mythomagic

Hades Showing Up Out of the Blue (Black?) Never Bodes Well

It was about a year after the Giant War, and Nico and Will were lounging under a tree by the lake, a picnic spread out before them. It was one of the few moments the both of them weren't busy with their respective duties, and they decided to take advantage of that time.

The day was sunny and warm, and the sounds of Campers doing their day-to-day activities was faded into a constant but quiet drone yards behind them. The beach was fairly empty for such a beautiful day, and sunlight dappled through the leaves above them, casting a beautiful pattern unto Nico and Will.

But the calmness surrounding them on their date was interrupted, very suddenly, by a swirl of black shadows popping up before them. Out stepped Hades, Lord of the Dead.

"Hello, Father," Nico said respectfully, if not a little confusedly— Hades rarely stepped foot on the mortal world. Internally, past even that confusion, Nico was screaming, because his father showing up out of the blue never boded well. Still, he clamped down on that internal worry and frustration, making painfully sure his expression remained neutral. He and Will bowed their heads— Nico and Hades' relationship was less formal, now (in fact, it was almost normal), and after about a year of Nico and Will dating, Hades had seemed to take a liking to Will.

"Hello, Nico," Hades greeted warmly. The slight smile on his face fell. "I am..." He sighed. "I am afraid that the two of you have been given a task."

Nico could have cursed. He could have yelled and screamed and thrown his proverbial heels into the proverbial sand and he could have non-proverbially punched a non-proverbial thing. He just wanted some time off, gods dammit, and he could have shouted that into the sky.

But he didn't do any that. Instead, he just laid back onto the tree trunk, not bothering to do so gently, not bothering to soften his impact. As the air whooshed out of his body, he asked, "What?"

Hades winced. "I assume it would not surprise the two of you to learn of the existence of witches and wizards?"

Nico snorted, and Will shook his head.

"Then we shall jump straight to it, as they say," Hades sighed. "In the world of the wizards, there is a boy by the name of Harry Potter— or, as he is known by his fellow wizards, The Boy Who Lived; a rather cheesy title, true, but not undeserving. When he was a baby, 'The Dark Lord'— a wizard called Voldemort— stole into his house, killing his mother and father. However, because his mother sacrificed herself for him, an Old Magic was awoken, and that magic protected Harry from a killing spell— one that no one had ever survived, not even his parents. The wizarding world thought Voldemort destroyed after that, as the spell had apparently rebounded unto him, but that is not so; he was weakened, yes, but due to his use of Dark Magic, he survived— if only barely. Still, the world believed him dead, and Harry rose to stardom.

"Harry now attends a school in Scotland called Hogwarts, where many witches and wizards go to learn magic. Last year, during a tournament of sorts held between that school and two others, Harry witnessed the murder of a boy named Cedric Diggory, and the subsequent rise of Voldemort. As a result he has been... in a bad state. I believe you might call it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"Which brings us to your task. You are to attend Hogwarts School fo Witchcraft and Wizardry, where you shall be in his year, and while you are there... You are to help him through the year, be there as someone who will understand, because Olympus knows that many of these wizards live sheltered lives and won't understand how to help him through the flashes of aggression and the nightmares he faces. But the two of you do, both from personal experience and from helping others through it after the wars. You..." Hades sighed again. "This is necessary for the both of you to do, though I am forbidden from telling you why. Just know that should you fail in this, it will have dire consequences in the future.