A/N: As always, standard disclaimer: All characters and setting belong to J.K. Rowling, except for my original characters Clara Bradley, Renee Sanderson, Ariana Gordon (mentioned), Morgana Fletcher (mentioned), and Kaylee Parkinson (mentioned) Nico di Angelo, Hazel Levesque, Annabeth Chase (mentioned), Rachel Dare (mentioned), and Percy Jackson (mentioned) belong to Rick Riordan. The Sorting Hat's song is copied directly from Goblet of Fire. I am making no profit from this story.


Renee POV

We walked back into the compartment without Ron and Hermione. Draco surprised us by following, and I thought Harry would object, but he looked too tired and upset to argue. Every few minutes, he got up and paced the compartment.

"Harry," I charmspeaked after the fifth time he did this, "there's nothing you can do. They'll be okay, I promise."

I had to hold out hope for Ron. The burn had been pretty bad from the looks of it. Clara blamed herself, and she stared out the window and didn't respond to anything we said. Draco looked over at his sister, and he showed more concern than I'd ever seen from him. Nico also looked upset.

Natalie spoke first. "I'm sorry you guys came out to help me. If I hadn't been there, you wouldn't have come out to help, and-"

I hated charmspeaking strangers or younger kids, but with Natalie it was necessary. "It's not your fault," I said firmly. "Tell me, did those girls lead you over here?"

"I guess," Natalie said. "I stepped out to use the bathroom, and the short redhead followed me." Natalie glanced down at her necklace, the one Hermione had stolen back from Ariana. "She used a spell to coerce this off my neck. I stepped outside, and her two friends ambushed me and led me back this way, away from my own compartment. Why?"

"Can you tell us a little bit about that necklace?" Draco asked.

Natalie paled. "I, um… well, I was diagnosed with leukemia. It got really bad, and the doctors said there was nothing they could do about it. Then I got my letter, and this man named Professor Flitwick showed up. He showed my parents some magic, and they cried and insisted that I would never be able to go, because I was going to die. The professor talked it out with my parents, and asked if I would mind them using magic to cure the disease."

"Oh," I gasped. "Natalie, I'm really sorry to hear that."

She shook her head. "I don't want your sympathy," she said. "I want to be treated like a normal kid. I'm a witch now, and that's who I want to be. I can start over now." She smiled.

"Professor Flitwick took me to a St. Mungo's outpatient branch, and they tried a lot of things. There was this one panacea potion that worked really well when it came into contact with my skin, but it wasn't permanent. Professor Flitwick and the healers at St. Mungo's figured out a way to charm it permanently into this necklace, and to make the potion think it's touching my skin when it's actually just touching the clear bead near my neck."

Draco looked closely at the necklace. "Of course," he said after a moment. "The Dragonfire cure-all. I'd recognize it anywhere." His eyes went wide.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Well, I hadn't realized… Morgana…"

I tried not to look over at Nico, but he was fast asleep anyway. "She needed it… her arms…" He looked around. "And she thought stealing from a first year was a good way to get it! I don't understand why the Parkinsons couldn't have taken her to St. Mungo's, though."

"Probably got it doing something illegally," Harry muttered.

I nodded. If Hazel and Natalie weren't here, I would tell Harry and Draco right then and there everything that had happened this summer. But the only thing I could do was look each of them in the eyes and hope they got the message. I never would have imagined I would be in a place where I could tell Harry and Draco about anything together.

Hazel spoke up for the first time. "So, what exactly happened? I was just passing by."

Draco nodded. "Something about a necklace?"

Harry and I explained the situation as best we could. We made small talk for a little while, and then Draco decided to go back to the Slytherin compartment. Harry followed him out of the compartment to go check on Ron and Hermione. Hazel and Natalie fell asleep quickly, and I followed suit.


Apparently, the trolley lady had seen us all asleep and left some free stuff for us: a few bags of chocolate frogs, a large box of Bertie Bott's beans, and a couple sticks of Drooble's Best Bubblegum.

I'd have to thank her later. She and Norwich, the assistant conductor, had dropped everything when Draco and I explained the situation, and she had known how to help. Now, she had selected some of our favorite candies without even knowing us. Maybe she'd paid better attention in previous years than anyone gave her credit for.

I glanced around the compartment. Harry and Hermione were back and already changed into their robes. The others were just waking up.

"You all should get changed," Hermione said quickly. "McGonagall's meeting us at the school."

Nico and Harry stepped out of the room while we changed, and then we afforded Nico the same courtesy.

We dismounted the train. "Firs' years, over here!" Hagrid called, and Nico, Hazel, and Natalie made to follow them. Hermione shook her head. "Nico, Natalie, you stay here. McGonagall wanted to talk to you as well, to get a full picture."

"I'll come too," Hazel said hopefully, glancing at the lake. It was raining hard, and I could see why she didn't want to go in the boats with the other first years.

Draco met us a few minutes later as we walked to the carriages. I gasped as they pulled up. Last year they had been horseless, but this year they were pulled by things I could only describe as black skeleton pegasi.

"What's pulling the carriages?" I asked

"You okay?" Draco whispered. "There's nothing pulling the carriages. Just like every year."

Clara stepped up near me. "Stop messing with her. Of course there's something pulling them. Not like last year."

Harry and Hermione glanced at each other. "No, there really is nothing. Are you two messing with us?"

"What's the big deal?" Nico asked everyone. "They're giant skeleton horses with wings. You don't see them?"

Harry, Hermione, Natalie, and Draco shook their heads, but Hazel nodded. "Come on," Harry said anxiously. "Let's get in." He shot a glare at Draco, and Clara and I exchanged a glance. Silently, we decided to sit between the two of them so we could avoid any trouble.

We sat in silence on our way to the castle. As soon as we reached the looming turrets, McGonagall ushered us up to her office. She performed drying spells on all of us and motioned for us to sit down.

A knock sounded at the door, and Snape and Sprout came in. "We've located them, Minerva," Snape said. "They were hiding in the back carriage and had bribed other Slytherins not to disclose their location, but I have them in my office now, with the door sealed."

McGonagall nodded. "So," she said. "Ronald Weasley's in the hospital wing now, with a bad burn wound." She glanced at Clara. "We received Norwich's report, and we want you to know that we will be taking disciplinary action on the girls in question." She narrowed her eyes at Snape. "Won't we?"

The greasy-haired professor looked nervous, for once. "Of course, Minerva."

"Can you tell us what happened?" Sprout asked kindly. "In your words, I mean?"

Natalie told them what she had told us, making an effort not to look at Snape. I could tell the Slytherin head made her nervous. To be fair, she wasn't the only one. And I am a Slytherin. But after the Shrieking Shack… I blinked, trying to focus on something, anything else.

We added our parts of the story, and then Draco talked about how he'd stumbled on the scene.

The professors raised their eyebrows. "And what, may I ask, were you doing over near Potter and his companions?" Snape sneered.

"I was, er…"

"Coming to bother Harry, Ron, and me, no doubt," Hermione muttered under her breath.

"So what if I was?" Draco said defensively. "I saved Renee Sanderson." He glanced up at the professors. "Kaylee Parkinson had her wand at Renee's throat, and she said the first part of the killing curse."

"So that's what that spell is? It's not the first time one of them has tried to use it on one of us."

Sprout raised her eyebrows, and I remembered who we were in the company of. She didn't know that Draco knew, and Natalie and Hazel definitely didn't know about us either. Except for Sprout, nobody knew that Kaylee, Ariana, and Morgana were involved with Luke. Both of the times I had been about to tell my friends the full story, someone had been attacked, drawing our attention from what we needed to say.

A knock sounded at the door, and Madam Pomfrey ushered Ron into McGonagall's office. He looked completely healed, but a little dazed.

"Ah, Weasley," McGonagall said. "Good to see you're doing well."

Before Ron could respond, Hermione and Harry threw their arms around him. McGonagall and Sprout smiled, and Snape glanced at Draco with an annoyed expression on his face.

Professor Sprout stepped out into the hall with Madam Pomfrey while McGonagall questioned Ron to make sure our stories checked out. He surprised everyone by nodding semi-politely at Draco and then pulling Clara into a hug. "Please don't tell me you think it's your fault."

Clara smiled at him, her first one since the incident. "Thanks."

"Well, I believe that's everything of importance," Snape muttered uncomfortably. "Come, Draco."

Draco raised his eyebrows at me behind Snape's back, but then followed the professor out. I had no idea whether he was asking me what was going on, or why Snape didn't hurry his other student out, or anything about this. As for me, this whole week had been a mystery with Draco. Around him, everything was different.

Madam Pomfrey looked me over, making sure I didn't have any lasting effects from the curse that was almost cast on me. She muttered something about how lucky I was and told me to report to her or Snape if I ever had any issues. I looked at the ground. More like her and Sprout. I'd never trust Snape, not after last spring in the Shrieking Shack.

McGonagall double checked a few things and then sent us on our way. She kept Nico, Natalie, and Hazel with her so she could take them out to meet the other first years.

Nico glanced nervously at us. "Is the sorting bad?" he whispered to Clara and me.

"The hat only probes your thoughts a bit, is all," I explained.

Nico went pale.


Nico POV

McGonagall looked around nervously after she led Natalie, Hazel, and me into a foyer of some sort.

"Something wrong, Professor?" Natalie asked cautiously.

The professor frowned. "Hagrid and the others should be here by now," she said slowly.

I studied the room we were in. There were some paintings on the wall. I studied one with a man and a centaur. I blinked, and the centaur disappeared.

I squeezed my eyes shut. It wouldn't be the first time I was seeing things.

"What's up?" Hazel asked as we waited.

"I, um, I'm probably going crazy," I muttered. "I thought there was a centaur in that painting a moment ago."

"You're not going crazy, Mr. di Angelo," McGonagall said absently. "Paintings and pictures in the wizard world move around and act like their subjects. It will take some getting used to." She smiled dryly.

"That's so cool," said Natalie, grinning.

The doors burst open, and about fifty soaking kids stumbled in. They all shivered and glanced nervously at a large man who was leading them. He nodded at the professor and then made his way into the Great Hall.

McGonagall began to talk about the houses. Clara and Renee had given me the basic information, so I kind of tuned out. I already expected I would be very hard to place. I wasn't cunning the way Renee and Draco were, so I couldn't see myself in Slytherin. Though I was sensitive, I wasn't kind, and I wasn't that hardworking, either, so I wouldn't be sorted into Hufflepuff. With my severe dyslexia, I definitely wasn't Ravenclaw material. As for Gryffindor, I was only brave because I had to be.

We walked into the Great Hall, and I was still lost in my own thoughts. I observed the room as we came in. At the nearest table to the door, Renee was sitting with her boyfriend and some other people, and they were all talking quietly. A bit further down the table, Draco was sitting with a few older students. He looked puzzled, as if he didn't quite know where he was supposed to be. All the students' robes had green trim at that table. I glanced at their flag, a large banner depicting a serpent.

The only person I recognized at the next table over was the blonde girl who I had met briefly before we took the Portkey to the World Cup. Everyone at her table wore blue-trimmed robes, and their mascot was an eagle.

I stared. If they were called Ravenclaw, shouldn't their mascot be, you know… a raven?

Clara sat at the table after that. She was laughing about something a girl with frizzy blonde hair was saying. She waved when she saw me. I studied their yellow-trimmed robes and wondered why, out of all the animals they could have chosen, the Hufflepuffs were represented by a badger.

I recognized the most people at the table in the back of the room. From what I knew about the houses' attributes, their colors and mascot made the most sense.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were talking casually about something. Next to them was a boy who looked about Clara and Renee's age, and a ghost. I smiled to myself. If there were ghosts here, I would feel more at home.

McGonagall placed a shabby hat that was ripped in a few places on a small stool. The entire hall went quiet, staring at the hat. Some first-years near me shivered with anticipation.

Suddenly, one of the rips on the hat widened. There were gasps as the rip started to sing.


A thousand years or more ago,

When I was newly sewn,

There lived four wizards of renown,

Whose names are still well known:

Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,

Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,

Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,

Shrewd Slytherin, from fen.

They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,

They hatched a daring plan

To educate young sorcerers

Thus Hogwarts School began.

Now each of these four founders

Formed their own house, for each

Did value different virtues

In the ones they had to teach.

By Gryffindor, the bravest were

Prized far beyond the rest;

For Ravenclaw, the cleverest

Would always be the best;

For Hufflepuff, hard workers were

Most worthy of admission;

And power-hungry Slytherin

Loved those of great ambition.

While still alive they did divide

Their favorites from the throng,

Yet how to pick the worthy ones

When they were dead and gone?

'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,

He whipped me off his head

The founders put some brains in me

So I could choose instead!

Now slip me snug about your ears,

I've never yet been wrong,

I'll have a look inside your mind

And tell where you belong!


Most people around me seemed to think a talking hat was weird, but I'd seen much stranger at my time at Camp Half Blood. The Great Hall rang out with applause.

Professor McGonagall unrolled a long scroll. "When I call out your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool," she explained. "When the hat announces your house, you will go and sit at the appropriate table."

I hoped for any house but Ravenclaw. If I had to sit with people, at least it should be someone I know. If not, I might have ended up sneaking over to the Hufflepuff table to sit with Clara.

"Ackerly, Stewart," McGonagall called.

Stewart Ackerly looked around nervously before scurrying up to the hat.

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat shouted.

I clapped, along with the blue-clad table and the rest of the first years. I knew I had to stay alert as they went through the rest of the A's, B's, C's, and the first part of the D's so I didn't miss my own name.

"Baddock, Malcolm."

"SLYTHERIN!"

The applause from the Slytherin table was deafening. I noticed Ron's brothers, Fred and George, mocking the Baddock boy, and I felt bad for him. He was just a first year. Renee was nice, and Draco had saved my or my friends lives three times in the last two weeks, if you count my incident at the World Cup. Surely they weren't actually all what their house was made out to be.

"Branstone, Eleanor," and "Cauldwell, Owen" became Hufflepuffs, and Clara and her friends looked genuinely happy to have them at their table. I noticed the boy from the world cup, Cedric. A silver badge engraved with "HB" rested on his chest.

A mousy boy named Dennis Creevy became the first Gryffindor, and the young boy I had noticed sitting with the Daughters of Darkness's fourth year friends jumped up and down from excitement.

I gulped as "Damien, Barton" was sorted into Ravenclaw.

"Dartford, Julia" became a Hufflepuff, and then it was my turn.

"di Angelo, Nico," McGonagall called.

I stepped up to the stool. My legs felt like lead.

McGonagall placed the hat on my head, and it shuddered violently. Clara, Renee, and Professor Sprout looked around worriedly.

The hat spoke after a moment, seeming to regain its composure. "I have only ever met four students with as much true darkness inside of them as you hold, Nico di Angelo."

I swallowed. "Can they hear you?" I whispered to the hat.

"No. Only you."

I nodded. "What darkness do you sense?" I thought at the hat.

"The darkness of your past is strong," said the hat. "You are not an eleven year old boy on the inside. I daresay you lived through the rein of Gellert Grindelwald and Adolf Hitler."

I stared ahead, and then nodded slowly. "I still feel like a kid, though," I admitted in my head.

"That is good," said the hat. "You have many strong years ahead of you, Nico di Angelo,"

I thought about that. "Is any of this rapport helping you decide where to place me?" I asked impatiently.

I could have sworn the hat chuckled. "You are tricky, Nico, very tricky."

"I expected that," I muttered.

The hat went over the houses' qualities and tried to list famous people from each one.

"How is this helping?" I asked again.

"You are tricky," the hat repeated. "You are not a hatstall in the traditional sense, Mr. di Angelo. You possess the qualities of each house in very minimal amounts. You don't like to be seen in public, and you find ways to sneak around. That could put you in Slytherin. You are intelligent, but you also struggle, meaning Ravenclaw would not be the best placement for you. You care about people more than you want to let on, but you care deeply. That could point you to either Hufflepuff or Slytherin. And of course, the things you have faced, and will face… demigods are sometimes tricky, but you, Nico, are really something else."

"What I have faced and will face?" I asked in shock. "Are you talking about the war?"

"There are many wars in your past, and even more in your future," the hat confirmed thoughtfully. "You raise good questions, Nico, and I think you possess a readiness to defend."

I sighed impatiently. "Yeah, but what does all that mean?"

The hat was silent for a moment. "Where do you see yourself excelling, Son of Darkness?"

Son of Darkness? That was an interesting term. I thought back to what Clara and Renee had said at Percy's birthday. Here, I didn't have to be the son of Hades. Here, I could be whoever I wanted to.

"I think I could gain the most from Gryffindor house," I said honestly.

The hat considered me for a moment. "Then so be it, and good luck, Son of Darkness," it said. The hat opened its mouth, and there was a collective shiver of anticipation throughout the hall.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled.

The entire hall let out a breath of relief as the applause started. I took off the hat, placed it carefully on the chair, and smiled at the other students. As I made my way to the red-clad table, I felt eyes on me from every direction. Clara waved again as I passed the Hufflepuff table. "Congratulations," she said excitedly.

Renee grinned at me from the Slytherin table, and Draco did as well, but I could tell he looked a little disappointed.

After what seemed like an eternity, I sat down between Hermione and the ghost I had seen earlier. The ghost raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything. I wondered if he could sense anything about me. I'd have to get to know him later.

"Wow," Hermione said. "I thought the hat took a long time with me. I wasn't a traditional hatstall, though."

"Same here," said Clara's friend Neville in a small voice.

"Technically," I said, "the hat said I wasn't a 'traditional' one either. It said I had the qualities of all the houses, but in minimal amounts. In the end it let me choose."

"Why did you choose Gryffindor?" Hermione asked eagerly.

I shrugged. "I'm brave because I've had to be," I said, glancing around.

McGonagall crawled slowly through the list, and I tuned out, but my head jerked up as I heard a familiar name.

"Levesque, Hazel," McGonagall called.

Unlike me, the hat didn't shudder, but it seemed to pass through my new friend's head, wavering slightly before it rested. I glanced around, but nobody else seemed to notice, except maybe the ghost sitting next to me. I tried to meet Clara's or Renee's eye to ask if they saw it, but both of them had gone back to their conversations at their tables.

The hat took a few minutes before deciding firmly on Gryffindor for Hazel. I clapped and cheered with the rest of my table as Hazel came over. She sat across from me, and the ghost stared at her intently. Natalie McDonald came over a few people later. She was beaming as she sat down between Hazel and the small boy I'd seen earlier.

"I'm glad I already have friends here," she said shyly. "It would be hard to meet new people."

I smiled to myself. There was that word again. Friends. My mind wandered to everyone who'd shown me kindness in the last two weeks.

The other boy introduced himself. "I'm Dennis," he said. "I didn't see you three on the boats."

I shook my head. "Professor McGonagall had something she needed to talk to us about, so she had us take the carriages." I said quickly, hoping Dennis wouldn't pry.

"Ah," said Dennis. "Well, I fell in the lake. Then I felt this tentacle thing grab me and threw me back into the boat." He laughed loudly, and his smile was infectious, even for me.

"You must have been picked up by the giant squid!" the third year who I had noticed earlier said excitedly. At a closer look, he appeared to be Dennis's brother. "I'm Colin." He grinned, and I noticed Harry trying not to roll his eyes.

I thought about what I'd been trying to do at the Burrow. Maybe here, surrounded by all this magic, it would be easier. I'd need to be careful, though.

I looked at the ghost to my right, and he nodded at me in what looked like a subtle bow. "Nico di Angelo," he said slowly. "A pleasure."

A shiver ran down my spine. I thought about what I sensed in Harry, Hazel, and Renee. My mind wandered to Percy. I still needed a way to get him to bathe in the Styx. But my father…

I hoped I could trust the ghosts not to talk. They probably knew everything about this castle. I'd just need to find a way.

I glanced over at the Slytherin table. Maybe Draco could help too. He was the only one, though. I couldn't risk getting the girls involved, not at this stage. And it was clear something was bothering Harry and Renee, something they hadn't addressed yet… something connected to that sense of deadness inside them.

I tried not to think about any of this. Renee and Clara wanted me to have fun, for once, and I had to admit I kind of wanted to as well. But if I didn't figure this out, the mortal, demigod, and wizard worlds would be in danger. Percy and Clara were my friends, and so were Tony Bradley and Draco Malfoy. Renee, Annabeth Rachel, Hazel, Natalie, and even Dennis were people I could see myself taking a liking to as well. I hadn't felt this way about anyone since Bianca, and it was weird.

I chewed my food without thinking about what I was eating. I needed to find an entrance, and keep it secret. I'd do anything if it meant saving my three worlds.


A/N: Well, it took forever for me to write this, and even longer for me to actually bother with the author note and post the chapter. I had to fine tune everything and decide who this chapter would actually focus on.

I hope you like what I did with Nico's sorting. As hard as he was for the sorting hat to place, he was even harder for me. I circled between a few options for months. Never Ravenclaw, but I kept going back and forth between the other three. I've read a lot of fics that put him in Slytherin or Gryffindor, but I thought Hufflepuff would be interesting too since he is shown to care deeply about Bianca and later Hazel, as well as Percy, and the way he takes care of Mrs. O'Leary and Bob when Percy can't. But eventually I decided on Gryffindor, partly because I wanted him to bond with Hazel and Natalie.

Most of the chapters won't include this much of his POV without interruption, but he'll still be a semi-main character with his own thoughts and ambitions. I really like canon Nico and wanted to explore his role in my fic.

Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter. Please review, I really appreciate it.

~Celia