"So, the man who killed you… wasn't a man at all?"

The ghostly form of the eighteen-year-old girl shimmered as she nodded her agreement, "No, indeed. My murderess clearly had the form of a woman, but I have no idea who it was that pierced me with the blade, for they wore a cloak that concealed their face and hair. I recall no one with such a grudge that they could do this, either, so I cannot guess their identity or motive. All I can relate to you is that they were a few fingers shorter than myself and their cloak was of fine cloth and make."

Nico di Angelo; Hero of Olympus, Son of Hades, Ambassador of Pluto, Veteran of the Second Titan War and the Second Giant War, Prince of the Underworld and Ghost King, let out a breath as he considered this new information and the ghost who had given it.

She was pleasant looking, in a summery sort of way with long, wavy, dark brown hair, the edges of which were pulled behind her head, so it wouldn't bother her but was also free to fly through the air as she ran across sunny fields. Though it was difficult to tell with her ghostly pallor, Nico suspected that her shrewd, but kind, eyes had been a deep chocolate colour in life. Her skin was also a slightly darker shade than was common to find in genteel ladies from 19th century, England, but not so much that it couldn't be explained away as a sun tan if her family grew uncomfortable – though that wasn't too likely since, although her clothes showed she obviously came from wealth and class, they were not so ostentatious as to suggest true political power of influence. No, her dress was a pleasant scheme of what Nico guessed was white and forget-me-not blue that was too fancy to be worn by anyone less than a gentleman's daughter, but too simple for someone of higher station than one of the lower ranking genteel families.

Yes, Miss Amelia Berkeley was the second child and first daughter of one, Mr Oliver Berkeley and his wife, Mrs Christine Berkeley. On October 19, 1872, Amelia had accepted the marriage proposal of one Mr Hugh Norton. Three days later, she was found by her mother on her bedroom floor, a stab wound visible on her left side, just below her ribcage. There were no suspects, and no one was ever accused substantially – in fact, the murder or Amelia Berkeley was still a mystery over a century later.

Nico had to admit that it was an interesting case that had been brought to his attention by the rogue spirits of Christine and Oliver Berkeley before he had put them to rest. He'd promised the couple that he would do his best to discover what had happened to their daughter, sparking his investigation which had lead him all the way to England. The case had proved more challenging to solve than Nico would have suspected, but he had had considerable advantages on his side. For one, the case itself had become quite famous in the village of Little Hangleton and the surrounding area, so it hadn't been too hard to find information, despite the general mistrust that was to be found of a 14-year-old dressed in black wandering around the village and asking about murder. Of the information he had found, Nico had suspected that it was actually Hugh's younger half-brother, Eldon who had killed Amelia.

But he could now dismiss that theory, thanks to his other main advantage; his ability to commune with the dead.

"Thank you, Miss Amelia. You have been most helpful," Nico eventually said, still considering what she had told him as he politely dismissed her.

Amelia dipped her head respectfully in return, "No, thank you, My Lord. I shall rest easier knowing that my Prince is searching for my justice." And with that, the ghost of the young lady vanished, returning to the Underworld.

Nico remained for a moment longer, before turning his back on the grave and preparing to make his way back to the village. It'd probably be a good idea to rest the night there before attempting to shadow travel, after he'd expended so much energy that day. Will would probably kill him if he didn't-

WHOOSH

Nico jumped behind the nearest grave at the sudden noise, his battle reflexes already ensuring that his Stygian iron sword was drawn and ready for use should he be attacked. Nico drew in a silent breath, gathering the nearby shadows so that they concealed him as he risked a glance around the edge of the massive headstone. He hoped that it would be enough to not alert any potential monsters to his position, since he'd had a long, exhausting day and really didn't feel like fighting at the end of it if he could help it at all. He hoped, but he didn't really expect it to be that simple.

Fully prepared to see some foul creature with a taste for demigods as he glanced in the direction of whatever had made the whoosh noise, Nico paused in surprise at the sight of two teenage boys sprawled on the grass. What in Hades…? It was hard to see in the dim light, but both looked to be about his age or older, one with messy, black hair and a red and black shirt, the other with what looked like dark hair and a yellow and black shirt that was similar to his companion's in style. They both had a sweaty, frazzled look that was common among his friends who'd just finished a battle with some heinous creature that had decided that it would like a taste of demigod. Or who'd just come out of a free-for-all sparring session with Clarisse and Reyna.

Truth be told, they both seemed to be just as surprised at their sudden appearance as Nico was. Which raised another question: how did they get here? Although, maybe discovering who they were and what they were doing should have been higher on Nico's list of priorities. Nico decided to observe them for now – if he deemed they weren't a threat and they appeared to require assistance, well… he'd go from there.

Eventually, Black-and-Red stood up shakily.

"You OK?" Asked Dark-and-Yellow.

"Yeah. You?" Was the reply, that was in turn answered by a nod.

"Where are we?" Dark-and-Yellow said after standing up, proving to Nico that their arrival was accidental.

Black-and-Red didn't answer for a moment, instead moving past the grave that Nico was hidden behind, towards the large one situated in the centre with the massive statue of a grim reaper-like figure and an empty cauldron.

"I've been here before," Nico frowned at Black-and-Red's statement, but his attention was soon drawn to Dark-and-Yellow, who was crouched over a glowing, blue trophy that Nico had failed to notice before.

"It's a portkey," he could hear the grin in Dark-and-Yellow's voice as he said this, "Harry, the cup's a portkey!"

Subconsciously, Nico filed Black-and-Red's name as 'Harry', but his attention had been caught by the word 'portkey', which was a term he recognised. Suddenly the identity of the interlopers clicked into place. Nico had been told by his father of an underground magical society that – much like that of the gods and demigods – had been hidden away in plain sight from the eyes of mortals (or 'no-majs', as they were apparently called in the wizarding world).

Apparently, when Prometheus had given humans the flame, he had also thereby awakened the magic of the Earth in them, so that even now, every human had magic in them. But the magic of each human was usually much too dilute to be of any consequence, and so only those whose magical core was condensed had the potential ability for magic, which had often lead to explosive responses caused by emotional stress, such as feeling angry or scared.

Hades had also said that eventually Hecate discovered what had happened – that mortals without her blessing were using magic unconsciously and therefore unintentionally disrespectfully. He said that for a while he'd believed that she would purge the ability from them in order to prevent this, but that instead she had viewed it as their birthright and resolved to teach them to use their magic properly. She showed them how to make wands and how to write spells, giving them the basic tools to build their own society.

Which they apparently did, away from the knowledge of demigods. When Nico had asked Hades why he hadn't heard of them before, he'd discovered that the two communities had never met. Apparently, after all the war and bloodshed between the Greeks and the Romans, the gods had thought it best for everyone if both demigod groups and the magical community remained ignorant of each other. Nico had seen the wisdom in that, since at the time he'd just been appointed the Ambassador of Pluto at Camp Jupiter and he'd already noticed the prevalent hatred towards the Greeks that the Romans – particularly Octavian – seemed to harbour. Adding a third group to the mix didn't seem like a smart idea at the time.

It had also not escaped his notice, that Hades appeared to have made a transgression by revealing to him the existence of not only the Romans but the magical as well. Nico would have asked why, but he suspected that Hades would not tell him if he did.

Since finding out about the magical society, Nico had been fringing the community back in America. He had interacted with the witches and wizards a few times, and he had gained a very basic understanding of common spells as well as the generic politics, the governmental and legal systems and a few other bits of culture. Nico had found infiltrating the society to be both easier and more difficult than doing it to Camp Jupiter. Easier because most people weren't constantly suspicious of him like in New Rome and it was easier to blend in. More difficult because, unlike in Camp Jupiter, his common knowledge of Greek Myths and Ancient culture was practically non-applicable there. Everything was completely different in the wizarding world, although Nico was quite used to it by now.

Even so, after realising that the teens in the graveyard weren't a threat but were just wizards here by coincidence and with a portkey to transport them elsewhere, Nico resolved to just stay hidden where he was until they were gone.

It had only taken Nico a second to identify the boys as wizards and to decide on his plan of action (or rather, non-action), but almost immediately he felt concern grow again as 'Harry's' voice grew agitated and he said again, "I've been here before! In a dream."

…That seemed rather ominous. And alarming. As far as Nico knew, wizards didn't have prophetic dreams the way demigods did, although they did have some form of rather rudimentary fortune telling. Divination? He didn't think that those incorporated dreams very much though. Perhaps Harry had had a dream about some other graveyard?

But the way the boy glanced at the name on the grim reaper statue with a horrified expectant acceptance said otherwise. Nico resolved to stay further on his guard after that. It seemed that trouble was likely brewing, and even if it wasn't his own, it was likely he'd become involved in it soon enough.

"Cedric," Harry addressed Dark-and-Yellow with a very deliberate sort of calm, but with a tinge of dread that suggested both that he was becoming scared and that he was used to situations like this, "we have to get back to the cup. Now!"

'Cedric' (gods, Harry and Cedric, could they be any more British?) moved forward so he was only a few feet away and the both of them were standing in front of the cauldron with the grim reaper statue to their backs. He looked at Harry in concerned alarm, clearly picking up on his tone, "What are you talking about?"

Before Harry could answer, their attention – and Nico's - was drawn to the crypt just in front of them, where there was a slight creaking noise as a door opened, and a soft, orange glow spilled out from a room onto the previously dark, stone walls. They all watched as two men appeared in the light. One was short and paunchy, with rat-like features, a tattered, brown outfit and carrying a small, black bundle of cloth. The other was only slightly taller and slightly thinner, with blunt, crooked features, and a shabby, black attire.

As soon as they appeared, Nico became very aware of something completely wrong emanating from the bundle that the Rat-Man was carrying. It felt both tortured and torturous, like someone had ripped a black soul apart. Maybe someone had.

Nico was aware of flames alighting below the cauldron at the appearance of the men, but his and Cedric's attention was more focused on Harry, who had cried out, hands clutching his head as though in severe pain, at the appearance of Rat-Man. He collapsed to his knees and Cedric, clearly confused and concerned for his friend moved to him.

"Harry! What is it?" He asked.

"Get back to the cup!" Harry ordered staunchly, which Nico had to admire as he was clearly still in pain.

The two men advanced, satisfied grins in place. As they did, Cedric pulled out a stick – his wand, Nico reminded himself – and faced them, ready to defend his friend.

"Who are you?! What do you want?!" Cedric bravely demanded of the clearly dangerous men, his wand moving from one to the other so as to be ready for either of them if they attacked. Nico was impressed by his bravery, as he didn't hesitate, and his voice didn't shake.

Several things happened next. First, a high, rasping voice shrieked, "Kill the spare!" – and Nico vaguely realised that the voice had come from the bundle Rat-Man was carrying, rather than either of the men. Secondly, Rat-Man immediately obeyed the voice, raising his own wand and yelling "Avada Kedavra!" and shooting a bright, green light towards Cedric, as Harry cried a denial.

Lastly, Nico – who had begun moving as soon as he heard the voice's order – jumped through the air so he was between Cedric and Rat-Man and prayed frantically to both his father and Hecate that deflecting the spell with his sword would work. He remembered his father telling him about the Avada Curse, since it caused instant death and was therefore the most dangerous- but not necessarily the worst.

Since Nico was still alive by the time he landed, he figured that blocking the curse with his sword had worked. He had no idea if it was because the curse hadn't been able to go through the metal or if it was because the spell had been absorbed by the Stygian iron, but he wasn't in a hurry to test that out.

Instead, he took advantage of the four (five? Five-ish?) wizards' shock as he landed in the middle of their confrontation, to straighten, ready himself for battle and order in a low, deadly voice, "Stay behind me."

Nico didn't have time to check on the teens to see if they understood, because the next moment he was engaged with Blunt-Man as he apparently got over his surprise enough to start firing curses. He responded by blocking with his sword as much as he could and gathering shadows, so he could retaliate. Blunt-Man soon noticed how he was effectively blocking all his attacks and sent a red spell towards him. Nico blocked it, as he had the others, but he felt his sword try to fly from his grip – it had probably been a disarming spell. Quickly, he formed shadows into shields that bound his sword to his hand and would hopefully absorb anymore spells attacking that region.

There had been a slight lull, as Blunt-Man had clearly expected that to work, but as soon as it was evident that it had not, the barrage of curses resumed. Nico knew that if he wanted to end this anytime soon, he'd need to get to cover and try something from there. But he couldn't do that at the moment because moving now would leave the two boys open to attack. He'd have to get them out of danger first.

"Is he able to move?" Nico called to Cedric, referring to Harry.

"Uh-"

"I'm fine!" Harry cut over instead.

"Good, because you need to get back behind a gravestone before one of us gets hit, and I don't know where Rat-Man went," Nico responded, still not taking his eyes off Blunt-Man.

"We're not just going to leave you!" Harry yelled.

"If you want to help, get away from the line of fire and see if you can find Rat-Man!"

"But-"

"Now!" Nico said with a tone that brooked no argument. He added some of his death aura into the mix, both to try and convince the teens to run and to help in his battle against Blunt-Man.

"We're going!" Cedric called to him, and Nico spared less than a moment looking to see the blond stabilizing Harry before pulling him behind a gravestone as he'd instructed. Nico had a feeling, however, that it wasn't his death aura but rather common sense that had convinced the teenager to do as he said.

With that out of his mind, he returned his attention to the fight. If he'd had more energy, he would have been able to finish it. As it was, he didn't have time to block with his blade and send counterattacks with his powers. Blunt-Man was faster than he looked, and obviously an experienced spell-dueller, as he hadn't hesitated of faltered yet. Nico knew, however, that he had the advantage in this fight, because he was something completely foreign and unexpected to the wizard and he had many tricks up his sleeve.

Now that the boys were behind cover, Nico knew he could afford to find some himself. He waited until Blunt-Man fired off another curse – this one purple – but instead of blocking this one, Nico dodged, and shadow travelled to the headstone he was behind before. He could here his opponent cursing as he thought that he had gotten away. Nico rested the back of his head against the stone for a second and took a breath before glancing to his left where Harry and Cedric were staring at him from behind a set of family graves. He nodded to them and prepared to give them further instructions, but they got there first.

"How did you do that?! Who are yo-?"

"Does any of that really matter right now?" Nico interrupted, not unkindly.

They hesitated, clearly curious but also realising that they had more important things to worry about.

"I suppose not," Cedric eventually replied. "What do we do now?"

"You have a portkey, yes?"

Harry nodded, "What about Wormtail?"

"I don't know who that is, and I don't have time to care. When I say, you need to summon the portkey-"

"Stupefy!"

A red light suddenly hit Cedric in his chest, and Nico cursed himself as he realised that he still hadn't accounted for Rat-Man's position. It was a fool's error, as the man had reappeared from behind the other side of Harry and Cedric's grave. He must have been watching as they had made for cover before and had been lying in wait. Fortunately, due to his position not giving him a clear line of sight, he hadn't expected for Nico to be there as well.

"Cedric! Rennervate!" Harry quickly cast the counter curse on his friend, as Nico shadow travelled past them to face Rat-Man, who was no longer holding the bundle. Nico wondered distantly in surprise if that was because he no longer had his right hand. How in Hades had that happened?

Rat-Man's eyes widened in obvious fear at Nico's sudden appearance before him, and he stumbled backwards as the son of Hades advanced. It was for naught, however, as Blunt-Man reappeared and yelled, "Diffindo!" and a pale green light flashed across Nico's torso, creating a shallow, but long, cut.

Nico hissed in surprise, and stumbled for a second, forgetting about Rat-Man completely for a moment. Instead, he focused his anger and pain into solidifying the surrounding shadows into a spike which he then shot straight at Blunt-Man. Nico felt satisfaction as he heard a choking gurgle as the man was impaled. A few moments later he felt them man's aura flicker out and knew that he would be headed to the Fields of Punishment when he finally reached the Underworld.

He heard a yell of pain from behind him, which sounded as though it had come from one of the teen wizards. Quickly, Nico absorbed whatever shadows he could in a sloppy but efficient way the stop the bleeding. It would definitely need better attention later, but it was good enough to see him through the fight.

Nico turned then, Stygian iron blade raised, to see Harry pressing on the underside of his forearm, which was clearly bleeding, implying that it had been his cry of pain that he'd heard. Searching for Rat-Man, Nico saw him on the ground next to the grim reaper statue, grappling with Cedric. It looked as though the latter had tackled him away from Harry and they'd ended up in the clear area right near the cauldron. Nico wondered why neither of them were using their wands, when he saw two on the ground by Harry – probably his and Cedric's – while, Rat-Man was holding a bloody knife in his only remaining hand. Nico had a moment of panic, before he realised the blood was most likely Harry's and not Cedric's. But why wasn't he using the knife on Cedric…? Oh.

Oh.

"Kill the spare!" Nico remembered what the cruel voice had said. If Cedric was a spare, then Harry was supposed to be here. Their attackers had needed Harry alive… for his blood? A spell, perhaps? Nico ran through everything he knew about blood magic in his mind when it clicked into place. Resurrection.

Oh Hades.

That had only taken Nico a second to work out, but by that time it was too late as Rat-Man stunned Cedric with his only fist to his temple, before leaping to the cauldron and flicking in the blood from the knife.

"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you shall resurrect your foe!"