Nico shakily went to take a seat beside Ginny, the redheaded witch who was the first person in Magical London that he'd spoken with.

His hands shook a bit- the sorting was certainly a very different experience, to put it lightly. He supposed being sorted into Gryffindor wasn't too bad, really- in fact, if he were to keep a closer watch on Harry, it was actually the best he could do. But something about the sorting hat's announment- one that gave off an aura of true magic- was incredibly unfamiliar and bone rattling. He supposed these were the effects of wizardry magic. It had a strenght of its own, but it felt absolutely foreign to a demigod like himself, one rather used to dealing with magic of a remarkably different kind.

"Good job, you," Ginny smiled a friendly sort of smile. She seemed to sense his discomfort, so she was considerate enough not to hug him, high five him, clap him on the back or haul him over her shoulders with a roar like some of the other houses had done to those eleven year olds- and for that, he was extremely thankful.

"Thanks," said Nico quietly, his eyes wandering around the Gryffindor table. It seemed quite the popular house, because it contained several types of students of diverse ages and appearances. A trio of wizards sitting together caught his attention after some time- something in his mind identified the boy with round glasses as Harry Potter.

There was nothing particularly striking or significant about the other boy. In fact, he was trully and remarkably ordinary looking. Nico felt dissapointed with himself for expecting anything more- after all, it wasn't like he went around with a sign around his neck saying, "Hello, I am Chosen(tm)." In fact, most extraordinary people looked and acted like part of the crowd until something tipped you off about them- he knew that well.

Nico was shaken out of these thoughts as the Headmaster of Hogwarts began his speech now that all the sorting, cheering and congratulating had been done.

The Headmaster sounded and acted kindly and welcoming- as if he wished to collect every person in the hall into an embrace. In way, that was what he was doing. Nico couldn't really say he was paying absolute attention to what Headmaster Dumbledore was saying, but he gathered enough to come to one conclusion: he was a very agreeable person, seemingly persuasive and smooth. Given some time, there was a slight chance Nico might even go as far as to like him.

But just when Nico was beginning to consider tuning in to his speech as best he could, an unnaturally high pitched voice interrupted the Headmaster's speech. Nico raised his head in interest- he doubted this was a common occurence.

The source of the offending "Hem, hem" was an elderly lady. She was shorter than what was average for women her age and had an expression as sweet as poisoned honey. Added to that, she was draped in so much pink that Nico suspected even the Aphrodite Cabin would cringe at her choice of clothing.

Nico didn't know if it was the pink or the discomforting expression she wore, but his gut immediately twisted at the sight of her. His eyebrows knit together in a scowl as he drew a deep, silent breath. He'd hoped that he'd at least get some time to understand this world of magic better before any trouble arose. Then again, the Fates never liked him much.

"Who's she?" Nico asked Ginny, whose features were twisted in extreme distate.

"New Defense teacher," she said.

"She talks a lot," Nico said, hoping desperately that her voice might not injure his eardrums beyond repair.

"I know."

"And she's pink. Really pink."

Ginny smiled a little there. "I know."

Nico didn't bother to listen to anything she said, either. Instead, he chose to silently and effectively bemoan his misfortune. He hadn't been to any sort of school since he was ten and he certainly hadn't been acquainted with teachers for a bit- he wasn't sure he was keen on being reacquainted with either.

Nico owed it to his ADHD- he really did. The woman had probably been talking for decades but mercifully, she only seemed to do so for several painful hours. Or perhaps it was the other way around, but there was yet to be stubble on his chin, so it probably wasn't.

When she stopped talking, Nico's eardrums rejoiced along with his practically already nonexistent patience (which had been stretched as thin as it could get). The appearance of a magnificent feast only served to improve his mood further. He was glad not to be the only one relieved either- everyone seemed to be happy that they could stop pretending to listen and start digging in.

Needless to say, the Brits had different dishes than what he was accustomed to. But to Tartarus with it- it looked good, smelt good and most of the desserts had a generous heap of whipped cream on them. Nico ate- and his untouchable personality and aura were probably tarnished by his appetite, but whatever.

By his side, Ginny seemed content to with simply eating anything with dozens of layers of sugar on it, turning a blind eye on any of the real food. For that alone, Nico decided his respect for her had doubled.

As any group of teenagers is bound to do, the forementioned one at the Hogwarts Great Hall immediately set what the adults had said aside in favour of focusing their full and undivided attention on the food. Nico was one such teenager, but ADHD was merciless; his eyes wandered from the table quite a bit.

The most eye catching object was, perhaps, the magical cieling at the Great Hall which he'd noticed but had no real time to admire. He wondered idly what branch of magic its enchantments belonged to and how many branches there were- one couldn't expect a teen to be introduced to a whole new world without wondering. His attention then drifted to the floating candles which provided light- interestingly, there was no source of electricity, which he assumed would have been far more convenient. In fact, Hogwarts itself as a whole- castle, torches and rickety boats- seemed to ignore technological advancement and stick to the traditional methodsm It didn't occur to him that magic and electricity didn't go together.

But perhaps the most interesting thing about the Great Hall so far was the crowd of translucent ghosts floating around. The screams of the first years had alerted him to them, though frankly they would have been hard to miss.

At first, he was confused, frustrated and dubious of them. It didn't make sense for them to exist- departed souls nearly always made their way to the Underworld almost immediately after their death, as far as he knew. And back when proper burial rituals were actually cared about, the Styx was their next stop. They just didn't belong on the surface with the souls of the living. Nico chewed on his lip and let out a sigh through his gritted teeth, making his cheeks puff in annoyance. He was getting a headache just thinking about it. He attempted to compare them to the Lares of New Rome, but something about them was just different and made him feel fifty shades of wrong.

The nearly decapitated guy showing off his noggin near the Gryffindor firsties didn't help Nico's frustration.

Between his observations and eating (he'd give it to the English- their food wasn't terrible at all), the feast had gone by quickly. The food vanished with an unspoken magical command, and the students were beginning to rise from their seats.

Nico stood as well, but he had no idea where to head otherwise. Different groups, by the house, seemed to be steered off by a group of students- usually a group of two, maybe four. Perhaps they had some sort of monitoring authority?

Ginny noted his confusion and tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

"We follow the prefects up to our Common Rooms now. We're going up that staircase over there, in case you were wondering."

Though he'd gathered that much, Nico thanked her for the clarification yet again; she nodded and brushed it off kindly, and they proceeded ahead. There was still much to learn.

Nico had assumed that he'd been sent to a quest, and not a soap opera.

OK, pedalling back a little-

after climbing a cruelly huge number of staircases (because Nico just HAD to be sorted into the house whose common room was on the highest floor), Nico didn't blame himself for being unable to appreciate the Gryffindor common room. He was already exhausted as it was- the information he'd taken in was quite the load, and he was full of English food and whipped cream. The equation added up to one thing; a strong desire to curl up and sleep for a dozen or so centuries.

He supposed he owed a little credit to himself, because he'd somewhat taken advantage of his closeness and the fact that Potter's best friends were apparently the Prefects. It was a good opportunity to observe the boy up close- and really, apart from the now obvious lightning bolt scar on his forehead which was partially covered up by his messy bangs of hair, nothing particularly screamed "DIFFERENT!" about him. It was ironic how the most special sometimes appeared very mundane.

Understandably, Nico had been more eager than ever to hit the fourposter bed when they got to the fifth year male dorms (which he was sharing with Potter- what a surprise! It was absolutely shocking, really! Simply bone rattling! Marvelously unexpected, I tell you!).

Unfortunately, his dormmates decided to start a Shakespearien drama in the middle of the dorm. As far as he could gather, the guy with the funny Irish accent whom he heard the dark skinned boy refer to as 'Seamus' had some problems regarding Potter. Nico reluctantly perked up at the chance of gaining anymore info. He'd have appreciated if it waited til he could sleep and gather enough energy to form coherent thoughts, but whatever. His eavsdropping only continued for a bit. His internal raydar picked up danger when Potter's voice rose.

Naturally, this seemed to be a mess. Naturally, it seemed a complicated matter involving mothers, politics, and betrayal, two of which Nico had no understanding of whatsoever. Naturally, he then decided to interfere.

"Hello to you all, too, name's di Angelo. Pleasure to meet you," he said in a flat tone, rolling onto his side. To his satisfaction, he easily caught the attention of the three boys after. Their gazes turned to him, and the emotions and words on the tips of their tongues melted as they tried to form newer ones.

Seeing he'd succeded, Nico sat up and glanced at them all dubiously. "Why, yes of course I find the UK dazzling. Yes, my experience has been very agreeable so far. Very kind of you to ask." His eyes flickered toward the blond Irish boy.

The others looked a mixture uncomfortable, guilty and irritated. Nico would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy it. It probably felt like an asshole move, especially to Potter, who was already seemingly facing two of his dorm mates and didn't need the new American joining in on the harassment.

"I would like to sleep, please," Nico continued, his sarcasm wearing off. "And I never say please, so now you know I'm desperate. If we're all done accusing our fifteen year old dormmate of fraud-" (Nico really hoped that was the case, because that's what he'd gathered so far from his eavsdropping) "-I'd like to make a suggestion. How about we stop harassing the guy and follow this excellent gentleman's example?" He nodded towards the sleeping form of their other, more sensible dormmate. Nico faintly remembered that he had a name starting with an N and a toad that kept escaping him.

"You know," Seamus began, "this is really none of your business-"

"You know," Nico mimiced, scowling. "I do believe this is my dorm as much as it is yours, and I personally would like to start using it appropriately and go to sleep. If you want to keep pissing that guy off," Nico gestured tiredly towards Harry, "then for the love of the gods, do it somewhere else, another day. I, for one, really don't want to be part of your petty crap, dude,"

He didn't know if anyone had muttered anything afterwards, because he didn't bother to listen or survey anything anymore. He drew the drapes around his fourposter bed and snuggled into the pillow, faintly aware of someone new entering the dorm- the prefect who was Harry's friend, he assumed tiredly- before his eyes shut and he welcomed sleep.

A/N: Rewritten on the 3rd of May, 2017 by yours truly!