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Nico shadow-travels to the underworld, nodding to the spirits and minor deities who notice him. He wasn’t sure what to expect of his father’s call, Hades may have been a better parent than most but he rarely summons Nico directly. He tries looking back on his memories, searching them for anything suspicious or important he could have missed. Nothing. He huffs, finally moving towards his father’s castle.
Nico blinks in surprise when he arrives at the main entrance. While there were normally a few spirits who linger near the castle, asking requests or praying to Hades, he had never seen this many in one place of all the times he’s come here. His pace quickens, suspecting that the crowd is related to whatever Hades needs him for. While stepping around the bodies, he catches whispers of their muted conversations.
“Did you feel it too? There’s someone new here!” “Such a strong presence… it must be a new god.” “But who? A mortal blessed by our King could never wield this much power, especially right after ascending.” “A demigod, perhaps?”
Nico frowns in thought. If what they say is true, someone recently came into a great deal of power related to Hades’ domains. But a demigod? He supposed it could be a child of a minor god, but that still seemed implausible, he was sure he would have at least been aware of any other children of death. He shook his head, no point in worrying about it if he’ll find out soon enough. With that in mind, he easily opens the giant doors, slipping inside and closing them shut behind himself. He glances towards the other side of the room, where his father’s throne is placed. As expected, Hades is sitting there, and he beckons Nico closer when their eyes meet. Nico obeys, crossing the distance while his eyes travel to the area next to the throne, currently occupied by a young man who seems to be a few years older than Nico. He stands awkwardly, looking anywhere except at the other two in the room. Nico turns back to his father, bowing as he reaches the foot of the throne.
“Rise.” Hades commands. Not harshly, yet not quite warm either. Nico does so, glancing into the eyes of his father up close, trying to see any hint of emotion in them. He finds nothing, of course. He rarely does.
“Greetings, father. What have you called me today for?” He inquires, voice coming out louder than intended as it echoes, bouncing off the walls. He feels the gaze of the stranger finally snap onto him, yet he pays them no mind.
“Something that relates to our guest here. Please, say hello to Harry Potter.” Hades raises his hand in the direction of the stra- Harry, and Nico finally turns his gaze. Earthly brown meets emerald green. Nico wonders if his expression is the same as Harry’s, if he feels any of the curiosity that is slowly enveloping Nico. Realizing he’s been standing still for too long, he jerks his head down in a greeting and mumbles a small “hello”, which he hears be reciprocated.
“One thing I must tell you is that Harry was a mortal, but not the kind you would be familiar with. His world, like ours, is hidden from the eyes of those who don’t belong.” Hades turns his head and speaks to Harry, “would you like to give a demonstration?”
Harry nods, although it’s not hard to tell if he’s not pleased about being made the center of attention. He points his hand out and mutters a word that Nico can’t quite catch. There’s no time to think about it though, as a bright light seems to emit from Harry’s fingertips. “How did you do that?” Nico unintentionally gasps out.
The light dims when Harry closes his hand and lowers it. “It’s not that difficult, Lumos is one of the first spells we’re taught.” He coughs, and when he speaks again his voice sounds strained. “But, well, I don’t exactly have my wand here so it’s all I’m limited to, at least until I can take a nap and get some magic back.”
Spells? Wands? Magic? The possibility makes Nico feel childish, but it revolves around his mind until he finally blurts out, “are you a wizard??”
Harry blinks, opening his mouth to respond when Hades huffs, bringing the attention back to him. “I should’ve known you would guess correctly, Yes, Harry is a wizard, however due to some… mistakes,” The room darkens as Hades growls, and both Nico and Harry flinch. “He was also granted access to my domain of death, becoming a godling in his own right.”
Nico’s thoughts whirl around in his head, struggling to make sense of it all. “Okay. So, wizards are real and they have their own separate world, Harry’s from there but then he turned into a god? Or, is turning into a god?” He turns back to face Harry. “How?”
“Ah..” Harry gives a nervous glance to Hades, and Nico’s brain finally computes the reaction his father had when it came to the matter of Harry’s ascension. “It’s.. kind of a long story, but.. there’s these three objects that grant the power of death if you collect them all, but then I was also killed by a guy who tried to cheat death, and so I came back to life but with even more death magic? I think?” His ramble ends and he shrugs, trying to give Nico a grin that ends up looking more like a grimace.
Nico frowns, taking time to process the information. “Does… that mean you’re still alive?” Now that he thinks about it, he can’t sense Harry’s heartbeat.
Hades hums. “Not quite. If he had been a true mortal, then perhaps, but with the combination of my domain and his own nature, he has far too much power to truly exist as a human, which will only grow as he does. At this point in time, he is only slightly more powerful than that of an average demigod, however I imagine it will only take a few more decades before his body cannot physically handle his abilities, at which point he will ascend and be granted his own domain to watch over.” He continues, either not aware of or simply ignoring the paling faces beneath him. “This is where you come in, son. I wish for you to take Harry back to your camp, and teach him as much as possible over these next few years, of the history of the gods and their stories. It is of the most importance that he is as knowledgeable of this world as he is his own, lest he offend the wrong deity and be torn apart in a hundred pieces.”
Nico and Harry stare at him, speechless.
“I have already sent a message to Chiron and Dionysis explaining the situation, they will help with what information is necessary for the other campers to know. Am I understood?”
Nico blinks rapidly. “Yes father, understood. Uh..” He takes a quick glance at Harry. “Are we.. expected to leave now?”
Hades nods, leaning back into his seat. Nico takes that as a sign of dismissal, and guides Harry outside of the castle, pulling him past the crowd that has considerably grown in size. How long had they been talking for? It couldn’t have been longer than an hour. He exhales deeply once they’re alone, releasing his grip on Harry’s arm.
“So…” Harry starts, “Nico, right?”
He blinks. Out of all the things he was expecting to hear, small talk wasn’t necessarily one of them. “..yeah. Nico di Angelo.”
Harry nods absentmindedly. “Nice, nice. Uhm, how far is the place we’re going to? Because honestly I don’t think I’ve slept in over 24 hours and that’s really starting to mess with me. Unless you count being dead as sleeping, but I don’t think I would because it was not restful at all, just really confusing.”
Nico blinks. “We’ll be there in a couple minutes, I can shadow-travel us right outside the barrier. You don’t get motion sickness, do you?” He questions, ignoring everything else mentioned for the sake of his already lacking sanity.
Harry tilts his head curiously. “Shadow-travel? Is that like apparition?”
“I.. don’t recognize that word, but if it means teleportation, then yes, similar.” Nico nods.
Harry grimaces. “Most forms of teleportation don’t really agree with me, but if it’s the quickest way then I think I can deal with the consequences.”
Nico ignores how desperately he wants to question what other forms Harry is talking about, and instead just hums in acceptance and grabs Harry’s arm once again, reaching into the darkness surrounding them. It envelops them utterly and completely. They’re floating and flying and sinking and swimming. They’re everywhere and nowhere and then they’re somewhere, standing on a hill next to a large, singular pine tree.
Nico lands gracefully, but just as his feet plant on the soft grass he sees a body fall over in the corner of his vision. Harry groans, rolling onto his back. He waves off the concerned look from Nico, mumbling “Just give me a second, I’ll be fine.”
Nico shakes his head in exasperation, wondering how someone can be so powerful yet so… normal. It’s something he’s only seen before in one other demigod, and that friendship always leaves a bittersweet taste in his mouth. He’s not sure how this one will end up going; hoping would be naive. In his contemplation, he misses Harry rising to his feet, eyeing their surroundings skeptically.
“We are in the right place, right?” He questions.
Nico nods, pointing towards the valley. “Camp Half-Blood is just down the hill there. It’s covered by the Mist for protection from mortals, no one driving past would even consider looking this way.” Giving Harry a quick glance to confirm he’s actually recovered, Nico starts heading downhill.
Harry gapes as they cross under the barrier, revealing the Camp in its full glory. “Is that.. lava?” He asks incredulously, gazing at the rock climbing area.
Nico snorts. “Yup. Try not to get surprised at every crazy thing that’s happening here, or else your jaw might just fall off.” Just as he finishes speaking, a distant explosion is heard, and they both turn to see a girl with dirty blonde hair run out of a cabin, chasing two lanky boys with dark brown hair. Sighing, Nico continues, “..most of those incidents are caused by the Stoll brothers, Conner and Travis.” He nods towards the two, who are now attempting to scale a building in order to escape the wrath of their victim. “Their sons of Hermes. Real pranksters, although going after Annabeth is daring, even for them.” He huffs, then adds quickly, “She’s the one chasing them.”
Harry shakes his head, watching with amusement. “Reminds me of some old friends.”
“Oh?” Nico raises an eyebrow.
Harry smiles, although his eyebrows crease in pain. “..Fred and George Weasley. They were a few years older than me at school so I didn’t spend as much time with them as I probably should have, but they were always up to mischief. We bonded a bit over being the center of any chaos, although for me it wasn’t exactly intentional half the time.” His voice cracks towards the end, something as painfully familiar as the voices of the head counselors, whispering bittersweet stories of siblings long gone. Nico doesn’t pry, he already understands.
They watch for a few minutes in silence, but eventually as Annabeth drags the two boys away by their hair, Nico clears his throat. “We should go see Chiron now, he’ll be wanting to meet you.” At Harry’s questioning glance, he explains, “Chiron is the head of the camp; he’s worked with demigods for thousands of years.”
Harry startles. “Thousands? Just how old is this guy?” He asks in shock.
Nico’s face scrunches up as he thinks. “I.. actually don’t know how old he is. He’s older than Mr. D at least.”
“And Mr. D is..?”
Nico binks away his thoughts, coming back into focus. “Dionysis. He was sent to work here by Zeus as a punishment. You’ll meet him eventually too.”
“Dionysis?” Harry gasps. “As in, the god?”
Smirking, Nico replies, “You know you’ll be a god eventually too, right?”
Harry doesn’t respond, just stares at him with nothing behind his eyes.
Nico sighs. “Let’s just… go see Chiron. He’ll be able to answer any of your questions better than I could.”
Nodding slowly, Harry follows behind him, and they walk together towards the largest building on the grounds.