They're What?!

This Is the Hard Part, I Guess

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S GONE?!"

"Annabeth-"

"Don't touch me!" Annabeth turned back to Nico, glaring him down. Despite probably being the most powerful and dangerous person there, the son of Hades actually looked scared.

"I'm going to ask you this once, di Angelo. Where. Is. Percy."

"With Thanatos."

"WHAT?!"

Nico winced. There was a lot of anger in her voice, but underneath it was a thick layer of pain. He remembered that feeling.

Where is my sister, Percy?

"Look, it was his choice, I just wanted to explain before-"

"His choice in what?" Annabeth demanded sharply.

"I was getting to that." Nico said, trying to exude a calm attitude that would maybe in some way reach the daughter of Athena.

So far it wasn't looking like it.

"Percy did something selfless-"

"Like usual." Clarisse muttered. She seemed annoyed by this, but Nico wasn't going to ask why.

"-he made a deal with my father and Thanatos."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes. "Why."

It was barely a question, and it contained so much anger and fear and hurt that Nico had to close his eyes for a moment to sort out his thoughts. Ever since Tartarus he'd been very aware of others' pain. He wasn't sure why.

"He and Harry-"

"Wait, you didn't mention Harry before!" Ginny sat up sharply.

Nico gritted his teeth. "Can I finish?"

The room fell silent.

"Thank you. Okay. So, last night Percy and Harry did something that should help us greatly in this final battle thats coming up."

Annabeth made a 'hurry up' motion.

Nico sighed and walked to the door. "You can come in now."

The wizards filed in first.

"Who are these people?" Annabeth asked acidly.

"Professor Lupin?"

Hermione's lip quivered, her voice sounding like it had been ripped from her throat without her permission.

The scarred man looked at her and smiled. "Hermione Granger."

Her eyes filled with tears and she rushed forward. Throwing her arms around him tightly. Remus Lupin grunted, but hugged her back.

"Fred!" Ginny threw herself on her brother, hugging him tightly. He gripped her like he was never going to let go, burying his face in her hair.

"Why are you here?"

Heads turned at Draco's question.

The ratlike man shied away from his tone. "Harry gave me this chance to redeem myself." He sniveled, hunching in on himself.

"I'll keep an eye on him." The last man of the group said seriously (*snort*).

Hermione ran to hug him too. "We missed you, Sirius."

"Ah yes. The brightest witch of her age." He smiled as she looked up at him. "I see now that you had a little bit of heavenly help."

Hermione smiled and turned to offer Tonks a hug too. "Teddy's getting so big. He's been using his hair to show us who he wants to hold him." She smiled weakly. "When his hair turned pink for the first time Mrs. Weasley bawled for hours."

Tonks smiled, wiping some small tears from her eyes. "The poor boy. I wish we had a chance to see him." She looked at Remus and took his hand.

"What about Percy?" Annabeth was still focused on Nico.

"Right. He picked a group to come back as well." Nico went to the door again. "Alright. Your turn."

Michael Yew walked in first, and Luna threw herself at him with a scream that startled everyone. He grinned and hugged her tightly.

"They were really close before he died." Draco explained to the others who hadn't met Michael.

Silena and Charlie walked in after him, holding hands.

Leo's eyes got huge. "You- you're- Charlie Beckendorf! They've got a picture of you up in the forges! You were the first story Nyssa told me when she was showing me around in there!"

Piper offered Silena her hand. "That must make you my half-sister. I've heard a lot about you."

Silena flicked her hair over her shoulder with a smile. "And I've heard a lot about you. I'm proud to call you my sister.... Charisse?"

The daughter of Ares was staring at her friend, stunned. Silena took a step forward and Clarisse nearly tackled her in a hug, crying and laughing at the same time.

"I guess I owe Jackson something-" she finally managed. Silena giggled.

"Oh come on you two." Nico rolled his eyes, drawing attention to himself again. "This was Percy giving you a chance to redeem yourselves, everyone in here will get it."

Ethan was pushed into the room. Thalia's hand went to her bow, but Draco approached his half-brother slowly.

Ethan squared his shoulders and met everyone's eyes. "I'm here to fix my mistakes."

Draco nodded and offered his hand.

"Me too." Luke added quietly as he stepped into the room.

Almost immediately he was on the ground. Thalia punched him solidly across the face once, then Annabeth pulled her off.

"I guess I deserve that." The son of Hermes groaned.

Annabeth offered her hand and helped him to his feet.

"It's really you?" She asked quietly.

Luke offered his crooked smile and the corner of Annabeth's mouth twitched up.

"You'd better make Percy's sacrifice worth it."