Booka: Hiya! It's little ol' me, back with a new chappie! Enjoy!
Warning: There is some cursing in this chapter. So if you're one of those people who are bothered by bad words and complain about them in a review, please bear with me and flame elsewhere. Thank you for your consideration.
Nico trotted down from the castle, stumbling slightly over the sloping grounds of Hogwarts. He clutched his sword tightly, his eyes narrowed with determination. He strode forward with long, powerful steps. He could see the small group of demigods near the edge of the wards, their armor glinting in the evening sun. They seemed to be taunting the Death Eaters who were on the other side of the magical barrier. They were waving their weapons in the air, banging their swords against the shields to make noise and Nico could hear some of the insulting terms from where he was running.
"Hey, Death Gobblers!"
"Try and pull a rabbit outta a hat!"
"Stupid, idiot, nonmagic-hating bigots!"
"Where's your master now!"
The Death Eaters looked outraged and Nico could see flashes of hexes and curses flying at the demigods. They easily dodged and laughed harder at the wizards' angry expressions.
"We will kill you all!" one of the dark cloaked, masked sorcerers screamed as he threw an ugly black curse at a small, redheaded demigod.
The boy sidestepped, but only barely. "Try harder, Dracula! I'm still alive and kickin' over here!"
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!"
Nico knew that scream anywhere.
A tall, blonde woman with her hair in a long ponytail jogged over to the group from who-knows-where. She wore expertly crafted, bronze armor that shined brightly in the mid-afternoon sun and covered her torso down to her waist. Her fierce, stormy gray eyes zoned in on the demigods and she looked mad. Her pretty features were set in angry, stern lines and her strides were long and furious. She clutched her faithful dagger in one hand and a large shield in the other.
"Are you trying to get killed?" she whispered at the boy, glaring at the wizards.
He grinned cheekily up at her. "No. They are!" He pointed at the Death Eaters.
She sighed and rolled her eyes. "You're not gonna be laughing when they break through that ward. Try not to annoy them so much."
"Well, my dear Annabeth. Where's the fun in that?" Nico spoke up from behind, smirking slightly.
Annabeth turned around and grinned when she recognized him. Jogging over and hugging him tightly, (which was actually quite painful as she was in armor) she said "Nico! It's been so long. How have you been?"
Nico smiled. "I'm fine, but thanks for asking."
"So," continued Annabeth as she led him towards the group of demigods. "Where's the Boy-Who-Lived? I thought he would've been here, you know, defending his castle."
"Trust me, he wanted to. But I kinda locked him in the Boys' Dormitory," he answered with an impish grin.
She chuckled at him. "Oh, Nico."
"So," he said, glancing behind her to look at the troops, directing his question at Annabeth. "Have they ever fought against wizards before?"
"Only monsters taking orders from wizards," she answered. "This'll be the first time they've ever actually ever fought them."
"And you?"
"I've fought what they've fought before." She frowned at him.
"I'll take that as a no, then," he murmured under his breath. Great, Percy, just great. You dump a load of newbies on my head with no experience whatsoever and expect us to come out alive. I can work with that.
"Okay guys!" yelled Annabeth at the crowd of warriors near the wards. "I know a lot of you haven't met Nico yet, so let me introduce to you the son of Hades. He's been stationed at Hogwarts for a while now and he's the one who warned Percy about the Death Eaters trying to break in! He's also the only one of us who knows the layout of the castle! So, if by some chance the Death Eaters infiltrate the wards, he's the one we're going to follow to escape!"
A couple of skeptical murmurs spread through the group. Now that Nico was closer to them, he noticed that the crowd wasn't very large. There were only a handful of people, but they looked like decent fighters. There were about twenty-somthing godlings here, excluding him and Annabeth.
"Nico," Annabeth said, pulling the demigod from his thoughts. "Would you like to say something?"
Nico nodded and bit his lip, watching as the daughter of Athena stepped back. "The thing you guys need to know is that wizards – no matter how foolish they look – are deadly."
There were a couple laughs at his words, but he looked at them, gravely serious and they went silent.
"I know that seems funny and all 'cause we're the children of the gods. We can beat anything we want. But that's not really true. They aim these supposedly harmless spells, these enchantments to kill us in the most painful, brutal ways possible. And I know what I'm talking about because I've researched these spells and they're very real. We're lucky we have Hecate by our side otherwise we probably wouldn't be able to win this war. You have to realize that we're going to need skill and determination to beat these guys. Hecate has cast a charm on our weapons so that we are able to deflect hexes and curses. But we still need to be careful or we're dead. So keep that in mind the next time you laugh when you have a stick in your face."
He stepped back and an awkward silence filled the void his words left in their wake.
Annabeth cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Yes. That's a very good point, Nico and we'll be sure to remember that in the fight that's coming. Do you think we'll need any back up?"
The son of Hades glanced up at the castle. "Maybe. But we have a school-full of wizards, so I think we'll have more help than we bargained for."
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Harry laughed quietly to himself as he bolted down the staircase. Nico had locked the door with some sort of charm that repelled alohomora, so he had to sneak out of the dormitory through one of the secret passageways the Marauder's map showed. It had been under his bed, strange enough.
He slid on the banister (because that was the fastest way downstairs, of course) and halted when he reached the ground floor, eyes wide as he took in the crowd of students assembling at the castle's main door. He couldn't hear himself think over the shouting the students were doing. Filch's face was twisted and furious and he was yelling at some random first year, who looked like she wanted to cry. Harry narrowed his eyes, but then he saw some of the professors guarding the doors. McGonagall was arguing with Ginny and as he pushed his way through the flood of students, he managed to hear some of the conversation.
"…he's helping, so why can't we?"
"Nico is trained for these types of situations, that's why. His experience at his old school allows him to take the risk. You, however, are still preparing for your O.W.L.s."
"So that makes me incapable, huh!"
"Yes, Ms. Weasley, it does." McGonagall glared at her, eyes narrowed. "I will not let a sixteen year old girl risk her neck just because she believes she is able to duel several Death Eaters at a time." Her gaze switched to Harry. "And that goes the same to you, Mr. Potter."
Harry watched as the woman stalked off to scold some other fifth years who wanted to help before he turned to Ginny.
"Hey, Gin," he greeted with a smile.
She growled under her breath but her expression softened a little when she looked up at him. "Hullo Harry," she said.
"What was that?" he asked, nodding at the professor on the other side of the room.
"She doesn't think that I can help," she explained. "The DA can help too. Why can't she let us?"
"Because you'll be killed, that's why," he said, dead serious. "The Death Eaters are a bit harder to fight than training dummies, you know? We're just kids. We can't really just go out and win automatically. There'll be casualties no matter what, so we can't get involved unless we have to."
Ginny sighed and shuffled her feet. "I guess. But it feels really frustrating, staying here, doing nothing." She gazed at him curiously. "You've always been involved with this stuff, Harry. Doesn't it feel… odd, not helping?"
He shrugged. "A little. But I kinda feel happy I'm not in the spotlight for once. Besides, it's not as if they need me out there. I'd just get in the way."
"That's not true," said a voice from behind them. The two turned to see Hermione standing there with Ron at her shoulder. "You've helped plenty."
"Yeah," Ron added. "If it weren't for you, Ginny would be dead and Voldemort would have control over the entire Wizarding community."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Sure, sure, but besides that, I nearly got killed half of the time, so that makes up for all those times I've saved your butts."
Ron snorted.
"The Aurors are out there," said Hermione after a short pause, eyes directed outside a window near the doors. "They're going to fight the Death Eaters."
"No, they're not," Harry frowned. "The demigods are."
Ginny's eyebrows rose. "Really? The demigods? I thought they were far away from Hogwarts."
"The Aurors are in Hogsmeade protecting the people there, so they had to do something otherwise we're in trouble," he explained.
"But what is Nico doing out there?" asked Hermione, exchanging a glance with Harry.
"His school specializes in survival skills and defense courses," said Ginny. "so he can protect himself and the school."
"Who told you that?" Ron queried.
"Professor McGonagall."
"Of course," mumbled the redheaded boy as he looked towards the crowd swarming at the door.
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Nico fiddled with his shield and adjusted the chest plate of metal into its correct position. It felt a little weird to be back in Greek body armor after so long. He scowled; he was letting himself go. Get it together, dude, he thought to himself as he pulled on his skull-shaped helmet, which glinted black in the light, just like the rest of his armor. He was on the edge of the forest with the battalion of demigods, out of the Death Eaters' sights. Seated on a rock a little way from the group of warriors, he was focusing all his efforts on preparing for the soon-to-come battle. He was stretching out his limbs, piling on armor, praying to his father and relatives and refilling his supply of nectar and ambrosia. The part of his torso down to his hips was covered with metal and his shins were strapped into shin-guards with black, steel-toed boots. He was in the middle of sharpening his sword, Nightmare, when Annabeth approached him.
"Hey," said the daughter of Athena.
"Hmm," he grunted in respond, not even looking up at her.
She perched on the outcropping of stone next to him, staring up at the sky with large eyes. She was wearing heavy Greek armor just like him only it was modified to be more fitting for a girl. Her long, curly hair was tied into a tighter-than-usual ponytail and she was playing with Luke's dagger in her fingers, turning it over and over.
"Nervous?" Nico asked, grating the rock against his sword with a renewed vigor.
She laughed lightly and turned towards him. "Nervous? Try terrified beyond belief."
"Do you always get like this before a battle?"
"No," she admitted. "Only now, it's different. We're up against something I've never heard of before, let alone ever fought against." Annabeth looked at him with an odd expression in her eyes. "How are you not scared?"
His hands stilled and for a moment, he glanced up and met her bemused gaze. "I've been through worse, I guess." He shrugged. "S'not a big deal for me anymore. Besides, I'm used to dealing with wizards and magic now. It's probably a little scary for you 'cause you have no idea what you're doing."
Annabeth smiled and sighed. "You're pretty wise for a kid, Nico."
"I'll take that as a compliment, Annie," he said sarcastically.
"Call me that again and I'll gut you alive," she threatened coolly and crossed her ankles elegantly.
"The wards aren't going to last that long, are they?" Nico asked quietly after a short pause.
Annabeth took a little while longer to answer than what Nico thought was necessary. "Yeah," she murmured.
"But how is that possible?" Nico protested. "They're, like, centuries old!"
"Yeah and they need to be recharged every other century to make sure they're working," said Annabeth. "And they can't really recharge them when they're in the middle of an attack."
The son of Hades sighed loudly. "So, now what?"
"So now we take the fight to them. I dunno about you, but I'm not about to let them have the first punch. If we do, then…" She made a slicing motion against her throat. "There's another group of demigods surrounding them a little North of here. When we give the signal, they attack from behind while the D.E.s are preoccupied with us up front. They'll have no idea what hit them."
"Okay," said Nico. "We play offense. I can deal with that."
"Get ready," she ordered as she stood up, brushing off her pants and chest plate. "We're going to be attacking in five."
He mock-saluted her. "Whatever you say Captain Annabeth."
"That's General Chase to you," she sniffed before smiling and nudging his shoulder. "I see why Percy likes talking to you so much. See ya later Nico."
"Bye Annabeth," he said. "I'll see you after the battle…" If we're not killed first, he finished inside his head.
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Nico was standing in the battle line with several other demigods, sword drawn and lips turned downward as they charged towards the wizards. They ran in a familiar, organized formation, running as fast as they could. The Death Eaters laughed at them at first and raised their wands, planning on blasting the warriors to Kingdom Come with a single curse. All they saw when they looked at them was a group of kids who were far out of their league. But that prediction changed when a demigod's sword slashed a man's arm off with no hesitance or remorse whatsoever.
There was a moment of complete silence that was broken with the magician's keen of pure agony.
And all Hell broke loose.
There were bright flashes of spells being thrown back and forth. Nico found that when he blocked the hexes with his charmed shield and sword, they fizzled out of existence. Of course, it was a little hard to block the curses because they were so bright and it was hard to pinpoint exactly where they were going to land on his body. There was a lot of blood and guts, mostly because the godlings were vicious when fighting. Nico heard someone scream and he knew it was one of the demigods. He turned and his eyes widened when he saw a boy being put under the Cruciatus curse only a few feet away from where he stood.
Nico growled and, with a flick of his wrist, the Death Eater was on the ground, gurgling and coughing blood.
The other demigod staggered to his feet and Nico shouted over the clanging of metal "Are you okay?" He noticed it was the redheaded boy who had been taunting the Death Eaters before and he frowned. Obviously, the Death Eater who had been torturing him had aimed for the boy, who looked very young to be in a fight with these deadly sorcerers.
The boy nodded and swallowed shakily before grabbing a blade that lay haphazardly on the ground and charging back into battle.
Nico watched him go before brandishing his own sword and hacking down another wizard. The man shrieked and fell with a spurt of blood from his throat. There was a flash of red from across the field just as his blade touched the man's neck and Nico was a little too slow to react. It burned into his forearm and the son of Hades gasped a curse word as the magic ate away his armor, burning his skin a little bit when it did. The smell of burnt flesh pierced the air and he grimaced, but he ignored the pain and dodged the second curse the same Death Eater threw at him.
Nobody expected him to rush the Death Eater recklessly, dodging spells from both the warlock and his accomplices. Nico deflected another Cruciatus Curse just as he was nearly closing on the Death Eater. The hilt of his sword smashed into the side of the wizard's head and the man let out a scream of pain as he crumpled to the ground, unconscious. It would've been very easy to kill him. A small cut through his corroded artery and he'd be as good as dead. But something held Nico back. So, instead of murdering the man, he simply sneered and spat at the wizard that lay at his feet.
He heard Annabeth scream. "NICO, LOOK OUT!"
He turned.
A bright green Avada Kedavra was headed towards him with such speed that he wasn't able to dodge.
He narrowed his eyes and with his head held high, he stared straight at the curse as it shot towards him. It slammed into his chest…
Time stood still for one second.
…and ricocheted right off his heart straight into the head of the man who tried to kill him. As the body collapsed, Nico bent his head out of respect (for the dead, of course, not the idiot who actually thought he could kill the son of Hades).
Nobody had actually been paying attention to him, as they were in the middle of a battle, so he wouldn't be proclaimed as the second Boy-Who-Lived, thank the Gods. It wasn't any of his wizarding powers that allowed him to escape Death. Only, it seemed that Thanatos favored him for a reason unknown to him. The God of Death seemed to ignore any near-death experiences Nico had. The demigod suspected the Fates put Thanatos up to it – not that he was complaining. It was rather refreshing to know death wouldn't come so easily to him. Of course, it just meant that the Fates had a rather specific death for him in mind. Most likely, it was something spectacular and terrifyingly painful.
Nico wasn't exactly comforted by that thought.
Of course, he had other things to worry about at the moment, so he ignored the tight knot of apprehension in his stomach and told himself in a stern (mental) voice 'Pull yourself together, so help me, or you'll almost-die a second time you stupid boy; only this time it'll be my knife in your throat and not an overzealous Death Eater with a score to settle.' So, he jumped back into the fight without a second thought.
And then the worst happened.
Annabeth screamed, long and loud.
Nico's breath caught as he turned.
Blood was streaming down her face and her eyes were screwed shut in pain. Her body was jerking in an unnatural way, spasms racking her body; the part of her skin that was not covered in red, red blood was a pale, ashen color. Her left arm looked dislocated, it hung at such a sickening angle, and there were several thin gashes ripped throughout her armor.
A loud, high voice cackled hard. Slowly, the sounds of battle died away as the laughter grew in volume and cruelty. The demigods didn't expect this. Hell, Nico didn't expect this. Nobody in their right minds would be laughing in a warzone.
Then again, Voldemort could hardly be called in his right mind.
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Everything had been relatively calm in the Common Room. McGonagall had banished all students to their respective Common Rooms while the castle was under attack. All and any pupils caught roaming the halls would be punished with detention for the rest of the school year and 100 points would be taken from their house. The extra severe punishment just proved to all houses that the siege on the wards was very real and very dangerous.
Finally, Harry couldn't take the tense energy of the living area any longer. He stood abruptly and all eyes turned to him. Ignoring the attention piled onto him, he turned to Ron and Hermione.
"Going up to the dormitory," he murmured as he trudged away upstairs.
"Tired?" asked Hermione, her brow crinkled with concern.
"Exhausted," he answered, not looking back.
Once Harry was alone in the sleeping room, he collapsed onto his bed, his head aching and his throat dry with nerves. His scar stung badly and when he brushed his fingers across it, the area of skin surrounding the lightning bolt felt puffy and irritated. Something stirred and knotted inside his stomach; his scar never hurt unless something genuinely dangerous was about to happen. Usually, it involved a certain You-Know-Who and Harry doubted that it would sting just because of a simple Death Eater raid.
Harry was proven right when the silvery white form of a Patronus leapt into his room, through the window to stand long and lithe on the wooden floor. He had always thought that Patronuses were gaseous and could slip through solid things, so this just proved his theory.
The Patronus was a beautiful, muscular panther with gleaming eyes and a silky dark silver coat. Its fur rippled with strength and those feline eyes stared at him with such awesome intelligence that Harry felt his breath catch. Somehow, he knew this Patronus was Nico's. Then, the muzzle of the panther opened and Harry caught sight of the ridiculously long, sharp fangs the cat held in its mouth. Yep, he thought to himself, definitely Nico's.
The demigod's voice emanated deep from within the panther's throat. Its mouth didn't move, but Harry knew that the voice came from the Patronus. The words it spoke made his veins run cold.
"Voldemort has come to Hogwarts. Warn the teachers and the students. Prepare for the fight of your life. I have sent word to both Percy and Chiron, the centaur. And whatever you do Potter, Zeus help me, stay alive."
Harry bolted to his feet before the Patronus even managed to dissolve and was downstairs before he could count to three. He never had run so fast in his life before.
"Harry?" said Hermione, bewildered.
He didn't notice her. He had already ripped through the Common Room and was halfway out of the hole leading into the corridor when he heard her shout at him.
"Harry! You can't leave the Common Room yet! We're still under attack!"
"This is more important than my own safety, Hermione!" he yelled back before disappearing down the hallway, his feet slapping against the floor in a fast paced rhythm.
Things just got more dangerous than ever.
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When Voldemort had made his extremely exciting entrance, Nico had melted unnoticed into the back of the crowd of demigods to very quietly send Harry that Patronus. Hopefully, the Boy-Who-Lived would already be warning the school of the Dark Lord's appearance on the wards.
Nudging his way back to the front of the group to hear the snakelike man speak, he shifted his sword on his hip nervously. Voldemort's serpentine looks both impressed and scared him terribly. His skin was chalky white and his skull was bare from hair. His slits for nostrils flared with amusement as his red-as-blood eyes surveyed the ragged group of godlings. His tall, skeletal figure was clothed with long flowing, black robes. His unnaturally extensive fingers were clutching a slender, dark wand which was held threateningly over Annabeth. Nico knew that earlier in life Tom Marvolo Riddle was a handsome, dark haired man with pale blue eyes. It was weird to think of this genocidal maniac as something so ordinary. He just exuded a sort of sinister aura that sent shivers down the son of Hades's spine. He'd never felt something like that (excluding his father, of course, but Hades exuded Death and Fear on a much larger scale and almost never used it on Nico unless it was a rather severe punishment).
Abrupt shouts and screams of protest and insults suddenly erupted from the group of godlings, the loud noises wrenching the son of Hades from his musings. Voldemort had been talking while Nico had been lost in his thoughts. From what Nico managed to pick up from the cries of outrage, the man had been trying to goad the demigods into switching sides.
"You seem to have forgotten!" yelled a thin brunette with blood trickling down her face. "Us Greeks are closely related to the wizards! My own mother Hecate bore the first seven magicians in existence! You turn on kin, you turn on us all!"
The smirk on Voldemort's face was frightening. "You seem to forget that we are wizards also."
"Not the type of wizard I'd actually enjoy talking to. You don't understand how blood works. How families work." The same girl glared at him, daring the wizard to argue.
"Believe me; I understand the importance of blood relations." The man twirled his wand and sneered dangerously at her.
She snorted contemptuously and lifted her chin. "You understand nothing about blood, you self-conceited racist. The only thing your narrow-minded brain cares about is the fact that the parents of your followers are wizards like you. Pale faced bastard."
A Cruciatus Curse sailed high over her head from one of the Death Eaters and for a moment, both sides were yelling insults and threats, the demigods going as far as to draw weapons and shoot arrows while the wizards brandished their wands and spelled curses.
Then, the high, impressive voice of Lord Voldemort boomed over the battlefield. Obviously, he had amplified his voice with some sort of spell. Sonorus, Nico believed it was.
"SILENCE!" roared the Dark Lord. Automatically, everyone's mouth locked shut and they turned to Voldemort, who was smiling viciously at the girl.
"Brave words, my dear fool, but words that will have you killed."
"Who's gonna kill me? You? You're just some stuck up pureblood with his head up his ass and his skinny white throat begging to be split." She twirled her sword and pointed it at him.
Honestly, Nico wondered whether the girl had a suicide wish or something. You just don't threaten an armed Voldemort and expect to live.
So he wasn't particularly surprised when the girl was dragged to the Dark Lord, kicking and screaming by what looked like an invisible chain. Did he try to stop it? Of course. Was he stopped in his tracks by the words Voldemort spoke? Hell yeah.
"Today, this girl will be killed in the most painful way possible," said He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as he gripped the neck of the poor brunette.
The sea of demigods surged forward as one at the threat but was stalled when Voldemort raised a hand. "Try anything and the girl dies."
The battalion stilled and glared fiercely. They couldn't do anything at the moment and Nico knew they couldn't let one hostage keep them from defending the border. So if it came down to it, they'd have to sacrifice the girl. Nico didn't like that course of action at all.
"She will die," continued Voldemort. "Unless you step forward!" he boomed.
The demigods murmured, unsure about who he was addressing.
"Step forward!" the Dark Lord repeated, glaring.
And then, it clicked.
"Damn it all," Nico muttered to himself before squaring his shoulders and stepping away from the crowd into the line of fire. All eyes shot to him and his hand automatically went to his sword from nerves. "It's me you want." His voice didn't shake. "Put the girl down."
Voldemort smirked and laughed evilly. "And you are, Mister…?"
Names have power. "Jonathan Arantes," he answered, meeting the Dark Lord's. "Son of Hermes."
"Hmm. I can tell you're lying. So I suggest – before this poor girl loses an ear – you tell the truth. What is your name?"
Nico glowered. He didn't like being caught lying by anyone, evil lord or not. "My name is Nico di Angelo."
The smirk grew more pronounced. "And your godly parent?"
"My dad's Hades, lord of the Underworld." And at least he's an actual lord, not a self-pronounced one like you.
The sneer disappeared and Voldemort watched him with an unreadable expression on his face. Nico couldn't tell whether that was good or bad.
"You are Hades's son?"
He nodded jerkily, eyes narrowed. "Yes. Is there a problem?"
"No." He had a nasty, downright dangerous glint in his eyes. "You're the one I've been hearing about, now? The one with the Death Touch. The one who can kill with only a blink. I was under the impression that you were female."
Nico shook his head as people – demigods and wizards alike – whispered and stared at him. "No, you have me confused with someone else." Crypta sure knows how leave an impression, I'll give her that.
"Hmm." Voldemort watched Nico carefully. "She killed over half of my followers in one battle. Yet, she never came close to me, did she? Never even looked in my direction. And I noticed when my troops were fighting demigods, not once did one of you attempt to fight me unless absolutely necessary. At first, I thought it was simply fear, but when I reached into the minds of my opponents, I found not fear but purpose. They were purposely avoiding me as a strategy, not because of terror. Now, perhaps you can tell me why." As he talked, his wand began to draw small circles in the girl's neck, who's eyes were closed tightly.
Nico laughed softly before shaking his head a little in disbelief. "You honestly don't understand, do you? Figures. You wizards are all the same. I had to explain it seven times to the Wizengamot before they were able to see what I was talking about."
Voldemort patiently waited, tapping his wand against the captured demigod's throat.
Nico unsheathed his sword and automatically, every wand in the vicinity was pointed at him – except for Voldemort's of course. But the demigod simply stuck it into the ground before leaning on it, looking at the Dark Lord with bored eyes.
"We're not here to kill you," he said simply. "We're not here to end this war." He smirked. "We're here to make sure things go as planned."
"As planned…" echoed Voldemort.
"You see," Nico continued, "There is a prophecy about you – the Dark Lord – and Harry Potter – the Boy-Who-Lived. Guess who made that prophecy."
"Sybil Trelawney." The serpentine man was staring.
"No. The Fates did. And they don't particularly like it when their predictions don't go as planned. So, in order to make sure you meet your demise at the right time and in the right way – as the prophecy predicts – we're here to make sure Harry kills you right." His smirk was chilling. "Other than that, we don't get involved besides protecting and helping wizards when we can. The Fates are fickle creatures, Voldemort. Don't try and avoid them. Because it won't end well."
Booka: Phew! This chapter's done. God, it's been a little annoying with Nico breathing down my neck when I'm trying to write.
Nico: Hey!
Booka: *Sigh* Damn, it's hot up here in NY. I'm all sweaty and I'm sleepy, (even though it's, like, what, only 8:30 pm) and I have nothing witty at all to say right now. Nothing. Not at all. This bit right here? This isn't funny. It's not! It's not, I tell you!
Nico: Just review.