They hurried getting dressed, and practically ran down the hall, into the kitchen, their cheeks bright red.

The others were already there excluding Will, Leo and Calypso.

Annabeth and Jason looked curious, Hazel looked uncomfortable. Reyna was smirking, Piper grinning like a mad woman. Percy just looked plain nauseous.

"We were sparring." Hermione pointed out.

Jason cleared his throat. "Whatever you do is your own business, but we only have about three hours till your meeting with your friend. Reyna took the liberty of calling him. There's a small café near the camp we're meeting at."

"We?"

"You need backup. The monsters are restless. I don't know if they can sense the instability, but they're more aggressive and are coming closer to camp."

"I have a theory." Annabeth offered "I think the monsters somehow knows that we had a falling out with Zeus. They are afraid of him, and they probably thought he was protecting us before, which means, that now we're free game. I think we can expect some of the nastier things coming for us as well."

"Jeez, Annabeth, what a cheerful thought." Nico muttered. Hermione swatted him in the stomach.

"Shush! It's a valid point." she scolded. Annabeth smiled widely.

"I suggest all of us, who are in the room right now, go with Hermione. Leo and Calypso are busy working on Festus." Jason said

"Sounds like a plan." Nico interjected, just as Hermione was about to protest , and say that it was too many.

"Better safe than sorry." Percy added.

"Great!" Piper settled " Then I can give Hermione a tour of the house!"

She grabbed Hermione's arm, and pulled her through a door she hadn't noticed before.

…

"Sparring, Hermione? Really?"

"We were!" She defended.

"If you say so" Piper said with a teasing smile.

"Anyway, I promised you a tour! Right now, we are at we call the House central. This is the dining room."

Only then did Hermione look around.

The room was huge. One wall was covered completely with photos of what she assumed was Camp Half-blood, of the Ten and their other friends, in various places. Some at Camp Half-blood, some at Camp Jupiter and New Rome. In some pictures, they looked like normal teenagers, in others they looked battle worn, dirty and with torn clothes.

She chuckled when she spotted a picture of a younger, grumpy looking Nico sporting a colourful tropical shirt.

Judging by the marks on the frame, and the broken plaster behind it, it had been torn down violently and hung back up, several times.

At another wall stood two cabinets presumably for tableware. In the middle of the room was an enormous dark, wooden dining table, with matching chairs, large enough to seat twelve people.

The other walls held two doors each. Piper dragged her along through one of the doors into another room as large as the dining room, if not larger. She assumed this was the living room. In a way, it reminded her of the Gryffindor common room, only in white. Squishy looking armchairs and couches were everywhere, along with low tables.

There was even a fireplace.

One wall held two doors more. Another wall was made of glass, with a door that led onto a patio that held a fire pit. A little further away was a large swimming pool. In the distance was a separate building, with large garage doors, smoke coming out of a chimney.

"How large is this place?" Hermione asked in awe.

"Well, as I said, this is the main part of the house. Other than this, there are four wings. Leo wants to add a fifth though. At the moment, you and Nico are staying in the guest wing. Leo has wanted to make Nico his own wing, but Nico always said it wasn't necessary, since he's travelling all over."

"Nico never really had a home. Unless you count the Underworld. His room there is pretty cool, but it's not home, not really. I don't think he knows how to have one, to be honest" Hermione mumbled absently as she studied the fireplace.

"Wait, you saw his room in the Underworld?" Piper asked incredulously

"Yeah. I think Hades and Persephone decorated it together. It's a very strange mix of chains, skulls and flower garlands."

Pipers lips twitched. "You have got to tell me more about that sometime, but I think we should get ready soon. We should be there in good time, to scope the place, but first we need to get weapons and prepare.

…

Hermione's heart was in her throat, as they approached the café. It was decided, that Nico, herself and Piper were going inside. The others were staying outside, looking out for monsters.

Before going inside, Nico pulled Hermione in for a hug. "Don't worry about it. It'll all work out." He said, kissing her hair. He kept his arm around her shoulder. As the three of them, walked through the door, a bell jingled above them.

When Hermione looked inside, she saw Harry sitting alone at a table, his left leg bouncing up and down, as it always did, when he was agitated.

Nico walked her to the table "It'll be fine. If you need us, we'll be right over there" he said, gesturing Piper, standing at a table at the other end of the shop, near the window. He released her shoulder, sliding his hand down her other arm, to her hand, squeezing her fingers before releasing her and walking in Pipers direction.

"If it was him, coming, claiming to be Percy's sibling, I wouldn't doubt it at all." Piper told him.

Hermione sat down slowly in the chair opposite Harry's.

"So…" she started, when she realized, her best friend was otherwise mentally occupied, scowling heavily in Nico's direction.

Hermione sighed. "He's a good guy, Harry." She said.

Harry whipped his head around, turning the scowl to her. "Mind elaborating that, Hermione?" he asked scathingly.

She sighed again. She was doing that a lot lately. She hesitated, but ended up blurting "I'm adopted." "Um, okay. Wasn't expecting that. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything, really" She chuckled. "I didn't even know. Not until Nico came along."

"He told you? How did he know? Is he like your biological brother or something?"

"Eew, no. Not my brother. Definitely not my brother. I think it was as surprising to him as it was to me. He could feel my power was different. More like his own."

"So he's a wizard too?"

"No, not a wizard."

"Then what is he? He isn't a muggle."

"No. What do you know about Greek gods?"

"What, like Zeus and Hades and Poseidon and those guys?" He looked at her like she had gone crazy.

"At the end of second year, a couple of days before we left with the train, I met Nico on the grounds of Hogwarts. I hadn't seen him before, and when I introduced myself, and we shook hands, he accidentally kidnapped me to the Underworld."

"How does anyone accidentally kidnap someone?!" He asked incredulously.

"A lot like accidental side-along apparition, like what happened with Yaxley."

"Wait a minute. When you say "Underworld" is that like an underground community or is, like hell" he squeaked out.

She sighed again. She needed to stop doing that.

"The Underworld is complicated. You have to understand that. What people think of today as "Hell" is only a very small part of the Underworld. There are many other parts. The Fields of Asphodel, Elysium. Tartarus." She shivered, mentioning that last one.

"Nico is the son of Hades then." Harry gritted his teeth.

"He needed to consult his father on what to do. Being a demigod, as we are, is very complicated. There are many political factors, the gods in between, that we need to consider, and also, there are many monsters wanting us as a snack. Many don't survive their teenage years." She explained.

"Hades contacted Poseidon, with whom he had a good relationship, at least at the time, and due to a deal, they had both made with Zeus, it was decided, that it was best if my parentage was kept a secret. In the mortal world, this was easy. I just continued like before, with my adoptive parents, who didn't know I knew about the adoption. I still needed training though, and since Nico already knew about me, it was decided that he should train me."

"But how could he train you? He doesn't look much older than you. How could he train you at the age of thirteen?" Harry asked.

Hermione gave him a melancholic smile "By that time, Nico had already been through his first war. He had lost his mother, his sister, and fought in a great battle. Compared to him, what we have been through, is a fairytale."

Harry looked over at Nico, with a look of reluctant respect. The kind of respect one would give a fellow soldier.

Nico was gesturing wildly, deep in discussion, with the beautiful girl they had come in with. Nico looked agitated. The girl just looked smug.

They were so deep in their discussion, that none of them noticed the bell above the door jingling. Two sets of Siamese twins were walking through the door. Harry wasn't usually one to stop and gawk at people, who looked different. He'd had enough people staring at his scar to know, that that type of attention really isn't comfortable. This was different though. He had highly developed senses, after the war, and a certain amount of paranoia. Those guys had something wrong with them, and it wasn't being stuck at the hip. He pulled at Hermione's sleeve, getting her attention, and nodded in the direction of the guys, who seemed to be sniffing the air.

…

Nico felt like banging his head against the table. As soon as he sat down at the table, Piper pounced.

"So, lover boy. You going to get your act together soon?"

"My act?" He asked with a lifted eyebrow.

Piper rolled her eyes exasperatedly. "I'm surrounded by emotionally handicapped idiots" she mumbled

"Just don't" He complained.

"Hermione? Tell me! I mean, I can see what is there, and what could be there. Why are you hesitating?!" She hissed.

"It's complicated" He grumbled.

"Then uncomplicate it! Or explain to me, why it's complicated, so I can uncomplicate it for you!"

"You're impossible" He said. She looked at him with her puppy dog eyes, that could be just as persuasive as her charm-speak.

"Fine" He huffed. "I used to have a crush on her brother. And her brother knows that. Everyone thinks I'm gay. I kept her hidden from her brother, and we have a civil war going on. Is that complicated enough for you?"

She looked at him pensively. "That doesn't sound complicated at all actually. None of those things actually have anything to do with what is between the two of you. Now, if you actually had been gay, and not bisexual, that would have been complicated. If you still had a crush on her brother, that would have been complicated. If she had been married, that would have been complicated. You don't have any of those problems, so what is the deal?"

He made a frustrated growl. "It's complicated because she's a girl, alright? I know what to do, with boys, I have no idea about girls! I've never been with a girl!"

"Easy tiger. One step at a time. You know her really well, you're comfortable together, you trust each other. I'm pretty sure, that kissing a girl isn't all that different from kissing a guy. Except for the lack of whisker burn, which is to your advantage, really."

"Then, what if she doesn't like me? What if she thinks it's weird, that I've had a boyfriend previously?"

"Trust me, she likes you. A lot. And don't you think you should let it be up to her, to decide, what she finds weird?"

"I'm just –"

Nico never got the chance to tell, what he just was, because at that moment, he was interrupted by people screaming, and a shot of flames, that went past his head, singeing his hair.

"Oh schist!" He muttered, drawing his sword.

I tried making this chapter a little longer. I promise, in the future I will work on doing that some more. I'm considering changing the rating on this story to an M, due to sexual content, but if any of the people following this story have any objections to that, please write let me know, and I won't let the story veer too much in that direction.

Next chapter – fight scene. Looking forward!