I don't own anything, etc etc... except the plot, of course!

Some dialogue between Potterverse characters are quoted from the book.

Nico di Angelo and the Philosopher's Stone

"Nico, I wish for you to go on a quest." Hades, Lord of the Underworld addressed his son, who was kneeling at his feet. This was unusual, the Gods seldom sent their offspring on quests in person – Chiron normally took charge of that at Camp Half-Blood, but this matter was urgent.

"My Lord?"

"There exists an object in the mortal realm that has the ability to render someone immortal – without the will of the gods. I view it's creation as an insult to me and my realm. Unfortunately, it was devised by a child of Athena blessed by Hecate, so I have grudgingly let the barb slide. Until now.
I have received word that the object is no longer safe, so this is the prime moment to have it destroyed. I wish for you to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where the object is currently located, once you find the object, bring it to me."

"Yes Father."

"I am aware that you do not possess the right abilities to truly blend in at this school, so I have talked to the Lady Hecate and she has accepted to bless you with magic, temporarily. This is a gift from her."

He held up a stick for Nico to examine. Yew encasing a hair of an empousai? Nico was tempted to snort that this could give him any more powers than the ones he already had. But he respected the Goddess of Magic and he needed her permission to enter this Wizard school so he merely nodded, face blank.

"I accept this quest, Father, I will not fail."

Hades looked at his youngest son. Although he had made it clear that he preferred Bianca (he seldom had female offspring), he would grudgingly admit he was fond of the boy. He snapped out of his musings quickly, embarrassed that he had shown weakness.

"Your train leaves at 11 o'clock precisely from Kings Cross in London, you have one hour to pack."

So now Nico was trying to get some sleep after his quite strenuous journey from the Underworld to England. He didn't get why he couldn't just go directly to the school, but his father had made it clear that he would not reveal his identity for any reason, he would just blend in, find the object and return home. The Mist would do the rest.

The reason he was trying and not succeeding were the two other occupants of the compartment. He wasn't eavesdropping if they were careless enough to not check that he was awake. One was called Potter, Harry Potter, and seemed to be famous, though the boy himself was oblivious to it. The other was Ronald Weasley and he complained loudly about his large family. The son of Hades found this quite irritating, Ron should really consider the other people present, Potter had lost his parents and Nico didn't have any living relations either (Hades being a god didn't really count as living). Hearing Harry's life story was quite dull, but the name Voldemort got his attention.

Lord Hades would rant about Tom Riddle for days on end, and Nico couldn't imagine what punishment his Father envisioned for him in Tartarus, but whatever it was, his dad seemed to feel that it wouldn't be enough. The man had the nerve to call himself something like Lord Death-Stealer in bad French, have followers called Death Eaters (seriously? Nico doubted that Thanatos tasted nice at all) and rip his soul to pieces to achieve immortality. To add insult to injury, one of the pieces had already arrived, but as it wasn't possible to judge a person without their complete soul, he was in limbo for the time being. Not to mention Riddle's homicidal rampage that the Underworld was still recovering from (the backlog of paperwork and the queues for judgement had been catastrophic). And he didn't understand why the Weasley boy wouldn't say the name – it wasn't as if this Voldemort could do anything to them. Nico had faced far more dangerous and scary things than a mortal that wouldn't die. Sure with monsters it was different, they grew stronger, reformed quicker and you drew attention to yourself if you uttered their name, but a mortal with an overdeveloped trigger finger (assuming wands had triggers) nah, not scary.

The smell of candy roused Nico from his thoughts, he was starving. Deciding that he could feign sleep no longer, he consented to drop the act. Examining the other passengers, at first he thought that he was looking at an eleven year old version of Percy, with glasses and a weird lightning scar. The scar was wrong, like Daedalus was wrong. He stared, unblinking. But the more he stared the less the boy looked like his old friend, the eyes were the wrong shade, the jaw line, nose and mouth were all different. The other kid was the same age, with pale skin, freckles, a mop of ginger hair and dirt on his nose.

"Hello." The black haired boy said, and Nico recognised the voice as Harry Potter.

"Hello." Nico replied, unwilling to say more.

"I'm Harry" The boy tried again, his companion was eyeing him with a scared expression. "What's your name?"

He didn't really feeling like telling them much about himself, but if he was going to make friends and blend in then...

"Nico di Angelo"

"You want some sweets?" Nico blinked. Not many people could stand to be around him too long because he constantly oozed death, but this boy was going out of his way to talk and be nice.

"Sure"

These two seemed ok, they shared the food despite the fact that Nico didn't pay or trade to make up for their generosity. He did have money, some drachmas, and he did have food. Nico smirked inwardly, the nectar and the ambrosia that he had stashed in his rucksack might smell delicious, but the side effects for mortals were unpleasant to say the least.

He brooded a bit when the two kids started chatting about Collectors cards in the frogs; it was too close to Mythomagic and Bianca's death for comfort. The Beans were quite entertaining, especially when the other two thought that the flavours were random. Nico got Pomegranate, Cereal, Dirt, Pasta, Cereal, Dandelion Cordial and a McDonald's Happy Meal.

It took a lot of Nico's self control not to laugh as the Weasley kid recited a poem worthy of Apollo when he tried to turn his rat yellow. The girl who was watching reminded Nico of Annabeth, but he doubted that Hermione could knife monsters while explaining the architectural wonders of the Sidney Opera House. She was looking for a toad that some boy had lost. Nico was tempted to call Percy and see if he could talk to the animal; the constant interruptions were getting annoying. The conversation moved swiftly on to Houses with the departure of Granger.

"What house are your brothers in?" Harry asked Ron

"Gryffindor" Ron replied gloomily. "Mum and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."

"And you?" Harry turned to Nico. He was actually thirteen, not eleven, but the Mist had sorted it so that there wouldn't be any questions asked. Nico wasn't thrilled by this, but he didn't know any magic so starting at the beginning would be good.

"What are the choices?" Nico hedged.

"Gryffindor are brave, Ravenclaw are brainy, Hufflepuff are loyal, and Slytherin are evil." Ron explained. Nico raised his eyebrows at the names, but decided against questioning them. Any powerful witch or wizard was a potential child of Hecate, so best not insult them.

"The definition of entering Slytherin house is that you have to be evil." Nico repeated slowly, clearly not buying it.

"Well, all the dark witches and wizards were in that house, and they have this notion that they're better that everyone because they come from all-wizard families."

"Well that's just plain stupid." Nico snorted

"But really they're all cunning and manipulative." Ron finished.

Nico didn't honestly know which house he'd get. His worst nightmare would be that he wouldn't get sorted. He wasn't the type to conform to peoples classifications. He hated being categorised. The conversation moved on without him as he pondered just where he fit in. Camp had become much friendlier now that he had his own cabin and Hades and the minor gods were respected. Hestia had a cabin too, but that, along with Hera and Artemis' cabin, remained empty. But still, few people were actually friends with him. He was often absent, spending time in the Underworld. Being Hades' heir was a demanding occupation, he had to track ghosts and send them back to be punished for escaping, overlook Daedalus' construction work... His father had promised him that he would allow him to visit his mother in Elysium one day. Nico was desperate to see her, but she would not come when he called and he was forbidden to look for her in the Underworld.

The other two were now discussing something called Quidditch, the main wizarding sport, which, much to Nico's horror, was played on flying brooms. Zeus would most likely electrocute him for even thinking of trespassing on his realm.

They were interrupted again, this time by two thugs who could have passed for sons of Ares had they not been so fat, and a mean looking blond who looked a bit like a weasel.

"Is it true?" he said, not sparing Nico or Ron a glance, "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you is it?"

"Yes" Harry replied, eyeing the two bodyguards.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle." The pale boy introduced them carelessly. "And my name's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."

Ron snorted, which made the pale boy notice the other passengers at last.

"Think my name's funny do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasley have red hair, freckles and more children than they can afford." Before Ron could retort he turned back to Harry, but was loosely addressing Nico as well.

"You'll soon find that some wizarding families are much better than others Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." He held out his hand, waiting for either of the two boys to take it. As if they would.

"Say's who?" Asked Nico with a bored voice.

"What?" asked Draco, eyes cold

"Who says which families are the better ones? Bit presumptuous and bigheaded of you to assume that your family is worth more than his"

"Are you calling me big headed?" Draco asked, his eyes dangerous. Nico wasn't even looking at him; he was staring out of the window.

"Yes."

"I'd be careful if I were you. Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as Potter's parents...

"If you mean I'll die, of course I will, everyone will," Nico interrupted carelessly, before turning to Draco with his full Son of Hades Death Stare, "But I'd watch who you're threatening, you're not the only one with powerful relatives."

As if to accentuate the point, there was a rumble of thunder that was almost deafening. Nico turned back to the window, satisfied that his point had been made. The two thugs lumbered forward to teach the impertinent kid a lesson, but Nico, contrary to all appearances, had been watching them like a hawk, using the reflection in the window. He punched the first one in the gut (he couldn't remember their names and besides they both looked the same) and the other gave a yell without Nico even touching him. Ron's pet rat had latched on and the kid was yelling in pain. Nico was laughing, he'd faced far worse than a rat bite, but this thug looked as if he were going to run back to mummy. The three disappeared and Nico sat down again, face smug, knowing that they wouldn't come back in a hurry.

The other two were looking at him in awe, but before they could say anything, the door opened again.

"What has been going on?" It was the Granger girl. Ron ignored her, more concerned about his rat than bothering to explain. Nico wasn't in the mood to be lectured by this mini-Annabeth, so didn't reply either. Harry began explaining about Malfoy, and the more Nico heard, the more he disliked the weasel face. Hermione asked about the fighting. Nico was surprised that Ron didn't rat him out, but he was grateful for that. He was right about the lecture, she almost gave them one without proof that any of them had actually been fighting. She left while telling them to get changed.

Nico was worried, he didn't have time to buy any books, material or robes before leaving and wondered absently if he could sneak away by shadow travel to buy robes and back before he was reported missing. Still, he rummaged in his bag for show, and was surprised to find that it was full of everything he needed, even a jar of green flames so he could sacrifice food to the gods. Putting on the robes wasn't really necessary for Nico, he was wearing his trademark black T-shirt and ripped jeans. Now he had them on, he looked like a boy Dracula that the mortals made horror movies about. The train slowed to a halt and they disembarked. A giant started yelling for the first years to come forward. Nico eyed the man apprehensively. Giants weren't normally friendly, especially when they smelled half-bloods. He gripped his sword which he'd concealed in his robes, waiting for the thing to attack.

He didn't. In fact, this was Hagrid, the man that Harry had mentioned on the train. Nico wasn't convinced that he was entirely harmless; he even had a baby hellhound, but if he was the guide to the school, then so be it. Descending the stairs towards the lake, Nico got a sinking feeling that he would have to cross the vast expanse of water to get to the school. Why didn't he follow the older kids? He should have known that first years would have "special" treatment. In his case he would probably be drowned before he even made it to the castle.

Nico was tempted to refuse point blank to enter a boat. He quickly dropped a drachma into the water as an offering to Poseidon for safe passage and prayed that the Sea God would listen. He hoped that Percy was visiting, that way he'd be even less likely to get drowned. As it was, a merman came up and escorted his boat across. Once they had reached the underground harbour, the merman sort of saluted, but in a way that made it clear that further crossings would not be granted so easily. The other kids were staring at him, but Nico was used to it. He was too relieved that he'd survived to really care what the others thought.

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"

Hagrid raised his fist and knocked on the castle door.

So did you like it? Hate it? I've almost finished writing and I was considering doing the next book, if this story proves popular of course.

Or I could skip directly to Voldemort's return in the fourth...

Please review!