For people who don't read ANs READ THIS PLS! It's exceedingly important. Look, I write for the love of writing and all that, but I swear I'm not updating until I get solid 20 reviews. Why? Because I have half of this story up, and I want to publish that half before my thirteenth birthday (March 12, hee, hee). I'm my own person and I write because it satisfies me, because I want to, but I could totally use some encouragment on the way there. And absoluetly would love some flames and critisism, too. Tell me what's good, and tell me what's bad, that's all I'm asking. PLS TAKE A SECOND TO REVIEW. (I'm not usually an AN person, so this is probably the last one for a while.)

Hermione made it just in time to catch the last line Malfoy said, "...,bet your Mudblood-" "Hey, Malfoy!" Hermione said, jumping in front of him, as she stared him in the eye. She hated that little, cowardly ferret. "What are you doing here, Slytherin." she spat the word out like it was an insult. Malfoy's eyes narrowed. "Just telling your new friend here what he would get, hanging out with Mudbloods such as yourself, Granger." Hermione huffed, but Malfoy was gone before she could say anything else...The cowardly weasel. She turned her gaze to Nico and sat next to him. He looked quite calm. "You didn't have to do that, I could handle myself just fine." Nico said, not rudely. Hermione tried for a smile .She knew Nico had been tuning Malfoy out. She didn't know what she thought about Nico. Yet. "Yes, well, sorry. It's just, Malfoy would take any chance he gets to intimidate a Gryffindor." she rolled her eyes. "All Slytherins do." Either Hermione was hallucinating, or Nico indeed, did, try holding back a snort. "Okay. But what did he call you? A Mudblood? He'd said that before, but I never really caught the concept." Hermione started to look a bit angry- not at Nico, but at the purebloods and their stupid prejudice. "It means filthy-blood. He says that because they think us Muggle-borns are a stain in their 'perfect' ancestry." she frowned. Nico nodded slightly. "I understand," he said, and Hermione got the feeling he really did. "What did he say to you, exactly?" she asked him, feeling a little worried. She somehow felt responsible for Nico, who was quite obviously younger than fifteen, but she shook the feeling away. She got the strange idea Nico wouldn't appreciate it.

"Nothing," he said. "Just something about picking the right friends. The guy was practically asking me to hate him even more." Nico gave her a small smile, which she took as leverage for a new kinda-friendship. "Well, I just wanted to say- um, Malfoy is a jerk, I guess." Hermione stood up and awkwardly brushed her robes, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and smiling at Nico. "And, uh, welcome to Gryffindor, Nico." Saying so, she turned back to her friends, not noticing that she had managed to make Nico Di Angelo stare after her, amused.

-break-Line-break-Line

At breakfast, after the little frenzy with Hermione Granger, Nico had been free to read the letter Piper, Hazel, and Reyna had sent him. Draco Malfoy spotted the few drachmas they'd send him, and thought they were muggle currency. Stupid jerk. Nico tuned out most of it, really, and could've just ghostified him in a second, but decide he wasn't worth the trouble. Besides, Hermione drove him away. Nico could take care of himself just fine, but Hermione looked like she'd had some bad blood between her and Malfoy, and Nico felt like if she wanted to lose her temper, then let her. She deserved it. In other circumstances, he might have appreciated it, but he was too busy trying to read his letter without throwing a temper.

He'd petted the black raven, and it flew away, feeling proud of itself.

Nico's first class was Potions- unfortunately. He knew from the moment he'd seen Professor Snape that he would not like it. Naturally, they had Potions with the Slytherins. Great. Apart from forcing him to cut his hair over last winter, Hazel had also insisted that Nico learned to manage his anger, and it sort of rubbed off on him. But with Snape...

Then, there was another problem...Hecate may have 'loosened up' Nico's dyslexia, which meant he could read slightly easier, but she didn't completely cure it. Not to mention his ADHD. Nico, who was working beside Neville Longbottom, managed to make his potion even worse than the latter's.

"Mr. Di Angelo," Snape said, cautiously lowering his face to Nico's thick, yellow potion. "Tell me Mr. Di Angelo, can you or cannot you read?" The Slytherins snickered. Nico ignored them. "Actually Professor, I can't. I'm dyslexic. And ADHD." Snape raised his head, clearly disappointed as the Slytherins stopped snickering. "Ah," he said. "You can have one of your classmates read what's on the board for you, then." he said, and walked away. Snape figured he was Devil Spawn since then. Nico had a feeling it had more to do with than his dyslexia... Oh well, the feeling's mutual Snape.

But even worse than Potions was DADA, which hd only been a few days later. Nico kind of looked forward to seeing how the wizards defended themselves. He expected lights, and spells that would make Conner and Travis get that mischevious gleam in their eyes. He didn't know they'd just be...reading. Seriously, if Riddle attacked anyone of them, were they just going to read him to death, or what? But that's what Mademoiselle Frog-face wanted them to do after saying a rather high-pitched 'Good Morning'.

Nico raised his hand, and surprisingly, so did Hermione. The teacher ignored them. Their hands stayed raised for a few minutes before she actually decided she'd rather just answer. "Yes, Mr Di Angelo?" she asked in a high-pitch, girl voice.

"I can't read English, Professor Umbridge. Dyslexia." Actually, he could read pretty well, expect for a small headache a few flying letters. Truth was, his ADHD was killing him, and he wanted to do something. "Ah, then, what can you read?"

"Latin, or Ancient Greek." he said. She promised to get him a copy in Latin next class. Yay. "And you, Mrs Granger?" Hermione stood up. "Professor, aren't we going to use any spells?" Hermione asked. Umbridge gave a girly laugh. "Why, of course not! Why would you have to do that?" "Well, our O.W.L's are coming-" "- I only answer to raised hands, Mrs. Patil!" Parvati Patil, a Gryffindor girl, raised her hand. "How are we supposed to prepare for our O. if we don't practice spells?" Umbridge's eyebrows lifted in amusement, making her toad-like face look even more toad-like. "When your O. arrive, then you can use the spells." Nervous muttering rang out. "SILENCE." Umbridge huffed, and the noise died down. Nico raised his hand again. He was liking Madame pink-toad less and less. Umbridge gritted her teeth and forcefully asked Nico what he wanted to know. "Isn't the entire idea of this class defense? In life threatening situations, do you really expect us to perform spells we've never tried before?" Nico enjoyed immensely, as he watched her struggle not to yell. "And who would harm sweet children such as yourselves?"

"Oh, I don't know," Harry said. "Voldemort?" Whispers and gasps echoed again, but this time, Umbridge couldn't stop them. "You have been told," she started to say with an edge to her voice, as Nico laid back to enjoy her losing control. "that a certain wizard is back from the dead. I assure you, these are lies."

"Oh?" Harry said. "Are you suggesting that Cedric Diggory just dropped dead?" Harry growled. Nico frowned. He did not know about that. He was going to have to ask someone about it. Judging by the increasing whispers, it was quite a popular story.

"Mr. Potter, come here." she commanded. Nico could sense something bad coming...He knew it was stupid, and something Annabeth wouldn't let him hear the end of, but the Sorting Hat hand't placed him in Ravenclaw for a good reason."Why? If he's telling the truth, then why can't you and your Ministry of Magic stop living in your dreams and see it?" Umbridge narrowed her eyes and glared at Nico. "You, too, Mr. Di Angelo."

Oops.

CONSIDER-THIS-A-BREAK-LINE-OF-SOME-STRANGE-SOURCE.

Nico, back in the common room after his other classes, and after getting chewed out by Professor McGonagall, had decided to finally reply to the girls' message. His detention started about an hour from now, and he honestly couldn't care less.

The girls' letter had surprised Nico, and he read it again just to confirm how he would reply:

Dear Nico,

I still prefer sending IMs. This is Hazel, by the way. Reyna, Piper and I were visitig Camp Half-Blood , but we were attacked by this strange wolf-thing. We're pretty sure it's not one of Lupa's. It almost killed us, but we're fine other than that. So, how's your quest going? How's the wizarding world? Lou-Ellen told me this is how you send messages. She missed you by the way. And Will says he'll personally shoot you down with his blessed archery skills if you don't write back. I hope you're eating well! And don't forget to cut your hair!

Write back soon,

Hazel.

Hi Nico. Piper here. So, I thought I'd tell you this since Hazel didn't mention: the wolf thing- can you do some research? Lou-Ellen thinks it might be more than just a stray monster. He had this strange scar on his back, and yes, I know it's a 'his', don't ask me how, my Aphroditie skills, I guess. Jason thinks it's just a war mark, but he's not really paying attention. Percy and he are really competetive lately, you know? Something about finally setteling the old Jupiter vs Posedion thing back on our quest days. You'll probably find them sparring if you IM to check in. And the Lares of New Rome are acting weirdly. I mean, they always do, but they seem so...controlled, these days. You had better write back, Nico, or I'll make you dye your hair pink. (Trust me, I can do that. I made Gaea fall asleep again, didn't I?)

Keep in check!

-Piper.

How are you doing, Nick?

Ok,I know you hate that name. Back to buisness. Just thought I'd try to sound less formal about stuff. Anyway, Piper's right. Jason and Percy and being butt-heads, and Annabeth agrees. I mean, true, most monsters fought on the bad side in the war, but if that one was wounded by celestial bronze, shouldn't it have died? We're near Camp Half-Blood. Ran into Percy, Jason, and Annabeth on the way. It was a short visit, but Chiron says we should alert you. We would have messaged either way, really, just to make sure you're not dead already. I hope you haven't ghositifed anyone, yet.

I know it's the first day on your quest, Nico, and you've got enough on your mind, but can you do research on this? Lou thinks it's possibly a magical creature. I 'm not as creative and Piper, or resourcful as Hazel when it comes to threats, so excuse me if I'm a bit off. Will painting your cabin white be enough? I hope so, because dying your camp-shirt yellow and replacing your skull ring with an engagment ring had been thought up. (Don't tell Lou-Ellen and Will that I told you)

Don't die,

Reyna.

He picked up his quill, then started writing back.

Hazel, Reyna, and Piper.

I assure you guys that I would like to find my cabin the same way I'd left it. It would certainly be great if you don't make me dye my hair pink, Piper. And Hazel, please tell Will that I'd rather walk back to camp and not have his archery set pointed at me. I'm writing back now, so I hope none of the above and the unmentioned happen.

My quest is okay. Well, as okay as it can get. And Hazel, I'm at school now, so you can stop asking me to socialize. These are my first days, really, so I can't tell you much. As for that attack, I'm not sure. It sound like something to find in your Defense Against the Dark Arts book, but trust me, we don't have a good teacher for that subject. I promise I'll do some research in the library, too. Just give me some time, I'll figure it out. If it's not a greek or roman monster, then it's got to be magical, although I can't tell why they're interefering in the demigod world now. As for the mark, well, I've heard of curse wounds- ones that never really fade away. I'll do all I can to help you, I might even talk to Annabeth about it soon. But all I need is time. Especially on the thing with the Lares they're not exactly ghosts, you see, but they are dead spirits, and I'll see what I can compare between that situation. I won't let you down.

-Nico.

(PS, Piper, can you smack Percy and Jason upside their heads and tell them that's from me? Thanks.)

I-SHOULD-SRSLY-FIND-A-BETTER-WAY-OF-CONSTRUCTING -MY-BREAK-LINES

When Umbridge gave Nico the ink-less quill and smiled at him sweetly, he knew something was wrong. But once he held it, he knew it was dark, he knew it was evil, and must have been totally illegal, too. How? Nico didn't wait to find out. He summoned all his power, and practiced his new skill: to disable the quill. It was a skill he'd learned during the war while he was helping Will in the infirmary. Kim Ianston, a kid of Hephasutes, had been stung by a stray Stymphalian bird, and unfortunaetly, with a stygian iron feather. Stygian Iron was deadly to monsters, but ever more to demigods. It was dark, and powerful, capable of killing with a small scrape. When Kim was dying, Nico had panicked. He didn't know how, but in that moment, he'd summoned every bit of his will-power, every bit of his control of shadow and darkness, and vaporized the latter. Will had complimented Nico to no end, and since then, he'd been practicing that skill- removing darkness, demolishing it, instead of controlling it.

So naturally, when nothing had happened, Umbridge had freaked. Harry, who's quill had burned a word into his skin before Nico had disabled it too, looked almost amused.

"This, is not supposed to happen!" Umbridge yelled, getting panicky. She turned from Harry to Nico, then, since Nico's quill had never worked to begin with, she turned on him with a crazed look on her face. "You." she spat out, angrily. "What did you do?

Nico tried looking at her innocently. Despite what many people thought, he was quite good at that. "Do what, Professor?" Umbridge slapped Nico's quill out of his hand, then handed him another quill. Nico didn't take a moment, and immediately rendered it usless as well. When he wrote with it, the words 'I must not support liars were in blue, clear ink.

Umbridge was driven over the edge, and Harry was speechless, but very amused, tugged at her old-fashioned hair. "You are offensing me, Mr. Di Angelo!" Umbridge decided, staring at him accusingly. "Mr. Potter, go. As for you, DiAngelo, I expect you to be here, at nine, for everyday up to the end of the month!" Harry stared at Nico, doubtfully.

"But, Professor-"

"Mr. Potter, go, and I will not accept any silly Gryffindor behaviour now! You are no Hufflepuff, I'm sure. SCOOT!" Umbridge yelled so loud that for a second there, the color pink seemed to suit her even less. Nico's head yet. His eye-sight dimmed. He shook his head to clear the feeling, but it just wouldn't go away. Harry, who had gotten up now, was looking at him in concern. What was going on? Why was he suddenly feeling nauseous?

Actually,he knew exactly why. Umbridge. Undescribable waves of anger radiated from her. So much, in fact, that Nico couldn't help but wonder: why.

Before he knew it, he was doubled over, clutching his head.

"Nico?" He heard Harry's worried voice, but it seemed like a thousand miles away.

"...asked you to leave..."

"...needs medical attention!..."

"...detention right now..."

"...Madame Pomfery..."

"...NOW!"

Those bits of conversation were the only things Nico could recognize as his head swam. It was all so overwhelming. Without a warning, it was lights out for Nico.