NOTES: Okay, the three are officially here! (You know, five years later.) Poor Nico, I don't envy him right now. He's going to hear all about how reckless he's been lately. Again, thank you so much for the reviews! I love reading them.

Also, as a note that I don't think I've made so far, I know that I stated Harry's father is Thanatos and then immediately resurrected James Potter to be there with Lily and Sirius. I promise it will all be explained in time! Also, Hazel is the child of plenty specifically because of her ability to call precious material up from the ground.

I'd like to clarify once again that the current pairings I'm aiming for are Harry/Nico & Leo/Hazel/Frank. There is also implied Percy/Annabeth and Jason/Piper. Maybe even future Ron/Hermione, I haven't decided.

HPPJ

A Brief Interlude: Hazel Edition

Hazel was by herself when Leo found her. She'd just left the Great Hall to go back down to the dungeon, hoping to get some work done on her potions essay that was due the next morning. She did not expect to see a very angry Leo storming towards her with his hair literally on fire. She froze, watching him approach with apprehension.

"Did Frank talk to you, then?" she asked, crossing her fingers behind her back. She could tell the discussion must not have gone well, but she was still hoping he'd made the effort.

"Oh yeah, what a great talk. You guys must be having a great time laughing at me behind my back! Well, I want no part of it. Congratulations, Hazel, you get what you wanted all along. I won't bother you anymore. You don't have to worry about my feelings for you and Frank; consider them gone," he snarled. His fists were clenched by his sides, but she knew he'd never hit her. She just didn't understand where all the aggression had come from. She still had some hope that she could fix it all.

"Leo… I don't know what you're talking about. Why on earth would we laugh at you? We… we love you," she told him softly, blinking back tears.

"You're both fantastic actors, but Nico told me everything. I hope you got enough laughs out of this to last for a while, because I'm done," he spat. Then he turned on his heel and stomped up the stairs. Hazel couldn't stop the tears from falling if she'd tried.

Of course, that was the moment that Frank chose to exit the Great Hall. He took one look at the tears tracking down Hazel's cheeks before he pulled her into a crushing hug. She returned the embrace for a few seconds before pulling away to wipe at her eyes uselessly.

"Frank, I don't know what you did to him, but you have to fix this. He told me… he told me he's done with us. That his feelings no longer exist. You broke it, and you have to fix it," she told him. His expression immediately changed from sympathetic to angry.

"You're blaming this whole mess on me? You're the one who suggested bringing him into our relationship to begin with! I only agreed to go along with it to make you happy, and because you said it would make him happy, too! Do you even care what I want? I'm miserable! Every time I talk to him, I end up saying something wrong and then getting blamed by one or both of you for messing up the shaky friendship that we can barely hold onto! Maybe I should be the one who is done!" Frank snapped. He, too, stomped up the stairs towards his dormitory, leaving Hazel alone in her misery.

A shadowy figure down the hall whispered to himself, "A child of plenty shall have none. It has begun."

HPPJ

Nico woke up slowly, hearing the voices of his friends before he could open his eyes. He stayed still, keeping his breathing even so he could listen.

"I don't know what he was thinking! I warned him this would happen. I warned him!" Will ranted, frustration heavy in his voice.

"Yeah, so you've been saying. The mediwitch said he's been unconscious for three days. Do you have any idea how long this will last?" Jason asked, exasperated. Nico could imagine that Will was scowling and shaking his head.

"No, I have no idea. I don't know how long he was exerting himself, or even how much energy he had before he pulled this. I can't say when he'll wake up. It could be days or minutes," Will said with a sigh. There was a dip on the bed, and Nico knew he'd sat back down.

"We just have to know that he will wake up. We can all kill him when he does," Percy said, trying to make light of the situation. Nico would have rolled his eyes if he could, and he knew both Jason and Will were doing the same.

"I think that's the opposite of what he needs. He needs some more life in him, not death. And he needs to stop using those damn powers of his!" Will snapped.

"You need to calm down. We're not the only ones in here," Jason said quietly. "Both of you sit down, you're making me anxious. We need to ask him what happened instead of just assuming. Maybe he needed to use them."

Leave it to Jason to try to keep the peace. Nico could feel Percy shift on the bed, and he knew that Will had known he was awake the whole time. They were worried for him, which was sweet. But it was also unnecessary. He was already feeling much better. He could probably shadow travel away from them if he really wanted to...

"Don't you even think about it," Will snapped. He must have accidentally called shadows to himself while he was thinking of escaping. He really hadn't wanted to argue with them yet.

"Well, I was thinking about it, but I wouldn't have really done it. I don't actually have a death wish," Nico grumbled, not opening his eyes. "I'm not that weak little child anymore. I'm fine."

"You've been sleeping for three days, Nico. Three. Days," Percy informed him, as if he hadn't already caught that.

"Yeah, I heard that. But really, it was important to the quest. It had to be done, so I did it. And it probably made things a lot easier from here on out," he replied.

"Probably?" Will asked, his tone dangerously close to angry. "You put yourself in a coma for 'probably'?"

"It's a very good probably. And... for more reasons than that. But I'm not going to tell you what they were or who the probably was about. All you need to know is that I was successful, and clearly he cared enough to get me here and not let me freeze to death by the lake," he argued.

"You were by the lake when this happened?" Jason asked. "Why?" Nico could imagine the frown on his face, suddenly very glad that he hadn't opened his eyes. This was hard enough without having to meet their eyes and actually see their disappointment.

"Yeah, we were by the lake. I don't know, it's just where we ended up," he told them. He didn't want to admit that he'd been out there to hurt Leo and his sister, and quite possibly Frank. The prophecy was the most important thing, right? He was just trying to get it started. "Besides, it's easier to call up spirits when I'm outdoors. And the lake is pretty to look at. Why do I have to explain myself to you?"

"Because you ended up unconscious for three days by doing something noble and stupid," Percy reminded him. His tone was almost gentle, like he thought Nico was about to freak out on them.

"Doesn't that sound familiar?" Ron asked from the doorway. Nico looked over to find the Golden Trio standing just inside the entrance to the hospital wing. Ron was grinning at Harry, who was looking embarrassed and pointedly not meeting Ron's or Hermione's gaze. Nico had to fight the urge to smile at the look on his face.

"How are you feeling?" Harry asked him, approaching the bed hesitantly. Percy shifted to let Harry stand closer, earning himself a small smile from the wizard. Nico felt the familiar bite of jealousy, but he could no longer tell if it was directed at Harry or Percy. He didn't want to look at it too closely.

"Good as new," Nico assured him. Will rolled his eyes just in Nico's peripheral vision. "Did you get to say everything that needed to be said? Because I've been told I'm not allowed to do that again."

"Damn straight," Jason muttered, earning a smack from Percy and a small smile from all three newcomers.

"Yes. I don't even know how to thank you," Harry told him. "It's more than I ever expected to have. And… I don't know how you made them corporeal, but… thank you."

"You did what now?" Will asked, his tone of voice deceptively calm. "Nico."

"… Would you believe me if I said they did it themselves?" he tried. He was fully prepared for the three shouts of disbelief and anger coming from his friends. Will's was, of course, the loudest.

"NICO DI ANGELO, I SWEAR TO THE GODS!"

HPPJ

Brief Interlude: Frank Edition

Frank had a lot of time to think over the three days that he avoided Leo and Hazel. He came to many realizations, but the biggest was that he had managed to fall in love with both of his best friends, and he had also managed to lose them both.

He wasn't naïve enough to think that it was entirely his own fault, of course. He knew that Leo had a mountain of self esteem issues, and it made it hard for him to believe that people could actually care about him. He knew that Jason had spent months convincing the Latino that he really was his friend, and Hazel still hadn't quite managed even that. So when he'd asked Leo about his feelings for the two of them, he should have known that Leo would lash out in an effort to defend himself. That didn't explain why he'd also lashed out at Hazel.

The conclusion that Frank came to was that there was another person involved. Someone had made Leo's self-esteem issues double in the twelve hours between when Frank spoke to him and his confrontation with Hazel. He didn't know who, and he didn't particularly care. He just knew he needed to find Leo and convince him that this was real. And he was tired of words.

He found Leo in their dormitory. He was alone for the moment, which worked out perfectly for Frank. The fact that he stood to leave as soon as Frank entered the room was not as promising. Frank shut the door firmly behind himself and stood in front of him to block Leo's path.

"We're talking now," Frank informed him.

"No, we're really not," Leo snapped, but he'd never been strong enough to move Frank when he didn't want to be moved. "Get out of my way."

"It's come to my attention that you got so angry because you mistakenly believe we were making fun of you for loving us," Frank continued as if Leo hadn't spoken.

"Gee, thanks for that," Leo muttered, crossing his arms defensively. Frank would have found it cute if he'd been paying more attention. He was far more focused on what he needed to say.

"That's not the case, though. Hazel really cares for you, Leo. And I know you and I haven't exactly been the best of friends, but it's only because I'm not great at talking to the people I have feelings for," Frank told him. He had a moment of satisfaction at Leo's shocked look before he continued. "And that's why I realized that you don't need words. That will never convince you that we're very serious. You're a lot like me, that way."

"I don't understand what you're getting at," Leo told him. He was eyeing him warily, and Frank took that as invitation to show him exactly what he meant.

Frank didn't take the time to think it through. The few times he'd planned conversations, he'd either gotten blown off or they'd gone terribly wrong. Instead, he grabbed the collar of Leo's robes and pulled him into a searing kiss. Leo stumbled into him, and seemed to be frozen in place as Frank kissed him. In that excruciating moment, Frank realized it was possible that Leo would twist this around and accuse Frank of bullying him. Just as he was about to pull away and apologize, Leo's brain caught up and he returned the kiss eagerly.

They stood there kissing for an undetermined amount of time, and it would have continued if Neville hadn't tried to open the door that Frank was leaning against. As the pair broke apart and caught their breath, Leo just stared at him. Frank couldn't read his expression, and it worried him. The last thing he'd wanted was to make everything worse. Finally, Leo gave him a shy smile.

"I think we need to find Hazel and have a long… talk," Leo told him softly. Frank couldn't agree more.