PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE BOTTOM! THIS ONE'S IMPORTANT!

Nico had known perfectly well that this was a terrible decision. He probably could have stayed in bed, safe and sound, but noooo, he had decided to sneak out of bed in a desperate attempt to see his mother, and was now staring at the Headmaster of Hogwarts while desperately trying to stop Artemis' infernal device from ringing.

Darn it!

******A few minutes ago******

Nico, Harry and Ron were sneaking out of the Gryffindor Common Room.

Technically, Nico was a Slytherin and probably should have been in his dormitory, but it wasn't like anyone bothered trying to stop him anyway. He had snuck out of his dormitory(which was quite literally empty since Artemis, Draco, Blaise and Theodore had all gone home for the holidays) which was surprisingly easy, and had shadow traveled to the Fat Lady's portrait. He had even had time to take a quick swig of nectar afterwards( he had learnt not to leave it out of reach after the broomstick debacle). Of course, no one else needed to know those little details.

He had been waiting for what seemed like hours, and possibly could have been since he had no way of telling the time. Finally, Harry and Ron showed up, although Nico could only tell because of the strong feeling of death that had entered the corridor.

"It's about time!" he said quietly.

Harry and Ron must have jumped, since their feet were visible for a second before disappearing once again.

"Sorry!" apologized a voice that Nico recognized as Harry's, "It took us a while to figure out how to move together under this thing."

"Yeah," grumbled Ron, "We spent ages bumping into chairs and beds. Even my bruises have bruises!"

Harry ignored him, "But I'm sure we can find a way to fit you under here too!"

Nico backed away, "Nu-uh, I'm not getting any closer to that thing than I have to. Relax, I'll just stay in the shadows, I'm good at that."

He could almost feel Ron glaring at him, "No way! Suck it up di Angelo! What if you get caught? You'd blow the entire operation!"

Nico rolled his eyes, "Never asked for your opinion ickle Ronnikins. Now are you coming or not?" he asked, melting into the shadows. Yeah, he wasn't supposed to use his powers, but blending in with shadows wasn't exactly a power per se. It was more of a... talent.

"Wow!" he heard Harry mutter, "When he says blend in, he really blends in."

"You do know that I'm still here, right?"

"How could we forget?" grumbled Ron.

Nico ignored him, "Anyway Harry, lead the way."

*********Line break*********

Harry led them to an abandoned class room. Nico felt like he was in one of those hopelessly cliché muggle- umm, mortal horror movies that he had taken a liking to, it was simply too funny to see the things muggles found themselves afraid of. Gah! Four months at a wizarding school and he was already calling mortals muggles!

Darn it!

In the middle of the classroom was a magnificently decorated mirror that made Nico gasp. He was used to lavish, ornately decorated rooms and objects, he lived with the God of Wealth part time after all, but something about the mirror was just... mesmerizing.

Harry stepped towards the mirror eagerly, "See?" he whispered, "There they are! There are so many of them... Guys, are you seeing this?" he asked, noticing that no one else had commented on his imaginary family.

"Harry," Ron hesitated, "We can't see anyone."

"What? Look closer! Here, stand where I am."

Ron reluctantly moved in front of the mirror, "Bloody Hell! I- I'm head boy! And Quidditch captain, and a bunch of other stuff by the looks of it! You're right Harry, this mirror is awesome!"

"Move over", whispered Harry, "I want to see my family!"

"You had them all to yourself last night!"

"Ahem!" Nico coughed loudly.

Both wizards turned to him. Harry sighed.

"Alright Nico, it's your turn. Just, make it quick, okay?"

Nico didn't respond, instead opting to move towards the mirror in an almost trance-like state. He took a deep breath, this was it, he might finally be able to see his mother.

He stepped in front of the mirror. For a minute, he saw nothing but his own reflection staring back at him. Then, his reflection disappeared and was replaced by a scene that made Nico want to cry.

It was him, looking older, healthier and taller, holding hands with a boy with black hair and sea-green eyes. Both of them looked content, ecstatic even. The pair appeared to be talking to a man that Nico had seen before. It was Hades, Nico's father. Hades ruffled older Nico's hair fondly, causing him to scowl and try to fix it, while the other boy laughed at the scene. It was what Nico had always dreamed of, a family, and people accepting him for who he was. He felt his face turn red, as he stared at himself holding hands with Percy Jackson of all people, and Hades seemed more amused than scandalized.

Nico tore his eyes away, blinking back tears. It was no use getting emotional, he thought, that was never going to happen. He would never make his father proud, he would never know if Percy had feelings for him, and he would never be accepted. He wanted to smash that mirror to bits, why couldn't it just let him forget the problems he was running from?

Someone placed a hand on his shoulder, "Nico, are you okay?"

Nico wanted to yell that no, he wasn't okay and there was nothing that anybody could do about it. But he had at least one person in this place that he could trust, and he didn't want to blow it. So he settled with nodding, not wanting to speak in case he accidentally let out a sob.

He examined the mirror carefully, gently brushing his hand over its smooth surface when something got his attention. It was an inscription in what seemed to be gibberish.

Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.

"Harry?" he asked, "Have you seen this?"

Harry glanced at the inscription, "Oh that! I noticed it last time. It's no biggie."

Nico wasn't so sure, "Are you sure? I have a bad feeling about this. We should probably leave."

Ron nodded eagerly, "Nico's right mate, this mirror feels creepy! Let's get out of here!"

Harry shook his head, "Just a bit longer!"

Nico sighed. He took the little device Artemis had given him out of his pocket. It was roughly rectangular with a few buttons and switches, and a weird bulb sort of thing. Nico started fiddling with it absentmindedly, he had no idea what that thing was, and he had given up trying to figure it out. It didn't really do anything. His hand hovered over a small switch on the side of the device, he shrugged, turning it on wouldn't hurt anyone! Besides, he was bored, he may not be as hyperactive as he used to be, but he still had ADHD.

The machine whirred to life, and the strange bulb started glowing.

"Harry! Ron!" he whispered frantically. He knew next to nothing about electronics, and if the look Ron gave him was anything to go by, he didn't either.

"Turn it off! It's too bright!" Ron said.

Nico tried, he really did, but the switch had managed to get itself stuck. Desperately, he pressed every button in sight to try and turn it off. Obviously, this made it worse.

The thing started vibrating and beeping very loudly, probably waking up half of Hogwarts.

"Turn it off!" Ron repeated.

"I can't! Harry, we need to leave! Before someone sees us!" he pleaded. Harry ignored him, still staring wistfully at the mirror.

"A bit too late for that Mr. di Angelo."

A.N:

Okay! This chapter is currently unedited, but hopefully it didn't have too many errors. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed on this fic!

Okay, so I have these really big tests that start tomorrow, which means that I won't be able to update for about 2 weeks. I'm really sorry, but I won't have enough time to do both! Don't worry, this is NOT discontinued, I just won't be able to update for a while.

MY NEXT UPDATE WILL BE ON OCTOBER 5TH.

Until then, keep reading, reviewing and being awesome in general!

PS: This is the answer to a question asked in an anonymous review. No, Artemis doesn't have a camera in place since he is still trying to figure out how to make electronics work at Hogwarts. He's just trying to creep Nico out based on an educated guess.

-Keera（＾∀＾●）ﾉｼ