The two demigods Will had found were both born and raised in London but had their fair share of monster experiences. It didn't take long to convince them of their divine ancestry. Nico met them once but not for long.

Noah Anderson had some American blood but knew only of Britain. Curly hair, a spark in his eyes. He reminded Nico too much of Leo Valdez. At eleven, he already stood taller than Nico.

Kenny was younger and never knew his last name. Will found him going through a garbage can. Blond hair, blue eyes. Nico spotted Athena in him. Who else so young had survived on the streets so well?

Nico introduced himself to both before immediately warning them of the dangers of shadow travel. Overall, just don't let go. They didn't believe him until they experienced how terrifying shadow travel can be.

As soon as they were safely at Camp Half-Blood, Nico left for Hogwarts again. He was in a hurry, sure, but for a reason he never would have had as a demigod. Family. He wanted to be with his family for Christmas.

And he was. Christmas morning, he woke up to Dominic dropping a present on his stomach. "Merry Christmas."

"What time is it?" Nico squinted his eyes against the sunlight before sitting up. "Why are you up so early?"

"They're planning on doing that potion later tonight," Dominic explained. "So let's do gifts and relax before you go all crazy trying to protect them."

Nico looked down at the present now in his lap. "What'd you get me?"

"You're going to have to open it and see, aren't you?" Dominic moved toward his own bed. "Where's the one you got me?"

Nico reached under his bed and pulled out the wrapped box before tossing it to Dominic. "Here, go crazy."

Dominic didn't waste any time opening it. Inside, he pulled out a leather bound book. "What's this?"

Nico played with the wrapping on his own present. "Rachel wrote some stuff down that you won't find in any Divination books here...since you're running out of them. It should keep you occupied for a couple days of free time."

Dominic grinned. "Thanks. Now open yours."

Nico did as he was told, opening the box to find some kind of phone, or what he thought was one. It had been awhile since he had been to a demigod-free, muggle place. "And this is...?"

"A phone. And headphones." Dominic reached into the box and pulled them out for him. "While you're at Hogwarts monsters can't attack you, so you can use it here. You can talk to people on it and listen to music and stuff."

"Who would I talk to?"

Dominic pulled his own phone from his pocket. "Getting you one gave me the excuse to get one. In August I got some money out of the vault and changed it into muggle money then brought it to London."

Nico started to smile as he looked the phone over. "Show me how to use it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nico stood outside the Slytherin common room, hidden in the shadows. He was there to listen out for Harry and Ron, who had finally used the Polyjuice potion to infiltrate. When they ran out, he didn't have any time to ask questions but ran after them.

"Well, it wasn't a complete waste of time," Ron panted as they got to Myrtle's bathroom. "I know we still haven't found out who's doing the attacks, but I'm going to write to Dad tomorrow and tell him to check under the Malfoys' drawing room."

Nico looked at Ron in confusion. "What?"

"Malfoy's not the heir." Harry knocked on the stall door. "Hermione, come out, we've got loads to tell you -"

"Go away!" Hermione squeaked.

"What's the matter?" Ron asked. "You must be back to normal by now, we are."

Moaning Myrtle came through the stall door, actually looking happy. "Oooooh, wait till you see," she said. "It's awful -" With one nasty look from Nico, she disappeared. Being the Ghost King had its perks.

Hermione came out then, looking like a transformation gone wrong. Ron backed up and fell into the sinks.

"It was a cat hair!" she howled. "Millicent Bulstrode must have a cat! And the potion isn't supposed to be used for animal transformations!"

Nico looked her over after feeling her life force. "You're lucky it didn't kill you."

"It's okay, Hermione," Harry added. "We'll take you up to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey never asks too many questions... And she knows Nico and me by now..."

They finally got her to the hospital wing, Nico keeping her hidden in the shadows as they went so nobody could see. If they had, she'd never hear the end of it.

She stayed there for the rest of Christmas break. As the last days before classes rolled around, Nico spent the time on his phone. Whenever he needed to charge it or Dominic's, he shadow traveled it to somewhere with electricity and left it until it was charged. Music had become his number one pastime.

On the weekends, he went back to camp to teach the kids. They had gotten rather far and could use actual swords without killing themselves, but they still had a lot to learn. Before long, Will had gone back to London with two more demigods to accompany him. From then on out, Nico took two times a day to feel for Will's soul, making sure he was okay. As he had said, he wasn't much of a fighter.

But soon Christmas break was over, classes were beginning, and Nico hadn't gotten any news from him. Maybe he had to get used to being a worrier.