Worlds Collide Harm(fully)(lessly)

Chapter 2

AN: Harry Potter's never been my main fandom so I've never been comfortable altering much in its universe, but I am in this story. So if things change that wouldn't happen in the books, I know it's different but it's just gonna be different in this series

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It was time for the World Cup and Nico still hadn't figured out exactly what Camp Half-Blood was planning. Despite the fact that he himself was the bridge between the worlds, something he had been working on for years, Chiron found it important to keep the details hidden from him.

"You'll see when the time's right," Chiron had said, "and only then. I can't have your loyalty getting in the way."

Yeah, that wasn't worrying at all.

"Honestly, I never saw you as one to have the same fatal flaw as Percy," Annabeth said in late August. She sat with little Silena, baby toys and blueprints spread out before her. "Loyalty...Nico di Angelo...it didn't use to mix."

Nico looked down at baby Nicole in his arms, having brought her over for a "play date with Silena". Yet honestly, it was more of an excuse to try and get some answers from Annabeth.

"It's a good change to see in you, Nico," Annabeth continued. "Fatal flaws...it's in the name. They can kill. If your fatal flaw kills you, isn't it so much better to die for loyalty than for a grudge?"

Nico looked down at little Nico Hope, knew he'd die for her in a heartbeat. "Yeah, I think so."

"Just go with what Chiron's planning," Annabeth recommended. "Trust me on it, Nico."

"Do you know what it is?" he asked.

She nodded. "I helped Will come up with it."

"And you really think it's for the best?"

"I do."

Nico looked at Annabeth, remembered the first day he met her and saw how much she had grown. Official Architect of Olympus, daughter of Athena, fellow survivor of Tartarus. "I trust you."

And he really did, something he never would have before his time in the wizarding world.

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It was the night of the World Cup when he saw Death Eaters outside of his dreams for the first time. Mr. Weasley had hurried to get them out of the tent, away from the fleeing crowds, to safety somewhere Nico wasn't listening to. He wasn't scared of Voldemort's followers, but the boy he needed to protect was. So he stuck by Harry's side and tried to follow the other Weasley's to wherever they were going, but the crowd closed in.

There were screams, explosions, talk of what the Death Eaters were doing. Rounding up families of Muggles... It reminded Nico of his old life in Italy, the Nazis rounding up the Jews, killing them or taking them away... Or Hazel's stories of the KKK, the horrors her mother once told her...

Gritting his teeth, Nico melted into a shadow to go help any Muggles he could find.

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Nico sat at the table in the Burrow, staring into his cup of tea as the others tried to calm Mrs. Weasley down. News of what had happened had spread over the wizarding world, reaching Mrs. Weasley before they ever could. Now they sat together, all okay but shaken up, trying to show her that they were okay.

"But this!" Mrs. Weasley took Nico's bruised face in her hands. "So you did get hurt."

"I've been through worse," Nico assured her. "And everyone else is fine. It's nothing."

He thought back to that night, blending in with the other Death Eaters, taking them down from the inside out, shadow traveling innocents out... It had been thrilling. Especially when Good won over Evil.

"I'm okay," he repeated. "I really am."

Because he was. And as he shadow traveled to camp to see Will, he couldn't keep the smile of victory off his face.

Maybe he had made a decision, unconsciously. Maybe he really was meant to destroy Voldemort from the inside out.

It would be pretty entertaining.

As soon as he stepped foot in camp, Percy had thrown his arms around him and pulled him close.

"Umf! Percy!" Nico tried to step back but was unable to. "What the fuck is this about?"

"The World Cup!" Percy let him go and gave him a good look over. "You said you were going with your family and then the news came out that Death Eaters stormed it and I didn't hear from you for a whole night and gods, Nico, you can't do that to us! Hazel's worried sick!"

Nico blinked. "How the fuck did you find that out?"

Percy shoved a copy of a wizarding paper in Nico's face. "Chiron got this. You know how we've been talking with Dumbledore."

"Percy..." Nico sighed. "You really thought a few Death Eaters would kill me?"

"You're bruised."

Nico didn't have time to answer, instead getting thrown into another hug, this time Hazel latching herself onto him.

"Nico di Angelo!" she buried her face in his chest. "Next time, just let us know you're okay..."

"I will, I will." he kissed her head. "But you should know that I'm stronger than to fall to them."

She hugged him for a minute more before pulling away. "Same with school. Keep in touch. Please."

"I will, I promise."

But not on the Styx. Because he had things to do, something he finally decided to go through with. Because taking the system down from the inside out seemed too perfect.