Rising From Shadowed Ashes

GreenCrystal19

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Heroes of Olympus; they belong to respective authors; J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. Cover art by Viktoria Ridzel (Viria/viria13/vika) as usual. Her art is amazing; she is now the official portrait artist.


Chapter 11: Broken Time

Nico's PoV

Nico had a plan.

It was a stupid, idiotic plan, but it was a plan.

He'd need to compare notes with Harry first; say that he'd spotted Sirius again. Ron and Hermione had seen him as well, though they hadn't recognized his identity. Nico considered fetching them to explain, but decided against it. He needed to begin the next phase of his plan quickly.

"Hey, Harry?" Nico said. Nico was still in the Hospital Wing; though once he talked to Harry, he'd head downstairs for breakfast—and a lot of action.

Harry looked over.

"I saw Sirius at the match. In dog form, at the top of the stands. Ron and Hermione saw him too."

Harry nodded. He didn't seem surprised. "I should really tell Ron and Hermione what happened..."

"No, Harry!" Nico snapped. "They can't be—"

"Trusted?" Harry asked. A small smile flickered across his face. "Di Angelo, both of them tolerated all of my adventures last year. It was pretty crazy, but they didn't say a word."

Nico snorted. "You weren't chasing a wanted murderer who could kill you."

Harry nodded. "True."

"Just give me some more time. After this weekend, I'll let you tell them...if I find something."

"Fine. But shouldn't I help—?"

"Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let you if her life depended on it."

"True. Well, I guess—" Harry suddenly brightened. "Wait! There is a way I can help you!"

Nico raised an eyebrow, waiting.

Harry grabbed a wad of parchment out of the deep pockets of his robes. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he whispered, tappping the parchment with his wand. Nico watched, amazed, as ink slowly appeared on the map, forming a map of Hogwarts. Harry flipped to the Hospital Wing and pointed.

"Look; that's me, and there's you. Over here is Madam Pomfrey, in her office. I could use this to help you find Sirius!"

"Or to find me?"

Harry blinked, then realized what Nico meant. "Er—"

Nico snorted. "Whatever. We have more important things to think about." He nodded at the map. "Any clues?"

Harry did a little jump, then began rapidly scanning the map. He's not near the Quidditch Pitch...not in the Forbidden Forest, from what I can see...wait! Here—there's a little path, near the Whomping Willow. Do you think—?"

Nico nodded. "It definitely leads somewhere important. I'll go check it out...after breakfast."


Nico's PoV

Nico enjoyed the luxury of a few minutes not spent worrying about murderers, or schoolwork, or demigod schist. He was currently absorbed in his pancakes, which were currently drowning in maple syrup, Percy style.

Hermione appeared behind him. "So, I'll assume you know about the dog that appeared in the stands."

Nico swallowed, then looked at her. "And?"

"What is it? Where'd it come from?" She crossed her arms. "And please, do not agree with Ronald and say its the Grim."

Ron appeared on Nico's other side. "But it is the Grim! Harry nearly died—"

Hermione glared at him. "He did not," she said. "Dumbledore was there the whole time!"

"But—"

"Please stop," Nico said, exasperated. "He's not the Grim."

"He?" Hermione asked sharply.

Nico gave her a for look. "Yes, Hermione. Snuffles, as I call him, is a boy."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "You're expecting me to believe that your dog just showed up in the stands?"

Ha, Nico thought. Even I don't believe that. Instead, he said: "Granger, I've got stuff to do. If you want to know about the dog, ask Harry."

He turned and quickly walked away before Hermione or Ron could ask further questions.


Nico's PoV

Nico had a problem.

As he stood gazing up at the Whomping Willow, he realized that there wasn't exactly any way he could get past the swinging, lashing branches without being seriously injured. He could hardly see the passage under it; it had taken Nico a whole five minutes to spot it—a small hole amount the roots.

He didn't particularly want to shadow travel, either—after such a big fading episode, he wasn't sure whether he should risk it. In addition, he didn't know the dimensions of the passage either—he could get stuck, or run into walls again. He didn't want that to happen; Nico was well beyond that phase—it'd been years since the last accidental trip to China.

Ambra solved his problem. Nico had developed an even closer relationship with the bird; she was quite talkative, and though she was also headstrong and stubborn, she'd learned how to fetch things for Nico, or take them somewhere. Flapping her huge black wings, she let out a cheerful caw and swooped downwards.

"Ambra, no! That's the—"

Nico stopped short; the tree was frozen, completely still. The raven had dodged the branches and had her talons pressed against a knot against the base of the trunk. "How did you...?"

Ambra cawed. "Nico!" She wanted him to hurry.

"Alright, alright." Nico approached wearily, and took a deep breath. "Well, here goes nothing."

He plunged into the dark passageway.


Nico's PoV

The tunnel was quite cramped; Nico was glad he hadn't shadow traveled. It was long, twisting and turning; and at one point Nico had to crouch, then even crawl. He was surprised when suddenly, the passageway opened out into a dusty room—a room Nico recognized. He was in the Shrieking Shack.

"How does this help?" Nico exclaimed, exasperated.

He'd been here already. But so has Sirius. Right. Nico glanced around, listening. Nothing.

Quietly, the son of Hades headed upstairs. Bedroom—empty. Leaving the room, Nico continued to search the house, though he doubted Black would've returned after Nico had seen him there. Closet—empty. Bathroom—empty. Kitchen—empty.

Nico sensed no ghosts, nothing at all that would suggest the house was inhabited, by ghost or human or whatever else. He sighed. No new leads. How was he supposed to find anything?


Nico's PoV

The Christmas holidays were approaching. Most of the students would leave, and classes would end—giving Nico a clear schedule to hunt around for Sirius Black. However, he wasn't planning on it—Nico had been missing the demigod camps. He intended to pay them a visit—talk to Reyna and Hazel and Will, do some redecorating in the Hades Cabin.

He'd begun designing the place with Annabeth's help, calling on some skeletal workers to help build it. Then he'd left for Camp Jupiter, and apparently Annabeth (or at least, PROBABLY Annabeth) had decided to...ah, finish the job, though Nico didn't see it that way. The interior design of the cabin was absolutely disgusting. Nico was not a vampire, thank-you-very-much.

And so, as Nico was finishing up Friday's classes, he was planning on a relatively relaxing Christmas. Until he spotted Hermione Granger standing in a deserted corridor—loaded with Potions supplies—with an odd little necklace, turning the hourglass symbol on it one time.

Nico was about to ask her what that was about, when she...she disappeared. And then, a girl—also Hermione—came walking in behind Nico—and her bag was filled with note paper and textbooks this time. "Hi Nico. What are you planning to do during holidays?" she asked, as though nothing odd had happened.

"Well, firstly, I'm going to do some research on hourglass pendents. And teleportation."

Hermione's face morphed into an expression of dread for a split-second, before being replaced by a confused expression. "Nico...are you feeling alright?"

"Hermione. I saw you. Does this have something to do with your cramped schedule? The references to classes you didn't even have?"

Hermione's eyes widened. There was no mistaking it—she definitely had a secret. Hermione said nothing; the corridor was completely silent. Nico heard the soft ticking of a clock, the scuttling of a rat nearby. Tick tick. Scratch scratch scratch.

Finally, Hermione exhaled. "Nico, I swore to Dumbledore not to speak of this—"

"Yeah, but it wasn't on the Styx, was it? Wasn't binding. Besides, I won't tell."

Hermione's eyes narrowed. "Styx...?"

"Hermione! Just tell me what's going on!" Nico said, suddenly remembering all of the things Hermione had said about him.

"Fine!" she snapped. "It's a Time Turner. I've been manipulating time—to attend all of my classes. The Ministry gave i—" She came to a stop.

Nico was glaring at her coldly. He had been trapped in the Lotus Casino, the Labyrinth. He'd faced Kronos; been born in a different century. Nico did not like the idea of manipulating time. "Manipulating time."

"Er—yes. But don't think I haven't been careful—there are loads of rules. Time travel is dangerous—"

"You think?!" Nico snarled. "Granger, how could you even think to do this—it's beyond dangerous! I've experienced it first-hand; I didn't even know what year it was! My sister—" Nico stopped himself; Hermione didn't need to know about Hazel. "That thing needs to be destroyed! Safety is more important than all of your classes!"

Hermione's eyes blazed. "As I was saying, di Angelo, the Ministry has a lot of rules! You can't be seen by your past or future self; you shouldn't go back more than an hour! I am doing this with permission!"

"Well, you need to stop—"

"What's going on over here?" Professor Lupin came around the corner.

Nico inhaled, then turned his gaze on him. "Nothing...Professor," he said coldly.

Lupin ignored Nico's pointed remark. "Good. As it turns out, I was actually looking for you. Harry's asked me for lessons on fighting the dementors—I decided to include you as well, if you'd like that. Lessons will start after break."

Nico paused. Knowing how to handle dementors would be nice...but it was Lupin. After a long pause, Nico finally managed: "I'll attend. It can't exactly hurt, knowing what to do."

Lupin nodded. "Thank you. I'll need to find something to practice with..." He walked off, muttering to himself under his breath.

Hermione gave Nico one last reproachful look, before hurrying off in the same direction as Lupin. Nico cursed under his breath; he hadn't been done with her. But of course she'd been smart enough to follow a professor, so Nico couldn't continue arguing with her.

Well, that left another mystery for Nico to deal with. Great.

In the meantime, he'd decided to IM Will and Hazel to see if they had any ideas about Sirius.

Heading over to unused girl's bathroom—home to a rather mopey ghost (though she was quite chipper around Nico) and a broken faucet. The faucet, Nico had discovered, would make a perfect spray for an IM, while the prism would make the rainbow. Of course, Nico could work with just the prism, but the mist allowed for a clearer connection.

Nico turned on the faucet and set down the prism in the correct position. Fishing a drachma out of his wizards' robes, he tossed it into the mist and said: "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering. Show me Will Solace at Camp Half-Blood and Hazel Levesque at Camp Jupiter."

He wasn't sure if this would work—a multi-person IM—but, after some static, Will and Hazel appeared in the mist, each sharing their own section—though the IM was a bit fuzzy, like Nico was having connection issues. Probably just the fact that he was calling two separate people.

Anyways, Will was eating dinner. Hazel was reading in bed—the sun had already gone down in CA, apparently, or hadn't yet risen. Nico wasn't good with the whole time zones thing.

"Oh, hi Nico!" Hazel said cheerfully.

Nico ignored her. "Will! Get out of there! I will not be seen wearing this uniform!"

Too late. The entire Apollo cabin was staring, and the rest of the camp was joining in. Will blinked, then jumped to his feet. "Um, gotta go! Apollo cabin, just follow the normal routine!"

Nico and Hazel watched as he ran off, finally stopping down in the central green among the cabins. "Well, that was awkward."

"You think?" Nico said.

"What'd you IM about?" Hazel asked, getting straight to the point.

"Well, I need some clues. Some ideas."

He began telling them about what had happened, including Hermione's time traveler and the incident at the Quidditch Pitch (which Will was not pleased about).

"Why didn't you bring your Anti-Dementor-Fun-For-Everyone?" he asked.

"Hey! I didn't think they'd come!"

Will sighed. "Fine. As for...Sirius?" Nico nodded. Will continued. "I think you should use that map Harry's found. But also look outside the school grounds, maybe? I mean, if the map only shows the school grounds, it's not exactly helpful."

Hazel nodded. "I agree with Will. I also think that maybe you should some research on Black himself—where'd he come from? Does anyone in the school know him, or may even be helping him?"

Nico noted that. He'd have to do some digging later.

"Anyways, we'll keep out eyes out. Oh, by the way, Leo came back!"

Nico blinked, stunned. "W-what?"

Hazel smiled. "You heard him! Leo didn't even come to Jupiter—the moment he was able to navigate out of the Sea of Monsters—"

"What was he doing in the Sea of Monsters?"

"I got lost! Hey, so I heard you're going to this new sch—oh wow. That uniform!" Leo came bouncing into view alongside Will.

"Leo Valdez!" Nico nearly shouted. Though he'd never particularly liked Leo (the feeling was mutual; Nico knew that he freaked Leo out) that didn't stop him from being A) excited out of mind to see him alive and safe and B) incredibly annoyed that Leo had scared the schist out of Nico. "Where have you been? You scared everyone half to death!"

Leo grinned. "Thanks! Missed you too. And about that—eww, is that a rat?"

Nico glanced behind him. Sure enough, a skinny rat was staring at him from behind one of the stall doors. Nico was fairly certain that it was Ron's rat...Scratcher? no, Scabbers—but dismissed the thought. Ron wouldn't let Scabbers out of his sight, especially with Crookshanks after him. Turning his attention back to Will, Hazel, and Leo, he shrugged. "Eh. As you guys can tell, this school has pretty rotten security. By the way, how come you guys haven't sent any mail?"

Hazel blinked. "Uh...we have?"

"Yeah. I've written like twel—TWO—letters," Will agreed.

"Huh." Nico frowned. "I dunno, then. Maybe the wind spirits are bad at mailing."

"Or someone's been intercepting," Leo said darkly.

Everyone looked at him.

"Hey! I wouldn't do that!" He said, raising his hands up. "I'm too busy, with camp, and Calypso, and all that."

"You found her?" Nico asked.

Leo nodded. "Yeah. Though she didn't do much to stop the entire camp from lining up to hit me."

Nico smirked. "I bet you all enjoyed that."

Will smiled. "Yeah. It was fun."

"Hey!" Leo protested. "Anyhow, maybe you can set some traps to catch this Sirius guy...?"

Nico shook his head. "Nah. He can shift into a dog; he'd be able to sense or escape any traps pretty easily. Anyways, how's the Hades Cabin? Has Annabeth...fixed it yet?"

Will shook his head. "Nope. But I have."

Nico blinked, alarmed. "You? An Apollo kid? What'd you do, paint it all yellow?"

"Nah," Will said. "I just fixed the curtains, changed the sheets. I even got Leo to make better bedrails, and one of the Athena kids—Malcolm Pace—fix the mattresses. Annabeth was busy designing new cabins."

Nico blinked, impressed. "Wow, Will. That was really nice of you. Those coffin bed thingies were getting annoying. STILL wanna go over there to see for myself. Probably added yellow accents or something."

Leo grinned. "Good, cuz I may have melted down the old railings for scrap. Might leave a lil present."

"Don't—even—go there," Nico said.

Hazel smiled, then yawned. "Well, I'm tired. Might as well break this up now."

Nico nodded. "Yeah. It'll be a busy day tomorrow, and I need to get to my next class. I'm probably late already—don't want detention."

The demigods said their goodbyes, and Nico broke the connection before heading off to his next class.

They'd given him down good ideas. He'd check the library (school records, maybe?), Trophy Room, whatever. He might even pop out of Hogwarts and like around in the surrounding areas. But for now, he really needed to get to class!


Nico's PoV

It was the Friday before Christmas break—the students would be given the day off, for a visit to Hogsmeade. The Gryffindors were in the Common Room, bundling up for the cold outside—scarfs, gloves, and thick, woolen cloaks were being put on (or at least, put in pockets or bags).

Nico had donned his aviator jacket, black jeans, and black skull T-shirt—the full outfit, minus uniform. Technically, they weren't required to wear uniform during Hogsmeade visits...Nico told himself.

Just in case, he slapped on his cloak. Maybe the professors wouldn't notice his...other accessories.

As he was about to set foot outside the Common Room, Hermione Granger stormed down the stairs to the girl's dormitory, an expression of fury on her face. The remaining Gryffindors—there weren't many—took one look at her and hurried out of the portrait hole, to safer, more peaceful places. Nico was about to do the same before Hermione shouted in a shrill voice: "Nico di Angelo!"

He froze, looked at her, and raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

Lowering her voice so only Nico could hear, she said: "You. Broke. My Time Turner!" She held out her hand; displaying a broken chain and smashed hourglass.

Nico blinked. Slowly, he raised his eyes to meet Hermione's furious gaze. "That...wasn't me."

Hermione snorted. By this time they were the only two left in the tower; Harry and Ron had left right before Hermione had come downstairs, promising they'd wait in the Entrance Hall. "Of course you did! You said you wanted it destroyed!"

Nico's eyes flared. "Yes. I did. But that doesn't mean I would actually do it! Someone must have overheard—"

"Who, Nico?! Lupin? He's a teacher; he would've gone straight to Dumbledore, who would've told him I had permission! You're just determined to mess up everything—"

"Me?! Granger, I did not want to be here! I would've gone straight back to New York if your Ministry of Magic hadn't forced me to stay so they could 'keep an eye on me!'"

"Well, obviously you can't be trusted!"

"I—didn't—break—it!" Nico hissed. "Someone else must have! You should focus on who, and why!"

Hermione glared at him, turned on her heel, and stalked out of the Common Room. "I'll be watching you, Nico di Angelo," she said over her shoulder as she left.

Nico stayed silent. One thing was clear: someone had sabotaged Hermione's Time Turner, and as much as Nico wanted to do it, it hadn't been him. But he had a pretty dam good idea of who had. And Nico was going to find him today, if it was the last thing he did.


Nico's PoV

Nico didn't go to Hogsmeade that day. Or at least, he didn't stay long.

Breaking his own (and Will's) rules, Nico took a long drink of Will's concoction (it really did help) and saved the water bottle in his personal locker of darkness—a useful trick Ambra had taught him. Turns out, she hadn't been putting his items anywhere—just storing them, and taking them out as Nico needed them (or sticking them in the dormitory whenever she was actually going there).

Then, the son of Hades disappeared into the shadows himself.

Voices whispered softly; chills went up Nico's spine. But he ignored it all; Nico knew exactly where he needed to be. He popped out near the end of the secret tunnel, nearly running into Harry.

"Black's been nearby," Nico said shortly. "Check the map. Now!"

Harry blinked, stunned into silence.

"I said, NOW!" Nico snarled. "This could be our only chance!"

Harry jumped, then opened the map completely. In its entirety, the map was almost as big as Harry.

"I'm...I'm not finding him!" Harry said.

"Try harder!"

"Okay, okay!" Harry narrowed his green eyes, scanning the parchment closely. "Here. I can barely see it, but there's a path leading up to...well, it goes off the map, but—"

"What?"

"Sirius Black just ran past!"


Nico's PoV

Nico wasted no time. He was gone in an instant. Upon arriving on the path, he stumbled a bit before grabbing the bottle from his storage space and sipping some more of it. Re-energized, Nico twisted his ring, and sword in hand, he ran up the path.

After several minutes, Nico arrived at a mountain cave. He ran inside, and there he was: Snuffles, a.k.a. Sirius Black.

Upon seeing Nico, Sirius transformed and drew his wand. "Stop!" he said. "Not one. More. Step."

Nico froze, glaring at him. He considered attacking—he could handle a few spells. But then he remembered that his original goal was supposed to be getting Black to talk. "I just want to ask a question: Why do you want to kill Harry?"

Sirius seemed to relax slightly; which Nico found strange. Black's answer was even stranger: "I don't."

Nico blinked. "But—the portrait, the sneaking about, the Time Turner—you killed thirteen people!"

"No. Someone else did that. Someone else got me framed—made me wait twelve years in Azkaban!" Sirius Black's voice rose in intensity as he spoke. Nico sensed real anger there—he didn't think that Black was lying.

"Who was it?"

"He said he was James Potter's friend. Said he wouldn't let us down. But then he sold them to Voldemort—that dirty, lying, son of a—" Black cursed, calling whoever-it-was some pretty strong names. There was a glint of something, of madness, in Black's eyes. Perhaps it was Azkaban. Perhaps it was pure hate. But...Nico didn't think it was evil. It reminded the son of Hades of himself—he'd seen, lost, so much. All of that could break something inside you—and even then, you could hide the pain, the madness, so almost no one could see. Like Nico often did himself.

But back to questioning Sirius Black.

"Who?"

"The rat," Black snarled. Nico was about to decide that Black was definitely mad, before he continued: "Another animagus—all four of us could transform, except Moony—he already had a...furry little secret. But then one of us betrayed the others—that cursed—" Black added a few more unflattering comments for good measure— "Peter Pettigrew. James and Lily Potter—dead!" Sirius' dark eyes burned with anger, and for a moment, he seemed to forget Nico was there, lost in his own memories.

Which was good, because Nico was trying to scan his.

Pettigrew—ah, yes. One of the wizards Black had killed—former friend, stood up to him, only remains: one finger. Nico's time struggling to read the papers and records in the library had paid off. "But..." Nico said carefully. "Didn't you...kill Pettigrew?"

Black threw back his head in a harsh, barking laugh. "I tried! Confronted him—was going to give the little rat what he deserved. But then, he let out a dozen curses, blew the whole street to bits—"

Nico interrupted him, remembering the finger. "But they found Pettigrew's finger. Said it was all that was left."

Black let out another barking laugh. "He cut it off. I didn't believe it myself—that someone like him would have the nerve. He always was a coward. But he's alive—at Hogwarts. I need to find him—the traitor. I've waited twelve years to avenge James, twelve long years—I won't anything stop me, Nico di Angelo, or anyone. Not even the Ministry."

Nico flinched at hearing his name. Gods of Olympus, this was more confusing than Nico expected it to be. "So—" Nico said, carefully. "Peter Pettigrew sold James and Lily Potter to Voldemort, faked the murder that got you convicted, then...then what? How'd he get to Hogwarts? How'd you know, and escape?"

Sirius seemed to calm down. His dark eyes still flickered with anger, but he seemed more...well, sane—than earlier. Nico calmed down as well; although the young demigod was still ready to use his sword, he held it at a more neutral angle. Black had lowered his wand as well. "Saw the paper. It was about Ronald Weasley—and I saw him. Peter Pettigrew. I knew it was him—no rat could live twelve years—and 'Scabbers' was also missing a toe."

"But the dementors! You know what they're like—the memories..."

"The cold. The feeling you'll never be happy again," Black agreed. "For twelve years I endured. Only one thing kept me sane: I knew was innocent. The dementors couldn't suck that out of me."

"But isn't Azkaban impossible to escape?" Nico asked, genuinely curious.

Sirius nodded. "For a human, yes. But I could transform. The dementors didn't know what to make of a dog's thoughts—they navigate by feelings, you know. No eyes—no one knows what's under a dementor's hood. Unless..." Sirius shuddered, then continued: "They don't feed you much. As a dog, I was skinny enough to slip through the bars. The dementors didn't notice at first—once they did, I was long gone. I swam across the North Sea—I was exhausted, but somehow, I made it."

Nico was, strangely enough, reminded of Tartarus—no matter what happened, he didn't give up. He persevered, because he needed to tell the others about the Doors of Death—maybe he and Sirius Black were more alike than Nico had thought. But what to do with that knowledge...? Suddenly, Nico had an idea—an idea that could fix everything.

"I'll help you find Pettigrew."

Sirius' eyes brightened. "Really?"

Nico nodded. "But we aren't going to kill him."

Sirius snarled like a wild animal. "Why not? That's all the bloody traitor deserves!"

Nico smirked despite himself. "Perhaps. But...I have a better idea."

Sirius tilted his head, like a curious canine—he really was quite dog-like. "Go on," he said.

"We find Peter. We capture him. And then...we expose the truth. You can go free. And...well, I think that'll be enough for Fudge to decide I can go back to New York, that I'm not a danger to Harry Potter."

Sirius grinned, the first genuine happiness Nico had seen from him. "I like that plan. I really do." His expression became thoughtful. "What's he like? Harry?"

Nico blinked. "What...? Does Harry have something to do with you?"

"Why, I'm his godfather. James Potter—Harry's father—and I were the best of friends." He'd said that before, but Nico didn't think Sirius had really been paying attention to his words.

"Oh!" Nico said. "That's why you were...that explains a lot."

Sirius nodded.

"Well...I should probably tell Harry what I know. And then..." Nico smiled. "The three of us can send Pettigrew straight to Azkaban, where he belongs."


Harry's PoV

Harry was in shock. In shock, and furious at Sirius Black—and Nico di Angelo. Hermione had told him and Ron about the broken Time Turner, apparently deciding that now that it was broken, it wasn't worth keeping it secret from her two best friends. Harry couldn't believe Nico would do such a thing—but maybe Nico was working with Black. A traitors working with a traitor. Fitting.

Harry was returning slowly to Hogwarts through the hidden passageway. Suddenly, Nico himself appeared of the shadows. He started talking so quickly, Harry had to strain to understand what he was saying—and the fact that Nico's accent became vaguely Italian when he talked fast didn't help.

"Finally—I've been looking for ages! Harry, we need to talk—I found the answers—talked to Sirius—in the cave—it wasn't him—"

Harry cut him off, furious at both him and Black. "You broke Hermione's Time Turner! You're as bad as Black! Who betrayed my parents! They trusted him with their lives—and—and—" Harry broke off, somewhere between losing his temper and bursting into tears.

He was so lost, between anger and grief. His parents, betrayed, by his own godfather. Somehow, that was worse than Voldemort finding them by without help. And Nico—Harry had thought he could finally trust the guy, and yet Nico didn't look surprised at all...it was as though he knew all along. Like he'd only pretended to help Harry. Like he knew more than he said.

Nico shifted his weight, seeming unsure of how to continue. Still pretending. "Harry, I..."

"No!" Harry snapped. "I will not listen to you! And when I find him—when I find Sirius Black—I'll kill him!"

Nico blinked, before saying: "Wait, Harry—you don't understand—"

"I understand enough! I know that you're a good for nothing traitor—probably are working with Black himself! And then you pretend to help me! You won't ever belong here!"

Harry knew that he shouldn't have said that. He was angry at Sirius Black, at himself for being such a danger to everyone he cared about—but it was easier to focus on Nico and the Time Turner. Easier to ignore the complicated mess that was Harry's life.

Nico, however, didn't know that Harry hadn't meant it. "Fine. I'll figure this out myself. I don't need your help. And once I do—I'm leaving. I don't need you and your cursed wizard school anyways."

Nico disappeared back into the shadows, leaving Harry alone with his thoughts.


Nico's PoV

Nico had been sure that Harry would listen.

He'd help Nico catch Scabbers, a.k.a. Peter Pettigrew, and then Nico could leave and go back to camp. But it hadn't turned out that way.

No...it had gone wrong in the worst way Nico could've imagined.

Hermione had told them about the Time Turner being broken. They would never trust him. You won't ever belong here! The very thought Nico had been haunted by since he was eleven. But this time, it was true. Nico wasn't a real wizard. He was a demigod. And he needed to go back to Camp Half-Blood, which, Nico finally realized, was his home now.

But now...Nico wouldn't be able to leave, not without endangering camp. He'd already revealed that it was located around New York. It wouldn't take long after that; every time Nico or another demigod left camp, the wizards would be all over them. And if they had a way to break through Camp Half-Blood's borders...no. Nico would never allow it.

And what about Sirius? How could Nico help him? And if he hadn't destroyed the Time Turner...who had? Peter? How had he known?

Oh...Nico had a sinking feeling in his stomach. The rat. The one he'd heard scuttling in the hallways with Hermione, and seen while he IMed Nico and Will.

Peter Pettigrew had been watching all along.

That decided it: Pettigrew definitely had to go. But Ron would never let Nico get close. He hadn't liked the son of Hades even before this whole mess.

Nico stared up at Hogwarts Castle, looming over him. "Well...maybe I should set some mouse traps. I need to start somewhere...right?"


Author's Notes: Well, I hope you enjoyed that. Sorry if Sirius is a bit OCC. I wrote and rewrote that section several times. ._.

But can we just pause for a moment...and appreciate the fact that he apparently is a pirate?

((In the movies))

Hehe. I made a few actual thumbnails for my YT. Now I feel unreasonably proud of myself. XD

I'm working on a cool drawing of a fox and a waterfall. Will upload the speedpaint when I finish! And update the fanfic...uh...when I feel like it, LOL.