Nico and Annabeth find a horcrux; the Golden Trio searches for answers.

Chapter Rating: General Audiences

Content Warning: None

Word Count: 3423

And all the characters are owned by JK Rowling, or Rick Riordan.

Nico was alone in a forest he didn't recognize. It was dark and brooding; thick trunks and long shadows surrounded him, suffocated him. It would be Nico's kind of place if the air weren't so ominous. Somewhere off in the distance, he heard the galloping of a horse, an almost hypnotizing clomp, clomp, clomp. He raced and weaved through the thicket to find the source of the noise. He couldn't run fast enough. Something terrible was about to happen. Frantic whinnying erupted around him, followed by a loud crash. Nico froze. A stark white unicorn laid on the ground a ways ahead, injured and surrounded by its own silvery blood. He ran to it to try and help, but a dark figure got there before him. As he watched in horror, the figure leaned down and drank the blood pouring like a fountain from the unicorn's side. He wanted to scream in protest, as unicorn blood cursed those who drank it, but he couldn't speak. Let alone move.

The scene changed to familiar surroundings. It was a dorm in Westover Hall, where he spent a good portion of the better months of his life. It was a small, narrow room. Each side was identical: a bed in the back corner with the standard white sheet, blue comforter get up, a chest of drawers attached to the bottom of the bed, and a small, wooden desk and chair by the door. The walls were the color of whitewash and bare since Westover Hall didn't allow anything to be hung. No pictures of family sat on Nico's desk; he didn't have any.

Nico sat on his old bed. On the opposite bed wasn't his old roommate Matt, but a young boy with brown hair and eyes. He was a little pale and long and lanky like he'd just had a growth spurt. Innocent eyes watched the son of Hades take in his surroundings. The boy looked ten or eleven, the same age Nico was when he attended the school.

"I can help you," the boy said. "I can make you the person you always wanted."

"I miss this place," Nico thought out loud.

"I can help you," the boy repeated, unfazed despite the fact that Nico had ignored him. He walked over to him and looked him straight in the eye. "Trust me."

"I don't know you," Nico replied. "How can I trust you?"

"Because I can help you," the boy repeated. "Don't you want to be here again? To feel the way you did when your sister was still alive?"

"Bianca?" Nico asked, surprised. "How do you know about her?"

"Because I am you, stupid. It's your dream, your head. Of course I know about your sister, what do you think of me?" Nico was so caught off guard that he didn't respond. The boy didn't seem to care; instead, he continued speaking. "I can make you the most powerful demigod ever. With my help, you'll finish your quest, make your father proud, and achieve everything you ever wanted. All you need to do is trust me." The boy walked over to Nico and sat beside him. "Don't you want my help?"

Nico was tempted. He didn't know why, but a part of him trusted this stranger, who'd given him all this. He wanted so badly to go into the mess hall and see the old mortal friends he'd left behind... Jake, Tristan, and Matt... especially Matt. He wanted to run out of the room, and up the stairs to where he knew Bianca's dorm room was; burst in, apologize for not protecting her, and never leave her side again.

But that was impossible. Nico shook his head, forcing himself to focus. "This is a dream, an image in my head. And so are you."

"I'm your friend," the boy insisted. "I want to make you strong. I want you to kill Tom Riddle and keep my parents from dying."

"Your parents?"

"Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks. They're going to be killed by Voldemort in two years, and I'll be all alone. I want you to help me save them." he explained.

"This is some length to go to for the sake of being realistic," Nico said. "You're telling me a random boy just popped into my dreams and wants to help me?"

"I made a psychic link between us," the boy said.

"An empathy link?"

"No, a psychic link. It's like an empathy link, but with Hecate's magic instead of nature magic. I can appear in your dreams the same way you could access a memory in a Pensive. I could do more than that, but half-bloods are too naturally good at occlumency and, besides, I don't want to trespass. I just need your help."

"Then why not ask me?" Nico asked. "Why do all this? Create Westover Hall?"

"Because I wanted you to remember what it's like to be a kid. My life today is like yours here. And if you don't let me help you, I'll become an orphan just like you did." That hit a chord with Nico. Sure, he had his father, but Hades didn't really act like a dad. Bianca was his family, and she was dead. He had Hazel, but Hazel hadn't raised him. Yeah, he loved her, but she could never replace Bianca.

"I have to think about it," Nico said, after a moment's hesitation. "I'm Nico, by the way, but you probably already know that."

"Teddy," the boy replied. "Teddy Edward Lupin, but you can just call me Teddy. Please, help me."

With that, Nico woke up. It was near morning, and Nico's iPod, which was now set to English time, said it was about six thirty, Class started at eight, but for Nico, it still felt like the middle of the night. With the time difference, it was probably about one o'clock in the morning on the East Coast.

Nico forced himself to fully wake up and got dressed in his wizarding robes. He still didn't like the feel of the new clothes much; he didn't feel comfortable in anything other than his black jeans, t-shirt, and aviator jacket. At least the cloak covered his arms, and he was still able to wear his skull ring and sword belt.

Nico went down to the Great Hall for an early breakfast, when he looked around he only saw people he didn't know, so he sat alone, listening to his iPod and thinking about his dream. The unicorn part made no sense to Nico, and he didn't really care about it that much. It was Teddy that concerned Nico.

He couldn't let any kid suffer like he had, and this one was around the same age he was when Bianca died. But at the same time, Nico thought about Rachel's prophecy line: "The friend is an enemy." That could apply to Teddy, he even said that he was a friend. But then again, Nico thought, that could also apply to Harry. He was supposed to be a friend, and he turned out to be an enemy.

Screw it. I'm not going to make all my judgments based on guesses from an oracle. Avoiding the Fates never works, anyway.

He snapped out of his reverie when he saw Annabeth walk into the Great Hall, waving her over. She sat down at the Slytherin table, even though she wasn't really supposed to.

"I didn't expect you to be up this early," Annabeth said, stealing a piece of waffle off his plate.

"Dream I had," Nico replied. Annabeth looked at him like she expected him to continue, but he didn't feel like talking about Teddy, or the unicorn and the figure. "Do you see a fire anywhere? We need to sacrifice some of this food to the gods. We couldn't last night, and that might make them angry."

"I thought about that," Annabeth replied.

Of course you have.

"We only have to sacrifice food to the gods if we're able to, and since we have to stay undercover, that means we can't. So, it's not a problem." She reached for another piece of waffle, but Nico slapped her hand away.

"You want food? Go over to the Ravenclaw table and take some."

Annabeth gave him an annoyed look but went to grab a piece of toast from Ravenclaw before coming back. By the time she made it back to Nico's side, it was already half-eaten. She took the rest of his waffle off its plate and held it out to him. "Eat and walk. We've got some time before classes, let's see if we can find any horcruxes in the castle." So, Nico got up, and they left the Great Hall. They walked around the castle a little, getting lost between its thousand staircases, fake doors, and fake walls.

That is, until Nico felt something off.

They were walking down a hallway in some corner of the castle when Nico felt a flash of anger. No, anger wasn't the right word. Unnaturalness, that's the right word.

"Annabeth, stop!" Nico faced the wall. "Is this a fake door or something?"

"You found a horcrux?" Annabeth asked incredulously. "So soon?"

"I think so," Nico replied uncertainly. "Help me look for a door handle."

They did everything they could, but the wall wouldn't budge. Either it was a door really set on being a wall, or it was just a wall. Nico didn't understand. Could Riddle have put a horcrux inside a wall? He couldn't exactly take a sledgehammer to Hogwarts.

"Maybe it's on the other side?" Annabeth guessed. He ran around the halls until he found the adjacent hallway. But the feeling of unnaturalness was gone.

He jogged back to Annabeth. "No, it has to be here."

But he was interrupted as students began to file into the hallway for their classes, forcing the two to abandon their search. Annabeth ran off to Ancient Runes and Nico to Potions with (ugh) Harry Potter. He found his way and sat down at the back of the class moments before Professor Snape came in and told the class to settle down, which was weird because no one was talking.

"Before we begin today's lesson," Snape began, and Nico got the horrible feeling this was going to turn into a speech, "I think it appropriate to remind you that next June you will be sitting an important examination, during which you will prove how much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions. Moronic though some of this class undoubtedly are, I expect you to scrape an 'Acceptable' in your O.W.L., or suffer my... displeasure."

An owl? Why does everything in this school have weird animal names? Hogwarts, owl, this is starting to get creepy.

Snape went on and on about that owl test that Nico knew he wouldn't have to take, so he didn't listen. Instead, he focused on his dream again, going over and over what Teddy said in his head. He still couldn't decide whether to trust the guy or not. Finally, Snape stopped talking and waved his wand to the blackboard, where writing appeared. That would be a problem. While Nico didn't need magical powers to add ingredients to a caldron (he was using one Dumbledore had given him last night) he was dyslexic, even worse than most half-bloods because Italian was his native language, not English. He could barely get through a paragraph of English on the best of days, and when he had an entire afternoon to decipher it. He wasn't going to be that student that always went up to the teacher for help. Unfortunately, he was also sitting next to Draco Malfoy.

"What are we supposed to do first?" he asked Malfoy quietly, who sneered at him.

"Can't you read, di Angelo?" he asked mockingly.

"Not well," Nico said plainly, and everyone who was within earshot turned and stared at him, including Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"You can't read?" Hermione exclaimed like it was the worst thing in the world.

"Oh, this is rich!" Malfoy laughed, causing Nico to roll his eyes.

"I've got dyslexia. Look it up. Now tell me what's on the blackboard, or I'm going to mess up my potion," Nico said to Malfoy, his voice dripping with attitude. Nico was good at giving people attitude.

"I'll help you!" Hermione offered like Nico was some kind of lost puppy. She waved Malfoy away, who got up and sat next to his Laestrygonian friends without complaining. "The first step says to add powdered moonstone until the potion becomes green. I took some from the supply cupboard, here." She thrust the powder in Nico's hand, and he did as she said. They worked well together, and soon a silver mist was rising over the top of both of their potions, just as Snape said it should. Harry's didn't, and Snape ended up vanishing his potion, which Nico thoroughly enjoyed.

How does it feel to be unfairly accused, Potter? Now I know you would never do that, especially calling a new student a Thanatos eater.

After Hermione wrote his name on his potion for him, Nico carried it to the front of the class with the others, smirking at Harry when he passed him. Out of the corner of his eye, Nico could see a furious Harry going up to Hermione. He smiled to himself as he headed off to lunch.

This is gonna be a good day.

"Hermione, why would you help that di Angelo kid?!" Harry spat. "You know what he is!"

"What?" Hermione shot back. "Our friend? Who cares if he's a Slytherin, he's a nice person who needed help! Imagine if you'd been him and Malfoy'd been acting like that! What did you want me to do, leave Nico out to rot?"

"Yes!" Harry said.

Isn't that obvious?

"Imagine if you couldn't read, Hermione!" Ron joked, obviously trying to calm them down before things got worse. "All those books you weigh yourself down with..."

"Exactly!" Hermione exclaimed, earning a stunned look from Ron. He hadn't wanted to add to the argument.

"All I'm saying is if that he's buddy-buddy with Malfoy, I don't want that di Angelo kid anywhere near me," Harry argued.

Hermione huffed. "He's not 'that di Angelo kid,' he's Nico. And he's obviously not buddy-buddy with Malfoy, I don't know if you noticed, but he seems smart enough to stay away from him."

"Why are you defending him so much? Do you fancy the guy or something?" Harry accused. Hermione narrowed her eyes, getting dangerously angry.

"I'm defending him because he didn't do anything other than not be able to read, listen to an iPod, and make friendly conversation with us on the train. What do you have against him? In one second you just decided that you hated him, Harry! What did he ever do?" Hermione's voice was so calm it was scary. Harry knew he had to tell the truth.

He looked around. The corridor outside Potions was empty, everyone, including Snape, had gone to the Great Hall for lunch. "He was eavesdropping on our conversation with Mad-Eye," Harry said in a low voice.

"So?" Hermione asked, crossing her arms. "Maybe he was curious. He's American. He doesn't know about You-Know-Who or the war."

"Let me finish, Hermione," Harry snapped. "I asked him about it, and he pulled a knife on me."

Ron and Hermione's eyes widened. "He did what?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, then he said something like, 'You stay away from my friends and me, you got me?' Like he had something to hide." For once, Hermione was speechless.

"Do you think that di Angelo kid could be a Death Eater?" Ron asked.

"The son of one, maybe. I told him as much on the train after he pulled the knife," Harry replied. "I just want to figure out what his secret is. If he hurts anyone in Hogwarts..." There was a long pause; no one knew exactly what to say.

"You know," Hermione said, breaking the silence, "He had to go through Dumbledore to get here and--"

"Don't tell me you're still defending him!" Ron protested.

"I'm not, I'm just saying he'd have to be an awful good wizard to pull the wool over Dumbledore's eyes," Hermione countered.

Harry had to agree with her and hated himself for it. "Then that means he's powerful, which makes him dangerous. He still has that black knife, I saw the hilt of it sticking out of his robe pocket during class."

"Why would he carry that thing into Potions?" Ron asked.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," Harry vowed. "Hermione, are you in or not?" Hermione was pale with fear, but she nodded. "Then let's go to lunch, that's where di Angelo was heading."

The three-headed down to the Great Hall where they saw Jackson, Chase, and di Angelo whispering in the corner of the hall. Judging by their faces, whatever they were talking about was important. Harry walked in their general direction with Ron and Hermione as they faked a conversation about nothing to keep the Americans from suspecting anything was up.

"--behind a wall. Annabeth and I walked around the entire hallway, but there was nothing," di Angelo was saying.

"Are you sure there was something, Nico? Couldn't you, I dunno, have just felt the aftereffects of a bad dream or something?" Percy asked, confusing Harry. What did he mean?

"You know who his dad is, Percy. He'd be able to sense them," Annabeth pointed out.

Sense what? And there's di Angelo's dad again. Why does he keep coming up in conversation?

The three were about to pass by the Americans, when Harry paused, wanting to listen in a bit more. The eavesdropping only raised more questions. But when Hermione whispered in his ear, "Keep moving," Harry forced his feet to walk. They sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"There's di Angelo's dad again," Hermione said. "Remember, Jackson mentioned him at the feast."

"Wasn't he supposed to be obsessed with ghosts and Larsons or something?" Ron asked.

"Lares, Ron, " Hermione corrected. "I don't know what those are, I'll have to look them up in the library when I get the chance."

"What do you reckon di Angelo would be able to sense?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," Harry admitted. "But I plan on finding out."

Jackson, looking preoccupied, walked over to the Gryffindor table. "Can I sit with you guys?"

Harry was going to say no, but Hermione jumped in before he could. "Of course, Percy! Here, you can sit next to me." She moved towards Ron to make a spot, and Percy plopped down. "What were you talking about with your cousin?" She asked innocently.

"Just talking about the first day," Percy said offhandedly. It turned out Percy was a good liar, which wasn't going to be good. "I heard he had some trouble in Potions. Thanks for the help, Hermione. Nico's grateful."

"I'm sure," Harry said under his breath, but Percy didn't hear him; he was too distracted by some mashed potatoes on the table.

"You were telling us something last night," Hermione continued as Percy devoured the last of his plate. "Something about your uncle?"

Percy grew pale. "Oh, yeah, I was–-"

But lunch ended right then, and Harry never got to hear what Jackson was going to say. Harry couldn't believe his bad luck; during the rest of his classes all he could think about was Lares and speculate about the Americans. He couldn't wait for class to let out so he and his friends could get to work uncovering what Lares were.

Finally, their last class ended, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione found themselves in the library, trying to find out anything about Lares or any other hint any of the Americans might've mentioned. "This is useless!" Harry exclaimed, slamming another book shut. Nothing on Lares anywhere.

"It's not a magical creature, or a person from history, or the name of an important ghost..." Hermione muttered, obviously as frustrated as Harry was. The sun was down, and the library was dark. Soon, Madam Pince would close the library, and they'd be done no matter what. "Take as many books as you can carry," Hermione ordered as she closed her book. "We'll look at them in the common room."

But Harry had the feeling that they could look at history books for months and never find the word Lares anywhere in them.