Okay, so I'm trying everything I can think of to get rid of that pesky spacing problem. This chapter is double spaced, so maybe that will help. I also know how short the chapters are, but that's more of a problem with the story only being so long. Not exactly my best work, but the sequel is set to be way longer. This only totals to about 29 pages, so if the chapters were longer, the story will have to be shorter. Not really anything interesting here, I didn't go into too much detail about what happens in this eventful chapter.

Previously: He took notice of the room, green with five four-poster beds, four of them occupied with the curtains drawn, and the fifth ready for him. The remainder of the room was a dark mass of black shapes, and he fell asleep without really caring what the rest of it looked like.

The words to describe the difference of night and day are few and poor, but rest assured that they are great. The crisp light of the morning gave color where there had been none, and a skylight where darkness had been. There was an old-fashioned cook stove in the corner, radiating heat that was welcome, as the walls were stone that seemed to sap the warmth from the room. The black shapes that had risen from the floor when Nico had entered last night were now detailed. The bedspread was patterned, something that had been lost in the darkness. Nico took a moment to appreciate the differences before getting up to see that the rest of the curtains were still drawn around the beds. He checked his watch, but remembered that he had forgotten to set it properly and therefore had no idea what time it was. The light coming in from skylight suggested any time between six and nine, as it was white and foggy outside. He contemplated getting back in bed, but he was never really one to go back to sleep once he was awake. It was a perfect time to go exploring, he reasoned, if the castle was asleep and he was alone. So, dressing silently, he slipped out the door and into the common room, then past the concealed entry and down the hallway. He twisted the ring on his finger, drawing comfort from the silver. The sword would need to stay hidden, but knowing it was there gave him some small comfort. Of course, he wasn't accounting for the blades at his waist and up his sleeves and just about everywhere else concealable. Those were small; knives, daggers, meant for intimidation and minor wounds should the need arise. His sword was a weapon for severing souls from bodies. A blade for killing.

He entered the main hall and made quickly for his last point of study; before a sudden snippet of last night's conversation returned to him.

The third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds, was what Dumbledore had said, and for a second Nico couldn't quite believe it. Had Dumbledore really told him exactly where the object of his search was? There was no harm in trying, so Nico carefully walked up the twisting, moving staircases until he reached the third floor. He could have shadow traveled, but the portraits had eyes, and he didn't need anybody knowing about his abilities just yet. So, after taking the conventional route, he methodically studied the third floor corridor. This didn't take very long, as there were only two doors, and one of them was locked. Deciding to start with the obvious, he slipped a knife between the door and the wall and felt for the bolt. He had picked up a few things from the Hermes Cabin, and in a few seconds the door swung open. At first, Nico had difficulty believing what he was seeing. Not because it was a terrific sight, he had seen it many times before, but never had he imagined that this particular monster would crop up here, of all places. How… ironic. Anybody else would have been frightened off, but Nico was a child of Hades, and the dog was a child of Cerberus. Really, it was only a puppy, but it seemed to mistrust him. Clearly trained well to guard the trapdoor at it feet, the tree heads sniffed him thoroughly before all of its ears perked up. Nico knew why: he smelled like home. The dog was now thrilled, and, tongues lolling out, gave an excited whimper and wagged its tail. Nico smiled; there was something about a happy dog that just cheers people up. Of course, he would need to get through that trapdoor. The dog could not have been the only obstacle, he reasoned, but now was not the time. He closed the door behind him, much to the puppy's dismay. Nico had spent about an hour finding and examining the room, and now the castle had woken and its inhabitants were moving around. Nico quickly went back the way he had come and joined the crowd of students on their way to breakfast.

For the next few days Nico was busy enough blending in that he hadn't revisited the puppy on the third floor. His classes were boring, and since he couldn't openly talk to Draco, he had to sit through them in silence. However, the ones he shared with the Gryffindors were more amusing. More than once it nearly came to blows between Draco and Harry Potter, and Nico found this to be highly entertaining. Draco was really better at the insults than he ought to be; though, Nico reasoned, he had had enough practice with the Ares campers last August. Potions was definitely interesting as the professor tormented Harry about not having solid knowledge of the course. Nico was terrible at making potions; it really wasn't his thing. He knew that it had something to do with bloodlines, but he couldn't figure out who the goddess of cooking was, so he sort of pretended to make the potion without really touching anything. He was lucky that Neville's cauldron blew up when it did, because Snape was about to check on his nonexistent potion. He managed to get by without doing the work, and he left the class quickly. Other than that, the classes were fairly simple; all he had to do was manipulate the mist and convince the teachers that he was actually performing the spells. He cut the one class taught by the ghost, and had been for the most part avoiding ghosts ever since his one encounter with the Slytherin ghost. That was an explanation he'd rather not have to give. The next Monday Nico was greeted by a particularly unpleasant bit of news; flying lessons would start on Thursday. He met Draco's eye for a moment as they had a second of privacy at the notice board. It was fine for Draco, his father flew every day, and flying for him was like second nature. Nico's father, on the other hand, was more the stay-on-the-ground type. And there was no chance that Nico would go into the air, under any circumstances.

Tuesday and Wednesday passed by much too quickly for Nico's liking, and when he reached the location of the flying lesson, he felt his stomach drop. The broomsticks lay on the ground, twenty of them, and Nico knew that they meant trouble. The Gryffindors arrived shortly after, and Nico noticed Neville looking very pale and shaky. Flying really wasn't his thing, either. The two groups mingled for a minute, and Nico and Neville stood near the back. Nico murmured to Neville out of the side of his mouth.

"Do you have a plan?" he asked, and Neville nodded.

"Get it over with fast," he muttered, "I'm going to start before everyone, fall, and hopefully be injured enough to get out of it for the rest of the time."

Nico nodded. If he were lucky, Neville would be enough of a distraction for the teacher to get him out of flying. However, there then grew another problem. As the teacher told them to mount their brooms, Nico couldn't force himself to do it. He had already been in a boat, and he seemed rather close to doing the second thing on his things-I-never-want-to-do list. A Madame Hooch, the teacher, came up to ask him why he wouldn't get on his broom, Nico caught Neville's eye and sent him a pleading look. Neville, his face ashen, seemed to set his jaw and he kicked off into the air. The teacher was adequately distracted, and Neville ended up with a broken wrist. Nico was relieved, but he knew Draco would do anything to get into the air now that it seemed he wouldn't get the chance after all. Sure enough, soon both he and Harry were hovering above their heads, Harry as natural on the broomstick as Draco. Nico watched as the object of their argument, a glass ball, soared through the air and Harry dove to catch it. Nico sent up a brief prayer that he wasn't in the air and watched as, while everyone else had their eyes on Harry, Draco used the distraction to do loops and flips, grinning wildly. In all the excitement of the catch, and McGonagall coming and taking Harry, nobody noticed Draco speeding around near the tops of the trees. He landed quietly, hair windswept, looking as though he had had the time of his life. Nico rolled his eyes, but didn't comment. The teacher was coming back, and Nico quickly slipped away lest she attempt to finish the lesson. He was back in the castle, reveling in his solitude, and he decided to use the rest of free period to go back and see the dog again. The puppy was more than happy to see him, but Nico could only give it his attention for a minute. He then pulled open the trapdoor and looked into the gloom. He had good vision in the dark, but this was too black for him to see. He scowled, and then ran a quick experiment. He could shadow travel in and out of the room, so he shrugged, held his breath, and jumped. After a long fall, he landed on some soft, squishy substance. Which immediately tried to strangle him. Tentacles wrapped around his legs and arms, and he realized that it was a plant. As the creeping feelers started to wrap their way around his neck, he melted into the shadows and in a moment was back with the puppy. That plant… Nico knew he had seen it before, but where? He tried to find the memory, but couldn't get a hold on it. He left the puppy whining for play behind him, and casually joined the rest of the Slytherins as they came in. Draco looked at him, questioning in his eyes, but didn't comment.

One week later, despite all of the times Nico had put it off, he had to Iris message Percy. He waited until History of Magic, the class he usually skipped, to head to the boy's bathroom on the third floor. He hung a hastily made out of order sign on the door and went straight to the sinks. Pulling a pack of gum from his pocket, he stuck a piece over the faucet and turned on the water. The tap was blocked well enough to make a spray that, when hit with the light from the windows made a rainbow. Tossing two Drachma in, trying to compensate for the long distance, Nico sent up a prayer to Iris. It took slightly longer than usual, but the image of Percy lounging by the lake at camp in the early hours of the morning soon appeared. He jumped up at first, startled, but when he saw it was Nico, he grinned.

"Nico! Where have you been? I haven't seen you since the week after the war!"

"I had to do a job for my dad, but I'll be back soon," Nico grinned. He had forgotten how cool Percy was to him, even after all he had done.

"So, what's up? Where'd that job take you?"

"Well, that's what I needed to talk to you about," Nico paused, wondering how his friend would react.

"I sort of need your help."

"Okay, what do you need? Where are you? I can come right now."

"Well, I'm kind of not in the country. Like really not in the country."

Percy frowned. "Okay, I'll take Mrs. O'Leary. What do you need, anyways?"

"I ran into some… friends of yours over here. The only way I could stick to the mission was to cross this merman-infested lake, and they didn't take too kindly to me. They asked me if I'd heard of you, and I said yes, and they wanted to meet you. As in threatened to capsize the boat wanted to meet you."

Percy laughed, "Alright, tell me where to go. I'd like to meet these friends of yours."

"Friends is a bit of a stretch," Nico muttered darkly, "Tell Mrs. O'Leary to come to Hogwarts. She'll know where to find me, but this trip will really exhaust her. Might take a while before she's ready to get back."

"Okay, I'll see you in a bit."

The Iris message disconnected, leaving Nico in a fairly good mood. It would be good to see Percy; all of this Magic stuff was driving him up the wall.

An hour later, Nico waited at a tree by the lake as he felt the shadow fluctuate. There was a sudden draw, followed by the appearance of Mrs. O'Leary, Percy sitting on her back. He slipped off, and she stumbled before falling asleep right there on the ground. Ncio shifted his weight, stepping away from the tree he had been leaning on. It was about four in the afternoon, and the lake was glittering spectacularly in the sun. Percy grinned.

"Hey, how've you been?" he asked, shaking Nico's hand.

"I'm doing okay. You really shouldn't be here though, so we might have to hurry."

Percy nodded, scanning the lake carefully. He smiled,

"Okay, I see them. I'll be back in a minute." He then moved about ten yards to the right to take a running leap into the lake, flipping into a dive at the last second. There was a splash, and then Nico waited. And waited. And waited. About forty minutes later, Percy emerged and swan to the shore, grinning. He stepped out of the water, perfectly dry, and Nico marveled at his ability to do that, though, of course, the sight wasn't new to him.

"Man, they sure are persistent. Didn't think you'd keep your word, and they had about a billion problems. Dang." Despite his complaints, it was clear Percy had enjoyed himself. They hung out for another hour by the tree until Mrs. O'Leary woke up. They talked a lot about old times and what was happening back at camp, though Nico was careful to avoid discussing his job here. He didn't feel like having that spread around. Percy mentioned Annabeth a lot, it was clear that they spent every minute they could together, but Annabeth was busy on Olympus. Nico smiled a little at that, and wondered if Percy realized how much Percy knew about the reconstruction projects. He was starting to sound like Annabeth a little bit, going into depth about the different temples and such. Just then, however Mrs. O'Leary woke up. Nico couldn't say he was sorry for the distraction, but he was sorry his friend had to go. He went back up to the dormitory after Percy had gone, pleased with the events of the day. He fell into an easy sleep, his dreams filled with memories of old times.