…...

Nico clung to his aviator jacket and desperately tried to pull it down to cover his scarred arms. Then, he gave the ghosts who assisted him a curt nod and told them that hades would hear of their help.

"Spirits, my father will hear of this good deed. You shall be rewarded. Do not fear, for i will not send you to the underworld just yet." The ghosts nodded gratefully and rushed off to their respective houses. Harry gave him a confused look which he ignored. Nico spared harry a glance.

Harry had emerald-green eyes and tufts of black hair sticking out at all angles. He looked scarily similar to Percy. Nico shrugged off the thought; he had gotten over Percy and was now dating a certain son of Apollo, who he would not admit was Will.

"The dining hall's this way." harry pointed to a place towards north. Nico suppressed a gasp that threatened to spill. The dining hall was a work of art, gorgeous and downright exquisite. The hall had a high ceiling and was the same weather as outside the school. Little pieces of gold paper were dancing on the passing wind and the lights gave off a warm and cosy atmosphere. Placed in neat horizontal rows were four long benches and tables, each seating about a hundred students. The place was decorated with many rare gems and diamonds, all of which nico could recognise being the son of the lord of riches.

All the students turned their heads in nico and harry's direction. Several girls sighed dreamily at nico's physique while some fanned themselves furiously. A few rested their chins on their hands and fluttered their eyelashes seductively. Nico looked at them with confusion and disgust. The homosexuality in him could not find a possible reason for a girl to find him hot. Nico's type of 'hot' for a boy was someone who looked cute and looked like...Will. Nico turned red at the thought.

"Did i just think that?" he muttered incredulously.

"Think what?" Harry asked. Nico turned redder and blushed. "Uh...nothing?" he answered, then changed the subject swiftly.

"What are we doing here?"

"You're going to be sorted into one of the four houses-Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Gryffindor is for the brave and courageous, Slytherin for the cunning, Ravenclaw for the intelligent and Hufflepuff for the loyal." nico nodded, letting the information sink in slowly.

"Oh and the thing sorting you would be a talking hat. Not the talk-out-loud kinda conversation but like the im-in-your-head kind, you understand?" nico acknowledged that with a slight nod again. Although it was not every day that he met a thought-reading hat, he had met much weirder stuff before. He decided that being surprised about this was just silly after meeting some dragon that is able to self-combust and has an owner that constantly sets himself on fire. Yep, a talking hat was...normal.

A voice interrupted his train of thoughts. "It seems like we have a new student here. What is your name?" nico stood up straighter, causing some fourth years to giggle femininely. "Nico di Angelo, professor."

"Where are you from, wizard?" nico pondered over this for a moment. Was he from camp half-blood, Long Island...camp jupiter, new rome or Italy or maybe Kyoto? Did he belong to any of them? He guessed not...but what else could he say? "Professor, are you asking where i came from when i arrived or where im born or where i usually am?"

Professor Trelawney, whose voice had interrupted his thoughts, frowned. "Does it make a difference young man?" nico sighed. "Im not young professor and yes it makes a huge difference. I came from kyoto when i arrived, im born in Italy and i am usually either at new rome or long island." Professor Trelawney's frown deepened an inch.

"Do you mean to say that you are old? Please do show your elders some respect boy." The professor snarled at the last word and spat it out as if it was some expired candy. "Yes indeed i am old and i am most possibly older than you. I am going to be 85 at the end of the year so if anything, i am your elder." Professor Trelawney scowled but did not retort. The boy seemed truthful enough and he could not find any rational reason for him to lie unless had lost his marbles and gone bonkers...which did not seem likely at all.

Nico sighed and walked up to where the sorting hat was and put it on, knowing that he was expected to. He kept his eyes open and studied everyone around him. At the Slytherin table, he saw the notorious Draco Malfoy. He had a head of light blond-ish hair and he was relatively pale, though nowhere as near as Nico. Nico was, safe to say, in a league of his own when it came down to skin tone.

"Well hello there." nico frowned slightly and put up his mental barriers.

"What do you want?"

"I want to see your true personality and i need to go through your memories to know it."

"Well, do what you want. Just know that some memories are out-of-bounds so you will not be able to access them."

"Are you sure you can do that? It requires a high level of skill in the field of occlumency and great knowledge in the field of legilimency. From what i can tell though, you are not a wizard."

Nico acknowledged the unspoken question. "Yes, i am not a wizard and i did not know about this world before coming here. I am a demigod, son of Hades, Ruler of the underworld, Lord of wealth and riches, skeletons stuff bla bla bla…"

"Right… for your information, no one at Hogwarts know of demigods' existence and it would be best not to go around telling others about your true identity. Nobody knows, not even professor dumbledore, the headmaster...whatever. Now show me your memories, young demigod, and this will be over in a few seconds maximum."

"Why does everybody say im young?! Im going to be 85 soon for hades sake."

"Whatever. I dont really care. I can find out that for myself if you put down your mental barriers so do it."

Nico smirked at the irritated voice. "Make me."

"My pleasure." it was a mistake. The sorting hat tried and tried again in vain. Nico had gone through so much that this 'high skill in the field of occlumency' whatnot shit was nothing hard at all.

The hat huffed. "It seems i have underestimated you and your level of skill, nico."

Nico was indifferent. "Yea you have."

"So could you just PLEASE put down your mental barriers?"

Nico studied his fingers as though they were extremely interesting. "Same line, hat: make me."

"Dont be stubborn. Look around you, everyone is waiting for you to be done so that they can leave." Nico looked around where people were staring at him, some had zoned out, some were looking towards him intently. He became self conscious and tugged for the second time at his jacket sleeves. "Correct me if im wrong but im pretty sure majority are just checking me out."

The hat let out an exasperated sigh. "Sure, whatever. What is it that you cant show me though? It's not like i can or will reveal anything to anyone. Im a hat."

There was silence between the two for a few seconds. "I dont think you can take it. In all your years of sorting, i can bet a thousand drachmas that you have NEVER encountered memories like mine."

"You sure? I mean, harry has some pretty weirdass shit memories too you know-"

"Yes i am sure."

"Show me and i'll prove you wrong."

Nico smirks. "You can't." nico took a deep breath and closed his eyes for the first time since the sorting started. He concentrated and slowly, layer by layer, his mental barriers fell apart. Memories of percy and eros were up first.

'Tell them the true reason why you're here!'

'I...i like percy.'

Next up was bianca.

'You must listen to me. Holding a grudge is dangerous for a child of Hades. It is our fatal flaw.'

'You promised you would protect her!'

'We've got no one but each other.'

At this point, nico his hands were lifted towards the rapidly clouding sky. He was ablaze with both ghost and hellfire. His eyes were still shut but if one looked closely enough, they could see tears forming at the corners of his eyes.

Next up, the two wars.

'Begone.'

'You should have died for your crimes.'

'My son here has convinced me that perhaps i should prioritize my list of enemies'

Then finally, the burden-tartarus.

Scenes from tartarus flashed before his eyes and he fought back his urge to unsheath his blade. The hat cried out in fright and screamed. All the students turned to look at him. It was a sight to behold. Nico's hair was flaming and his now open eyes gleamed with anguish and malice. Hellfire danced on his fingertips and his mouth curled into a sneer.

"Do you know what i mean now hat?! Do you understand what i've gone through?! Do you really think that His memories are anything compared to mine? Every night i go to sleep, these wretched memories come to haunt me, and yet there you are, nonchalantly prodding through my memories! If not for what my dead sister reminded me, you would MOST CERTAINLY be in the same position as Bryce Lawrence now!"

The shadows in the room flickered and the temperature dropped noticably. Nico sent a tremor of anguish through the silent crowd and people fell to the floor, crying hysterically. He gave the few standing people a death glare and they turned away. Harry himself was on the floor with tears streaming down his cheeks. Now satisfied, nico readjusted his attire and glanced at the shaken crowd. He turned wearily to the headmaster and gave him a deadpan look.

"Sorry...let me undo that...wait a sec…" nico squeezed his eyes shut and reached towards the crowd, his arms wide open. He concentrated and slowly, he sucked the darkness he had sent them back to him. The darkness embraced their owner and hit him with a bang. Nico stumbled backwards a few steps from the impact but continued the ritual. The shadows returned to their original position and the temperature was normal again. Nico was now a sickly shade of green but managed to stay on his feet.

"Have you decided what my house is now, hat?" nico hissed at the last word and harry cringed. In nico's voice was a sliver of regret but was laced with coldness. The hat gulped and said,

"Experienced one...you...you belong in gryffindor." it choked out the last word. Nico was right; it had never come across such dreadful memories. All this while, it had thought that harry's memories were the limit but now, it wasnt so sure anymore. After this particular sorting, nothing seemed impossible.

The hat sent a message through his mind. "You were right...how did you manage to go through all that...alone?"

Nico shrugged inwardly. How did he do it? He wasnt too sure himself.

"All who entered left insane, if they even left at all, that is, with the exception of you."

Nico frowned. "Percy and annabeth too...i'm not special. Percy is brave, strong and resilient with a girlfriend equally courageous-"

"But they were together; you were alone. You are brave and strong too you know."

"Are you dumb or dumb hat? Im NOT strong enough! Havent you seen from the memories? What i do when i panic? I cut! That's NOT what someone who's strong would do...also, cant you tell? I've got some eating disorder! I cant f****** eat more than a few crumbs of food each meal. If i do, it all just comes back out! Sure...im totally strong and brave!"

"Just shut the f*** up nico. It was a tough choice for me you know, to choose what house for you to be in. You're intelligent, cunning, kind and brave! I have not had such a tough challenge ever. Wait, you are staying at Hogwarts right?"

"Eh...i guess? Since i am already here...anyways, both camps dont give a shit about my whereabouts."

"They do...even if you dont realise it. Here, let me show you…" the hat sent an image of camp half-blood.

Will was running around, panicking and asking if anyone had seen him. Percy and jason were bickering about what could've possibly driven nico away. Annabeth, piper and reyna were sitting in a circle, discussing where nico could be. Hazel, frank, leo and calypso were shadow-travelling around the globe in search of him and tyson was at a far end of the camp, trying to locate nico's scent, but to no avail.

"See? How could you say that? Your friends are all so worried…"

"'kay fine! I'll contact them later. Now GET OUT OF MY HEAD." after that, there was silence in his mind. Nico looked around. People were gaping openly at him and despite the incident, some girls were still blatantly trying to get his attention. He made his way towards the gryffindor table and immediately, everyone gave him a wide berth. Nico facepalmed internally. Had there been no better time to break down in private rather than in front of a whole school? He sighed and stared at the full plate in front of him. He knew he could not finish it at all. He scraped off 99% of the food off his plate and muttered a prayer to his father. Then, he stood up and proclaimed that he was done with his meal. The whole school just gave him an incredulous look and he excused himself from the situation.
_

That night, after everyone had returned to their dormitories to retire for the night, nico still lay awake. He was mulling over the day's events when he remembered something. Getting up from his bed, he took his torchlight and made his way to the washroom.

Nico turned on the hose and a fountain of water escaped the tip. He then switched on the torchlight and positioned the hose such that a rainbow was formed. Nico sighed and shadow-travelled a drachma from his backpack, which he had summoned from camp half-blood to his bed before, and tossed it into the self-made rainbow with yet another sigh.

"Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, show me Will Solace, camp half-blood."