A/N: Hello again! I'm back with a special Labor Day update! So sorry for the incredibly long delay...I think we can all agree it's been a crazy year.

Starting this Saturday, I will resume my usual Saturday update schedule.

The rest of the holidays passed without any horrible doom befalling Nico (unless one counted the ecstatic hug that Luna had given him upon her return to school). Neville was fascinated to learn that Nico had received a game for Christmas, and asked to learn Mythomagic. He seemed thoroughly baffled by the lack of actual magic involved, but he still enjoyed the game.

"So…your dad got this for you?" Neville asked curiously.

"Yeah," Nico confirmed.

"I thought he was a wizard. He bought you a Muggle game?"

Nico shrugged. "He must've known I used to play it."

"Huh." Neville stared at his cards. "If you're almost eighty, your dad must be really old…"

Nico snorted. "Very. I'm pretty sure he's older than Dumbledore."

"Old," Neville repeated, half to himself. He played a spartus card.

After the first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson of the new term, Harry once again walked up to Nico at dinner. "First lesson on fighting dementors is Thursday at eight o'clock. History of Magic classroom." He then walked away without waiting for a response.

For some reason, Hermione looked up at the enchanted ceiling, then heaved a sigh of relief. Nico also looked up, wondering what had caught her attention, but all he saw was the crescent moon. "Everything okay?"

"Just trying to remember if I did my Astronomy homework," Hermione lied.

"…we were doing that right before dinner," Nico pointed out.

"Er, yes, I remember that now," Hermione said awkwardly, her cheeks faintly pink. She glanced at Nico's hand. "Do you know if your ring is real silver? When it is a ring, anyway?"

"Uh, no, I don't," Nico replied, confused by the sudden change of subject. "I could ask Hazel, next time I see her. She'd probably know. Why?"

"Just curious." Hermione resumed eating, not meeting his eyes.

Thursday night, Nico made his way to the History of Magic classroom. Harry was already there. They stared awkwardly at each other, then Nico moved to sit on the other side of the room and the two boys resolutely ignored each other. Thankfully, Professor Lupin arrived a minute later with a large packing case.

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"Another boggart," Lupin explained. "I've been combing the castle ever since Tuesday, and very luckily, I found this one lurking inside Mr. Filch's filing cabinet. It's the nearest we'll get to a real dementor. The boggart will turn into a dementor when he sees you, so we'll be able to practice on him. I can store him in my office when we're not using him; there's a cupboard under my desk he'll like."

"What about me?" Nico demanded, frowning. "It won't turn into a dementor for me."

"You'll have to hang further back than Harry, but considering your…unique…issues, that may be for the best anyway."

Professor Lupin drew his wand and began teaching them about the Patronus Charm. Nico swallowed hard when he learned that the spell required concentrating on a happy memory. Nearly every happy memory he could come up with was tainted by some subsequent tragedy. Then he thought of his first kiss with Will. Nothing had come along to ruin that…so far.

"The incantation is this: Expecto patronum!" Lupin instructed.

"Expecto patronum," both boys repeated. "Expecto patronum."

"Concentrating on your happy memory?" Lupin prompted.

"Oh…yeah…" Harry said quickly. After a few more tries, he managed to produce something that looked like a wisp of silvery gas. "Did you see that?" he said excitedly. "Something happened!"

Nico shut his eyes and tried to ignore Harry, continuing to chant the spell. Then he opened his eyes again, realizing he needed to see to know if he'd succeeded. Eventually, he managed to conjure a wisp of something that looked dark and smoky.

"That…doesn't look right," Lupin said, frowning.

Harry snorted. "He's the only one in our class who never mastered Lumos."

"You can't cast Lumos?" Lupin repeated in disbelief, staring at Nico.

"Never needed it anyway," Nico grumbled. "I see just fine in the dark."

"Right," Lupin said, still giving Nico an odd look. "Think you're ready to try it on the boggart?"

Nico nodded, taking a deep breath. Lupin checked that Nico was further away than Harry, then opened the lid of the packing case and stood back. A dementor slowly rose from the box, hood turned toward Harry, one scabbed hand gripping its cloak. Nico instantly felt slightly nauseous, but determinedly concentrated on Will. And on what Will would do if he started fading again. And if Will learned that Nico had purposely put himself in this situation. Nico would be lucky to get away with another rhyming curse…

Nico started, realizing that the lamps had gone out and Harry was on the floor. Lupin had forced the boggart back into the packing case and was now re-lighting the lamps. Nico took a swig of unicorn draught to be safe, but he felt solid. Clearly, it made a difference that this wasn't a real dementor, plus it probably helped that the boggart was focused on Harry anyway.

Lupin handed Harry a Chocolate Frog, and the two of them had a quiet conversation Nico couldn't quite catch. Then Harry abruptly stood up. "I've got to! What if the dementors turn up at our match against Ravenclaw? I can't afford to fall off again. If we lose this game we've lost the Quidditch Cup!"

"That's your biggest concern?" Nico said in disbelief. "Are you seriously telling me you care more about the Quidditch Cup than your own health?"

"I…er…" Harry looked slightly abashed, then scowled. "What, did you tell McGonagall about my new Firebolt too?"

"I had nothing to do with your broom getting confiscated," Nico retorted, irritated. "And besides, I think she's got a point. I never trust anonymous gifts."

Lupin cleared his throat. "Boys…"

Nico and Harry both shut up and turned back to the professor.

"You might want to each select another happy memory," Lupin continued. "Your first choices don't seem to have been strong enough." He waited for both boys to nod. "Ready?"

"Ready."

Lupin opened the lid again. This time, Nico concentrated on the moment he'd successfully broken Hazel out of the Underworld. Unfortunately, this led to thoughts of his original plan that day, which led to thoughts of how Bianca's spirit had avoided him for months, which led to thoughts of how their mother's spirit had been outright forbidden him, which led to…

"Troppo lento!" Nico cried triumphantly, dodging his sister.

"We are in America now, it is 'too slow!'" Bianca called after him, giving chase.

"Troppo lento, too slow, in entrambi i casi, you cannot capture me!"

"Not yet, but lo farò!" Bianca succeeded in grabbing Nico's arm right as they both sensed something wrong. They looked around as storm clouds gathered outside the hotel windows. The world went black a split second before an explosion ripped their world apart.

BOOM!

Nico jolted out of the memory and wiped tears out of his eyes. The lamps had gone out again, and both Harry and Lupin were looking around wildly. "Stay here," Lupin ordered, lighting the lamps again. "I'm going to go find out what that was."

"Find out what what was?" Nico asked, confused.

Both Lupin and Harry stared at him. "You didn't hear that explosion?"

"Oh. I must have been projecting my memories again. Sorry." Nico swallowed.

"That…was your memory?" Lupin said cautiously.

"That was the day my mother died. I don't want to talk about it." Nico took another swig of unicorn draught and stared resolutely at his ring. Thankfully, Lupin turned his attention to Harry, though he did shoot a few concerned looks in Nico's direction.

After another brief conversation with Harry, Lupin gave the pair one more go. Nico decided to go back to concentrating on his first kiss, since at least that thought hadn't sent him on an unpleasant trip down memory lane. The moment the boggart was released, Nico began chanting the incantation again. Thoughts of Will lying injured or dying started to creep in at the edge of his mind, but Nico's concentration held firm—until Harry succeeded in conjuring another silver wisp, and the boggart decided to go after Nico instead. The boggart changed into a great black pit, but this time Nico was ready. "Riddikulus!"

The boggart became an earthy pit. A bright yellow tank with the words "HAPPY FLUSH DISPOSAL CO" appeared at its side, and shimmering spirits danced around the pit. The corner of Nico's mouth twitched in what was almost a smile; the septic tank at Geryon's ranch had definitely been the weirdest place he'd ever done a summoning ritual.

Lupin managed to force the boggart back into the packing case, giving Nico a curious look. "Good to see you've mastered the boggart."

"Thank you."

Harry looked mildly disturbed. "You have a very weird sense of humor."

Nico shrugged. "I have a very weird life."

Lupin cleared his throat. "And excellent job, Harry, with the Patronus." He pulled out a large bar of Honeydukes chocolate, broke it in half, and handed one piece to each boy. "Now eat the lot, or Madam Pomfrey will be after my blood. Same time next week?"

"Okay," Harry replied.

"Works for me," Nico agreed. He took a large bite of chocolate.

"Professor?" Harry said suddenly. "If you knew my dad, you must have known Sirius Black as well."

Nico looked up at this, interested. Professor Lupin seemed thoroughly taken aback by the question. "What gives you that idea?"

"Nothing—I mean, I just knew they were friends at Hogwarts too…"

Lupin relaxed. "Yes, I knew him. Or I thought I did. You'd better be off, both of you, it's getting late."

A few weeks later, Nico got a package at breakfast. He opened it to find several black party hats decorated with images of skeletons and ghosts. According to the accompanying note, Will, Jason, Piper, Percy and Annabeth had each personally decorated one. Nico gave the whole collection a bemused look; it was a nice thought, but surely they hadn't thought he was actually planning a birthday party for himself?

"Happy birthday," Hermione said, sitting next to him and taking a hat. She gave him a small bundle of quills in return. "I noticed that the magic is wearing off your last spell-checking quill."

"Oh. Thanks."

Neville sat on Nico's other side. "Happy birthday." He took a hat, too. "These are neat. Did your friends in America send these?"

"Yes."

Neville turned the hat over in his hand, frowning. "What is it with you and the 'death' theme, anyway?"

Nico stiffened. "My family has old magic involving ghosts," he replied, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Like what?" Neville prodded.

"Ghosts are solid to us," Nico admitted. Several people at Hogwarts already knew about that; he might as well share that detail with Neville too. "Or at least they are to me, I'm not sure if my half-sister Hazel inherited that ability."

"Huh. I've never heard of that."

"It's pretty rare, I don't know of any other family that can do that."

"Nico, we'd better get to Ancient Runes," Hermione cut in, seeing Nico's discomfort.

"See you," Nico said to Neville, shooting Hermione a look of gratitude. They hurried out of the Great Hall.

After lunch, Luna came up to Nico. "So, I heard it's your birthday," she said.

"Yeah."

"Are you doing anything special?"

"No."

Luna frowned. "You're not even going to look for an Annivarmidgeon?"

"No, I…wait, what?" Nico did a double take.

"An Annivarmidgeon. It's good luck to find one on your birthday," Luna explained, giving him a look as if this were something patently obvious.

Nico shrugged. "Well, I've got Care of Magical Creatures next, so maybe I'll find one while I'm there."

"I hope you find one!" Luna said cheerfully. She headed up the marble staircase to her next class.

At dinner, Nico received another package. This one contained a chocolate cake with "Happy Birthday" written in white frosting. According to the accompanying note, Hazel and Reyna had baked it, with some less-than-helpful 'help' from Frank.

"Oh, is it your birthday?" Seamus asked curiously.

Nico sighed. "Yeah."

"Happy birthday," Seamus and Dean chorused.

"Did someone say 'happy birthday'?" George asked, sitting opposite them.

"Because we found these in Gryffindor Tower, and we were wondering who we needed to prank," Fred added. He and George each donned a hat from the Camp Half-Blood birthday package.

Nico gave the twins a flat glare. "Prank me, and I'll tell Peeves to make you his sole targets for a week. You know I can convince him to do it."

The twins shared a look, then shrugged. "Worth it." George took out the fifth and final hat and reached over to put it on Nico's head.

"That's it. I am eating dinner alone." Nico yanked the hat off his head, wrapped a sandwich in his napkin and stalked out of the Great Hall, leaving the cake behind. He headed up to the mirror on the fourth floor, opened the secret passage, and hid inside. Hopefully, he could avoid birthday celebrations in here.

About twenty minutes later, Nico heard voices enter the passage. He stiffened and instantly summoned his sword. Then he recognized the voices, and he quickly returned it to ring form. A pair of lit wands approached, wielded by the twins. "You forgot your cake," George said casually, holding it out. It was half eaten by now.

"How did you even find me here?" Nico demanded, not touching the cake.

"How did you know about this passage?" Fred retorted, raising an eyebrow. "We gave Harry our map, and somehow I don't think he's been sharing it with you."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Then you wouldn't believe us if we told you how we found you," Fred responded, looking faintly smug.

Nico sighed. "Fine. Whatever." He took the cake, then gave them a suspicious look. "You wouldn't mind taking the first bite, would you?"

The twins shared a look. "Ah, we've already taken more than our fair share of your cake," George said. "Enjoy!" He and Fred quickly retreated up the stairs.

Nico decided not to eat the cake.

Dementor lessons continued to be held weekly. By February, Harry was able to consistently produce a silvery shadow each time the boggart was released. Nico, on the other hand, had yet to produce any sort of Patronus while the boggart was in dementor form. He had managed to get enough of a hold on his concentration that he hadn't accidentally projected any other memories, but he was still frustrated with his lack of progress.

"You expect too much of yourself," Professor Lupin reproached. "For a third-year wizard, even an incorporeal Patronus like Harry's is a huge accomplishment. And neither of you is passing out any more."

"I thought a Patronus would charge the dementors down, or something," Harry said, sounding disheartened. "Make them disappear…"

"The true Patronus does do that," Lupin replied. He offered a few more words of encouragement, then pulled three bottles of butterbeer out of his briefcase…and tactfully ignored Harry letting slip that he'd had it before.

Halfway through his butterbeer, Harry suddenly spoke up. "What's under a dementor's hood?"

Lupin lowered his bottle. "Hmm…well, the only people who really know are in no condition to tell us. You see, the dementor lowers its hood only to use its last and worst weapon."

"What's that?" Nico asked warily.

"They call it the Dementor's Kiss. It's what dementors do to those they wish to destroy utterly. I suppose there must be some kind of mouth under there, because they clamp their jaws upon the mouth of the victim and…and suck out his soul."

Nico choked on his butterbeer. "They WHAT?!"

Harry had gone pale. "You mean, they kill…?"

"Removing someone's soul doesn't kill them, it obliterates them," Nico snapped. "No eternal reward, no eternal punishment, no eternal rest, no anything." He looked back at Lupin. "The dementors can actually do that?"

Lupin nodded grimly. "It's the fate that awaits Sirius Black. It was in the Daily Prophet this morning. The Ministry have given the dementors permission to perform it if they find him."

"The Ministry authorizes this?!" Nico exclaimed, thoroughly revolted. "Who are they to deliver a sentence like that?!"

"Black deserves it," Harry said abruptly, his expression dark.

"You think so?" Lupin responded, raising an eyebrow. "Do you really think anyone deserves that?"

"Yes," Harry said defiantly. "For…for some things…"

Nico snorted humorlessly. "There are worse fates than oblivion. The dementors might actually be doing Black a favor. Not that any mortal government ought to have the right to decide that."

Lupin raised an eyebrow again, this time at Nico. "'Mortal' government?"

Nico winced at his slip. "Governments already make life miserable enough. They have no business interfering with what comes after."

"You seem to have a very low opinion of governments," Lupin noted.

"I haven't had the best of experiences with them," Nico said flatly. He drained his bottle, then stood up. "Good night."

Up in the dormitory, Nico paced, trying to rein in his temper. The idea that mortals were handing down a sentence like that, completely denying the Underworld its chance at judgment…it infuriated him. And the fact that these creatures even existed, apparently outside his father's control…if he hadn't still been banned from non-emergency shadow-travel, he might very well have gone to his father's palace right then and there to ask him about the situation.

"Merlin's beard, it's cold in here," a voice complained. Nico jolted out of his reverie to see Neville trying to re-light the fire in center of the room.

"Sorry," Nico said. He tried to think of something as non-Underworld-y as possible, and settled on once again thinking of Will. The temperature rose several degrees.

"That's better," Neville said with a sigh of relief. Then he frowned at Nico. "…wait, did you just warm things up in here? Without any sort of spell?"

"Maybe I did," Nico responded grumpily, too worked up to bother lying. He opened his trunk to grab a quill and parchment, deciding to write a letter to Will to vent his frustrations.

Neville eyed Nico askance and walked over to his own bed, increasingly convinced that his friend was hiding something.