Chapter Three

Thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favorites, I truly appreciate them. XD

And now I bring you the third chapter of my fanfic:

Nico raised a hand to brush away a branch that had fallen into his line of view, and he evaluated his situation once again.

He was hiding in a tree, in the neatly trimmed back lawn of an amazingly dull and gray house, which was located in a street full of equally boring and boxy houses, in England.

Yes, he was in England.

Stalking a boy.

How on earth did he end up in this peculiar scenario again? Nico questioned his life choices.

Then he reminded himself that it was an inevitable request from his father, and that although Nico wanted to knee him in the groin every time he saw him, he still subconsciously wished to be able to impress him. He wanted his father to acknowledge him, and to respect him as a worthy son of Hades. He had managed to accomplish this, after the second Titan War, as if it had not been for Nico's unwavering determination to bring Hades into the war, the gods would have lost against the enemy lines, and if not for that, Hades wouldn't have been welcomed amongst the gods as the savior of Olympus, for his great bravery in battle, a feeling he hadn't felt in quite a while.

And for that, Hades put aside his previous prejudices towards Nico, and since then had treated Nico fairy well, and maybe it was because of this, that Nico wanted to complete this mission as best as he good, so as not to let his father down.

A week after the war had ended, Nico was summoned down to the underworld by Hades, and Persephone's attendant, the goddess of magic, Hecate. Nico was told about the world of magic and wizards, which coexists separately from Camp Half-Blood. He was told about the famous magic school in England, Hogwarts, of Lord Voldemort's short and dark reign, and of the prophecy, which had yet to be solved.

Nico subconsciously fingered his skull ring.

(A/N The prophecy for your reference:

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...

born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...

and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...

but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...

and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...

the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...)

The prophecy was a complicated one. Its details were simple enough, the only one who had the owner to kill Voldemort was the boy who fulfilled the requirements of the prophecy, Harry Potter, in this case.

Most people in the Wizarding world probably dismissed the prophecy as finished when Harry Potter "killed" Voldemort, but as the prophecy states that both of them had to die by the other's hand, it meant Voldemort wasn't finished yet, as Harry still lived. Becoming known as The Boy Who Lived, by the way.

This was further confirmed by Dumbledore when Voldemort had reappeared in Hogwarts last year, this time in the form of a face in another man's turban, of all things, and targeted Harry. The boy managed to stay alive and drive him away, but this might still mean that Voldemort was able to come back from the dead, by one form or another.

And thus, Dumbledore consulted the goddess Hecate, who watches over the wizarding world, for guidance. Dumbledore, and the rest of the Wizarding world, doesn't know of the Greek gods or their offsprings, of course. To Dumbledore, Hecate simply existed as The Great Lady, Hekate, a wise and powerful witch whom he had the luck to be acquaintanced to in his younger is a rather revealing name, but it's easier to remember, and one thing gods have pride of is their names.

It is a rather revealing name, but it's easier to remember, and one thing gods have pride of, is their names.

Hecate, as a response, told him to trust in his instincts, and that she would send a person to supervise the carrying out of the prophecy, and to gather information on the Dark Lords activities, whom she is sure of, will try to rise to power once again.

One thing of which Nico was quite curious of, and which both his father and Hecate refused to tell him, was how the wizarding world began. And after their abrupt rejection to tell him, Nico never mentioned it again.

Throughout the summer, Nico had done a lot of digging around in the wizarding world. After receiving the formal letter of acceptance from the school, he sought out a wizarding town and did his shopping for supplies there. He had gotten everything, except for his wand, which Hecate told him she would be personally making it, and would give to it him before the school year started.

Hades also had he decency the open up a wizarding bank vault just for him, so that it would be more convenient for him to retrieve and use the wizard's currency. And, being the richest Olympian, it was no surprise that the huge bank vault was filled with mountains of gold and jewels. Nico felt a bit touched at the act, yet at the same time he understood that this meant that his mission was going to be a long termed one, and he felt slightly wary of the fact.

Nico frequently visited the library in the wizarding town, and read up on tons of books regarding many aspects such as the history of the wizarding world, the reign on Voldemort, the Ministry of Magic, and several varied books on magic spells, potions, and other covered school topics. If he was going to blend into the world of magic, he should at least know about it inside out, not to mention that he had to compensate for the one year he missed, since he was starting second year next month.

And besides doing research, Nico also did some other small side jobs, like stalking Harry Potter.

Which brings us back to the story at hand.

Nico was currently hiding in a tree, staring at the boy who lived.

Yeah, totally not creepy at all.

Harry Potter had just come out to the back lawn of his adopted family, after an hour of being shouted at by his uncle and his family. Nico had long since got tired of hearing their disgusting voices and seeing the discrimination they impose on Harry. He wondered time and again how Harry had miraculously survived under their care, and how he had managed to spend his whole life with them without becoming insane and turning into a mass murdering psychopath or something.

Nico felt absolutely disgusted with the Dursleys, and already bore somewhat of a respect for Harry, who was able to stand their abuse day after day.

Listening to the Dursleys shout gave him a massive headache, and combined with the fact that he was in a very uncomfortable position on the tree, with the rough branches digging into his skin, and leafs poking him everywhere, on a hot summer day, with the summer heat bearing down on him, he was not in the best of moods, to say the least.

He thought England was supposed to be a place with cloudy skies, cool climate and frequent rainfall.

Nico felt a trickle of sweat run down his back while watching Harry slump down on a garden bench and look longingly at the sky.

Poor guy, he thought.

Just when Nico decided he was done stalking for the day, and decided to shadow travel back to the library, he was stopped in his tracks when he suddenly sensed something, another presence nearby. His eyes swept over the surrounding area, and were jolted back to Harry, when he heard something which clenched his heart.

"Happy birthday to me . . . happy birthday to me . . ."

He was singing it under his breath, but Nico could make it out.

So it was his birthday, huh...

Nico knew the feeling of having no closed ones to celebrate important times with, so he deeply sympathized with the boy.

It was Harry's birthday, and so far Nico had seen no indication of the Dursleys recognizing it, nor of them celebrating it. He knew this was to be expected of, and he was sure Harry knew this too, but still, it must pain him, to let such an important day for him pass by unnoticed.

Since he knew wizards communicate by owls, and he didn't see any owls visiting the house, he came to the assumption that either Harry had no friends at school, or they had simply forgotten his birthday as well.

Harry suddenly sat bolt upright on the garden bench. Nico tensed, had he somehow sensed Nico?

But Harry was staring intensely into the hedge in front of him, and Nico trained his senses there as well, recognizing the thing he had somewhat detected just moments ago.

However, as fast as it had appeared, it was gone again. Nico filed this away into his memory, this is certainly a thing he had to acknowledge.

Looking back at Harry Potter, it seems that his cousin, Dudley, was waddling up to him.

It was a miracle that, despite the ridiculous amount of fat on his body, Dudley had defied all odds and still managed to be able to move around.

"I know what day it is," Dudley said, coming right up to Harry.

"Well done," said Harry. "So you've finally learned the days of the week."

"Today's your birthday," sneered Dudley. "How come you haven't got any cards? Haven't you even got friends at that freak place?"

"Better not let your mum hear you talking about my school," said Harry coolly.

Amazingly, his cousin also managed to muster up enough brain cells to remember Harry's birthday.

Nico watched Harry scare Dudley off with the usual pretense that he was going to fire a spell at him, and silently applauded Harry.

However, as cooly as Harry had played him off, he knew that a particular thing Dudley had said had jabbed Harry in his gut- that Harry's friends didn't care enough for him to send even a birthday card to him.

Harry was probably doubting his friends himself, and that was just pouring salt on the wound.

As it seemed that the rest of the day would be uneventful, Nico decided to retreat for now and go to the wizarding town. Who knows, maybe Harry will find a small surprise for him at the end of the day.

When Nico returned at midnight, he didn't notice much amiss at first, having missed what had transpired that evening, and left the box on Harry Potter's bedside table.

He was rich anyways, and it should be important to the boy, so he decided to be a good Samaritan for once.

Nico realized that he hasn't even had physical contact with the boy yet, the other didn't even know of his existence, yet Nico was already growing a little fond of the boy. One would be, after watching over him for the whole summer.

Then, as he idly looked around the room, he noticed something.

The wall had a strange dent to it, and the lamp crooked as well, and thrown off to the side.

Something had happened while he was gone.

Nico inwardly cursed himself for being so inattentive. What kind of stalker was he? Obviously something had happened, and now he had to be on higher alert.

I have a question for you all: Wanna guess which friend group Nico will be in in Hogwarts?

Bye for now, then.