Inside the tent, the conversation was not much out of the ordinary, but there was a merry atmosphere in the air. They had just broken into Gringotts, the safest place ever, gotten another horcrux and destroyed it! The only people who seemed disconnected from the conversation was Nico, who was taking the first watch and Ron, who seemed lost in thought. As Harry listened to the happy recounting from the exciting day, it was getting harder and harder for him to ignore the prickling in his scar. It wouldn't be long until he would be forced to give in.

"I'll be right back you guys." He said, standing up. "Bathroom break."

He rushed over to the bathroom and closed his eyes. He was standing in the deserted Malfoy Manor. He was not only furious that they had let the boy escape, again. But sensed a presence had been here. A presence that he, Lord Voldemort, was vulnerable to. The Lestranges had motioned that Potter had three new accomplices. These people had made it clear that they were not wizards. He had looked into this and now, pacing in the drawing room of Malfoy Manor, he knew what they were, and he knew which one he was vulnerable to. He would have to find this new threat, and eliminate it.

"M-my Lord" said a meek voice behind him. He turned around and saw Yalaxy in the doorway.

"M-my Lord, it is Potter and his accomplices. They have b-broken into Gringotts."

Burning rage temporarily blinded Harry's vision of Voldemort. His scar burned as if someone had pressed a white hot wire onto it. When he could see again, Voldemort was in Gringotts. He was standing in a dimly lit room, and a semicircle of wizards faced him, and on the floor at his feet knelt a small, quaking figure.

"What did you say to me?" His voice was high and cold, but fury and fear burned inside him. The one thing that he had dreaded, but it could not be true, he could not see how...

The goblin was trembling, unable to meet the red eyes high above his.

"Say it again!" murmured Voldemort. "Say it again!"

"M-my Lord," stammered the goblin, its black eyes wide with terror, "m-my Lord... we t-tried to st-stop them... Im-impostors, my Lord... broke -broke into the ¨C into the Lestranges' vault..."

"Impostors? What impostors? I thought Gringotts had ways of revealing impostors? Who were they?"

"It was... it was... the P-Potter b-boy and the f-five saccomplices..."

"And they took?" he said, his voice rising, a terrible fear gripping him, "Tell me! What did they take?"

"A... a s-small golden c-cup m-my Lord..."

The scream of rage, of denial left him as if it were a stranger's. He was crazed, frenzied, it could not be true, it was impossible, nobody had known. How was it possible that the boy could have discovered his secret?

The Elder Wand slashed through the air and green light erupted through the room; the kneeling goblin rolled over dead; the watching wizards scattered before him, terrified. Bellatrix and Lucius Malfoy threw others behind them in their race for the door, and again and again his wand fell, and those who were left were slain, all of them, for bringing him this news, for hearing about the golden cup - Alone amongst the dead he stomped up and down, and they passed before him in vision: his treasures, his safeguards, his anchors to immortality ¨C the diary was destroyed and the cup was stolen. What if, what if, the boy knew about the others? Could he know, had he already acted, had he traced more of them? Was Dumbledore at the root of this? Dumbledore, who had always suspected him; Dumbledore, dead on his orders; Dumbledore, whose wand was his now, yet who reached out from the ignominy of death through the boy, the boy -

But surely if the boy had destroyed any of his Horcruxes, he, Lord Voldemort, would have known, would have felt it? He, the greatest wizard of them all; he, the most powerful; he, the killer of Dumbledore and of how many other worthless, nameless men. How could Lord Voldemort not have known, if he, himself, most important and precious, had been attacked, mutilated?

True, he had not felt it when the diary had been destroyed, but he had thought that was because he had no body to fell, being less than ghost... No, surely, the rest were safe... The other Horcruxes must be intact...

But he must know, he must be sure... He paced the room, kicking aside the goblin's corpse as he passed, and the pictures blurred and burned in his boiling brain: the lake, the shack, and Hogwarts -

A modicum of calm cooled his rage now. How could the boy know that he had hidden the ring in the Gaunt shack? No one had ever known him to be related to the Gaunts, he had hidden the connection, the killings had never been traced to him. The ring, surely, was safe.

And how could the boy, or anybody else, know about the cave or penetrate its protection? The idea of the locket being stolen was absurd...

As for the school: He alone knew where in Hogwarts he had stowed the Horcrux, because he alone had plumed the deepest secrets of that place...

And there was still Nagini, who must remain close now, no longer sent to do his bidding, under his protection...

But to be sure, to be utterly sure, he must return to each of his hiding places, he must redouble protection around each of his Horcruxes... A job, like the quest for the Elder Wand, that he must undertake alone...

Which should he visit first, which was in most danger? An old unease flickered inside him. Dumbledore had known his middle name... Dumbledore might have made the connection with the Gaunts... Their abandoned home was, perhaps, the least secure of his hiding places, it was there that he would go first...

The lake, surely impossible... though was there a slight possibility that Dumbledore might have known some of his past misdeeds, through the orphanage.

And Hogwarts... but he knew the his Horcrux there was safe; it would be impossible for Potter to enter Hogsmeade without detection, let alone the school. Nevertheless, it would be prudent to alert Snape to the fact that the boy might try to reenter the castle... To tell Snape why the boy might return would be foolish, of course; it had been a grave mistake to trust Bellatrix and Malfoy. Didn't their stupidity and carelessness prove how unwise it was ever to trust?

He would visit the Gaunt shack first, then, and take Nagini with him. He would not be parted from the snake anymore... but first; he would take care of Potter's new accomplice, this new threat. He strode from the room, through the hall, and out into the dark garden where the fountain played. He called the snake in Parseltongue and it slithered out to join him like a long shadow...

Harry opened his eyes. Voldemort knew they were hunting Horcruxes, and he had found out what Percy, Annabeth, and Nico were! But who was the new threat? He thought about the three half-bloods. Of all of them, Percy seemed to have been through the most, and was the most skilled fighter, Voldemort had probably meant him. He would need to warn Percy straight away.

He rushed out of the bathroom and to the sitting room. Where the others were still talking.

"Percy, can I talk to you privately?" he asked.

"Sure." Said Percy. They went over to the kitchen, and Harry told him about what he had seen.

"I'll be on my guard." Said Percy when Harry was done explaining

"Should we tell the others?" asked Harry.

"No, there's no need to worry them. I can take care of myself."

"I know that." Said Harry, "I just wanted to warn you."

"Let's get back to the others."

When they arrived at the sitting room again, the spirits of the others seemed to have dampened, and they were now talking solemnly amoungst each other.

"What's wrong?" asked Harry.

"It's Nico," said Annabeth. "He refuses to come inside or talk to us. When we tried to tell him to get some sleep, the just snapped at us."

"Do you think there's something bothering him?" asked Hermione.

"Of course there's something bothering him." Ron suddenly shouted. He had not spoken during the entire conversation until now. "He just destroyed a horcrux! Of course he's not in tip top shape!"

Nico

Despite Nico being exhausted from killing the horcrux, he insisted on taking the first watch. What else could he do? He had to make it up to everyone else. He had acted so weak when trying to kill the horcrux, ignored their warnings not to listen to the fake Bianca. Bianca. Seeing her and all the images of them together in the past had renewed his grief over her death. Right now, he just wanted to be alone.

Sitting outside in the dark, he thought he heard noises in the woods several times, but he knew it was just his nerves. He heard the flap of the tent opening, and from the sound of the footsteps, he knew exactly who it was.

"For the last time, Percy, I'm fine." Said Nico, without turning around.
Behind him, Percy stopped in his tracks. They had already tried to get him to come inside several times before.

"Nico, if you're sitting out here to...to make it up to us or something, you don't have to. You have nothing to feel guilty about. Nothing.

"I'm not guilty about anything." Said Nico, lying through his teeth. "I just like the peace and quiet." Another lie. Although he had never been a social butterfly, being around the rest of the group almost made him feel like he belonged.

Percy sighed. "Destroying the horcrux was hard work, whenever you feel the least bit tired, you should come in." And he left.

Nico could hear voices inside the tent, then about ten minutes later, another person came out. Nico face broke into a confused frown as he recognized it as Ron. Ron had hardly ever talked to him during this entire quest, and he seemed to be the one who found Nico 'creepy', just like everyone else did. Ron walked over and sat down by Nico.

"Nico, you really don't have to feel guilty." Said Ron

"I don't feel guilty!" Nico almost shouted, honestly, this was getting annoying.

"Yes you do." Said Ron flatly. "And believe me; I know exactly how you feel."

"No you don't." Nico snapped. "No one will ever understand me. I'm an outcast, a child of Hades. No one likes people with my dad."

"Says who?" Said Ron. "Look, I had to kill a horcrux too; I know how it feels, but you saved our lives, Nico!"

"And I was about to destroy them just as easily!"Nico sighed and bowed his head in shame. "For a while, I thought I might belong somewhere. With you all. But then, boom, with a bit of persuasion I was ready to kill all of you!" A single tear slid down his cheek. "The horcrux knew me. It knew exactly what I wanted most in the world. I'll never belong anywhere, not if I can be turned against my friends that easily." He felt Ron put a hand on his back.

"When I had to kill the locket horcrux, it knew me too." He said, "It showed me exactly what I wanted, and convinced me I could have it...if I killed Harry. For a moment there, I had every intention of killing him. Harry! My best mate I had known for six years! I was about to stab him!"It was Ron's turn to put his face in his hands in shame. Maybe he really did know what Nico was going through.

Ron quickly straightened up. "But that thing that made us want to kill Harry, that was Tom Riddle. That wasn't us." He stood up and put a hand on Nico's shoulder. "That wasn't you. Don't feel guilty Nico."

Nico felt himself smiling. "Thanks Ron. Seriously though, let me finish this watch. I'll come inside in an hour or so."

Ron smiled back and headed back into the tent.

"Did you talk some sense into him?" Asked Annabeth worriedly as soon as Ron entered the tent.

"He was just guilty." Said Ron, "Like I was when I killed a horcrux. We'll be fine."

Annabeth sighed with relief and Percy felt a little bit better. But he noticed how Ron had said we when he was talking about Nico. We'll be fine. He couldn't help but think Ron and Nico had both shared a unique experience that neither of them had completely healed from. He fingered the steak of gray hair on his head he had gotten two years ago, when he held the weight of the sky. Annabeth had one as well, for she too, had beard the weight of the sky.

He lay down in his sleeping bag and let his eyes slowly close. Suddenly, he was woken from a strangely dreamless sleep from outside.

"Percy-Annabeth-!" But Nico's cries suddenly quieted. All five of them rushed outside to see Nico putting away his sword.

"Nico, what is it?!" Said Hermione, looking around with her wand outstretched. But there no attackers in sight. The forest was quiet and peaceful.

"Sorry guys, false alarm." Said Nico sheepishly. "I thought I saw someone, but it was just an animal."

Percy didn't think Nico was lying, but everything he knew about him said Nico wouldn't get so easily spooked by an animal. Perhaps it was just because he was tired. Harry seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"You should turn in for the night, Nico; you've been out here for hours. I'll take the second watch." He said.

"Yes I-I think I will." He stuttered. For a moment, he had looked downright bewildered, but then he returned to his normal disposition and headed into the tent, followed by Percy, Annabeth, Hermione, and Ron.

The next day, after they had packed the tent, Nico announced:
"I know where the next horcrux is." He said

"You do?" Asked Annabeth, surprised. "But a few days ago, at shell cottage, I asked you if you knew where the next one was, and you said you didn't have a clue."

Nico shrugged. "Maybe my skills got better after destroying the cup? You can never tell with half-blood powers."

"Where is it?" Asked Percy.

"I can't really describe the place. I'll shadow travel us there." They all held on to Nico, and momentarily disappeared into the world of the shadows. When they emerged, they were on a grassy hillside in the country.

"Uh, Nico," Ron said, "There's nothing here."

"It's underground." Said Nico, "I'd open up the passage now, but none of us will be able to get inside."

"Why not?"

"There's a powerful barrier over the entrance." Said Nico. "You can't get past it if you're carrying a wand, celestrial bronze, or any kind of weapon for that matter."

"That doesn't make any sense!" said Percy.

"Actually, Seaweed Brain, it makes perfect sense." Said Annabeth, "The barrier won't let anyone through unless they're completely defenseless."

"But we can't go in unarmed! Can we apperate past it?" Asked Hermione.

"No, but I might be able to shadow travel past it." Said Nico. "Give your weapons to me, and I can open up the tunnel."

They gave their wands and blades to Nico, Percy and Harry a little reluctantly.

"Good, now..." Nico snapped his fingers and Hermione screamed as ten skeletal worriers rose from the earth and grabbed them all except Nico.

"BLOODY HELL! What the -?" Ron began to swear loudly.

"Nico, what's going on!?" Said Percy, fighting to break the firm grip two skeletal worriers held him in.

Nico smiled a cruel smile that didn't suit him. "Oh, Mr. Jackson." He said shaking his head. "Your fatal flaw is so very much like Potter's. You would never have thought one of your friends would betray you."

"Nico, why are you doing this?" asked Annabeth, struggling against the skeletons that were holding her.

Nico turned to her. "You must learn to trust no one, daughter of wisdom-"

Suddenly, Nico doubled over in pain, and the skeletal warrior's grips slackened, as if they were not sure if their master wanted them to hold their captors. When Percy got a glimpse of Nico's face, he saw his eyes were wild.

"P-Percy, help." He gasped, as if he had just run a marathon, "I-I'm b-b-being controlled-"

Then, he blinked, and his eyes were glazed over again, completely calm. He smiled. "Your friend here is quite a fighter." He said.

"The imperious curse!" Ron suddenly shouted, "Nico's being controlled!"

"Very good, Weasley." Said Nico. "Mr. Di Angelo has been under a very powerful imperious curse since yesterday night, when we ambushed him. It is currently I, Bellatrix Lestrange, who controls him now."

"You!" said Hermione softly, her words trembling with anger, "Give control back to Nico, NOW!"

"Oh, I can't do that, Mudblood." Said Ballatrix/Nico, "A child of death hunting horcruxes? We can't have that now, can we?" Bellatrix/Nico cackled. "Come, my little puppet here will transport you to your holding place, until the Dark Lord returns from his business."

"Don't call him a PUPPET!" Hermione screamed, letting out all her loathing of Bellatrix.

"Oh, but the name is so fitting." Said Nico/Ballatrix, and with that, Nico transported them to an entirely new place.

Percy, Annabeth, Harry, Ron and Hermione were standing in a familiar dungeon, the same cellar of Malfoy Manor. The skeletal warriors were still holding them. On the other side of the door, Percy could see Nico and behind him, Bellatrix pointing her wand at him.

"The dark lord has been summoned." Ballatrix cackled, "The son of death will make a fine addition to his army.

"No!" said Percy, he couldn't let Nico end like this, servicing the darkest wizard in all of history against his will.

"The Dark Lord will finish Potter." Said Bellatrix, "But for now," she turned to Nico, "Kill the rest."

Dazed and blank, Nico picked up his sword and opened the door to the cell. The five of them struggled harder against the skeletons, but they had no weapons.

"Hold them tighter." Nico murmured, imperiused, and the skeletons obliged.

"Now kill them!" shouted Bellatrix, sounding delighted. Nico held up his sword and began to advance on them, but then, he hesitated.

"I won't." he muttered softly.

"Do it!" demanded Bellatrix.

Nico took another few steps forward, but then stopped again, "I won't." he repeated, this time in a normal voice.

"Kill them, NOW! IMPERO!" screamed Bellatrix, pointing her wand forcefully at Nico.

"I WON'T!" Nico shouted back. The curse shattered. He rounded on Bellatrix, his cheeks flushed with anger, his eyes filled with hatred. With one fluid strike, he stabbed her in the chest.