The next time he was conscious, Nico felt cool liquid sliding down his throat. His eyes shot up immediately, and he sat up abruptly.
"Where-Astronomy tower-"
"Oh, shut up." a very relieved voice greeted him as Lou-Ellen sighed. "When will you stop getting yourself killed?"
"Lou?" Nico asked, confused. He rubbed his head, which was throbbing uncontrollably. Blinking, he took a better look around. He was in a small alley-way somewhere. His senses sharpened, nd her pierced Lou-Ellen with his gaze. "You're-you've been gone for a while...Where am I?"
Lou sighed again, shaking her head. "News get around, huh? Well, I was jsut going back to camp- I promise. But then you suddenly appear out of the shadows in front of me with a bleeding curse-scar, and I just have to stop nd take care of it."
Nico looked down at his shirt. True to her words, his shirt was soaked with blood. Memories fell into their places, and Nico groaned, internally cursing himself for being so stupid. But it didn't hurt anymore- his new scar ws just that- a scar. It didn't even feel like he'd gotten it. Nico slowly slipped his hand under his shirt before Lou-Ellen could stop him. He felt his chest, his racing heart, but there was no mark at all. He looked at Lou-Ellen curiously.
Lou sighed in relief. "It works," she muttered.
"What works?"
"Nothing," she said quickly. "Just...an invented potion- and Exilir."
"An Elixir?"
"No, Nico, an Exilir. Now shup up. Can you stand? Can you shadow travel, or should I apparate us?"
Nico pursed his lips, and attempted to stand, waiting for the burning pain- but it never came. He was able to stand, and he was perfectly fine. He looked at Lou-Ellen.
"Thanks. For..healing me, I suppose."
Lou still looked immensely relieved- she linked her arm with him and pressed herself against him, muttering a barely audible 'you're welcome'. Nico stared at Lou-Ellen, who was crushing herself against him even more.
"What?" she asked him, raising her eyebrows. "You think I'm going to apparte while you're here- no way. I swear I'm going to throw up if I have to do that again."
Nico was slightly surprised- he thought children of Hecate were specifically good at all types of magic, especially since Lou-Ellen was seventeen herself, which was considerd of-age there. But apparently, not.
"Why did you need to Apparate? Where are we now? What were you doing?"
Lou averted her eyes to sky, and pursed her lips. "Nothing that would kill you if you didn't know it. Now shdow-travel me out of here or I'll have a bone to pick with you- bad enough I missed Christmas trying to get back to camp."
Shrugging it off, but taking a note to find out more later, Nico shadow-traveled, surprised at the amount of energy he still had after have fell off the Astronomy Tower.
-O-
Christmas break came and went in the blink of an and Lou-Ellen had made a sort of truce- she wouldn't tell anyone Nico had managed to end up bleeding (yet again) in an alleyway, and he wouldn't tell anyone that she was working on a healing potion because it was 'not quite ready yet'.
The Camp welcomed them back, and they spent the rest of their break together. In the end, Lou was extremely glad to have missed most of the break after seeing some of the lasting effects of Travis and Conner's pranks. She did, however, mail something to someone on Xavia, smiling as she did. Nico knew it wasn't his business who she was exchanging gifts with, so he let if slide.
The only eventful thing thing that happened throughout the rest of the break was the exact ngiht before Nico would be leaving for Hogwarts. Travis and Conner had decided to back-stab him, and target him when he expected it least. When a pissed-off Will Solace stormed the Hades cabin, scaring Nico half out of his wits since he had been asleep, things got messy.
"What the HECK, NICO!"
"Whaa-wassut? Will? Wha' you doing here?" Nico had groaned.
"YOU KNOW I WAS JOKING WHEN I SAID I'D HUNT YOU DOWN, RIGHT? RIGHT? YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO FREAKING BURN THEM DOWN WITH HELL FIRE, DID YOU?"
Will was the gentle, sweet kind of guy who would offer you flowers or something, but when angry, he was absolutely terrifying. Nico jumped out of bed and backed into the wall as Will advanced on him.
"WHAT THE HADES, NICO! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF NOW! NICE MOVE TO, COMING BACK HERE AND PRETENDING TO BE INNOCENT. I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW YOU COULD CONTROL HELL-FIRE! YOU BETTER HAVE A DAMN GOOD REASON FOR BURNING DOWN ALL OUR WEAPONS, BECAUSE AS HEAD OF THE APOLLO CABIN, I CAN'T LET THIS SLIDE!"
"I didn't do anything!" Nico swore. "Look, will, I swear it on the River Styx- I did not burn down your weapons!" Thunder rumbled, and Will's face fell.
"Oh," he said dumbly. "But then why did you tell me it was you?"
"I didn't!"
"Then...but you...Oh." Will scratched the back of his head.
"Well, Travis came running up to me, saying you were playing with black fire in the weapon shed, and then I went to check on you, and you were really there...Well, obviously not you, but then..."
" It was Conner, you dolt!" Nico exclaimed. "Can you close the door? I'm feeling cold." Nico slapped an alarmed hand to his hand, looking at Will, shocked.
"What the hades, will? Don't you believe me, still?"
"No, I believe you!" Will said, flushing bright red. "Sorry, Nico- it's Lynn. She must have cursed you with poetry...sorry! I'll try to get her to ix tat, but the last time that happened to the Ares cabin, it lasted a week."
"Are you kidding me- a week?! Lions eat meat and steak!"
"Um, yes, they do." Will said awkwardly.
"So I'm just going to start yelling random things? Catapult, monkeys,yellow sphinx!" Nico's face was burning with embarrassment. He buried his face in his hands- was he going to Hogwarts like this?
"You might find it more convenient to talk less."
"I need a pill. I'm going to kill you, Will."
Will's face drained of all color. "Please tell me that you were just rhyming. You didn't mean that, did you?"
"I'm going to murder the Stolls. And then I'll dump your body in the stalls."
Will gulped, and backed in door. "Um, I'd better just...Bye!" He ran out as fast as he could, leaving a very distraught son of Hades.
-O-
"So...Nico. How was your break?" Hermione, smiling. Nico tried to smile back, The three were trying to include him in their conversations as much as possible, while he was doing just the opposite. He tried to get the message to her with a shrug, but she huffed haughtily.
"What's wrong, Nico." Ron asked, raising his eyebrows. "Did Crookshanks eat your tongue."
"Stop accusing him of irrational behavior." Hermione said. She turned to Nico again, apparently still awaiting a response. Nico sighed.
"Great, I spent it with my mates."
"Hey!" Ron grinned. "That rhymed!" Hermione rolled her eyes at him with a look that said 'duh'.
But in fact, Nico's break was more than good- it was amazing. It was practically his first real Christmas without Bianca, and it had gone fine. Expect the little poetry-incident on his last day
"Good. So, where did you spend it?"
Nico pondered a little, and decided it wouldn't hurt to let that part spill. After all, what would it hurt?
"Camp. Thanks for the book, by the way. It was really good. I put it on the shelf next to my black-hood."
Hermione beamed at him, looking proud of herself for picking such a thoughtful book, and completely ignoring his poetry, which Ron seemed to be picking. "I liked yours, too. Amazing, really, those facts about Greek and Roman wars. I've noticed you can read Greek- are you from there?"
Nico had taken Hermione's pleas for his trust quite seriously, and he decided to start throwing about hints for the trio- just facts and pointers, and who knew? The might figure it out in the end, and then Nico wouldn't have to tell them- that didn't count as telling them, did it? If they were going to win this war, then they needed to have complete trust in each other, and Nico had to start it.
"Partly," he said with a twitch of his lips. Fortunately, he managed to muffle any rhyming-escapades.
"Hm."
"Hey, did you like my Quidditch-Care set?" Ron interjected enthusiastically.
Hermione giggled, and Harry rolled his eyes at him- apparently, everyone but Ron had noticed he didn't like Quidditch.
Nico said, "I don't play Quidditch. I'd rather fall in a ditch."
Ron gaped at him. "You. Are. Mental. And mate, you can stop rhyming now, you know? You've been doing it since you came here. At first I thought it was funny- Hi, and pie, and all that. But you should stop doing that now, it's getting old."
"It's not my fault! Mini ball-hault!"
"What?" Harry asked, confused. "Are you under a charm, or something?"
Nico nodded, having had enough embarrassment with words.
"Say 'month'." Hermione suggested, petting Crookshanks.
Nico frowned thoughtfully. "Why? I'd rather die." Ron looked at him if horror, but Hermione remained unfazed.
"Just say it- trust me on this, okay?"
Nico rolled his eyes, but sighed. "Month." he said. Nothing happened. "Month," he said again. The corners of his mouth twitched as he realized the charm had been broken.
"How'd you do that?" Harry asked. Hermione looked proud of herself. "No word in the English language rhymes with 'month', so it was naturally supposed to break the charm. And it worked, evidently."
"Thanks!" Nico said...But then, "Butter pants!" he clapped a hand to his mouth again as Ron and Harry snickered. Hermione huffed, saying "Well!"
Of course- the Apollo kids would have found a way around that little complication- it must have happened several times.
"I'm going to kill Fred and George." Nico muttered darkly.
"...Blue butterflies and a torch."
HELLO! Well, I've had so many suggestions, and so many preferences that I made a final decision- Helios and Nyx, which will most probably be Nico's animals, are going to be shape-shifters! They can be owls, or any birds, really, to deliver his messages. They can be ferrets to provide comic relief as one of my reviewers has very kindly offered. They can me by personal favourite- Cats, and make Crookshanks' 9 lives a living where-cats-that-do-bad-things-go. (AKA, Cat hell). They can be snakes, phoenixes, you name it! Isn;t that SO COOL?
Another little detail I want your suggestions on- should Nico be a Parslemouth?
SHOUTOUT TO SOMEONE WHO HAD AN INSULT FOR VOLDY: LORD MOLDYBUTT. SORRY, YO, I'M TOO LASY TO CHECK THE REVIEW LIST AND COPY DOWN YOUR NAME, I PROMISE I'LL DO IT NEXT TIME, THOUGH!