A/N: I've been a Chrono Crusade fan much longer than I've been a Harry Potter fan, but I've always wanted to see a crossover story between the two. Then inspiration struck a few days ago and I just started writing this. It's mostly a collection of snippets rather than an ongoing story, so if you have any questions or suggestions about this fic, feel free to review or PM me. I don't have a beta so any feedback would be awesome!

Year One

Chrono first saw Rosette Christopher at breakfast in the Great Hall. Her blonde hair spilled over her shoulders in two braided pigtails and her eyes lit up as she talked with her housemates. They were a clear blue, like pure water, and there was an aura of freedom and confidence in everything she did.

She definitely belonged in Gryffindor.

The thought still disappointed him as it did last night during the sorting ceremony, but as soon as his brother sleepily plopped in the seat across from him, he knew everything was going to be ok and felt hope growing in his stomach. It was going to be a good year and he was going to talk to Rosette Christopher eventually. He didn't know why he wanted to, something just told him that he had to.

"Hey, you two!" He managed to tear his eyes away from Rosette to see a bespectacled girl with disheveled, brown hair and large cat ears bouncing towards him.

"Hey, Shader," Chrono replied, grinning at another familiar face in the Great Hall.

She had been sorted into Ravenclaw, but that obviously didn't stop her from sliding into the seat beside him and pull him into a suffocating hug. They'd all practically grown up together and her parents had done everything to help him and Aion out after their parents had died.

"Are you guys all ready for your first day?"

Aion scoffed. "Of course we're ready. Right, Chrono?"

Chrono swallowed his eggs and nodded. "It looks like we've got Transfiguration first with Professor Hamilton," he said.

"That old coot?" Aion blurted incredulously, "Uncle said he's a complete nutter and that he conducts weird research experiments in his office." Then he grinned mischievously at Shader. "I also he heard he liked to dissect the brains of Metamorphmaguses."

She replied by sticking her tongue out at him. "It's Metamorphmagi, stupid. And Professor Hamilton is a Transfiguration genius. We're really lucky to have him. He might even be able to teach someone as hopeless as you, Aion," she retorted.

"Whatever. Defense Against the Dark Arts sounds way more useful than Transfiguration anyway," said Aion.

"I think Charms is going to be the best class," Chrono chimed in. Then, without warning, he reached up and flicked Shader's ear, making her squeak with surprise. "Are you seriously gonna keep those things?" he laughed.

"My ears are awesome, Chrono, thank you very much," she said proudly.

Aion only rolled his eyes and muttered something unintelligible, stuffing his mouth with toast.

The two boys then let her ramble on about how she had read through all the textbooks but it didn't take long for Chrono's attention to wander back to Rosette who was now leaving with her friends.

"Oh, uh, that's cool, Shader. I'm gonna head out, so I'll see you guys in class," he stammered, hurrying to grab his bag and gulp down one last bite of his breakfast.

He didn't know why he wanted to go with her—she wasn't even going to be in his first class and he definitely wasn't going to talk to her now. But maybe she'd notice him. Maybe she wanted to meet him just as much as he wanted to meet her. He caught a final glimpse of her just before she headed up the stairs and disappeared. He could still hear her voice echoing through the halls and waited until it was silent before he headed off to his first class.

~0~0~

Three days later he finally did talk to her and it was a disaster. She was already taller than him so her scowl seemed even more menacing and he was beginning to wish he had kept his mouth shut.

"What did you say?" she growled, clenching her wand tighter that it was a wonder the thing didn't snap yet.

He gulped and tried again. "Wh-What I mean is…Wingardium Leviosa is supposed to be a smooth swish-and-flick movement but you, um…were just flicking, which is more for the Incendio spell, so that might be why P-Professor Valentine took off points."

He tried to smile in a way he hoped showed her he was well-meaning and silently hoping she didn't kill him. But it didn't work.

"I don't need advice from a Slytherin!" she yelled in his face.

For a second they were so close their noses were almost touching and he could smell her honey-flavored shampoo. But before he could get lost in it, she stormed off and left him standing in the halls alone.

~0~0~

Chrono breathed a sigh of relief when Mr. Gilliam, the square-jawed flying instructor, barked for him to take Azmaria Hendric to the hospital wing for her broken wrist. He was a little confused as to why he didn't ask one of the Gryffindors to do it instead, but ultimately decided he didn't care and happily threw his broom to the ground to guide Azmaria back to the castle.

Hogwarts was still an unfamiliar labyrinth to the two first years but they eventually found their destination and the nurse ushered Azmaria to a bed before scurrying off to begin brewing a bone-repairing potion for her. Chrono knew he might get in trouble if he tried to go back to the Slytherin common room for the rest of the day…and there was no way he was going back outside to learn how to fly. So he pulled up a chair and sat next to Azmaria in awkward silence.

As natural enemies, Gryffindors and Slytherins were not to associate with each other under any circumstances. That was the number one rule the older Slytherins had imparted to all the first years, so Chrono was more than surprised when the blubbering lavender-haired girl spoke first.

"Th-Thanks for b-bringing me back here," she said quietly.

Chrono averted his eyes to the side, scratching his head. "Uh, it's no big deal," he muttered, "it gets me out of flying at least, so…"

He thought the conversation might end there but when he looked back at Azmaria, the girl had stuck a trembling hand out to him.

"I-I'm Azmaria Hendric."

Chrono hesitated for a second as he debated with himself whether or not to answer but right when Azmaria was about to drop his hand, he reached out and shook it.

"I'm Chrono Pandaeri," he said with a small smile.

Azmaria also managed a smile right before the nurse came back and made her take two tablespoons of her potion. Chrono snorted at the disgusted look on Azmaria's face as soon as she had swallowed. The nurse told him he could leave if he wanted, but he didn't and had a very tentative but pleasant conversation with Azmaria while waiting for the potion to fully heal her wrist.

And so Chrono had broken the rule and made contact with a Gryffindor.

A Gryffindor who also happened to be his first new friend at Hogwarts.

~0~0~

Chrono stuck out his hand and pointed his wand only a few inches away. As soon as he muttered a spell, a jet of bluebell flames shot out into his open palm, swaying gently but didn't burn him.

"So this would work on Devil's Snare?" Azmaria asked, looking impressed.

"I think so, yeah. And it doesn't hurt, see?" Chrono cupped the flame in his hands and leaned over to pass it to her.

The two of them were currently sitting in the empty third floor classroom they had found last week to meet and work on their homework in peace away from all the grief Chrono was beginning to get from his housemates. He wondered if Azmaria was dealing with the same thing in Gryffindor, but never dared to ask. He had enough to worry about anyway and even Aion had warned him it would only be a matter of time before his uncle found out and sent him a note.

More likely a Howler, Chrono winced at the thought.

The same spiel he heard the older Slytherins preach about in the common room—house unity, blood purity, etc.—he'd grown up hearing for years. His family wasn't as bad as some of these kids, who all but said outright their parents used dark magic, but his uncle definitely wouldn't approve of either of his nephews breaking away from pureblood tradition.

The door to the room creaked open from behind, which startled them into turning around. Chrono's stomach lurched as he watched Rosette close the door, looking apprehensive as she clutched her books close to her chest.

"Hi, Rosette!" Azmaria said cheerfully, waving her over.

Rosette walked over, mostly focused on her housemate even though she did spare Chrono a quick glance. He grinned at her and tried not to worry about if she remembered their last encounter.

"Like I told you, Chrono's really good at Charms and he's been helping me, so maybe you could join us," Azmaria explained.

Chrono felt his heart pound faster when Rosette sat down between them and she set her books on the desk. She tucked a stray hair behind her ear and for some reason, it only made his smile even bigger.

"Well, Az has been helping me with Transfiguration so I guess we're even," he added.

She looked at him directly, twiddling her thumbs. "If you're that good, maybe you can help me with Charms and get Professor Valentine off my back."

"Even though I'm a Slytherin?"

From the way her face turned bright red, he knew she remembered him.

"Look, can you help me or not?" she demanded nervously.

He wondered if she wasn't used to asking for help, but decided to give her a break.

"Yeah, no problem."

~0~0~

He knew it was only a matter of time before it got around Slytherin that he was hanging out with Gryffindors almost every day now. He should've known it was only a matter of time before he had to pay for it.

The both of them stopped him right when he'd entered the tunnel leading to his dorm room. He knew them before Hogwarts—Genai and Viede. They were also from a long line of purebloods and while Aion got along with them ok, he'd played with them once when he was a kid, which ended with his favorite teddy bear being turned into a blob of slime. Now they were older and had more control over their magic and even though he tried to put up a fight, it didn't take them long to overpower him. His back hit the stone wall and he bit down hard on his lip to keep from crying out. His eyes were squeezed shut as he waited for the pain in his skull to pass as tears stung beneath his eyelids. He was not going to cry and give them the satisfaction.

"It's your own fault, Pandaeri. If you don't act like a Slytherin, we're not going treat you like one, traitor," he heard Genai say, twirling his wand in his fingers.

Laughing, they sauntered back to the common room leaving Chrono to push himself up and look around for his wand. Once he grabbed, he became aware of the coppery taste of blood on his tongue and could even feel it gathering at the corners of his mouth. He must have nearly bit through his lip. He staggered to the nearest bathroom to rinse out his mouth. He cringed at the sting in his lip and when he saw the swirl of red water in the sink. His eye was already half closed and looking blotchy. Great. Just great.

~0~0~

"What's up with you, Chrono?"

He didn't look up from his assignment and merely shrugged. "Nothing. Where's Azmaria?"

Still staring down at his parchment, he heard the shuffle of Rosette sitting across from him and pulling out her books.

"She's talking with Professor Remington about something, I think. What are you working on?"

"Potions." He kept on writing but could hear that she had stopped moving around.

"What's with you?" Her tone was impatient which made him nervously rake his fingers through his purple bangs and over his face.

"Nothing. I'm just thinking," he muttered.

"You're lying." She stood up from her seat. "Let me see your face."

"Leave me alone, Rosette, I'm fi—"

His words died in his throat when he felt a cool hand gently cup underneath his cheek and tilt his head up in one smooth motion. He could only see with one good eye but that's all he needed to watch her face morph from deep concern to flushed fury.

"What happened? Who did that to you?" she cried out.

He pulled away from the hand on his face, more than embarrassed now.

"N-No one, ok? I just fell," he replied lamely.

"Don't give me that, Chrono. My brother used to make the same excuse whenever he got picked on at school, so I'm not stupid."

She walked around the desk to pull up the chair beside him. When she sat down, their knees touched and he suddenly felt comfortable with her again. She wasn't judging him…she was actually worried about him. He wondered when this shift had happened between them compared to their first meeting.

"Just some guys in my house. Genai and Viede. Don't worry about it," he answered at last.

"Your own house did that to you?" she said incredulously.

"It's just…Slytherin is complicated sometimes," was all he could say.

She obviously wasn't satisfied with that but thankfully changed the subject anyway.

~0~0~

Chrono,

Meet me in the library at 11.

Rosette

The note slipped out of his textbook around 10:35pm, already way past curfew.

But he didn't care because it was Rosette.

The common room was beginning to empty out so the other students still hanging around paid no attention to their housemate as he hurried to dump his bag on his bed and sneak out of the Slytherin dungeon.

The library was dark and empty save for a faint glow coming from behind one of the bookshelves. Chrono went towards it and saw Rosette standing there, holding up a lantern.

"What's going on?" he whispered, glancing around.

"Well, uh…Do you know what a wizard's duel is?" she asked in an equally quiet voice.

"Yeah, sure. It's basically a fight between two wizards and you can only use spells. Why?"

"Because we have to be at one in twenty minutes."

"WHAT?!"

His outburst echoed throughout the empty room. Rosette didn't answer right away, looking off to the side as she scratched her head.

"They challenged us to a duel so we can't back down." She turned back to him with a fiery determination in her eyes.

"Us? We? And who are you talking about?" Chrono spluttered, his wine-colored eyes wide and baffled.

Rosette awkwardly cleared her throat. "Those Genai and Viede jerks, that's who. And you're my second so…"

"Why did they challenge us to a duel anyway?"

"Because I'm not going to let them get away with what they did to you, Chrono!" she exclaimed, stamping her foot.

That was the last thing he expected to hear and found himself at a loss for words. Her eyes locked on him and he couldn't hide the panic etched all over his face as he anxiously bounced on the balls of his feet. It had been a couple of days since they attacked him and only now was he able to see out of his black eye now. He couldn't bear the thought of those two jerks doing to her what they had done to him and he had to talk her out of this duel. Now.

"Rosette, we can't do this. It's way too dangerous and if we get caught—"

"You don't have to come, but I'm going all the same," she retorted.

"You can't!" His protests went unheard when she pushed past him and made her way into the corridor, leaving him no choice but to run after her.

~0~0~

"Rosette, look out!"

But she reacted to Chrono's warning a second too late and by the time she spun around, she was knocked to the floor by a flash of red light. She winced and was momentarily dazed, but not enough that she couldn't hear Genai's chuckle.

"Rosette, you ok?" Chrono cried.

She didn't answer him as she slowly forced herself to get back on her feet, making sure to keep a tight grip on her wand. Her head throbbed dully, but she saw Genai getting ready for another blast and shielded her face with her arm. She heard a shout but never felt the spell hit her. She lowered her arm and saw Genai on his back, nursing a bloody nose and when she turned her head, she saw Chrono at her side, his wand raised. He didn't even have time to enjoy the victory before Viede started coming after him.

"That's enough!" roared a voice from the doorway.

To Chrono's surprise, it was none other than Aion who, in two angry strides, had his wand aimed right at Viede's nose.

"Aion, what the hell are you doing?" Genai yelled.

"Shut up, Genai. I ought to hex your sorry arse next for messing with my brother," Aion growled dangerously.

Even Chrono was a little afraid if not glad that it wasn't him on the receiving end of his brother's fury.

"We were just…messing around," Viede said quietly, not daring to take his eyes off Aion's wand.

That didn't seem to calm Aion down any more and Chrono could tell, just by looking at him, that he was trying to think of a painful hex to cast.

"Aion, it's fine. Just put the wand down," Chrono finally spoke up, taking a careful step forward.

"That's right, Pandaeri. Lower your wand."

Startled, Aion spun around and found himself face to face with Professor Duffau, the potions master and head of Slytherin. He had a gaunt face and a stiff, dark goatee that he almost resembled a ghoul cloaked in the surrounding shadows.

"All of you…come with me right now."

~0~0~

"Unbelievable! This is an absolute disgrace to Slytherin house!"

Seeing Duffau frothing like a mad dog in his nightclothes was only funny if you weren't experiencing in person and he looked positively livid enough to anything. He'd already taken off twenty points from Slytherin for each of the four students standing guiltily before him, but it didn't look like he was going to stop there.

"In all my time here, I've never—I should expel all of you!"

The four Slytherins all snapped their heads up at that point, scared looks on all their faces.

"B-But Professor, you can't!" Aion cried desperately. "Christopher's only getting detention! Why—"

"How Professor Remington decides to discipline his students is not your concern, boy!"

"But we didn't even—"

"The next one of you to interrupt me will be sent to your room and packing. Am I clear?"

None of them even dared to answer that question, especially with the dangerous tone behind it. Then Duffau took a deep breath and sat down in his chair.

"Two weeks of separate detentions for all of you, Friday and Saturday evenings starting tomorrow. Now, I want you all back in your dormitories for the rest of the night."

They didn't need to be told twice as they almost too eagerly ran back to their rooms. Genai and Viede made it first and Aion stopped Chrono before he made it to his door.

"Why didn't you tell me what they did to you?" Aion asked, his face somber and eerily reminded Chrono of their dad.

Chrono bit his lip and looked at his feet. "Because…" he began, "They're your friends, so I just—"

"Don't be an idiot," Aion cut him off impatiently. And then he gave his brother a light punch in the arm, which made Chrono laugh just enough to forget all about his troubles.

~0~0~

"So, nephew, you're associating with Gryffindors now?"

Chrono stopped poking at his dinner and glanced up at his brother, Aion, who had already stopped eating and was nervously darting his violet eyes between him and their uncle. Their uncle's resemblance to their father was uncanny from the way he sat up straight with his fingers folded together the same way their dad used to when he gave them one of his long lectures on family loyalty.

When Chrono didn't respond, the robust man cleared his throat and set his dinner napkin on the table.

"Chrono, I don't think I have to remind you not only about what it means to be a Slytherin but also a Pandaeri," he began again.

Folding his hands in his lap, Chrono shook his head silently.

"I wouldn't think so," his uncle continued, "especially after my brother, your father, did everything in his power to make sure you both understood the expectations that come with our family."

Chrono nodded, his stomach twisting into knots. He was pretty sure he knew where this conversation was going next. It was the conversation he'd been dreading for more than a month.

"Even though your parents are gone, it doesn't mean we should let our family traditions, everything they taught us, fall apart. I don't know about you, but those traditions are what keep them alive for me. They remind me about the importance of family loyalty," his uncle said. "All I can do is hope that it's the same for you. I want you to remember our traditions for the sake of your mother and father, that's all."

"I know, Uncle…I'll try harder," Chrono mumbled.

His uncle smiled stiffly and nodded. "I know you will, and that's all I'm asking."

~0~0~

Once he was back to school for the second term, he tried to follow his uncle's advice—he really did—but in the end, he couldn't stay away from her. She was a loud, cheerful, and sometimes short-tempered magnet that kept drawing him in and holding him close.

He stopped going to their secret study spot for a whole week but then she finally cornered him after Charms and made him explain the Alohomora spell to her, and then wouldn't let him leave until she got it right.

He tried ignoring her when she waved to him in the courtyard, but somehow she saw that as an invitation to throw a snowball at the back of his head…and another, until he finally cried out for her to stop.

"I'll only stop when you promise to stop being such an idiot," she replied, folding her arms across her chest.

He started to open his mouth to argue…to explain that he didn't have a choice and he had to make his family proud. That purebloods don't associate with muggle-borns and she was supposed to be beneath him, but never his friend. Never…unless he wanted to bring shame to his dead parents.

Instead, he said,

"All right, all right, I'm sorry."

~0~0~

When the snow finally melted, they started spending most of their time outside, lying in the grass and staring up at the cloudless sky. Their books and robes were discarded off to the side, which always seemed to happen every time they met up to study together, and Chrono's silver and green tie hung loosely around his neck.

"I can't believe you hate flying!"

"It's not funny," Chrono grumbled. "I hate heights and I nearly fell off my broom last week."

But she didn't stop giggling. "But you're from a magical family. Isn't that all you guys use?"

"No…there tons of other ways for us to get around, all of which are much faster than those tubes and cars you keep talking about."

She reached out to land a sloppy smack against his face but he only laughed, knowing he'd won this argument. She always resorted to violence when she couldn't think of a good comeback.

"Well, I'm definitely getting a broom next year. I think I'm going to try out for the team too," she announced.

He turned his head to look at her and marveled at how her hair splayed out like a golden blanket. She hardly ever let her hair down but when she did, he liked the way it looked on her. Of course, he never told her so because boys don't say things like that. Then he realized he had yet to say anything about her announcement.

"What position? Aion's going to try out for Chaser," he finally said.

"Probably Chaser or Seeker. Hope you don't mind if I kick his butt," Rosette said, smirking.

He snorted with laughter. "Be my guest. It might make him shut up about how awesome he thinks he is at Quidditch."

"Well then, you better cheer me on at all my matches."

"Of course I will. I'll even wear a gold miniskirt and jump around with pompoms like the perfect cheerleader," he retorted, smiling to himself because he knew she was surprised without needing to see her face. Glancing over at her again, he grinned and said,

"See, Christopher? I know some muggle stuff."

She grinned back. "Oh, shut up."

That's it for Year One! It's a pretty rough draft and there's more I would've like to do with it, but give me your opinion. Any adventures you'd like to see the kids go through? Was this chapter too long? Too short? I'm open to ideas!

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!