Thank you so much for your reviews! They contain some great questions. I'll try to answer them to my best ability.
I'd like to make longer chapters too, I'm just crap at that. I try to make up for it by posting often instead. I'll try though, but no promises.
Suzululu4moe: Wizards cannot be harmed by Celestial Bronze. They are blessed by Hecate, not descended from her.
It's true, Harry could have probably used a pensieve for part of the interrogation, but they didn't use memories for his trial after the dementor attack or for Sirius' trial, so I didn't put it in. Also, they needed something to give the muggle media, and you can't take a photo of a memory.
She didn't use her abilities to escape, because she hasn't built her demigod powers yet. It took a while for the others to master their abilities too.
AACM25: I think you're right. I don't think Hermione is smarter than Annabeth either, but I think Nico likes her intelligence. He doesn't like Annabeth though, so he might be biased.
I hope you will keep reviewing and stay with the story ;)
Hermione's head was buzzing with all the information. The gods were at the brink of civil war. She didn't like to think about what that might mean for human civilization. She was grateful that Nico came for her. He was right, that Zeus would spare no civilians. Mythology had taught her that.
"Are you ready?" he asked. That was a good question, but she took his offered hand anyways and they made their way towards the camp.
On the way, they started catching up like friends, rather than soldiers. Hermione told him about luring Umbridge into the forbidden forest, he told her stories about the different camps and how they worked. In the end they shadow traveled directly into New Rome.
As they walked through the streets, people got the surprise of a lifetime. Nico di Angelo, walking through the streets, talking and laughing, hand in hand, with a girl no less.
True, he had come out of his shell a bit, but he still preferred staying in the shadows. Yet here he was, walking down the street like a normal guy.
Another puzzling thing was the girl. No one had seen her before, and seeing him doing such a small intimate gesture, like holding her hand sent most people's heads spinning. It was widely known, that Nico di Angelo had been in a stable relationship with Will Solace a while ago.
Nico was in the middle of a story about an argument he had with Terminus, the god of borders, about unlicensed shadow travel, when a voice called out.
"Nico!"
Nico turned towards the voice with a disgruntled look on his face, and saw Frank Zhang jogging towards him.
"Praetor." Nico nodded politely, with a teasing smirk. No matter how long, Frank still felt uncomfortable being reminded of his powerful position.
"Where have you been this past week? We needed you" Frank asked, seemingly not registering that there was a foreign girl stading next to his girlfriend's brother.
Hermione had momentarily forgotten about her nerves, but now they returned full force. She was great with knowledge and fighting. People – not so much. Especially people she didn't know, and no one could prepare her for the introductions she had to make over the next couple of days.
"I needed to find someone." Nico said. It wasn't until then, Frank noticed her.
"But, who is she?" Then he looked down at their clasped hands and his eyes widened comically.
"I'd rather we did this properly with everyone present" Nico grumbled
"I'm Hermione." If there was one thing Hermione hated more than her nerves, it was when people talked about her like she wasn't there.
"I'm – I'm Frank." Frank managed to stammer out.
"Frank, can you help me get everyone together to talk about the situation?" Nico asked, getting slightly agitated.
"Um, sure. Go to the principia. Some of them might be there already."
They walked towards the imposing building. Hermione was reminded of Gringotts and her cheeks reddened. The goblins still wouldn't let her near the bank, and they sneered at her every time she passed them in the street or at the ministry. Goblins never forget.
That was one of the first times she used some of her powers. If she hadn't shaken the ground loose, they would have never survived going through the floor. A few localized earthquakes had also helped tremendously at the final battle.
So far, she had only managed to keep, what she liked to call her bonus abilities, under control. She had always had great self-discipline, which had saved her, her school career (and probably the world). Nico still made the grass wither, when he was nervous. It was adorable, really.
What she needed now, was honing her skills, building her power, for maximum control. It was risky business though, and should probably be done, somewhere remote and uninhabited.
The principia was beautiful, no doubt about that. In the middle of the room stood a long wooden table. It was covered, with papers, maps, and what looked like the reconstruction of the Sibylline Books, (Thank you, Ella the harpy)
In between the sheets of paper, stood plates with half-eaten meals, writing utensils of varying sorts and a tiny statuette of Apollo, for some reason.
In one of the chairs, Reyna Ramirez-Arellano sat, looking like she hadn't slept for days. She looked slightly disheveled, which was a testament to the severity of the situation. Romans didn't do disheveled. Also in the room were Percy, Leo and Calypso.
They all looked relieved to see Nico, but their relief turned to confusion when they saw he wasn't alone. At that moment, Hazel burst through the door and engulfed her brother in a rib-crushing hug. Frank followed behind her, Annabeth at his side.
When Hazel released Nico, she punched him in the shoulder. Hermione winced. That had bound to hurt. "The least you could do was telling me where you went! You just disappeared again! Last time you just disappeared, you almost died!" she cried, sounding like she couldn't quite decide if she should be angry or relieved. Hermione could relate.
"But the big question is," Reyna started, looking intently at Hermione "Who are you?"
"She needs protection. " Nico interrupted
"I don't want- " Hermione tried to protest.
"You need protection, end of discussion"
"I'm not some damsel in distress!" She snapped back. "You better remember that."
"I'm Hermione. I came from Britain-"
"Oh, this is awesome! Blimey! Bloody Wicked, loo!" Leo felt the need to half-shout, in a horrible imitation of a British accent
Hermione just stared at him, slightly disturbed.
"Wait a minute, there are camps in Britain too?" Percy asked Nico accusingly.
Nico sighed. He knew Percy was going to hate him, for having kept even more secrets. Especially this one.
"No. There is a special community in Britain that carry the blessing of Hecate. My dad sent me there years ago, where I found Hermione."
"So she's like a mortal who can work the Mist?"
"Not entirely" Hermione inserted. "The people Hecate blessed have a slightly different magic than what you do with the Mist. It has its own set of rules."
"I don't get it."
"Well, the people of Hecate has their own branch of magic, but Hermione is both a demigod and is blessed by Hecate" Nico tried explaining
"Very dangerous to be you. Then, who is your godly parent?"
Hermione hesitated. Nico squeezed her hand and looked at her encouragingly.
She looked Percy in the eye, gulped, and whispered "Poseidon."