Young and Old, Back and Bold

Chapter 21

Nico di Angelo, Nico Weasley. Whatever you called him, he was a boy with one body that had grown up twice, once delayed and the other not. He was a boy with hair that got curly when long, a boy with eyes as dark as his father's. He was a boy with two fathers, two mothers. One of each was somewhere in the Underworld forever.

He was a boy with three sisters, one dead and two alive. He was a boy with six brothers, all of whom saw him as the youngest. He was a boy with nightmares, a boy with fears. A boy too fearful to be put in Gryffindor and too good to be put in Slytherin. He was a boy seen as dark by an entire camp, seen as his father and as a murderer. He was a boy that had accepted himself and his sexuality.

Nico was a boy who had lived three lives: one before the Lethe, soaked in the blood of World War Two, caught in the middle of a family war, witness to his mother's death; another after the Lethe as he found out who he was and exactly why he could make those shadows move, why he could fight in those wars and save those demigods, why he was falling for a boy with blond hair; the last here in the wizarding world, with a family larger than he had ever had, with a family more loving than he had ever had, with school and a sense of purpose he had never felt before.

He was a boy with simple dreams: peace, quiet, to love and to be loved.

He was a boy that once cared too much. He was a boy that spent that second life worried about what others thought, worried about what his own father thought about him. He was a boy that, at one time, refused to accept his sexuality in hopes of fitting in. He had always been a boy scared of others and their thoughts as if they were as magical as the castle he now stayed in.

But then that all changed. His third life came, those memories and thoughts disappeared. He became a Weasley, and even that couldn't cause him embarrassment. Not when his brothers were at his side.

Maybe that was why he was so scared to get his memories back. Maybe he didn't want to realize what he had secretly known all along. That second life, that forgotten life, it was full of pain and suffering. Maybe that was why he had been so ready to forget it in the first place.

But as the days went on, Nico di Angelo peeked in, prodded at his sanity. Memories floated to the surface that had never been seen before. Not by Nico Weasley.

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"Tomorrow's Friday." Nico jumped into his seat at the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall. "Will should be here tomorrow."

"You're already as obsessed as I get and you haven't even seen him." Dominic stabbed at the unknown meat that sat on his plate. "You see how everyone is so obsessed with those new brooms? They're idiots if they want to waste money on those."

"Trust me, I know." Nico started to fill his own plate. "If I asked my mum for one, she'd think I was falling to a fever or something."

Nico. His accent had changed into something never heard before, something that only belonged to him. Hints of unknown accents, creeping in on certain words and phrases. Some were a different language entirely. British, for sure. Some American was in there. The others? Dominic accepted them as just...Nico.

And yet, it had changed for the better. He had someone to call mom with this stage of his speech.

"That might just be because you're terrified of flying," Dominic commented. "If you wanted a broom I'd think someone was using Polyjuice Potion."

Nico rolled his eyes as he finished filling his plate. The food was always more expensive and tasteful than Mrs. Weasley had ever been able to afford.

The Great Hall always roared with the voices of its students as they chatted over their dinner. The gossip, the news. The noise never stopped. Yet as it was the night before his own big day, Nico felt it was louder than usual.

Will...he'd be there soon.

"Have you talked to Allyson?" Nico finally asked, his eyes occupied with the exchange students and their odd habits. "I've barely seen her."

"I haven't seen her at all," Dominic replied bitterly. His meat was stabbed enough to fill his plate with scraps and pieces. "Don't see her in class, don't see her in the hallways. Haven't spoken to her at all."

"Damn." Nico glanced around the Great Hall in hopes to catch sight of the girl. "Wonder why she ran off after being so buddy buddy with us."

"She probably realized we're insane." Dominic stared down at his knife as if its meat coated blade could solve everything. "Ran off as soon as we were distracted."

"We may be insane but so is everyone else here." Nico pointed his fork at Percy Jackson, who sat still as Piper tried to stick as many spoons as possible to his face. "At least we don't do that."

"They never sit at their house tables." Dominic dropped his knife before rising to his feet. "I'm gonna go shower before everyone gets up there."

Nico didn't take his eyes off of the exchange students to notice his friends stiff movements. "Okay, I'll be up soon."

He felt the wind shift as Dominic walked off. The students kept talking on, the noise kept rising. He couldn't take his eyes off of Percy and Annabeth as a strange feeling washed over him.

A feeling of shared pain. What had they all gone through together? He felt as if they knew what it was like...what...

"The other side, Nico!" Percy was hanging from a ledge about fifteen feet below Nico. Below him, Annabeth clung to Percy above the total darkness, above the shadows that didn't listen. "We'll see you there, understand?"

Nico heard his own voice, felt his own emotions at the time. Nico di Angelo's. "But-"

"Lead them there!" Percy shouted. "Promise me!"

Promise...lead them there...promise...to protect them...

"I-...I will." Nico stuttered.

He watched them fall into that pit, saw them fall into the Hell he had endured. They knew... They knew what it was like.

Nico stood up, felt his robes shift around him as he walked from the Hufflepuff table. He could feel the stares, he knew they noticed his oddness. He kept walking. Some called out in confusion, didn't follow. Nico didn't turn back.

"You two." Nico came up behind Percy in the silence worthy of an assassin. "You fell, too. I saw it. I watched it. It could have been my fault for all I know. But you two fell. You understand."

Annabeth's eyes filled with something besides their usual wiseness. "Yeah, we did. We fell after you."

"The nightmares..." Nico swallowed thickly. "They only stop for the night if I train too hard. How do I stop them for good?"

Percy pulled Nico into the seat next to him. "We wish we knew, Neeks. We wish we knew." He wrapped an arm around Nico's shoulders, pulled him into a half hug. "Just stick to reality like we do."

Annabeth smiled as she reached a hand out to take hold of Nico's. "Focus on your friends. Focus on your family. That's all you can do. Maybe, someday, they'll be gone. We can only hope."

Nico leaned into her, his dark eyes on the hand that Percy held. They treated him like family, treated him as friends. Could he leave them? It was the least bit tempting as leaving the wizarding world.

But could you live in both? Could you be a demigod wizard? Could you not be hated for it?

Hate. It came from fear. Maybe that was why he chose love that day. He wanted courage worthy of the Gryffindors around him. So he made a bet with himself, a promise. He'd try his best to be a bridge between the worlds, try his best to keep each peaceful. Maybe then he could do the same to his soul, to his warring personalities.