There was heavy silence that followed Nico's arrival. None of the three occupants of the Hades's Throne Room seemed ready to open the meeting. It was getting real awkward.

Not seeing any other choice, Nico took a deep breath before bowing in respect.

"Father. Lady Hecate", Nico addressed the two. He received sublime greeting in return clearly indicated that the two Gods were distracted.

"Father, I would like to report to you that there have been an abnormal influx of dead souls arriving in the Underworld, most of which were not yet due their time and most of all," at this Nico paused to study Lady Hecate's reaction, "they hail from the wizarding world," Nico finished. He was not disappointed. Lady Hecate had lowered her head either from shame or embarrassment. Nico was not sure.

"I am aware, my son. Lady Hecate and I have just been discussing this matter since weeks prior. Hecate is troubled on how to handle the situation and thus had been pestering me for a while now," father said in an undisguised annoyed tone. He was also upset by the amount of paper work the case had caused, Nico assumed. The death glares he kept shooting the Goddess of Magic were especially nasty.

"Tell me, Nico, what do you remember of a particular insulting case I told you about before. One ancient Greek magic practitioner, by the name of Herpo the Foul?" Hades inquired, he leaned his body forward a bit, glancing towards Hecate every now and then. Nico recognized the gesture in a heartbeat. His father was bragging about him. He did not know what his father has been saying to Hecate before he arrived but he was certain that his father had bragged about him, his Son.

Nico stood up staller as he spoke, reciting what he remembered about the old guy that insulted his father by trying to cheat death and achieved semi-immortality by creating what was known as Horcrux. For as long as the object that hold a part of the practitioner's soul, even if the body is destroyed, the practitioner would continue to live, even if in non-corporeal form, though there were apparently methods or rituals that can help one regain a body by magic. 

The case was ages ago, yet Hades had retold him of the story as if it were yesterday, clearly offended that a measly mortal tried to elude death and hide from Thanatos and the King of the Dead himself. Since Herpo was not technically dead, especially not a demigod which scents and power usually made it easy to trace them, Hades had a difficult time tracking the man, further leaving a stain in Hades's pride. His father managed to find him after scouring the mortal world upside down, leaving disaster in his wake, destroyed the Horcrux with Hellfire and personally dragged the whimpering form of Herpo at the face of his father's wrath, to the Field of Punishment's most deep and dreadful area. It dawned on Nico as he finished his recitation why his father asked him of this case.

"Father...Lady Hecate, could it be the recent influx of spirit this time...is a work of another...," Nico trailed off, not sure if he should finish his line of thought.

"Yes. It is," it was Lady Hecate who answered. She looked grim.

"His name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, or currently known as Lord Voldemort. A dark wizard. He found the method in which to create Horcruxes from Herpo's time and had been a threat to the wizarding world of Britain for years now," Hecate said in an almost sad whisper. It was as if her world would crumble any second now. Which...it probably is. It's the world that she created after all.

"He had gathered followers known as Death Eaters," Nico made a face at this. He meant like really? Death Eaters? That's an insult to both his father and Thanatos, "and while he should have reportedly died 14 years ago in Halloween 1981, he did not. Now there are rumors going around of his return, which had led us to investigate and discover that he had cheated death. Multiple times, a greater sin than Herpo as Tom had made seven horcruxes to date," Lady Hecate explained solemnly.

Now that Hecate mentioned it, he did recognize the name Tom Riddle in one of those files classified as 'missing souls' since the dead spirit did not turned up in the Underworld after its designated death time. Thanatos had written in the report that he had went to search for the mortal's soul as he did all the other missing souls but turned up empty. Thanatos had claimed that his soul signature was all over the place that he could not pinpoint the exact location. Well, now we know why that is. Missing souls and poltergeist were common occurrences since some ghosts just decided to haunt their property, becoming haunted houses, stayed by their loved one's side like a secret guardian angel or had some kinds of an unfinished business and refused to move on until they were settled usually on behalf. Thanatos had not deemed Tom as important and left it at that. Since the Titan War and Giant War were far more important and significant at large in comparison. Well...when you compared it like that Tom really seemed like a small fry, doesn't it?

"I have overlooked this...Tom...considering we had our own wars to worry about. Now that the wars were over...Lady Hecate here is insecure with the future outcome of her little world," Hades sighed, "I am giving you this task to assist her in saving her little world," Hades finished concluding the main point of the meeting.

"Yes, father," Nico obeyed. Hades nodded to Hecate to continue briefing Nico about his quest while he went about and continued with the blasted paper works accumulating on his desk, cursing under his breath all the while. Nico had to sweat dropped. He could see himself doing the same thing after all this fiasco was over.

"Why me?" Nico asked bluntly before the goddess could open her mouth, "Why not Percy? Why not Jason? Or Leo for that matter? I have a feeling that this quest will take some time to complete what with seven horcruxes, as well as a lot of blending in within the wizarding world. You realized that I am the most socially inept demigod among my family and friends, right?", Hecate nodded at this and was about to open her mouth to explain but Nico cut her off again, causing her to feel slightly miffed at being interrupted again.

"I also have dark disposition, I mean my whole being screamed the dark arts so anyone of those wizards and witches that are fighting against the dark side right now will be instantly suspicious of me, so I don't think...," Nico continued but was shocked to silence when Hecate screamed,

"SHUT UP FOR A MINUTE!" she huffed in annoyance. Nico felt a ripple of power in waves he had cold sweat running down his back. He closed his mouth with a snap, muttering a quick apology before that.

"Now, you are the prince of darkness. The abnormal influx of dead souls pouring into the Underworld should be one of your concerns and therefore, one of your responsibility, correct?" Hecate stated more than asking.

"That's right. But I don't necessarily need to be on the field myself. There have been similar cases like those terrorist attack in Russia. I merely needed to send in the Furies disguised as the authorities along with Thanatos's servants, Dementors, to take the souls of those responsible to the Underworld," Nico reasoned.

"That's...that is true but you had to admit that even Thanatos had trouble finding the pieces of Voldemort's soul much less the Furies, so you can't send them for this, now can you?" Hecate argued. Nico had to grudgingly nod at this. After all, the report was dated in 1981. That was a decade ago. The foolish mortal had been escaping death for years so it stands to reason that something should be done about it, especially if it causes detrimental harm to the mortal, wizarding and the underworld.

"Now, you are the only one suitable to do this because 1) it is one of your concern and responsibility, 2) you have sensitivity to souls and life aura in general, thus the only one capable of sensing and identifying Voldemort's souls, in this case horcruxes when you are near them, 3) you possess the necessary powers and abilities to destroy it using Hellfire just like your father did on Herpo's horcrux, 4) the rest of the heroes are dead useless when it comes to subtlety. They can't be sneaky for the life of them. You are the only hero who worked behind the shadows with the necessary skills for it such as infiltration, espionage, reconnaissance and stealth, and 5) You are the only demigod apart from my children that knows so much about the wizarding world," Hecate explained morosely.

There was silence for a moment as Nico digest this. Finally, he said,

"Fair enough. What else do I need to know for this quest?" Nico asked in acceptance.

Hecate had to smile. She felt hope sparked within her chest as she was sure that Nico would succeed. She knew that the prince would not settle for anything but victory.