was the boy doing? Was he murdering someone on the other side or the drapes?

Hesitantly, he grabbed the curtains surrounding the bed, and pulled them apart quickly to see di Angelo fully awake in his bed, except not in the way Harry had thought. He was in his bed, curled in a ball, hands on his head, and sweat visible from his exposed arms.

A gasp escaped Harry's mouth and Nico's head whipped up to look fearfully into his eyes. The scared boy's eyes were haunted, almost empty looking and his skin was paler than usual. He was panting like he'd been running but obviously hadn't moved from the bed.

"Uh," Harry stuttered, unsure what to do. "I just . . . heard you scream and . . . uh . . ."

Nico looked confused, then seemed to realize something, and dropped his head between his knees.

"I didn't do it fucking right," he whispered to himself.

"Do what?" Harry asked, a little suspicious but also just curious.

Nico didn't answer but instead uncurled and grabbed his wand from his bedside table and murmured a spell while giving his dark-wooded wand a flick. A feeling of an invisible weighted blanket fell around the small part of the room and Harry felt almost claustrophobic.

"Just a spell that makes it so you and the others don't wake up to my screams everyday," Nico told him gruffly. He sounded like he'd hadn't gotten any sleep at all.

Harry looked back towards his own bed where the blankets were still tossed aside from his sudden evacuation. He could and should go back there and fall asleep again. Should pull the blanket around him and pretend he never saw di Angelo's fragile form.

Instead of doing that though, he asked a question.

"Why did you scream?" he asked.

Nico was quiet for a moment. He seemed to consider his response which would usually make Harry think he was coming up with a lie, but the way his next words sounded pushed any thought of that away.

"Back in America . . ." he started, fidgeting with his skull ring that was always on his middle finger, "I went through a lot and . . . lost a lot of people. In dreams they come back again. Sometimes it's okay and I just watch our moments again, but sometimes they come to haunt me."

"I've been there," Harry blurted without thinking. What was he saying?

Nico looked up at him and their eyes met. The dark boy had said, in that empty classroom, that he'd lost people too, but Harry had brushed it off as a lie or half truth. Now, he wondered if Nico was actually telling the full truth. What if he was really just a boy like him who lost more in the last few years of being alive than most would in a life time?

No. Di Angelo was not his friend. He would not let Voldemort win again. He wouldn't let his kindness talk over his head. The last time he trusted someone even a little, he'd been an evil man who worked with Voldemort and got Cedric killed. No, he wouldn't see di Angelo for anything other than what he was. A Death Eater.

"Why do you wear that ring?" he asked, changing tactics to get information. "A little . . . weird, isn't it?"

Nico looked down at his skull ring, seeming to forget it was even there.

"It was one of the last gifts from my sister," he said quietly, gazing into the dead eyes of the decorated skull.

No, no, no, no, no. He was bad. He was a Death Eater. No sympathy.

"Well, night," Harry told him shortly and turned back to his bed finally. Why did he even talk for that long?

"Goodnight."

Harry almost froze at Nico's unneeded response. How could the Death Eater be so . . . nice? How could he just sit there and not be so angry at Harry for being mean, or even mad at whoever killed his sister? Harry was mad at Malfoy for picking on him, and he was obviously mad at Voldemort for killing his parents, so shouldn't Nico be angry too. It made sense, but there was no anger. Just sadness.

***

Harry watched di Angelo carefully the next day. He looked for any sign of threat, which was frustratingly hard with the boy's charming smile and infectious laugh. He went to breakfast, followed Him, Ron, and Hermione to class, did pretty well for someone who "didn't know magic", and then followed them to the next class. He seemed normal, except in History of Magic.

It was right after their break and Harry was sitting with Hermione and Ron in the back of the classroom as usual. Nothing was strange till Seamus turned around in his seat to whisper to them.

"Where's Nico?" he asked quietly as Professor Binns lectured about some sacred parchment.

Harry scanned the room and saw, to his dismay and delight, that the exchange student was nowhere to be found.

"Conspiring with Malfoy," Harry murmured under his breath triumphantly. Hermione gave him a look.

"I thought he was with you?" Hermione said, turning back to Seamus.

"He said he was going to the library for a break," Dean informed them. "Haven't seen him since."

A vague memory of Malfoy walking towards the library before break came to Harry's mind and he smiled. There was no way that was a coincidence.

He was just about to open his mouth, and tell his friends the proof of di Angelo's partnership with Malfoy, when the annoying ravenette ran into the room. He was huffing like he'd been in a marathon and his black hair looked slightly damp from sweat.

"Sorry for being late, Professor," he apologized in a breath. "I got lost."

Professor Binns looked at Nico with a mixture of shock and excitement. Then, in the blink of an eye, his usual stern face had returned and Harry could almost believe he imagined it.

"Well, at least you're here now," he told him with a sigh. "Take a seat next to Weasley, di Angelo."

The boy nodded and slipped into the seat on the other side of Ron.

"Sorry we didn't guide you, mate," Ron told him with a yawn, clearly not that bothered about it.

"That's alright," Nico whispered back with a shrug. "I wasn't hanging around you guys anyway."

"Who were you hanging around?" Harry asked. Now he could get him to confess himself.

"Madam Pince" he responded matter-of-factly.

Ron snapped his head to him and Harry's eyes were wide with wonder.

"You talked to Madam Pince?" Ron asked in bewilderment, barely being able to keep his voice down. "And she wasn't yelling at you?

Hermione scoffed. "Some people have respect for libraries and books."

Di Angelo nodded. "She is actually a nice lady. Did you know one of her sons died when he was only six? She told me she doesn't like hanging around children because they remind her of the son she could have had. It's very sad."

Ron and Harry exchanged a guilty look. They had never even considered why Madam Pince acted the way she did.

Professor Binns' lecture went on for the whole class, but to Harry's surprise, di Angelo didn't take a nap or pass notes or even play a secret game of Exploding Snap under the table with a neighbor. Somehow, he actually paid attention and took notes. He even raised his hand a few times! Harry knew right then and there that Nico di Angelo was no ordinary wizard.

After class, Harry, Ron, and Hermione grabbed their bags and started about what to do on the next break.

"Let's study in the common room," Ron suggested tiredly. "Hermione, you can tell me and Harry whatever Binns was blabbing about today."

Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head. She propped her bag on her shoulder and turned to Nico, who was collecting things into his black bag.

"You paid attention during class," she said to him. "Want to help me explain to these two idiots what his lecture was about?"

The boy smiled at her, taking his bag and starting towards the door.

"I'd love to," he said half sarcastically (he said things that way a lot), "but I have a class right now."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione paused their walking to exchanged a look.

"What class?" Harry asked.

Di Angelo paused and shrugged, "I took up Care of Magical Creatures. First class is today."

Harry gasped quietly. No one would willingly take that class. He must've had some kind of agenda.

Before Harry had the chance to threaten the little shit again, the scheming boy walked past them, calling out to a Ravenclaw girl and boy who must have been in his class.

"That American sure is something," Ron mumbled under his breath.

"No one takes Care of Magical Creatures willingly!" Harry protested for the umpteenth time to Hermione and Ron as they walked down to dinner. He hadn't seen di Angelo the rest of the day since they split after History of Magic and his suspicions were rising.

"That's not true," Hermione sighed.

"He's got an ulterior motive," He pressed.

"Listen, mate," Ron said to him as they entered the Great Hall. "I get that we've had a lot of evil people break into the school, and I'll admit, the Malfoy thing sounds like it could be true–"

"Ron!" Hermione scolded.

"–But," Ron interrupted her quickly, "di Angelo is just an American exchange student. He only found out he was a wizard a few months ago and now he's at a school in Scotland. Of course he's going to act a bit weird, he's never been here! He gets lost here if he's not with us or Dean and Seamus."

"Or maybe he acts like he's lost so he can sneak around," Harry argued.

Ron and Hermione sighed in exasperation but Harry didn't really care to notice since he'd just spotted someone at their table. Just as he had suspected, Nico di Angelo was sitting on a bench, towards the end of the hall, talking with Dean and Seamus.

'He thought he could hide forever,' Harry thought as he marched over to sit across from him. 'Thought he'd hide away from the rest of the day and I wouldn't find him and call him out.'

"Hey, di Angelo," he said cooly, sitting down across from him. Ron and Hermione took the seats on either side.

"Hey," Nico greeted, a laugh stuck in his voice from whatever Dean had just said moments before.

"How was Care of Magical Creatures?" Hermione asked, genuinely interested.

Nico's eyes lit up and he looked like a little twelve-year-old.

"It was amazing!" he told them, eyes sparkling. "There were these worm things that are like hedgehogs and could roll up into a ball. Apparently, they were used last class so I didn't get to look at them much. Then we got to ride a weird bunny-rhino-horse thing which was crazy! Only me, Hannah, Jake, and Summer got to ride it though, since Collin upset it and it ran off into the Forbidden Forest. After that we got to pet these skeletal horses and–"

"Skeletal horses?" Harry jumped in.

"Yeah!" Nico replied happily, like skeletal horses were the most adorable creatures to walk the earth.

"You mean Thestrals?" Harry corrected suspiciously.

"Oh yeah! I forget what a lot of things are called here. You guys have weird names."

Ron, Dead, and Seamus burst out laughing and Harry could see even Hermione was trying to hide a smile.

Annoyed, Harry leaned forward and looked the exchange student right in the eye. "Only people who have seen death can see them."

Nico faltered for a moment, the light in his eyes extinguished.

"Well, it makes sense," he muttered to himself, shifting in his seat.

"So you have killed someone!" Harry exclaimed, making a few gryffindor eyes turn to them.

"What?" Nico asked, flabbergasted. "I've never killed anyone! Well, not directly. There was this one annoying guy . . ."

"Then how did you see them?" Harry asked smugly.

A faraway look came to Nico's eyes and the dark irises were reflecting Harry's own face.

"I've seen Death take many people away from me," he whispered.

"What? Like your sister?"

Anger and fury and regret all swarmed the boy's eyes as he looked deep into Harry's like he was reading his soul. Harry had meant it as a genuine question but the sister seemed to be a touchy subject for him.

The American looked him straight in the eyes and said darkly, "no."

"I . . . I think you're lying," Harry said, not as confident as before.

"How can you see them?" Nico fired at him. "You knew exactly what they were. And don't give me bullshit about reading about them, cause you read less than I do, and I have an actual reason for it."

Harry stuttered. He had a point. Harry had never killed anyone, and he could see the Thestrals. He had forgotten that fact, got too wrapped up in accusations.

Nico finally broke eye contact and stood up from the table. He gave Harry one last look before walking out straight of the Great Hall before dinner was even surved.

"What was that for, Harry?" Dean asked.

Harry could find the words to defend himself.

***

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting on their couch in the common room, trying to do homework except Harry couldn't because his mind was filled with Nico di Angelo.

"I can't do this right now," Harry sighed. "I'll see you guys in the morning."

Ron and Hermione wished him a goodnight and he walked up the stairs to his room. He couldn't stop thinking about the boy and his sister and the words "I've seen Death take many people away from me." What did he mean? How much had he been through? Not as much as Harry, surely.

He put his hand and the dark doorknob, almost not seeing it in the shadows the torch behind him didn't reach. He was going to open it when he heard hushed voices talking on the other side of the wood. Neville was asleep and Ron, Dean, and Seamus were still in the common room. The only one left was di Angelo.

Sensing a perfect time to get more information on the mysterious exchange student, Harry leaned his head carefully on the door.

"He just doesn't know," a voice that was definitely Nico said.

"But that doesn't give him the right to talk about Bianca!" argued a boy who Harry did not recognize. His voice was deeper than anyone in his year and younger. Probably a seventh year.

"Shh!" Nico shushed. "Neville is sleeping."

"Yo! Neville!" a funny sounding voice said loudly.

"Shut up, Leo! Do you want my mission busted?" Nico paused. "Wait. I think someone's listening."

There was a creak of a bed and Harry back tracked a few steps away from the door quickly. He stumbled down to where the torch lit up his whole body and waited for Nico to open the door and yell at him for eavesdropping. It never did.

Slowly, he crept back up and listened again.

"-anything stupid," a girl who sounded older, but a lot like Hermione, said sternly.

"Will do," Nico replied with a slight laugh.

"Love you, Neeks," a boy around his own age with a honey voice told him.

"Love you, Sunshine," Nico responded with a voice so tender and loving Harry almost thought it was someone else.

The conversation was over, and Harry opened the door cautiously. Nico was there, sitting on his bed, fiddling with a chocolate frog card. He looked like he'd been there the whole time but Harry knew he heard that conversation.

The strange boy looked over at Harry's entrance and sat up when he saw him.

"Hey," Nico said quietly.

Harry didn't respond. He wanted to accuse Nico of talking to whoever he talked to, but something stopped him.

"I . . . wanted to apologize," the other boy said in the silence. "I shouldn't have gotten angry at you."

Now Harry was angry. How could di Angelo be so forgiving? He was mean. He was a killer. He was a Death Eater! Harry knew it! Right . . .?

Despite all the anger and frustration, Harry just said, "thanks."

Apparently not looking for an apology himself, Nico nodded and closed his curtains. Harry walked over to his bed and pulled out his pajamas from his trunk. Neither said another word to each other as Harry got ready for bed, and put his glasses on his nightstand, before siding into the covers.

As he settled into bed, Harry heard a muffled spell being cast and as much as he would have liked to believe it was an evil spell, couldn't stop thinking about Nico's screams that morning and how even though he wouldn't be able to hear them, they'd still be there, terrifying and sad.

When Harry closed his eyes to drift off to sleep, he remembered his own nightmarish dreams. Was that what Nico's dreams were like? No. His brain needed to shut up and face the facts that Nico was working for Voldemort and he was evil. Those were the facts. Right . . .?

Chapter Text

The next few days for Nico and the trio were full of homework and classes.

Even though he'd never done any magic before, Nico found he was doing just as well as Harry and Ron in most of his classes. A lot of spells were just Latin words, potions was something that just came to him supposedly by his mom, and he did a ton of paperwork for his dad so writing homework was pretty easy.

"Are you going to try out?" Dean asked.

Nico looked up from the book he was trying to read at the breakfast table. "Try out for what?"

"For the Quidditch team," Dean explained, taking another sausage.

"What's Quidditch?" asked Nico as he set his book down.

"You don't have Quidditch in America?" Seamus asked, his words muffled and slurred by the scrambled eggs crammed inside.

"Nope." Nico shook his head.

Dean and Seamus went on to excitedly explain the game of Quidditch to him. There were balls and hoops that made Nico think of basketball at first. It seemed like the only sport they had at the school and it sounded fun enough, but as soon as they had mentioned that everyone flew on broomsticks though, he had already made his decision.

"Yeah, no," Nico told them, when they finished.

"What?" Seamus complained, "Why not?"

Nico picked up his book, "I don't do well with heights,"

"You should at least try," Dean begged. "Here, we have a free period now so let's go outside and use one of the school brooms!"

Despite his protests Nico was then dragged out of the Great Hall and out onto the school grounds. He tried to tell them that he would literally be shot out of the sky if he ever tried, but Dean and Seamus didn't get the hint. They walked to the Quidditch pitch and Seamus grabbed a school broom from a room and handed it to Nico.

Nico took the broom and just held it in his hands. "This is the most stereotypical wizard thing I've ever done."

"Give it a go," Dean encouraged, practically bouncing on his feet.

Nico put one leg over the broomstick and held onto it for dear life. He really should have prayed to Zeus before this.

"Push off the ground," Seamus explained.

Nico took a deep breath and pushed off the ground lightly and suddenly, the ground was gone.

Wind whipped Nico's face and his legs felt numb as they sailed up through the air and the ground became a little smaller behind him. Students and grass flew by as Nico flew across the grounds, gaining height and soaring away from his friends.

As he zipped through the air, surprisingly not pulverised, Nico relaxed a bit into the movement of the broom. He flew above the school and shifted his weight to make circles around the towers. When flew back across the grounds, he saw Dean and Seamus smiling and waving along with a few other kids who had spotted him. They pointed at him and shouted things he couldn't hear.

Nico danced through the air and he thought it felt nice to not be tethered to the earth. He wasn't grounded to his father's palace or Gaea's body. He felt as though all the pain and worry of being on the ground had melted away. He wondered if Jason felt the same way or if he felt tethered to the air like he was the ground.

He waved to the small crowd that had formed and flew straight upwards. That's when he knew he had gone too far.

His broom climbed up and up with him clinging on to it, and as he did, he could feel a prickling sensation. Clouds started to turn dark and gathered in front of him and Nico knew he needed to get down as fast as he could.

So, as someone would naturally do when they are hundreds of feet in the air and need to get down, he let go.

In panic, he took his hands off the broom, his legs detached and gravity started to take him. The broom fell with Nico, but he was many feet farther down than it was because of his weight. He was falling back first, which was the worst way to fall, and he had no clue how close the ground was. He needed to turn around and hopefully land on his feet. He'd break a few bones but it was the best way to not die.

He tried to flip himself but gravity wasn't budging.

As he was about to accept his fate and say his goodbyes, his fall slowed. He felt himself still falling, but it felt more controlled. Not by him though, by someone else.

The broom passed him as he was slowly lowered towards the ground he still couldn't see. He reached the ground softly and he just lay there for a minute, trying to remember how breathing works and staring at the retreating storm clouds.

"Nico!" someone cried.

Over Nico's face, Dean and Seamus appeared.

"Are you alright, mate?" asked Seamus nervously, biting his lip.

"That," Nico breathed, "was so fun."

They all smiled. Dean offered a hand and Nico took it, rising back to his feet. He stumbled a second and then was almost immediately toppled again.

"Oh Nico, we were so worried!" That blonde and brunette from the first day were there, almost tackling him in a hug. Their friend was standing a bit off which Nico appreciated since he wasn't a hug person (Will, Hazel, and Jason excluded).

"Are you okay, Neeks?" the blonde asked, eyes full of something that wasn't sympathy as she looked up from her spot by his waist.

Okay, that was it for Nico. There were a certain few people who got to call him Neeks without getting hurt and these two weren't one of them.

Nico pushed the girls away with all of his strength and they stumbled backwards. He was about to tell them off, admit he was gay, kill them, or do it all at once, but a stern voice stopped him.

"Mr. di Angelo." Nico turned and saw that the few dozen kids who were outside were looking fearfully at Professor McGonagall who was marching towards him, an expression he couldn't quite read on her face.

"What was that di Angelo?" she asked when she was standing in front of him.

"Um, uh," Nico stuttered. He was going to get in trouble for pushing those girls or something?

"Have you ever flown before di Angelo?" he inquired.

"I'm sorry I– what?"

"Have you flown on a broom before?" the Professor repeated.

"N-no," Nico said, unsure what was happening.

"It's true." Dean was suddenly beside him.

"Yeah, he told us, " Seamus put in, stepping up to his other side. "That's why he was flying,"

McGonagall gave them a glance before turning her eyes back to Nico.

"Well, I'll have to talk to Potter about putting you in the team then."

Nico took a step back in surprise. "What?!"

"I will tell Mr. Potter that he must put you on the Gryffindor team," McGonagall said as if things like that happened everyday

"B-but Harry should make the team."

"I haven't seen skill like that since Potter himself," McGonagall told him earnestly. "I made his coach put him into the team when he was eleven. He will understand."

The Professor walked back across the lawn, probably to go find Harry, and Nico spun on his heel to look back at his friends.

"I- what?" he stuttered.

"You're on the team!" Dean exclaimed, jumping up and down.

Seamus and Dean crowded him into a hug and Nico could see the blonde and brunette girls glaring at him and being pulled away by their other friend. Nico flipped them off which made the blonde cry and go running. Satisfied, he closed his eyes and embraced his friends.

"So I guess we're Quidditch enemies now," Nico joked quietly to Draco who was still looking at his book.

Draco cracked one of his rare smiles as he half read his book and half listened to Nico. The two of them had taken to hanging out in the library together in free periods, Draco helping Nico read and Nico sharing his knowledge for potions and spells.

After a few weeks of hanging out, Nico knew Draco was getting worse. He had bags forming under his eyes and his face was tight with stress. He was exhausted and not taking any time to preserve himself. Nico knew this because he had seen it for years in his own reflection.

"I think I might quit the team," Draco said suddenly and quietly.

"What?" Nico had learned that quidditch was one of the few things Draco actually liked. He found it hard to believe he would want to quit without a reason.

"I just have a lot going on," he sighed, not looking at Nico.

He studied the tired boy's face that was half covered by his hair.

"You should probably sleep on that one," he told him, trying to lighten the mood.

Draco's head ducked and Nico knew he was hiding a laugh.

"Sure di Angelo."

"Back to last name bases. I'm offended, Malfoy."

"Hey, Nico." Nico turned his head and saw Hermione, Harry, and Ron walk into the library. Hermione seemed confused, Ron looked like he was watching a bull do the salsa, and Harry was grinning with a sinister glint in his eye.

"Hey, guys," Nico greeted airily. He saw Draco's face return to a mask and continue reading his book, all laughter and jokes gone.

"You are studying with Malfoy?" Ron asked like Nico was crazy.

"Yeah," Nico replied in a calm manner. "You and Harry hog Hermione so I had to find my own tutor."

Hermione blushed and Harry rolled his eyes.

'You were the one who asked me to stay away from your friends,' Nico thought with an inward scoff.

"McGonagall talked to me today," Harry told him accusatively.

"Was it about the Quidditch thing?" he asked, hand crawling up to his neck in embarrassment.

Harry bared his teeth. "Yes."

"Sorry about that," Nico apologized, embarrassed by the whole thing. "Dean and Seamus wanted me to fly and then McGonagall saw and-"

Did I ask?" Harry cut him off.

Hermione jabbed Harry in the gut so he doubled over. Satisfied, she turned back to Nico. "We're going to study in the common room if you want to join?"

"No. I'm good here," he said without hesitation. "Thanks for the offer."

The trio exchanged looks. Harry seemed to want to argue some more, but Hermione grabbed his arm and Ron, still shocked and confused, and dragged them out.

"You could have joined them," Draco said quietly once they'd disappeared. "Hermione is way smarter than me."

"Maybe," Nico shrugged. "But you're way more fun."

Draco looked up from his book and Nico gave him a smile.

***

It was the day of Quidditch tryouts and Nico was told to be there to watch his team from. So, Dean, Seamus, and he walked down to the Quidditch pitch together. Dean went to go get ready and Seamus and Nico sat on the bleachers with Hermione. She seemed a bit tense and Nico noticed that she had brought her wand. Nico didn't usually carry his wand around since he had his sword in his skull ring if he needed it. It seemed weird that she'd need her wand for Quidditch tryouts.

As the time for flying came closer, more and more people started showing up, which was good, but a good portion of them were from different houses.

"Can other houses play on our team?" he asked, confused.

"No," Seamus scoffed. "I don't know why they're here!"

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed. "He's the Chosen one. People just want to be around him."

Nico quirked an eyebrow. Chosen one? Chosen for what?

"What do you mean 'Chosen One'?" Nico asked.

"Oh! Sorry, Nico," Hermione apologized. "I forgot you don't know about Harry and You-Know-Who. Harry has been chosen to defeat Voldemort so people think he's really important."

'Oh,' Nico thought. 'That poor dude is a quester. No wonder he's paranoid.'

The tryouts were pretty eventful. Harry had yelled at some people, threatened someone, and watched others fly around the field. Many people came to watch with Hermione, Seamus, and Nico. Girls ooh and aahed over Harry, and the boys put in their bets and expectations for the team. Many were betting on a boy named Cormac McLaggen, who was trying for Keeper and saved four out of the five shots. Nico had noticed that on the last one, Hermione had had her wand out, but it probably had nothing to do with the boy zooming off in the opposite direction, so Nico kept his mouth shut.

Dean flew fairly well, he messed up a bit trying to catch the quaffle and didn't make the cut, but he was definitely second best.

At the end, it was finally Ron's turn. A girl with curly brown hair called out to him from a few seats down.

"Good luck!" she cried and Harry looked like he wanted to cringe.

Nico glanced at Hermione and she had her fist clenched around her wand. He hadn't spent a lot of time with Hermione and Ron and ninety percent of the time she's yelling at him, but he had sensed some unannounced feelings hiding there.

The trial started and Ron saved one, two, three, four, and five penalty shots, making him the best performing Keeper. Cormac seemed awfully angry about that and practically had a tantrum. Nico followed his friends down the stands and smiled as Hermione ran over to Ron. He wondered when they'd finally admit their feelings.

Nico congratulated Ron but he was quickly pulled away by Harry and them plus Hermione set off towards a hut on the school grounds. Nico shrugged and decided to walk back to the school with his new team, talking Quidditch and other things. They seemed like a solid group, Katie Bell, Ginny Weasley, and him were Chasers and Jimmy Peaks and Ritchie Coote were Beaters. They all had ideas for how to play the best and they were good at answering his questions on exact rules and things.

When they had reached the school and split up with Nico going to the Library and the rest finding places to spend their breaks, he realized that he could call them friends now too.

It was weird when Nico thought back to his first day at Hogwarts. He had planned to do his mission and go back to camp as quickly as he could. Now, only a few weeks in, he had found friends. As he walked to the library, he suddenly realized that he was going to miss the magical world. He had made a life there at the school with Draco and Dean and Seamus and even the trio sometimes. He had almost forgotten that there was a mission to do and he wasn't just going to school. He wished he could return or keep in touch with these people, but he knew that was never going to happen. He was a demigod, these were wizards. Even if Slughorn was right and his mother had gone to Hogwarts before and he was half wizard, his home was at Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupitar. But, when he did leave at the end of the year, he would remember these people and the memories he made with them all.

***

The next couple of weeks were the same as the first ones, except Nico had memorized his schedule and after a few nights of navigating the school in secret, he could find his way to all of his classes without help. Most of the classes kept him busy with homework, but he always found time to hang out with his friends and play Quidditch.

He had also been avoiding Slughorn and his 'parties'. Harry had thankfully scheduled practices on the same nights as said parties (probably because he was avoiding them too) but the Professor seemed pretty set on having Harry and Nico come.

One day, after potions, Slughorn called him over.

"Nico, my boy," the Professor smiled, making Nico feel extra uncomfortable.

"What is it, sir?" he asked politely.

"Well, I know Harry has a meeting with Dumbledor tonight, but you seem free to come to my party, don't you!" Slughorn smiled brightly, opening his arms wide like he was presenting a grand idea.

"Oh, uh," Nico actually didn't have plans that night. He had completed all homework and was going to have an extra long talk with Will and the others. He needed something and he needed to think of it fast.

"I, uh, I have detention," Nico told him.

"Oh?" Slughorn looked disappointed. "With who?"

"Snape," Nico replied. He had been avoiding Snape and his detentions by dropping Defense Against the Dark Arts all together and he didn't plan on changing that plan, but it was the only thing he thought of.

"What about Professor Snape?" A nasally voice said from behind him.

Nico straightened and he could sense now from the shadows that Professor Snape was indeed lurking behind him.

"Ah, Severus!" Slughorn called, beckoning Snape over. "Nico was just telling me that you two have detention so he'll have to miss my party."

Snape walked to stand beside Slughorn, looking down at Nico with a sneering smile. "Well, wouldn't that be a shame."

"Ah, yes it 'tis," Slughorn sighed. "Well, I'll be on my way."

Slughorn packed up his stuff and shuffled out of the room, leaving Nico and Snape staring each other down. Of course, Nico was terrified of what Snape would make him do, but he wasn't going to show it.

Keeping deadly eye contact, Snape took a step towards him. "You will come to my office at five sharp. If you are not there, I will make sure you go to the next Slughorn party myself."

To most people, they might find this as a stupid punishment. But to Nico, that was almost as bad as going through Tartarus. Again.

Nico stared daggers into the Professor's eyes. He must have seen the defeat in his silence because he smiled cruelly before walking past him and disappearing out the door.

It was four fifty-nine and Nico was outside the door, determined to knock at exactly five. Everyone else was heading to dinner and Snape must have thought that in itself was a punishment, but Nico was fine with it. He had been eating better since he got settled, but he'd lived on one pomegranate seed a day.

He checked his watch that he'd packed and waited until the second hand hit the twelve before knocking on the door three times.

It opened with a creak and Snape' looming figure stood in the doorway.

"Come in, di Angelo," he hissed and Nico stepped inside.

He had found Snape's office was in the dungeons and the room definitely looked like it. It was stone and cold and Nico wouldn't have been surprised if there were chains hanging from the ceiling.

"You will grade my papers for my class," Snape sneered.

Nico also sighed with relief. He'd done loads of paperwork for his dad and he knew the Dark Arts like the back of his hand.

Keeping his face clean of emotion, Nico walked over to where Snape was gesturing, a small table and chair stacked with paperwork. He sat down and began his work. Snape watched him for the first minute or two, then he realized that there was no point so he started rearranging his stuff, looking at books, and other things to pass the time.

At one point, when Nico was a quarter of the way through the pile, Snape seemed to see that the punishment was much of a punishment to him and took away his chair. It made the work a little harder but standing didn't bother him.

Just as Nico was finishing another fourth year's paper, Snape let out a hiss of pain. He grabbed his left forearm and Nico tried to get a peek, but he couldn't see anything except a small tattoo. Snape looked at Nico who ignored his gaze and continued to the next paper.

"I'll be back," he told him as he straightened, making Nico look up at him. "No funny business."

He swiftly left the room and Nico could feel in the shadows that he moved down the hallway of the dungeons. As much as he wanted to see what was happening, he didn't want to get in trouble and more importantly, he was too lazy to get up and follow him. Instead, he went back to his papers.

After half an hour of Snape being gone, Nico finished his detention. He thought about going back to the Gryffindor common rooms, it was probably late now and he was ready for bed.

'No funny business.'

Yeah, Snape would probably count leaving without him saying 'funny business' so that was out.

Nico stretched and stood from his chair. He turned to the drawers that lined the back wall and started opening each one. Plants, books, paper, pencils, potions, etc., nothing interesting.

Next he walked to the book shelf and read the covers. Deadly Plants and Their Life Saving Qualities, Deadly Magical Creatures, Potions 101 . . .

Ever since Nico had learned that he was a pro at potions, he had found a fascination looking through books about it. He grabbed the dusty green book off the shelf and started flipping through the pages. Only a few pages in, there was scribbled writing in the margins. Nico had always appreciated books, even if he couldn't read them, so seeing the book vandalized made him roll his eyes. He wondered what was so "important" that they had to take a pen and write it in the book. He brought the book closer to his eye but that didn't help, the letters were blurred and the swooping cursive made his eyes burn.

He decided to let it go and ignored the notes as he continued flipping through, deciphering the parts of the book that seemed important, until a certain patch of words caught his eyes. In the margins of a poison potion recipe, there were scribbled words, except these were different then the ones before because, Nico knew that handwriting. It was his mom's.

When Nico had lived with his dad after the Titan War, his dad had eventually given into his begging for more information on his mom and he brought out some old things of her's. Turns out he had really loved her, and kept grocery lists she had made and different letters she had given him. Nico had read those words over and over until they were ingrained in his brain. He'd know her handwriting anywhere.

Quickly, he flipped through the pages and found that it was full of the first person's notes and his mom's. He scanned them all until he turned to the last page and there was a note.

Dear Maria,
I know it isn't new or anything, but it has all of my edits on how to make you suck less at potions.
Happy Birthday little sis,
-Severus

Nico's jaw dropped. Slughorn had called Snape Severus earlier. Could Snape be his uncle?

Footsteps outside the door made Nico jump. He rushed to his spot in the chair, kicking his feet up to look like he'd been waiting there like a good student and made the shadows push the book back into place as Snape walked into the room.

He stopped in front of Nico, looked at the pile of completed work, and then to Nico's position in the chair.

"Can I go now?" he asked impatiently.

Snape looked sharply at him. "Can I go now . . ."

"Sir."

Snape nodded and Nico stood quickly. He grabbed his backpack and quickly walked out into the dungeon hall.

His footsteps echoed off the walls as he made his way out into the castle, his thoughts racing. Were his mother and Snape really siblings? Why did they have different last names? Did Snape change his last name? If so, then why didn't he recognize Nico's last name?

His mind was so consumed by thoughts that he didn't see Harry until he ran straight into him.

"Ow!" Harry cried as they collided.

Nico stumbled back and shook his head. "Sorry, Harry."

Harry looked up and he must have been lost in thought too, because he only then seemed to realize who Nico was.

Scoffing, he wiped off his shirt like Nico had given him cooties or something. "What are you doing at this hour, di Angelo?"

"Detention with Snape," Nico said with an eye roll.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Nico had tried to be nice to Harry but his constant sass was getting really annoying. Gods, know he knew how Zeus felt whenever Percy was around.

"You can ask him if you want," Nico offered. "Why are you out here? Are you planning to murder someone's friends?"

Harry clenched his jaw, "it's none of your business what I'm doing."

A conversation he'd had earlier came to Nico's mind.

"You were in a lesson with Dumbledor," Nico told him. Slughorn had mentioned that that was why Harry couldn't go to his party.

Harry looked taken aback. "How do you know that?"

Nico shrugged, "Probably my super evil magic."

Harry looked furious and Nico was glad that he'd finally been told off.

Without a second glance, Nico walked past him and started back towards the Gryffindor tower. He had considered going to the Forbidden Forest to practice his sword fighting, but there was too much to think about. As he walked though, he felt Harry's presence in the shadows, following him carefully, but there was another presence, Death. Not his full self, but as if there was part of him there.

When he reached the portrait of the lady that led to the hole to the common room, he said the password and looked behind him and was shocked to see that no one was there. He frowned, he could feel Harry's presence, but he couldn't see him. Deciding that he was probably just tired, he crawled through the hole and into the common room.

He arrived in the room and saw that Ron and Hermione were bickering on the couch. He had assumed that everyone would be gone, but they were probably waiting for Harry.

"Nico!" Hermione called in surprise when she saw him.

Ron turned to see him and Nico gave a little wave.

"I had detention with Snape," he explained. "Harry was just behind me and I'm going to go to bed now."

With that, Nico walked past the two and up to his room where he promptly fell onto his bed. He'd have to wake up early to call Will and the others so they wouldn't worry, but he couldn't be bothered to call them yet.

He cast his muffling spell and stripped down to his boxers before sliding under the covers and closing his eyes. That night, he didn't have nightmares. Instead his mind was full of his mother and young memories.

Chapter Text

Di Angelo was definitely up to something. First he's hanging around Malfoy, now he's having 'detention' with Snape. Harry had been able to avoid his detention so why couldn't di Angelo?

As he told Hermione and Ron about that weird interaction and him following the exchange student in his invisibility cloak, Hermione brought up a point that made Harry think harder. Nico di Aneglo was a Griffyndor, not a Slytherin. Did he bribe the hat or something to get into his house? Was he close to getting to Sytherin like Harry was and threatened the hat to put him in Gryffindor?

Hermione and Ron didn't share Harry's doubts but he knew there was something off about the boy. And one day, he'd prove it.

***

As the days went on and fall turned into winter, students had begun talking about visiting a place called Hogsmeade which almost made Nico laugh out loud the first time he heard it. Wizards were truly obsessed with pigs. Apparently, it was a town, a little walk away, that students were allowed to visit on certain weekends. There was a joke shop, a pub, a sweets shop, a cafe, and more. It sounded pretty cool.

His friends talked about it on and on until one day, there was a notice on the board that they would be able to go that weekend. Nico hadn't really wanted to go, but he remembered his promise to Leo about bringing him back a souvenir so he decided to go anyway. Who knew? Maybe it'd be fun.

Dean, Seamus, half the Gryffindor team (Katie Bell, Ginny Weasley, Jimmy Peaks, and Ritchie Coote), and Nico walked to Hogsmeade together. They were all excited to show Nico the shops and the wizarding things they had for sale. Their excitement made Nico want to bring them to camp and show them their own little shops and the big house. Travis and Connor would love tricking them and selling them things for double a reasonable price.

They walked into the snowy town and the group immediately started tugging Nico in different directions and arguing about what they'd show him first. Nico scanned the white grounds, hoping to see Draco and talk with him, but he was nowhere to be found. He was probably up at the castle working on whatever was keeping him up at night and making his eyebags deeper.

The group of friends went into many shops and Nico got all of his shopping done within twenty minutes. He grabbed a few samples of stuff from a section of Zonko's joke shop called 'Weasley's Wizard-Wheezes' for Leo. For Percy, a bag of blue candy from Honeydukes and Annabeth, a book called 'Hogwarts: a History'. Jason got a mini Quidditch pitch where you can actually make the players fly and Piper would get a box of Canary Creams. He got a few arrows for Frank that turned into ducks when shot and for Hazel, a mood necklace that actually worked. And last but not least, he bought a hat for Reyna that when she put it on, it would make only her hair go invisible.

Nico smiled at the thought of his friends opening his gifts as he stashed them in his bag. He couldn't wait to see them in person again.

The group soon got cold and Dean, Seamus, and him decided to head back up to the castle. They ate sweets as they passed the caretaker Filch, and walked back towards the common room, laughing and joking all the way.

As they passed the second floor, Nico spotted a curled figure in the darkness of the stairs. Draco.

"Hey, I'll meet you there," Nico told his friends, shooing them upstairs. They nodded, unbothered, and Nico walked over to where his friend was sitting.

Draco was folded in on himself, slightly rocking back and forth, and Nico made sure to approach him quietly.

"Draco?" He said hesitantly, not daring to touch him before he made his presence known.

Draco snapped his head up to look at him. He had tears in his wide eyes and they seemed filled with fear and despair.

"N-Nico," he said shakily. "I-I did something bad."

The blonde boy looked so scared. Nico glanced around the distorted corridor. No one was around at the moment but anyone could come at any time. They needed some place more private.

He looked around and spotted a bathroom on the other side of the floor with an 'out of order' sign attached to the front.

"Here," Nico grabbed Draco's hand and pulled him up and into the bathroom.

He pushed Draco's shaking body inside and shut the door quickly behind him, before putting the soundproofing charm Hermione taught him on the door. He locked it and took a breath.

Suddenly, Nico felt a presence in the room. A ghostly presence.

He turned to see a young ghost girl floating a few feet away. She had dark hair and glasses. Nico looked at her eyes and got a flash of a serpent in that very bathroom, and the sound of a crying girl.

The flashes often appeared when Nico looked into the eyes of a ghost, since their soul was surrounded by their death, so he tried not to have eye contact with any.

"Visitors!" the ghost girl giggled. "I don't get many of those."

A memory popped into Nico's head of a conversation with the trio. "Are you Myrtle?"

"It is me," she answered.

"Okay, I need a favor," Nico told her. "Don't tell anyone about what me and Draco are about to talk about. Oh, and that we were here at all."

"Well, alright," she agreed easily.

"Thank you," Nico breathed and then turned back to his friend. Draco was now curled up with his back to the wall, breathing still shallow.

"Hey," Nico said, crouching right in front of him. "Tell me what happened."

"I-I can't," he said shakily.

"Okay," Nico thought fast. "Put your hand on the ground."

"W-what?"

"Put your hand on the ground."

Draco dropped one hand from where it had been placed on his knee and put it shakily on the ground.

"Good. What does the floor feel like?"

"I-" Draco gulped. "It's hard and . . . and cold."

"Good. What else?"

"Um . . . it's tiled."

"Okay, now reach out to your left and touch the stall."

Draco followed Nico's directions and reached out with his other hand to touch the bathroom stall.

"Now what does that feel like?"

"Well . . . there's paint and it's a little bumpy because someone did an awful job of painting it."

Nico smiled. "Great."

He grabbed Draco's hand and placed it on his own.

"What does my hand feel like?"

"Um, it's soft and . . . really frickin' cold."

Nico laughed and Draco looked up to meet his eyes. He wasn't shaking anymore and his breathing was more even, but his eyes still held that same fear and hauntedness.

Nico let his hand drop and Draco brought his arms back around his legs.

"How do you feel?" Nico asked gently.

"Better," Draco admitted.

"Good. Now, what happened?"

Draco looked at his lap, breaking eye contact. "It's . . . not one thing. I've done so many things, Nico. Bad things. If I don't do what he says he'll. . . he'll. . ."

"Hey, it's okay," Nico told him and put a hand on Draco's knee that had creeped up to the bonde's chest, trying to show comfort but the gesture seemed to instead make the situation worse.

"No! Shit!" Draco started to fold in on himself again, his breaths speeding up and eyes becoming unfocused. "I shouldn't have told you that!"

He started fumbling around in his pockets and grabbed his wand, pointing it at him. Nico didn't need to be a wizard to know what he was going to do.

"Woah!" Nico held out a hand. "Draco, it's okay. I won't tell, I swear on the Styx."

Outside came a rumble of thunder and Nico cringed, afraid of the mount of the promise, but he knew he would say it again.

"How can I trust you?" Draco's voice was so broken. As broken as a demigod's. No mortal should ever be that broken.

Nico thought for a moment. What could he say to make Draco believe that he wouldn't tell anyone?

"I'm not a wizard," Nico said suddenly.

Draco looked confused and slightly horrified. "You're a muggle?"

"No, I'm. . . I'm something else. I have friends back in America who are like me too. They are schooling in New York and my sister is in California with her boyfriend, but we're all. . . magical. But we aren't wizards."

Draco gave him a long look, wand still out. "Why did you tell me that?"

"Because now you know something about me," Nico explained. "You can call it . . . intentional blackmail."

They sat there for a few seconds, just staring at each other, before Draco dropped his wand hand limply to the ground.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, looking away.

"It's not your fault," Nico told him softly.

"How do you know?"

Nico thought for a second. "Because you're sorry."

A silence. Not uncomfortable and with no weight, just understanding.

"We should probably head back," Nico said finally, moving to stand.

"Yeah," Draco agreed quietly.

Nico stood and held out a hand to him. Draco took it and the two of them walked out of the bathroom.

"Nico di Angelo?"

Nico turned and as soon as he saw the lean frame and green cloak of Professor McGonagall commanded the shadows and had them gently grab Draco into the wall, making him disappear and hopefully put him in his empty common room.

Great job hiding your identity, Nico

"What were you doing in Myrtle's bathroom, di Angelo?" McGonagall asked as she came closer.

"Prank," Nico shrugged.

McGonagall nodded, unfazed after years of dealing with Peeves and a pair of twins that Dean kept bringing up. Apparently Ron's older brothers, Fred and George, were big trouble makers and even owned the shop Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Since he first heard about them he was reminded of similar siblings back at camp.

"Well," McGonagall continued, "I wanted to talk to you about your classes."

Nico felt himself tense a bit. He'd thought he was doing pretty good keeping up with homework. Was he failing?

"What about them?" he asked.

McGonagall took in Nico's tense stance and smiled a bit. "It's nothing bad, di Aneglo. Quite the contrary actually."

"Oh," he could feel himself relax a bit at the news. Why did he care so much about his grades? He was going to be gone by the end of the year anyway, so there wasn't any point in keeping up.

"You have been getting top marks in all of your classes," McGonagall said, almost proudly. "We've only seen this from one other student, your friend, Hermione Granger."

Despite telling himself he didn't care about the grades, he felt his heart flutter at actually being good at something normal.

"Due to this," McGonagall continued, "I have to ask, did you actually know magic before this?"

Nico thought for a minute. Could he trust McGonagall? Tell her that he actually went to a camp for magical people? No, that was too far. But, maybe there was something she could know . . . ?

"I didn't," he told her. "But I think my grandmother might be Maria di Aneglo . . ."

He trailed off his explanation because McGonagall's eyes were wide with shock.

"D-did you know her?" he asks.

McGonagall studied him in a way that made Nico feel like he was being x-rayed. "I thought . . . coincidence . . ."

"Umm, Professor?"

McGonagall looked up at his face, as if noticing his facial features for the first time. "Come with me di Angelo."

Without another word, McGonagall walked off down the corridor at a brisk speed. Not wanting to disobey, and knowing he had nothing else to do, Nico followed her, practically jogging to keep up with her speed.

They walked up stairwells and passed many corridors until they arrived at a gargoyle.

"Acid Pops," McGonagall said and the gargoyle moved.

If Nico were a normal wizard, maybe he would have been surprised. But after seeing giants in clown outfits, a troglodyte herding sheep, and becoming a dandelion and corn plant, you start to not be shocked anymore. He also remembered Ron and Harry saying something about Acid Pops and entrances or something back in his early days.

McGonagall led him up a spiral staircase that had appeared, and walked into a room Nico remembered instantly. Dumbledor's office.

The old headmaster was sitting on his usual chair, looking deeply at something before looking up to see Nico and McGonagall's entrance.

"Ah, good day Professor McGonagall and . . . oh, Nico. What a pleasant surprise." the Headmaster gave them one of his twinkling smiles, making Nico feel a little unsettled.

"Di Angelo has told me some . . ." McGonagall paused for a moment, trying to find the words. "Interesting news."

Dumbledor's face turned to slight confusion, an expression Nico believed he didn't wear often.

"What is it, Minerva?"

McGonagall looked at Nico and then back to the Headmaster. "He's Maria di Aneglo's grandson."

Dumbledor sat back in his chair like he could have guessed that was what this was about. His eyes darkened with thought and his still cursed hand reached up towards his bread to stroke it.

"Mr. di Aneglo," he said finally, addressing Nico with a hand. "I want you to look at something."

The man got up from his chair and Nico followed him to what seemed to be a fancy, closed closet. Dumbledor opened the door and Nico was slightly shocked to see a bird feeder like pool inside and tiny bottles above it filled with . . . memories.

"This is a Pensieve," Dumbledor explained, although Nico had already figured it out. Sometimes, his dad would collect memories from the dead with his magic and be able to look into those memories and watch them in the third person to decide their fate. Hades had told Nico that because he did not hold that power yet, he could use a Pensieve to help judge the newly dead.

"I want you to look at this memory," Dumbledor explained, grabbing a memory that seemed to be pulling at Nico's own soul. "It belonged to your grandmother."

Nico took the bottle from the old man and looked at it through the glass. He'd been told about his mother from Hades, but now he had the chance to actually go into her past in her memories.

He looked to Dumbledor, asking him a silent question. The Headmaster nodded and he walked over to where McGonagall was looking half scared and half intrigued.

Nico took a deep breath, uncorked the bottle, and watched the memory fall into the water. The pool swirled with color and with one last breath, Nico plunged his head inside.

Nico was in a grassy field. There was green grass and flowers stretching out in every direction. He looked around in a circle and noticed a cozy, little house on a little hill only a hundred feet away.

At the sound of laughter, Nico turned his head and saw two kids running towards him. There was a boy, probably eleven, and a girl who seemed about eight. They were both pale and had black hair, but Nico noticed as they came closer, that the boy had black eyes and the girl had familiar dark brown eyes.

"Momma?"

The two kids ran right past him and to the house where a woman called out in an Italian accent.

"Severus and Maria Snape! Get inside!"

Nico watched as the two siblings giggled and ran through the opened door. He felt himself being pulled and suddenly he was inside the nice house. It was a little cluttered and it was a relatively small space.

The two kids ran to the table where two bowls of Risotto sat. The mother walked over to where her supposed husband was washing a dish. He pecked her cheek and Nico looked back to the two kids.

"Can we go to town soon?" the girl, his mom, asked.

"We could live in town if you two weren't so expensive," the mom of the house told her.

Nico's hands clenched at the sentence. He'd seen and heard many forms of abuse in his life and he could sense mental abuse when he saw it.

"Let's go back to our room," the boy, Severus, suggested as he finished his food.

Nico's mom smiled and finished the last of her bowl before running off with Severus to their room.

The memory shifts to where his mother went, but even though he's now in the same room, the voices are distorted. A soft buzzing fills his ears in the silence and he watches the scene play out in front of him.

Severus and Maria talking. Severus holds up his finger and turns to a treasure box. He opens it and hands Maria a necklace with an hourglass inside. She holds it in her hands and Nico just hears one sentence, "You can keep it."

The memory changes and Maria is in the living room with her mom. Her mom is angry and there is still no sound except for when the mother strikes Maria across the face.

The memory shifts again and Nico's ears are full of noise. Shouting and breaking glasses. Maria is in her room, crying, and holding the necklace Severus had given her. Her brother was gone, the room being completely stripped of his things. He was probably at Hogwarts.

Maria looked at the necklace and put it around her neck before turning the hourglass. There was a strange sensation that filled the room and Nico was reminded of the Lotus Casino. Somehow, he could tell that time was moving, but he couldn't see it.

Before Nico could find out where they went back to, the memory shifted again. Her room, which before had been covered in some posters and drawings, now lay bare. Maria herself was hunched over a desk off to the right, sniffling quietly. Nico walked over to her as saw she was writing a note.

Dear Severus,
For my birthday I wished to not have mom and dad treat me like this anymore. Now, I'm going to make it happen. I'm going to use that spell you taught me to erase their minds and then I'll go back in time and live there with different parents. I've made a permanent memory in my mind to change my last name to my middle name, di Angelo. I wish you could come with me but I can't wait until you come back for the holidays to do this. After you read this please remove your memories of me. We probably won't see each other again and I don't want you to be sad.
Love, Maria

Nico watched his mother, ten-years-old now, grab a wand from under her mattress and walk out of the room. Nico followed her and she walked into the living room where her dad was sitting on the couch.

There was an indistinct cantation and her father's face went black like he was in a daze.

"What are you doing?"

Maria and Nico both whirled around and saw her mother coming at her, holding a pan in her hand. Maria pointed her wand at her mother and it hit her head and her mother's face went blank.

Tears staining her face, Maria ran out of the house, out into the fields where Nico had first seen her and Severus play. She fell to her knees and pointed the wand at herself.

"I'm sorry, Sev," she whispered. Then she murmured the same spell and her eyes went blank.

Nico watched as her face smoothed out and her eyes seemed to hold more light. She looked like a normal ten-year-old.

When her face turned less blissful and more alive, she immediately looked around like she was confused as to where she was. She had erased her memories.

Maria must have felt the necklace on her skin, because she took it out and held it in her hand. Curious, as any child would be, she started turning the hourglass. A lot.

The time necklace turned and turned until both Nico and Maria were being thrown through time.

Nico closed his eyes as he felt the liquid of time move through and around him. He could almost feel himself getting closer to his time, the time he was born. It almost felt like he was going home.

He and his mother landed together on the same hill they were on, but there was no cottage at the top of the hill. Nico could see with his demigod vision that there was a sign on the house but he couldn't read what it said from hsi distance.

Maria started walking, clumsily, up to the house and Nico followed, trying to read the sign as they got closer.

Orange? Organ? Orphinigan? Orphanage?

The two people reached the front door and Nico was pretty positive that the sign sis in fact read 'Orphanage'. Maria knocked on the door, and a lady in a big, old-timey dress opened the door.

"Oh, hello," she said to Maria.

"Hello," Maria greeted. "I think I don't have parents. Or at least, they don't want me."

The woman seemed taken aback by Maria's cool demeanor.

"Well, come inside," she invited, holding the door open for her.

Maria nodded and stepped inside. The place was rickety and old looking and with all the children running about, Nico knew he'd guessed correctly.

The woman turned to Maria and crouched so they were at eye level.

"How did you get here?" she asked.

"This," Maria replied simply. She took out the necklace. The time necklace.

"May I look at that?" the woman asked.

"Sure," Maria shrugged. She took off the necklace and handed it over to the woman. "Can I go play now?"

"Just one more question," the woman said. "What is your name?"

Maria paused for a moment. "Maria. Maria di Aneglo."

The woman nodded and she ran off.

The rest of the memory was played at glimpses and pictures. Maria, walking out of the building with a man and woman. A boat ride and a ticket that said 'Venice Italy'. Maria, an adult now, runs into a kind and dark looking man Nico immediately recognizes as Hades. A family, Maria, Hades, Bianca, and baby Nico.

Nico took a deep breath in as he pulled his head out of the Pensive. He couldn't watch it anymore. Couldn't keep watching until that family fell apart.

He wiped a hand over his face, noticing that it was dry despite the water, and turned back to Dumbledor and Professor McGonagall.

"Where did you get this?" he asked.

"Severus gave it to me," Dumbledor explained. "It was part of the memory vein that stores all the memories. He told me that if a woman by the name of Maria di Aneglo came by, I should show her the memory."

Nico looked back to the water, still swirling. He grabbed the glass that held the memory and concentrated with all his might on the swirling memory. Slowly, the memory extracted from the water, flowing into the bottle.

"What did you see?" the old man asked.

Nico closed the bottle and discreetly put it in his pocket. He couldn't let anyone else see these memories. If they saw that Maria had had Nico in the 1930s then there would be questions on how he got to the present times.

"Professor Snape just knew my mother," he said simply. "They were friends as children, but she had to move away."

A silence filled the room and Nico decided to turn and face the Professors. He held them with a strong gaze, not threatening, but truthful and innocent.

"Well then," McGonagall sighed. "Off to your common room di Angelo?"

Nico nodded and exited the room. He almost ran down the staircase and jogged down the hallways. He didn't want to think about his mom. Didn't want to think about how hopeful she was for a nice new life. Couldn't think about Snape, how he obviously hadn't forgotten his mother. Had he thought about Maria when he saw his name? Probably, but like McGonagall said, it was a relatively common name if you were old school and lived in Italy.

That night, in the safety of his room, Nico pushed away the memories of memories and instead focused on the other big thing of the day. Draco had done something. He was working for someone (probably Voldemort) and was sent to do something bad. Tomorrow, he would push away the thoughts of his mother and focus on Malfoy's problem instead.

Chapter Text

The next day Nico found out what Draco had done.

Or at least he assumed it wasn't a coincidence that Katie Bell had been taken to a hospital because she was cursed by a magical necklace.

Nico sat with the trio at breakfast that morning and had to hide his surprise when Harry told the story and suggested it was Draco's doing.

"C'mon, you can't deny it now!" Harry complained to his friends, Nico watching silently from the other side of the table.

"He wasn't even there," Hermione sighed.

"She also got the necklace from the girl's bathroom," Ron pointed out, mouth half full of scrambled eggs. "It's gotta be that Bellatrix lady."

"Who's that?" Nico asked.

"Crazy witch," Ron said plainly, swallowing his eggs. "Don't mess with her."

Nico noticed Harry clenched his fork tighter at the mention of the witch. He wondered if there was some history or something between them.

He spent the rest of that day doing his regular routine and Iris Messaging his friends at the end of the day. He would always call Will, who was usually with the whole gang. They asked him questions about the wizards and the school and Nico told them everything. The only thing he didn't mention was his and Draco's conversation the day before. Not because he regretted telling him that he wasn't a wizard, but then he'd have to tell them about Draco's problems and he wouldn't tell other people's secrets.

The day after was the first Quidditch match, Gryffindor vs Slytherin. He sat with Harry and Ron at breakfast and Ron seemed almost as nervous as he was.

"Cheer up, Ron!" the annoying, curly haired girl, Lavender, told him. "I know you'll be brilliant."

Ron, thankfully, ignored her.

The redhead hung his head and for once he wasn't stuffing his face. Nico himself was terrified to fly in front of others and be expected to pass a quaffle back and forth. He did remind himself that he was also nervous for his first day at the school, and that wasn't so bad. He even won a magical potion, along with a detention.

Suddenly, Nico had an idea. He glanced over to the giant doors and saw Hermione walking towards them.

"Tea, Ron?" Nico asked his queasy friend. "Coffee? Pumpkin juice?"

Ron looked up glumly at him. "Anything."

Nico reached for the Pumpkin juice and poured a cup. He then grabbed his small bottle of Felix Felice and uncapped it. Hermione came down and sat across from Nico. Perfect.

"How are you guys feeling?" she asked us.

"Fine," Harry replied and Nico nodded as well.

Making sure Hermione had an eye on him, he capped the bottle and shoved it into his pocket.

"There you go, Ron," Nico said, handing the cup to him. "Drink up."

Just as Ron grabbed the cup of juice, Hermione jumped up.

"Don't drink that Ron!" She exclaimed.

Harry and Ron jumped in their seats and looked between her and Nico.

"Why not?" Rn protested.

Hermione stared at Nico, who put on his clueless face. "You put something in that drink!"

"Excuse me?" Nico said, feigning innocents.

"You heard me! I saw you! You put something in the drink and then put it back in your pocket!"

Harry's eyes practically turned to fire. Nico had known that would be the reactions of Harry and Hermione, he just hoped Ron also followed the plan.

"Stop bossing me around Hermione," Ron told her. Apparently he would.

Hermione looked hurt, and Nico felt bad, but Ron needed to be good for the game. He would explain afterwards.

"You're going to drink that?" Harry asked Ron, like it was an accusation.

"Yes, I am Harry," Ron told him defiantly. "I'm in your little 'theory'."

Harry's cheeks flushed and Ron picked up the drink and swallowed it in one gulp.

"Nearly time," Harry grumbled as they walked to the stadium.

"Pretty lucky the weather's good, eh?" Nico asked pointedly to Ron.

"Yeah," Ron answered quietly, still looking queasy.

Ginny and the replacement for Katie, a girl named Demelza, walked up to them when they entered the changing room, already in Quidditch attire.

"Conditions look ideal," Ginny told them. "And guess what? That Slytherin Chaser Vaisey, he took a Bludger to the head yesterday during their practice, and he's too sore to play! And even better than that, Malfoy's sick too!"

"What?" Harry and Nico said at the same time. Nico and Draco had joked about playing against each other just the other day. Where was he now?

"They're playing Harper instead; he's in my year and he's an idiot," Ginny informed them.

Harry continued talking with Ginny while Ron and Nico went to get their robes. As they retrieved them from their hooks, Nico leaned towards Ron to whisper.

"Lucky, isn't it? Malfoy not playing?"

"And Vaisey off too," Ron agreed. "He's their best goal scorer, I didn't really fancy – hey!"

He suddenly stared at Nico who innocently threw on his robes.

"What?" Nico asked when he was Ron still staring.

"I . . . you . . ." Ron's voice dropped to a whisper. "My drink . . . my pumpkin juice . . . you didn't . . . ?'

Nico shrugged. Ron just stared in astonishment.

"Go grab your boots Weasley," Nico told him with a smile.

Ron walked off and Harry came by to grab his things as well. The captain chose a spot a bit away from where Ron was tying his shoes, and Nico found it the perfect moment to talk.

Nico grabbed his own shoes and sat next to Harry.

"Hey," he said quietly. "I didn't actually do it."

Harry gave him a little confused look.

"I didn't put the Felice in his drink," Nico explained. "I didn't put anything in it."

"But, Malfoy-"

"Real luck."

Harry looked unconvinced.

Nico sighed and pulled out the bottle. "Here."

He threw him the bottle and with his Seeker reflexes, he caught it.

"You can keep it actually," Nico told him, tying his boots. "I don't want it."

Harry looked at Nico like he was searching for something. Probably, something to tell him that Nico was lying or it was some kind of scam.

After a minute of just staring, Harry turned to the rest of the team. "Alright everyone. Let's go."

They walked out onto the pitch and met the Slytherins in the middle. The crowded stands screamed and cheered with students holding up signs and shouting their names. Nico felt a warm and tingling sensation run through his body. He'd never been cheered for by so many people. It was liberating, and also a bit frightening.

"Captains shake hands,' Madam Hooch commanded and Harry and Slytherin captain shook. The larger, Slytherin Captain seemed to want to break Harry's hand, but Harry didn't let him and instead held his gaze sternly.

"Mount your brooms," Madam Hooch told them.

Nico glanced around at his teammates. They all had stone faces but Nico had gotten good at reading people, so he could tell they were just as nervous as he.

"On the whistle! . . . three . . . two . . . one . ."

The whistle sounded and Nico kicked off into the air.

He let himself fly high enough to get to the playing level before he evened out and scanned the field before him, looking for any way to help get the quaffle in the other team's goal.

Commentating was heard in the stands as he watched his teammates fly off, but Nico ignored that and let himself fall into the rhythm of the game. He had found that he could fly pretty high without worrying about Zeus, and he had prayed to him that morning before breakfast, so he relaxed into the piece of wood and bolted off towards Ginny, open for a pass.

She tossed him the ball and he grabbed it for only a second or two before tossing it towards Demelza, but it was intercepted by the captain. He shot down the pitch and Nioc lifted his broom to do a full loop backwards. Teh crowd cheered at his move but he tried not to pay too much attention to them as he raced after the Slytherin.

The chaser flew through the air and dodged a bludger before making it to the hoops. He threw the ball to one of the rings and Nico held his breath. It sailed through the space but before it could fit between one of the hoops, Ron caught it.

The crowd screamed, and Ron beamed as he threw the ball to Nico, who gave him a nod and bolted off to the other end of the pitch. He bent low to go faster but there was a bludger coming his way, so he threw it to Ginny. She caught it and sped off while Nico got a bludger to the side.

He let out a puff from the impact, but all pain was forgotten when he heard someone say, "And Gryffindor scores!"

They played for twenty more minutes before Nico started getting fed up and tired. Gryffindor was up sixty to zero, Ginny scoring four times and Nico scored the other two. Ron was doing splendidly, which was good. Especially since Nico could hear the announcer saying more than once that the Weasleys were only there because of their friendship with Harry. Nico knew for a fact that was not true, and both Ron and Ginny were incredible players. So, he couldn't help but smile when the announcer had to admit that they were "actually good".

Nico glanced up to see if Harry was on his way to end the game, but when he did, he saw that the other seeker, Harper, shoved Harry so forcefully he almost fell off his broom. Nico looked at Madam Hooch to see if she saw, but she was watching Ginny about to score another point. Nico would have to keep an eye on them.

The Keeper blocked Ginny's shot and someone on the Slytherin team got it and tried to pass it to someone else, but Nico stole it from them and dashed back to the Slytherin's rings. He bolted past them and tried his own turn at shooting but was once again blocked.

The Slytherins got control of the ball again, and just as Nico was going to chase after them, a force hit his back. He lurched forward and saw an ugly looking boy sneering at him, a bludger bat in his hands.

Nico glared at him. He wanted to fly over there and beat him up. He was so exhausted from flying back and forth and getting hit with stupid balls. Did the boy even know how much damage he could have caused? Nico could have been paralyzed, or have a fractured vertebrae, or get disc herniation. He didn't even know what some of those were, but whenever Will got hit in the back during battles or Capture the Flag, he'd always talk about them.

Before Nico could do anything rash though, Harry's voice came from the chaos.

"Yes!"

Nico turned and saw Harry was holding up the glinting, golden snitch. The whole team raced to him and, somehow, Nico found himself being hugged by the whole team and he was hugging them too.

"Ginny," Harry called. "Where are you going?"

The red haired girl sped past the cuddle puddle and, to Nico's delight, ran right into the announcer podium.

The whole team landed and ran to where Ginny was standing, a little unsteadily, by the wreckage. The announcer, a boy Nico was now pretty sure was named Zacharias Smith, was looking dazed in the wreckage and Professor McGonagall was staring irritatedly at Ginny.

"Forgot to brake" Ginny apologized. "Sorry, Professor."

The whole team laughed and Nico saw Harry hug Ginny and then quickly back away again. He wondered how long it would be until they got together.

"Party in the common room!" Dean and Seamus called as they ran to congratulate the team.

Nico, Ron, and Harry cheered were about to join them when Hermione grabbed them.

"Hey!" she called. "You don't get let off the hook, Nico."

Nico sighed and all three of the boys turned to face her.

"Hermione, listen," Nico said calmly.

"No! That was unacceptable! I'm going to Professor McGonagall –"

"Hermione, he didn't do it," Harry told her.

"What?" Ron and Hermione asked.

Nico glanced at Harry. Had he just stuck up for him?

"He didn't put the Felice in the drink," Harry told them. "He just made Ron believe it so he wouldn't be so worried."

Ron and Hermione were both quiet for a moment.

"I-I'm sorry Nico," Hermione said finally. "I shouldn't have assumed you cheat like that."

"It's okay Hermione," Nico told her truthfully. "I knew you'd probably respond like that. I was kind of counting on it."

"So, you forgive me?"

"Of course."

Nico saw Harry shift out of the corner of his eye. What was with that guy? One moment he was accusing Nico of stuff he'd never done, then the next he's convincing his friends he didn't do anything. He talked back to him about his sister and then just dropped it and defended him? What was he thinking? Nope. Forgive, Nico. No grudges.

"Let's go to this party," Ron suggested in the weird silence.

The group nodded and walked back up together to the castle.

***

"Hey, Nico," Harry said as he approached him. Nico was sat on the couch in front of the fire of the Gryffindor common room. The party had been fun, lots of back pats and shouting. Ron and Lavender Brown had been making out on and off the entire time, so Hermione had gone to bed early. Now there was gold and red confetti on the floor and just Harry and Nico left to go to bed.

"What's up, Harry?" Nico asked, looking up from his essay he was getting a head start on.

"I just. . ." he paused.

Nico sat back on the couch, waiting for him to talk.

"I'm sorry," Harry finally got out. "I'm sorry I thought you were a Death Eater and . . . I'm sorry I was so rude to you."

Nico let the words hang in the air for a second, contemplating what to say. Part of him wanted to be mad. Get him back for yelling and threatening him. He wanted to call him out, telling him every time and way he made Nico relive his early life when he felt unwanted. He wanted Harry to really realize how much Nico cared about his opinion, even when he tries to brush it off. The words were at the tip of his tongue, ready to fire off at the boy in front of him.

But, then he remembered when he'd found out Harry was an orphan. How both of his parents were killed by Voldemort. He had lost so much, just as Nico had. When Nico had apologized, he was greeted with love and acceptance. Everyone understood he was young and was going through a lot. He didn't know what he would do if they would have yelled at him.

"Nico," Bianca's voice whispered in his mind, taking him back to the forest where they said their last goodbye. "You must not hold grudges. It is the fatal flaw of every child of Hades. I want you to break that."

"Thank you," Nico finally responded with a smile.

Harry looked shocked and confused. He probably had expected Nico to yell at him.

"You're not mad?" he asked.

"No," Nico replied. If he had been in the same position a few years ago he might have. He might have been mad at Harry for making his job difficult or for reminding him of how it felt to be thought of as a monster. But Nico had grown. He knew that Harry was just as he was, scared and careful. And even if Nico knew he would never do what Harry did to him, to anyone else, it wouldn't help anyone to hate him.

"How?" Harry asked.

Nico gave up on his essay and leaned back on the couch again, staring into the fire.

"Someone once told me that I shouldn't hold grudges," Nico answered. "They said it was a waste of energy. It took me a few years, but I understand it now."

Harry turned to look into the fire. He stared at it with a certain sadness in his eyes, watched the flames as if picturing a face inside it.

"I had someone show me that you shouldn't believe everything you hear," Harry said quietly. "I guess I haven't learned that yet."

"It takes a while to learn," Nico reassured him. "But you'll get there."

Harry looked back to him. "How do you know?"

Nico met his gaze. "There's something special about you."

Harry half laughed and half grunted, turned to face the fire again. "Yeah, I've been told that for years."

"Not just in that way," Nico explained. "Not because you didn't die, or because of a scar on your head, but because you have been through so much and somehow, can still find love."

Harry looked back at him. "What do you mean?"

Nico dropped his gaze and started to fidget with his skull ring.

"I've lived through a lot," Nico told him quietly. "I've seen a lot of things. I've lost so many people and now it becomes hard for me to let others in. It feels like if I let myself love someone, then they get killed."

"I know that feeling," Harry breathed.

"But you still do. You still love Ron and Hermione and Dean and Seamus and Nevil and Ginny-"

"What?!"

"Don't lie, Harry. You still love so many people, even though you're afraid to lose them."

"Don't you have friends?"

"Yes," Nico smiled at the thought of his friends. "I have a lot of them."

"So, you are as strong as I am."

Nico looked up and Harry and Harry looked at him. They sat in comfortable silence for a minute, just letting their mutual respect and strength just sit in each other's company.

"I should go to bed," Nico sighed, starting to gather his supplies.

"Me too," Harry agreed.

Nico collected all of his things but Harry didn't move as he did so. Only once Nico had everything in his hands, and turned towards the stairs, did Harry move.

"Friends?" he blurted.

Nico looked back at him and smiled. "Friends."

Harry and the rest of Nico's roommates were sound asleep. Nico had been waiting until Harry came up the steps and sunk into sleep before calling Will and the others.

He brought out Leo's little machine, and threw a drachma into the rainbow that glittered off of a small flashlight. He recited the usual blessing and asked to see the room where his friends stayed.

When the rainbow shimmered, all Nico saw was a dark room. It was the room he had requested, but no one was in it and clothes and items were scattered everywhere.

"Will?" Nico asked quietly, even though he had already cast his quieting spell. His boyfriend was always in the room when he called, but this time he wasn't.

"Huh," Nico said to himself. They probably dragged Will along to some party and were having fun laughing and drinking. He would check the next day.

Nico stopped the machine and stuffed it back into his bag. He flung the red blankets on top of him and closed his eyes. Images of his friends back in America, and his friends he had at Hogwarts (Harry included) swirling in his mind, keeping the nightmares away and letting him sleep peacefully. 

Chapter Text

The next few days were the best Nico could have ever imagined.

He had gotten a letter from Hecate that said he was allowed to return to camp for Christmas break, which made him gasp so loud half the Gryffindor table turned their heads in his direction. Harry had made good on their friend agreement and Nico began hanging around the trio more, especially since Draco had been avoiding him recently.

It was the day Nico was to leave on the Hogwarts express, and his friends made sure to have extra fun. He had a snowball fight with Seamus, Dean, and Ginny, which ended with Ginny and Dean making out in the middle of the battle, and Seamus and Nico leaving them to play Exploding Snap in the common room. Ron had given him a sweater he'd packed in his bag that was apparently from Weasley's mother. Harry and Nico took a long walk on the grounds, just talking about anything and everything, and it felt nice to have someone who could relate to some of his struggles.

That day, Nico had also been invited to Slughorn's party. But, he was glad to realize it was over Christmas break, so he would be gone.

Now, Nico lugged his trunk down the stairs of the dorm rooms. He set it on the floor to say goodbye to his friends, and Hermioen was the first to run up and give him a hug.

"We're going to miss you," Hermione told him.

"I'll miss you too," Nico told her, hugging her tight. "Don't you have too much fun without me."

"We won't," Harry promised from behind Hermione's head.

Hemione let go and Harry and Ron each gave him a quick hug too, before Dean and Seamus dragged him away.

His two friends walked him to the Great Hall where all the kids who were leaving for the break were gathering. He hugged them each and they both walked back towards the common room, telling him they'd be waiting for him to return.

There was a small group of students leaving and Nico buddied up with Demelza and some other Gryffindor friends, including Ritchie Coote and Jimmy Peaks. Just as Nico was about to follow the group out, he noticed the lean and pale form of Draco Malfoy standing a little ways apart. He didn't have a bag and he was looking right at Nico, clearly wanting his attention but unsure of how to approach.

Nico told his friends to take his small bag and he'd meet them there before looking back at Draco directly, signaling that he'd seen him. He went into a small jog and reached the blonde boy with only a few steps, just out of earshot of the crowd.

"Hey," Nico said, smiling at his friend.

Draco didn't meet his eyes. This wasn't strange, but Nico knew something was definitely off.

"I'm going to be leaving for like, two weeks," Nico reminded him. "But I'll see you when I come back, and you start talking to me again."

Nico meant it as a joke, but Draco practically flinched like he'd been smacked across the face. He tilted his head slightly and Nico noticed tears starting to come to the blonde's eyes.

"Wow, dude. I didn't know you cared so—"

"I'm so sorry," Draco said quietly. "I'm so, so sorry."

"What?"

Nico didn't get a chance to hear an answer before Filch was yelling at him to hurry up and suddenly Draco was running off.

Part of him wanted to run after him and ask him about his apology, but he also knew he had a train to catch and it would be a bit weird if he just appeared on the train out of the shadows.

He looked back once more at Draco's retreating form before deciding to ask him when he got back. Nico turned and ran off towards the train station and his home.

Nico had never been on a train before. Subways yeah, but not a train. There were tiny rooms called compartments and it was just like a limo except bigger, bumpier, and louder.

He was in a compartment with his quidditch team friends and he couldn't help staring out the window to watch the view pass by. There were lakes, fields, forests, etc. When he came back to Hogwarts, he'd take the train instead of shadow traveling.

'Wow,' he thought, 'me using another mode of transport besides shadow travel willingly? Will would be proud.'

About a quarter of the way into their travels, Ritchie popped out of bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and when Nico said he'd never had them, they decided to make a game where they eat jelly beans and try not to throw up. Nico thought that would be easy because they were candy, but he was wrong. This didn't stop him from winning twice though.

Half way through their third round, a knock came on the compartment door.

"Um, Nico," a Hufflepuff boy named James, who Nico had sat with in Herbology, peeked his head through the door. "You're needed up front."

Nico was a bit confused by the request but smiled it off. His friends 'oo'ed like he was in trouble, and he laughed with them as he followed James out of the compartment and down the train corridor.

James didn't seem like he was in the mood to talk, kinda like he was sleepwalking (which Nico could totally understand), so they walked silently to the front of the train. They stopped at the very first compartment and without a word, James turned around and left Nico standing in front of it.

Of course, Nico thought this was odd, but he assumed little James was just nervous to talk to an older student like him.

Nico knocked on the door and a voice inside said, "come in."

He pulled open the handle and stepped inside the brightly lit compartment. As soon as the door closed behind him, Nico's hairs rose and he knew something was off.

"Hello," said the voice. There was a tall man with hair just like Draco Malfoy's standing looking out the window on the other side of the compartment. He wore black robes that were way more fashionable than the ones at Hogwarts, and he was holding a cane with a silver metal snake on top.

"You are Nico di Angelo?" he asked, turning to face him. The man had a long face and the same sharp eyes as Draco's. They must be related.

"Yes," Nico replied.

Slowly and carefully, making sure the man didn't notice, Nico reached his hand back casually, like he was just being gentlemanly. His hand fumbled around and caught on the doorknob. He needed an exit, and the room was too bright for shadow travel.

"Perfect," the man purred. "We finally have the whole collection."

Nico had always been known for his quick reflexes. Being on the streets and a child of the Big Three can give you that superpower, along with a good sense of dark humor. At this moment, though, Nico had spent months without fear of monsters or gods so his 'be quick so you don't die' instinct was lacking.

The man grabbed his shirt and Nico felt like he was being sucked through a straw. Darkness flashed by before him and he had to shut his eyes before it gave him a headache. He felt like he was being shadow traveled but more violently, almost like when he became the wind with Jason before he faced Eros.

The sensation stopped when Nico felt his knees hit the stone floor. Shock made him gasp a bit and he saw red scrapes on his knees. Strong arms grabbed his hands and pulled them painfully behind his back, making him look up.

Immediately, Nico's eyes zoomed around the room, demigod instincts finally taking over. It was dark, slightly green, like the dungeons at Hogwarts or the bottom of a lake. There were also multiple people there, all of them looking as clean as the homeless people Nico had seen at the stop lights.

"Chain him up, quickly," a voice called, coming from a bald man who seemed to be half snake, with his smooth skin, shallow eyes, and slits for a nose.

Nico's hands were pulled forcefully behind him a second time and he could feel chains wrapping around them quickly. He focused his power and tried to fade into the darkness, but there was a force keeping him just an inch away from freedom. A wall caging him into a weaker form of his powers, making him unable to fully melt away.

Realizing that escaping through shadow travel wasn't possible, he felt out to the shadows to gather more information. The house was big, probably a mansion, there was a burly man behind him, twelve others in front of him, and . . . no.

He turned his head to the left and almost gasped in horror. Nine bodies beside him. Nine familiar bodies he could recognize even know in the darkness. Nine bodies chain to the same floor.

In a row, heads down and backs slumped, were all of his friends. Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, Frank, Jason, Piper, Reyna, Leo, and. . . Will.

"Hello, Mr. di Angelo," the snaky voice said again.

Nico forced himself to look away and up to meet the man's gaze. He tried to scan the man's eyes for his soul, a way to see his past and find something to make his guard fall or convince him to let them go. The only problem, the man didn't have a soul. Not a whole one. Somehow, the man had divided it, shattered the one thing that made him human. He had destroyed himself from the inside out.

"Nico?" a softer voice called.

Nico glanced to his side and saw that his friends were now looking right at him. Jason had dirt covering his cheek and a small bleeding cut on his forehead. Piper's face was scarred with a long bleeding gash. Reyna's exposed arms were covered in what looked like scratched marks. Leo had either grease or dirt smudged on his face and a nice cut on his chin. Hazel and Frank both wore matching faces of defiance and smeared blood, and Annabeth's nose was bleeding. Percy and Will were the only two who seemed relatively unharmed, and both were looking at Nico with a mixture of hope and terror.

"As, yes," the man smiled. "I thought it would be cruel of me to have you here by yourself, so I collected your friends too."

Nico looked back to the man, a thousand questions racing through his mind but his eyes as sharp as a dagger. He wouldn't let the man see any weakness. His first reactions already showed too much of how much he cared for them, and that was dangerous.

"Oh, you are probably wondering how we found them, aren't you?" the man laughed cruelly. "You should be more careful with who you befriend."

The Snake-Man laughed cruelly, and Nico knew. He put it together. Why Draco had been avoiding him, why he apologized, the man who looked like a cruel and older version of his friend, all of it. Draco had told this man his secret. Wait, that would mean that that man was . . .

"Yes!" Voldemort exclaimed in delight. "Your dear friend Draco betrayed your trust. He told us about how you were not just any wizards and that your friends were at school in LA. They put up a fight, but us wizards have ways of . . . controlling others."

Nico remembered the boy, James, on the train. How he had seemed like he was just sleepwalking. They were controlling him.

"Of course to get the correct place, I did have to torture it out of that nature loving friend of yours–"

Nico's head snapped up again. "What did you do to Grover?!"

"Oh nothing much," the man smiled, enjoying Nico being so distraught. "He was stubborn, but one look in his mind told me everything."

Nico didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do.

With a life like Nico's, he'd met many evil people. Some hurt others for their own gain, some because they were hurt by them, but the worst ones were the ones who didn't kill their victims. No, the far more dangerous ones were like cats. Always playing with their food before they finish them.

Nico didn't know Voldemort's intentions, but he knew he had to get his friends out of it.

"Lord Voldemort," Nico said, looking up pleadingly at the snake man, trying to reach that fragment of a soul still left inside. "I know what Draco may have told you, but you don't want these people." -he gestured to his friends with a nod in their direction- "Their powers are weak. Mine are a thousand times more–"

"I don't need your lies, Nico." The way Voldemort said his name made Nico want to change it all together. "There is no doubt that you are far more powerful than most of these other ones, but your friends are very powerful as well."

Of course, Nico knew that, but he couldn't admit it to him without getting them in more danger.

"But–"

There was a red light and pain erupted in Nico's chest. A scream escaped his lips and his eyes shut without even thinking. He had never felt such a surge of twisting pain so suddenly and unexpectedly. It was so powerful, he could barely hear the screams of his friends. Or maybe he couldn't hear them because his own cries were too loud.

The pain stopped and against his will, Nico crumpled to the floor. He didn't want to, tried to will himself to just get to his knees, but he was too shocked to move, even his eyes stayed shut.

"Nico!" many voices called out. He knew them all, and had doomed them all too. The sound of care that filled that one word made Nico want the pain back again to block out the guilt. He had put all of his friends in the path of a very dangerous man. This was all his fault.

"Throw them away for the moment," Voldemort's cold voice said to his comrades. "Let them greet each other."

Someone slipped their arms under Nico's body and he was lifted harshly. He was stronger now, but he didn't want to see the face of his holder, so he kept his eyes closed.

There was a shout and Percy's screams filled the room, mixing with the cries of all of his other friends.

"Don't worry, child," Voldemort chided him as Nico was led out of the room. "I was told about your abilities, so don't even try them on me."

Nico faded in and out of consciousness, fluttering his eyes lightly when he was awake to see what was happening. When he felt he could stay awake for a good while, he peered his eyes lightly.

He was being carried down some stone steps and into a cold room, the sound of multiple footsteps echoing through the dungeon-like place. There was the sound of metal screeching and the arms that were holding him fell suddenly and he was falling through the air for only a moment before hitting stone for the, what? Third time that day?

Without his arms to catch him, Nico tumbled across a hard, cold floor, his skin ripping off from the bumpy ground. He couldn't seem to care though as he tumbled. He just sat there on the ground, his eyes closed, and body aching inside and out.

He had let himself get too comfortable. Just when he'd found something good, it had been taken, again. And this time, it was all his fault.

Nico didn't open his eyes as he heard his friends get tossed inside the same cell as him. He didn't open them when the guard said something in a gruff voice and threw keys to someone. He didn't even peek when another someone proceeded to roll him over a bit and unlock his handcuffs. Warm and familiar arms lifted him up onto a lap he'd been laid in many times before. A soft, sad voice called to him from above, and only then did he let himself look up.

"Nico?"

Nico opened his eyes and stared into those comforting, warm, blue eyes Will Solace. The boy he loved more everything. The boy he had now put in danger, because he had dared to hope he could let his guard down for only a moment.

"I'm sorry," Nico whispered to him. He reached up with one fo his hands and held it to Will's warm cheek. Blurriness covered his eyes and Nico's throat tightened. "It's all my fault. I'm so sorry."

Will pulled Nico into his chest, just like he'd done so many times before, but this time, it was the last straw. He wrapped his arms around Will's waist and cried into his orange shirt. He let himself crumble in Will's strong arms and didn't care that there were others watching. He thought he was done being used and beaten. He let himself hope that maybe, just maybe, he could be happy.

Nico cried and cried into Will until the shirt was soaked, and his throat ached. Then, he sat up on Will's lap, his boyfriend's arms still around him, and took in his surroundings. They were in a cell, the ground was stone, his friends were all in there with him. Each of them were sitting around him, looking at him intently, like maybe he would have a plan to help them, get them to escape.

Nico cleared his throat and shakily got to his feet. Will followed him, holding his arm so he didn't fall.

"Hey, you guys," Nico's voice cracked, raw from the crying and screaming. He looked down at his feet, not sure if he wanted to meet their eyes. "I'm really sorry about this. It's my fault we're here and I–"

Nico was hit with a second body and arms wrapping around his neck. He shifted his head to see over the person's shoulder and saw Hazel's fluffy hair in front of him and felt her slightly smaller body holding onto his. He wrapped his arms around her waist and another pair of arms engulfed him. He looked over and saw Jason was hugging him too. More arms and bodies came until they were all surrounding Nico, hugging him and each other.

"It's okay Neeks," Piper whispered in his ear. "We don't blame you."

Nico squeezed his friends tight. No matter what happened, he wouldn't let them go. He wouldn't leave until he could take them with him.

After a minute of hugging, they all unfolded and glance around at each other.

"What now?" Frank asked, asking what each of them had been thinking but were too afraid to ask aloud.

"We don't know much about what's going on," Annabeth said slowly, of course one step ahead of them. "So it's hard to make a plan."

"I've got some ideas," Nico offered. "I know all about Moldyshorts up there."

"Who's Molyshorts?" Percy asked.

"Evil-snake-man-dude," Leo answered.

"How did you know that?" Frank asked.

Leo rolled his eyes. "Who else would have a name like Moldyshorts?"

"That's actually–" Nico started but was cut off by Piper

"Let's hear your ideas, Neeks," she insisted.

The demigods sat down on the cold ground as Nico told them everything he knew about the Death Eaters and Voldemort. Will had sat next to him and had a hand on his the whole time, which definatly helped, but Nico couldn't help but remember his friends at Hogwarts. He wondered if the people in the compartment wondered where he went. Would Dean, Seamus, Harry, Ron, and Hermione realize he's gone when all the other students come back from break? Would they miss him?

Nico wasn't sure but after he'd explained his findings on the enemy, the demigods were silent, thinking.

"That explains a lot," Annabeth finally said.

"Yeah," Reyna agreed. "Especially the soul stuff."

"Yeah, no way that man's got a heart," Leo confirmed.

"That's not–" Nico paused on his correction. "How long have you all been here?"

"Not sure," Percy shrugged. "We were taken from our dorm a while ago."

"Yeah," Jason chimed in. "We tried to get away but they cast some weird spells on us."

"Then we woke up here," Frank added. "The guy, what did you call him? Moldy . . ."

"It's Voldemort," Nico supplied.

"Voldemort," Frank nodded, "he wanted information on you, but we didn't tell him, so he roughed us up a bit.

A stab of guilt hit Nico's stomach and he tried not to let his face drop.

Will's hand squeezed Nico's and they caught eyes.

'It's not your fault.' Will told him through his eyes.

Nico nodded.

Footsteps echoed through the chambers and all the demigods turned to see a hairy looking man came to the bars of the cell.

"You, di Angelo," he said, pointing at Nico. "Get your cuffs on and get out here."

Will's grip tightened on his hand.

Nico nodded and leaned into Will to whisper in his ear. "I'll be okay."

He stood up and grabbed his cuffs, asking Jason to lock them for him. He walked to the cell door where the man made sure his cuffs were on correctly before letting him outside.

Nico was guided up the steps, and through a few corridors he made sure to memorize, until he came to the same room as before and was shoved into a kneeling position in front of Voldemort. None of the other people were around, but that didn't make Nico feel any less comfortable.

"Nico di Angelo," the Dark Lord said softly. "I have a proposal for you."

The snake man walked over to him from where he stood and tipped Nico's head up to look at him with his slender fingers. "You were right that you are the most valuable to me, and I know you don't want your friends to hurt anymore because of you, so I have an idea. You work for me, and I'll never touch your friends again."

"If I work for you then you let my friends go," Nico countered back.

Voldemort laughed. "Oh no, Nico. You don't get to make the offers here. If you do not work for me, then I will torture you and your friends until you are broken beyond repair."

Nico scoffed. "You cannot break me."

That was not the right answer. Voldemort brought out a stick from his black cloak and the pain from before sprouted again. This time, Nico clamped his mouth shut, biting his tongue until there was a chance he would bite it in half. He didn't scream. He wouldn't let him have that satisfaction.

The pain stopped and Nico fought the urge to collapse again. He flopped forward but brought his gaze back up to look back up to meet Voldemort's gaze, a small smirk playing on his lips.

"Maybe your own pain will not break you," Voldemort said quietly. "But maybe the pain of your friend's will."

Nico's gaze hardened. He didn't want his friends to get hurt, but he needed to be sure they'd be safe before making any commitments to a snake.

"Throw him back," Voldemort called to someone behind Nico. "We will start tomorrow."

Chapter Text

Nobody slept that night. Everyone sat together on the cold, hard floor. No one talked. No one moved. Everyone just held each other, waiting for the first peek of dawn to see what was in store for them.

At some point, Nico couldn't tell what time, footsteps came echoing down the hallway and a hairy man appeared.

He stood from his place in the corner. Will and the others followed suit and watched the man as he unlocked the door.

"Hazel Levesque," the man announced, beckoning them.

Everyone turned their heads to look at Hazel. Nico's sister's eyes flicked back between Frank and him, unsure of what to do.

"I'll go," Nico said, stepping forward. His friends were here because of his mistakes. He was their leader now, and he would take as many blows for them as possible.

"No," the hairy man growled and glared at him.

Hair rose on Nico's neck and he looked over to Reyna and saw that she had heard it too. The man on the other side of the bars was actually growling, and Nico realized with a start that his hairy body was not normal body hair. before. The man was a werewolf.

Hazel took a step forward, out of Frank's arms, but Nico held an arm up in front of her.

"She's not going anywhere with you," he said defiantly.

"Nico, it's fine," Hazel whispered, trying to convince her brother that it was fine. Nico didn't back down.

The werewolf growled again. His eyes were glowing with anger as he grabbed the door of the cell and smashed it open.

All the demigods instinctively took a step back, and the werewolf marched right over to them, grabbing Nico by the collar of his shirt.

Gasps could be heard from all around him as he was lifted into the air, his feet dangling in the clasp. He grabbed the wolf man's arm and tried to turn it to let himself free, but the man was strong.

The man pulled his fist that wasn't holding Nico back, and brought it fast to his face.

Shouts rang in his ears and all Nico could see was black everywhere.

Another blow and he was dropped to the ground.

Nico's legs collapsed under him but he managed to catch himself back with his hands. Something loomed over him and two more blows came, but this time to his stomach.

"Stop!" Will's voice cried.

"Fuck off, you monster!" Percy exclaimed.

"I'll go, just........stop!" Hazel finally cried.

Nico wanted to protest, but he knew she was right. He was out of practice and weak from his comfortable life at Hogwarts. He couldn't fight back, not today.

The figure moved out of the way, and Nico took the chance to try and clear his vision. He lifted a hand to his eyes and could feel the blood on his hand.

The sound of a key turning and metal moving was heard from the other side of the cell, and footsteps receded down the hallway.

Nico lifted the hem of his shirt and dabbed at his eyes. He held it there for a minute and felt the blood seep through the seams. With one wipe, he tried to remove as much as possible and opened his eyes.

The group had more or less dispersed, Frank over by the bars and Jason and Piper conversing a few feet away. Will was sat next to him, watching him take in the scene, Percy and Annabeth also watching with their back up against the wall.

He turned his head, throbbing as he did so, and saw Reyna was sitting behind him talking to Leo in hushed Spanish.

"Figlio di puttana," Nico muttered to himself. He turned back and looked down at his shirt, bottom half drenched in blood. He let go of it and put his hands back on his eyes. The right was swollen, probably turning purple, the left had a cut on the eyelid and one below his eyebrow. It could've been a lot worse.

Will leaned forward, obviously holding back from codling him which Nico appreciated. He nodded to his boyfriend, letting him do his healing work.

A small, sad smile appeared on Will's lips and he placed both of his hands on Nico's cheeks. Gently, he placed Nico's forehead to his own and whispered a prayer under his breath.

The pain of the injuries faded and Nico could feel the cuts and bruise heal, but his heart and stomach still ached.

After the magical healing, Will helped him to his feet which brought everyone's attention, except Frank's, to him.

Nico nodded to them, telling them he was okay. There was something eerie about the atmosphere there that made talking hard. It felt like those times in movies where the characters are in a dark and tense situation and everyone is silently waiting for the shoe to drop.

No one spoke and barely moved as they waited for when all the suspense led to that one, terrifying moment.

Then, that moment came.

Living in the Underworld and using shadow travel, Nico had heard many screams in his time. The calls of the forgotten, the cries of the lost memories, and the shouts of frustration and terror that was always a dull buzz in the Field of Punishment. It had come to a point where Nico was sure he would never flinch at a scream again.

That was until he heard the cries of his sister.

The ground tilted and looked more like quicksand. It was high and horrible, and even after the first cry, the sound echoed in Nico's ears until the second one came.

"Hazel!" Frank cried. He rattled the metal bars and kept shouting her name which mixed with the screams echoing in Nico's ears.

Right then something clicked in Nico's brain. He pushed Will off him and stumbled to Frank who was still yelling for his girlfriend.

"Frank," Nico said urgently, head still throbbing from the blood loss.

"Hazel!" he continued to cry.

"Frank, stop!," Nico told him and grabbed onto his arm.

Finally, Frank turned to look at Nico, who was barely standing.

"You can't call for her," Nico told him. "That's exactly what they want. They want to torture us by torturing each other."

"They're hurting her!" Frank protested.

"I know!" Nico exclaimed, then had to balance himself with the bars as the large amount of air left him. "She's my sister. I want her safe just as much as you do, but she'll be safer if we don't give them what they want."

Frank opened his mouth to argue, but then must've realised Nico was right, and he just turned away.

Two hands grabbed Nico's waist and arm and Will led him away from the worried boy. He took him to a newly formed circle with all the other demigods watching him approach.

When Will and Nico entered the circle, everyone exchanged glances before Jason spoke up.

"So, what's the plan?"

Nico looked at them, perplexed.

"You know more about this world than us," Piper explained.

"And you seem to know what to do more as well," Reyna added, gesturing to Frank.

Another scream filled the air and Nico could see Frank's grip tighten and he flinched, but he didn't say anything.

Nico knew they were right. It was his fault they were there, and he probably knew more about escaping cells then they did after his fiascos on the streets. This time would be different though, because usually he'd just shadow travel out, but he couldn't do that here.

"Okay," Nico said finally. "I think they're going to do this to us one by one. Hazel will be dropped off and then someone else will be taken and so on until we're all thoroughly tortured."

"I prefer my prisoners only slightly tortured," Leo said. "Oh, and a bit of trauma and PTSD on the side."

Piper smacked him lightly. Nico smiled despite himself. Only Leo could make a joke in times like these.

"Anyway," he continued. "We have to make sure that we don't react out loud. I know that sounds hard, but if we show that they're getting to us, then they have the upper hand."

Everyone nodded. Hazel's screams kept haunting them and they could all practically feel her pain themselves. Nico turned back to Frank and gazed at him sadly.

"We also have to look out for each other when we are in here," he told them, still looking at Frank. "Comfort each other and remember what it's like outside of here. We will get out."

"How do you know?" the son of Mars asked, not looking at him.

Nico paused for a second. "I can feel it. None of us are close to death, but it's also more than that. We've survived Titans, Giants, Gaia, the gods, constant monster attacks. We can defeat a bald snake wizard."

Frank didn't turn around or say anything, but Nico could feel his words sink into him.

The group had dispersed after that. Piper and Annabeth were murmuring in the corner, Jason, Leo, and Percy were smiling at memories and jokes, and Reyna and Nico were planning quietly against the back wall.

Nico looked over to Will and Frank who were just watching out into the hallway. They had no idea how much time had passed since Hazel left, but Frank hadn't moved from that spot yet. Will, being the healer he is, decided to just stand there with him. They had hardly talked at all, but Frank didn't seem to mind the company.

Suddenly, there were footsteps in the hallway and everyone turned to the door. Nico stood from his spot on the floor and took a step towards the cell's door. The hairy werewolf walked past the bars and Nico gasped at the limp Hazel in his arms.

The werewolf opened the cells and threw in the chained and unconscious Hazel. Nico reached out and controlled the shadows to break her fall. She was caught by the darkness and was softly lowered to the ground.

A wave of dizziness overcame him as the shadows dissipated, but he blinked it away. Frank, Nico, and Will all swarmed Hazel. Frank held her hand and kept whispering her name, Nico stroked her hair and put a hand to her face, checking that she wasn't about to die.

"Frank Zhang," the werewolf said.

Frank and Nico looked up at the man. They looked at each other and a silent conversation passed through them.

"Is she okay?"

"Yes."

"Will you watch her?"

Nico nodded and Frank let out a heavy breath. He squeezed Hazel's hand once more before standing and walking to the man. The werewolf pointed to the cuffs, and Percy picked them up and put them around Frank's wrists. He whispered something in his friend's ear and Frank nodded, before being ushered away up the stairs.

Nico waited at Hazel's side as Will worked his healing magic as much as he could. After his healing light faded, her eyes fluttered open.

"Hazel!" Nico cried.

Hazel smiled up at him, then she looked around, "where's Frank?"

Will and Nico exchanged a look.

Hazel's eyes widened.

A silence fell over them. Hazel looked off towards the edge of the cell, probably thinking of Frank. Will slumped onto Nico and he was surprised at how pale his boyfriend looked. It reminded him painfully of their time in Tartarus.

"Hey," Nico whispered. "Are you okay?"

Will snuggled closer to him and Nico wrapped his free arm around him.

"A lot of magic," he whispered.

Nico had almost forgotten about that. Apollo kids definitely were weakened without sunlight, and with the weird anti-demigod power walls, Will was extra vulnerable.

The three of them sat there for a moment, all of them thoroughly exhausted.

There was a sudden drop in sound, like just before the buzz fills ears.

Nico took his arm from around Will and quickly covered Hazel's ears right before the screams erupted.

Hazel's eyes went wide and Nico could tell it wasn't working that well, but he couldn't remove his hands.

Will, still slumped against Nico and half asleep, turned and curled into him and he held his sister's ears like if they just stayed there, she wouldn't hear anything.

But she could.

He heard Frank's pained cries.

His shouts of agony.

Nico closed his eyes but the tears still welled up and he couldn't stop them from trailing down his cheeks and onto his sister's equally sad face.

Frank returned after what felt like days, and Percy and Reyna helped set them together off to the side. Nico situated Will in a more comfortable position, or as comfortable one could be in a cell, and watched as one by one, his friends were taken and torture, till their screams echoed through the walls after they closed their mouths.

Jason, Piper, Leo, Reyna. When the werewolf threw a surprisingly still standing Reyna back into the cell, Nico heard the words he'd been dreading since the beginning.

"Will Solace."

Will, who hadn't ever really gone to sleep with all the screaming, looked up at Nico. He turned and planted a small kiss on Nico's lips before standing up. The werewolf and Will walked off together and Nico just crammed himself in the corner.

When he had told them all not to react, he'd known he'd have to do the same. He'd watched each of them cry and worry in the corner while someone, usually him, comforted them until their friend came back unconscious and it was their turn. Now Jason, Piper, Leo, Hazel, and Frank were all sleeping on the ground, their dreams probably filled with terrible nightmares.

He brought his knees to his chest and wrapped himself into a tight ball. It was a habit he'd been doing since the jar. When there was little space to go, he'd curl in a ball as if he got small enough he could escape all the bad things.

Two warm bodies sat down next to him, and Nico could tell without looking up that it was Percy and Annabeth. Their presence reminded him of all they had gone through. They had fought Titans in their teens, giants and the Earth Mother a year later. Nico had fought the Roman Emperors, and they had both gone to Tartarus. They had faced many prophecies, so what was a little bald snake-guy who's name sounded like moldy-shorts?

He started to feel a bit better, but then the screams came.

A mirror wasn't needed to know that Nico's eyes went wide, and he grew six times paler than his usual skin tone. He had thought that he could be strong, he'd been in so many prophecies so what was a little straight-on torture? But hearing Will sound like that, so scared and in pain, it completely broke him.

Annabeth and Percy's arms wrapped around him and he hadn't even realized that he was sobbing quietly into his legs. A third person, Reyna, walked over and even with her magical strength being put into him, he wasn't strong enough.

That was because this wasn't like anything they'd done before. This wasn't a prophecy. He was sent to look after three kids. There was no saying that this was bound to happen or that it couldn't be avoided. If Nico had stayed stoic and hadn't let his guard down, no one would be there and Will wouldn't be hurting.

The minutes when Will was gone passed weirdly. In some ways, it felt like years, like falling into Tartarus again, but he also felt himself slip out of his body and into his head, going on autopilot, so it was only a minute. He did that when he was younger, going on autopilot, as a coping mechanism when things got really hard. Will had told him it was a thing a lot of people did when they couldn't physically escape a situation and instead did it mentally.

Eventually, Will did return and Nico had run to him and took him in his corner as Annabeth took his place and went with the werewolf. He spent that time with Will resting with his head in his lap and hugging Percy who clung to his side while Annabeth few cries reached his ears.

She had lasted pretty long. Most of them were screaming after being gone a minute at most. Reyna had lasted a whole three minutes before she cracked, and even after that, she was as sad as just angry. The past praetor was now a few feet away, looking like she was asleep but Nico had a feeling she was fully awake.

As the screams echoed Nico's mind, he tried to think of other things to keep himself sane. So, he thought of Hogwarts. When Dean and Seamus made him fly for the first time. Care of Magical Creatures and the kind, half-giant, Hagrid. Winning his first quidditch match. Going to Hogsmead and getting the gifts that were still on the Hogwarts Express now. Potions class, and finding out more about his mother's past.

Her whole story was crazy. She'd lived an awful life with her mom and dad and she loved her brother, Severus Snape. He had given her a time turner and she accidentally erased her own memories and turned backwards in time to go to an orphanage. From there she was taken to Italy and raised tehri before meeting Hades and making a family of her own.

He wondered about Hermione, Ron, and Harry. Did the train come back? Did they notice he was gone? Were they looking for him? Were Hermione and Ron finally together? Ginny and Harry? Was Katie Bell okay? Did Harry still think Draco was working for Voldemort? How was Draco?

Nico wanted to be mad at his friend, but he couldn't find a reason to. Draco was being used by Voldemort, and now that he had met him, he would have done the same thing. He also knew that Draco's dad worked for the snake guy too, so it was a safe bet that if Draco messed up, his dad would also get hurt.

Although godly parents weren't supposed to have good relationships with their kids, Hades had really come around in the last few years. They had bonded and Persephone treated him as her own. He would do anything to save them or his friends and especially Will.

Annabeth returned and collapsed with Reyna who comforted her while Percy left and even though Nico only saw him as a friend, even a cousin, it still felt like a stab of ice when he heard his screams.

When Percy came back, he took Nico's spot by Will as the werewolf called on the last person.

"Nico di Angelo."

He walked over to the man and let him handcuff his hands. He walked as far as possible from the werewolf. He didn't want a repeat of the trip with the Athena Parthenos.

They walked up dungeon steps and up to a house with green lights in the place of normal ones. It was echoey and cold and it just felt like another, cleaner, bigger cell.

Nico tried to memorize their path through the house, but it wasn't hard because after two left turns and a small staircase, they reached the same room he had been in the first night.

Inside is only the snake man, Voldemort. When he saw him walk into the room, the ugly man gave a sneering smile.

"Ah, Nico di Angelo! I've been waiting for our meeting."

The werewolf uncuffed Nico's hands and shoved him farther into the room. Nico stumbled and heard the door close behind him, locking him in with Voldemort.

The snake man walked forward to Nico, sliding across the smooth marble floor.

"Now," he said painfully slowly when he reached Nico, "I'm going to ask the same thing I did to all of your friends. If you don't answer it then . . . well, you've heard them."

Nico's eyes hardened. He wanted to punch the man, he was only a step in front of him and was so sickly and snake-like that he was sure he could do some damage. But Voldemort had magic and followers. Nico also needed to get his friends out, and that couldn't happen if Voldemort decided Nico was too much trouble.

"What are your powers Mr. di Angelo?" Voldemort asked.

Nico almost flinched at the name. That's what Professor McGonogall had called him. She had always been strict but never unreasonable.

Hearing the same words leave that man's mouth felt like poison slipping through Nico's veins.

"You said that you were the most valuable," Voldemort said, fainting innocents. He lifted Nico's head with his cold fingers on his chin. "Prove it."

Instead of replying, Nico promptly stepped on his foot.

Voldemort let go of his chin and cried in pain. There was a pop and a woman with crazy hair appeared behind Voldemort.

"My Lord!" she called out to him.

"I am fine Bellatrix," the snake-man huffed. He lifted his wand and pointed it right at Nico.

Before he could move, a green light erupted from the wand's tip and the pain from the other night flooded him. Nico clamped his mouth shut, not daring to make a sound. He fell to the floor but did not scream as the light engulfed him.

Eventually it stopped and Nico let out a gasp of air.

"So, you've chosen to be stubborn," Voldemort snarled. "Bellatrix! Fetch the other things!"

There was a second pop and Nico suddenly remembered that name. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had mentioned her, said she was crazy.

Nico looked up at Voldemort defiantly. "Like I said, you can't break me."

Voldemort gave him a chilling smile. "Maybe magic won't, child, but I have other modes of torture for you."

Another pop sounded behind Nico and he was suddenly picked up by strong, thin arms. It wasn't like Will's arms, warm and comforting. These ones, the ones owned by Bellatrix, were like cat arms if cats were evil and made from steel.

He was roughly placed onto something wooden and solid. Before Nico could find the words to protest, he was being wrapped in rope.

Panic hit Nico hard and fast, his breath caught in his throat and he was right back in that bronze jar. He couldn't move and couldn't breath and what was he sitting on? What was happening?

His mind started to fuzz over and the world seemed to slant to one side. He was getting a panic attack. But he couldn't have one, not now. Not in that room, that house, or even in the world that held all the wizards and witches.

Nico closed his eyes a bit longer each time he blinked, trying to pay attention more to what he felt than what he saw. He felt the splintery wood beneath him, it scooped down for a seat and from the height, it was definitely a chair.

He was tied to a chair.

At the realization of some kind of clarity in his weird situation, his breaths came easier. His eyes started to focus back in, the ringing in his ears dying.

Then pain hit.

Not the blast of consuming pain that came from the green light, but the sharp and quick pain of a whip.

Nico was as surprised as he was pained and he couldn't stop a cry from escaping his lips.

Another hit. Another, and another to his back, his legs, his tied arms.

When it stopped for a minute, Nico took the time to look up at Voldemort. He was smiling at Nico as he tried to keep in his cries of pain. He knew that Nico knew his friends and Will would hear him. He enjoyed the idea of pain and torture.

Bellatrix walked into view now, and she wasn't holding a whip this time. Instead she held a knife in her hands.

Nico braced himself as she drew closer. She walked right up to him before placing a hand on his thigh. He flinched at the contact and tried to pull away as she slid her fingers up and up until she got to his waist.

Bellatrix grabbed the hem of his shirt and lifted it to his chin. She gave him an evil smile and then brought the blade to his stomach.

The cold metal cut through his skin like butter and ico's eyes went blurry with pain. He felt his mouth open but couldn't hear any words or sounds escape.

He couldn't see it, but he felt the blade make designs as the mad woman kept cutting his skin. When she was satisfied with his stomach, she raised the knife and moved to his face. Small, thin, shallow marks that burned with the cool air.

Darkness hung at the edge of Nico's vision, creeping in slowly but surely. He needed it to stop.

A surge of fear and defiance came through Nico and shot out into the shadows. He could feel the darkness spread out like a shockwave and push both Voldemort and Bellatrix to the ground.

As the last of his energy left him, Nico couldn't even care that he had just shown Voldemort a glimpse of his powers. He didn't care that he was going to pass out right in front of his enemies. All that mattered was that the pain was gone, and if it came back, he'd already be too far asleep to feel it.

Chapter Text

Nico's eyes stung with lack of sleep as he opened them carefully. Through a haze, he saw a blond head above him with something reflective on his face. Rough arms hold his back onto a lap and there are fuzzy voices that don't quite make sense yet. Even in his tired state, Nico knew Will was not the one holding him. So, where was he?

He blinked again and put the little energy he had in his stomach and a searing pain shot up his abdomen as soon as he moved, causing a significant flinch.

"Nico?" Jason's quietly terrified voice came from above Nico's head.

He tried to lift an arm up to rub his eyes, but Nico found he could barely use his stomach without pain.

"Nico?" Jason called again, shaking him lightly as if waking him up, which just hurt Nico more.

"I'm okay, Jas," Nico assured him, telling him with his eyes to stop shaking him.

"Thank the gods," someone whispered to his left, out of eyesight.

"You came back all bloody," Jason told him. "Will is knocked out in the corner from trying to heal you and all it did was stop the bleeding. What happened?"

Nico perked up at the sound of his boyfriend and he turned his head to the side to see if perhaps he could catch sight of the son of Apollo. There were a pair of tan legs that must have belonged to Piper, and past them, curled in the corner and seeming to be in fitful sleep, was Will Solace.

"We have to preserve his powers," Nico told Jason, ignoring the question. "We'll only heal people at the end of the day or if completely necessary. If we are given any resources, we should make sure we always have extra for Will. He'll be going through even more than us."

Torture by day, healing them all by night. It was a lot of pressure and his powers would probably become weaker as time went on, due to the lack of sunlight. Nico would have to keep extra tabs on Will. As if he wasn't doing it already.

Jason nodded in agreement like Nico's words were a command. He was also looking at him like he was about to salute and say "yes sir". That was weird for Nico who had watched Percy, Annabeth, Reyna, and Jason himself get looked at that way. Like they knew what they were doing. Like with them in charge, there was hope.

"Speaking of resources," the voice from earlier that Nico now knew was obviously Piper, spoke up. "We got a delivery while you were out."

Footsteps echoed slightly against the walls as Piper walked away and then reappeared with a small square sandwich and a plastic water bottle. With Nico's still sleepy mind, he could almost imagine they were nectar and ambrosia. Oh, how he wished for the gods' food more than ever.

Piper handed them to Nico and a part of him wanted to refuse. Some inner voice telling him that they'd be wasting food and water on him when someone else could use it. But, Nico forced the voice down with a more reasonable one that told him that he had been bleeding so much it knocked out Will. And besides, the son of Apollo would kill him if he found out Nico refused it. Or worse, make him stay at the infirmary for a week.

Nico took the offered food and water which made Piper and Jason smile a bit.

Nico tried to sit up, struggling with the knife marks in his abdomen, but with Jason's help, he sat with his back against the back wall. After settling against the cold wall, he opened the water bottle and lifted it into his mouth carefully.

As soon as he tried to swallow the water into his stomach, a flare of pain made Nico cringe and spit out his water.

"Nico!" Piper and Jason exclaimed.

"Sorry," Nico groaned. "I didn't think it would hurt that much."

He eyed the food and drink again. He could hand them back, save it for Will when he woke up. But Nico was still sleepy and now had a wound. If he wanted to get everyone out, he'd need to get his strength back.

Nico brought the bottle back to his mouth and little by little, he let the water fall into his stomach. Tiny bursts of pain come with every swallow, but as he keeps sipping and eating, the pain becomes duller and he every few bites, Nico adds more to his portions, training himself against the pain.

"You're really going to have to pee later," Leo comments, nudging his shoulder. He had shown up a few minutes before when he saw Nico was awake.

"Is there even a bathroom down here?" Nico asked as he closed his now empty water container and handed it back to Piper.

"Yep." She pointed over to a small door Nico hadn't noticed before on the right side of the cell. "It smells awful but on the plus side, there are no spiders."

"Good for Annabeth," Nico said with a small smile.

"What's good for me?" Annabeth and Percy appeared behind Jason and Piper and settled down across from Nico.

A twinge of embarrassment hit Nico as he remembered how the couple had held him as Will was tortured yesterday (was it yesterday? He didn't know how much time had passed). He wanted to pretend like it never happened, a little part of him hating that they ever saw him that weak, but Will would also be disappointed if he let himself give into old habits.

"Thank you for yesterday," Nico told them instead, giving them a thankful smile.

"No problem, cuz," Percy told him and Annabeth nodding in agreement.

"Dang, Neeks," Leo said, looking at him worriedly. "I think Voldemort did something to your brain. You've smiled twice in the span of ten minutes."

"Shut up, Valdez," Nico told him, suppressing another smile at the boy's continued teasing, even in their situation.

"Hey, Nico," Annabeth said a little hesitantly. "I was wondering if–"

She cut off her question quickly as they all heard the footsteps outside of the cell. With their demigod hearing, the huddle heard the quiet steps and Nico estimated in his head that it would be a minute or so before the person arrived. With a look at the others who seemed to have the same thoughts, they all split off to wake up their friends. Piper and Leo walked to Reyna who was sleeping with her back to the wall and Percy and Annabeth chose to get Hazel and Frank asleep on the floor.

Nico and Jason walked quickly over to Will and Nico placed a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder lightly.

"Wake up, Tesoro," he said quietly, gently shaking him awake.

Will, the impossibly light sleeper he was, woke up immediately. His eyes shot open and Nico felt his body tense beneath his hand. He looked up at Jason and then to Nico, relaxing as he saw their calm expressions.

"Are you okay?" He asked, reaching up to touch Nico's face.

Nico held Will's hand to his cheek and kissed his forehead. "I'm okay, amorino."

The footsteps stopped and Nico looked over to the cell door and saw a man, not the werewolf, was standing there expectantly. He was a bit burly and rugged, but nothing that made Nico feel too afraid.

"Give me a second," Nico said to Will quietly, giving his hand a squeeze before standing, a bit painfully, and walking over to the bars.

He tried to keep his face neutral as he walked over to the man, aiming not to grimace at the pain that came as he walked, but from the smile that took the other man's lips, Nico guessed he didn't do a great job.

"What do you want?" Nico asked through the bars.

"The Dark Lord wishes for your presence," the man told him with a cruel smile.

Nico nodded stiffly and turned back to his friends, "I'm going with the man. I'll be back–"

"Oh, no," the man interrupted with a tut. "The Dark Lord wishes for all of you to come."

"Cazzo," Nico swore under his breath. He had hoped he'd convinced Voldemort enough to forget his friends and let them rest.

He walked back over to Will who heard the conversation and, thanks to Jason, got to standing.

"Are you sure you're good?" Nico whispered to him strictly.

"Yes," Will told him defiantly with a tight nod.

Although Nico wished he didn't have to, he motioned for everyone to come and get their cuffs on before lining up and leaving the cell with the burly man.

The large group walked quietly through the house, only the sound of footsteps echoing through the empty halls and the light breaths of the demigods. They walk until they get to the room they'd first appeared in and were each tortured by themselves before. It was dressed the same as last time, except there were many people in the room behind Voldemort who were waiting for them. The others were hidden in the shadows, but that didn't stop Nico from recognizing the terrorizing face of Bellatrix.

The demigods were led in a line and then one by one pushed to their knees in front of the "Dark Lord". Nico watched the snake man walk down with a pleasant smile on his face. Well, it could be pleasant, except the fact that Voldemort was probably the scariest looking man Nico had ever seen. Especially since the more he saw of him, the more he thought the man was less human and more . . . something else.

"Hello, again," Voldemort greeted them, mouth wide and teeth flashing in the dim green light.

None of the demigods greeted him back.

"Oh, someone didn't learn manners," Voldemort chided.

Nico scoffed. He knew for a fact that at least Hazel, Reyna, and him were all taught the very best of manners as kids.

"Do you wish to say something, di Angelo?" Voldemort asked.

"I'm only polite to those who deserve my respect," Nico said simply. His tone made it sound like he was just talking to a friend, but he made sure his eyes shot daggers at Voldemort.

Multiple people behind the Dark Lord gasped along with Will on his left. On his other side though, Percy was grinning widely like a proud father.

Voldemort was not amused by Nico's remark, making his once "happy" face fall into a frown. He took out his wand and shot an orange-red spell. Nico tried to dodge the spell, but it hit his exposed and freshly cut marked arm and a burning sensation was sent through him. A pain like fire in his bloodstream was sent through Nico's whole arm and a red mark stained his where the spell hit.

He grit his teeth against the pain and brought his eyes up to meet Voldemort's now cruelly joyful gaze once again.

"I do not wish to harm you," he said almost charmingly to them, specifically looking at Nico. "I just wish to make a deal."

"Well," Hazel said angrily, sounding a bit farther down the line from Nico. "You can take your plan and shove it up your–"

In a swift movement, Voldemort pointed his wand at Nico's sister and cast a green spell that caused a terrible scream.

"That's what happens when I'm not happy," Voldemort said condescendingly. "This would all be easier if you just–"

"Don't blame us for your actions," Annabeth spat at him.

Voldemort turned to her and walked over to where she knelt on the other side of Percy.

"You're a smart one, aren't you?" he asked her. "I can see it in your eyes, What's your name? Annabeth Chase?"

"You don't get to speak her name," Percy told him angrily.

Deep down, Nico knew it was a stupid mistake, but he couldn't help smiling a bit at Percy's natural sas to his elders.

Voldemort glared at him and kicked the son of Poseidon right in the face.

"Percy!" Annabeth and Jason called at the same time. Nico tried to stand but a hand grabbed his chained hands and some on his hair, keeping him in place.

"You are lucky to be in my presence and alive!" Voldemort cried. He turned to his comrades angrily, "start the next round!"

All of the people who had been standing and watching in the shadows, stepped forward and each took one of the demigods. When Nico was let go from behind, he looked up to face his own "guard". He was shocked to see Professor Snape's gliding steps and tired face coming toward him.

His hair was greasy and his face stern, just like he'd seen it for the last time Nico had seen him at Hogwarts. He held Nico's eyes as he walked behind him, and Nico stared him down. There was something in his eyes. He didn't have the hunger and anger that was held in the eyes of Bellatrix or the werewolf. The professor's eyes were locked, walls built up that most didn't care to pry at But Nico had had walls of his own, and no one has walls for no reason.

What would Maria say if she saw her brother and son now?

Snape grabbed his handcuffs and brought him roughly to his feet. A grunt of pain came from Nico's mouth as he was tugged over to a corner of the room where he was once again pushed to his knees.

The greasy man placed his fingers on top of Nico's head and pulled him back to look up at the room that seemed to be transforming before him. At each wall sat one of Nico's friends, with one of Voldemort's followers standing by them.

Frank was with the burly man who grabbed a stick out of thin air with the wave of his wand and started threateningly whacking against his hand, as if practicing his hand was Frank's head. His eyes wandered to Hazel, who was pushed up against a wall by a mean looking girl with blonde hair. No, he couldn't look there.

Jason was unchained and given a sword by his guy who held a wand menacingly, making Nico believe that even though Jason was one of the greatest fighters he'd ever seen, the one with the wand was the bigger problem. He turned his head just in time to see Piper get smacked across the face and be told to shut up, so he assumed she'd tried to use her charmspeak on the guy that stood above her.

Percy was rolling away from his guy with his hands tied behind his back and Leo was doing the same, seeming to team up somehow and meet with their backs together, seeming to see if they could escape their binds. It was a hopeless idea. Nico knew they were outnumbered and overpowered at the moment and even if they did break free, what would they do next?

Reyna was with the werewolf, her expression scared but determined, looking ready to lash out with her untied feet if the monster came even a step closer. Annabeth got stuck with Bellatrix who was laughing like a classic villain as she advanced on the blonde who was clearly determined to not give her the satisfaction of fear.

Then Nico looked to Will.

He was thrown against the wall by his guard and slid down to the floor, having no energy to keep standing, where the guard took out a knife and started over to him.

"Wait," Nico said quietly at first, then a bit louder so Snape could hear. "Wait. Stop!"

The guard crouched over Will's tired form and lifted the knife to his tan collar bone skin. Cruelly, it reminded Nico of his own scars decorating his body, and the marks on his stomach.

Will's scream echoed through the room with the knife breaking skin. It was louder than the ones of Nico's other friends and only rivaled in pain by his sister's. It all slammed into Nico's ears and the sound crashed his vision. His eyes couldn't keep up with his racing heart as it flitted back and forth at all of them. Hitting, slicing, fighting, losing.

Was this what the beginning of madness felt like? A racing heart and the voices of loved ones screaming and echoing through his head, threatening to drown him.

"Please, no," he whispered. He couldn't fall into madness. He couldn't give into it.

But why not? He'd been facing hell since he was a child, being shamed for his sexuality, living in Italy in the Second World War, his mother dying, his memories being wiped, his sister leaving, his sister dying, betrayal at him and from him. Being outcasted, living on the streets, going to the Pit, being suffocated in a jar, being outed forcefully, shadow traveling halfway around the world with a giant statue and two others, fighting in three demigod wars, choosing to go into Tartarus to save his friend, he'd done everything. Maybe now he could just let go and stop having to fight it. Fight the nightmares, the memory flashes, the pain.

But then what? What would he do after his brain fried and he was left alone? It wouldn't get anyone out of Voldemort's clutches, or help any of his friends at Hogwarts, it didn't even benefit himself if he thought about it. Being with Will benefited him, dueling with Jason and Percy benefited him, having talks with Hazel benefited him and he could do none of those things if he went insane.

But he didn't know if he could keep watching.

He shut his eyes tightly, but Snape just used his fingers to pull his lids back up again.

Hitting, pushing, fighting, slapping, fighting, kicking, glaring, bleeding.

"No, stop!" Nico begged. He wasn't sure if it was to Snape, Voldemort, or the Fates, but he just needed it to stop. "I can't watch this! I can't watch them get hurt. I can't watch them hurt him, please!"

Even from the first moment he had met Snape, he'd known that there was something soft under his stern demeanor. Nico must have found that something with his words, because Snape released his head and immediately Nico bowed it, not letting anyone see the tears that fell from them.

Chapter Text

Harry sat at Dumbledore's funeral, listening to a little man dressed in black talk. He talked about Dumbledore and his greatness, things Harry didn't know and didn't really care to know because he knew Dumbledore was more than that.

As he sat there, waiting for the man to stop jabbering, one thought kept ringing through his head.

"Where's Nico?"

Christmas break ended months ago and so much had changed in Harry's life since then. He wanted to tell his American friend, who somehow always understood what he was saying. He even listened to his theories about Draco and Snape, which turned out to be true!

So, where was he?

Did he decide to stay wherever he'd gone back to? That's what the teachers said. But if that was the case, why would they still give each other worried glances whenever the name was brought up. Wouldn’t he have sent a letter? Couldn’t he have sent a heads up to his friends? Maybe he had, and Harry was too busy watching Draco to notice anything.

The man at the front stopped talking. He stepped back and the white tomb where Dumbledor was laid set to fire. A few screams were let out by this, but Harry stayed quiet.

A couple more shocked cries rang free when arrows shot across the sky. They came from the Forbidden Forest and landed around the tomb with impeccable aim. The centaurs.

Harry looked back to his friends, Ron, Hermione, and his girlfriend, Ginny who all sat on either side of him. Ron's face was screwed up, clearly trying to hold back tears. Hermione's face was glazed with water as droplet by droplet fell from her eyes, down her cheeks, to her chin and falling into her lap. An hour earlier, Ginny had been like Hermione. Now though, his face was dry but solem. She met his gaze and an understanding passed between them. He knew what he'd have to say, and she knew it too.

"Ginny, listen . . ." he started quietly. People around them were now getting to their feet, creating noise, but he still didn't want to be disrespectful. "I can't be involved with you anymore. We've got to stop seeing each other. We can't be together."

Ginny smiled twistedly as she responded, "it's for some stupid, noble reason isn't it?'

"It's been like . . . like something out of someone else's life, these last few weeks with you," Harry told her. "But I can't . . . we can't . . . I've got things to do alone now."

Dumbledor had left him a mission. Find the Horcruxes and destroy them. After that, he had a mission of his own he needed to complete. Find Nico di Angelo.

"Voldemort uses people his enemies are close to," Harry explained. "He's already used you as bait once, and that was just because you're my best friend's sister. Think of how much danger you'll be in if we keep this up. He'll know, he'll find out. He'll try and get to me through you."

"What if I don't care?" Ginny replied.

"I care," Harry said. "How do you think I'd feel if this was your funeral . . . and it was my fault . . ."

Ginny looked away then, over to the lake.

"I never really gave up on you," she said. "Not really. I always hoped . . . Hermione told me to get on with my life, maybe go out with other people, relax a bit around you, because I never used to be able to talk if you were in the room, remember? And she thought you might take a bit more notice if I was a bit more — myself."

"Smart girl, that Hermione," Harry said, trying for a smile. "I just wish I'd asked you sooner. We could've had ages . . . months . . . years maybe. . . ."

"But you've been too busy saving the Wizarding world," Ginny said, half laughing. "Well . . . I can't say I'm surprised. I knew this would happen in the end. I knew you wouldn't be happy unless you were hunting Voldemort. Maybe that's why I like you so much."

Harry couldn't bear to hear it. He turned his back on Ginny, and the white tomb. He saw Hermione, crying into Ron's shoulder, but he couldn't care about it at the moment.

He walked down towards the lake, the same path he and Nico had taken many times in the few weeks they'd been friends. If only he had trusted him sooner. They could have been friends longer if Harry hadn't been so stupid and convinced himself that the American was a Death Eater.

"You weren't stupid," Nico would have said. "You've been through so much, Harry. I don't blame you for being careful.

He stopped at the shore, stared out over the lake.

"Dumbledore has so many plans for me," Harry had said one night, the last night he had been with Nico. "What if I can't complete them?"

Nico was quiet, considering his answer in the way he always did.

"I think it doesn't matter what Dumbledor wants," Nico said, watching the sun sink with a smile playing on his lips. "I think if you believe whatever you're doing is for Dumbledore, it will make it harder."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked quizzically.

Nico turned to him, eyes not so dark in the light of the setting sun. "Do it for you, for the people you love. Not for anyone else."

"Harry!" 

He turned. Rufus Scrimgeour was limping rapidly toward him around the bank, leaning on his walking stick.

“I’ve been hoping to have a word . . . do you mind if I walk a little way with you?”

“No,” said Harry indifferently, and set off again.

“Harry, this was a dreadful tragedy," said Scrimgeour quietly. "I cannot tell you how appalled I was to hear of it. Dumbledore  was a very great wizard. We had our disagreements, as you know, but no one knows better than I —"

"What do you want?" asked Harry flatly.  

Scrimgeour looked annoyed, but as before, hastily modified his expression to one of sorrowful understanding.

"You are, of course, devastated," he said. "I know that you were very close to Dumbledore. I think you may have been his favorite pupil ever. The bond between the two of you —”

"What do you want?" Harry repeated, coming to a halt. 

Scrimgeour stopped too, leaned on his stick, and stared at Harry, his expression shrewd now.

"The word is that you were with him when he left the school the night he died."

"Whose word?" asked Harry.

"Somebody Stupefied a Death Eater on top of the tower after Dumbledore died. There were also two broomsticks up there. The Ministry can add two and two, Harry."

"Glad to hear it," said Harry. "Well, where I went with Dumbledore and what I did is my business. He didn't want people to know."

"Such loyalty is admirable, of course," said Scrimgeour, who seemed to be restraining his irritation with difficulty, "but Dumbledore is gone, Harry. He's gone."

"He will only be gone from the school when none here are loyal to him," said Harry, smiling in spite of himself.

"My dear boy . . . even  Dumbledore cannot return  from the —"

"I'm not saying he can. You wouldn't understand. But I've got nothing to tell you."

Scrimgeour hesitated, then said, in what was evidently supposed to be a tone of delicacy, "The Ministry can offer you all sorts of protection, you know, Harry. I would be delighted to place a couple of my Aurors at your service —"

harry laughed. "Voldemort wants to kill me himself, and Aurors won't stop him. So thanks for the offer, but no thanks."

"So," Scrimgeour, his voice cold now, "the request I made of you at Christmas —"

"What request? Oh yeah . . . the one where I tell the world what a great job you're doing in exchange for —"

" — for everyone's morale!" snapped Scrimgeour.

Harry considered for a moment.

"Released Stan Shunpike yet?"

Scrimgeour turned a nasty purple color highly reminiscent of Uncle Vernon.

"I see you are —"

"Dumbledore's man thro9ugh and through," said Harry. "That's right."

Scrimgeour glared at him for another moment before limping away without a word.

Harry glanced at the funeral scene, Hagrid and Grawp were crying, as well as most of the others. It felt wrong to cry for a man who had said "Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." But he supposed it couldn't be helped. What would Nico say if he were there?

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see Ron and Hermione walking towards him, but he didn't quite feel like staying there. He turned and started walking once again, waiting for his friends to catch up. 

The last month was a flurry of chaos. In one night, he had gone on a rollercoaster of lose and gain. He knew what he had to do, but he was still unsure how to do it. Dumbledore had been the one researching Voldemort and his past. How could he find the  other Horcruxes if he didn't even know where to look? 

He needed help. He needed Nico. Ron and Hermione had no idea the weight he felt. The strain of knowing that the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. No one else could understand, except Nico. He didn't go into detail about it, but often times when the subject of saving the world came up, his face would become grave and his eyes would close off. He always listen intently and he never made him feel as if his thoughts were dumb. As if every pain Harry complained about was real and not a fake to get attention.

Footsteps came closer and Harry finally stopped under a beech tree. 

"What did Scrimgeour want?" Hermione whispered, walking forward to his side.

"Same as he wanted at Christmas," Harry responded, gazing out at the water. "Wanted me to give him inside information on Dumbledore and be the Ministry's new poster boy."

Ron seemed to struggle with himself for a moment, then he said loudly to Hermione, "Look let me go back and hit Percy!"

"There's a giant squid in there," Harry said as Nico approached the water.

"A squid?" Nico asked.

"A giant one."

Nico smiled and stared out at the water.  "I'll have to bring my cousin here. He'd love to meet it."

"No," Hermione said firmly, grabbing his arm.

"It'll make me feel better!"

Harry laughed. Even after all he'd been through the last week, he laughed. Even Hermione grinned a little, through her smile faded as she looked up a the castle.

"I can't bear the idea that we might never come back," she said softly. "How can Hogwarts close?"

"Maybe it won't," said Ron. "We're not in any more danger here than we are at home, are we? Every where's the same now. I'd even say Hogwarts is safer, there are more wizards inside the defend the place. What d'you reckon, Harry?"

Harry's mind went to Nico. Was he safe where ever he was? Could the Death Eater be hunting him as well? From what he had seen, Nico was a very powerful wizard. He'd be a great ally.

"I'm not coming back even if it does reopen," said Harry.

Ron gaped at him, but Hermione said sadly, "I knew you were going to say that. But what will you do?"

"I'm going back to the Dursleys' once more, because Dumbledore wanted me to," said Harry. "But it'll be a short visit, and then I'll be gone for good."

"But where will you go if you don't come back to school?"

"I thought I might go to Godric's Hollow," Harry muttered. He had had the idea in his head ever since the night of Dumbledore's death. "For me, it started there, all of it. I've just got a feeling I need to go there. And I can visit my parents' graves, I'd like that."

"Is it hard?" Harry asked.

"Of course," Nico replied. "But it's also comforting. My sister always took care of me. The least I could do is visit her grave and keep it tidy."

Harry watching the sun fully sink in the horizon. "If I do go visit my parents, would you come with me?"

Nico looked at him and smiled. "I'd love to meet your parents, Harry."

"And then what?" said Ron.

"Then I've got to track down the rest of the Horcruxes, haven't I?" said Harry, his eyes upon Dumbledore's white tomb, reflected in the water on the other side of the lake. "That's what he wanted me to do, that's why he told me all about them. If Dumbledore was right — and I'm sure he was — there are still four of them out there. I've got to find them and destroy them, and then I've got to go after the seventh bit of Voldemort's soul, the bit that's still in his body, and I'm the one who's going to kill him. I'm also going to keep an eye out for Nico. Something is wrong and I'm going to save him."

There was a long silence. The crowd had almost disappeared now, the stragglers giving the monumental figure of Grawp a wide berth as he cuddled Hagrid, whose howls of grief were still echoing across the water.

"We'll be there, Harry," said Ron.

"What?"

"At your aunt and uncle's house," said Ron. "And then we'll go with you wherever you're going."

"No —" said Harry quickly; he had not counted on this, he had meant them to understand that he was undertaking this most dangerous journey alone.

"You said to us once before," said Hermione quietly, "that there was time to turn back if we wanted to. We've had time, haven't we?"

"We're with you, whatever happens," said Ron. "But mate, you're going to have to come round my mum and dad's house before we dop anything else, even Godric's Hollow."

"Why?"

"Bill and Fleur's wedding, remember?"

Harry looked at him, startled; the idea that anything as normal as a wedding could still exist seemed incredible and yet wonderful. 

"You planning to get married?" he asked. The rock skipped twice before sinking in the water.

Nico's face broke into a smile. The one that only came at the mention of his mysterious lover. 

"Yes," he skipped the rock four times.

"Yeah we shouldn't miss that," he said finally.

His hands closed automatically around the fake Horcrux, but in spite of everything, in spite of the dark and twisting path he saw stretching ahead for himself, in spite of the final meeting with Voldemort he knew must come, whether in a month, in a year, or in ten, he felt his heart lift at the thought that there was still one last golden say of peace left to enjoy with Ron, Hermione, and maybe, just maybe, Nico.

Chapter Text

The days in Voldemort's layer became weeks, and the weeks became months. The train to take all of the kids that left for break back to Hogwarts was long gone, probably taking kids to King Cross for summer at this point. Nico tried to squash it, but he hoped someone had noticed. He hoped maybe there was someone searching for him. But, from what Nico had heard in the shadow, his friends had enough on their hands.

The demigods found a routine to their new life. Wake up, eat if you had to, get some form of torture, come back, try to sleep. They even found a pattern in the different days of the week.

Day one was "Relay Day" (all name credits go to Leo) where they'd be taken one by one to show their powers to Voldemort or be tortured. Just like the first day, all of the demigods refused to show him anything, and came back passed out from the pain.

Day two was "Training 101 Day". They would be taken up one at a time to practice fighting with weapons. Since the demigods refused to put their skills on display, they all came back with cuts that Will would have to heal.

Day three was "Family Torture Day" where they'd all be taken up to be tortured around each other. They knew it was to break them by seeing their friends hurt so they tried to show as little emotion as possible which only Nico and Reyna had mastered.

Day four was "We're All Training Together". This day was almost the same as day two, except they fought each other. In a way, it was a rest day where they could pretend to fight each other but never use even half of their full power.

The only downside to day four, "Family Feud" was that the fights would only end when one passed out from exhaustion or was hurt too much to keep fighting. The loser would get Crucio-ed, which was the green spell that caused inner torture. Nico always lost his battles, which usually he'd never do on purpose, but he was the only one who wouldn't scream at the spell.

Day five was the worst day. It was "Bellatrix Day" where she could torture them how ever she wanted. There seemed to be no reason for this except just to cause them pain and get Bella off of Voldemort's back for a bit.

Day six was a rest day for everyone except Nico, "One for All", who asked every week if he would make the other demigods Death Eater warriors and in exchange stop the torture. Every time Nico would refuse the offer and Bellatrix would reopen the wounds on his stomach and whip or beat him for the rest of the day until he blacked out.

Day seven was a rest day for everyone. They were given a sandwich and plastic water bottle each for the whole week that day so plans for what to eat and drink were usually made then as well. For most of the time, they just sat in their cells, waiting for the next day when the torture would start up a again.

Everyday, Will would use lots of his powers to heal people as best he could. Will always insisted he was fine and wanted to help more, but Nico made sure only used it to keep everyone moving and alive.

One night, a few weeks into their stay, Nico awoke from a fitful sleep to whispers a few feet away. He sat up and saw two blurry figures hunched by the door of the cell, away from the sleeping bodies of the demigods.

Rubbing sleep out of his eyes, he walked quietly and delicately over to the two other awake people. He blinked five times before he recognized Annabeth and Reyna sitting before him.

"What are you two doing up?" Nico asked quietly, adding himself to the circle.

"Couldn't sleep," Annabeth answered and Reyna nodded in agreement.

One look between the two had Nico realizing that these late night talk sessions had been going on for a while.

"Why are you up now?" Reyna asked.

Nico rubbed his eyes, trying to erase the memory of his dream. "Bad dream."

Annabeth and Reyna nodded in understanding. Being a demigod meant having more dreams and they were usually worse. Nico personally had a few bad ones where he was actually injured, but they usually had some deeper meaning to them.

"Care to share?" Annabeth pressed.

"I'm not sure," he sighed, "it was crazy. Mostly just a bunch of flashes of what seems like memories. I saw some Hogwarts friends, some teachers, a giant spider, Quidditch—"

"What's Quidditch?" Reyna asked.

"A wizarding game," Nico explained. "That's all though."

It wasn't completely true, he had some ideas about what some memories meant and there were some things that would have sounded weird like a potion of luck, a potion book, a man that Nico had the sneaking suspicion was a young Voldemort, but those weren't important.

A silence fell over the three of them. Nico dropped his head a bit but he saw a look pass between the two girls.

"Hey, Nico," Reyna started, "we were wondering if you —"

"Have a plan of escape?" Of course he did. He'd had an idea forming from the beginning. But, everytime he refined it or changed something, it always came down to him being in possible danger. Usually, he wouldn't mind it, but for it to work, he needed help, and all of his friends would never let him sacrifice himself. "No."

He could see slight deflates in his friend's forms, shoulders dropping, head dropping, even their eyes seemed to dim. He almost opened his mouth and told him his half formed plan, but he couldn't give them hope. Contrary to popular belief, Nico found that having no hope helped a lot more in tough situations than having any sliver at all.

Almost every night after that, Annabeth, Reyna, and Nico would stay up, talking, crying, or just enjoying each other's presence in the still night. A while later, after a particularly brutal day, the two girls were sleeping off injuries from two days before.

Reyna had been stabbed in the back and could have died if Bellatrix was going for the kill. Annabeth was given a deep cut in her arm that was bleeding out, but Reyna had insisted to Will to heal her first. The son of Apollo magically created stitches for Annabeth's arm that used all of his energy for the day, and Reyna had to wait for the next day before she was healed herself. Now both of them were sleeping off their wounds, which was probably the longest sleep either of them had had in months.

It was day seven, Sunday evening if you will, and Nico was sitting up waiting for their daily food and water for the week. He heard the footsteps of someone coming and looked up tiredly at the approaching man.

His eyes locked with Draco Malfoy's, who was holding the tray of food and water in his hands, standing in front of the cage.

When Nico first met his eyes, he saw no emotion. A stone cold wall that blocked out everything, something he'd seen in his own reflection many times. But, only after a second, the blonde's eyes softened and he started to tremble.

Nico leaped up and caught the tray before it fell and spilled the sandwiches and water.

"Shit!" Draco exclaimed quietly, grabbing the tray again, "Sorry!"

Together, they brought the tray to the floor and Draco pushed it into the cell. They stared at each other for a moment, Nico watching the way Draco's eyes moved and the cracks that started to form in his dark eyes.

"Nico I'm really sorry," Draco said, breaking the silence. His voice started to shake, but his words were strong. "You were so kind to me and trusted me and I betrayed you! I brought you and your friends here! I'm so sorry."

Nico thought he'd be mad. He had expected to hate Draco for sharing his secret and putting him there. It wasn't really his fault, it was Draco's. But, as he recalled his months stuck with the Death Eaters, he understood why Draco did what he did. Voldemort was a cruel person who struck fear into everyone of his followers, even Bellatrix. Draco was doing something for Voldemort and he was failing. He needed something to keep him safe.

"I don't blame you," Nico told him.

"You should," Draco countered.

"But I don't."

They sat there again, Draco staring at the ground and Nico staring at him. The blonde seemed older than before, taller, sharper face like his dad, and some might say stronger but that's not what was in his eyes.

"What has he done?" Draco asked slowly.

"Lots of things," Nico sighed, not needing a name. "Mostly torture but we've survived worse."

"You've survived worse than the Dark Lord?" Draco asked skeptically.

"Way worse." He gave a little smile, letting him know that everything was okay between them.

"How's school?" he asked.

Draco ducked his head. "Long story."

"I've got a few hours," Nico insisted.

Draco proceeded to tell Nico everything. The plan to infiltrate the school, Snape killing Dumbledore, the Death Eaters taking over the school, everything.

"Wow," was all Nico could say. The thought of a person like Dumbledor being gone was almost unimaginable. He looked like he would live forever. "So where's Harry, Ron, and Hermione?"

Draco scoffed. He had told Nico about the bathroom incident, and Nico didn't blame him for being salty. "Back at home. We're planning an attack before school starts again, there's no way he's going back to Hogwarts."

"Back to Hogwarts," Nico whispered to himself. When he had left, there was half the school year left. Now school was over, he and his friends had been there for six months.

"Did they ever . . ." he trailed off, unsure if he wanted an answer.

"Talk about you?" Draco asked and Nico nodded. "Yes. Potter knew I did something and I could hear their conspiracies about what happened to you."

"For the Quidditch team," Nico asked, "who replaced me?"

"Dean Thomas."

Nico smiled. Dean had wanted to be a part of the team, but didn't get the role. Guess something good came out of his disappearance.

"Are he and Ginny still together?"

"No, but she and Potter are."

Nico almost laughed with delight, "What about Hermione and Ron? Are they finally together?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "No. Weasley and that awful Lavender Brown were a thing for a long time, but something happened with Ron saying Hermione's name when he was unconscious, and they broke up."

Nico facepalmed. "How obvious can they get before they realize?"

"I'm actually starting to agree with you," Draco said, a small upturn to his lips.

The two boys suddenly started laughing. It was a small chuckle at first, but soon it was a full laughing fit, only made worse by the shushing they gave each other since it was evening.

"Gods!" Nico smiled, wiping away a tear. "I haven't laughed like that in a while."

"Me neither," Draco agreed.

They smiled at each other, enjoying the rekindled friendship.

"I should probably go," Draco sighed, standing up. "Voldemort is sending me to give you food until school starts, so I'll see you next week."

"Alright," Nico sighed. "See you then."

Draco walked off a few paces, then raced up the steps.

***

"You're pretty smiley this morning," Piper croaked, grabbing the water bottle he handed to her.

"Just saw a friend," Nico replied with a shrug.

"How?" Annabeth asked around a mouth full of sandwich.

"He works for Voldemort," Nico explained. "I met him at school though."

"Great," Percy said, taking a seat next to Nico on the ground. "He can help us escape."

"No," Nico stated firmly.

"Why not?" Piper asked.

"Because he's in just as much danger as us," Nico told them. "Voldemort isn't just mean to his prisoners, his followers fear him too."

"Leading with fear is never the best strategy," Reyna commented.

"Yes," Nico nodded, "but that doesn't change the fact that he could be killed if he were to help us."

"Imagine almost dying," Hazel said with an eyeroll.

"Imagine actually dying," Leo joked.

"I did that too," Hazel pointed out.

"Yeah, but I died and came back to life all by myself. You needed help from your brother over here."

"Speaking of help," Frank butted in. "We should come up with a plan to get out."

"Agreed," Jason nodded, wrapping up the last of his own sandwich. "Any ideas?"

The group went silent.

"Well, that's helpful," Reyna murmured.

"Where's your plan RARA?" Piper asked.

Reyna rolled her eyes at the nickname. "I don't see any bright ideas from you, Pepper."

"Well, if no one has any ideas," Will interrupted. "We should get some sleep, we've got a lot of injuries and tomorrow is day one, again.""

The demigods nodded and all turned to their respective corners. Annabeth and Percy had chosen the far left corner to make their cuddle spot, Piper, Jason, and Leo took the corner above them, Hazel and Frank were in the top right, and Will and Nico in the bottom right.

Nico cozied up to his boyfriend and somehow quickly drifted off into dreams, which was never a good sign.

He was in a bathroom, water covering everything and someone was crying. A frustrated cry that Nico recognized quickly.

Draco Malfoy was on the floor with blood everywhere, mixing with the water. Horror and dread filled his chest and he could feel his breathing quicken.

He was on top of a cliff, the wind whipping and giant waves crashing. Dumbledor was beside him and they looked out at a cave that sent shivers down his spine.

He was being pulled underwater by dead bodies now. Not the ones from the Underworld, but zombie looking creatures, clawing at him.

Dumbledor in front of him. His eyes were wide and he was begging him to stop something.

"Make it stop and I'll never, never again . . .!" he begged.

Nico wanted to say, "I'm not doing anything!" but the Headmaster was gone.

He was on a balcony now, Dumbledor on one side, Snape and Draco with other Death Eaters he recognized on the other. There was a flash of green light and Dumbledor was falling.

Nico sat up in a cold sweat. That wasn't a dream. That was a dream walk. Someone was dreaming about all that. Harry.

"Nico?" Will's croaky voice came from the darkness beside him.

"I'm fine," Nico said quietly, setting back down.

"You sure?" The concern in his voice made Nico almost want to tell him about his dreamwalking. But, that wasn't Will's burden to carry at the moment.

"Yeah, just memories," he said instead.

Will squeezed him tight and Nico relaxed into his embrace.

What must have been hours later, sleeping sounds came from Will's mouth and Nico was still awake. He was pondering, wanting to try something he'd hadn't attempted since the War of Gaea.

He closed his eyes and sent his mind through the shadows. He sent it out to a place he didn't know, but hopefully knowing the person would be enough.

Nico was swallowed by darkness. Everything was black but he could see his hands and feet and body.

"Hello?" a hesitant voice called out and Nico breathed a sigh of relief at the familiarity.

"Hermione?"

Nico turned and saw the girl. She, like Draco, seemed older. Her face wasn't as youthful, with cheeks made for smiling while hers now seemed to be used for crying.

"Nico?" Those eyes found his and tears bubbled.

Hermione ran towards him and Nico did the same. Just as they were about to touch, Nico's hand went through hers.

"Nico?" she called, stopping.

Nico held back tears. He had hoped he would get to embrace someone that wasn't as tortured as he was, but no. He had been taught how to dream walk, but there were some things only children of Hypnos could do.

"Hermione, I'm sorry about what happened," he said quickly, feeling himself slipping back to his body.

"Nico, where are you?" she called. "Did Draco do something?"

Nico swallowed, he shut his eyes a moment, focused on the dreamspace and using what was left of his energy to meet her eyes.

"I'm sorry Hermione," he said again. "I'm somewhere you can't find me."

"Tell me where!" She was crying now. Half of Nico wanted to tell her, but he knew that it would mean he would have hope again. Hermione was the smartest girl he'd ever met, second only to Annabeth, and he had to assume no one was coming. Hope was dangerous for him now, it was easier to think he was on his own.

"I'll see you again!" Nico called. "Maybe not in the way we'd like, but I will see you and Ron and Harry again. I promise!"

"Nico!"

Nico was awake again. This time though, more of the demigods were also awake, signaling the morning. Or what they guessed was morning.

"Hazel Levesque!" A harsh voice called into the cell.

Hazel stood lazily to her feet. The night was over, and the next week of torture had begun.

Chapter Text

The days came and went. Draco talked with Nico every Seventh Day morning when he dropped off that week’s food and water, mostly giving him updates on what he knew about Voldemort’s plans. Apparently, the followers of Voldemort with the dark cloaks were called Death Eaters. That information made Nico laugh so hard he almost woke up the whole cell. 

During the nights, he sat in a cold circle with Reyna and Annabeth. Sometimes they talked, but other times they just sat together, letting silence fill the room. It was almost comforting to have just a couple hours each day where he didn’t have to worry about anything. The silence did make those voices he’d tried to bury rise again. It was like a relapse but not by his own will. 

By this time, the daily torture they all endured had become so dull and repetitive it barley registered as pain anymore. Once, Percy compared it to school; hard and exhausting, but get through-able. They tolerated the scratches and screams, a silent promise they held onto that this wasn’t forever.

The idea Nico had of a plan was pushed to the back of his mind. He knew that Voldemort would be striking Hogwarts or something soon, since Harry only had one more year left of school, and if that was the whole point to the Death Eaters and Voldemort himself. Maybe he would take them to Hogwarts. Maybe he'd get to see his friends one last time before the Dark Lord ended everything.

The end. Funny to think the usually depressing sentence could give hope to anyone, but the trapped teens weren’t anyones. They were demigods; thriving in the thought of a close end. Whether it was because of the usual short life span or the ADHD, endings kept them going. It was a thought to remind them to just stay alive, just for now.

That montra had played in Nico’s head and heart for months, a flicker of grey light that reminded him of his quests before. Each time he thought that would be the end. Kronos, Gaia, Tartarus, shadow traveling with the Athena Parthenos, Tartarus again. He’d come to terms with the plan of just waiting. 

Until he realized that the idea of an end wasn’t good enough; they needed to see one. 

Day Five, the worst day of the week. All the demigods were sitting or standing around (except Piper and Reyna who had matching abstract paintings carved on their stomachs), waiting for Leo to come back from “Bella's Torturing Sessions”. She’d been as ruthless as ever, but Will had been saving up his energy and when each of the demigods came back battered and bruised, the doctor was quick to heal them up pretty decently. Leo was the last of them to go. 

Nico was opposite the cell door, thinking about things he’d thought important at the time. He’d dreamwalked a couple more times the past three weeks but his powers were never strong enough to talk to Hermione again. He’d tried Ron and Harry as well, but Ron couldn’t hear or see him and reaching Harry was impossible somehow. His best guess was some kind of shield he made himself, consciously or unconsciously. If so, it was extremely powerful.

A squeak of the cell door signalled Leo’s arrival, making everyone’s head’s turn. 

The shape of Leo Valdez walked carefully past the Death Eater who had escorted him and through the door. The hands of the boy were handcuffed and his legs walked him away from the closing door. 

The guy that had returned had curly brown hair, tan skin, a slim build and was about an inch shorter than Nico. He looked like a slightly more exhausted version of Nico’s friend who he’d seen leave a few minutes ago. 

But it wasn’t Leo.

**

Will once told him how he could tell someone was hurt. There was some Apollo feeling in his gut that tugged and turned when he looked at an injured person. It reminded Nico of his Death Feel. But there were some powers that were not given by gods, only learned through life and watching others, something Nico did often. That’s how he knew something was wrong. Not a godly instinct, but a human one.

“Leo?” Jason’s concerned but steady voice came from the corner. He saw it too.

Quick on his feet, Jason walked nimbly over to where Leo stood still as stone. Jason reached out, hands tentative and possibly trembling, anxious to find the shorter one’s downcast eyes.

Just as Jason’s fingers came into contact with Leo’s tangled hair, the latino flinched back, out of his touch.

Nico inhaled sharply and took a step closer. Leo, Jason’s best friend, flinched. Leo Valdez, the king of space invadement, jumped back from Jason’s soft touch like a spark jumping from a flame. 

Leo seemed to realize what he had done just a moment after because he looked up slightly and took a step back, a smile turning up his lips. “Sorry Jas-Man. That witch is pretty intense, right?”

Nico glanced at Will. His healer boyfriend seemed puzzled, the look he gets when there is nothing to physically fix but not everything is . . . right. Apollo’s powers were strong, especially in Will, but mental wounds were more of Nico’s thing.

An echoed step came from Jason’s feet as he took in the moment that just occurred. The silence was heavy, long, and so, very, loud. This never happened with them, not with Leo’s mouth running like a river.

An instinctual urge pushed Nico forward until he was behind Jason and putting hand on his shoulder. When Jason looked back, his eyes were full of worry and fear.

“Hey,” Nico whispered as calmly as possible. “I’ve got this.”

A hesitation floated in Jason’s eyes for only a second. Then they closed with walls and he stepped back with a hard nod. Nico took a deep breath. 

Slowly, Nico walked over to where Leo stood. He was shuffling and glancing around, not letting his eyes stop on anything or anyone. It was a bit of a shock that he hadn’t bolted to the nearest corner, but he was also still wearing that obviously fake smile; scooting backwards ever so slowly to not raise alarm.

“You know I’m pretty tired,” Leo said, eyes only holding Nico’s for the briefest of moments before trying to find something else to focus on.

“Leo?” Nico asked quietly, “Can you stop moving for a second?”

“Moving?” he asked, then looked behind himself, “huh, I guess I was moving, woops!”

“Leo,” Nico said again, this time not a question. “Can I come closer?”

A flash of something that looked like fear shaded Leo’s eyes before his smile was back. “Why would you ask that, Neeks? You hate personal space if I remember correctly . . .”

“Leo, I know you hate being serious, but for once in your life please work with me!”

Leo’s eyes go to Jason, then to the other demigods watching on the side, then Nico, then his feet.

“Leo,” Nico tried again. “Can I come closer?”

Silence. Five rushed heartbeats of nothing before a small motion broke the tension. Leo’s head nodded.

Nico took a step closer. “Leo, I am coming closer but I am not going to touch you.”

Leo let him. He stared at his feet, tousled hair facing Nico as he came within his arm length . 

“Leo, can I touch your shoulder?”

A tiny nod. Nico reached out and delicately put three of his fingers on Leo’s shoulder. He flinched but Nico didn’t let go. Slowly, he dropped his whole hand on the smaller boy’s shoulder.Leo looked up. His head rose and his eyes met Nico’s and to the Hades boy’s horror, there was shame in his eyes. 

It didn’t make sense. Leo was the happy go lucky kind of guy, the one who was almost always cracking jokes as if making people laugh was his job. Of course he knew there were parts Leo kept hidden, ones where he had sadness and shame, but it’d never shown on his face before, never bubbled up enough to let anyone see. What had the witch done to break such a sturdy wall?

Without thinking, Nico removed his hand from Leo’s shoulder and tucked his arms around him in a hug. Leo froze for a moment. Nico wondered if he’d done the right thing, if maybe Leo wasn’t ready for so much physical touch after whatever had happened. But it felt right. 

A pause lay in the air, a quiet that relied on whatever Leo did next. 

As Nico was just beginning to worry he’d made a big mistake, Leo’s smaller arms wrapped around his back. It was timid, weak, and scared, but Nico let out a sigh of relief. 

“Leo,” he whispered. “I want to know what happened. So I can help you. Can you tell me?”

He felt Leo's hands start to tremble. A sudden shaking began in his body, making Nico start to shake as well.

“She . . .” Leo began, quietly and shaking, but he was talking. 

“What did she do?” Nico asked, almost desperate.

Leo’s mouth opened and then closed. He did it again, as if the words were on the tip of his tongue but he just couldn’t force them out. Leo closed his mouth again, his jaw clamping shut with frustration. The gears in his head started to turn, Nico could see it in his glazed look; he was trying to find another way to explain. 

Nico waited, watching the brown eyes of his friend process until there was almost a visible glint. Leo looked up into Nico's eyes again and nodded, confirming that he was ready to tell. Nico gulped and held his gaze. Slowly, Leo’s eyes bowed back to the ground, except he wasn’t looking at the ground. He glanced there again, the spot above his legs and below his waist.

Understanding flooded Nico’s senses. His vision blurred with red, ears ringing with the screams he’d heard from above that he once thought were normal. He could smell blood he knew was from all his friends’ wounds but he imagined it was the witch’s, could taste how wonderful it would feel to have her blood on his hands. 

“Nico.”

Jason’s voice, far away and scared. Nico blinked and looked back at Leo. His hands had seized Leo’s shoulders harder than he’d remembered and the smaller boy was tense underneath him and his eyes held fear for  . . . him.

Quickly, Nico backed away, stumbling over his feet. He looked around at the demigods around him. Percy and Annabeth were looking between him and Leo like they were having a tennis match, Hazel was watching him with her cutting golden eyes, Frank was against the wall taking in the whole scene, and Will was looking at him intently, asking with his eyes, “what happened?”

It was too much. Too much pent up anger he’d been holding back, too much worry for his friends, too much guilt that he put them there, that he got them involved in his quest, his mess. And now, Leo would have a scar he’d hold forever. Because Nico hadn’t acted fast enough.

“Leo, I’m sorry,” Nico apologized, looking him in the eye so he’d know he meant it. “Can you please let Will help you? Then go to sleep, I promise no nightmares will come with you.”

Leo seemed puzzled at the last statement but he nodded nonetheless. Will walked over and took him to a corner with Jason following in toe. Nico watched the healer work and Leo said nothing as the glow of Apollo healed his outer wounds. 

**

That night, Nico didn’t join Annabeth and Reyna in their chat circle. Instead he focused all of his energy on keeping nightmares away from Leo. When one is in such a fragile state as the Latino, it was extremely hard to keep the monsters away, but Nico did it all night. 

As he blocked the attacks and mentally fought off the darkness threatening to sneak inside his friend’s brain, Nico started planning. He had been trying for months to think of a plan to get them out. The only one that even had a chance of working was his first one. He’d justified not doing it by telling himself all the ways it could go wrong, but with what happened to Leo, he couldn’t do that anymore. If these wizards were willing to go that far, how could any shot at leaving not be worth trying?

He wanted to do it. He wanted to try so bad that his heart ached. But there was a part of him holding back. The part that had his arms wrapped around Nico’s torso and was breathing softly onto his neck. He couldn’t go through with the plan if it meant risking Will getting hurt. Which — no matter the outcome — it would. 

If someone would have handed Nico this dilemma a year ago, he would have jumped in head first, never giving a thought to who his actions could hurt. Back then, he couldn’t imagine anyone even noticing his lack of presence. He might have even thought they’d celebrate it.

This time though, someone would notice. In fact, multiple people would. Frank and Leo, who’d fought by his side and cared enough to become his friend. Hazel and Reyna, his biological and honorary sisters, who never once abandoned his side. Percy, who’d already told him he’d be Estelle’s godfather, and Annabeth who’d agreed he’d be that for their future kids as well. Jason and Piper, who saw his secrets and stayed, who now shared secrets of their own with him. 

And of course there was Will. Will who found him in his darkest moment and loved him even then. Who voluntarily fell into Tartarus with him to save a friend he didn’t know. The boy who had believed in Nico and showed him that he didn’t have to hide.

How could he endanger himself? How could he endanger them? Again.

Nico lay there on the stone cold ground, torn. His mind pulling him forward, begging to take the chance, fall back into old habit, feel the rush of adrenaline after months of pent up repetition. Then his heart, held back by the ones who cared for him and the ones he cared for. 

“Alright,” he whispered to himself. “I’ll try one time to do it the easy way. One time, and if it doesn’t work . . . I’ll have no choice.”

As if his body was responding to his finalization, he refocused into his mind, fighting off Leo’s nightmares easier, until the sun rose for the next day.

~~~

Usually on “One For All” day, everyone slept in, glad to have one day to recover without thinking about the hardship of the next to come. A Saturday. 

All the demigods lay in heeps on the floor. Piper and Jason had migrated to Leo’s side in the night after a hushed conversation between the three of them Nico could only hear whispers of. Percy, Annabeth, Frank, and Hazel were in their separate corners. 

But two demigods had somehow sensed Nico’s deliberation and were standing in the middle of the room with him, both arms crossed and both talking in harsh whispers. 

“Nico, I know you’re thinking of something,” Will threatened quietly.

“Yeah, you can’t lie to us,” Reyna agreed.

Honestly, Nico couldn’t tell which one was scarier, Reyna’s wolf stare or Will’s “I’m-your-boyfriend-so-I-know-you-have-a-stupid-plan” face. 

“I just have an idea I’m going to try,” Nico told them, gesturing with his hands to keep their conversation low. “It’s nothing dangerous.”

He was telling the truth. If this plan worked out then nothing dangerous could happen. 

Will looked him up and down, like an X-ray taking a scan of his body in search of lies. Reyna kept her eyes locked on Nico, digging for his secrets. Too bad for her, Nico had faced that look from her too many times so he already had defenses up. 

Footsteps echoed through the chamber and the three turned to the door. The hairy one was there, lazily draped against the bars. 

“Do I even have to say it?” he asked. 

Nico almost sympathized with him. This was getting repetitive for him too.

He turned back to his friends, looking each in the eye so they knew he was telling the truth. “I’ll be right back.”

His steps echoed as he walked the deserted hallways of the mansion. He’d wondered briefly if there were ever other people in the house. That thought was quickly distinguished after three weeks of not seeing anybody, but it still felt weird to walk in such an empty house. In a way, it was also comforting, reminding him of his father’s house in the Underworld; although it had been a lot less empty after the cocopuffs moved in.

“Nico di Angelo!” Voldemort greeted in his usual viscous and joyful voice. “So glad you could join us.”

The guard pushed him into the room, a normal routine Nico expected, so he didn’t trip as he walked up towards the Dark Lord. 

“Didn’t have much of a choice,” he murmured to himself.

“Now, Mr. di Angelo,” Voldemort sighed, gracefully walking to meet him in the middle of the room. “I believe you know what I am about to ask you.”

“I do,” Nico said louder. “But this time, I actually have a proposal for you.”

Voldemort stared at him, making Nico’s skin crawl but he refused to look away. The Dark Lord’s face twitched. Then his mouth opened and a shout of laughter came out. 

Nico took a step back. He had seen the man hit, torture, and cut himself and his friends, but somehow his laugh was worse.

“Oh, little Nico!” Voldemort cried. “Yes! Please, tell me your proposal for me !”

Slight doubt crept into Nico’s gut. He wasn’t taking him seriously. His plan wasn’t going to work.

“Let us go,” Nico said confidently. “If you do, we will never set foot into the magical world again.”

Voldemort’s eyes met his. He grinned like a madman, staring down an innocent rabbit. “No.”

The doubt roared into a whirlpool of disappear in his stomach. Some part of him knew that it was never going to work; but hope got the best of him.

“Why would I want you to leave?” Voldemort laughed. “Oh, I don’t have time for this, take him back.”

“What?” Nico asked without thinking. He’d grown accustomed to the torture after a failed negotiation, and although he should be celebrating, he couldn’t help but be shocked at the change.

“I have other important things to worry about,” Voldemort answered with a wave of his hand. “My Death Eaters and I have business to attend to.

~~~

“You’re going to tell us more, right?” Annabeth asked quietly amongst the snoring demigods.

When Nico had returned, he had been bombarded with questions by everyone about his quick return. Will and Reyna pulled him aside after some quick, easy answers and gave him more of a challenge. He told them exactly what happened and it seemed to satisfy Will, but Reyna gave him a look that clearly meant she’d ask more that night.

Now, she, Annabeth, and Nico all sat in their usual spot. It had been silent for a full ten minutes before Annabeth asked her question. Nico wanted to bring it up, but whenever he tried, he felt like he was about to throw up.

“Yes,” he said shortly, hoping the prompt would open his throat. 

The two girls stared at him, waiting for their answer. Nico could do nothing but stare back. Tonight was the night. The night where it would all start. For better or worse, as soon as he explained, the plan would go into action.

“I have a plan,” he started, clearing his throat to let the words pass through. “I have had one for a while. I haven’t done anything with it because it’s dangerous and there’s a chance . . . well, it’s possible that I could die. But I also will need some help. I need your help.”

He looked between them, a silent plea not only for their help, but also for their silence about this to their friends and loved ones.

Annabeth’s eyes flicked to Reyna’s and she glanced back. Some secret message passed through them and they turned back to Nico.

“We’re in,” Reyna answered. “What’s the plan?”

Chapter Text

Surprisingly, it wasn't explaining the plan that was the hardest. Or getting Reyna and Annabeth onboard either. Both girls listened intently and needed little convincing. They all knew this was one of the only ways. It was the waiting that Nico found the most terrible.

Every single day, when his friends returned from their continued torture sessions, he eyed almost suspiciously. His eyes scanned each one like an X-ray, waiting for even one more slip up to move up the day. You could say he was a bit paranoid, but after having seen the most happy-go-lucky person on their team turn into a closed off ball of fear, how could he not? But he couldn't do anything about it. Not until the fourth day.

The last night talks with Reyna and Annabeth didn't end with the plan conversation, but they did change. Instead of reminiscing or talking about random other things, their only conversations were about the plan .Each night, Annabeth and Reyna would help him iron out parts , making sure nothing could go astray. It was another reason why Nico knew he could confide in them. Annabeth was a child of Athena, not only in the way of her brain, but she had the inner warrior a child of a war goddess only could. Reyna wasn't only a daughter of Bellona, but she was the praetor of Camp Jupiter for years, not to mention running it by herself when Jason was out of commission. It was calming to see the other two so relaxed at the idea of what they were going to do. Well, most of the time.

If Nico could change one part about the plan, it was Annabeth's part. If things went sideways, she would have to do something unspeakable. She kept a strong exterior whenever it was brought up, but Nico could tell that she — all of them — were praying that everything worked out.

Three days and nights had passed, and Leo was starting to joke again. His smile became more present. Piper and Jason helped, almost always at his side, and making sure he was never alone with his thoughts. The guilt that crushed Nico like a boulder was taken off, pebble by pebble. But it wasn't enough.

Leo still had nightmares. The shadowy monsters of the mind crawled towards his brain as he slept. It was to be expected. To be frank, Nico was still amazed he had recovered as much as he had already. But Nico kept them away. It became easier when he let Piper and Jason sleep next to him. Somehow their presence put up a barrier — a weak one, but one all the same — and helped protect his mind from the swirling emotions.

The night before day four, a rare night when Reyna, Annabeth, and him all decided to get some shut eye, Leo's nightmares didn't come. Jason, Leo, and Piper were all piled in a corner, half laying on top of each other, their barrier stronger than ever. Nico could feel the underlying presence of the nightmares, searching for weak spots and pelting them with darkness. He used a fraction of his powers to form his own protection around them, a caress around the shield they made, like a rainfly on a tent. With only a need for a quarter of his mind to be awake, Nico decided to use the other three to good use.

Nico let himself sink into the ground and the comfort of Will's arms. He let the image of his dormitory at Hogwarts fill his mind and a particular boy who slept in the bed next to his.

Dream Nico stood from where he was sitting at the edge of his comfy bed, walking the warm wooden floors to Harry's. The boy was asleep there, eyes closed and glasses still on.

"Harry," Nico whispered, worried he might break the fragile balance of this moment if he was too loud.

The boy did not stir.

"Harry!" Nico whispered more urgently. "Harry, I have to talk to you!"

Again, there was no sign of movement.

A little frustrated, Nico reached out and touched his shoulder, prepared to shake him. Suddenly, he was spinning with no attachment to anything except the shoulder of Harry Potter. Colors and quick images came and went at the speed of light, dizzying Nico. He closed his eyes but it somehow made it worse.

With nothing more than a blink, Nico's feet touched the ground almost gracefully. His head fell with the sharp pain of a headache, but as he thought to move his hands, he realized that one of them was still attached to Harry's shoulder.

Slowly, he looked up and saw a fuzzy image slowly become clearer, like a camera zooming out to refocus. He was in a room, the living room of a family by the looks of it. There were photos on the table of three family members, a mother, father and child, and a couch was on his left big enough for a family to sit on. That wasn't the only thing on his left.

Harry Potter stood, stoic and bored, looking at a man in front of him. The man, — who when Nico did a double take, seemed to be the father of the family photo — looked like that family couch was just for him. His body was large and grumpy, which usually wouldn't be the way for Nico to describe someone, but this guy seemed like he totally deserved it. His beady eyes glared at Harry that reminded Nico of the god Zeus. Either Harry did something very bad or this man had a bad sense of humor.

"Sit down!" The large man said, gesturing to the couch. Harry gave him a quirked eyebrow and there was a significant twitch to the man's mustache. "Please!" he added as if the words were forced from his mouth.

Harry practically yanked him by the hand to sit on the couch, thankfully choosing to sit in the middle and not squash him (though could he be squashed in a dream?).

As the room filled out more clearly, Nico found the rest of the family portrait. A woman, who seemed to have let her husband eat for the both of them, stood behind the beefy man and followed as he passed back and forth. Her face was like a prune, as if she just ate a sour candy and Harry was the one to have given it to her.

Behind her, doing the same motions, was a boy probably a year older than Harry, and looked exactly like the old man. He'd taken the unhealthy fats and the dumb face from his father and then a prune mouth from his mother. By now, Nico could safely assume that these were the aunt and uncle Harry said he was forced to live with.

"I was dropped at their doorstep when I was one," Harry explained, calling his owl from its nest above. "After my parents died."

"I'm going to assume they didn't jump for joy when they saw you?" Nico guessed.

Harry chuckled darkly. "Not at all. They thought people like us are freaks. She hated my father and my mother."

"But isn't your mother her sister?"

Harry's eyes had a cold tint to them. "Not everyone can have a great relationship with their siblings."

Harry watched them, like he knew this was bound to happen. His eyes zigzagged back and forth as the three paced until they stopped and his uncle faced them.

"I've changed my mind," he said firmly.

"What a surprise," Harry replied sarcastically. Nico cupped his mouth with a hand before he realized that no one could hear him if he did laugh.

"Don't you take that tone —" his aunt started shrillly.

His uncle, Uncle Vernon Nico believed, waved her down, continuing his rant. "It's all a lot of claptrap. I've decided I don't believe a word of it. We're staying put, we're not going anywhere."

Nico looked to Harry, hoping that maybe he could at least sense Nico's presence and fill him in on what was happening, but that didn't happen.

This statement must have been said before because Harry wasn't phased in the slightest. In fact, his face looked almost amused.

"According to you," he started again, resuming his pacing, "we — Petunia, Dudley, and I — are in danger. From — from —"

"Some of 'my lot', right," Harry filled in.

"Well I don't believe it," the uncle repeated, stopping in front of Harry again. "I was awake half the night thinking it all over, and I believe it's a plot to get the house."

Nico's eyes widened. He had almost no clue what was going on, but if Harry cared enough to ask his aunt and uncle to leave for their safety, he had to assume it was for a good reason. Get the house? Why the Hades would Harry want a house for?

"They made me sleep in a cupboard under the stairs," Harry said, looking out over the forbidden forest.

Nico finished tying his message to the snowy owl and walked over to the balcony next to him.

"I was miserable," Harry continued, watching his bird fly off in the distance. "I cleaned all day, got blamed for everything, and everything I had was either a hand-me-down or broken. Or both."

"So, I gather that they didn't like you much?" Nico summarized.

"Not at all." Harry's eyes were like a stone on fire.

"The house?" Harry repeated incredulously. "What house?"

"This house!" the uncle shrieked like a child. "Our house! House prices are sky rocketing around here! You want us out of the way and then you're going to do a bit of hocus-pocus and before we know it the deeds will be in your name and —"

Nico grit his teeth in disgust. The gods were bad people no doubt, but to have a mortal be this blinded by their own agenda? It was insane.

"Are you out of your mind?" Harry demanded, clearly agitated. "A plot to get the house? Are you actually as stupid as you look?"

Nico slapped his open hand to his mouth to muffle his chuckle. Hey, at least someone said it.

"Don't you dare —" the aunt, Petunia, squealed. The uncle waved her down once again, making her face harden, but she took a step back anyway.

"Just in case you've forgotten," Harry said, "I've already got a house, my godfather left me one. So why would I want this one? All the happy memories?"

"One day, close to when I first started at Hogwarts, I let a snake loose in a zoo," Harry said, staring after his owl as it disappeared. "It was Dudley, my cousin's, birthday. We were visiting the reptile house and back then I didn't know I was a parsalmouth, a person who can speak to snakes. Dudley had been awfully rude to one and I just... apologized. Then it talked back. Somehow, with the magic I didn't know how to control, I made the glass disappear."

Nico cocked his head to the side. "You made glass disappear? Not break or shatter...?"

"No, it just... vanished. My uncle was so made he locked me in my cupboard for days."

"You claim," Uncle Asshole starts, filling the moment of silence that had followed Harry's words, "that this Lord Thing —"

" —Voldemort," Harry added impatiently, making Nico flinch, "and we've been through this about a hundred times already. This isn't a claim, it's fact, Dumbledore told you last year, and Kingsley and Mr. Weasley — "

Uncle Asshole's shoulders hunched like he was reliving a bad memory.

Nico's heart squeezed at another reminder that he hadn't known his friends enough. He didn't know Ron's dad. He wished he asked so he could put a face to the name now.

" — Kingsley and Mr. Weasley explained it as well," Harry pressed on, ignoring his uncle's discomfort. "Once I'm seventeen, the protective charm that keeps me safe will break, and that exposes you as well as me. The Order is sure Voldemort will target you, whether to torture you to try and find out where I am, or because he thinks by holding you hostage I'd come and try to rescue you."

A stab of guilt hit Nico forcefully in the stomach. Although he told himself he wasn't, part of the reason he tried to reach out to them was to get help. He'd heard stories of their adventures, Hermione was smart, Ron was brave, and Harry was selfless. There had to be something they could do.

But maybe the fact that he hadn't already was a blessing. What if they came and just got captured along with them? Nico didn't know if he could bear even one more friend enduring pain because of him.

"You've got to go into hiding," Harry resumed, "and the Order wants to help. You're being offered serious protection, the best there is."

"Nico," a voice called from somewhere beyond, blurring the image like ripples in water.

"No," Nico said out loud. He wanted to stay, wanted to know more about Harry's world. He didn't want to return to his reality, not yet.

"Nico!"

The voices turned mute and the images started to shift like he was underwater.

Panic started to overload Nico's senses but he had to stay calm. He looked to the window, wanting some, if any, form of time he could get. Harry had mentioned being seventeen. That remindedNico that he, too, was also going to be seventeen. When, though, was the question.

There were a couple windows in the room, each with flowers on the outside, so beautiful and precious. Did they always look that magnificent? but Nico stuck with the one across from him, past Harry's relatives who were still interrogating him.

It looked warm outside, the sun shining clearly as it hung low in the sky. He could almost feel the summer heat, warming his bones and tanning his once again pale skin. He wanted to walk out there and just feel the air. Summer. It was already summer. What had Harry said his birthday was? Late August. Was it already past six months of being stuck with Voldemort? Part of him felt it was longer and the other part felt like it was yesterday.

That didn't matter though. Six months could easily turn into a year if they didn't take action now.

"Nico!"

The sharp icyness of the dungeon floor pierced Nico's consciousness and brought him right back to reality. He sat up quickly and then squeezed his eyes shut when the lack of water in his system made his head cramp. The pain slowly blinked away and Nico started to take in his surroundings. Still those same stone walls and the same claustrophobia of not having his magic at full strength. The only piece of light in his vision was Will standing in front of him with slight worry on his face.

"Wow, you did not want to wake up," Will said.

"Sorry," Nico apologized, grabbing Will's outstretched hand to help him up. "We've been called?"

All the demigods nodded in unison.

"Alright then." Nico looked at Annabeth and Reyna, both of them giving a small nod for nobody else noticed. "Let's go."

~ ~ ~

The room was almost normal, the same green tinted lights and sense of dread, but it was fuller then Nico had seen it before. There were the usual weapons along the walls that came with their sparring days, but that wasn't what worried him. It seemed that Voldemort had gathered all of his Death Eaters to stand in front of the room, watching them come inside. Some of them he recognized from their six months of being stuck there, but there were many others he didn't know. A pit opened in Nico's stomach. He had planned for up to nine Death Eaters. Not thirteen.

Annabeth and Reyna's eyes flicked to him quickly to which he replied with a nod. They weren't backing down.

"Welcome, welcome!" Voldemort said in his normal, calm voice. It infuriated Nico that he was so comfortable, as if doing his favorite hobby in his room. Actually, that probably was what he was doing.

"You all have probably noticed my Death Eaters here," Voldemort continued, gesturing to the extra followers. "I have called for reinforcements so some of you who find one sparring partner not enough, can now have two."

Nico felt as if he were hooked up to a vacuum cleaner.. They had been fighting the Death Eaters one on one till exhaustion before now, refusing to show their powers and only fighting with weapons and hand to hand. It had been relatively easy to beat them again and again, but eventually they would tire and let themselves collapse to get back in the cell with a few cuts here and there.

One Death Eater had given them enough trouble. They'd give in and let he or she give them some cuts and burns, but they'd quickly see through their spell lights and realize the demigods had given up. What would happen when twice the lights came and one could easily excuse serious damage as "not realizing they were surrendered".

Voldemort split them up as usual. Nico, Jason, and Percy towards the center. Annabeth and Reyna behind him and Hazel and Frank to his right along the back wall. Piper and Leo stood behind Jason, across from him, and it was no surprise when Percy, Jason, Reyna, Hazel, and Nico himself were each given two Death Eaters.

As he watched the Death Eaters disperse, he noticed something off. Serverus wasn't there. He'd been there most days, one of the more highly skilled ones and usually sentenced to fight against one of the Little Three. Why wasn't he around now when Voldemort seemingly grabbed as many of his followers as he could. Each demigod in a different section of the room with two Death Eaters in front of them. Nico didn't recognize either of his opponents and he made another realization. Snape wasn't there.

Due to preplanned tactics, Nico had chosen to fight hand to hand. Although he used his sword most often in battle, it was easier for him to move around without anything in his hand.

Two men sauntered over to him and Nico immediately sized them up. The one on the left was bald and had a scar slicing his eyebrow, probably around 5'9 and had a round belly. The one on the right was taller, around 6 foot, with flat orange hair, that reminded Nico painfully of Ron.

"Begin," Voldemort ordered.

The two men attacked at once.

That moment of distraction cost him as the bald man shot a spell that just barely missed him. Sharpening his attention, Nico turned and ran towards the man like he was going to topple him over. Bald Man pointed his wand at Nico and as he opened his mouth, Nico slipped on his knees and used his smaller size to slip through his stance and grab his legs. One tug sent him to the ground. A sting of a burn blazed his now exposed shoulder and hissed at the other opponent who shot the spell. He must be rusty already. Jumping to his feet, Nico swirled the shadows below his feet and slid past the second man before kicking the back of his knee to make his legs buckle. As soon as he falls, the first one is already back on his feet.

They continue the dance for a couple of minutes before Nico starts to slip.

A hit lands on his thigh after only ten minutes of fighting, making a spark of pain flare up the side. He ran swiftly around the Tall man tried to hold back his wand arm, but Bald Man hit him again from the right, lower on his leg.

As his concentration slips, the sounds of the others fighting blur in and out. When he knees Tall Man in the back, sending him down for the sixth time, and uses the shadows to bring Bald Man to his knees, Nico chances a look around.

The demigods are losing, it's obvious. After fighting for six months, six days a week, and given no sunlight and limited food and water, none of them are on their best game. The smell of blood fumes the air and gasps of pain and anger can be echoing off every wall

Instinctively, his eyes flick between Hazel and Will first, who are each doing as well as they can. Will, thankfully, doesn't have any deep cuts yet, probably in part thanks to his limited Apollo powers. He fought a larger man with his hands and medical mind alone, and although Nico knows how easy it is to hurt a person if you pick the right place, Will refuses to hurt them that badly.

Hazel is doing better, but she doesn't look like it. Without healing Apollo magic, all the cuts on her body bleed freely. Small ones scatter her legs like stripes and a long gash on the side of her abdomen makes Nico queasy. She's powerful though. Camp Jupiter has taught her how to wield a sword to kill, so although the wizards might think that was her best, any demigod would know she's holding back.

As he jumped and head locked the on coming Tall Boy, who had somewhat recovered his blow, Nico shifted the shadows to trip Will's enemy as he was about to cast a spell at a cornered Solace. Will doesn't spare a look, but he taps the shadowed ground with his foot twice in thanks.

Burning heat seared his back and Nico turns and kicks Bald Man's face, letting his nose bleed onto the tortuous ground. Tall Man gets a hold of himself and grabs Nico's arms and throws him over his head onto the floor. The air leaves his lungs for sickening moments , trapping him on the ground.

Those slow moments gave Tall Boy confidence. He strutted over to where Nico lay, a triumphant look in his eyes, but Nico's ready hands sprung out and brought him down hard right next to him.

Battling wind into his lungs, Nico threw a leg over Tall Boy's thin waist and held his arms down with his knees. The second of relief lets Nico take a look at Reyna and Annabeth.

The two spar next to each other, both with their fair share of marks.. Reyna was fighting with a spear, a weapon Nico had not known she was talented at wielding until a few days ago.. The stick was wrapped around one man's neck and she tumbled them to the ground. At the last second she let go and rolled, but the man was not so lucky. Without a second thought, Reyna leapt to her feet and jabbed the unpointed side into the stomach of her female opponent.

Across from her, Annabeth had picked her deadliest weapon, daggers. She twisted and jabbed, striking her opponents and using her legs as weapons of their own. She didn't throw them though. It was too risky. If she lost both of them, there would be problems.

A scream built in Nico's throat and he fell off Tall Boy as Baldy shot the torturing spell at him. Voldemort had stopped using the spell after he found out about Nico's pain tolerance, but on the rare occasions it was used, he could feel the pain deeper than before. Although pain was constant, without rest it can eat people alive.

The spell ended quickly, but he still shook when he got to stand. Before he could strike, a cry came from his left and despite his better judgement, he turned to see Piper held against the wall. Bellatrix held her neck with one hand and with the other she bent Piper's wrist in a painful angle, the wand left abandoned on the floor.

A flash of red came from the corner of his eye and Nico's own scream came out, but only a second, before he got control of himself to face his own problems. The spell squeezed his lungs until the minimal amount of air that was inside was extinguished. He faced Bald and Tall, their smug faces pissing him off, but he didn't approach.

His eyes met Annabeth's behind Bald Man. Her eyes squinted and she nodded once, turning back to her oncoming opponent. Nico's own opponents sadly didn't feel like taking a break, and each fired a spell in his direction. Quickly, he swerved out of the way of both shots and started backwards, towards an open part of the wall behind him.

He jumped and slid out of the way as spell after spell shot past him, sometimes coming so fast that they took skin. Off to the side, he watched Reyna and Annabeth's backs meet. He couldn't see the daughter of Bellona's face, but her stance tightened. Suddenly, Reyna shot out at her enemies, cutting both of their stomachs in one swing and running in and then kicking them each to the ground. Annabeth waited until hers took a step forward and then held up her dagger.

Reyna turned back and she and Annabeth ran at the man in front of them. Annabeth flipped her daggers and fisted the back of the weapon into his stomach, knocking the wind out. As he crumpled, Reyna rushed Bald and Tall Man

"Wait," Voldemort's angry voice drags Nico's attention to him, looking past Reyna in front of him and staring directly at the tyrant..

Reyna sweeps the legs of Tall Boy and hits his back just right to knock him out.

"No!" Voldemort's voice has a slight edge of worry. His eyes caught Nico's and a flash of fear came before he stormed down towards them and his fear was masked with anger.

The Hunter of Artemis wrapped herself around Bald Guy and brought him to the ground.

"No!"

Nico didn't clearly see what happened next. He noticed Annabeth charging towards him and expelled his shadows, grabbing the Death Eaters and sticking them against the walls. He knew he made sure to gather his friends and push Reyna towards them, but he was distracted by cold metal touching the skin of his neck as Annabeth held her dagger to his throat.

"What are you doing!" Voldemort demanded, still walking furiously.

Annabeth's head was beside him, careful not to black the view of Voldemort and the perfect angle to not see Nico's face if she had to kill him.

"Not a step closer," Nico warned, shifting his focus from his friend to his enemy.

Annabeth got the message and pressed her dagger in slightly, making Nico tense. He was really doing it. This could be it.The moment that would define him as a hero or a deadman.

"Nico!"

The Death Eaters struggled in the shadows, but that wasn't the reason Nico was shaking.

He felt his heart shatter into a million pieces at Will's voice. His eyes moved to his boyfriend and saw Reyna shove her spear out in front of him, her gaze dark and focused. The kind she used back when she was a Praetor.

"What is the meaning of this?" Voldemort demanded, voice as cold as ice.

"We have a proposal," Nico told him, sounding much more confident than he felt. "You will let us leave here and never bother us again . . . or I die."

Gasps of shock came from all of the demigods hidden behind Reyna.

"Annabeth, no!" Percy called. "Don't do it! I don't care what Nico said—"

"What makes you think I care about your life?" Voldemort asked in a tight laugh.

"You said it yourself," Nico said. "The first day. You said, 'There is no doubt that you are far more powerful than most of these other ones'. After that, when we had our little "meeting", you also said, 'You are right, you are the most valuable to me.'"

"Ah, but you forget the other half of that conversation," Voldemort sighed. "I also told you that I wanted you as a Death Eater. To join me."

He hadn't forgotten that. It had been in the back of his mind, a backup plan. Should he use it? Could this be their way out? For all of them to leave alive?

"Nico!" Will's voice was like a papercut, slicing through his determination.. "Don't even think about it! I know you are, so stop!"

Nico's eyes met his. The blue of Will's like a drowning sea and the swirling of his own like a storm.

"So, you're saying if I join you," Nico asked Voldemort slowly, "you'll let the rest of them go?"

"No!" Will called again. "No! Nico, you can't!"

A slow smile grew on Voldemort's face, "are you saying you'd take it?"

"Listen to Will!" Jason cried. "You can't do this!"

"If you let my friends go," Nico nodded. "Then I will join you."

"No!" Several voices called but none of them could convince him otherwise. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Hazel trying to break through Reyna's arms and a stunned looking Percy standing at the back.

"I cannot just let your friends leave," Voldemort scoffed.

The knife dug deeper into his neck, cracking his skin and drawing blood.

"You will release them," Nico demanded.

"How will I know you won't leave as soon as they've all left?"

"You have my word."

"Nico, stop!"

Voldemort sneered, "that's not enough."

Nico gave a slight nod and a gasp escaped him as the knife came closer.

"How's this? I will personally send each of them far away with the help of my powers. You'll get a display of my magic each time one is gone. And if you think that I'd be having a knife to my throat in order to send off my friends, only to have them come back and try to save me, you know nothing about me."

"Fine!" Voldemort gave up. "I will release one of them each month. If you behave."

Nico looked down at Annabeth. She stared at the wall like she was trying to break it with her mind, and her eyes held a certain pain that Nico immediately felt ashamed for making her endure.

"Deal."

The knife dropped and Nico put his hands on his knees, panting. He hadn't even known he'd been holding his breath almost the entire time. His friends were still calling to him, still yelling, but he tuned it out. The hurt would be too much.

Voldemort walked towards him slowly, taking steps carefully. He stood as he neared and looked directly into his cold, dead eyes.

"Your arm, di Angelo."

Nico raised his right arm and Voldemort grabbed it lightly. He raised his wand and flicked it over the inside of his forearm.

Pain exploded inside his veins and after what he'd been through already, he couldn't help but cry in pain. He dropped to his knees and he could feel the shadows around the Death Eaters fall.

The sound of metal being un-sheathed and footsteps scrambling backwards echoed through the room. Through the blur of pain he saw Annabeth standing over him, saying something he couldn't quite understand. A cold laugh filled the air, sending a chill down his spine even as hot blood still trickled down his neck..

Slowly, he turned his hand to the side that Voldemort had used. There, from underneath his wrist towards the inside of his elbow, was a snake curling out of the mouth of a skull.

"Welcome, Nico di Angelo," Voldemort said with glee, "to the Death Eaters!"

Chapter Text

To say that the walk back to the cell was tense would be an understatement. No one spoke, no one moved outside of walking. Most of the other demigods looked at Nico, Annabeth, and Reyna with a mixture of shock and hurt. It gutted him to see his friends avoid him, but it was worse knowing he’d brought Annabeth and Reyna down with him.

The only glimmer of hope was that Percy seemed to be more or less normal. He didn’t give Nico a weird look, or glance at Reyna with betrayal, and he stuck by Annabeth’s side as if being more than a few inches apart would kill him.

The guard, one of the men Jason had fought and now had a black eye, held the door open for them as they filed inside. One by one they were uncuffed and one by one they went to their spots against the walls in little clumps. 

Nico rubbed his wrists as he was uncuffed and took the two steps into the cell before the door shut. Hazel and Frank were talking in the far corner, Annabeth and Percy were in a similar stance against the right wall, and Piper, Jason, and Leo were silently staring at the ground. Every few seconds Leo would glance up and him and then quickly back down at his feet. Reyna was in the corner next to him, her face a steel mask of fake indifference. 

His eyes roamed the group again and then finally found the one he’d been looking for. Will stood, his back to the door, facing the wall straight across from him. Even from where he stood, Nico could feel his anger.

Taking a deep breath, he slowly walked towards his boyfriend, noticing the glances from those around him as he approached.

“What was that?” Will asked.

Nico stopped six steps away.

“I– I’m sorry, Will,” Nico stuttered. “I was just–”

“What. Was. That.”

Nico swallowed again, taking one more step. “My plan.”

“That was your plan?” he spat. “To turn into one of his evil henchmen while we get set free?”

The words stung like salt in a wound, making him wince.

“Will, I–”

“To be forced to stay here while we return to school?”

Nico took another step, only four steps away now. “He wasn’t going to keep me–”

“Don’t give me that bullshit!”

Will whirled around, facing Nico fully for the first time since they’d gone upstairs that morning. His eyes locked heatedly on Nico’s and his blue eyes seemed to be on fire. Will’s usually calm face was tight with what Nico could only assume was anger.

Nico froze in his tracks. Of course Will could see right through him, through even the lies Nico told to himself. Hogwarts wasn’t a destination, it was just a first step. A thing on a list ready to check off as soon as possible. With a demigod at his command, and the whole wizarding world as well, Voldemort could take over the world.

“I’m sorry,” Nico confessed. Tears pricked his eyes with a heat that reminded him of the Phlegethon. “I don’t want to be a Death Eater. I didn’t want to–”

“I’m not just pissed about that!” Will exclaimed, taking a step towards him. “You didn’t just give yourself to Voldemort, you were going to die if you didn’t.”

Nico flinched, remembering the blade against his neck. 

“You would have let Annebeth kill you!” Will be accused.

“Hey,” Percy interjected from Nico’s right, stepping in front of Annabeth, “don’t bring her into this.”

“Did you want to die?” Will asked loudly, taking another step so there was only one more in between them. “Don’t you know what would happen if you died? Don’t you know how that would affect us? Affect me?”

The tears in Nico’s eyes fell to his cheeks and so were Will’s. “Will, I’m so sorry. I waited so long to find a better way, but there wasn’t one. If you all would have been released, or even found an opening in my death to escape, then I would have gladly obliged!”

“Why?” Will asked. “Why can’t you just stay alive for us? Stay alive for you? Stay alive for me?”

“Because I wouldn’t be able to live everyday of my life knowing that there was something I could do to save you and I didn’t do it!”

Will’s body slammed into Nico and his arms wrapped him so tightly he was at first afraid his boyfriend was squeezing him to death.

“You stupid, self sacrificing idiot,” Will whispered, hugging him tighter.

Nico flung his arms around Will and squeezed him tight.

“I was so afraid,” Nico admitted. “I didn’t want to leave yet.”

“You didn’t.”

Nico squeezed him tighter. He was still alive. Still breathing. And they were all going to be able to leave.

Well, not all of them.

A searing pain scorched the inside of Nico’s forearm and his legs buckled, taking both him and Will to the ground.

“Woah! Nico, what’s happening!” Will cried, pushing him back a bit to look him up and down.

“I-I think he’s calling me,” Nico said, almost in a whisper. 

“What? How do you-?”

“I don’t know.”

A tugging sensation filled him like a balloon. 

“I-I’m sorry, again,” Nico apologized and then looked around the room. “To all of you. Especially Annabeth and Reyna.”

The two girls shifted in their stances but Nico’s eyes went to his sister’s first.

“I promise I’ll be back,” he said, then turned back to Will. “I promise.”

He quickly leaned in and kissed his boyfriend before he was pulled into something similar but not quite shadows, and was whisked off through the house.

The feel was a mix between Shadow Travel, and whatever Jason called his flying powers. The chill of darkness swept down his spine but he wasn’t contained by it, instead moving with it into a room he did not recognize on the third floor.

His feet stumbled on impact and he steadied his breathing before looking up. It was a fairly large room, fit with two beds and a dresser next to each. The walls were dark with lack of light. No windows to break the surrounding stone. Only thing to make it not look like an actual prison cell, was that the door was wooden and not bars.

“Welcome, Nico di angelo, to your new room.”

Voldemort stepped to his right, almost brushing Nico’s arm. His mind was still dizzy; he hadn't noticed the approach.

“From now on, you will no longer need to sleep in a cell,” Voldemort explained calmly, a smile dressing his face. “You are one of us now.”

Fear took Nico’s gut in a death grip and forced the limited amount of nutrients inside up again. He shut his mouth and tried to take a breath through his nose. 

“So, I will be sleeping here instead?” Nico asked.

“Yes,” Voldemort confirmed.

“What about my friends?”

“They will stay in their cells until they are to be released. Or until they die from exhaustion. Either works.”

His body turned on its own. Horrible pictures of broken bodies invading his mind before he could slam his precariously built wall shut.

“You can’t do that,” Nico told him, dropping his voice in the coldest tone he’d only ever used when the gods were being stupid.

Voldemort laughed, “you are correct, Nico di Angelo, I don’t really need any of them as long as I have you. Of course the more the merrier, that Jackson and Grace seem like quite the warriors—”

“You. Do. Not. Touch. Them.”

Tired of bullshits and lies, Nico’s no-longer-in-check anger seepped into the shadows. The power filled his veins and weak muscles until he almost felt at full strength again.

“We never agreed—”

“Well, now we will,” Nico replied, deadly calm. “Do you remember why I am the most wanted to you?”

He could see the flash of fear in the tyrant’s eyes. Even though Nico was in his command, that didn’t necessarily mean much.

“Remember why you were afraid to let my friends go? What I’d do when they were no longer in danger?”

“Remember how they got into danger in the first place.”

Nico flinched at the attack. It didn’t matter how many times Will and the others told him it wasn’t his fault. Somewhere inside, he still felt guilty.

“I will make you a second deal, di Angelo,” Voldemort said.

Nico raised an eyebrow.

“I will no longer torture your friends.”

There was a pause.

“If?” Nico prompted.

“If you become my right hand.”

Nico took a step back.

“You are to be by my side unless told otherwise by me, and you will do as I say when I say it. If you fail to obey this, the torture will continue.”

He plays a dirty game.

“Deal,” Nico said coldly.

“Wonderful,” Voldemort said with a smile, straightening. “I suppose now it’s time to meet your roommate.”

“My what?”

The door opened and in stepped a disheveled looking Draco Malfoy.

“Draco?” Nico asked, surprised.

“Nico!” Draco exclaimed, equally surprised. 

The blonde looked quickly between Nico and Voldemort and then his face fill with fear.

“Sir, you cannot let him stay with me!” he begged Voldemort.

The adult walked over to Draco and lifted his wand towards the boy’s face. “It’s Lord to you, Malfoy, and you will share a room with di Angelo. I’m sure you two have… much to catch up on.”

Without looking back, the Dark Lord walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Once they were alone, Draco’s face fell into a tired frown. 

“What was that about?” Nico asked, watching Draco’s face morph.

Draco sighed, walking slowly to one of the beds and sinking into it. “He thinks you hate me.”

“Why?” Nico asked, taking a seat on the other bed.

“Why not?” Draco replied. “Honetly, I can’t even believe it. I sold you out and your friends. I put you into this mess, got you tortured–”

“Hey, let’s not play the blame game.”

“What the bloody hell is that?”

“American saying.”

“Oh.”

A silence stretched between them.

“So…” Draco started looking up at him, “I heard what you did. How you got the Mark.”

He gestured to Nico’s hand and he turned it over to look at the tattoo. 

“Next time I get another tattoo, I think I’ll pick a butterfly,” Nico joked.

“Another?” Draco asked.

Nico turned over his arm, displaying the SPQR, pomegranate, and three lines for three years of service.

“I would ask what they mean but I think I lost the privilege to know about your life,” Draco half joked.

Nico smiled faintly at the marks. “No, I’m actually glad you brought it up. I sometimes forget they’re there. It was a thing at a military camp I went to. Most people got them on their forearms, but I chose to put mine up here.”

Draco nodded thoughtfully, “does everyone have a pomegranate, or is it like your favorite fruit or something?”

Nico almost laughed. “No. It represents my power. The SPQR stays the same though. It’s a Roman thing. The strikes represent how long you’ve been there.”

“You’ve been there three years?” 

“Not everyday, but I’m in their service. If they need me, I’m there.”

A second long silence took over them.

“I’m sorry I took that away from you,” Draco whispered.

Nico sighed, “it’s okay, I get it.”

~ ~ ~

Nico’s new life took over everything. While he usually prided himself in being free and having a freedom not many campers his age possessed, being Voldemort’s right hand took that all away.

He woke up when his Mark burned and would zip away to Voldemort’s side. Then he’d be given the day’s orders, usually waiting around or training (not torturing) with the other Death Eaters. Occasionally, he’d be brought into the large torture room – which acording to Voldemort was the living room – and he would stand by Voldmort’s side as he interrogated people. It had taken a few times to stop flinching when the torture spell was cast.

Nico lay in his bed on one particular morning where he wasn’t asked to do anything and tried to concentrate on falling into Harry, Ron, or Hermione’s dreams. The problem was that his brain kept skipping back to that day about a month ago now where he became a Death Eater. 

The scene would play out the same every time. He started in his body, looking down at Annabeth holding a knife to his throat, except unlike reality, she was drenched in blood. His blood. Then he’d skip to somewhere outside his body and see himself being held at knife point. He’d turn and all of his friends wore faces of fear and betrayal. Then it went dark.

At that point his eyes would open and he’d be back in that cold, empty room on that lonely bed.

Nico sighed, flopping his arms out wide when his third attempt ended the same way they always did.

The door creaked open and Nico drifted his mind to the shadows. Quiet, calculated footsteps and a lean, tentative frame.

“Draco, you’re back,” Nico greeted, standing up.

Draco Malfoy walked into their room holding a tray of food and water. The weekly gift for his friends to keep them alive.

“Yeah, dad wanted me here for winter break,” Draco explained. He had been sent on little missions to gods knows where, and part of Nico envied him for being able to leave the house.

“You heading down to the dungeons?” Nico asked, gesturing to the tray in his hand.

Draco looked around and closed the door quietly. “That’s actually why I’m here. I want you to take it.”

Nico sat up and gawked at the blonde. He had been expressly forbidden to see his friends, including giving them their weekly supply run. Although Nnico was usually up to break some rules, this one didn't just affect him, it would affect Draco as well.

“Yes, I know the consequences if we get caught,” Draco said with an eyeroll. “But you should at least be able to talk to your friends before one of them leaves.”

A lump filled in his throat at the thought. He would have to send home one of his friends and know that the rest of them would be stuck in the house. 

“And besides,” Draco continued, walking over and handing him the tray, “I kind of owe it to you for … you know… getting you all into this mess.”

Nico looked up at the matured man in front of him. Gone was the stuck up boy Nico had met the first day, the one Harry, Ron, and Hermione knew. No, those innocent parts were stripped away, leaving a cold, chiseled stone of pure survival left in its place. Although, his eyes still held a hesitant warmth.

“Thank you,” Nico whispered.

Draco smiled, “go.”

Almost leaping to his feet, Nico rushed out the door, careful to balance the tray with his hands. When he was out of eyesight, he let himself sink into the shadows. He had been practicing and testing the boundaries of the old force taking his powers and found that shadow travel was possible pretty easily in the house. Fred and George would be proud of the kitchen stealing he had been doing.

The only problem was that shadow traveling outside of the house was incredibly hard. He had successfully done it once but promptly fainted as soon as he landed and was found and put back in his room. He got a few good whips for that one.

His body reappeared in front of the cell, the darkness easy to mold out of. The room was dark but he saw a shape in the corner turn as his footsteps came to the cell door.

“Nico?”

The croaky voice of Nico’s sister made tears prick his eyes.

“Hazel?” he asked quietly, crouching and putting the plate on the ground.

A frail, tired version of the happy, strong Hazel Levesque crawled to the door until they were face to face, only bars between them.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.

“Were you asleep?” he asked.

“Not really.”

A silence emptied the room of breath. When Nico had been around them, life slowly dwindling with them, he hadn’t noticed the changes. Hazel’s body was tight and he could see the shape of bones inside. Her skin was tinted with mold coloring from the bruises of sleeping on the ground. Many times when Nico hadn’t wanted to go on their morning walks, Will had threatened him with medical knowledge of lack of sunlight. Now, looking at his sister, all those ideas chilled him to the core.

“Hazel…” Nico hesitated. He wasn’t exactly sure what to say.

Her golden eyes shone in the dark, still a pinprick of light. She watched him, looked up and down at his stronger, healthier body. Even though he still had cuts, he got a meal every night and a bed to sleep in. 

“Has Will been healing you still?”

Hazel shifted, sitting crosslegged, “not as much, we’re all a but… tired. We’re trying not to push the burnout but it’s driving the doctor insane.”

A small crack of a smile lifted Nico’s heart a bit. “I bet.”

Hazel smiled with a wince. “Things have been a little tense in here. Annabeth has been avoiding everyone, Leo has been standing behind Piper and Jason who are constantly fighting with someone else or each other, and Reyna hasn’t said much.”

“How’s Frank?” he asked, unsure what to do with the information.

“Quiet. Thinking,” Hazel answered, looking back. “I think he’s trying to figure everything out. Everyone is. You kind of left us with a lot of questions and both Reyna and Annabeth won’t say much.”

Nico shrugged, looking at the ground and shifting the plate of food under the cell. “There’s not much to say. You all say what happened.”

“But why?”

“Well, we were getting tortured and you know… the whole thing with Leo…”

“But why?”

Nico looked up. The golden eyes were softened with sadness and confusion. Why had he done it? Why had he put his life at risk for the slim chance that Voldemort would take the deal?

“Hazel, I… I think I’m going insane.”

The tears that had pricked his eyes stung them until they dripped down his face. “I’m always doing something. Whether it was plotting or just staying alive, or keeping you alive, I was always thinking. There wasn’t a moment I wasn’t think about two things at once. And then with the physical torture on top of that? I can’t think clearly. It all felt too real too… soon. I couldn’t take it.”

“Is that why you left?” Hazel asked quietly. “Because you couldn’t take the pain?”

Yes,” Nico said, scooting forward. “I couldn’t take the pain of knowing there was even one thing I could do, just one thing that would get you and Frank back to your life. To put everyone back in school. To put you all in a life you can actually live. You and I both know that this war might only get bigger. And if that happens, I can’t have you on this side.”

“But you’re on this side.”

Hazel looked up, tears running down her sweet face. “Nico, I can’t live without you. You got me a second chance. Without you I wouldn’t have any of this.”

Nico smiled, reaching through the bars and wiping away her tears. “Then I’ll get out too. If it will help you live, I’ll get out.”

Hazel met his eyes, steely but somehow soft in a way only she could do. “Promise?”

Nico took his hand from his face and held up a pinky.

“Promise.

Their conversation went on for a good while, remembering the good times and talking about each other’s days now, but eventually the footsteps of someone coming to check on the demigods came and Nico faded back to his room. Only when he arrived, he wasn’t alone.

“Fasinating,” his cold voice came from behind.

Nico spun to face Voldemort, his carefully chiseled mask in place.

“One of these days I will make you use that power for me,” Voldemort continued. “Maybe when your friends have gone…”

“What do you need,” Nico asked, breaking him off before he could even think about that scenario. 

Voldemort’s face curled with a cruel smile. “I’m sure you don’t know, since you’ve spent all your time inside, that it is the first of the month.”

“I’m well aware.”

“Then you must know it is time.”

“Time for what?”

“For you to choose.”

It took careful practice to not let the mask fall. He had forgotten his dilemma. 

“Alright,” Nico nodded, faking indifference.

Voldemort walked towards the door, “follow me.”

He walked a few feet behind as the Dark Lord walked down staircases and through halls until they came to the big room. Nico almost choked on air as he saw each and everyone of his friends kneeling with their hands tied behind them.

“Your savior is here!” Voldemort announced, gesturing to Nico as if he were a rabbit in a magic show. “Today one of you will leave and the rest of you will be condemned to stay here at least another month with no sunlight and no space.”

Voldemort turned to Nico and stepped back to let him see his friends. “It is your choice Nico di Angelo. Which one will you save?”

He could sense a hope underlining the words. He wanted Nico to make a new deal, take back what he said, anything to give Voldemort the leverage back. But Nico wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. 

Up and down Nico looked at his friends. Which one would he set free? Or, more importantly, which ones would he make stay for another month?

Jason; a guy who had been through enough as it is and just wanted to go to school and build temples. He could start the plans for Camp Jupiter’s new shrine for the minor gods, find an excuse as to why he disappeared for six months and redo the year. He deserved the break.

But if he was going with who deserved a break the most, Reyna would be the most likely candidate. She led Camp Jupiter for years and for a while on her own with asshole Octavian battling her at every decision. She deserved to he with the Hunters, enjoy herself and be free.

And Piper? She had wanted to go to school since the Giant War. She was getting her law degree and with her Charmspeak she could continue classes and get notes from other students to learn everything she missed. She didn’t deserve to he kept in a dungeon.

But what about Percy and Annabeth? Fell into Tartarus? Held up the sky? The two of them have been through more things than most of the campers combined. Although, neither would forgive him for separating them, even if it was just for a month.

What about Leo? He had probably had the worst time there and with his genius, he could probably understand everything after a five minute lecture. And Frank was just starting to fit in at the school with Hazel.

Nico looked over the group again, his mind racing. Then, something in his gut whispered to him. There was only one person who he should send home. One person that would take the weight of blame off his shoulders a bit without burdening someone else with their absence to the point of break down. She would hate him, probably slap him when they meet later, but it was a price he was willing to pay.

“Her,” Nico said, pointing. “Set her free.”

“No!” Hazel demanded, taking a step to stand. “Nico, no, I’m not leaving–”

She didn’t say another word or take another step before he was sucked into the shadows. As Nico pushed his powers to take her past the ancient barriers, he could feel himself sink to the ground. His eyes closed and his body went limp as he lowered himself to the ground. Unconscious intruded his mind but he didn’t let it succumb him until she was on the other side of the wall.

With the last of his energy, he sent a message to someone he knew would help her. Someone he now trusted with one of the most precious things in his life.

“Help her, Albert.” 

          ~ * * * ~

Even though Voldemort didn’t try to torture him everyday, he still did. An ADHD demigod trapped in a room with nothing to do and nothing to expect? It was like mental torment to his brain.

Nico lay on his firm bed and tried not to go insane as he tried to find something new to think about or do. Escape plans; done. Hogwarts; done. Camp Half-Blood; done. Friends well being; done. The last few hours he had been thinking of Hazel and their light hearted conversation yesterday, but it was starting to make his heart hurt. The image of her face when he sent her away —- the hurt and pain in her eyes —- haunted his nightmares. But in the same breath, the relief and gratitude Frank’s expression gave him was the only thing convincing him he made the right choice.

The door creaked open and he flung himself off the bed and stood to greet Voldemort.

“Good to see you’re still awake,” he said, sliding into the room.

“Good to see you’re still bald,” Nico thought.

“I have a new job for you,” Voldemort continued, gesturing to the door. “Follow me.”

Nico walked with him out the door and through the long hallways until they arrived in the big room where two death eaters stood beside someone kneeling in the middle.

“I had him brought here from his last hiding place since it seems not many places are… safe these days.”

So Harry, Ron, and Hermione must be causing him trouble. There was no one else Voldemort would be so secretive of mentioning. He’d talked for hours about the Order of the Phoenix and some plan they had for Harry, and apparently Hogwarts students had also been giving him trouble. But if he didn’t mention them like he did the other students did that mean that the trio weren’t at Hogwarts?

“Nico di Angelo, I would like you to meet our new prisoner.” Voldemort gestured to the man kneeling. “Please meet Mr. Ollivander.”

Chapter Text

“Indeed they are, Romulus,” said Lee through the crackling radio. Harry still couldn’t believe he could hear one of his friends again. “So we suggest that you continue to show your devotion to the man with the lightning scar by listening to Potterwatch! And now let’s move to the news concerning the wizard who is proving just as elusive as Harry Potter. We like to refer to him as the Chief Death Eater, and here to give his views on some of the more insane rumors circulating about him, I’d like to introduce a new correspondent: Rodent!”

“Rodent?” asked yet another familiar voice and Harry, Ron, and Hermione cried together:

“Fred!”

Harry couldn’t help but smile as the radio talked in the twin’s voice with the same goofy attitude as he remembered. The last few months had been rough, especially when Ron left. But they were getting back on track. Except, through all of their searching, all of their running and hunting, Harry had yet to find any trace of Nico di Angelo.

Ron was still convinced he’d moved back home to America and rolled his eyes whenever Harry brought him up. But luckily Hermione was on his side. 

“I’m not being ‘Rodent’, no way,” Fred said, “I told you I wanted to be ‘Rapier’!”

“Oh, all right then,” Lee sighed. “‘Rapier’, could you please give us your take on the various stories we’ve been hearing about the Chief Death Eater?”

“Yes, River, I can,” said Fred. “As our listeners will know, unless they’ve taken refuge at the bottom of a garden pond or somewhere similar, You-Know-Who’s strategy of remaining in the shadows is creating a nice little climate of panic. Mind you, if all the alleged sightings of him are genuine, we must have a good nineteen You-Know-Whos running around the place.”

“I still don’t understand it,” Hermione sighed. “Why would he be in hiding?”

“Maybe he’s not hiding from us, but hiding someone else from us,” Harry popped in.

Ron scoffed. “Harry, we’ve been over your “Voldemort’s holding Nico captive” theory before. He’s gone back to America, accept it!”

“But I swear he was there!” Harry argued.

“In your living room?” Hermione asked. “I’m all for finding Nico, but him somehow being invisible in your living room is a bit of a stretch.”

“No, it isn’t! It was like when Voldemort got into my mind but different! He had the same chill but it was Nico, I swear.”

His two friends didn’t even give him an answer, probably knowing it would only make him ramble on about the strange presence in his living room when he was talking the plan over with the Dursleys months ago. The presence he could have sworn was Nico if the kid was also a Death Eater. They all had a weird cold heaviness around them.

“Which suits him of course,” the deep voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt returned. “The air of mystery is creating more terror than actually showing himself.”

“Agreed,” said Fred. “So, people, let’s try to calm down a bit. Things are bad enough without inventing stuff as well. For instance, this new idea that You-Know-Who can kill with a single glance from his eyes. That’s a basilisk, listeners. One simple test: Check whether the thing that’s glaring at you have legs. If it has, it’s safe to look into its eyes, although if it really is You-Know-Who, that’s still likely to be the last thing you ever do.”

For the first time in weeks, Harry was laughing. He could feel the weight of tension leaving him, dripping off his shoulders as they shook. 

“And the rumors that he keeps being sighted abroad?” asked Lee.

“Well, who wouldn’t want a nice little holiday after all the hard work he’s been putting in?” asked Fred. 

“Putting into what?” Harry’s brain asked.

“Point is, people, don’t get lulled into a false sense of security, thinking he’s out of the country. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t, but the fact remains he can move faster than Severus Snape confronted with shampoo when he wants to, so don’t count on him being a long way away if you’re planning on taking any risks. I never thought I’d hear myself say it, but safety first!”

“Thank you very much for those wise words, Rapier,” said Lee. “Listeners, that brings us to the end of another Potterwatch. We don’t know when it will be possible to broadcast again, but you can be sure we shall be back. Keep twiddling those dials: the next password will be ‘Mad-Eye.’ Keep each other safe: Keep faith. Goodnight.”

The radio dial twirled and the lights behind the tuning panel went out. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were still beaming. Hearing familiar, friendly voices was an extraordinary tonic; Harry had become so used to their isolation he had nearly forgotten that other people were resisting Voldemort. It was like waking from a long sleep.

“But how long would it last?”

“Good, eh?” Ron asked happily. It was good to see him in such high spirits after the most recent episode. 

“Brilliant,” Harry agreed.

“It’s so brave of them,” Hermione sighed appreciatively. “If they were found. . .”

“They could be taken like Nico.” 

Bloody hell, maybe Harry did need to take a break from worrying about Nico. 

“Well, they keep on the move, don’t they?” said Ron. “Like us.”

“Could that be what Nico is doing as well?” Thoughts like that are what circle Harry’s mind when it’s not occupied by Voldemort and Horcruxes.

“But did you what what Fred said?” Harry asked, pushing the other thoughts from his mind and focusing on his excitement. “He’s abroad! He’s still looking for the Wand, I knew it!”

“Harry —-” Hermione started but Harry didn’t pay any mind.

“Come on, Hermione, why are you so determined not to admit it? Vol—-”

“HARRY, NO!”

“—-demort’s after the Elder Wand.”

“The name’s Taboo!” Ron bellowed, leaping to his feet.

Crack. Twigs broke all around them outside the tent. He had said his name. Now Death Eaters were surely outside waiting for them.

“I told you, Harry, I told you!” Ron continued more quietly. “We can’t say it anymore —- we’ve got to put the protection back around us —- quickly —- it’s how they find —-”

The Sneakoscope on the table in the tent had lit up and begun to spin. Ron stopped talking and they listened as hushed voices came closer. They were rough and scratchy, not like the posh Death Eaters Harry had met before. Ron pulled the Deluminator out of his pocket and clicked it: Their lamps went out.

“Come out of there with your hands up,” a familiar and yet slightly different voice called from the outside.

Harry’s heartstopped. He knew that voice. The one that gave him as much wisdom as Dumbledore even though he was only a quarter of the old man’s age. The one that replied in memories by the lake or in the Owlery. The one he was starting to believe he might not hear again.

“We know you’re in there!” he called again, closer this time. “You’ve got half a dozen wands pointed at you and we don’t care who we curse!”

He turned and locked eyes with Hermione and Ron and then whispered the name of the boy he’d been searching for.

“Nico.”

Chapter Text

The months went by faster than Nico could imagine. He excelled at every tiny mission Voldemort put him on and took good care of the prisoner, Ollivander, so Voldemort could not refuse letting him send each of his friends out one by one. Each time he did so, he would send them just outside the house where he mentally made sure Albert was waiting. 

As the months kept coming and going and he used his power in a healthier way, Nico found that he didn’t have to pass out every time he shadow traveled his friends. It still made him tired and he often collapsed afterwards but he was totally conscious when his head hit the floor. Yay.

At this point, more than half the demigods had been sent leaving only Percy, Annabeth, and Will behind. So, when he woke up and remembered it was the first of March, passing the year mark for being stuck with the Dark Lord, a horrible dread filled his heart.

He looked over at Draco’s empty bed. As cold as January since he had gone back after winter break. He got letters from his friend everyday, updates from the school and the horrible things happening, but it didn’t make up for his lack of presence. When the guy had finally gotten Nico to tell him about the range of his shadow powers, they had come up with a plan to send letters via an Underworld owl Nico gave him so that the animal couldn’t be tracked. 

Raising the owl had reminded Nico that although there was still the Underworld and there was still death, his father could not help him there. 

With a heavy heart and tired eyes, Nico walked to a corner of the room and sank into the shadows. The brief moments of darkness bliss was like a splash of cold water. A realization that not all was lost and there were moments where he could feel normal again.

He stepped into the kitchen of the house and the feeling disappeared. He grabbed the tray of two sandwiches and water that was sitting out and fell back in.

When he reappeared he was in front of bars. The usual flinch of his muscle’s remembrance greeted him like every time he went to feed the prisoners.

“Oh, is that you Nico?”

For the last two months, Ollivander hadn’t been alone. Voldemort had come back from an impromptu trip with a white haired girl with an aura that reminded Nico of a Hecate-Helios hybrid. 

“Hello, Luna,” Nico greeted, pushing the food through the bars. “How are you and Mr. Ollivander fairing?”

“We are alive,” she answered dreamily like he always did. “Although, you ought to check the rest of the cells for Snufflewigs. I found some in here the other day and chased them off, but you ought to find them.”

Nico smiled, “I’ll try.”

He turned on his heel and walked away from the strange girl, a light smile painting his face. He walked past empty cell after empty cell until he came to a very familiar one.

Quietly, Nico stopped and peered through the bars. The space looked bigger with less people in it. More empty too. Even the two sleeping bodies inside seemed empty . . . wait, two?

“Hi, Nico.”

“Ah!” 

Nico jumped back and clutched his heart as a slalom Percy Jackson stepped into the dim light.

“Holy shit, Jackson!” Nico whisper-yelled. “I could have woken them up.”

“No, you wouldn’t have. Not with those dream powers.”

He was right, Nico had been using his dream powers to keep them all asleep and rested since he’d been out. He must have gotten so comfortable in doing that, that he didn’t realize one of them wasn’t sleeping.

“You should be with them,” Nico said awkwardly.

Percy didn’t answer. Most people who knew Percy Jackson knew his fun side. The carfree, funny, clumsy, I-don’t-know-how-I-did-it-but-it-worked-ness. But there were moments such as these where Nico realized why new campers were afraid to approach him. There was no humor left on his face or his stoned posture. Nico would be afraid too if he didn’t know that this was a rare occurrence for the guy.

“How’s life on the other side?” Percy finally asked, sitting down crosslegged. “Have you gone outside yet?”

“For a split second yes,” Nico nodded, sitting as well. “But then I faceplanted from exhaustion.”

A twitch of a smile broke Percy’s face for only a second. “Classic Nico.”

“Not my fault I wasn’t trained properly.”

“I’ve said this a thousand times Nico, you could have if you had just stayed.”

“Yeah, stay in the camp my sister ditched me in and chill with the guys who watched her die.”

There was nothing malice in their tones. Not like it could have been a few years ago. Just sarcastic, poking fun comments that were usually placed at the Jackson-Blofis dining table.

Heavy, invisible weights made his face drop. Estelle. How could he have forgotten about Percy’s baby sister. Regret pooled in his stomach, threatening to surface with his meager breakfast. 

“What are you thinking about?” Percy asked, knowing him all too well.

Nico hesitated. “Your . . . family.”

Percy’s face fell as well, making Nico regret mentioning it.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up—”

“No, it’s fine. To be honest, they haven’t left my mind for even a day. We’ve been down here a year now right?”

Nico nodded.

“Estelle must be two now.”

The guilt must have shown on Nico’s face because Percy quickly followed up.

“No, no, don’t feel bad, Nico,” he said hurriedly. “To be honest, I’m glad I’m still here. I mean, not that I wouldn’t love to leave, but if we’re being honest, you, me, Annabeth, and Will are the most equipped to be here.”

“Yeah, Tartarus Survivors and all that.”

“Maybe when we get out of here we can have a Tartarus Survivor group.”

“More like Tartarus Survivor group therapy."

A light, melodic, happy sound filled the air and it came from the son of Posiedon’s mouth. He was laughing.

Suddenly, everything seemed weirdly ridiculous. A year and a half ago he hadn’t known wizards existed, then a year ago he had been missing his friends while he went to a wizarding school, and now he had gotten almost a year of quality time with all of his beloved friends. 

As Percy kept laughing, Nico felt a smile tug at his lips. Percy rocked, tipping his head back as if laughing at the gods. A tentative laugh took Nico’s lips and then suddenly his laughter came like a waterfall. A depressing dam breaking into chaos and hysteria. 

The two demigods started shaking and wobbling back and forth on their tailbones as they laughed. Soon, a shimmering feeling in Nico’s gut told him that Annabeth and Will were waking. But that wasn’t the only presence he felt. Someone was coming down the staircase.

“I’ve got to go,” Nico said, standing to his feet.

“Wait!” Percy called quietly, making Nico pause. “Don’t send me back.”

“What?”

“You get to choose to send someone back today. Don’t choose me.”

“Why do you think I would—”

“Nico I know you—”

“Percy, I have to go—”

“Nico!”

Percy’s arm reached through the bars and grabbed Nico’s forearm. Nico could easily shadowtravel away, Percy knew that too, but he stopped.

“You can’t send me home,” Percy begged. “You know as well as I that out of all of us, you and I have survived the most.”

Usually, Nico didn’t compare traumas with his friends. Every trauma is equally important and it shouldn’t be a competition to see who's the worst. But Percy was right. He had sent home everyone except Annabeth, Percy, and Will for a reason. Although Will had not gone on many adventures before, he had been at camp longer than everyone except Annabeth and survived Tartarus. While his other friends had seen some crazy things, the four of them knew that nothing compared to the horrors of the Pit. And if anyone could survive a crazy, evil, bald, snake guy, it would be the four survivors of Tartarus.

A light appeared by the steps and Percy let go of Nico’s arm. He turned and looked at Percy’s determined eyes. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

And he disappeared into the darkness.

It only took a couple hours for Voldemort to finally call him to make his decision. All that time Percy’s plead and Nico’s promise replayed in his mind. 

The steps echoed as Nico walked into the large room, not feeling up to shadow traveling. Will, Percy, and Annabeth kept their heads down as he walked in front of them to Voldemort’s side.

“Only three left,” the Dark Lord tsked. 

“Two soon,” Nico mumbled to himself.

Voldemort stepped back, a silent signal that it was now Nico’s turn to choose. 

He looked back and forth down the short line. He could either keep his word to Percy and choose his boyfriend or his girlfriend, or he could go back on it and finally give Percy a break. But would it be when his girlfriend, his soulmate, was still there? But then it’s vice versa for letting Annabeth out as well. 

Then there was Will. He would kill Nico if he sent him home and if Nico was being brutally honest, he found comfort in knowing where Will was and knowing how to protect him. If he sent him out, he’d probably go back to school with Leo, Piper, and Jason, but Nico wouldn’t see him or hear from him for at least four months. And that was calculating if Voldemort let Nico go.

The Dark Lord could probably sense his churning mind and Nico saw a smirk curl his mouth. If Nico went back on his part of the deal (even if it was the part he wanted) that meant Voldemort could go back too. Nico would not give him that satisfaction.

“I choose . . .” Nico’s voice caught as he looked down at the head of the blonde who would be set free.

“Will Solace.”

The snap of Will’s neck as he looked up at Nico was almost audible. His blue eyes clouded with storms of hurt, sadness, and anger. 

“No, Nico, we’re doing this together,” Will reminded him.

Shadows swirled out from the edges of the room. “I’m sorry Will.”

His boyfriend struggled against the ropes as Nico bent down to his level. “Nico, you can’t do this!”

Tears pricked his eyes and Nico’s voiced clogged with emotion.

“I’m so sorry.”

Will was pissed. Well, actually, he was more than pissed. His boyfriend (his selfless, selfless boyfriend) who had finally seemed to accept the fact that Will was not leaving his side when shit was thrown at them, had sent Will away on purpose. 

Actually, in truth, Will wasn’t really angry. He was hurt. But hurt was a lot harder to manage than anger so he decided to call it that.

The shadows carried him through the darkness, and as much as Will hated to admit it, he felt slightly comforted by something so . . . Nico. When his feet hit hard ground and the shadows fell away exhaustedly, his heart almost ached for the nausea inducing form of travel.

“Oh great, they sent you!” Hazel’s voice sighed as Will stumbled into where ever he was.

“What?” Will asked, looking around at each and every demigod in a forest clearing, very obviously not at Camp Half-Blood where Nico wanted them. And were those some sort of black robes they were wearing? “What are you guys doing here?”

“Did you really think we would just go home?” Frank asked, stepping towards him to reach Hazel's side.

Jason walked up behind the couple and handed him some fresh clothes that looked one-hundered percent like robes.

“We gotta help Nico,” he explained as he handed him the clothing. “You saw how happy he was at this magic school. Anything that makes Nico happy is worthy of being saved.”

“So . . . I assume you have a plan?” Will shook off his shirt and slipped on a new white button up that Jason also handed him.

“We’re going to go to school,” Leo said, looking fully happy and healthy for the first time in months. “Gods, never thought I’d be saying that enthusiastically.”

“And we’re going to help Nico’s friends,” Piper added from his side. “Jules said that it’s been taken over by Death Eaters, but none of them we know except for Snape so we just have to avoid him and stay out of trouble.”

“Easier said than done,” Will mumbled, slipping on the black robe. “But Percy and Annabeth are still in there. Not mention Nico. Also, who’s Jules?”

All five of the demigods pointed to their right where Will hadn’t noticed Nico’s Zombie chauffeur standing.

“Right, of course.”

“As for Nico, Percy, and Annabeth, they’ve been through and done enough,” Hazel said. “All three of them have fought in wars, fallen into Tartarus, and done some crazy things just to keep the world spinning. It’s only right that we help if we can.”

Will’s mind spun slightly as he slipped on the back robes. He felt ashamed, but part of him just wanted to go home. Even if home was school or his crazy summer camp. 

He turned his head to the side to look at Jules and that’s when he noticed a building only a few miles away. It was big, dark, and Will felt his still lack of powers being pulled there. That must have been where they were. When they had been held captive.

A wave of sudden memorize attacked Will’s brain and he flinched as he suddenly and vividly remembered everyday in that house.

“Flashbacks?” Jason asked lightly. “We get them too.”

Something clicked in Will’s brain about that. Every single one of these demigods, including himself, had seen crazy things. Wars, monsters, literal hell. Now these kids at school were about to have their memories and minds changed forever. A war was coming, and it was the demigod’s job to help as many as they can.

“I’m in.”

Chapter Text

The feeling of stepping on grass and the smell of cold forest air almost made Nico smile as he appeared next to his new found “companions”. For the last three weeks Voldemort had assigned Nico to follow along with a group of men called “ the Snatchers” to capture people who were against the Dark Lord. Apparently, Voldemort had made his own name some sort of Taboo so they would know where anyone who said his name was. According to him, only people who were a part of the “Order of the Phoenix" used his name. What the heck the Order of the Phoenix was? Nico had no idea.

The Dark Lord had given him permission to leave the house if the snatchers were summoned somewhere. So far he had only been to one other place, a town where a stubborn old lady lived who didn’t seem to be a part of a secret society. 

The familiarity of the waving tree made tears collect in the corners of his eyes. He could almost smell the camp fire smoke and hear the campers singing through the dusk.

“Over there,” the gruff voice of the werewolf, Fenrir Greyback, jolted Nico out of his half daydream.

The wolf-man was too assigned with the Snatchers. While Nico waited until he was called though, Fenrir got to frolic around and grab innocent people out of their homes and away from their family if he found a reason.

Somehow, Nico had shadow traveled right in front of him so now the half man was pointing from behind him towards a tent in front of them which seemed awfully strange given that it was only spring. It wasn’t terribly small, but could probably fit no more than three people without a squish. Although, he sensed that it was somehow . . . bigger on the inside.

“Come out of there with your hands up!” Nico called, walking a few steps forward so he was a couple of feet from the door. There was no answer.

"We know you're in there!" he called again. "You've got half a dozen wands pointed at you and we don't care who we curse!"

He nodded to one of the Snatchers and he ushered two men to walk with him to the door.

The tent didn’t move. Whoever it was probably thought that they would just leave and think it was a mix up. Nico almost felt bad that he would have to crush their hopes by barging through the door.

“Take them out,” Nico told them.

Before anyone could get inside, a bang sounded and a burst of color came from inside.

“Fuck!” Leo spat blood to the ground, wobbling where he stood.

“Let this be a lesson to you,” Voldemort’s cold, slithering vocals crawled under Nico’s skin as he pulled against the Death Eater holding him back. 

“Never talk back against your Lord.”

“Get up, vermin.”

One of the Snatchers appeared from the tent dragging a wiggling body out. Nico walked closer, noticing through the darkness that the boy’s build was much like his own, young, rather skinny, male, but his skin was darker than Nico’s. What was peculiar though was that his head seemed to be incredibly swollen, at least twice as big as a normal face shape in some parts.

He stopped a few feet away as the other two men brought out the rest of the tent’s occupants, frozen in his tracks. One was a girl with wavy brown hair and an energy of intelligence that rivaled Annabeth Chase. The second had flaming orange hair and a face full of freckles that was impossible to not remember. Although both of the teens were older than when Nico had last seen them, more than a year ago now, he could still recognize them anywhere.

“Get — off — her!” Ron Weasley yelled at the Snatcher that clutched Hermione Granger’s arm. 

The Snatcher raised his hand and struck the redhead across the face.

Nico tensed. His shadows gathered around his feet like snakes ready for the attack.

“You do not touch the criminals yet,” Nico shouted, voice coming louder than he meant it to.

Caught off guard, the Snatcher that held Hermione quickly dropped his grip and she stumbled onto Ron’s laying body.

“Will!” Nico cried, ripping free of Bellatrix’s grip and running to Will’s side. 

Tears swam in his boyfriend’s eyes as he tried to smile weakly, “Nico, I’m fine.”

Voldemort’s cold laughing filled the air, ricocheting in Nico’s ears. 

“Your boyfriend’s going to have worse done to him if he’s on our list.”

Fenrir had decided to walk over and it took all Nico’s willpower not to flinch or scoot away from his presence.

“Delicious girl . . .” he continued, eyeing Hermione like a dog bone. “What a treat . . . I do enjoy the softness of the skin . . .”

“You are not allowed to touch any of them,” Nico said slowly and quieter than his outburst before. He couldn’t blow their cover. “He put me in charge of this and I say we do not hurt them unless they hurt us.”

Hermione’s head whipped around at Nico’s voice. She must not have registered his voice before. He made himself lock eyes with her for a second, letting himself feel a breath of familiarity at her face. Ever so slightly he shook his head. A silent promise. 

Something flew through her eyes and then they were darkened with determination. Gods bless her. Even now, surrounded by people who would likely kill her, she was calm enough to think rationally. Ron could learn a thing or two about that.

“Search the tent,” Nico commanded, turning to address the Snatchers on his right. The two of them nodded and dove into the makeshift house with the hunger of starving kids. Then he focused back to the Snatcher with the first kid. “Bring the other one over here.”

He was thrown with Hermione who was sitting up Ron who had a bloody nose. With all three of them together, something shifted in Nico’s stomach. A dreadful shift. The third boy’s face was bloated like a teenager’s worst nightmare. It didn’t even really look like a face if he was honest. But something about him made him know that there were emerald green eyes under the puffed eyelids and a red lightning scar somewhere on his forehead. 

“Now, let’s see what we’ve got,” Greyback gloated, pulling his wand out and lighting the tip. “Oh. I’ll be needing butterbeer to wash this one down. What happened to you, ugly?”

Thankfully, Harry Potter did not answer immediately. Unfortunately, he was staring at Nico like . . . well, actually Nico didn’t know since his eyes were only slits. 

“Bloody hell,” Ron’s voice whispered.

Nico looked up just as Hermione sent him a desperate look.

“I said,” repeated Greyback ignoring Ron’s comment and whacking Harry in the diaphragm, “what happened to you.”

“And what did I say about touching the criminals?" Nico asked cooly, wrapping the shadows closer to himself.

“My apologies,” Greyback mumbled sarcastically. 

“Stung,” Harry muttered. “Been stung.”

“Yeah, looks like it,” Nico replied evenly.

“What’s your name?” Fenrir snarled.

“Dudley,” Harry answered.

“And your first name?” 

“I — Vernon. Vernon Dudley.”

“Check the list, Scabior,” Fenrir growled to one of the snatchers. 

The Snatcher on his left quickly took out a scroll and started searching. As he did, Greyback’s eyes shifted to Ron

“Stan Shunpike,” he said.

“Like ‘ell you are,” the man, Scabior, scoffed. “We know Stan Shunpike, ‘e’s put a bit of work our way.”

“Fine,” Ron relented. “I’b Bardy. Bardy Weadley.”

He pitched forward and spat blood onto the ground.

“Pfft.” Jason leaned over and spat blood between him and his opponent.

Nico turned and watched the Roman return to a fighting stance and the Death Eater against him charge.

The splitting skin sensation hit Nico’s stomach and he looked down to find a dagger fall out of his stomach.

“Don’t get distracted,” Severus Snape’s calm and nasally voice called from above as Nico sank to the ground, watching blood appear in the only slightly concerning cut.

“A Weasley?” rasped Greyback. “So you’re related to blood traitors even if you’re not a Mudblood. And lastly, your pretty little friend . . .”

The change in tone when mentioning Hermione made Nico’s blood boil. He seemed to see her as a bone to gnaw on instead of a human being. Although he should expect it from the werewolf by now. Considering his past with werewolves in general and that one in particular.

“Fenrir,” Nico stated almost conversationally but he let the shadows cool the air between them, “if you even look at this girl the wrong way, I will take your soul and let it rot in the space between life and death.”

Fenrir growled towards him. “Why so protective, di Angelo? Do you know these people?”

Nico held the werewolf’s gaze. “I have never seen these kids in my life, but I have respect for every person that crosses my path. Which is why you are still breathing.”

“He would never let you kill me,” Greyback snarled quietly.

“You want to test that theory?” Nico challenged equally low. “If it comes down to my life or yours, which do you think he will choose?”

Fenrir hissed but backed away.

“Penelope Clearwater,” Hermione piped up. “That is my name.”

“What’s your blood status?” Scabior asked.

“Half-blood.”

“Easy enough to check,” he mumbled. “But the ‘ole lot of ‘em look like they could still be ‘ogwarts age —”

“We’b lebt,” Ron interrupted before spitting another wad of blood.

“Left, ‘ave you, ginger?” Scabior asked. “And you decided to go camping? And you thought, just for a laugh, you’d use the Dark Lord’s name?”

“Oh really, Scabior,” Nico sighed, turning and looking down his nose at the trio. “If you don’t believe three teenagers would say something taboo just to see what would happen then you haven’t been around them enough.”

Scabior seemed to think about it for a minute. “True. Bind them up with the other two prisoners.”

“We have others?” Nico asked, turning with Fenrir and Scabior. 

“Yes, before you were summoned,” Scabior informed. 

They walked to a tree at which on the base there sat two people. Squinting, Nico stepped closer to decipher their forms. One was a goblin looking creature that seemed to have a resting grouchy face. The second was a human boy whose eyes were downcast. He had dark hair and looked like . . . wait, Dean Thomas?

“Double check the tent,” Nico commanded the men behind him, not taking his eyes off the Hogwarts boy.

“But we already did —” Fenrir complained.

“Check. Them. Again.”

Grumbling, Fenrir and Scabior’s footsteps retreated and Nico crouched in front of the boy.

“Dean?” he whispered, keeping them partially concealed with his shadows from the setting sun.

Dean Thomas’s eyes shot up. He seemed confused for a moment and a little scared but something clicked in his eyes and his smile painfully reminded Nico of Leo Valdez. Always grinning at the worst moments, those two.

“Nico fucking di Angelo?” he asked in awe. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Long story,” Nico dismissed, glancing towards the tent where Fenrir was half stuck inside. 

“Wait,” Dean looked him up and down, “you didn’t go back to America, did you?”

Nico shook his head.

“Bloody hell!” he cried. “Was Harry right? Were you captured by Voldemort?”

Nico’s eyes shot up to his hair line.

“How did Harry know that?”

“So it’s true!”

“Quiet down!” the goblin growled.

Nico looked back up and found Fenrir standing in front of the tent with Scabior and another Snatcher helping him to his feet.

“I’m fine!” he growled at the Snatchers. “There’s nothing left in there!”

Nico straightened and let the shadows fall. “Don’t panic,” he told Dean before walking towards the werewolf. “Great. Let’s group together now.”

Three Snatchers grabbed Harry, Ron, and Hermione and pulled them towards Dean and Goblin.

 “Did you find their names on the list?” He asked Scabior, turning away from looking at his friends with great effort.

“No,” Scabior answered, folding the giant paper list.

Fenrir hummed under his breath, “interesting. Very interesting.”

“Hey!” A shout coming from behind the tent made Nico jump and turn in its direction. “Look at this di Angelo!”

A younger Scavenger almost ran into Nico while holding a very sharp and very important seeming sword.

“A sword,” Nico stated rather obviously. He grabbed the hilt and twirled it with his hand.

“Ah!” The Death Eater stepped backwards and Nico advanced.

Red tinted his vision, his mind begging for revenge. He jumped and pinned the man to the floor. Before the opponent could move, Nico lifted the blade to just below his chin, ready to slit his throat. For all the pain he’d caused him, caused his friends. Now he would pay.

“Nico!” 

Hazel’s dried honey voice made Nico’s head spin in her direction. 

She stood, spear in hand, face dirty and specked with blood, watching him with something akin to fear. 

“Don’t do it!”

His grip on the sword hilt slackened. What was he thinking?

He didn’t get another thought before a foot kicked him in the side.

He tossed the sword to his left, noticing the performative balance of it. Of course it would feel off, nothing but his Stygeon Iron blade could work perfectly, but there was an aspect of the sword that made Nico believe that it was more of a symbol than for combat. Shifting the position, he found writing just below the hilt. Sadly with his dyslexia he couldn’t read it without bringing it up to his eyes. Plus, if the sword was Harry's he could bet that it was something important and valuable so drawing more attention to it wouldn’t be the best idea.

“Looks goblin-made,” Greyback appreciated. “Where did you get something like this, Vernon?”

“It’s my father’s,” Harry said quickly. “He works in the Ministry. Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. It was hexed but he fixed it and we were going to use it to cut firewood —”

“‘ang on a minute, di Angelo! Look at this, in the Prophet!” A Snatcher on his left held out a newspaper so Nico could read the page with him.

“‘ermione Granger,” the Scavenger’s voice came back to focus as Nico called back his senses, “the Mudblood who is known to be traveling with ‘arry Potter.”

It took everything in him for Nico to not immediately glance at the prisoners. Hermione, the genius that she is, cleverly disguised Harry so that the Snatchers wouldn’t recognize him. What she didn’t have time for was a disguise for Ron and herself.

“What does a piece of newspaper have to do with this?” Nico asked, reaching for it.

Fenrir’s arm ripped the sheet out of the Scavenger’s hands before Nico could grab it and easily held it up out of his short reach.

“Well, well, well.” Greyback clicked his tongue. “These faces look awfully familiar . . .”

Slowly, he turned back to the prisoners and crouched in front of Hermione. 

“You know what, little girly? This picture looks a hell of a lot like you.”

“It isn’t!” Hermione lied. “It isn’t me.”

Nico’s heart sank with every second. Could they look past it? Was there a way to worm their way out of this enclosing trap, or would Annabeth and Percy have cellmates tonight.

“ ‘. . . known to be traveling with Harry Potter,” Greyback whispered. “Well, this changes things, doesn’t it?” 

Nico stepped over to where Fenrir stood back up, now looking at Harry. What was he to do? Even now Harry’s face looked slightly less inflated than before. The disguise was going to disappear within the next hour and then everyone would see that that was clearly Harry Potter.

The werewolf took two steps and crouched again but this time in front of Potter. “What’s on your forehead Vernon?”

His grubby finger raised and touched Harry’s misshapen scar that folded on his head. 

“Don’t touch it!” Harry yelled. 

Nico shifted onto his heels at the loud disturbance. Why would Harry yell? He seemed to usually not care too much about it unless someone pointed it out back in school. Could there be something wrong with it? Nico frustratingly wished he’d asked more questions about the mark earlier. Although, Harry hadn’t been fond of him for more than half his time there.

“I thought you wore glasses, Potter?” Greyback breathed, a grin rising in his face while Nico’s stomach dropped.

“I found glasses,” some unhelpful Snatcher yelled from the tent entrance. “There were glasses in the back, di Angelo, wait . . .”

Greyback stood and marched over to the Snatcher, grabbing the glasses and ramming them onto what was now pretty clearly Harry Potter’s face.

“Hey —” Nico started.

“It is!” rasped Greyback. “We’ve caught Potter!”

The Snatchers all took a step back from the boy, looking at each other with awe and celebration. Nico kept his eyes on Harry. He seemed to be . . . twitching a little. As if tiny lightning strikes were zapping his mind every minute.

“ . . . to the Ministry?” Harry said quietly and sounded confused.

“To hell with the Ministry,” growled Greyback, turning to Nico. “They’ll take the credit, and we won’t get a look in. I say we take him straight to You-Know-Who.”

No. Anything but that. Harry had been on Voldemort’s wanted list since he was born, if the rumors from school were true, and Nico himself had seen the brutality that the Dark Lord possessed. What would he do with the boy he had been searching for for eighteen years?

“We can’t summon him here,” Nico deflected.

“No, we can’t,” Greyback agreed. “Which means you’ll have to take us to him.”

Nico scowled. “There’s too many of us.”

Greyback scoffed. “I know you can do voodoo magic, and I know you are incredibly powerful because of it. There would be no other reason the Dark Lord would keep you so close. So don’t lie to me that you can’t carry a dozen people a couple of miles.”

His ratios were very off, there were more than twelve people and the house was many miles away, but he was right. If he could be almost suffocated without food or water for five days after going to hell and a couple hours later take a statue and two companions half way around the world, he could do this.

“Fine.” Nico agreed albeit reluctantly.

“Are we completely sure it’s him?” asked Scabior, twiddling his thumbs. “Cause if it ain’t, di Angelo, we’re dead . . .”

“Actually Scabior,” Nico interrupted, turning to look at the six foot werewolf, “as Greyback has just pointed out, I will not be dead. Whether or not this is the real Harry Potter doesn’t particularly matter to me because, as we’ve already discussed, the Dark Lord likes me around. So, this decision falls entirely on your shoulders, Fenrir.”

Greyback glared at him with such anger it made Nico’s spine chill.

“So,” he asked, keeping his voice steady, “what’s it going to be?”

The man-wolf stepped up right in front of him, only a few inches being left between them. Every muscle in Nico’s body told him to run but he stood his ground stubbornly.

“You might be the Dark lord’s favorite tool now,” he whispered, leaning down so they were face to face. “But don’t forget that I was in that room. I watched your blood drip to the floor and I watched the same happen to your “friends”. When we don’t have your prison mates as a problem anymore, what’s stopping Voldemort from starting it all over again?”

Nico didn’t answer, instead deciding to glare defiantly up at the werewolf. It’s not like he hadn’t thought of it before. Hadn’t expected that to be exactly Voldemort’s plan. He didn’t need Greyback rubbing it in his face.

A triumphant smile curled his lips and Nico was glad there was no full moon to add fangs to the terror of the man.

“We go to Malfoy Manor,” Greyback called to the rest of the group. “We found a Mudblood and a wand already, that’s more than a hundred galleons and if we add in the sword as well . . .”

The sentence didn’t need to be finished for all the scavengers to cheer and start dancing. Nico took a chance in the chaos to look at the five prisoners. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dean, and whoever that goblin was. All of them wore varying degrees of fear and retaliation. All except Harry, whose face had depuffed enough that he could see most of his eyes, that he could see he wasn’t quite all there with them. Spaced out almost but the place where he was was worse than where he sat.

“Alright! Alright!” Fenrir projected, making a calm-down motion with his hands. “Circle up everyone.”

Everyone shuffled together, one Snatcher grabbed the chain with the prisoners attached and all the others holding onto the two people next to them. Silently, Nico walked to a space they had created for him and touched the shoulders of Snatchers on either side. He closed his eyes and imagined the house he got to know all too well over the last year.

With a tug, Nico pulled the group into the shadows. Their weight dragged him down as if he were flying with a house attached to his feet. 

They appeared in the large main room but Nico didn’t even see it before he fell to his knees in exhaustion.

As soon as they were released from the darkness, Nico collapsed onto the floor. Harry had been taken on Apparition trips with Dumbledore and Hermione but whatever Nico did felt different. He could hear voices, muffled gabber, and it felt as though he was literally moving through shadows.

Watching Nico cough on the ground made Harry’s heart seize. He had noticed how sickly he had looked when he first saw him minutes ago. His skin was an impossibly pale olive-white and he was even skinnier than when he had been at Hogwarts.  

When the words about the Dark Lord and Nico’s ties to him had first come up between Nico and Greyback’s argument, Harry had been enraged. He had felt his heart sting with betrayal. But when he looked closer, he could see cracks in the facade the boy had crafted. 

“What is this?” a cold woman’s voice came from the front of the room.

“We’re here to see He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!” rasped Greyback.

Harry watched from behind the Scavengers as Nico slowly rose from the floor.

“Nico,” the woman, Narcissa Malfoy, breathed.

“We have some prisoners,” the boy said.

“We’ve caught Harry Potter!” Greyback exclaimed. He caught Harry’s hair and dragged him into the light.

“I know ‘e’s swollen, ma’am, but it’s ‘im!” piped up the Scavenger named Scabior. “If you look a bit closer, you’ll see ‘is scar. And this ‘ere, see the girl—”

“She has eyes, Scabior,” Nico said coldly. 

It still hadn’t fully hit Harry yet that Nico di Angelo was there. He was alive. Not in America but working for Voldemort, just like he had thought. But why? What happened that made him work for the Dark Lord? What if he had always been working for You-Know-Who? 

The click of heels echoed off the walls of the empty room and through his puffy eyelids Harry saw Narcissa scrutinizing his swollen face.

“Bring them here,” she decided, walking towards a door. “My son, Draco, is home for his Easter holidays. If that is Harry Potter, he will know.”

Something shifted in Nico’s stance and a flash of something crossed his face but Harry couldn’t quite understand since his face was the size of a balloon.

They walked into a dazzling room and even with his eyes almost closed Harry could make out the wide proportions of the room. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, more portraits against the dark purple walls. 

Beside him, Nico breathed in sharply. Two figures rose from chairs in front of an ornate marble fireplace as they were forced in by the Snatchers. There was a slight hesitation to the shorter one’s movements and even with his limited eyesight Harry could tell Nico and the figure were looking at each other.

“What is this?” 

The dreadfully familiar, drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy fell on Harry’s ears. He was panicked now: He could see no way out unless Nico could somehow do something but he hadn’t done anything yet so either there was nothing he could do either or he just didn’t want to. The only upside to his rising terror was that it blocked Voldemort from his head for a few minutes. Although his scar was still searing. 

“They say they’ve got Potter,” Narcissa told him. “Draco, come here.”

Harry didn’t dare look directly at Draco, but saw him obliquely: a figure slightly taller than he was, walking towards him, his face pale and pointed blur beneath white-blonde hair.

Nico ushered Harry under the light lightly and the white-blonde and ravenette made eye contact before Nico stepped back.

“Well, boy?” rasped Greyback.

Nico had never seen true fear in the eyes of anyone other than Will during their journey in Tartarus but Draco’s expression was just a step away from it. He had seen his friend distressed before, many times in fact, when he let his walls down for a minute and showed his true, vulnerable side. This was a whole other level.

They hadn’t talked in months and since then he had become almost disgustingly unhealthy. Extremely pale, unnecessarily skinny, and just a sense of fear that made Nico want to check over his shoulder. It was like looking at a blonde version of his twelve to fifteen-year-old self. 

Draco peered at Harry and every so often flashing his eyes to Nico.

What should I do? His eyes pleaded.

Nico didn’t have an answer.

“Well, Draco?” Lucius Malfoy asked avidly. “Is it? Is it Harry Potter?”

“I —” Draco caught his words and searched blown up Harry’s face.

“I once blew up my aunt,” Harry said as they rounded the corner.

Nico laughed, “like exploded her or . . .”

“No,” Harry shook his head laughing too, “just blew her up like a balloon and she floated away.”

“Harry Potter, you are one of the craziest wizards I have ever met!”

“I can’t — I can’t be sure,” said Draco. His eyes danced around Harry, not looking directly at him, Harry seeming to have the same feeling.

“But look at him carefully, look!” Lucius encouraged. “Come closer!”

Draco stepped hesitantly closer as his father practically bounced up and down.

“Draco, if we are the ones who hand Potter over to the Dark Lord, everything will be forgiv —”

“Now, we won’t be forgetting who actually caught him, I hope, Mr. Malfoy?” said Greyback menacingly. 

“Of course not, of course not!” said Lucius impatiently. He approached Harry himself, came so close that their noses were only inches apart. 

“What did you do to him?” Lucius asked Nico. “How did he get in this state?”

Unlike his Narcissa who practically loved him, Lucius seemed to despise Nico’s very existence. 

“That wasn’t us,” Nico told him evenly. 

“Looks like a Sting’ng Jinx to me,” Scabior added. 

The grey eyes of the elder man turned to rake Harry’s forehead. Nico’s finger twitched with the urge to push him back but he didn't move.

There’s something there,” he whispered, “it could be the scar stretched tight . . . Draco, come here, look properly! What do you think?”

Reluctantly he shuffled to where his father was staring.

“I don’t know,” he said, stepping back towards Nico and away from Harry.

“We had better be certain, Lucius,” Narcissa called to her husband from the fireplace. “Completely sure that it is Potter, before we summon the Dark Lord . . . If we are mistaken, if we call the Dark Lord here for nothing . . . Remember what he did to . . . them.”

Her eyes shifted to Nico and he flinched violently, earning a look from Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dean, and the goblin creature. He had been building up a temporary shield to block the memories while he was here, but it was slipping. 

“What about the Mudblood, then?” growled Fenrir. He swiveled around the prisoners so that Hermione was now in the light.

“Wait,” said Narcissa sharply. “Yes — yes, she was in Madam Malkin’s with Potter! I saw her picture in the Prophet! Look, Draco, isn’t it the Granger girl?”

Draco took another step backwards and Nico shifted the shadows to fall around him protectively unseen.

“I . . . maybe . . .”

“But then, that’s the Weasley boy!” shouted Lucius , striding around the bound prisoners to face Ron, "It's them, Potter’s friends — Draco, look at him, isn’t it Aurthur Weasley’s son, what’s his name —?”

Draco was standing beside Nico now, not looking at the prisoners. “Yeah . . . it — it could be.”

The door slammed open and Nico’s nerves shot through the roof. They didn’t lessen anymore when he saw who it was.

“What is this? What’s happened, Cissy?”

Bellatrix Lestrange walked slowly around the prisoners. She stopped on Harry’s right, staring right at Hermione.

“But surely,” she said quietly, “this is the Mudblood girl? This is Granger?”

“No!” Nico wanted to yell.

“Yes, yes, it’s Granger!” cried Lucius. “And beside her, we think, Potter! Potter and his friends, caught at last!”

The feeling of the shadows pulled Nico closer. His wish to just get out stronger than ever before. But he couldn’t leave Draco. He couldn’t leave Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Dean. He couldn’t leave Luna and Ollivander. And he definitely couldn’t leave Percy and Annabeth. 

“Potter?” shrieked Bellatrix, and she backed away, the better to take in Harry who seemed to be just as fearful of the witch as Nico himself. 

"She also got the necklace from the girl's bathroom," Ron pointed out, mouth half full of scrambled eggs. "It's gotta be that Bellatrix lady."

"Who's that?" Nico asked.

"Crazy witch," Ron said plainly, swallowing his eggs. "Don't mess with her."

Nico noticed Harry clenched his fork tighter at the mention of the witch. He wondered if there was some history or something between them.

 “Are you sure?” she asked rhetorically. “Well then, the Dark Lord must be informed at once!”

She dragged back her left sleeve: revealing the dark mark on her arm. Nico’s own arm twitched at the reminder of his own tattoo. Harry glanced his way at the motion. Discretely he lifted his sleeve ever so slightly to reveal the bottom of the Mark.

“I was about to call him!” Lucius whined like a child, his hand closed around Lestrange’s arm. “I shall summon him, Bella, Potter has been brought to my house, and it is therefore upon my authority—”

“Your authority!” she sneered, attempting to escape his hold which from Nico’s own experience, knew  it wouldn’t work. “You lost your authority when you lost your wand, Lucius! How dare you! Take your hands off me!”

“This is nothing to do with you, you did not capture the boy —”

“Begging your pardon, Mr. Malfoy,” interjected Greyback, “but it’s us that caught Potter —”

The adults kept fighting like parents on the way to divorce. Carefully, Nico positioned himself in front of Draco and his Hogwarts friends. He didn’t even really know what he would do to protect them, he’d been on a shit streak of it lately, but it felt natural. 

“Nicolo.”

A voice from somewhere whispered in his mind. A majestic voice that only came from gods.

“For your quest,” the voice of Hecate spoke in memory. “I need you to find and protect a trio of wizards named Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. They are very important in an upcoming war."

Cold realization curled in Nico’s stomach. Since the beginning, how he even got to that magical world in the first place, was to protect Harry, Ron, and Hermione. That had been his mission, his goal, his quest. Maybe he couldn’t save everyone. Maybe he just had to save the right people . . .

“STOP!” shrieked Bellatrix. 

Nico’s eyes blinked back into the scene. Bellatrix’s hands were free and Lucius was one step away from summoning Voldemort. 

“Do not touch it!” she warned her brother in law. “We shall all perish if the Dark Lord comes now.”

Lucius froze, index finger hovering over his Mark. Bellatrix walked over to one of the Snatchers Nico couldn’t see.

“What is that?” she asked.

“Sword,” the Snatcher replied.

“Give it to me.”

“It was not yourn, missus, it’s mine, I reckon I found it.”

Every muscle in Nico’s body tensed as a bang and a flash of red light came from Lestrange’s wand.

The fellow Snatchers were none too pleased that their comrade had been jinxed. Scabior even drew a sword.

“What d’you think you’re playing at, woman?”

“Stupefy!” Bellatrix screamed. “Stupefy!”

With every bang, flash of light, and Stunned Snatcher, Nico’s hard pushed memories resurfaced.

Bang!

A hole in Jason’s arm.

Bang!

Piper’s screaming.

Bang!

Twenty cuts bleeding from under Frank’s now red shirt.

Nico blinked the tears from his eyes and found Fenrir on his knees before Bellatrix who held the sword in her hand.

“Where did you get this sword?” she whispered to Greyback as she pulled his wand out of his unresisting grip.

“How are you?” he snarled, his mouth the only thing that could move as he was forced to gaze up at her. He bared his pointed teeth. “Release me, woman!”

For some reason a part of Nico wanted to say, “she has a name you know.” It was probably from all the times he’d had to say such similar words when annoying men talked to Piper, Annabeth, and Hazel.

“Where did you find this sword?” she repeated, brandishing it in his face. “Snape sent it to my vault in Gringotts!”

“It was in their tent,” rasped Greyback. “Release me, I say!”

She waved her wand, and the werewolf sprang to his feet, but appeared too wary to approach her. He prowled behind an armchair, his filthy curved nails clutching its back.

“Draco, move the scum outside,” said Bellatrix, indicating to the unconscious men. “If you haven’t got the guts to finish them, then leave them in the courtyard for me.”

Anger bubbled in Nico’s heart. After killing so many monsters in his life, he had developed a stomach for most killing. But he remembered when he had first been in the forest with Will and a monster attacked them. How Will had begged for Nico not to kill him so instead they had it chase them to the border and then crossed it so it was stuck on the other side.

He couldn’t remember which monster it was, all he could remember was how annoyed he was. Annoyed that while Nico had had to make peace with the fact that he was a killer, others could still without the constant guilt.

If Draco couldn’t kill a person, that made him stronger than anyone else in the room. 

“Don’t you dare speak to Draco like — “ said  Narcissa furiously, but Bellatrix screamed.

“Be quiet! The situation is gravier than you can possibly imagine, Cissy! We have a very serious problem!”

The witch looked down at the sword, examining it, before turning to the prisoners.

“If it is indeed Potter, he must not be harmed,” she muttered, more to herself than everyone else. “The Dark Lord wishes to dispose of Potter himself . . . But if he finds out . . . I must . . . I must know . . .”

Suddenly she turned to Nico.

“The prisoners should be placed in the cellar, while I think about what to do!”

“This is my house, Bella,” Narcissa argued. “You don’t give orders in my —”

“Do it! You have no idea of the danger we are in!” shrieked Bellatrix. Nico had never seen her so distressed before. Nico had always assumed her motive had always been to impress Voldemort, but it seemed that even then there was fear in it as well.

Narcissa hesitated a moment, then turned to Nico.

“Take these prisoners down to the cellar, Nico.”

“Wait.” said Bellatrix sharply. “All except  . . . except the Mudblood.”

Nico flinched. His heart battled with his mind. Should he do something? Get them out of there?

“No!” Ron shouted, fighting against his chains. “You can have me, keep me!”

Gods Nico hoped those two had finally admitted their feelings.

Bellatrix raised her hand and without thinking Nico stepped forward and took a blow to his face that echoed around the room.

“What are you doing!” she demanded.

Nico turned back to face her, his cheek feeling raw. “It’s no use hurting them. Save your energy for the  . . . interrogation.”

Somehow that seemed to satisfy the witch.

“If she dies under questioning, I’ll take you next,” she told Ron. “Blood traitor is next to Mudblood in my book. Take them down stairs, di Angelo, and make sure they are secure, but we will do nothing more to them — yet.”

As she took out a knife and cut Hermione off from the other prisoners, Nico started getting everyone in a group to shadow travel to the cellars. 

Chapter Text

They appeared in the darkness of the cellars and immediately the calmness of the shadows kept Nico steady on his unsure feet.

“Nico, let me go!” Ron begged, stretching the ropes that bound him to the other prisoners. “You have to let me go!”

He didn’t answer, instead grabbing the prisoners, pulling them along silently as they made their way towards the cell.

“Nico, release me now!” Ron continued to yell. “They’ll kill her!”

“No! No!” Percy screamed, flailing against Nico and Jason’s grip. “They’re hurting her! Let me go!”

They stopped and Nico took out his key to open the cell. He shuffled them inside, not paying any heed to Ron’s words. He couldn’t release them now. If he did then what would they do after that? Storm in, fight a crazy witch and a werewolf? Just then, as the first scream sounded.

“HERMIONE!” Ron bellowed, pulling the string of prisoners with him towards the bars. “HERMIONE!”

“Hazel!” Frank cried, shaking the bars. “HAZEL!”

“Hey!”

All their heads turned towards the back of the cell and Percy Jackson stepped forward towards the mage light.

“Yelling her name isn’t going to make it any better,” he advised Ron. “I speak from experience.”

The redhead glared defiantly, turning back to the bars “HERMIONE! HERMIONE!”

“Harry?” The soft whisper of Luna Lovegood rippled out from behind where Percy stood. “Ron? Is that you?”

Harry and Dean watched Luna appear next to Annabeth in the half darkness. Both of the girls had messy hair — although Annabeth’s was put up with a dirty hair tie Nico had found from the streets — and all three of the long-time cellmates had bags under their eyes, a small indication of how long they had been sleeping on the ground.

Nico’s eyes didn’t have bags and thanks to the hair brush Draco lended him, his hair wasn’t bad either. A familiar gut twist made his eyes shift so he didn’t meet theirs.

“Who are these people?” Annabeth asked Nico, lacing her hand through Percy’s.

“Percy, Annabeth,” Nico introduced, shuffling his feet on the stone floor, “these are my friends from Hogwarts; Harry, Ron, and Dean. You guys, these are my friends from America, Annabeth and Percy.”

“Who’s the Goblin?” asked Luna.

“That’s Griphook,” Dean answered hoarsely.

“Well, I would say it’s nice to meet you, but under the circumstances . . .” Percy trailed off his greeting.

“We were your friends from Hogwarts,” Ron sneered, turning to look at Nico. “But now that you’re a Death Eater . . .”

Nico flinched back a step, crossing his arms protectively around himself. “Ron, I’m not actually a Death Eater . . .”

“Do you have the Mark?”

“Yes— ”

“Are you working for Voldemort?”

“Well, technically yes but— ”

“Then you’re a Death Eater!”

“Ron!” Harry said sternly. “This isn’t helping. We need to get out of these ropes.”

“Oh! We have something for that!” Luna said helpfully. She turned back away towards the wall; Percy and Annabeth shuffled past the wizards to meet Nico at the bars.

“What’s happening?” Percy asked. His hand that held Annabeth’s was drawn tight and so was his face. “Who is he . . .”

“It’s the witch,” Nico informed them, although that news wouldn’t bring any cheers, “and she has a girl named Hermione—”

As if on cue, a guttural scream echoed from above. All three demigods flinched.

“HERMIONE! HERMIONE!”

“Ron! Stop it!”

“Mr. Ollivander,” Luna’s sweet voice came from the darkness. “Mr. Ollivander, have you got the nail? If you just move over a little bit . . . I think it was beside the water . . .”

Suddenly she stepped out of the darkness, holding a nail out.

“You still have that nail?” Nico asked, referring to the one he had "accidentally" dropped into the cell when she had first arrived.

“Of course,” Luna smiled. Then she turned to Harry, “you’ll need to stay still.”

As Luna cut Harry’s ropes, Nico gave Annabeth and Percy a brief introduction to his Hogwarts friends. After the rounds, he launched into an explanation of how they had all gotten there. At the end of his story, he was glad to see that the couple seemed to grasp how tough the situation was.

“Gods,” Percy breathed when he finished. “I need a dam nap.”

Another scream broke the conversation and this time Ron didn’t yell (due to Dean’s threatening that if he “yelled one more time then he would feed him to a Blast-Ended Skrewts” — whatever that was) and this time, they could hear what Bellatrix was saying.

“I’m going to ask you again! Where did you get this sword? Where?”

“We found it — we found it — PLEASE!” Hermione screamed again; Ron struggled harder than ever.

“Ron, please stay still!” Luna whispered. “I can’t see what I’m doing —”

“Give it here,” Nico sighed. He let himself melt into the darkness and then reappear in the cell.

He didn’t let his eyes wander as he entered the space. He grabbed the nail from Luna's open palm and made sure not to dwell on the thoughts of the last time he was there.

“-I'm sorry, again," Nico apologized and then looked around the room. "To all of you. Especially Annabeth and Reyna."

The two girls shifted in their stances but Nico's eyes went to his sister's first.

"I promise I'll be back," he said, then turned back to Will. "I promise."

Nico got to work, making much more progress with his child-of-Hades-night-vision powers.

“Wait!” Ron exclaimed suddenly. “My pocket! In my pocket, there’s a Deluminator, and it’s full of light!”

With permission, Percy dug into Ron’s pockets before he pulled out some kind of weird cigarette lighter thing. Keeping himself focused on the task at hand, Nico didn’t watch how but a few seconds later, little balls of light flew up into the room.

The last snap of Harry’s rope signaled his freedom and the boy rubbed his wrists, turned back to face Nico, “thank you.”

Nico just nodded and turned to Ron.

“Oh, that will be much easier, thanks, Ron,” said Luna, looking around. “Hello, Dean!”

From above came Bellatrix’s voice.

“You are lying, you filthy Mudblood, and I know it! You have been inside my vault at Gringotts! Tell the truth, tell the truth!”

Another terrible scream froze Nico mid hack.

“Jason!”

“HERMIONE!”

“What else did you take? What else have you got? Tell me the truth or, I swear, I shall run you through with this knife!”

“Luna!” Nico turned to the white haired girl and shoved the nail back into her hands. “Keep working.”

“What about you?” she asked.

“Nico,” Annabeth started carefully. “What are you planning?”

He didn’t answer. There was no time. Gods, there was never enough time. Not then, not before. How had he not appreciated every second of everyday until now? Every moment he had just lay with Will in bed or went walking with Hazel or was dragged into another dumb prank by Leo and Connor. What he wouldn’t give for a moment like that now.

Using shadow travel, Nico escaped from the room, floating himself to the one above. His hand raised automatically and he found his hand catching a wrist. The shadows dissipated and Nico found himself in between Hermione and Bellatrix, holding the latter’s wrist that held a knife mid swing.

“Nico di Angelo,” she hissed.

“I won’t let you kill her,” Nico said, gripping the wrist more tightly. “I will not let you torture any more of my friends.”

He twisted his hand, forcing her arm to turn an odd angle. Letting her confusion be used as a moment of weakness, he kicked his foot into her stomach and pulled to dislodge the knife as she fell to the floor.

“You devil child,” she cursed from the ground, looking at him with deranged eyes. “YOU DO NOT HURT ME!”

She scrambled to her feet and took out her wand. Nico side-stepped in front of where Hermione sat in a chair. Her eyes were wide with her mouth agape. The chair looked weathered and torn. Chipped wood and dark blood stains. It could have been the same one Nico had sat in, he could have remembered it, except that he was using every spare energy to block those memories..

Nico looked up at Voldemort defiantly. "Like I said, you can't break me."

Voldemort gave him a chilling smile. "Maybe magic won't, child, but I have other modes of torture for you."

A spell shot from Bella’s wand and Nico turned to deflect it with the blade. She shot again and again, trying different angles, making him move as if he were a puppet on her strings. As he shifted to block the shot of a green spell, he saw, out of the corner of his eye, a red one flying towards Hermione.

Shifting himself too quickly to get back to her, his legs struggled to keep themselves underneath him. His leg caught on the back of his other calf, knocking him off balance and sending him falling as he blocked the shot. The spell sent him flying backward until his back hit the wall and he slid down to hit the floor on his side. His mouth opened as he gasped for air but all that came was a coughing fit.

“Don’t try to breathe in all at once,” Will’s voice whispered in his mind. They had just been checking on a patient when the kid kicked out and nailed Nico in the gut. The wind had left him and being the child prodigy of a doctor he was, he started telling Nico what to do.

“Flatten your back, don’t lay on your stomach, and breathe slowly. You’re going to feel like you’re still suffocating but you're returning your body to its natural rhythm.”

“What else did you take!” Bellatrix demanded as Nico pushed himself up. “ANSWER ME! CRUCIO!”

“NO!”

Adrenaline pumped Nico’s veins and he moved with speed he didn’t know he had until he was in front of Hermione and the shot blasted his chest.

“NICO!”

A scream erupted out of Nico’s mouth. He didn’t feel the sting of the aftershock of the spell, or the floor as he surely had fallen by now. All that he could sense, all that he could see was the fear, anger, and guilt he had kept carefully lidded for the past year.His energy was lost in a torrent of pain and emotion, taking him on a tour of his most recent memories. Everything he had been suffocating uncapped and released with a scream of rage. His body hurt, his heart hurt, his brain hurt. He didn’t want to hurt anymore. He wanted to melt into the pain, let it consume him and ride that wave downstream until he never had to worry about anything ever again.

“Nico.”

He wanted to give up. Let Bellatrix do what she wanted. He just wanted to let go.

“Nico.”

He didn’t want to hear their screams anymore. Didn’t want to see their bruises or their cuts because they were all his fault. It was all his fault.

“Nicolo.”

A voice. Sweet and patient. A woman’s voice that couldn’t have come from the chaos of outside.

“You have to save them, Nico.”

That voice. He hadn’t heard that voice in seven years.

In the darkness, walking towards him, was a person. She was a pretty girl, long, dark brown hair that matched her eyes. She wore a simple brown sweater and a familiar, floppy, green hat.

“You have to save them, Nicolo,” Bianca told him. She knelt before him, cupping his face and looking directly into his eyes. “Save them because you couldn’t save me.”

A scream reached his ears from a distance, but it wasn’t just Hermione’s voice he heard. It was Bianca’s and his mother’s. Daedalus’, Castor’s, and Lee’s. Beckandorf, Silena, and all the people he had failed to save. All the ones who had died and he could do nothing about it.

“It’s hard, you know,” Percy said, looking at his feet as they dangled from the fire escape. “Knowing that every one of their deaths is partly on your hands, just because you were chosen to survive and they weren’t.”

They were right. They had all died in part because of Nico. They had been destined to die in a prophecy where he was destined to live. But this wasn’t a prophecy. There was no plan. All this time he had been waiting for the moment. The part in every quest that guided them into the next step. But that wasn’t how he’d gotten there. It was a prophecy that led him to free almost all of his friends. He had taken action. Chosen to stop waiting for it to be the “perfect” time and just do something. He had spent the last year thinking and strategizing. Now was the time to act.

Pebbles dented his skin as Nico tapped his finger on the ground. His eyes fluttered and his toes tucked under him. Without waiting to look at his surroundings, waiting to see if standing was the “right” thing, he pushed himself to his feet and turned to face Bellatrix Lestrange. dropping the knife at his side.

“Shadow Wizard,” Bellatrix hissed, pointing her wand at him again.

She stood where she had before, seeming to not have moved however long Nico had been laying there. With a quick glance behind him, he saw Hermione was still in the chair, shaken but alive. Then to his right he saw Draco standing with the goblin prisoner. Malfoy’s face was cold and blocked and he was too far away from Nico to see what was swirling in his eyes.

“Hit me all you want,” Nico told the witch breathlessly, turning his full attention to her. “I will not let you hurt her.”

With a bellow of rage, Bellatrix shot him again, but this time Nico didn’t go down. He sent fractions of his mind to each shadow and as he blocked the spell, he was also watching for Bella’s next move and preparing to parry again.

They dance for a minute, Bellatrix shooting and Nico quickly deflecting and repositioning himself with much more ease. As they fought, Bella’s attention slowed. As did her pace. When she went to take another step, Nico seized the shadow under her feet and she tumbled to the ground, rolling over to Draco and Griphook.

“Fine!” she said, standing and turning her anger towards the goblin. “Well, is it the true sword?” She gestured to the sword that lay in his hands.

“Nico,” Hermione’s voice whispered behind him. “Are you okay?”

“Never better,” Nico replied, repositioning himself in front of her again. As he moved, his eyes caught on a movement in the corner of the room. His breath caught in his throat. He almost gave them away by staring.

Ron and Harry were peeking in on the scene from behind the door to the room, and if they were out that meant . . .

The heads of Percy and Annabeth joined with the others. The sight made tears pool under his eyes. Something lifted in his gut. His heart lightened. For the first time since he stepped foot inside the mansion, he was — hopeful. Here they were, all in the same room, unchained. Maybe today was the day they could finally leave. Annabeth and Percy could see the sky again.

“No,” the goblin responded. “It is a fake.”

“Are you sure?” panted Bellatrix. “Quite sure?”

“Yes,” said the goblin.

Nico risked another glance at the group. Harry seemed to relax at the news of the fake sword. Ron’s eyes stared through him to Hermione. Gods he hoped they were a couple now.

“Good,” the witch said with obvious relief. She casually flicked her wand and a slash appeared on the goblin’s face, making him yell and drop to the ground. She kicked him away. “And now,” she declared in a voice practically bursting with triumph, “we call the Dark Lord!”

If it were possible, Nico’s blood would have frozen with the chill that sank down his spine. Not now. Not when they were so close.

Using all the courage left inside him, Nico jumped at her and wrapped his legs around her waist. He locked his arms to her neck and flung his bodyweight forward so they fell. Bellatrix screamed and caught herself only for a second before Nico’s body weight forced them straight to the ground.

“I always knew you would turn against us!” Bellatrix sneered as she turned under him. “You would never be a true Death Eater!”

“I never wanted to be!” Nico snapped back.

He adjusted himself so his knees dug into her arms. She squirmed but Nico now had the upper hand. With that confidence, Nico leaned in closer and whispered to her.

“I know you were jealous of me,” he told her and the anger on her face confirmed his suspicions. “You hated how much the Dark Lord liked me. How much he wanted me around. Practically begged me to be a Death Eater. To be his right hand man —”

Bellatrix screamed with so much anger it would make a Hellhound fearful. Without Nico noticing, her leg came up and turned them to the side. He hit the ground hard and he could feel the air leave him again. Before he could regain control, a hit to his stomach sent him barreling into the wall.

The world blurred and swirled as oxygen left Nico's brain. His stomach ached as it worked tirelessly to keep him alive and breathing. His ears rang but somewhere in the grey buzz came the sound of a scream.

Bellatrix’s laugh came clear as Nico’s breath reassembled, “finally! He comes! Ah, let’s wrap this up shall we?”

He blinked and gripped his fingers into the floor to keep himself grounded. Bellatrix stood watching the room, unaware yet of the escaped prisoners. Draco stood frozen a few feet away from the goblin still kneeling. Hermione lay on the ground, out of the chair, hair splayed out and chest moving weakly.

“We’ll put the goblin back down,” Bella continued, “grab Potter from the dungeon, and I think we can dispose of the Mudblood. Greyback, take her if you want her.”

No.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Ron Weasley burst into the room; Bellatrix spun around; she turned her wand to face Ron instead —

“Expelliarmus!” he roared, pointing a wand at Bellarix, and hers flew into the air and was caught by Harry Potter, who had sprinted after Ron. Dean and Luna ran towards Hermione and footsteps came up beside Nico.

“Neeks,” Percy’s voice shook as he bent down next to him and threw one of Nico’s arms around his shoulder.

“I’m — fine —” Nico insisted.

“When are you going to learn self preservation?” Annabeth asked, mirroring Percy so Nico could stand with them.

“Maybe when Percy learns to respect the gods,” Nico replied.

“I respect the gods,” Percy argued. “Just not the douche bags.”

“STOP OR SHE DIES!”

Percy, Annabeth, and Nico’s heads all whipped towards Bellatrix’s voice. She supported Hermione, who was unconscious, and was holding her short silver knife to Hermione’s throat.

The knife dug deeper into his neck, cracking his skin and drawing blood.

"You will release them,"Nico demanded.

"How will I know you won't leave as soon as they've all left?"

"You have my word."

"Nico, stop!"

Annabeth’s body tensed on his right and guilt flipped Nico’s stomach.

“Drop your wands,” Bellatrix whispered. “Drop them, or we’ll see exactly how filthy her blood is!”

Ron stood rigid, clutching his wand. Harry straightened, holding Bellatrix’s.

“I said drop them!” she screeched, pressing the blade into her throat and Nico’s own seized.

His eyes flicked to Annabeth and she looked back at him. The same awful memory penetrating the borders of their minds.

“All right!” Harry shouted, and he dropped Bellatrix’s wand onto the floor at his feet. Ron did the same. Both raised their hands to shoulder height.

“Good!” she leered. “Draco, pick them up! The Dark Lord is coming, Harry Potter! Your death approaches!”

Draco’s eyes clung to Nico’s, but he could not give the boy any advice on what to do next. He knew she wasn’t bluffing. He was surprised that Voldemort wasn’t there already. He knew that the wizards had their own teleportation powers like his shadow travel, maybe like his powers theirs had limitations as well. But whatever those limitations were, they wouldn’t keep him for long. Sooner or later he would be back; and the torture would comence anew.

Maybe he should leave now. Get Annabeth and Percy out of there now. It would give him the element of surprise to appear closer to her and rescue Hermione. If Bellatrix decided to keep her alive after he left.

“Now,” Bellatrix said softly, as Draco hurried back to her with the wands, “Cissy, I think we ought to tie these little heroes up again, while Greyback takes care of Miss Mudblood. I am sure the Dark Lord will not begrudge you the girl, Greyback, after what you have done tonight.”

At the last word there was a peculiar grinding noise from above. All of them looked upward in time to see the crystal chandelier tremble; then, with a creak and an ominous jingling, it began to fall. Bellatrix was directly beneath it; dropping Hermione, she threw herself aside with a scream. The chandelier crashed to the floor in an explosion of crystal and chains, falling on top of Hermione and the goblin, who still clutched the sword.

Nico slipped his arm from Percy’s back and threw it at the surrounding shadows to the two helpless people about to be crushed. The black tendrils wrapped around the two and pulled them just far enough not to be completely toppled but not far enough from the explosion of the impact. Glittering shards of crystal flew in all directions: Draco doubled over, his hands covering his bloody face.

The four wizards leapt into action. Annabeth was pulled down as Nico’s legs buckled from the backlash of energy.

“Dobby!” Narcissa’s voice made even Bellatrix freeze. “You! You dropped the chandelier — ?”

A tiny, skinny, elf creature trotted into the room to Harry’s side, shaking a finger at the Malfoy.

“You must not hurt Harry Potter,” he squeaked.

“Kill him, Cissy!” shrieked Bellatrix, but another loud crack and Narcissa’s wand flew into the air and landed on the other side of the room.

“You dirty little animal!” bawled Bellatrix. “How dare you take a witch’s wand, how dare you defy your masters?”

“Dobby has no master!” the elf, Dobby, squealed. “Dobby is a free elf, and Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends!”

“Nico!” Harry’s voice spurred energy into Nico’s heart as he locked eyes with him. Somehow, he knew exactly what to do, without even a word being spoken between them.

With an alarming amount of energy — or adrenaline — Nico let go of Percy and Annabeth and instead grabbed both of their hands, pulling them towards Harry and the elf.

“Ron, catch —” Harry called to his best friend, throwing him a wand as Nico approached, “and GO!”

The few seconds after that was like minutes to Nico. He saw Ron raise his wand ready to cast a spell while holding Hermione and with Luna and Dean holding onto his arms. Harry crouched down and grabbed the goblin that lay on the ground. Bellatrix threw something sharp and glistening into the air right towards them.

It hit him just then. They were about to make it. They would make it out alive. All of them.

Just then his eyes locked with Draco. His eyes were a tornado of fear and relief. He saw it too. Saw that Nico was going to be gone. For some reason a year didn’t seem so long anymore. Not compared to multiple years of the same terror and fear. The constant on edge feeling. Nothing actually happened, but the promise of it after one slip up.

He wanted to reach out, to take him with them. He and Harry could work out their problems and Draco would join them in whatever was next. But that was a fantasy. Even if they could get close enough to touch, Draco was tethered to the Death Eaters now. He couldn’t escape until Voldemort and his followers were destroyed.

The world spun and Nico was being sucked through an invisible, large straw. He gripped harder on where his hand made contact with Harry’s shoulder. It didn’t feel like shadow travel. No comfort of familiar yearning voices. Just a blurring of the world and air somehow all around him and being squeezed out of him at the same time.

Suddenly they hit solid earth and salty air hit Nico’s nose. He let go of Harry and fell on his hands and knees. By the sounds of falling bodies behind him, Percy and Annabeth had landed in a similar fashion.

He snapped his head around, making sure that it truly was his friends and not two Death Eaters. The blonde daughter of Athena was already dusting off her limbs and shakily standing, and the green eyed son of Posieden coughed into his elbow pocket.

Relief filled every ounce of Nico’s being as he watched them. Then he turned to focus on their surroundings. They were on a beach. Waves crashing on the shore and a cozy looking house a little ways away.

They were out. They were free.

“DOBBY!”

Nico jumped and turned around. The elf creature that had used magic without a wand swayed on his feet as he looked down at the silver knife protruding from the elf’s heaving chest.

“Dobby — no — HELP!” Harry bellowed towards the cottage on the beach where little movements of people were. “HELP!”

Nico had always been able to tell when someone he loved died. It had been an interesting side effect of being a son of Hades. But along with that he had gotten pretty good at recognizing when a person in front of him was dying. That could also just be because of his doctor boyfriend and the amount of times he had seen it happen at this point.

Harry reached forward and caught the elf, setting him down on the grass. Nico wanted to stand up, to comfort his friend, but a sudden wave of weariness overcame him. Without meaning to, Nico fell forward, only just catching himself enough so that he could be softly lowered to the ground before closing his eyes. He had exerted too much for the moment. He needed a nap. And a KitKat.