Hello, everyone. Here's the new update. It might be slightly dull, since it's basically about Snape's interrogation. In any way, let's begin.

Of Magic and Mythology

Chapter Twenty-Five: And the Inevitable Interrogation

Annabeth's POV

"Why are we doing this again?" Ron moaned for the seventy-sixth time.

"We are doing this because we need answers," Hermione answered for the seventy-sixth time.

Yes, Annabeth did count. Honestly, she was amazed by Hermione's patience. If Ron asked her seventy-six times, she would have given his head a good knock hours ago.

Amazingly enough, Snape was still unconscious. Everyone gathered at the boys' room to interrogate him. Thankfully, it was rather late into the night, and everyone around them was asleep.

The demigods and the Golden Trio were gathered around a trussed-up Snape. Hermione had used a bit of jinxed rope that would suppress Snape's magic for twenty-four hours, so they weren't afraid that Snape would start cursing them for kidnapping him.

"How'd you think we should wake him?" Harry asked. "If he continues snoring, we won't get anything done at all."

"I agree," Percy yawned, showering them with his bad breath. "I'm sleepy. Let's just get this over, all right?"

Annabeth scowled. "All right. Do you guys have any waking up spells?"

Hermione, Harry, and Ron shrugged together.

Annabeth sighed. "Let's do this the original way." Taking a deep breath, Annabeth screamed into Snape's ear.

"WAKE UP!"

Snape turned his head around and continued sleeping.

"No way," Thalia moaned. "Don't tell me that Snape has the same bad habit of sleeping as Percy!"

Snape turned his head around and continued sleeping.

"HEY! UP! COACH HEDGE IS HERE!" Jason added helpfully.

Snape turned his head around and continued sleeping.

"WAKE UP, YOU SMELLY BAT!" Ron screeched.

Snape turned his head around and continued sleeping.

"BLUE PANCAKES FOR BREAKFAST!" Leo added.

For a brief moment, everyone was silent, half expecting it to work.

It didn't.

"OK, let me do it," Nico said. Inwardly, Annabeth jumped. She had almost forgotten that Nico was actually there.

Everyone moved aside, grinning in anticipation.

Nico leaned forward. "Snape… YOU'D BETTER GET UP! THE REWARD WILL BE A POP-TART!"

Snape snapped awake, spluttering.

"You know, Nico's really good at this stuff," Leo said admiringly.

"Don't encourage him," Thalia snorted.

"What are you brats doing here? And why… why am I all…" Snape spluttered furiously, hissing at them.

"OK, let me take care of this," Annabeth called, shooing all of them back before turning to Snape. Annabeth helped Snape onto a chair, dragged a table over, and sat opposite to him.

"Snape, do you know why you are here?" Annabeth asked methodically.

"No," Snape snarled. "And I have no intentions to stay here at all. Let me go right now."

"Or…?" Annabeth allowed her sentence to trail off meaningfully.

Snape snarled even more angrily.

"All right. You will answer every single one of our questions, or we'll spill your secret to Dumbledore," Annabeth said briskly.

"I have a secret?" Snape sneered. "What is it?"

Annabeth opened her mouth to answer, but stopped when she saw Nico shake his head briefly and mouth "Let me take care of this."

"We will answer that question later," Annabeth said shortly. "Nico, would you like to have a try?"

"With pleasure," Nico said smoothly. Annabeth joined the rest of the demigods and wizards against the wall while Nico took her seat.

Then, Nico and Snape had a heated but painfully quiet talk. Everyone strained their ear to hear him, but failed.

Finally, Nico sat back with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Thank you, Snape," Nico said pleasantly. He helped Snape out of the ropes. Snape scowled as he rubbed his wrists.

"Why'd you let him go?" Percy said, aghast. "It took so much effort just to catch him!"

"I made a deal with him. It took me a long time, a lot of effort, and a lot of threatening to tell everyone about his crush." Nico said easily as Snape stormed out of the room. Percy made a move to chase, but Annabeth held him back. She was half curious to see what Nico had to say too.

"What deal?" Hermione asked.

"Snape would tell us all he knew about Horcruxes in exchange for his freedom and a safe path to Elyshium," Nico answered.

"YOU'RE SENDING THAT UGLY BAT INTO ELYSIUM?" Percy roared.

"No," Nico answered. "I told him that he'd go to 'Elyshium'. As far as anyone knows, 'Elyshium' doesn't even exist. Elysium does, but Elyshium doesn't. So I promised him for a safe path into somewhere that technically doesn't exist."

"That's better," Percy relaxed.

Annabeth found herself grinning. Nico was definitely smart.

"Unfortunately," Nico continued. "Snape only knows the location of two Horcurxes. He doesn't even know what the Horcruxes are. One of them is in Bellatrix's vault in Gringotts, and the other is in the body of a snake."

"The snake…" Harry said slowly. "That's great! We know that snake! Nagini is one of Voldemort's Horcruxes! All we need to do is to kill Nagini!"

"Good," Hermione nodded. "But breaking into Gringotts would be much harder, though. I hope it's possible."

Everyone sank into a sort of thoughtful silence.

"When should we begin our Horcrux hunting? Which should we go after first?" Percy asked.

"Maybe we could hunt for the one in the vault first," Harry suggested, supported by a round of nods.

"When should we begin?" Jason asked.

"Tomorrow's a Saturday, isn't it?" Annabeth asked. Everyone confirmed the fact. "Why don't we go after the vault tomorrow?"