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It’s been a month since Harry Potter arrived at Camp Half-Blood. Not that Nico was counting, but it was hard to ignore just how different everything’s felt recently. At the end of their meeting with him, Chiron requested that Harry sleep in Cabin 13. After the adjustment of sharing a space with someone else, Nico couldn’t say he was upset. It was different, sure, but Harry was by all accounts a good roommate. And it let them talk, too. Harry’s had a very interesting life already, and Nico feels more comfortable opening up with him than anyone else who’s tried in the past. So, in the past month, Nico and Harry talk, and laugh, and they definitely do not cry late at night more than a reasonable person would.
“..-and then they showed me my dad’s map- not that I knew it at the time of course.. and they pointed out the tunnels that led into Hogsmeade. I knew Hogwarts had hidden passages, but not that any of them led out of the castle!” Harry chuckled, throwing another rake full of hay into the pegasus stalls.
Nico hums, coming back into the moment. “I bet you got into a bunch of mischief with that map. I wonder how hard it would be for the Hephaestus kids to make one of Camp..” he muses, trailing off.
Harry tilts his head in thought. “I’m not sure. My father and his friends spent a couple years making it, I think they even came up with completely original spells to use. But, if anyone could do it…” he trails off.
“It would be Leo.” Confirms Nico, nodding.
Harry perks his head up, leaning the rake back on the wall. “Valdez? The kid who made the dragon?”
“The very same. We could ask him, during dinner?” Suggests Nico, feeling absurd even as he’s saying it. Was he, Nico di Angelo, Teenage Edgelord, really suggesting interaction with someone? He pushed the weird feeling down.
Harry grins. “That’d be great! He’s your friend, right?” Nico nods. Because, they are friends. They haven’t really talked that much since fighting Gaea, but all those life-or-death situations had to count for something. “Then we’ll talk to him.” Harry nods decisively. “Care for a swim while we wait? The water in the lake here is so much warmer than what I’m used to.”
Shrugging, Nico stands to follow him. Really, he should just go back to his cabin and mope like he normally does during free time, but something in him was pulling the other way. He tries not to think about it too hard.
————
“Nico!” Leo cries when he sees Nico and Harry standing behind where he was sitting. “How are you, man? It’s been forever.”
Nico holds back an uncomfortable grimace, even though Leo didn’t mean it in an accusatory manner. “Sorry. I’ve been… busy.”
Leo nods with an understanding expression. “I get that.” He turns to face Harry. “And you’re our new almost-god! I’ve heard so much about you, it’s nice to finally see you up close. Leo Valdez is the name!” He gives a cheeky grin and waves his hand, inviting the two to sit down.
“Likewise, I’ve heard about you as well. Harry Potter.” Harry nods in greeting as he sits, grabbing a cup that instantly fills with a tea of some sort.
“We wanted to ask if you’d be interested in a new project, Leo.” Nico prods, more comfortable now that the small talk is over.
The boy in question places his head on his hands, an intense gleam in his eyes. “A project? I’ve still got about 10 of those right now, but I’ll bite. What is it?”
Harry clears his throat. “When my father was in school, he and his friends made this map that could only be activated with a code word, which would reveal all the halls and classrooms as well as the locations of everyone in the area. Nico suggested that you might be able to recreate it.”
“Might?” Leo scoffs. “I can do anything, sometimes it just takes a bit longer.” He leans forward, his eyes growing distant. “A secret map that tracks locations.. Does it show the locations of any animals too?” He asks suddenly. At Harry's nod, he hums in consideration. “Probably tracks the heat sources then. An interesting idea, it’d be useful for Chiron to have..” He pauses for a moment. “Sure, I’ll make your map.”
“Brilliant, thank you.” Harry grins, and Nico can’t help but feel excited as well.
Leo shrugs it off. “How are you liking Camp so far, Harry? It must be pretty weird for you…”
Nico zones out, staring at his empty plate. Normally the chatter of the mess hall was annoying, but something was off about it today, and Nico had a sneaking suspicion that it had to do with the green-eyed enigma sitting next to him.
————
“How often do you go to the Underworld?”
Nico jolts at the sudden question and lifts his brush. He and Harry were in the Arts and Crafts building, making ceramic bowls. He tried to refuse like normal, finding it pointless, but Harry dragged him along regardless. He eyed the asymmetrical excuse for a bowl that he was currently coating in glaze. Still pointless. “Only when father calls me, really.” He answers swiftly, definitely not trying to end the conversation so he can focus on the skulls he’s painting.
Harry hums. Pausing, Nico turns to look at him. Something was off, but Nico wasn’t sure how to go about it. Noticing the stare, Harry sighs. “It’s nothing, I just… wanted to go back? I didn’t really have a lot of time to look around you know, it was pretty overwhelming.”
Nodding, Nico turns back to his bowl now that he knows it’s not an emergency. “That makes sense. Your soul is connected to it after all, I should’ve realized sooner. Do you want to go tonight?”
Harry blinks. “That’s a bit soon, innit?”
Nico gives a light shrug. “It doesn’t take long if we shadow-travel, and we don’t have to stay for long. No one would even notice us missing.” He turns to look at Harry with narrowed eyes. “Actually, you might be able to shadow-travel too.”
“Really?” Harry snorts. “Any other overpowered abilities I should know about?”
He meant it as a joke, but Nico still considers it. “Well, you’re ascending-”
“In the next century,” Harry interrupts, “it’s not happening anytime soon.”
Tilting his head in acknowledgement, Nico continues. “You’re ascending eventually, and that will almost certainly affect your powers. You’ll notice them showing up more, the closer it gets to your time.”
Harry groans. “That’s definitely not going to keep me up at night.”
Huffing out a laugh, Nico finishes the design and places his brush in the cup on the table. “Don’t think about it too hard. You have 100 years to get used to the thought, after all.” He teases.
“You arse!” Harry throws the washcloth he was using to clean paintbrushes at Nico’s face, who does NOT yelp while dodging the attack. He laughs, a loud sound that catches himself off guard. Later, when everyone is in their beds and the lights are out, a misshapen bowl covered in black skulls will be placed on a shelf in an otherwise bare room.
————
“Hey, Nico?” Harry asks, dangling his legs over the lake.
“Yeah?” Nico looks up from where he was tying their canoe back on the dock.
“Thanks for being my friend.” It’s a simple phrase, an ordinary one, but it causes Nico to finally realize what the odd feeling in his chest has been. He smiles.
“Thanks for being mine, too.”