Hazel's POV

It's been a week since we arrived at Hogwarts. 

I've been really worried. Hecate didn't give us time to ask questions, but I have so many. 

The other night I dreamt that New Rome was attacked and destroyed because Reyna, Frank, and I weren't there to protect it. I really hope it was just a dream.

"Hazel, we're going down to breakfast, want to come?" My new dormmates, Lavender and Parvati asked me. Since it was Sunday, there were no lessons and we could go down to breakfast at whatever time.

"No thank you, I'll meet you there though." My dormmates walked out the door. They were nice trying to include me since I'm a 'transfer student' and all, but I had something important to do. 

"Gale?" My "pet polecat" scurried out from her basket under my bed. "Gale, I need to speak with Lady Hecate. Gale farted and scurried back under the bed. So much for that plan. Suddenly, a rainbow mist appeared in front of me. What the- 

I realized it was one of those Iris-Messages that the Greek demigods used. Hecate appeared in the mist.

"Hazel, there you are. Is something wrong?" She looked slightly bored.

"No, Lady Hecate, I just had some questions about our quest. How does the whole time travel thing work?"

Hecate looked slightly more interested. "Oh, yes, I didn't even think to mention. So, none of you will age, since we are not in your timeline, the people who already don't age will remain to do so. Also no, you cannot cause any paradoxes unless you interact with your past self, which none of you will do because we are on an entirely different continent. That all?"

What is a paradox? Nevermind. "One thing, Lady Hecate. Is time passing on our timeline? Will our camps be okay?"

Hecate laughed like I had said something silly. "No, Hazel, of course time isn't passing in your timeline. After all, it hasn't happened yet!"

Suddenly, someone walked through the door. A redheaded girl who looked to be around 16 or 17. "Sorry, wrong dorm- what is that?" Hecate closed the Iris-Message by waving her hand through it and the rainbow mist dissipated.

Schist. "Um, what's what?" Hazel asked.

"That rainbow thing, I've never seen it before."

Think, Hazel! Say something believable! "Oh, it's uh, a form of American magic used for communication. I was just talking to... my old headmaster! She wanted to know how me and my friends are adjusting here." Oh, I hope she believes that. 

The redheaded girl stared at her for a moment, then smiled a little. "Cool. My name's Ginny, and you're Hazel, right? One of the Americans."

"Uh, yeah. Nice to meet you."

"Want to walk down to breakfast with me? I just need to get my jumper from my room."

"Sure!" I said. I followed Ginny out of my room. That went well. 

We walked to breakfast together, talking and smiling. 

I think I'm going to do all right here.

Nico's POV

I hate it here.

It reminds me of camp, and not in a good way. I keep getting strange looks from people, which I should be used to by now.

I can't believe that stupid hat put me in the Flufflepuff house or whatever it's called. I don't belong there! Everyone is so nice, (except that Smith kid, he sucks) and they love plants and friendship. Does that hat know who I am? I'm Nico di Angelo! I'm the Ghost King, I control the shadows! My father is the Lord of the Dead! But nooo, I "care about my friends", so I'm stuck in the yellow sunshine house. I feel outcasted. Again. The only thing that makes it better is Will. At least he's there. I would hate to be stuck in a dorm with Percy for months. 

Also, those Carrow assholes are getting on my nerves. 

No wonder one of them is named Alecto. She reminds me quite a bit of the old hag. They're both cruel and like inflicting punishment. Which is why Will and I are currently on our way to detention after dinner on a Saturday. Apparently, criticizing teachers' teaching methods behind their backs is "disrespectful" and "rude". I was just saying to Will how the Carrows teach like they're the actual furies, but I didn't see them right behind me. Even though they didn't understand what I said, they still put both of us in detention. Assholes.

"Hey, Nico, are you ok?" Will looked at me with his concerned doctor face.

"I'm fine Will, I'm just thinking about how much I would love slice those Carrows into monster dust with my sword."

"You do know they aren't actual monsters right?"

"Sure act like it." I mumbled. 

We finally found the room we were looking for. Even the stupid stairs at this school are against me. They moved four times while we were trying to get to detention.

Will opened the door. Inside was an unused classroom, filled with pieces of furniture that were shaking violently. Weird. The other detention students were Magnus and Alex, as well as two Gryffindor students. I recognized one of them as a ginger Hazel had been talking to at breakfast this morning.

"Alright, troublemakers. The Carrows have put me in charge of detention today." An old man stepped out of the shadows, tailed by a cat. Creepy. "You will be removing boggarts from these furniture items I have collected from around the school. I will return in two hours. No shenanigans." And with that the creepy guy and his cat stalked out, the cat side-eyeing us as it slipped out the door.

Alex spoke first. "Who's the crusty grandpa?"

The ginger girl snickered. "That's Filch, the caretaker, and his cat Mrs. Norris. He hates kids, and has to clean the castle by hand because he's a Squib." A Squib. I can see why Hecate didn't bless him with magic. "I'm Ginny, by the way. You guys are the transfer students, right? Hazel's friends?" I nodded. "I'm her half-brother. Nico." The others introduced themselves. The Gryffindor boy introduced himself as Neville Longbottom. 

"So, what the hell is a boggart and how do we kill 'em?" Alex asked.

Neville looked confused. "You guys don't get boggarts in America?"

ABORT ABORT WHAT DO WE DO-

"I've, heard of them, but I'm not sure what they are. We don't see a lot of them in New York." Will said.

Thank the gods for my boyfriend. 

Ginny explained them to us. "Okay, well here's the deal. Boggarts are these nasty little blokes who shapeshit into the worst fear of the person nearest to them. No one knows what they really look like. You use a spell called riddikulus, to turn them into something funny. They disappear if you laugh at them. It's got to be a real laugh though, so you have to make something actually funny."

Well this sounds like it's going to be loads of fun.

"So, do we just open all of them at once or...?" Magnus asked.

"Let's just split into pairs and we can each take one." Neville answered. "I dunno what would happen if we let them all out at once." 

"Yeah, let's not do that." I said. 

The others all split up into pairs. Will grabbed my hand. "Wanna be my buddy?" I rolled my eyes at him. "Well, seeing as I have no other choice..." Will pulled me over to the neared cabinet. It was locked. He poked the lock with his wand. Surprisingly, it unlocked. 

"Huh. That actually worked."

Then, something toppled out of the cabinet. It was Lester Papadopolous, AKA Will's dad, Apollo. His eyes were closed, as if he were unconscious. Or dead. He was wrapped in white stuff, tied to a post. Suddenly, it caught on fire. I looked at Will. He looked terrified. 

I have to help. What was the spell? 

As I looked back at the burning form of Apollo, he morphed into Will's half brother Austin, then to his half-sister, Kayla. Finally, I watched as the boggart thing transformed... into me. Tied to a pole and on fire. I looked back at Will, desperate for a way to help. A single tear rolled down his cheek. He lifted his wand with a shaking hand and said "R-riddikulus." Nothing happened. 

"It's ok, Will, you can do it." I put a hand on his shoulder.

He took a deep breath, eyes never leaving my boggart doppleganger, and tried again.

"Riddikulus!"

Suddenly, fire extinguisher smoke covered the boggart, and when the smoke disappeared, it was just me, in an oversized My Little Pony hoodie. Will laughed, and the boggart me exploded into black smoke.

I turned to Will. "Seriously?! A My Little Pony hoodie? That's your idea of funny?!" I realized everyone was staring at us. Neville and Ginny were about to open their second cabinet, and Magnus and Alex hadn't even opened their first. I turned around. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

I pulled out my wand and walked over to the next cabinet. My wand felt cold, and fit perfectly in my hand, just like my stygian iron sword. I poked the lock and it fell off. I saw Will behind me in my peripheral vision. When turned my attention back to the cabinet, I saw her.

Nyx.

My insides turned to ice. 

I shut my eyes. No, no, no this can't be happening, I can't be back there. When I opened my eyes, Nyx was still there, but Will's dead body lay at her feet. No, please. I was hyperventilating now, my eyes filled with tears. I heard her voice, a sound I had tried to forget after all these months. "Hello, Nico di Angelo. I knew you'd return." My legs gave out, and I crumpled to the floor. No, this isn't real, this isn't real, it's all in my head. 

Nyx spoke again. "Of course this is real. You knew you would have to come back here eventually. And it was only your foolishness that got your little friend killed. Dead Will sat up and turned to me. "It's your fault." Tears were falling from my eyes, I couldn't stop them. It felt like the whole world was collapsing around me. 

Out of nowhere, Will, the real Will jumped in front of me. "RIDDIKULUS!" Nyx transformed into my father, wearing a cowboy hat. Fake Will had one too. Hades helped Fake Will to his feet, and they began to square dance. My father and Will Solace, the two people I would never think to be square dancing together in cowboy hats. It was so absurd I couldn't help but let out a laugh. The boggart exploded.

Will rushed over to me. "Oh gods, Nico, are you alright? I'm so sorry." He hugged me, and I hugged him back. We sat there for a minute, just holding each other. My breathing slowed down. I wasn't crying anymore. Will had that way about him, his presence was just so calming. 

Ginny and Neville walked over. "That was intense. Are you two okay?" I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. "I'm alright. Those boggarts are a pain in the ass, though." Ginny smiled. 

"Riddikulus!" We all turned to look at Magnus. His boggart changed from a wolf with glowing blue eyes to a cute little puppy on a skateboard. Magnus laughed, and the boggart turned to smoke. He caught us staring. "What? Skateboarding dogs are adorable."

"Just like you in a My Little Pony hoodie" Will whispered to me. I elbowed him in the ribs.

We got to work dealing with the rest of the boggarts, changing up the pairs every once in a while. I saw Ginny's turn into a boy with black hair, green eyes, and glasses being hit with a green light and falling to the floor, dead. Neville's turned into a woman with wild black hair and crazy eyes. Neville muttered something like "leave my friends and family alone" and banished the boggart. I didn't see Alex's though. My back was turned, and she banished it so quickly that all I saw was the boggart turning to smoke.

Filch came back after two hours to see that we had successfully gotten rid of the boggarts. He didn't thank us or anything, he just told us to get to bed. What a jerk. We all walked together until we got to the Great Hall. Magnus wanted to talk to Alex so they set off for the Dungeons while the Gryffindors headed up to their tower. That left me and Will. Since it was late and no one was around, I took Will's hand as we walked to the common room. When we got to our dorm, he kissed me. Warmth flooded through me. 

"Goodnight, Neeks."

"Night, sunshine"

A/N: Wow, that was a long chapter. Thanks for reading! Now go drink water, and stuff.

~sstar