Nico woke from a dream about Cedric's body into a state of being in Voldemort's hideout.

He didn't know how else to describe what happened. It wasn't just dream visiting anymore, since his body wasn't actually asleep during it. But his soul somehow left it and traveled to where it needed to go. According to Ron, he would still be seated or laying how he left, but his eyes would be open and staring, his body breathing and his heart beating, but no soul there to control it.

Nico didn't tell his brother where his soul was going, just that he was being pulled other places.

This time he was pulled into a dark room with no windows, a light swinging from the ceiling above him. His mother- or Maria, he should probably call her- was standing next to him. As soon as he opened his eyes she was kneeling next to him, emotionless face, looking more like a doll than anything.

"You've arrived."

He nodded.

"Are you injured?"

"No."

She reached a skeleton-thin hand out and touched his stomach where he had been injured during the Triwizard Tournament last year. It had been dark in the cemetery, but he had seen enough to know she had been trying to help him with his injury.

But he still didn't know where he stood with her. They didn't mention rebirth, or Voldemort, or Hades. They didn't mention anything outside what they were meeting about.

"And your injury?" she asked.

"It's almost completely healed."

She pulled his shirt up and saw the missing flesh for herself, how it now looked more like an indent in his stomach than a wound. But the scar was still new and pink.

"Why was I brought here?" Nico asked.

She let his shirt go and stepped back. "To see for myself that you were healed."

Nico paused. "That's...it?"

She stared at him, and Nico wondered if she just couldn't show any emotion. If her face was forever stuck in that doll-like expression.

"How is your magic?" she asked.

Nico thought back to his years at Hogwarts and the wand in his pocket. "Good, I guess. Keeping up with my year."

"And Harry Potter's?"

Nico didn't know what she wanted to hear. Didn't know what Voldemort wanted to hear.

"Not anything special," he lied. "Not that I've seen, at least."

Maria- mama- looked him over. "You're growing."

Nico didn't think he was, but he did seem to be taller than he was the first time he saw her, back at that cemetery.

"I'm able to eat healthily and everything, so my body's in pretty okay shape."

She nodded and put a hand on his cheek, looking him over. "And your dark mark?"

"Still on my arm."

"And you hide it from your peers successfully?"

He nodded.

"Very well." she let him go. "You may go. Remember to keep your ears open and report back. And stay alive."

"Yeah, okay."

He willed himself away, and he imagined a soft "I love you" as he faded away from the scene.

Nico didn't meet any trouble in becoming a member of the Order of the Phoenix. With his status of demigod and protector of Harry known, everyone but Molly agreed to it. But his adoptive mother didn't have much to argue except that he was still a child.

He was in the middle of one of these meetings when the front door opened, and he and Mrs. Weasley both jumped to their feet at once. He heard the mutter of "like mother like son" as he exited the kitchen and came to the front hallway.

And there was Harry, standing with Nico's least favorite person recently- Mad-Eye Moody.

"Oh, Harry, it's lovely to see you!" Molly said as she pulled him into a tight hug. "You're looking peaky; you need feeding up, but you'll have to wait a bit for dinner, I'm afraid..."

"He'll be fine," Nico assured her. "It won't take too long."

Molly nodded and turned to the others. "He's just arrived, the meeting's started..."

Nico leaned against the wall and watched the adults file into the kitchen. As Mad-Eye passed him he stared him down, and Nico didn't do anything but glare back.

"No, Harry, the meeting's only for members of the Order," Molly said. "Ron and Hermione are upstairs, you can wait with them until the meeting's over and then we'll have dinner. And keep your voice down in the hall."

"Why?"

"I don't want to wake anything up."

Harry looked at Nico. "What about you?"

"In the Order."

"What d'you — ?"

"I'll explain later," Molly said. "I've got to hurry, we're supposed to be at the meeting — I'll just show you where you're sleeping."

"I can," Nico offered. "You can go back to the meeting, mom."

Molly Weasley didn't need to be told twice. If she had any chance to get him away from a meeting, she'd take it.

He watched her go before going to Harry, his hands deep in his pockets and his dark mark covered by his sleeve. "Keep your voice down and follow me."

"Why-"

"I'll tell you in a minute."

He gestured to him to follow and started up the dark staircase. He was adjusting well to the house after having been in the Underworld palace, but Harry was looking at everything in confusion and an air of uncomfortableness.

"Here," Nico whispered. "Door on the right. Ron and Hermione are in there."

"You're not coming in?" Harry asked.

Nico shook his head. "I should get back to the meeting before mom tries to kick me out for good."

He took in Harry's appearance one more time, made sure he seemed okay, healthy, and then went back downstairs to rejoin the meeting. Sometimes he forgot his real mission was to protect Harry and to help him take down Voldemort, not to just hide what he was a part of.

.

.

Nico helped Molly prepare dinner as the teenagers were allowed into the kitchen. He couldn't remember, but something in him told him he used to cook with his mama back in Italy.

The meeting before was just like every meeting had been. Voldemort's "son" was always brought up, along with the woman seen by Harry at the graveyard. Nico didn't think any of the wizards knew his real surname, but if it was found who she was and that he was related to her, things would get messy.

But so far, nothing. The meeting ending like it always did, with more questions than answers.

Dinner was humorous, was full of a light air Nico missed during the Order meetings. But after it, things got serious again.

"Nearly time for bed, I think," Molly said.

"Not just yet, Molly," Sirius turned to Harry. "You know, I'm surprised at you. I thought the first thing you'd do when you got here would be to start asking questions about Voldemort."

The air turned chilly, and Nico wondered if he'd ever be able to not think about Voldemort again.

"I did!" Harry said. "I asked Ron and Hermione but they said we're not allowed in the Order, so —"

"And they're quite right," Molly interrupted. "You're too young."

"But Nico-"

"It's different," five voices echoed.

"Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?" Sirius continued. "Harry's been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. He's got the right to know what's been happen-"

"Hang on!" interrupted George loudly.

"How come Harry gets his questions answered?" said Fred angrily.

"We've been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single stinking thing!" said George.

"You're too young, you're not in the Order," said Fred, in a highpitched voice that sounded uncannily like his mother's. "Harry's not even of age!"

"It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing," Sirius said calmly. "That's your parents' decision. Harry, on the other hand —"

"It's not down to you to decide what's good for Harry!" Molly argued. "You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?"

"Mom..." Nico tried.

"Which bit?" Sirius asked.

"The bit about not telling Harry more than he needs to know," Molly answered.

"I don't intend to tell him more than he needs to know, Molly," Sirius said. "But as he was the one who saw Voldemort come back. He has more right than most to-"

"He's not a member of the Order of the Phoenix!" Molly argued. "He's only fifteen and —"

"-and he's dealt with as much as most in the Order," said Sirius, "and more than some —"

"No one's denying what he's done!" said Mrs. Weasley, her voice rising, her fists trembling on the arms of her chair. "But he's still —"

"He's not a child!" said Sirius impatiently.

Nico rubbed his temples and sighed at the familiar argument. It had been just as ugly when he told her he'd be joining the Order. When she finally got at least Ginny to leave the room, Harry spoke his question.

"Where's Voldemort? What's he doing? I've been trying to watch the Muggle news and there hasn't been anything that looks like him yet, no funny deaths or anything-"

"That's because there haven't been any suspicious deaths yet," Sirius said. "not as far as we know, anyway. . . . And we know quite a lot."

"More than he thinks we do anyway," said Lupin.

"How come he's stopped killing people?" Harry asked.

"Because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself at the moment," said Sirius. "It would be dangerous for him. His comeback didn't come off quite the way he wanted it to, you see. He messed it up."

"Or rather, you messed it up for him," said Lupin with a satisfied smile.

"How?" Harry asked.

"You weren't supposed to survive!" Sirius explained. "Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was supposed to know he'd come back. But you survived to bear witness. And because of that witness, we are aware of two players we weren't before: the woman and the son."

"And the very last person he wanted alerted to his return the moment he got back was Dumbledore," Lupin said. "And you made sure Dumbledore knew at once."

"How has that helped?" Harry asked.

"Are you kidding?" Bill said. "Dumbledore was the only one You-Know-Who was ever scared of!"

"Thanks to you, Dumbledore was able to recall the Order of the Phoenix about an hour after Voldemort returned," Sirius said.

"So what's the Order been doing?" Harry asked.

"Working as hard as we can to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans," Sirius said.

"How d'you know what his plans are?"

"Dumbledore's got a shrewd idea," Lupin said. "and Dumbledore's shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate."

"So what does Dumbledore reckon he's planning?"

Nico knew all the answers and then some, so he let himself zone out. He could imagine Ginny upstairs, pissed she was the only sibling left out. He then thought of Anubis, his half-hellhound, how it was too suspicious to bring him this year. At the moment, he was living with and protecting little Nicole Hope, Nico's niece and the light of his life. But then his mind went to Camp, to Will...

"I'm going to head up," he whispered. "Are we done for the night?"

"We've said enough," Lupin nodded.

Nico didn't need to be told twice. He got up from the table and gave his mother a pat on the shoulder before moving toward the staircase, wondering where his soul would take him in a few hours time.