Nico was bored out of his mind
His dad had sent him on a mission. Apparently, Hecate had blessed some people in Britain a millennium ago and they had built their own community. Hades had previously had some trouble with some idiot trying to become immortal. He needed Nico to check it out, to see if the community had stabilized.
There was a school in Scotland that apparently taught kids how to use their magical abilities. It seemed, that this was the place all the action went down. He had spent a couple of weeks in the community, hiding in the shadows, observing. Wizards, while yes, their governmental structure left something to be desired, he didn't find any real evidence of immortal megalomaniacs. He was about to return to the underworld when he felt a power he really hadn't expected on this side of the pond.
A girl sat under a tree on the other side of the lake from where he stood. She had a book in her lap and was wearing a scrunched-up expression of concentration.
She was powerful. He could tell all the way from across the lake. The power was rolling of her in waves, and he could feel it resonating in his blood.
He felt drawn to her. She was cute looking in a way. Her cheeks were pink from being outside and her lips were red. Her eyes were deep brown, like rich dark chocolate. All things he never expected to notice on a girl. Her hair though, should have caught his attention first. He had never seen hair so wild. To any sort of description would fall short. In some places, it was curly and in some places pure frizz. He couldn't tell whether it was brown or golden or copper. It obviously had its own life, and it was feral.
Without meaning to, he started walking around the lake.
He approached her hesitantly from one side. He stopped a couple of times, thinking about, what to say to her.
"If you're going to sit, just do it already. Your indecision is getting ridiculous."
Bossy too, he added to list of information he was mentally storing about her. He trudged over and plopped down beside her.
"Where are you from?" She asked him. Good question he thought. He wondered if he should tell her the truth. If she was, what she thought he was, at least some version of the truth would be best, to build trust, but there were some things that just didn't belong in an introduction like "Hi, I'm Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, so I spend a lot of my time in the Underworld." He had tried that before. People would either scream and run, or offer to drive him to the nearest mental facility.
"I would say America, but I'm originally from Italy. We moved many years ago," (you have no idea, how many) "I'm Nico. Di Angelo. Nico di Angelo" he stammered out. (smooth buddy)
She gave him a crooked little smile and she stretched out her hand "Hermione Granger"
He knew she must have been powerful for him to feel it, but when he took her hand, it was nothing like he expected. He felt her power surging through him and found himself unable to let go.
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. "You're different. How?" Was all she said, suddenly serious. She must have felt it as well.
He couldn't speak, only feel. Her power was flowing through him, and he sat staring at her openmouthed.
It felt so different, yet disturbingly familiar.
He looked around, suddenly noticing small things he hadn't seen before. All the ripples in the water were turned towards her, from all sides, and even though it had rained recently, everywhere around her was dry. Then he realized where he had felt that kind of power.
Percy.
Maybe that was the key. Maybe he was just attracted to water. But then again – Tyson.
The heights which Zeus and Poseidon's hypocrisy had reached was really, rather impressive.
The three brothers had made a pact to have no more children after WW2.
No one ever trusted Hades, but he was actually the only one to hold the agreement. Nico was from the nineteen forties (loophole) but he had met both Thalia and Percy
This was bad. They had just finished the war against the Titans and the relationship between the gods was unstable to say the least.
If Zeus found out that Poseidon had any more secret demigod children, it could mean civil war between the gods and destruction of human kind. Best case scenario, she would be roasted by lightning.
He really couldn't let that happen to an innocent girl. Not when it had been so close to happen for himself.
He had gone to the Underworld to speak with his father. He and Poseidon got along much better after saving the world and stuff.
His father was not at all surprised. Apparently, Poseidon had always had trouble keeping it in his pants.
Hades had gone to Poseidon, and they had agreed that it would be best to keep the girl hidden, especially with the additional powers she had from Hecate. Not only was she a symbol of Poseidon's disregard for the pact, Zeus might also see her as a threat. Fortunately, she was already rather well hidden by the enchantments of the castle, but now that she was getting older, monsters would take a larger interest in her. That meant that she would need more training. Especially if she were to survive the holidays.
Nico took the job. At first, he was reluctant. He wasn't really a trainer, and the girl made him nervous.
Then Hades had given him an offer he couldn't refuse. If he trained Hermione, Hazel would be resurrected.