The pipe eventually leveled out and they slid onto level ground. Nico quickly got his sword and looked around, but there was no sign of the monster or his sister. A black tunnel stretched out in front of them, however, no doubt leading to where the monster was.

"We must be miles under the school," Harry said, his voice echoing.

Nico nodded. "My guess is that we're under the lake. Harry, can you light up your wand?"

"Lumos!" Harry's wand lit up, revealing the tunnel in front of them. They all crept down it in the darkness, listening for every noise made.

"Remember," Harry reminded, "any sign of movement, close your eyes right away..."

Nico didn't think about his words long, instead forging ahead as Ginny's life source got closer. He needed to save her. He needed to bring her back to Mrs. Weasley.

He wasn't going to lose another sister.

"Blimey," said Ron weakly. Nico looked to where the others stopped, seeing that the basilisk had shed its skin some time ago. It was huge, but not too big. Nico clung to his sword, knowing that a wand wouldn't help him in this fight.

Lockhart suddenly lunged forward, tackled Ron to the ground. Before Nico could even begin to intercede in the fight, Lockhart was up with Ron's wand in his hand, pointed at them.

"The adventure ends here, boys!" he said. "I shall take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl, and that you three tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body - say good-bye to your memories! Obliviate!"

The wand backfired, causing a small explosion in the tunnel. Rocks came down around them, flew them all in two different directions. When the dust had settled, he and Harry were separated from Ron and Lockhart.

"Ron, you okay?!" Nico called out.

"I'm okay - this git's not, though - he got blasted by the wand!" Ron called back.

"Just stay there!" Nico replied. "Harry and I will continue on!"

"I'll try and shift some of this rock," Ron agreed. "So you can - can get back through."

Nico hated the idea of splitting up with his brother, but he swallowed back the fear of what could happen. Harry and him were on the more dangerous side, after all. "We'll be back soon."

They continued down the tunnel until they got to a solid wall, two snakes embedded into it. Harry spoke in Parseltongue, this time without any English failures, and it opened.

They walked into a chamber, the basilisk not in sight. Nico's eyes finally landed on his sister, the poor girl unconscious on the floor. He ran to her side without thinking about what could possibly be around them. The name Voldemort didn't even appear in his mind.

Another voice was suddenly by them, but Nico didn't bother listening to what it was saying. He put a hand on Ginny's forehead, closed his eyes as he tried to feel just how weak her soul actually was. When he got the answer he had been most dreading, he started to try and transfer some of his energy into her.

But he should have been paying attention. He should have noticed that young Voldemort was in the room. He should have seen the basilisk coming. But he looked up, looked into those yellow eyes as the snake was suddenly over him.

Then everything went dark.

Loyalty. For the second time, he chose his family over helping Harry Potter.

Loyalty. Maybe he was sorted into Hufflepuff for a reason.

Loyalty. Maybe Mrs. Weasley having raised him changed his fatal flaw, just a little.

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

He swam in the inky blackness without a sense of time or reason. There were no shadows. There was just darkness.

Not the darkness of Tartarus. Not the darkness of fear. Not the darkness of the Underworld. Just...darkness. It held nothing. No fear, no peace, no life or death. He bobbed along with its waves.

There were no thoughts, no feelings, nothing.

It was just darkness.

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

Nico opened his eyes without a single thought in his brain. What had he been previously doing? It didn't come to light as he focused in on the familiar hospital wing.

"Nico!" Mrs. Weasley was suddenly beside him, her arms wrapping around him in one of the tightest hugs he had ever gotten from her. "You're okay! Oh, they said they weren't sure..."

"Let him breathe, Molly." Nico noticed Mr. Weasley beside her, and then Ron and Harry, and the twins, and Ginny...

"What happened?" Nico asked. His throat was dry, the words barely got out. "How...you're all okay..."

Mrs. Weasley pulled away and laid him down, tucking in his blanket. "Harry said that...that monster..."

"You looked into the eyes of the basilisk," Harry said. "I mean, you shouldn't have lived. And I didn't think you would. You...you looked like you died, fell right beside Ginny. But we got you up here, and Madam Pomfrey saved you both."

Nico frowned. "What...?" His thoughts still weren't making much sense. His family was there, they were all safe. The basilisk...

"Just rest, now." Mrs. Weasley ordered. "You need your rest. You're both okay, and that's all that matters. And Harry here killed the monster."

Nico's eyes widened. "He killed a monster? With what? His wand wouldn't have worked."

Harry explained to him about what had happened, about how Riddle came through the diary and how he finally defeated both diary and basilisk. Through the story, Nico slowly started to register everything that had happened.

"I left you alone to fight it...once again..." Nico curled his hands into fists. "I'm useless!"

"Nico, you did what you could." Mrs. Weasley assured him. "Now, get some rest. I won't take no for an answer. All of you, get out. He needs his rest."

Nico watched as they grumbled but did as they were told. Soon, it was only him and his mother. She assured him everything was okay before also leaving, having gone to check up on Ginny once again. Even though the girl was much better, Mrs. Weasley wasn't wanting to leave her out of her sight for long.

The hospital wing was then empty besides him, something that was odd considering the victims that had piled up in there. Now, Nico could only imagine the joy as they rejoined their houses. He wanted to be with them, wanted to join Hufflepuff at the feast that evening. But, once again, he was stuck in the hospital wing because of a failure on his part.

How had he survived? When he finally registered the pain in his collarbone, it clicked. Persephone, you saved me?

Did you really think I was just going to let you die? she asked. That dandelion saved you. It gave you the strength to live through the basilisk's gaze. It happened at the last second, where it would only be effective.

Nico stared at the white ceiling. Thanks, Persephone.

You owe me one, Nico.

Nico rolled his eyes but didn't object. It was true, Persephone had helped a considerable amount. Vaguely he wondered if there was more to it than her love for his father.

"Nico?"

He looked over to see Dominic had entered the room, his robes having been exchanged for muggle attire. He sat by Nico's bed, a look of guilt embedded in his face.

"Hey, Dom." Nico pointed to the dandelion. "Guess who saved me again."

"But you're okay?" Dominic asked. "Damn, Percy and I just talked about this. He said that demigods might be scared but they fight anyway. But I chicken out all the time."

"You weren't forced to fight, for one. To be honest, it had nothing to do with you," Nico said.

Dominic shook his head. "It had to deal with my best friend, so it had to deal with me. Nico, you could have died down there. And you should have."

Nico shrugged. "You know death isn't that strange for me. And I face it all the time."

"That doesn't mean you can just die on me." Dominic insisted. "We were scared to death. You know you're my only friend in Hufflepuff?"

Nico went to retort but realized what he said had been true. "Well...I'll try to value my life from now on. Okay?"

"Promise on the River Styx."

Nico laid his head back. "Fine. I swear that I'll value my life, on the River Styx."

Dominic nodded in acceptance. "You want to sneak down to the feast?"

Nico grinned. "You bet."