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.


Author's Notes: I'm planning/making a new fanfic in which I fix the BoO ending, which had some issues as Leo states so clearly: "Eh. We took down Gaea in, like, forty seconds."

Thank you for all of the (mostly) kind/helpful reviews you post. It really helps me stay motivated. Here, I'll reply to a couple of you who don't have PM on and/or just random ones that would be funny to respond to in the author's notes. You know who you are, so no need for saying usernames. ;D

"Nice work! I think it would be a cool idea if Pettigrew reveals himself to Nico early on." Wish granted.

"OMGOMGOMG THIS IS SO GOOD BUT THERE WILL BE MORE SOLANGELO IN ToA BOOK 5?! PLS UPDATE SOON. PLS. AAAAAAAAH SOO GOOD!" Oh wow...thanks for the enthusiasm! And yes; Rick Riordan has confirmed that both Nico and Will will play key roles in Tower of Nero. He also says there'll be tons of Solangelo. You can check his Twitter for that and other fun stuff (Animal Crossing, anyone?) And trust me, (your other review) I was schist at drawing people only a few months ago. I've improved with the help of...*checks script and finds nothing*...YouTube and co.

"This is by far the best Harry Potter/Percy Jackson story I have ever read. Never stop writing, you are an amazing writer! I know it has only been two days, but please update soon!" Oh wow, I'm not sure about that. That story with the cheeseburgers may be better. Yum...cheese...but back on topic! Thanks for the review; it helps to know that some people think I'm such a great writer, even if I don't believe that myself (and the fact that these people spend their time reading my work, even when they don't personally know me, is also very inspiring). And I update when I can, trust me. I have several writing and art projects, however, so my days are a bit cluttered as it is.

Anyways. Hope ya'll enjoyed that. I try to respond to any reviews with questions/that are extra extra funny/interesting; but I do appreciate all of them! =D (except for that one person who basically called me mental after reading, like, one chapter. Dunno about them...)

Also: I reread the last chapter, and let me just say, I AM SORRY FOR PROBABLY SCREWING SIRIUS UP MAJESTICALLY. But it's been published, it's too big to change, and it seems I will have to work with the mess I wrote whether I like it or not. So—here we go.


Chapter 12: Christmas and Chaos

Nico's PoV

Setting mousetraps wasn't a good plan, which is exactly why Nico ditched it.

It was the night before Christmas break "officially" started—when students would have the option to leave school and spend the holidays with family and friends.

Despite the fact that Christmas would be a good time to hunt for Peter Pettigrew, Nico didn't want to get on the trio's nerves more than he already had—he planned to give them a wide berth, until school started again and things had cooled down. Then he'd talk to Harry again. He'd make him listen, somehow.

However, Nico's plan was already going downhill.

The trio stormed into the common room, laden with books. They rushed to a cluster of tables, dumped the books onto them, and furiously started turning pages. Nico blinked, unsure of how to respond to this interesting turn of events: Ron willingly reading a book?

The son of Hades watched silently from the corner for a moment, steeling his resolve. Then: "Has something happened?"

Harry and Hermione ignored him. Ron glanced up at Nico, seemed to consider making some kind of insult, then returned to his books.

"Ohhhh-kay then. Well, I'm gonna head upstairs..." Carefully, like he was treading through a minefield, Nico gathered his books and made his way upstairs before hastily getting ready for bed and burrowing under the covers. He was extremely tired, even though he hadn't been shadow traveling: his arms ached from carrying heavy books around all day—another sign that he was seriously out of shape, for a demigod—his back ached from poor posture, and his head also ached from attempting to read tiny, cramped text for over ten hours.

Nico spent the next few hours in a daze, half awake, half asleep. His headache was gradually getting worse—Nico berating himself about how he'd handled more than a headache was not helping—and no matter what, Nico just couldn't seem to fall asleep. He blamed Hogwarts.

Just as he might have finally achieved some relief from the day's work, Harry and Ron came from the doorway, looking almost as bad as Nico felt, and started filing away their books and supplies—very noisily, Nico might add. He opened his eyes and glared at the curtains, which he'd drawn tight. Finally, the loud clunking subsided...to be replaced by talking, in low, urgent voices.

Nico rolled his eyes. "Hey, if you're going to throw books around the dormitory all night, could you at least tell me why?"

A pause. Then, Harry's voice: "Buckbeak's trial is coming up. We're trying to help prepare the defense."

"Trial?"

"For hurting Malfoy."

"But he didn't hurt him—he was fine in, like, five seconds."

"You think they're going to care about that?" Ron said.

"You wizards seem to have a very unreliable justice system."

"I feel like you're talking about something else here," Harry said.

"Maybe I am." Nico closed his eyes again. "Look, I'm tired. If you could quiet down a bit, I'd really appreciate it."

Silence. Then more moving around, although it did seem that the two other boys were at least trying to be quiet—although, Nico thought, their idea of a whisper needed some work. Whatever...he'd be out of here by noon tomorrow. After a while, the whispering seemed to sound more and more like the spirits of the Underworld, chattering shades with no idea who they were or what what their purpose was.

Soon enough, Nico drifted asleep, transported to another time, another place, among the souls of the lost.


I stared numbly ahead at the flowing dark river, items and broken dreams being swept away in the currant, along with any hope of getting Bianca back. I couldn't believe it: I felt hopeless, I felt like I'd failed. But I also felt betrayed: why had she decided to be reborn? To leave me again? Had she thought I couldn't handle it if the Doors of Death were open and she wasn't gone? Did she not want to be reborn; to come back to me?

I thought about it for a long time, wondering whether it wouldn't be easier to just jump into the Styx—which made me think about Percy, and the battle with the Titans. I couldn't just give up.

Sighing, I rose to my feet and walked around the Underworld, through the Fields of Asphodel. Black and white poplars were everywhere, a stark contrast to the black grass of the fields, the jagged rocks and the gloom above. And that's when I found her: a child of Pluto, someone who remembered her past. Someone who could help heal the hole in my heart. A new sister: Hazel Levesque.


Harry's PoV

The next morning, Harry woke up abruptly. It had happened again: he'd gotten another weird dream from Nico. Which Harry couldn't understand at all, and not just because some of the words were static-like, as though the dream was trying to protect certain information.

Harry didn't remember dreaming that night. At least Nico himself hadn't gotten any...input. But, despite the fact that di Angelo was probably up to no good, Harry felt a responsibility to at least tell him that it had happened again. Harry didn't think Nico was deliberately sending dreams; it felt like an outside force was toying with him somehow. Maybe Voldemort was up to something again.

Either way, Harry did not approve. He looked over at Nico's bunk; the curtains were still closed. Since Harry didn't want a "Stygian iron sword" or whatever it was stuck in his face, he decided to leave di Angelo alone for now and got dressed before bounding downstairs into the common room. Ron was already up; he was sleepily paging through the books they'd retrieved from the library, accompanied by Hermione, who wasn't turning the pages with her normal vigor, either.

Harry walked over to join them, and after a few minutes, Nico stumbled down the stairs, yawning. He glanced at them and paused, appearing to be thinking hard about something. Then he hesitated, before walking over. "Um...I was wondering if I could help. With Buckbeak."

Harry stared at him. "What?"

A look of slight irritation, and then...embarrassment? flashed across Nico's face. "Look, I liked Buckbeak. What exactly is going to happen to him if they lose the case?"

"He'll be executed," Hermione said grimly.

Nico looked angry at that, and he muttered something that Harry thought was a curse aimed at Malfoy. At least Nico wasn't teaming up with him. "Well...I'll see what I can do. I'm not much when it comes to reading...anything, really, except Anc—" here he stopped and changed the subject. "Anyways, the real reason I came over here: I...need some help with something."

They stared at him for a few moments. "...What is it?" Harry asked cautiously.

"Well," Nico began quickly, as though he just wanted to get it over with, "I don't know much about how the Ministry works, so, um, I was wondering if you guys could explain it. As I said, books and me don't go together, and I couldn't find any information in the couple I went through."

Ron sighed, annoyed, then: "The Ministry of Magic. There are loads of departments di Angelo. My dad works in one of them, in fact. Don't expect me to explain them all."

"Could you name a couple?"

Ron sighed, extremely annoyed. "There's the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophies, the Department of International Magical Cooperation, the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement—"

"That's the one," Nico interrupted. "Magical Law Enforcement. How does that work?"

"Why'd you want to know about that?" Harry asked, somewhat shocked.

Nico sighed. "I'm just curious, Potter." Turning back to Ron, he continued: "Go on, please."

"Well, there are highly specialized wizards known as Aurors, who track down Dark wizards and such—"

"—who work in the Auror Office, or Auror headquarters," Hermione finished, not one to be left out in the pursuit of knowledge.

"Right. Then there's the Wizengamot, which is even older than the Ministry. They're like the high court; they do trials and stuff, which are held in the dungeons, usually. The accused can bring in witnesses to be questioned—"

"—and a third-party with legal knowledge can speak for the defender," Hermione continued. Ron looked a bit annoyed at this second interruption.

"Okay..." Nico said, looking a bit confused. Harry didn't blame him; honestly. Though why he was so curious about the Ministry, Harry didn't know. It probably wasn't good. "Well, I'm going to pack."

Hermione looked over sharply. "Pack?"

"What, you thought I'd stay here during the holidays? Definitely not. Like Harry said, I don't fit in here—and I want a break already."

Before Harry could respond to thatNthat, Ron asked: "Where exactly are you going?"

The shadow of a smile crossed Nico's face. "Home."

And then Nico headed back upstairs, leaving three confused friends in his wake.


Nico's PoV

Technically, Nico was probably supposed to stay at Hogwarts, where Albus Dumbledore had basically taken responsibility of him to keep him out of prison. After all, no matter how much he disliked the mysterious old wizard, he was preferable to the Minister of Magic (who had probably been intercepting Nico's mail) and Azkaban (which may or may not be guarded by dementors full time).

But at that point, Nico didn't really care: over time, the walls of the school had felt like borders, blocking Nico in—dense and suffocating. He wanted to be back at camp; despite how stressful demigod life was in general, Nico would feel like he could finally breath freely, and be himself.

He shoved his belongings into his backpack and turned, walking quickly through the common room and out into the corridors. Nico didn't want to be exhausted and wiped out when he got to camp, so he'd decided he might as well take the Hogwarts Express back to London, where he'd call up Jules and have the zombie chaffeur drive him closer to the coast. Then, Nico could make the jump across the Atlantic with minimum fuss.

Nico walked out the giant doors of Hogwarts and let out a sigh of relief. Then, he continued onto the gates, along with the many other students who would be leaving for the holidays. Gritting his teeth, Nico endured the relative torture of passing the dementors—it was clear that he wasn't the only one who despised them; Neville Longbottom's face turned pale as he passed, and Dean Thomas gritted his teeth, looking both nervous and irritated at the same time.

During the train ride, Nico stared out the window, watching the countryside roll by, and thinking about camp. He wondered what was going on there: whether any quests had been issued, or gods forbid, prophecies. He wondered about the various cabin pranks, and who had allied with who in capture the flag. Most of all, Nico wondered who would be at camp: would Hazel be visiting? Frank? Reyna? Probably not. Will would be there, and maybe Jason, as well as Piper and Leo. And...him.

Nico wanted to clear the air between him and Percy Jackson, but he wasn't sure how he was supposed to do that. He imagined the scene: Hey, did you know a random son of Hades had a crush on you for, like, three years? Well, I don't anymore. Bye, have a nice day!

Nope. Nico may want to clear the air, but he also didn't want to embarrass himself.

His thoughts shifted as Ginny Weasley came into his compartment. "Hey, Nico," Ginny said, a bit cautiously. Nico assumed Ron had mentioned the Time Turner to her.

He smiled. "Hi." A pause, then: "How come you're heading home, but Ron's staying?"

Ginny shuffled her feet, like the subject was a bit awkward. "Well, it's just—Harry doesn't have many friends at school. He can't go back to his aunt and uncle's house. So Ron wanted to stay this year."

"Oh. Are his relatives a bit..." Nico trailed off.

Ginny grimaced. "Yeah. They basically starved him until he was eleven, and blamed him every time something weird happened, since he was a wizard. They thought they could 'squash the magic out of him.'"

Nico gritted his teeth. "Harsh," he said, a bit annoyed. Not at Harry, but at the way he was raised—no wonder the guy could be a bit...irritable. "A...friend...of mine has an awful stepdad; he nicknamed him Smelly Gabe, but at least he had a cool mom."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Smelly Gabe?"

"Percy—Percy Jackson—says that you'd understand if you knew him."

"Ah." Ginny look amused. "I see. What're you doing during break?"

"I have a...flexible schedule," Nico admitted. "It's...hard to explain."

Ginny changed the subject, talking about Hogwarts classes and the different professors. They talked about how annoying Malfoy and Professor Snape were for a while, sharing stories. The only disagreement was when Nico thought Professor Lupin was trash. According to Ginny, almost everyone else loved him. "Hmm. Well, when someone forces me to reveal your biggest fears in front of the class, I don't like them that much," Nico said, crossing his arms.

"I guess..." Ginny looked at him like she was trying to understand exactly what that was about, even now, reminding Nico once again that Hogwarts wasn't the right place for him. Sure, he could wave a wand, do some spells, but he wasn't a wizard. He was a demigod, like it or not, and he belonged with other demigods, who went through the same, or at least similar, experiences. They fought against a common enemy, and didn't have some complex government system chock full of rules and regulations.

Eventually, the train arrived in London. Nico bid farewell to Ginny and headed out into the streets, finding a side alley to summon Jules-Albert from. A few minutes later, he was on his way to the coast, anticipating the long shadow travel jump, and then camp. Where he would immediately make sure Will hadn't butchered the Hades Cabin and painted it yellow.

Pretty soon, Nico stood in front of the waves. "Thanks," he said to Jules. The zombie chaffeur seemed to grin before disappearing back into the earth. And then, Nico mentally prepared himself for shadow travel, and the return to camp, and slipped into darkness.


Nico's PoV

Turns out, Cornelius Fudge wasn't intercepting Nico's mail. Every. Single. Demigod was having that problem. A few months ago, all magical or technological communication had begun to fail: Iris messages, magic scrolls, wind spirits, Roman eagles, email, phone call—no matter the form, it just wouldn't work. It happened gradually; the few short calls Nico had needed to make slipped through somehow. But now, essentially all communication was blocked.

Great. After hearing this news, Nico was almost back to his good old pessimistic self.

When he'd arrived, it was about five o'clock in the morning, since it had been ten AM when he'd left from Hogwarts. During the following hours, the campers had updated Nico on the disturbing situation, and Nico, in return, had told some stories about his experiences at Hogwarts—leaving out a good deal of information.

He'd also checked on the Hades Cabin the day before, and, turns out, Will was a better decorator than Nico had thought: the weird coffin bunks had been replaced with normal ones, with elaborate bronze head and foot panels, and silky black sheets. All the bloody red vampire stuff had been removed as well, and the theme was more black, bronze, and silver (plus green fire that never went out; free heating!) then weird vampire/Lord of Darkness/death stuff. Okay, fine; the cabin still radiated death, but in, like, a cozy way—

Nico gave up trying to explain it. He'd go insane if he kept it up any longer. Anyways, the cabin was a lot nicer.

So, as he came out of the Hade's cabin just before noon on December 25, Christmas morning, Nico wasn't sure whether he should be worried halfway to Tartarus, or happy about being back at Camp Half-Blood.

The camp looked festive for the holidays: the ground had been allowed to be covered with a light but hard layer of snow in strategic places; still easy to walk across, but snow-free in others. The air was crisp, but not overly so: Nico felt just fine in his aviator jacket; he wasn't cold at all. In addition to that, the traditional floating balls of brightly colored fire were floating around the big house and the Dining Pavilion. There was even a great big Christmas tree in the central green; Nico thought it looked pretty nice.

Yawning, he made his way over to where Will, Leo, and Calypso were hanging out. Nico didn't know how he felt about Leo; he was pretty sure the fiery demigod didn't particularly like him, and the feeling was mutual. Calypso seemed okay, from what Nico had heard, although she also had been in love with Percy; and Will was better than okay, a fact Nico still found a bit ironic, with the whole son-of-Apollo thing. Nico shoved his thoughts away, and, king of conversation, simply said: "Hi."

"Wassup?" Leo said, grinning like crazy.

"The sky," Nico said, still a bit tired. He was definitely not a morning person.

"Not the sun?" Will asked.

Nico ignored him. "Anyways, what's going on today? A new quest? Gods falling from the sky?"

Will grinned. "Presents."

"What?"

"Since there are so many campers now," Will explained, "there's an official place for, like, presents. Each cabin has a section."

Leo grinned. "Yeah. And guess who made it?"

Nico was confused. "Made the tree?"

Leo laughed, shaking his head. "Gods, no. Go take a look at my genius-ness."

Nico rolled his eyes. "I'll decide how genius it is for myself, Valdez."

A few minutes later, Nico regretted his comment: what Leo had done was pretty cool. To save space, each cabin had a large mechanical present, based on the respecting building's theme. Leo had explained that there was a button on top, among the decor, that would be pushed to "unleash my awesomeness." Which Nico was rather tentative about. He found his way to the Hades box, which was black and silver, embedded with little bones as well as stones that shimmered with an unnatural green light.

Pushing the button, which was white and shaped like a skull, Nico watched silently as the box popped open. It had four panels, one for each side—logical—that opened to reveal a much larger space in the box, which had enough room for like, a gazillion presents—not logical. Nico figured it was magically enlarged, like Chiron's wheelchair or something. Inside were several packages wrapped in various paper: gold and black, silver and black, and—Nico choked—a very bright, eye-scorching yellow.

Nico knew who that was from.

"Will," he muttered, scooping up the packages and returning to the group, "I am going to murder you to death."

Leo grinned. "What'd you think? Totally awesome?"

Calypso had wandered off, which was unfortunate: Leo was now on the loose.

"It was pretty cool," Nico responded grudgingly, before turning back to Will. "Why the yellow paper."

Will smiled. "What, you don't like it?"

"..."

"Um, anyways," Will said at the glare being sent his way, "just open it."

Nico obliged. Inside was...a bracelet. "Jewelry?"

Will facepalmed. "It's special jewelry! It'll help you not be so tired after you shadow-travel!"

"May I ask...how?"

Leo raised his eyebrows. "Will told me it's hard to explain, in which case, I'll let him do it." And so Flaming Valdez fled the scene.

"Okay. So, Hades helped make this," Will said, once he was gone.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Before the whole communication thing happened. It took many IMs and many close calls—I almost got incinerated at one point."

"I have to have a talk with him."

Will nodded. "Agreed."

"Who got the bracelet?"

"Um...ANYWAYS, the way this works. So, you know sinks, right? And like...cups?"

Nico stared at him, fairly certain that the son of Apollo had lost his mind.

"Okay, okay. So, when you turn on a sink and leave, like, a cup under it, eventually the cup overflows and the water is wasted," Will began, trying again.

Nico shook his head. "You're confusing me."

"Well, Hades said that demigods are like...well, cups under a sink. They get their powers from somewhere, but they can only have so much at a time. Basically, the bracelet is a way for you to store shadow-energy-stuff for later, instead of using all of your own."

"Okay...still don't get it. You could've just said 'it stores extra energy for shadow-travel.' But thanks."

"Also, it, um, doesn't come precharged." He pointed at a groove along the edge of the bracelet, which was made of shining black stone and embedded with small black stones, like diamonds or onyx. "When that thing starts glowing silver, it's charged. When it's entirely silver, the thing's at full power and can't collect any more shadow-energy."

Nico smiled. "Well, thanks."

Will nodded. "No problem. By the way, Hades just found out about this, which is why you didn't get one earlier."

Nico frowned. "Yeah, it would have been useful. Who sent the other stuff?"

Will shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"One way to find out."

After opening the packages and making a mess, Nico found gifts from Hazel, Reyna, and Jason. Nice.

Hazel sent a diamond attached to a loop of black leather and some chocolate bars; the diamond was supposed to be a toy for Ambra (who was flying around the camp, NOT getting into trouble) as ravens liked shiny things. The leather was a hanger/handle, in case Ambra didn't want to grab the diamond itself. The chocolate was self explanatory.

Reyna had sent a bottle of unicorn draught and some Roman denarii, along with a letter explaining that mortal post still worked. She'd also told Nico what her mailing address would be, and also sent some stationary and mortal stamps. (Nico could also send letters to Hazel, as, turns out, Camp Jupiter just had a shared PO box in a post office somewhere.)

Jason had sent some more denarii, a cool little paperweight/desktop decor with a mini-storm inside it (complete with lightning!) which Nico thought was cool. He'd also sent a little book on magic from the Hecate cabin, with a label: Not sure if this helps at all, but I was running out of ideas, okay. Nico smiled; it probably wouldn't help, but he wasn't going to tell Jason that.

Producing a little silver parcel, Nico tossed it to Will. "You can have that. I'll send the other things to Camp Jupiter via..." he made a face— "mortal post."

Will unwrapped the little parcel as Nico got started discovering the ways of mortals. Nico had given the son of Apollo a couple drachmas, some herbs and things, a new satchel with lots of pockets and dividers to sort his things in, and of course, the moving Mythomagic statue of...Apollo. (Will wasn't quite sure what do do with that.)

After delivering the gifts to Argus (who insisted on delivering everything to the post office so demigods wouldn't have to risk their lives or something) Nico and Will spent the rest of the holidays messing around and, of course, training. Everyone knew that something big was coming: the atmosphere of the camp, while cheerful, also had an undertone of determination: that they'd face whatever would come next with their weapons ready.

Nico, on the other hand, didn't want to go back to Hogwarts. He procrastinated as much as possible, saying that if something big was coming, he should be at camp for it (though the wizards probably would still ground him or something). And so, Nico was still at camp in the middle of January to witness the god Apollo falling from the sky.


Harry's PoV

Harry had no idea where Nico had gone—break had ended like, two weeks ago. Harry's lessons with Lupin had started, and was fairly certain the dementors had made him extra irritated: Harry found himself snapping at Ron and Hermione more, and cursing whenever he spilled ink on something (which he may or may not have done in the best of times). But then...Harry had good reason to be irritated: someone had sent him the best broomstick known to wizard kind, and Hermione had gotten it taken away to be "stripped down." In addition, Crookshanks was constantly after Scabbers, and Ron and Hermione were constantly arguing.

That was ignoring the fact that Nico was missing.

Since Cornelius had never wanted Nico to be in Hogwarts, he'd decided to send out some of his Aurors to search New York for di Angelo, despite Dumbledore's disapproval. Even though Harry was suspicious of Nico, that did seem a bit harsh.

Anyways, as the days wore on, Harry couldn't help but wonder what Nico could possibly be doing.


Nico's PoV

Nico was exhausted: ever since the great Apollo had begun causing trouble, the demigods had been training overtime. Nico's little bracelet thing had helped, but once again, it was nearly out of charge. The battle with the giant statue had been the last straw, and apparently, Will agreed.

"Hey Nico?" He came jogging up to the son of Hades, who was sitting grumpily on the front steps of the Hades cabin.

"Yes?"

"Well, I was thinking, that maybe we could...um...take a field trip. To, like, McDonalds. Or something."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "Are you...asking me on a date?"

Will blushed. "No! Honestly, I want to get away from my dad. Apollo. Who is younger than me and—" Will looked around carefully"very whiny."

Nico stifled a laugh. "Yeah, I can definitely see that. But the real question is...did you inherit his amazing qualities? Are you whiny, or scrawny?"

"Hey!"

"I was just asking," Nico said, making a straight face. "And sure, I'll come."

As they headed out of camp, Will told Nico what had happened. Turns out, he'd been begging Chiron for days to have an excuse to leave camp. The centaur had finally agreed (reluctantly) but insisted that Will bring at least one other demigod—which was fine with Nico. He got to procrastinate more.

They hailed Jules-Albert, and headed towards a McDonalds in New York. Will got an Egg McMuffin. Nico got McNuggets. Also a chocolate milkshake. Jules-Albert didn't get anything except some funny looks at the drive-thru.

(He didn't mind.)

Afterwards, Nico and Will headed to Central Park, to find a nice spot to hang out and relax and eat their McDonalds. They settled on a picnic table under a weeping willow, which currently consisted of a ton of sweeping branches covered in a thin, bright layer of snow. Not many people were at their area of the park; the snow was quite deep, and the air was crisp. (Which Nico was fine with.)

Will and he talked about Apollo and camp news and the Grove of Dodona for a while. Nico wasn't fond of prophecies; he certainly didn't need more of them. Conversation turned to Nico's side of events; he told Will some of the details that he hadn't shared with the rest of the camp: about how Sirius Black was an animagus, and about Peter Pettigrew, Hermione's Time Turner, and Harry's reaction to Nico's version of the events.

Will pursed his lips. "Well, I'm still having a hard time believing that, and I went there."

Nico nodded. "Yup."

Will thought for a moment, then sat straight up. "Hey, Nico...didn't you say you weren't technically allowed to leave the school? Without being arrested or something?"

"..."

"Nico?"

"...Yeahhhh?"

Will face-palmed. "By the gods, Nico! With our luck, a team of highly-trained wizards will come charging at us right now!"

Nico snorted."Why? I'm not that important to them."

"They don't know that!"

Nico rolled his eyes. "Look, if the wizards wanted me arrested, they would've come at me a long time ago. We've been out in the real world for, what, an hour?"

Will frowned slightly. "You have a point...but still."

Nico smiled. "If they try anything, it definitely won't be a good day for them."

"Hmmph." Will picked at the table, before shoving his hand into Nico's french-fries and crunching away.

"Hey!" Nico protested. He quite liked his French fries.

"I finished mine."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Of course you did."

They sat looking around at the snow and the people in the distance. It was peace; traffic droned in the distance, of course, but it seemed far off compared to the quiet dripping of icicles and the steady munching of McNuggets and french-fries.

Will interrupted the silence. "What do you think you'll do once this is all over?"

Nico looked at him, then back at the skyline of Manhatten, thinking. Although he already knew the answer. "I'll come back here. And...well, I'll stay." He gave Will a sideways smile. "Thanks for fixing the Hades cabin. You didn't do such a bad job."

"Excuse me? I'd say I did an excellant job."

"Yeah, fine. You did."

They started talking about some of the funniest things that had happened to them: how Conor and Travis had used the wizard merchandise Will had given them, how Jason, Leo, and Percy had once put a cattle bell on Nico so he couldn't be all stealthy anymore*...fun times. For the first time in a while, Nico actually felt perfectly happy: he wasn't worrying about what would come next, or about Will learning his darkest secrets. He was just a normal demigod (or as normal as a demigod can be, anyways) having a good time in a normal park.

So of course, that was when the wizards decided to ruin it.


Nico's PoV

CRACK!

Two wizards appeared about ten feet away from them: one in front, one in back, wands pointed at the demigods. The one in front of Nico, a tall man with dark skin, elaborate dark blue robes, and a good earring in one ear, said: "Stay where you are, Mr. di Angelo. We have orders to bring you to the Minister of Magic immediately." His voice was clear, deep and slow; and commanded just as much authority as a Roman prateor, or even a god.

So, did Nico stay where he was?

Nope.

He and Will leaped up with inhuman reflexes, automatically assuming a back-to-back position. Nico drew his sword. Will dig around in his pack for a moment. "Curses!" he yelped. "I forgot my bow!" And so Will produced a very dry bundle of rosemary, which was so stiff Nico figured it would be more dangerous than Will's bow. (Despite being a son of Apollo, the guy was horrible at archery.)

Nico did a quick scan of the other wizard: he looked tough, rather battle-hardened; with short, wiry gray hair and hard blue eyes. Nico wasn't sure Will would be able to take him, and Nico himself didn't particularly want a fight, either.

Will agreed. "What now, di Angelo?" he whispered, keeping his eyes on the tough-looking wizard.

"Your guess is as good as mine," he hissed back.

The tall wizard spoke again. "Di Angelo. It would be unwise to fight. I am Kingsley Shacklebolt, a highly trained auror—"

"Yeah, yeah." Nico waved his hand, deciding on his approach. He made his sword transform back into a ring. Will raised his eyebrows; Nico glared at him. He won the staring contest.

Will put the deadly rosemary away.

"You want me to go with you, back to Hogwarts or whatever. Great. Fine! I'll go with you," Nico said, keeping his voice level.

"But Nico—"

"Will," Nico hissed at him. "I'll be fine. I don't want you getting yourself killed!"

Shacklebolt still had them at wandpoint, as did the other Auror, if that's what he was. Nico didn't want Will getting hurt.

Unfortunately, Shacklebolt had news: "We're not taking you to Hogwarts."

Nico's heart skipped a beat. He struggled to remain calm. "Oh? So, where am I going, exactly?"

"Trial," the other Auror said gruffly. "Minister's orders."

Nico wasn't sure about that—if he had to go near the dementors...but the son of Hades was willing to do it if Will stayed safe.

Will, on the other hand, wasn't going to have that. Switching to Ancient Greek, the son of Apollo said: "You can't just hand yourself in! What if they arrest you? My Anti-Dementor-Fun-For-Everyone may not be able to help!"

Nico stamped his foot. "Will! I am doing this for you, so you don't get in the same mess I'm in!" Also in Ancient Greek.

"But—"

"Enough talking, please," Shacklebolt said. "You can do that at the Ministry of Magic as much as you'd like." He nodded at Will.

Will blinked. "Wait—what? I'm going to the wizard trial thing, too? Why?"

"You were found with di Angelo, who is accused of Dark magic. You must be brought in as well," Shacklebolt responded in that same slow voice."

Will glared at Nico. "This. Is. Your. Fault."

"My fault?! What'd I do? I didn't—" Nico broke off. He didn't what? Start it? Bring the wizards here? Except he kind of had. Ancient Greek time again. "Will. When I distract them, you run. I don't care where you go; just get out of here and get back to camp. Don't worry about me."

"But—"

"I'll be fine. You won't be. Now, GO!"

Nico activated his sword, stabbing it into the ground with all his strength. Skeletons clawed their way from the earth, dozens of them. The wizards started shooting spells at Nico and Will, but Nico was gone. He'd shadow-traveled away from their first volley of spells. The skeletons and Nico's shadow-magic kept Will safe from any more magical attacks.

The son of Apollo had begun running towards the city; he was already a good distance away. Meanwhile, the two Aurors closed in on Nico, shooting spell after spell. Somehow, Nico managed to deflect them with his sword, but his shields of darkness were already evaporating: shadows didn't last long in the daylight, and Nico had expended quite a large amount of energy on that little trick. Most of the skeletons were also gone, or destroyed with the Authors' magic.

Shacklebolt shot something into the sky: a flare of some sort, calling for backup. No time to worry about that; Nico was barely evading capture as it was. He got hit with a stunning spell, and his mind went all foggy for a moment. Nico shook it off and kept deflecting spells, summoning more shadows and bones to help. As soon as Will reached the city...

Nico had been keeping an eye on the son of Apollo, of course, though it was rather hard to do that while ducking and dodging and taking spell after spell. Will reached the city. All of Nico's skeletons and shadows abruptly collapsed. Another disarming spell (Nico's sword had already tried to slip out of his hand about six times) was shot at him, and Nico's sword went flying out of his hand. A moment later, two stunning stunning spells hit the son of Hades yet again, although this time, Nico couldn't hold them off. He slipped into the cold ether of unconscious, knowing that, whatever happened to him now, Will was safe—or at least, as safe as a demigod could ever be.

Nico, on the other hand...well, his last thought was that he was in very, very big trouble.


Author's Notes: Cliffhangers! Whee! Uncle Rick would be proud. Everyone talks about Mark of Athena, but THE SEA OF MONSTERS ENDING WAS JUST INSANE!

Guess who had a headache at one point when I wrote this? That's right...me. Made writing Nico especially fun. That section with the dream, in first person italics—I'm thinking about doing that sort of stuff in my actual book, occasionally when the characters are awake, even. Does that seem cool? I think it'll add a nice change to the constant third person. What think you?

*This is a reference to another author's amazing story, "Nico di Angelo and the Cow Bell." Me and my friend agree that it's the best fanfiction we've ever laid eyes on.

s/10705546/1/Nico-di-Angelo-and-the-Cow-Bell

Also can we just acknowledge how Demons by Imagine Dragons is 110% Nico's theme song? Here:

When the days are cold: Nico and Bianca were found when it was cold. Done. Next!

And the cards all fold: Mythomagic!

And the saints we see/Are all made of gold: I'll say this means that the people Nico trusted, or the "saints" like his mom and Hades, were gone or let him down. Next!

When your dreams all fail: Nico wanted to be accepted, he wanted time with Bianca, he wanted Percy to love him; he had a LOT of dreams that failed.

And the ones we hail/Are the worst of all: this goes back to lines 3 and 4, and includes Percy and King Minos letting him down.

And the blood's run stale: The blood that was spilled during his mother's death was stale; old, forgotten: like Nico's old life. Boy, this is fun! Shall I continue?

I want to hide the truth/I want to shelter you: Nico didn't tell Percy and the Romans everything, as he wanted to prevent a war. He didn't tell Hazel everything, or tell Percy about Hades' request to bring him to the god's palace.

But with the beast inside/There's nowhere we can hide: This can mean many things: Nico's underworld powers, his past, the fact that he's gay and that he hated it; his heritage as a son of Hades. Yeah, it fits Nico perfectly.

No matter what we breed/We still are made of greed/This is my kingdom come/This is my kingdom come: This line refers more to Hades AND Nico in my opinion. Nico finally brought honor to Hades and his children, but to do it, he and Hades (mostly Hades) made some bad and/or selfish choices. (Or held a grudge, anyways.)

When you feel my heat/Look into my eyes/It's where my demons hide/It's where my demons hide/Don't get too close/It's dark inside/It's where my demons hide/It's where my demons hide: Nico doesn't want to expose people to the darkness inside of him; despite the fact that he kind of has an issue with self-pity, he hid who he was and put his mission first.

When the curtain's call/Is the last of all: Frankly, I don't understand this line. I am sorry.

When the lights fade out/All the sinners crawl: Minos ran around when it was dark. So do monsters. Done.

So they dug your grave: In Nico's mind, Percy "dug" Bianca's grave. Percy, likewise, pretty much thought Nico dug his with the whole bringing—Percy—to—Hades thing.

And the masquerade/Will come calling out/At the mess you made: Nico blamed himself for Bianca's death. Percy blamed him, temporarily, about the mess with Hades.

Don't want to let you down/But I am hell bound: Nico doesn't want to let Bianca, or Percy, or the demigods down. Yet he's a son of Hades, and from a different century, and also gay; in his mind, this once meant that he failed somehow. In addition, his quest into Tartarus, and with the Athena Parthenos, was essentially doomed; and so, he was "hell-bound."

Though this is all for you/Don't want to hide the truth: Nico accepted the quest largely because of his feelings for Hazel (as a sister, obviously) and Percy. Eventually, he made the hard decision to tell Percy the truth.

No matter what we breed: Again. Just scroll past it. =D

REFRAIN WUZ HERE

They say it's what you make/I say it's up to fate: Nico thought his son of Hades/from the past stuff defined who he could be and what he could do. While he did fix this, it was a problem for quite some time.

It's woven in my soul/I need to let you go: Nico had to admit that, yes, he needed to let Bianca AND Percy go. He knew this deep down; so it was "woven in my soul" for him.

Your eyes, they shine so bright/I want to save their light: He wanted to save Hazel. Oh yeah, and Percy.

I can't escape this now/Unless you show me how: Nico couldn't escape his eventual doom in Blood of Olympus without the help of Reyna, Pegasus, and Hades himself. He also couldn't escape his problem with Minos and Bianca in book 4 of PJO without Percy and Bianca helping him.

THE REFRAIN RETURNS!

Yeah it's totally his theme song. DON'T try to convince me otherwise. LOL.