Four down, two to go. We just needed to get the one out of Potter, than we could storm the castle, and be done with all of this. I just wanted to go home. Luna was brilliant, but I hated Hogwarts. I wanted out.

"I've got good news, bad news, and worse news. What do you want first." Nico plopped beside me, shoving a Puff out of the way.

"Chronological order." I twisted the thick bracelets on my arms. Unless I was using my other magic, the marks stayed still, so I could wear whatever I wanted, and no one would freak out as long as my wrists, neck, and abdomen were covered. Here, it was easy; these people were pretty conservative in their styling choices, at least as necklines go.

"Well, Father wishes to speak with us. That's the good news. Bad news, there is no way out of the castle, so we need to think fast."

"Well fuck." A younger Puff across from us looked completely scandalized. I raised my eyebrow at the kid. At this point, everyone knew I had a dirty mouth. It was annoying when they expected me to suddenly lose it overnight. "Worse news?"

"I might have a way, but we'd need the Weasley Twins." A spill of curses fell from my lips, ranging in language, but all centering around a single theme. Fuck. I did not like trusting people. Luna being the obvious exception, but she literally already knew everything. Just because we carefully avoided the subject of who our fathers are, and why Nico and I are here, I wouldn't be surprised if she knew. We kinda made it obvious, and she's got the wizarding Sight. Literally, no secrets. I'd be a bit more nervous about her usually, but, while crazy intelligent, she didn't have the power to back it up. If need be, I could easily take her down. Hard.

"I know this isn't ideal, Raven, but it's the best I can come up with. They know this castle like no one else." Nico didn't look happy with it either, but he wasn't as paranoid as I was. I mean, not a hard record to beat, but still.

"Fine. Do it. Let's get this whole thing over with, I want to go home." Constantly being reminded of my mother, dealing with Potter and his gang thinking we were "Death Eaters"(utterly disgusting, that's my Dad they're talking about!), actually having to do the work we were assigned, the fucking teachers(they probably were good people, but ADHD and Dyslexia do not a good student make. Especially when said student has access to deadly weapons.), and dealing with Wizards had drained me. I wanted my bed, in my room, with my things, in my city. I wanted ice cream, and french fries, and nobody paying me any attention. This wasn't my place. It never would be.

"Alright. Tonight work?" I nodded, and he ran a hand up my spine, resting it gently at the base of my neck. "Sarà bene, piccola sorella."(It will be okay, little sister.)

"So che il grande fratello, lo so." (I know, big brother, I know.) I leaned into his shoulder, my own hand dropping to his thigh. "Mi manca la malavita. Come folle è che?"(I miss the Underworld. How insane is that?) He laughed, and I grinned.

"Ho bisogno di andare a chiedere i gemelli. Vorrei vedere lei al più presto."(I need to go ask the Twins. I will see you soon.) He stood up, and kissed the top of my head. "Essere buona, poco morte!"(Be good, little death!) I smiled into my plate, and pulled myself off the bench.

"Poco morte, easy for you to say, stronzino."(Asshole.) I left the hall, completely unprepared to face another day at Hogwarts, but determined to do it anyway. Damn, story of my life...

I was walking towards the Great Hall again, for Lunch, so ready to beat up the next person that pissed me off. And Blaise Zabini made himself the perfect target. He tried to surprise me, jumping out of a shadowy corner, but that wasn't happening. Hell, even if I was a normal demigod and not a child of shadows, that shit wouldn't fly. He was stunned to find himself pinned to the wall he was aiming to shove me against.

"If this is all an extravagant booty call, I'm going to be real displeased." He blinked. "In other words, what the fuck do you think you're doing?" That drew a snarl from him.

"I heard you at breakfast. You honestly think I don't know Italian, 'little death?' If I didn't already think you were stupid-"

"Shut up." He laughed.

"If that's your response to being found out, no wonder you weren't put in Slytherin." I yanked back from him, but just as he was straightening himself, I tossed four seeds at him. They were full grown roots in seconds, digging into the mortar between the stones to anchor him against the wall, a foot off the floor. "Regina! What the fu-"

"I told you to shut up." His mouth clicked shut. "You do present a slight complication. If you mention this to anyone directly connected to Volde, Nico and I have lost the element of surprise. However, you don't really know exactly who I am." He couldn't resist that.

"I know everything! I know what you are, freak! I know-" I couldn't resist moving one of the vines to sit over his chin. He stopped bragging pretty quickly.

"No you don't, little wizard. If you did, you would be very confused right now. No, you heard Nico and I talking, made assumptions, and confronted me without all the facts. That's very dangerous. Now," I paced slightly, starting to play up my position to gain the advantage over him. As long as I was confident and unshaken, I could save this. "What should I do with you? If I kidnap you, it's too suspicious. Slytherin will make a big fuss over you. And if I kill you, foul play will be called immediately. Shame, really. I haven't killed anything in too long."

"You're going to get your chance in a minute." Nico was panting behind me, slightly hunched. "Luna warned me, something's going to go down in the Great Hall, and we've gotta be there."

"What kind of something, Nico, we deal with a lot of somethings." His dark eyes were so expressive to someone who could read them like I could, and I was terrified at what I saw.

"Let him loose, and get your sword." Zabini fell to the ground as my plants withered.

"Oh. That kind of something."

We left Zabini shocked in that corridor and sprinted to the Great Hall. Our entrance was nothing special, but people started to get worried when we didn't sit down.

"Did she specify where this something was coming from?" I asked, spinning slowly, trying to keep the entire room in my sights. Nico was doing the same at my back. He had already ditched his robe, before he even grabbed me, but mine was still flowing around my ankles. I'd have to take it off soon, before it tripped me up in the coming fight. My sleeves were rolled down, and judging by the tones of the whispers, my marks hadn't made it past my collar yet. That would change soon.

"I know as much as you, Raven. Just keep watching."

"Mr. DiAngelo! Miss Phoss! Sit down!"

"Nico, I'm taking my robe off. Cover me." A Gryffindor glared at me when I tossed the damn thing into his face, but I was already turning away.

"Both of you, sit down! Before I take points!" I stiffened, my eyeliner pencil freezing.

"Nico-"

"I feel it."

"Ten points!" The cap of the pencil was off, hovering over the other end.

"One." Nico's hand was right next to his left pocket, where his sword was hidden.(Long story.)

"Twenty points, each!"

"Two."

"Phoss! DiAnge-"

"NOW!" We dived apart, just in time for a portal to rip open above our heads, and a Hellhound landed exactly where we were, looking quite annoyed to have missed it's target. My sword whipped into existence, and Nico drew. The Hound dived at Nico, but before I could help, another leaped through the portal, and took up my attention.

This wasn't my first fight, this wasn't even my first fight against a Hellhound. But these things never got any easier, and the fact stands that I was a five foot, one-fifty pound girl facing off against a semi-truck(basically.) Nico was in a similar situation.(Gods, shortness must be a Death God thing, 'cause seriously? Two out of two.) I had to be faster and smarter. Easier said than done.

Screams came from the students when I was thrown into the Gryffindor bench, but I was getting pretty good at shaking the impacts off. And, the moment gave me a chance. Distracted slightly by the weaker prey, I drove my sword through the thing's throat, instantly giving myself a bath in monster dust. Wonder-fucking-ful. Just as I went to help Nico with his demon dog, another popped out of that damned portal.

"Hey, Nico! We've got more behind the portal!"

"I know! This one's my third!"

"Fuck you, I'm only on two!"

"Better hurry up, then!" I grinned through the shit on my face, and pulled my bag of seeds from my belt. The monster in front of me growled.

"Get clear!" I screamed, scattering them. As soon as I saw Nico get batted into the staff table, I let loose. The vines sprang to life, dark green just a shade of black. Both of the monster currently in Hogwarts were speared, the vines ripping their bodies to shreds. Gold dust covered the room, and Nico ran up to the portal, shadows covering his hands as he started to force the portal closed. My marks burned into my face as I went to help.

"So much for no one knowing, right?"

"Less talking, more closing." I called on every aspect of Thanatos I held in my body(And that was a lot more than the average demigod held of their godly parent.) and I could see Nico doing the same. A paw emerged from the portal, and we slammed it closed.

"Holy shit." I breathed, nearly collapsing at the effort.

"Remind me to ask for vacation time once we're done with this."

"Last time we went on vacation, you got locked in a jar and I was possessed. How about, us time? Like, no magic, no monsters, just two death kids enjoying their life."

"What life, Raven? I'm an introvert, and you're an otaku. We don't have lives."

"Well fuck you too, Ghost King."

"You really want to go there, lesbian?"

"What in the name of Merlin is going on?" We faced McGonagall's anger with no fear, though I kept my hair over my eyes and Nico was still bent over.

"Yeah, those were Hellhounds. Monsters."

"And we're the people who kill those monsters."

"With swords and shit."

"Because I'm guessing that the Mist doesn't work on you, so you all saw exactly what just happened."

"Which sucks. Because now we have to explain ourselves."

"But hey! We don't need to be in this hellhole anymore." Her lips pressed together at my final comment.

"Proffesor, the truth is far too long to tell, and we're sworn to secrecy about it."

"So we'll just finish what we came here to do, and be on our way."

"I will not have two teenagers covered in Monster tell me what to do!" I laughed.

"If you think this is bad, you should have seen us after-" Nico shoved his hand over my mouth.

"We don't talk about that, Raven. We don't mention it. We don't think about it." I could see humor in his eyes, but he maintained a straight face. I played along.

"Fine, killjoy." I mumbled, pulling his hand away, and spitting out the dust that had gotten in my mouth. A blink of my eyes, and the vines still covering the floor rotted and flaked away.

"Nico, do we still have to meet with your father? We kinda just blew our cover." He shrugged.

"He was going to talk about grabbing the final thing here before moving onto the next stage."

"All of those methods included secrecy, no doubt. Since we blew that..."

"Cut out the middle man?"

"Yeah. That." I brushed my hair away, and McGonagall backed away in fear. "My eyes are still doing the creepy thing, aren't they."

"You just used your...stuff. And you used a lot of it. The creepy eyes aren't going away for a while."

"Fuck." Even though my whole eyeball was enveloped in black, nothing about my vision changed. So I had to rely on others to tell me when I didn't look like a fanart demon. With black marks, curling and cutting in lines and flower crawling up my arms, my neck, my stomach, and those eyes, I knew exactly why most were terrified of me. "Alright, you grab him, I'll meet you there. Sorry, McGonagall, gotta run." I took a step back, sinking quickly into the shadow of the table next to me. A quick pop back up, next to the Ravenclaw table, to whisper quietly to my Moonlight, and I was gone.

Shadow Travel to the Underworld was easy, because no matter where in the world you were, it was there in some form. I landed right outside the throne room, but paused. There was someone in the room, aside from Hades. And that someone was alive. Nico popped up behind me, Harry Potter struggling against his grip, but I held my hand up.

"Alive. Inside." I muttered, in Greek. "Hand him to me, I don't look alive." The boy-who-lived was in my grasp in seconds, and Nico slipped behind a pillar. The doors creaked open. Looks like two someones in there, then. I shoved Potter forward.

"My Lord Hades." Nico's father started in anger, obviously a leftover from the two mortals (demigods?) in front of me, but he stopped when he recognized the woman under the monster remains.

"Little Raven." He cast a look at the boy I shoved forward. I was taking some satisfaction from being rougher with the kid than I needed to, but he was a bit of an ass, and being accused of being a Death Eater was disgusting. "You brought me a gift." The Gryffindor paled.

"Something happened. So I chose to bring you the whole thing. How did mio fratello(my brother) put it? Cut out the middle man." I cast a glance towards the two young men, and blinked at the Lord of the Underworld. He understood.

"Solace, Jackson. Leave." Short and too the point, like always.

"You haven't told us where Nico is." I started blinking hard. Solace, as in Will Solace. Came looking for Nico in the Underworld, because he missed him. Oh, this was too cute!

"I'm humored you boys enough! Nico is performing an errand for me. Leave!" It took everything in me not to hug the blond when he passed. I was supposed to be one of Hades's demons, not a fangirl worshipping the guy that had caught my best friend's eye. Jackson tried to slam the door behind him, but failed. I sympathized. I tried to do that a lot, hell I was probably the reason they didn't slam.

"Dammit, how did the hell did Nico land that one?"

"You're faith in me shows no bounds, Raven." I grinned at Nico as he emerged from a wall.

"Hey, just saying."

"What? What are you saying, Raven? I don't speak bitch."

"One, that was rude. Two, damn son!" I shoved Potter, using my free hand to reach up and ruffle Nico's hair.

"Fucking-screw you, Raven!" I cackled as he tried to straighten his hair.

"Please, children, you're scaring our guest." Nico stopped immediately, but I didn't have such restraint.

"Sure thing, Big Guy." He glared. "Right, behaving. I'll shut up now."

"You can all go to hell!" Potter finally grew a backbone and spouted that gem. I waved Nico forward, gesturing that he should take the punchline.

"Honestly, Potter, we're already in hell. Where else would we be right now?" That stopped him cold, and allowed Hades to speak.

"Mr. Potter, you are a bit of a special case. My son and Regina can take Voldemort out easily, but in order to make sure he ends up here, we need something from you. Your scar."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"It's very simple, Mr. Potter. Voldemort left a piece of himself in you the night he kill your parents. And we're going to get it out."

"No offense meant, My Lord, but there is no way, Nico and I are in no shape to help."

"Since you brought the boy to me, you aid is not required. Go rest. You have five hours, then you attack Tom Riddle." Potter looked askance.

"You can't kill Volde-"

"We can and we will, Potter. But first we need sleep." I dragged Nico away. We completely passed his room, and he made himself comfortable on the bed while I wiped my face off.

"So close to home, Nico. So close."