A.N:

Summer: Yeah, it is a shame that Nico is so afraid of his own emotions. Also, the device went haywire because of a bit of both, I guess. Artemis tried to make it immune to wizard magic, but it obviously doesn't work for demigods. Of course, Artemis doesn't know that...

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

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

To say that Nico jumped would be an understatement.

He spun around and dropped Artemis' device, his demigod reflexes kicking in. He automatically reached for his skull ring, before remembering that he had left it behind. What sort of a demigod was he? No self respecting demigod would ever be caught without his/her weapon!

Before he noticed who exactly had snuck up on them, Nico was already in a fighting stance, ready to pummel someone. His eyes widened when he finally realized who had caught them.

Professor Albus Percival a-bunch-of-other-stuff Dumbledore.

Dumbledore didn't seem phased by the fact that Nico looked like he was about to punch him in the face, or that Harry and Ron looked ready to fall through the floor, or even that the only noise was Artemis' electronic device beeping.

"Mr. di Angelo, would you please silence that device?" asked the headmaster, not even looking at him as he made his way towards Harry.

Nico wasn't very proud of what he did next, but he was panicking, and that infuriating beeping wasn't making it any easier to think rationally. He unceremoniously stomped on the present Artemis had given him for Christmas, effectively silencing it.

Dumbledore blinked, and stared at the broken contraption, "That's not quite what I meant by silencing it, but I suppose that works too."

"So – back again, Harry?" he asked pleasantly, ignoring the rest of them.

Harry nodded shakily, "I – I didn't see you, sir."

"Strange how short-sighted being invisible can make you, you didn't notice me last time either."

Dumbledore made his way over to Harry, "It seems like you and your friends, like many others, have found the Mirror of the Erised."

All three of them nodded, because it seemed like the right thing to do, although Dumbledore seemed more focused on Harry.

"I assume that you've realized what it does?"

Harry looked confused, "It- it showed me my family, and it showed Ron as head boy..."

"It shows your deepest desire." Nico realized, with a growing feeling of horror. It made sense to Nico, who had seen far stranger things before. Harry, like him, had always wanted to know what it was like to have a real family, and Ron wanted to step out of his family's shadow and prove himself to be better than his brothers. What other explanation could there possibly be?

If that mirror showed his deepest desire, then... was his greatest desire destined never to happen, just like how Harry would never meet his family? He smiled ruefully, it seemed that the fates really were out to get him. It wasn't enough that they made him a bastard son of Hades, who was plagued by cruel whispers wherever he went, no, they decided to make his life even worse by making his deepest desire something that would never happen. It was at times like these that he really wanted to throttle the Fates.

Dumbledore turned to face him for the first time that night, "That is correct Mr. di Angelo. Although, I am curious... how did you piece it together so quickly?"

"It was obvious once I thought about it," Nico replied bluntly, not really in the mood to elaborate. He had had a terrible night, and just wanted to bury his face in his pillow and scream for a good few minutes. He definitely did NOT want to deal with teachers right now.

Dumbledore gazed at him for a while, as though he was a particularly difficult puzzle that he was trying to solve.

"As Mr. di Angelo so aptly put it, it shows us our deepest desire. For example, the happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is. It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them. And your friend..." he trailed off, glancing at Nico, "Well, you get the idea .However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible." the Professor explained grimly.

Nico winced. He should have known that gazing into a mirror that could show you your friend's dead family was a bad idea. He knew better than anyone that something like that shouldn't be possible. But he had thrown all caution to the wind by doing it anyway. And now, just when he was starting to forget about the strange surge of emotions he felt whenever he was around Percy, he had been reminded of it when he least expected it. He hadn't been able to shield himself from the onslaught of emotions he had felt when he gazed into that mirror. He had let his guard down, something he never would have done if he was in his right mind. What was even worse, was that seeing his father actually acting like a real dad, made him mad at his actual father and his- his... inability to act like a real dad. He felt a pang in his heart, why couldn't his dad actually show him that he cared for once? He knew that gods were forbidden from interacting with their children, but he also knew that his father followed his own rules. Zeus' ancient laws be damned. It was childish and immature, but seeing the other Nico act to casually around Hades made him crave that sort of father-son bond with his actual dad in real life.

But it was obvious that Hades didn't want him around, he had shipped him off to England, half way across the world, without stopping to ask for his opinion. He knew that this place wasn't really that bad, and that he had no valid reason to blame his father for anything at the moment, Hades was a lot better than most gods when it came to parenting. At least, he didn't flat out ignore Nico. But he wasn't really in the mood to listen to logic and reason, or to face himself and all of his inner insecurities and emotions. It was much easier to just play the blame game and hide from the world for a while.

'Father was right.' he thought glumly, 'I really am just a coward. I can't even face myself ! Some hero I am.' He was shaken out of his thoughts by Professor Dumbledore.

"The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, boys, and I ask you not to go looking for it again. If you ever do run across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that. Now, why don't you three put that admirable Cloak back on and get off to bed?"

Nico felt his respect for the old headmaster grow. The man was actually as wise as he looked. He thought about what Professor Dumbledore had said. It doesn't do to dwell on dreams. Nico decided there and then that he would stop pining for Percy all the time, and move on to things that were actually worth his time. People accepting him for who he is was nothing more than a dream, it was about time that he got his head out of the clouds and got his head in the game. After all, who would ever accept him for the freak he is?

*****Line Break*****

A few days later, the Hogwarts Express was once again filled with students. Which meant that Artemis ,Hermione, Draco and literally half of Hogwarts' population were on their way back.

Artemis sighed, he hadn't gotten very far with his fairy-related research OR his Nico-related research. He supposed that even a little bit of progress was still progress, but he didn't really find much comfort in that fact. His original plan had been to capture a fairy during the Christmas holidays, but due to... unexpected circumstances his research had been halted. He had been set back by a whole year!

He hoped that the torch/buzzer that he had given Nico worked. He had spent a good few days trying to figure out how to make technology work at Hogwarts. The device he had given Nico was supposed to act as a trial project, to see what went wrong, and why. The sooner he figured out how to use technology at Hogwarts, the sooner he would be able to get enough gold to arrange an expedition to Russia to search for his father. Butler was an excellent bodyguard and companion, but he simply wasn't very good at research. Butler could spend months on a stakeout, but spending hours surfing the internet for clues about the whereabouts of a supposedly mythical race just wasn't his forte. So the young genius had spent hours upon hours in front of his laptop, trying vainly to make up for lost time, and as a result, had acted even more testy and condescending than usual. He massaged his forehead, his holidays had been anything but relaxing.

Beside him, Hermione was ranting about Harry and Ron being irresponsible.

"Honestly, don't those two know better than to sneak about the school in the middle of the night? And can you believe that Nico joined them as well? I can understand Harry and Ron doing something so dense, but I thought that Nico had more sense than that! They even got caught by Dumbledore! Dumbledore, of all people! They could have been expelled!" she huffed, looking agitated.

Draco smirked and rolled his eyes at her, "Relax Granger, Dumbledore wouldn't expel students for staying up past bedtime. Besides, you Gryffindors are all about being daring and what not, aren't you? Shouldn't you be proud of them for having the guts to do something like that?"

Hermione glared at him, "There's a difference between being daring and being reckless and stupid, Malfoy. Just like everyone thinks that Slytherins are evil, when they're really just cunning."

"She has a point." Artemis conceded.

Draco heaved a dramatic groan. "Why must everyone always gang up on me?"

Just then, the compartment door opened and a certain Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini stepped inside. Draco perked up immediately.

"Theodore, Blaise! Where have you two been?"

"We should ask you the same thing!" exclaimed Blaise, "We've been looking for you and Artemis for ages!"

"We have remained in the same compartment for the whole trip," Artemis pointed out, "Obviously, you didn't look hard enough."

"Yes, we get it, Artemis," said Theodore, rolling his eyes, "Thank you for stating the obvious. But seriously, what's ruffled your feathers?"

"I have no idea what you mean. My feathers are pristine and perfectly unruffled, thank you very much."

"Jeez! Someone's obviously not had the best break. You're acting even more Artemis-y than you usually do!"

Artemis rolled his eyes, but let it pass without retaliating with a snarky comment. After a two long weeks of arduous research and solitude, he was actually glad to be back among people of his own age group. Not that he would ever admit it, of course.

A.N:

*dodges wands, swords and neutrinos*

Sorry for the wait! I've been caught up with a bunch of other stuff like competitions and whatnot, so I never really found the time to write anything.

I have no idea when my next chapter will be up, but hopefully it won't take as long as this one did.

This was my first time trying to write angst, so let me know what you think. Too much, not enough, or just... meh?

Anyway, as usual, please review!

-Keera(^◕.◕^)