Summary: They like to pretend they don't wonder why their lives seem to intertwine. (A HP!AU for HOA.)
Warning/Spoiler: AU
Rating: T/PG-13
Character(s)/Pairing(s): All, various.

Author's Note: Originally posted 9/2 on tumblr. Still dedicated to Remi, Laura, Viv, Sara, Katie, Grace, and Scarlett. Note that this could have extended further - maybe forever - but I cut it short. So let your imagination fill in the blanks.

Nina and Fabian begin a whirlwind romance during their fourth year, after they both end up partnered together in Charms class. The Ravenclaw easily laughs when Nina accidentally rips out a page in her book in frustration.

"It's not that bad."

"I'd rather take a detention in the Forbidden Forest after midnight."

Fabian raises an eyebrow, only slightly surprised at her tone; she is a Gryffindor after all. "Want some company?"

And in the next several months they get five more detentions, escape Filch from eleven more, and end up with their sixth when they're caught snogging in a broom closet past curfew.

Willow frowns when Mick asks her to open the Ravenclaw door for him, the two eleven year olds buried in shadows.

"You're a Hufflepuff," she says, her eyebrows furrowed; her eyes harden slightly, and her hand caresses the pendant her half-sister gave her, green jewels shaped like ravens.

"Yeah," he says, pulling at his blonde hair, but looking at his shoes and the cold ground, ignoring Willow's questioning gaze. "I just – my best mate – we were sorted in different houses but I don't know how - "

"Oh you want to see Fabian!" says Willow, her eyes brightening all at once, bouncing on the balls of her feet; her smile is a magnet and Mick immediately finds his heart lighter as she whispers the answer to some convoluted riddle. He's still not used to automatic doors and talking portraits and wall hangings that switch colors; he's still not used to the sparks that escape his wand every time he waves it and says certain words he doesn't understand.

Mick watches Willow disappear and when he hesitantly steps forward through the hole, he's ambushed by brown and blue. His shoulders relax when Fabian grins. "Mate, have you seen the library yet? It's massive – "

"Forget the library," says Mick, rolling his eyes and easily catching the chocolate frog Fabian tosses at him, "the kitchen is huge." Mick quickly rips apart the packing, already having caught a wayward chocolate frog on the train; yet, his fingers still slip around the Ronald Weasley card when he pockets it.

Fabian laughs at his expense and when Mick opens his mouth to bite off the frog's head, he sees Willow giggling at nothing behind his best mate, her eyes seeing around him, flickers of gold glittering behind the smoke rising from the tip of her wand. "You good?" asks Fabian, clutching the front of his robes, eyes wide and teeth crunching lip.

And Mick smiles and nods. "Yeah."

Eddie only avoids ostracism in their second year because Nina takes pity on him when the entire Gryffindor house ignores him when he loses fifty points for mouthing off at the new Transfiguration professor. She hands him her notes, rough and messy with random highlights in the margins that Eddie suspects are thoughts not her own.

"I'll help you keep your mouth shut if you help me sneak into the kitchens," she says, arms flat against the table and a diplomatically blank face.

"Why do you think I know how to get into the kitchens?"

"Your dad's the headmaster. You know," says Nina.

Eddie blinks. He senses a glare from his left and he knows it's Williamson pretending to reading her Defense textbook but really plotting his demise. Eddie smirks. "Deal."

With a nod and a handshake, Nina stands up and Eddie reaches forward to pull her notes towards him. Her hand stops him halfway. "To start, I want in on whatever revenge plan you've got brewing against Patricia."

Eddie wants to question it, but there's something about the twinkle in Nina's eye that makes him think it's better off not knowing. So he shrugs. "The more the merrier."

When Nina leaves, she's smirking and Eddie leans back onto his chair, his hands behind his head and legs outstretched; Williamson is still seething.

Jerome slips behind the suit of armor; he holds his breath when he hears footsteps echoing through the empty hallway.

"Clarke," hisses Professor Andrews, sensing his presence. Jerome grins when he hears the clatter of metal and a screech. "Lewis!"

Despite the wince that runs through his shoulders, Jerome still grins when Alfie enters the light, his lips struggling not to smile. "Yes, ma'am?" he says, his eyes wide, his eyelashes fluttering.

"What are you doing so far away from the Hufflepuff commonroom at this hour, Mr. Lewis? Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Defense Against the Dark Arts was canceled, ma'am. I'm just taking a walk to clear my head."

It's hard for Jerome not to slip out with a witty response.

"Of course you are. Get out of here, and when you meet up with Mr. Clarke, let him know that Professor Winkler still wants that Astronomy essay today."

"Of course, ma'am."

Jerome waits a full minute before appearing out the shadows and Alfie isn't surprised to see the Slytherin by his side. "Did you do it?"

"Of course."

Jerome grins. "Let's get ready for dinner, I can't wait to see Mercer's hair after this."

"What about Mara, won't she – "

"No."

Alfie shuts up.

"What do you mean you're going with Nina Martin?"

Patricia winces. "Joy, you don't need to screech. I'm standing right here."

"Patricia," says Joy, her voice lower but still sharp, "you promised you'd go to Hogsmeade with me to coach me through this date with Fabian."

Patricia winces again and this time Joy notices, her lips turning downwards. "About that – "

"Did he say something to you?"

"Not exactly."

Joy tenses up and Patricia knows she's gritting her teeth. Joy's green tie is Patricia's only distraction. "What does that mean," says Joy slowly.

"It means," says Patricia with a sigh, glancing upwards, "that Fabian asked out Nina Martin this morning and they're going to Winkler's ball together."

(The same ball that Patricia ends up spending the night in the Room of Requirement with Eddie Miller but Joy spends the entire night drinking too much firewhiskey and ends up crying with Mara Jaffray after catching Fabian and Nina snogging in the rose bushes.)

The star chaser for Hufflepuff's Quidditch team, Mick widens the margin against Ravenclaw with yet another goal, placing them safely out of snitch range with a two hundred-point lead.

Amber almost smacks Alfie in the face with her scarf as she whips it in the air. The wind picks up her hair and the scarf and they meld into one. When Mick flies by them, blowing a kiss to his girlfriend of two years, she giggles and smirks in the general direction of the Ravenclaw stands. Or more specifically, she glares in Mara's direction because Mick is her boyfriend.

(Amber misses Alfie wistful sigh; Jerome doesn't. "Give it a rest, mate. Amelia Pinches – that witch in our Transfiguration class – that's probably more your league."

Alfie doesn't talk to him for a week, and that's when he meets Willow.)

Fabian and Nina break up in a public, messy affair during their sixth year that threatens to split the school apart. Gryffindors side with Nina, naturally, and Ravenclaws with Fabian; but it's when Jerome whispers to Nina and Eddie and Joy tries to awkwardly comfort Fabian that things get messy.

"Going back for Nina's leftovers, huh?"

"No one asked you, Clarke."

"I don't ask permission to tell the truth, Mercer." Jerome leans against the wall in the empty corridor, watching Joy as she quickly sweeps the floor of her belongings and replaces them in her bag, torn by a timely aimed elbow.

Joy sighs. Her exhaustion rides in her shoulders and in her fingers when they shake and tense in his presence. "Jerome, please just leave me alone. Fabian is hurt. Besides, I think him and Mara – " she stops suddenly and Jerome is surprised he feels still rather than angry.

"Mara and I have been over for ages."

"It was two weeks ago."

"Feels like ages."

Joy looks at him; and for the first time in a long time – or maybe it's only been two weeks – Jerome feels something akin to compassion because Joy's eyes are dancing. They are flicking over him, hungry and curious; but he doesn't feel like a she's judging him or even studying him. She's looking at him and seeing.

"Sorry," says Jerome, forcing his eyes away because somehow Mercer gets under his skin and rips it apart, leaving him as skin and bones and heart.

He never gets response, because Joy's kissing him, lips and teeth and tongue, and she tastes like cinnamon and cider and Jerome wonders if that's what they had for dinner because he had to skip it to finish his Charms essay.

But then he doesn't care because Joy's hands are under his robe.

"Why are you reading a book about love potions?"

Willow looks up, and KT isn't surprised that there's not a single sight of guilt on her face. If it were Alfie, maybe; Mick – definitely. But Willow just shrugs. "You know that blonde Slytherin in your Ancient Runes class?"

"I'm not taking Ancient Runes – "

"Yes you are, you're taking it with Fabian – "

"Who?" says KT casually, and part of her hopes it sounds that way. But Willow glosses over her rebuttal easily.

"Fabian and you were working on homework together last night, KT, I saw you in our commonroom." KT opens her mouth to interrupt, because KT and Fabian are just friends and he has Mara and she has Eddie if she really needs a friend even though he's spending all his time with the Gryffindors again – but Willow keeps talking. "So Jerome is in your class and he has really great hair."

KT blinks. "I guess."

"And his eyes are icy blue, like the shade of the Lake – "

"Willow," says KT, frowning, glancing back at the book between them, "you're not – "

Willow laughs. "Of course not! That would be stupid." The book drops and Willow is holding sheets of paper held together by a single fold. "I'm reading about Muggle mythology."

"Who's Anubis?"

"Egyptian god of death."

"Sounds creepy."

"I don't know – I like the whole – Anubis vibe."

Care of Magical Creatures is the first class Eddie ever has without Nina and it's unnerving. The few other Gryffindors present – including Williamson, unfortunately – avoid him like the plague because despite Nina's help, his mouth can't quite stay shut. But he spots Rutter, who's nice enough, and Lewis, chatting amicably with another Hufflepuff he doesn't quite recognize.

(It turns out Alfie's talking to KT Rush, and when Eddie is paired with KT for their first lesson, he immediately realizes that she treats him like a human being; he's missed that.)

Their first trip to Hogsmeade ends when Alfie accidently sets the Three Boomsticks on fire; Jerome stays far away, cackling, and Willow wonders why he doesn't help his friend. Nina salvages the situation with some quick spellwork (Fabian's impressed because he taught her that spell). Mara's able to summon a teacher with a summoning spell they haven't yet learned and Amber's bitter when Mick praises her (and asks for tutoring.) Patricia ends up losing several points for Gryffindor when she tries to talk Professor Denby out of giving Alfie detention.

(It's the detention she serves with Jerome and Alfie that next Wednesday night that prevents her from attending Quidditch tryouts and why she never does so again.)

(Meanwhile, Joy's father refused to sign the papers so she hangs out with Eddie and KT, and the three discover the secret tunnel into Honeydukes that day.)

It's fifth year when Patricia finally lets herself have a conversation with Eddie Miller.

"Have you finished your potions essay yet?" she asks suddenly, walking over to the fireplace and appearing out of nowhere. Patricia pretends to not be amused when he almost tumbles out of his armchair.

"Um, yeah," he says. "Why?" His tone is even, flat even, but it's fake and Patricia knows that.

She sighs. "CanIborrowyournotes?"

Eddie raises an eyebrow. "What?"

Patricia counts to five in her head before taking in a deep breath. "Can I borrow your potions notes? My friend's cat ruined mine."

"Treehugger is a pesky cat," says Eddie with smirk.

"KT's mad for keeping him."

Eddie smiles and Patricia forces herself to not smile with him.

"You'll be fine."

"No, I won't!" Mara paces, her hair pulled up into a tight bun, piles of notes tossed around the room. Fabian stares at the back of her head.

Amber kicks a pile of alphabetically sorted Muggle Studies notes. "Mara, if you don't sit down and relax it won't matter what you get on the bloody N.E.W.T.S because you'll have given yourself a heart attack." Fabian feels the blonde's eyes on him. "Besides, your boyfriend seems to be tired of sitting here watching you study anyway."

"Why aren't you studying anyway? I thought you had a tight schedule."

Fabian looks at the blue carpet, loving how his gold socks contrast with it. "I thought today was our date night." His voice is barely a mutter but Mara hears him clearly.

So does Amber. "And on that note, I'll make my exit. I'll go find Ni – Mick." The door shuts quickly behind her, but the accidently slip still hovers in the room and Fabian wishes he could steal an invisibility cloak and disappear into the Vanishing Cabinet hidden in the fifth floor corridor.

"Maybe we should take a break. I know it's a stressful time – so maybe we should just – " says Mara, wringing her hands in front of her, her eyes on everything other than Fabian. "Maybe we should take a break."

"Oh." He expected it, maybe, but not really; he escapes the room soon after that.

(Mara passes all her exams with straight Os; Fabian ends up with an E in Care of Magical Creatures and the only reason he gets an A in Herbology is because KT stays up all night with him studying.)

Mick likes to pretend fifth year never happened.

Amber likes to pretend she never kissed Alfie during the Ravenclaw Halloween party in third year.

Alfie likes to pretend Willow didn't name her toad "Jerry" after Jerome.

Mara likes to pretend she's the all-star seeker for Ravenclaw, following her parents footsteps as utility players for their own Quidditch teams.

Joy likes to pretend she's a Gryffindor, sharing a room with Patricia, with bravery and recklessness and a thirst for adventure.

Fabian likes to pretend he's horrible at Herbology because it doesn't involve twirling a wand and not because he wants someone else to beat him and Mara in their year.

Jerome likes to pretend he doesn't see the threstals pulling the carriages every year.

Patricia likes to pretend it doesn't hurt to be seen as the bitch of Gryffindor tower.

KT likes to pretend that she chooses everything and everyone is because she likes them and not because she can't decide.

Eddie likes to pretend he's a just a normal pureblood wizard, without a prophecy whispering through his ears.

Willow likes to pretend she had friends before sixth year (other than KT).

Nina likes to pretend she doesn't still get the rush in her stomach every time she hides in another shadow, discover another empty room, climb another trick staircase.

They like to pretend they don't wonder why their lives seem to intertwine.