When Nico woke the following afternoon, he found that the other four students involved in the previous night's events had already been released. Madam Pomfrey tried to insist he stay for more testing, but he snuck out of the hospital wing the first chance he got.

Most of the school body was gone, taking advantage of another Hogsmeade visit. However, Neville was waiting in the dormitory, petting Vescia. "So…I think we need to talk," he said.

Nico sighed and sat on his bed. "Yeah, I suppose we do."

"Your father's Hades, isn't he?" Neville asked bluntly. Nico stared, and Neville pulled a Hades Mythomagic card out of his pocket. "It all made sense, once I thought about it. Everything about you seems to be somehow death-themed, and when you add in the Greek and the really old dad and the mythology-themed game…it made sense."

"Y-yeah," Nico stammered. "And…and you're okay with that?"

"Nico, I told you last night, I hate it when people compare me to my parents—so I'm not going to compare you to yours. Despite the death theme, it's not like you go around randomly killing people."

"Neither does my father," Nico grumbled. "Contrary to popular belief, he doesn't want to kill everyone and bring them into his domain. After thousands of years of people dying, the Underworld is getting overcrowded as it is. Just don't do any magic to keep your soul in the mortal world despite your body's death, and my dad will leave you alone."

Neville took a slightly shaky breath. "Well, that's good to know."

"And he doesn't want to sentence everyone to eternal damnation either—only the worst of the worst get that. People seem to forget that there's more to the Underworld than the Fields of Punishment."

"That's also very good to know." Neville swallowed. "So…what else can you do, besides sort-of-but-not-really-Apparate inside Hogwarts?"

"It's called shadow travel. I can go pretty much anywhere in the world—or the Underworld—but the farther I go, or the more people I take with me, the more it drains me. I can also…are you sure you want to know?" Nico asked nervously. "Just about everything else involves death…"

Neville lifted his chin. "So long as it doesn't involve actually killing people, yes, I do."

Nico flinched, quickly resolving not to mention what he'd done to Bryce Lawrence. "I can animate corpses and summon the spirits of the dead. I can command spirits too, if I really want to, but I generally try not to violate their free will. And I can sense death. I can sense if there's a nearby death, or I can sense if someone I know dies, even when they're nowhere near me."

Neville looked faintly nauseated, but to his credit, he was not deterred. "What about making things colder? I swear that always happens when you're upset about something."

Nico winced. "Sorry. Not something I do on purpose. For children of the gods, magic works a bit differently than it does for wizards: we don't need wands, nor do we really cast spells. We just…have certain abilities. And no matter how good we get at using those abilities on purpose, we tend to…ah…have an effect on things, when we get emotional."

"We?" Neville said, surprised. "There are others?"

"Yeah, there's an entire camp in New York for children of the Greek gods, and another one in California for children of the Roman gods. The camps serve as both sanctuaries and training grounds; outside of heavily magically shielded places, ancient monsters have a way of finding us and trying to kill us. Not many of us survive to adulthood, particularly on the Greek side."

Neville's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "You—what?!"

Nico winced again, belatedly realizing that this news would be a shock to Neville. "Sorry. The more powerful our godly parent, the more monsters we attract and the higher the likelihood of an early violent death. Hades is one of the most powerful of all, so…yeah. I've gotten used to the idea that I'm probably not going to live long enough to graduate from Hogwarts."

"That's horrible," Neville said sympathetically.

"Not as scary to me as it would be to most people. Before I came to Hogwarts, I spent more time in the Underworld than the mortal world. To me, dying just means not being allowed out any more."

"Why…why were you spending so much time there?"

Nico sighed. "Look, Neville, you don't know the half of how horrible my past has been. If you think that what you've heard so far sounds bad, you really don't want my whole life story."

Neville was silent for a little while, considering this. "I guess I probably don't. But you don't have to keep secrets from me, Nico. You can't help who your father is, or what 'abilities' you inherited from him. I'm not going to turn against you for it."

Nico swallowed, remembering Jason saying something similar after the incident with Cupid. He was still keeping a secret from Neville…but did he dare share this one as well?

Everyone he'd told so far had insisted that attitudes were different now. Will didn't even hide it at all. It was time to take a leap of faith. "Actually, there's one other secret…" Nico stopped; his mouth seemed to have gone very dry.

"…yes?" Neville prompted, looking at him expectantly.

Nico took a deep breath and steeled himself. "The person I'm seeing in America, is…well…"

"Another child of the gods?" Neville guessed. "Honestly, I figured that as soon as you told me there are others like you."

Nico shook his head. "No. Well, yes, but that wasn't what I meant. The person I'm seeing is…is…his name is Will."

"Oh." Neville looked like he wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

"I don't watch you or any of the other guys undress or anything," Nico said hurriedly. "I just…"

"Whoa, calm down," Neville interrupted. "I wasn't saying you did. I was just surprised you were making such a big deal of it."

"You mean, you're okay with it?"

"I don't know what people are like in Italy or America or wherever, but around here, people would make a bigger deal out of you dating a Muggle girl than a magical guy. Not that I object to Muggle girls!" Neville hastily added.

Nico subconsciously picked up Vescia and drew a shaky breath. "I saw two men killed for it back in Italy."

Neville frowned. "Well, us Brits are more civilized than that, don't worry."

Nico heaved a massive sigh of relief. "Thank you, Neville. You have no idea how much that means to me."

Neville smiled. "I'm your friend, Nico. I don't care how 'different' you are."


Later, Hermione met up with Nico in the common room. She looked subdued. "Did you hear about Lupin?"

"No, what about Lupin?"

"Snape 'let slip' that he was a werewolf at breakfast, and he resigned."

Nico was suddenly struck with an unpleasant mental image of himself being driven out of Hogwarts for his parentage. Or for being gay. Or both. Then he forced himself back to reality. "Snape is worse than Cupid," he growled angrily. "At least Cupid only made me come out to one other person."

Hermione was somewhat taken aback by the bizarre comparison, but she quickly recovered. "Anyway, Lupin's gone. So, care to tell me about Black's escape last night?"

"I took him to the Forbidden Forest and introduced him to a thestral. They should be out of the country by now."

"That's good." Hermione took a deep breath. "Nico, I've been meaning to tell you, when you're around dementors…you don't just project your memories onto the people around you. Any time I touched you to try to help you, I…saw…more. More than saw, it was like I was reliving your memories. I saw Cupid, that jar, my own Petrification, and…Tartarus. Great Merlin, Nico, I don't know how you didn't completely lose your mind."

Nico stared at her in horror. For a long time, he didn't seem to know what to say. When he finally did speak, his response was not what Hermione expected. "You saw Tartarus?"

Hermione nodded mutely.

Nico gave Hermione a brief hug, much to her surprise. "I'm surprised you didn't go insane. I wouldn't have thought any mortal could glimpse it, even second-hand, and survive with their sanity intact."

Hermione sniffled. When she spoke again, her voice was somewhat shaky. "So, what, being a demigod means you can't go insane?"

Nico grimaced, shuddering. "Not at all. We can see certain things that aren't meant for mortal eyes, but that doesn't we can't be driven insane over time. Tartarus very nearly did it for me."

Hermione swallowed. "So…how did you stay sane?"

Nico briefly shut his eyes. "I had to. Simple as that. The fate of the world and everyone on it depended on me telling people about the Doors of Death." He shuddered again. "So, anything else happen while I was out?"

It was a blatant attempt to change the subject, but Hermione allowed it. "Everyone's talking about what happened last night. Percy Weasley has a lot to say about how he would improve security if he gets into the Ministry."


At dinner that night, Nico walked over and sat by Harry and Ron. "Your godfather asked me to give you a message," Nico informed Harry. "He says he'll see you again, and you're truly your father's son."

Harry swallowed. "So…it's true? You helped him escape?"

"Yes."

"How?" Ron demanded. "We never saw you leave the hospital wing."

"Harry's not the only one who has a way to get around unseen," Nico said evasively. He was about to stand up and leave, but Harry spoke again.

"However you did it…you saved my godfather from a fate worse than death." Harry took a deep breath. "Thank you."

"It wasn't for you," Nico said uncomfortably. "I wouldn't let them do that to anyone. Especially an innocent man."

Harry gave Nico a curious look. "How long did you know the truth?"

Nico sighed and started serving himself dinner. "About an hour longer than you did. Until last night, all I knew was that I'd found a big, friendly, hungry dog on the grounds, so I started bringing him food. I guess he figured that, after he'd spent a whole year being nice and showing me secret passages, I was the most likely to hear him out. He revealed himself to me and asked me to get Pettigrew out of Hagrid's hut for him."

Harry shook his head. "And I spent the whole year thinking he was a Grim every time I saw him."

"At first, I thought he might be a Grim too," Nico admitted casually. "But once I'd survived the next few days, it was pretty clear he wasn't."

Ron snorted in disbelief. "Does nothing faze you?"

Nico leveled him with a flat look. "There's plenty that fazes me, you've simply been fortunate enough not to encounter it yourself."

"Like bottomless pits, apparently," Harry noted.

Nico shuddered. "If you're referring to my boggart, then believe me, there's a bottom to that pit. And that's all I'm going to say on the subject." He picked up his plate and moved farther down the table. Harry and Ron shared a look, but did not follow him.


The last few days of the term passed quickly. Exam results came out, and all the third years passed into fourth year. Thanks to the efforts of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, they won the House Cup for the third year running.

And then came time to go home on the Hogwarts Express. Neville and Luna joined Nico and Hermione in their compartment. "Are any of you going to the Quidditch World Cup?" Neville asked. "It's in Britain this year."

"Oh yes, Daddy's already bought our tickets," Luna said happily. "He made sure to get tickets for us to go a week early, so we can check the pitch for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks."

"Gran won't buy tickets," Neville said sadly. "Doesn't think it's worth the expense."

"I'm not sure if I'll end up going," Hermione said. "I'll have to talk to my parents. I imagine it would be a bit difficult for them to buy tickets, being Muggles and all."

"I'm not sure either," Nico added. "It sounds interesting, but I might be busy."

Hermione gave him a worried look. "Busy with what, exactly? I thought your family had been getting along lately."

"Oh, they have," Nico assured. "But my American friends and I have been working on something."

"Working on something?" Hermione repeated warily.

"If it works out, you'll see. With, ah…" Nico glanced at Luna. "With Padfoot's help, planning should go smoother."

Neville and Hermione shared a baffled look at that. However, Nico didn't seem inclined to volunteer any further details.

"You should try to come, Nico," Luna urged. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And, uh…" She blushed. "I'd really like to see you there."

Nico considered this. "Well, maybe I can take one day to go to the World Cup."


Back at Platform 9 ¾, they said their good-byes and dispersed. Luna rejoined her father, Neville went over to his grandmother, Hermione met up with her parents, and Nico was met by Will and Jason.

"I've gotta say, Nico, you really undersold that dog to us," Jason stated, eyes sparkling with amusement.

"I didn't realize he was a human," Nico defended, slightly red-faced.

Will raised his eyebrows. "Your sister is dating a guy who regularly turns into a bulldog, and it never crossed your mind?"

"Yeah, well, Sirius doesn't turn into a bulldog," Nico retorted.

Will laughed and slung an arm around Nico's shoulder, steering him toward the exit. "Come on. We've got work to do."


A/N: And that's it. I have kept my promise not to abandon this fic mid-year, but that promise never extended to writing all seven years. I've lost interest in this universe, to the point where writing it feels more like a chore than fun. I'm happy that so many people have reviewed and favorited, but I write for my own enjoyment, and right now that means moving on to other projects. It's possible that I'll come back to this some day, but I make no guarantees. Besides, there are far more existing crossovers for Goblet of Fire onward.

And for those of you who are dying of curiosity regarding Nico's mysterious plans with Sirius, he's been working with the camps to remove the dementors from Azkaban and set up non-soul-sucking security.