Rising from Shadowed Ashes

GreenCrystal19

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Heroes of Olympus; they belong to respective authors; J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. Cover art by Viktoria Ridzel (Viria/viria13/vika) as usual. Her art is amazing; she is now the official portrait artist.

Author's Notes: An AU in which Nico leaves the demigod camps after Gaea is defeated and attends Hogwarts Schools of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and still doesn't feel accepted. (Read: FEEL accepted. The other demigods WILL NOT be jerks to him.) For those of you who are reading my other story-this one probably won't be as silly/cheesy/funny, however you want to say it.

DON'T WORRY-Nico WILL NOT have an absolutely awful ending to his story-and Will WILL BE IN THIS STORY MORE. (No pun intended..."Will will" LOL.)

To clarify: Leo IS alive; he just hasn't gotten back with Calypso yet.

SET AFTER HEROES OF OLYMPUS, AND DURING PRISONER OF AZKABAN. Harry, Hermione, and Ron are 12-13, and Nico is 13-14.

Chapter 1: Nico Slips into the Shadows...Again

Nico's PoV

Nico could sense it before he saw it: a presence almost as evil as Tartarus himself-something that existed to gain power and consume anything in its way. It came from a...boy. He looked normal, save a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, but Nico could feel the evil inside him as clearly as he could feel his silver ring under his fingers. It was like the boy had a snake inside him, like a deadly cobra-the snake would stay hidden, hard to detect, but one wrong move and it would lunge out and strike in a flash.

Nico did it without thinking. Maybe he was just tired and not thinking properly. Maybe his instincts knew better, and ordered him do it. But Nico twisted the skull ring, a full rotation, and, as the ring grew into his familiar sword, Nico lunged forwards and swung the sword, so it was an inch away from the boy's chest. "Who are you?" Nico hissed.

Suddenly, Nico heard a voice behind him shout "STUPIFY!" Turning, he saw that a bushy-haired girl next to the boy had aimed a bolt of red light at him. Before Nico could react, the light hit him and darkness overwhelmed Nico's vision and he dropped down, dead asleep.

As Nico slept, his subconscious started to relive the events that had landed him in a wizarding market, of all places. It had been five in the morning, and Nico had laid on his bed in the Hades cabin, staring at the ceiling. Gaea had been defeated...but at a price: Leo was dead. Nico could feel it in his bones, and even though there had been something different about Leo's death, as though it ran on its own engine, Nico had been sure that Leo was dead.

Octavian was also dead. It wasn't as though Nico could have (should have) prevented it, but he was sure that everyone hated him for it-specifically Will. If it weren't for Octavian, Leo would probably still be alive. What was Nico to do? He couldn't stay at the camps-sure, he had helped bring the Athena Parthenos back to Camp Half-Blood, but he'd also survived Tartarus, turned Bryce Lawrence into a ghost, had been forced to tell Jason about his crush on Percy, and had also started mysteriously turning into smoke.

Nico, to put it, was on an entirely different plane of existence than the other demigods-he was around eighty years old, for one thing. From the 1920-30s. And Italian. Nico even had a slight accent-when he spoke in Italian or was rambling on to himself, he would get funny looks. Usually, however, Nico could keep his accent American enough to not draw attention. Nico was also son of Hades-he exuded an aura of death and gloom whenever he was, well, gloomy. That is to say, most of the time.

He'd survived Tartarus-alone. Only two demigods had even been to Tartarus, and no one had gone alone, or seen the pit as it truly was. Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson were the only two demigods who'd ever been to Tartarus, and Nico couldn't even bring himself to talk to them. To him.

These thoughts had been floating around Nico's brain for the better part of an hour, as insubstantial and dark as...well, shadows. Or, more accurately, Nico. Since he'd started fading, Nico often felt like a shadow even when he was solid-a tiny wisp of darkness, a result of something blocking the light.

Nico had made a decision. He was leaving. Right now. The Romans had left last night; Nico had said his farewells to Hazel and Reyna. Nico sat up and looked around, before slipping on his aviator's jacket, the black one with the white ruff/collar thing. Fingering his silver skull ring/Stygian iron sword combo (since losing the sword in the bronze jar, Nico had attached it to his ring and enchanted it to return to his hand if he lost it, with Hades' help) Nico stuffed some unicorn draught, a good amount of drachmas, as well as some food and water, into his black backpack. He also put some black jeans, black T-shirts, black T-shirts with skelaton/bone/silver fires designs, black socks, and other black/silver/bone clothes in there.

Nico walked outside and took one last look at Camp Half-Blood: the eastern horizon was a pale shade of gray-gold, the color of the campfire during the funerals after the battle; the Hades cabin loomed behind him with its black walls and green torches, the Big House sat tall and proudly, with its pale blue paint and white trim. Nico saw the dining pavilion where he had learned of Bianca's death, the woods he'd run to, where he'd entered the Labyrinth...and the Apollo cabin, gleaming gold in the low light of the central hearth that Hestia tended. Nico shook his head. He'd thrown this all away a long time ago-and again when he'd let Octavian shoot the onager-by letting Octavian fire the onager, Nico had probably killed Leo. Indeed, Nico was done with Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter-for now and forever.

Well, perhaps not forever-he'd promised Hazel and Jason that he'd visit or Iris-message, and they would hold him to his promise. But for now...Nico was leaving. Closing his eyes, Nico had stepped forwards and melted into the darkness.

A whistling sound had filled Nico's ears. For a moment, he was terrified, remembering falling down to Tartarus, before be remembered where he was and what he was doing. Nico didn't care where he arrived-he just wanted to get away. Jason had been right-Nico solved his problems by fighting, running, and then hiding.

Well, Jason can't find me where I'm headed. No one can. Nico sent his senses out as far as possible, before finding a spot to shadow-travel to. The darkness got thicker around him, before lifting to reveal an alley full of odd shops like Flourish and Blotts and Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands Since 382 B.C.

Before Nico could puzzle over this any more, the darkness returned. Nico pushed it away. He certainly didn't have enough strength to make another jump; he'd have to make due with this odd alley. Curling up in a gap between two stores, among barrels that were labeled beetle eyes, knotgrass, and lacewing flies, the darkness came for a third time, and the son of Hades fell asleep.

When Nico had woke, he'd looked around and had been shocked; the alley was like nothing he'd ever seen before, and Nico had seen a lot. At one end, mortals walked through an archway labeled DIAGON ALLEY; and the alley-Diagon Alley-was even stranger than Nico had thought before he'd fallen asleep. The bookstore and the...wand shop weren't the only strange buildings here; there was a large building that resembled the Capitol back in Washington D.C.; the building had the letters GRINGOTTS WIZARDING BANK painted in large gold letters.

With a start, Nico realized that he'd heard of these wizards before; Hades has mentioned that Hecate had blessed a small amount of mortals with magic unlike that of the Hecate children at Camp-these mortals used wands and spells rather than manipulating the Mist.

And then, he'd seen the boy and attacked.

Suddenly, Nico heard a voice behind him shout "STUPIFY!" Turning, he saw that the bushy-haired girl had aimed a bolt of red light at him. Before Nico could react, the light hit him and, for the second time, darkness overwhelmed Nico's vision and he dropped down, dead asleep.

Author's Notes: Yeah...compared to the way I'm telling the other story, Eclipsed Ancestry, that was different. I liked it though-so far. Please post any feedback or suggestions you have in the review section! Thank you! I'll add chapter 2 soon, hopefully.