CHAPTER SUMMARY
Nico and Thalia have a heart-to-heart. Hermione has a divine visitor.
BEGINNING NOTES
Chapter Rating: General Audiences
Content Warning: Rape (mentioned only)
Word Count: 4232
We have two new betas, guys! Oli and Suhaila! Suhalia has exams, so she'll make her debut next week.
And all the characters are owned by JK Rowling, or Rick Riordan.
Credits at the end.
_NICO_
Nico knew he should sleep. He'd only gotten a half-hour's worth in that convenience store, and, after the pure exhaustion of dark magic and fighting to make his soul stay where it belonged, he should be at least a little tired. But he wasn't. At all.
It was 4:09 a.m., December 31st. Twelve hours, nineteen minutes left to speak with Ceres and save the world from war. And his nerves had passed the "overdrive" setting back in Indiana. Ceres would kill him the moment they stepped foot in Montana. Khione, or whichever god cast the raging blizzard, was trying to kill him now. Zeus was back in New York, wreaking havoc on the biggest city in America to send his daughter's chosen hero a message:
I want Hades gone. Make this difficult for me, and I'll kill your family all over again.
Nico thought nothing could be crueler than watching Bellatrix Lestrange torture Will at Riddle's behest. The Lord of the Sky proved him wrong.
"Do you think Sky Guy's aiming his Bolt at me right now?" Nico asked the thestral below him. "Maybe Ms. le Fay too. Oh, and Papà. They made you together, you know. The only time they ever cooperated, but this was before the whole kidnapping thing happened. So, I can't get blasted by Sky Guy unless you drop me. I guess he could send a gust of wind. Or Ms. le Fay could get me if Papà turns a blind eye. He'd do it too... Newt, this was a terrible idea."
"N- Newt?" Nico turned. Thalia was shivering something awful, even with all the layers and furs she had wrapped around her body. She was white as a sheet. Even that silvery glow of a Hunter didn't hide it. He probably didn't look much better.
"Sorry... I ramble when I'm nervous. Um... I thought everyone was asleep." Thalia was too terrified to say anything. "You know, we could land for a bit since everyone else is out cold. No one would know."
Relief washed over Thalia's face. Nico directed Newt to the ground; his heartbeat slowed with every meter they dropped. They plunged under the clouds, back into the thick of the blizzard, but he barely felt the temperature drop. He'd shivered every time a wind above the clouds touched his skin up in the sky; down below, the frostbite seemed to wear off.
"T- thanks," Thalia stammered. Newt kept flying, hovering over the snow. The farmland and prairies of Nebraska had replaced the woods a while ago, but they were still forced to slow down because, below the clouds, the falling snow constricted their vision.
Thalia started to climb down Newt's tail. "Don't," he warned. "There's a reason Newt won't land, and I don't think it's because he'd get too cold. He doesn't have any skin, so I don't think he'd be able to feel-"
"Got it. Snow's too high. I'd get trapped."
"...yeah. Hey, I'm... sorry, about before. Running away, the wampus cats. I put you all in jeopardy. It's just that... no, no excuses... uh, nevermind."
She wasn't shivering anymore. She pulled her scarf off of her mouth and took a deep breath of the biting, winter air. A smile appeared underneath her fur-lined hood. "So, Newt?"
"Oh, right." Nico smiled sheepishly back. "Thought he needed a name. It's a joke. Back in Ms. le Fay's lands, they had this exam called the N.E.W.T. because they're obsessed with naming stuff after animals. I have a stupid sense of humor, except for sarcasm."
"Not as bad as Latino hammer-boy." Nico suppressed a laugh. "I can do the weird names too." She lounged on Newt's back, supporting herself with her arms. "I still remember when you called Mr. D 'the wine dude.' And don't ask me to forget, because I don't forget."
Nico groaned. "I was ten!"
"And apparently you're still at it."
He looked down, embarrassed. "I didn't want to name the gods outright. Names have power."
"I'm surprised you went this long without shouting at me for being a Hunter."
"...I kind of forget that you were one."
"Thank Artemis, I've seen a miracle."
"Hey! Attitude's my thing!" Thalia laughed; it echoed throughout the frigid winter air. "How did you work things out with them?" Nico asked. Thalia knit her brows, confused. "The Hunters. I thought you hated them, and then you come back, and I find out you replaced Zoë Nightshade as their leader."
"Oh." She wiped a melted snowflake off cheeks red with cold. "I hated Zoë, because she told me Luke would betray me, and he did. I loved Luke. I didn't want to admit she was right. But we got along better during the quest, and I made my peace. I had to join for the sake of the Great Prophecy... but I'm glad I did."
Nico was taken aback. "You weren't eavesdropping on Annabeth and me before breakfast yesterday, were you?"
"No. Why?"
Nico clamped his mouth shut. It was too dry for him to speak another word. He thought no one could understand his feelings about the Wizard Genocide, but suddenly...
Hestia, do you have something to do with this?
"Nothing, nevermind."
"I want to talk to you about something," Thalia said.
"What is it?"
Thalia started playing nervously with the hem of her parka. But she kept her eyes trained on him. "Do you know how I met Annabeth?" she asked.
"No."
"My mom, well, she wasn't exactly... stable. And after she gave Jason to Juno, I lost it. I ran away and never looked back. Zeus guided me to Luke, and, eventually, Annabeth. The two of them helped me survive. Eventually, Grover found us and brought us to camp."
"And then you turned into a tree. I remember that when I first came to camp."
Thalia nodded. "So many monsters were chasing us that there was no way we'd all make it out alive. I made my final stand on Half-Blood Hill, ready to die for my friends. Dad turned me into a tree to save my spirit from the Underworld." She paused. For a second, her eyes were far away. "You know why I did it? I'd spent my life running from my problems, from Mom, from the monsters. I was tired of it all. I wanted to do more than run. I wanted to fix things." She smiled sadly. "I'll admit, when we first met, I didn't like you much. But I'm realizing that maybe it's because I see myself in you. Don't make my mistake. You can't give up hope. And you can't run from who you are."
Nico laughed bitterly. "I've got the Jacksons, my friends, and Will. I've never been happier. I'm fine with running."
"I went hard too, after I found out Luke went to Kronos. It's easier not to hope once everything goes wrong. It's a lot harder to fix things."
Nico laughed bitterly. "Fix things? I think that ship sailed when Bianca died." He meant to end it there, but somehow his mouth reopened and he heard himself say, "Did you and Percy really do everything you could to save Bianca? I mean, everything you could?"
Nico expected that to catch her off-guard too, but her face was stoic. It reminded him of her father's expression (or lack thereof) when Nico saw him on Olympus after the Second Titan War. Those stormy, electric blue eyes put Nico a little on edge. He remembered how dangerous Thalia could be if she wanted to, should she actually lose her temper. She could wreak havoc just like dear old dad.
"Bianca wouldn't listen to Percy. But he tried, Nico, and Zoë and I didn't know what was going on until she was already inside the automaton. She felt responsible for the whole thing; she wouldn't let anyone else sacrifice themselves no matter what we said or did."
"Do you think we could make peace? Not the Hunters, but you and me?"
"Don't see why not, death boy."
"How do you know that nickna- ...I am going to kill Will Solace if it's the last thing I do, I swear to the gods."
_HERMIONE_
Around five in the morning, Hermione officially went mad. She was drifting in and out of consciousness in a haze of exhaustion and freezing cold, debating whether the purple spots in the air were hallucinations or her imagination, when she noticed a man sitting on Tanisha's bed.
"I heard your prayers, my dear," he said.
Hermione sat up straight in her bed. Wide-eyed, not knowing what else to do, she screamed at the top of her lungs. "MUM! DAD! THERE'S SOMEONE-" she cut herself off, hand clasped over her mouth. "You're a death eater. You're here to kill me."
"I am not here to kill you, Hermione Granger."
She shrieked again. "How do you know my name?!"
The man chuckled. "I am Merlin, god of Wizards and Keeper of the Wizarding World. You sent a prayer to my wife. She is too occupied to respond, so I took the liberty of addressing it."
Hermione shook her head vigorously. "No, no, no, no, no, Greek gods don't appear to mortals unless they want a child and you're not doing that to me!"
He stood. Hermione scrambled back as far as her bed could go, then ripped the first thing she could off of the night-table. "Stay back! I'm armed!"
Merlin looked at her curiously. "That's a lamp."
"I- I'm still armed!"
With a flick of his fingers, the lamp flew from her hand and the bulb shattered on the floor. Where was her wand? Hidden in a drawer, and she couldn't see anything without her flashlight. But Harry's was on the floor next to her! Hermione scrambled back in her bed, screaming some more, holding the sheets in front of her face and cowering at the man in front of her. He advanced, reaching out to touch her, falling for her ploy. She kicked him in the nose from under the covers, tore them off, and dove behind the bed. "Come on, come on," she whispered as she felt around. Just in time, her hand closed around something wooden. She jumped from the bed and pointed it right at Merlin. "Petrificus Totalus!"
The white light stopped in mid-air, then curled up in a ball like her Hermione had cast Lumos. The spell shot into the air and divided into a million pieces, and, with it, Merlin created new constellations. In the blink of an eye, Hermione and Tanisha's bedroom ceiling resembled the Great Hall's.
Hermione got a good look of him for the first time. He was tall and chiseled with the olive skin, black hair, and dark features of an Italian. He had a short, trimmed beard, but the moment Hermione focused on it, it got hazy, like she was looking at the rising smoke at the top of a smokestack. His eyes were bright purple and so blinding that they genuinely glowed; that's what Hermione saw before in the dark.
He wore robes of a pale green background, but every inch was intricately embroidered with moving pictures telling a hundred different stories. There was Death handing the Percival brothers the Deathly Hallows, there were the four founders of Hogwarts casting their final protection spells over the castle, there was the Pureblood Unity Garrison (P.U.G.) submitting to the Statute of Secrecy in 1692, there was Dumbledore defeating Grindelwald, there was Nico di Angelo defeating Lord Voldemort, and on and on and on.
A wooden collar, made from a mixture of wand-quality woods, covered the sides and back of his neck like a three-quarter turtleneck. Curves and lines were carved in tiny but exquisite detail, each glowing the color of whatever spell the wand-motion corresponded to. He had a Roman-style headdress of woven dragon heartstring and unicorn, thestral, and veela hairs; phoenix feathers were weaved in every few inches to ornament the design. His arms had a maze of silver lines all over them, ending at his hands where pools of silver replaced fingernails. Unicorn blood.
"I thought Merlin was an old man," Hermione blurted out. Merlin was... beautiful. Mesmerizing. Harry's wand fell out of her hand and clattered on the floor. Hermione dropped to her knees, tears in her eyes, so overtaken by the presence of this man, of this raw, powerful, beautiful man.
He smiled in bored amusement. "Yes, I was an old man for a long time. But why would I stay that way for all eternity?" He reached out his hand for Hermione to take. When she did so, her hand shook so much that it was nothing but a blur. At the contact, her entire body convulsed, but Merlin kept it firmly clasped in his own. "I know how hard it is for a mortal to see a god for the first time. But you are strong. You are one of the chosen, as I once was." She stood, but her body wouldn't stop shaking. She fell forward, right into Merlin's waiting arms, in a hug so warm and pure she felt as though she was a baby in the hospital being held for the first time.
It took far too long for her to recover. She hadn't the strength to run from Merlin's arms. "You're... not going to rape me?" she asked weakly.
"No. I swear on the River Styx."
She felt Merlin direct her back to her bed and sit her down. She opened her eyes, staring at the ceiling stars with childlike wonder. "All the times I heard those stories, even after the war, I never thought... well, I..."
"You never thought we were real," Merlin finished for her. "I've heard so. Muggles think I am nothing more than a legend, and the Wizarding World thinks that my ascension to Olympus is nothing but a myth. I daresay I got hit harder than most of my fellow immortals in that regard."
She looked up at the god, stunned once again at his beauty and power. Her mind and memory couldn't do it justice. "Why appear to me? Like I said, in the myths, Greek gods only appear when they want a child."
"Roman god, my dear. Hecate and I are Roman, not Greek. There is a difference."
"But..." Hermione's brain worked in overdrive, trying to think in front of this divine presence. "Isn't Hecate's Roman form Trivia?"
Merlin chuckled. "Trivia was a goddess in her own right until she faded and Hecate absorbed her duties. No, the Greek Hekate and the Roman Hecate are now so combined that she likely cannot resume her full Greek form, not that she has ever tried. Beyond a few choice details of her appearance that she rather liked from her other body, Hekate with a 'k' is gone. The Romans always appreciated her more than the Greeks, and so she favored them; she assumed her complete Greek form for the final time the day Sparta fell. I, alas, never got to see it. And I have never bothered to make a Greek form of my own." He shook his head. "Many at Camp Jupiter call her 'Trivia' and 'Hecate' interchangeably. She stopped correcting them. The 'Netherland approach': if everyone searches for Holland, let them find Holland."
Hermione ignored the part about Holland. "You never answered my question. Why appear to me? I didn't expect a reply to my prayer, at least, not in person."
"After you helped to save countless of my wife's followers and my entire domain, I considered it rude not to reach out in person. You have our gratitude; neither of us wanted war, but when you are slighted by an enemy, honor demands vengeance." He sighed. "Hecate has a violent temper and a long memory. She goes too far when pushed too hard."
"You could say that about all the Olympians," Hermione pointed out.
"Yes, you could." Merlin held something out to her. Her wand. He hadn't moved, how had he...
He's a god, remember.
"Thank you, now I won't have to search in the dark."
Merlin said nothing. He waved his hand, and a swirling image, like that of a Pensive, appeared in front of them. Hermione saw a group of vaguely familiar people speaking to a young woman in a red dress accented with Fiendfyre. "There is trouble brewing again," Merlin said. "Hecate intends to declare war on Hades. A year has passed, and no Olympian has punished him for attempted genocide on her people. She is angry and vengeful."
The image shifted to a dark room adorned with precious gems. A man all in black and a teenager in a pastel, faded sundress sat on thrones and oversaw a small council arguing over a table of papers. "Hades and Persephone are preparing for the attack. Neither side will stand down."
The image shifted a third time to a vast, Greek throne room. Twelve thrones, all with individual designs, sat in a U. More than a few gods stood in groups of two or three, discussing plans with grave faces. Many hovered by a goddess tending to a hearth in the center of the room. "The council for the Solstice meets tonight, and a handful of gods have already declared a side. Many more deliberate."
He waved the image away. "My wife may have brought Hades up on charges, but everyone knows that this will be a peace treaty to end the war, not a trial to debate the past. Thoseey who win the most votes for council, and secure the most notable gods for battle, will win the trial. War will rage as facts come to light and each side convinces those on the other to switch allegiances. When the accuser is Roman and the defendant is Greek, there's no telling which form each god will take when they make their decision. Murky waters lay the foundation for messy conflict."
Hermione's eyes went wide. "You're telling me a war will start tonight?!"
Merlin nodded. "It begins already. Our allies punish those who assisted Hades last year with divine weather such as this blizzard. I advised Hecate and the council to pardon the wizards who assisted him, but it fell on deaf ears, I'm sorry to say. Hades and Persephone will not let this trial take place at sundown. They will buy themselves time. We attempt to slow the journey, but both my wife and I know it's a lost cause. Nico di Angelo will make it to Ceres, and the goddess of agriculture is loyal to her daughter, not Hecate. Persephone armed the boy with what to say, I have no doubt, and all will be lost."
"N- Nico di Angelo?" Images of the brooding, terrifying teen flashed in her mind. There he was, clear as day, standing in the doorway of the Room of Requirement with a shadowy robe, twisting staff of elder, and glowing orb fastened on top. She hadn't been able to get it out of her nightmares for weeks after the demigods left. "Do you want me to talk to him? I barely know him, and I haven't seen him since New Years Eve!"
Merlin shook his head. "I only ask that you remain vigilant. You wanted to know the truth-there it is. War is inevitable. Hades will declare it should his former son fail due to Hecate's interference. Hecate will declare it should her former general succeed due to Hades' interference. I am telling you to brace yourself and your family. Hecate turns her eye away from you now, and I must stand by her side and ready us for battle. For the next few days, things will be perilous in our lands, more so than when Riddle reigned. Prepare yourself, and do what you can to keep this world from chaos. Be my champion, and protect my domain."
"Your... champion?"
"You have greater power than you know, Hermione Granger. The goddess of divination told me you will succeed. It is up to you whether you decide to take the necessary steps to fulfill her prophecy."
He was about to apparate away when Hermione shouted, "Merlin!"
"Yes, my dear?"
"Can you cover me? About the Underage Magic law; I... think I need to-"
"Consider it done. Goodbye, and best of luck."
With a bang, the God of Wizards disappeared, and Hermione was back under the covers, sitting stark upright in her bed. Once glance to her left confirmed that Tanisha was fast asleep. She checked her phone. 4:45 AM.
She ran to Tanisha and shook her awake. "Tanisha! Wake your brothers for me, and Aunt Sadie and Uncle Tyler. Tell them all to meet me at the table right now! Okay?!"
"Oww... Hermione..." Tanisha rubbed her eyes and yawned. "What's going on?"
"It's an emergency! Please, go get them right now!"
When she saw the absolute terror in Hermione's eyes, she asked no more questions. In one minute flat, all the members of the Granger family were sitting patiently at the kitchen table, waiting for Hermione to speak.
Please, Merlin, let this succeed.
"Magic is real." She let the words ring through the empty house. April started to laugh like Hermione was being silly. Uncle Tyler and Aunt Sadie exchanged bewildered looks. Jeremy and Tanisha stared back blankly, convinced this was all a dream. "I'm a witch. The school I go to in Scotland is called Hogwarts and it's-"
"Hermione's a bit tired, everyone," Mum said. She stood. "Very funny, Hermione, let's all go back to bed now-"
"Stop it, Mum!" Hermione screamed. Mum went pale.
"Hermione!" Dad whispered right into her ear. "You're breaking wizarding law. What are you doing?"
Hermione shook her head, tears in her eye. "Dad, do you remember what I told you? The Wizard Genocide? All of it's coming back. Merlin, the God of Wizards, just spoke to me and he said we're all in danger and we have to get out!"
The color drained from Dad's face, too. "What do you need?" he asked.
"Wait, wait, wait," Aunt Sadie said. "Nina, George, what are you talking about? Is this some kind of joke?"
"The storm won't stop until we're crushed by the snow," Hermione explained. "I can get all of us to the Burrow. Merlin agreed to cover all the magic from the Ministry as a thank you for last year. The Weasleys can side-along apparate... oh no, I didn't pack any Floo Powder!" She scrambled through her overnight bag with the aid of her flashlight, but her coin purse of Floo Powder wasn't there. "No, no, no!"
"Oh my god! Mom, look!" Jeremey shouted.
The fireplace glowed green, the same green, Hermione realized, as Merlin's robes. "Thank you, Merlin!" she cried, and bolted into the fireplace, too flustered to even give a destination.
Luckily, she had a god on her side.
"Ron!" Hermione screamed the moment her feet touched the Burrow's living room. Ron wasn't there, but Mrs. Weasley and Fleur Delacour were chatting as they prepared breakfast. The morning sun rose in the sky without a hint of snow anywhere.
"Hermione?" Mrs. Weasley gasped. "I didn't expect you for another few days! Oh, look at you! How are you?"
"No time!" Hermione gasped. "Wake everyone who can apparate up. I'll explain later; my family's in danger back in New Hampshire. The fireplace is connected to my ski lodge, you can go through there, but I don't think my family will jump into the flames-"
Mrs. Weasley was already gone, making a terrific noise as she woke up her husband and sons. Fleur ran to Hermione's side and guided her to the couch. "You look so pale, 'ermione!" she said with growing concern. "Tell me what to do."
"Take the first person you see and apparate them here, please! My cousins don't know about any of this, they might resist..."
"It ees not a problem," Fleur assured her. "I will be back soon."
Fleur disappeared into the green, glowing fireplace. Ron thundered down the steps, and Hermione threw herself into his waiting arms. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she kissed him. As the Granger family filed in with members of the Weasley clan, Hermione relayed the last few days' events to Ron. Tears welled up in his eyes when she gave him Harry's belongings, but gratitude was soon replaced by a mixture of fear and determination at the end of her tale.
"Nothing can ever just die, can it?" Ron whispered bitterly. "It always has to come back to bite us in the ass."
Hermione took a gulp of air and sniffled. Her frizzy hair was falling dead in her face now, and her sleeve was wet from all the swipes on her nose, but she didn't notice any of it. She and Ron were back together to face the end of the world for the second time. Her family was safe from the snow. She had a god on her side, if only for a moment.
"The Americans promised to come back if this sort of thing happened again," Ron reassured her, "So if Merlin's right and things do go mad, we'll know what to do. Take two's always easier than take one. We'll get through whatever this is, for Harry."
"For Harry," Hermione agreed.
END NOTES
Shout out to all my CGP Grey fans who are the only ones who got the part about Holland.
I had a ton of fun writing Hermione's part. I think Merlin is my favorite character to write since Hecate was introduced.
Side note: if anyone's confused Morgana = Moran le Fay (Fey, Fae). BBC Merlin made up the name "Morgana" so it sounded less weird when people said it in the show. Kind of like how they shortened "Guinevere" to "Gwen."
Sources:
/thing/timeline-of-the-wizarding-world/
This week's beta commentary:
STORY: He had a short, trimmed beard,
LISSY: MERLIN'S BEARD
OLI: THE BEST BEARD
STORY: if everyone searches for Holland, let them find Holland."
LISSY: Because what fic would be complete without a CGP Grey reference?
STORY: Hermione ignored the part about Holland.
SARA: Me too Hermione
**This one made me laugh so hard I literally fell out of my desk chair and now I have a bruise on my forehead.**
Credits:
Melody Rose - Author (Tumblr melody0rose)
Sara - Beta Reader (Tumblr icomparemyselftoyou)
Oli - Beta Reader (Tumblr paradoxicalpsychic)
Please comment so I know what you think! See you next time!
COMMENTS
ShadeFireDragon
I like how Leo literally made a giant shield just because of a couple's spout XD How big is it?
And nuuu, the camp's in trouble! Which god is it? I jumped to Zeus, cuz ya know, wind... and stuff. Can other gods do it?
It is a very Leo thing to do, isn't it? Pretty big, I would think.
It is Zeus, I think Nico says that at the end of the chapter?
The Goode Ravenclaw
I love the chapter! when the Hunters were one the wolves as horses, it cracked me up. I honestly got scared when I thought that Hestia was going to die for a second. I can't wait for the next chapter!
It's one of my headcanons that the Hunters ride their wolves when they want to cover very long distances very quickly. And I'm glad I scared you, but I'm also happy Hestia didn't die because I like her a lot.