...

(taken away to the dark side)

The next year, they return to the mirror on his next birthday, as is custom. There's a rather close call with Filch (he swears that man's cat can see through walls, much to Jemma's disbelief), but they eventually end up in the mirror room with flushed faces and short breaths.

Still, he's unbelievably happy when they take steps towards the mirror. Not to his surprise, his image is still the same, except with a few extra new additions. This time Skye smirks from the vision and Trip grins and mirror-Fitz is clapping Grant on the back. It fills him with an inexplicable warmth. Next to him, he hears Jemma catch her breath slightly.

When he whips around and questions what she saw, she shakes her head furiously, and her voice is slightly higher pitched when she responds.

"Oh, nothing. It's all.. all the same. Just.. just caught me by surprise."

She's lying. He can tell (three years so close and you pick up on every tiny habit), but he doesn't push it. She can keep her desires to herself (he's only a little bit curious). He doesn't mind.

(All the same, he's positive she's blushing)

...

They lie sprawled out on the floor, backs pressed to the cold floor, so close he can feel wisps of her shiny brown hair tickling his ear, so close that if he shifted his shoulder he could probably nudge hers (not that he ever would, of course. But it was just a fleeting thought.)

"I show not your face but your heart's desire," she says so suddenly that he flicks his eyes to her immediately.

"What?"

"The words," she says, inclining her head to the mirror, "the ones engraved along the top. That's what it says. It's backwards."

He has to lean on one arm and swivel slightly to see it because she's facing a different direction to him, but when he does spot it, she's right.

"And that explains the mirror's name, too," Jemma continues lightly. "The mirror of Erised. The mirror of Desire."

"Kind of ominous," he responds, settling back down. This time he lies where he can see her expressions, however. He likes the way her features take on whatever emotion she's feeling, how her eyes glint with wonder and her lips part in her familiar smile, like she's reserved it especially for him.

"Yeah." Jemma smiles and curls her fingers around her wand loosely. "They say it's driven people insane."

"Pleasant," he wrinkles his nose. "Am I insane, do you think?"

She laughs abrubtly, and before he can process what's happening she presses a kiss to his cheek. "Only to the rest of the world."

He's not entirely sure what that means.

...

"You do know," Jemma starts abruptly, "that you're my best friend, right?"

He turns to see her expression, to see what's running through her mind to compel her to speak so randomly, but she's staring up at the heavily cob-webbed ceiling with a look on her face that he can't really comphrehend (which is really quite strange, because he's pretty much. learned to read her like an open book).

"'Course," he answers without even missing a beat. He doesn't even need to think about it, right?

"In the whole world?"

"In the whole world."

...

The next day, they spend most of breakfast grinning at each other and cracking inside jokes. It gets to the point where Skye huffs at them and throws a paper towel at Fitz.

"Why do you keep being so secretive? Grant, tell them to stop being so secretive!"

Grant shakes his head, but there's a glimmer of a smile when he bends back over his breakfast.

...

Fourth year is when everything starts to become confusing.

Girls become.. well, girls. He starts to notice things he probably (almost definitely) shouldn't, things like lips and hair and other various parts of the female anatomy that his mum would almost certainly swat at him for thinking.

It's weird. Not just his thoughts change, but he does too. His curls grow unrulier, his eyes bluer and he suddenly grows taller (he's still annoyingly short compared to most, but he's taller than Jemma now at least).

Despite the fact that most of his friends seem to be maturing, he still remains disappointingly boy-ish. However,whenever he confesses to his mum about this she laughs and ruffles his hair.

("Give it time, Leo," she'll tell him fondly, before ushering him off to finish (or start) his homework.)

It's strange. His friends change slightly too.

Skye and Jemma get oddly grumpy at certain times and often snap and storm off without warning (Trip seems to know something about it, because he snickers when Fitz and Grant consult each other in confusion). Grant starts hanging out with girls often and sweeping his hair to the side like one of those ridiculous muggle models (Skye's curiously absent during these times). Trip turns on his charm but stays ridiculously loyal, and is often found spending time with Skye.

Fitz? Well, Fitz has magic and schoolwork and Jemma.

Just - not in that way, of course. Of course, she's a girl (and a pretty one at that, now that he realises it), but he hasn't ever thought of her in... that way. She's sweet and intelligent and smug all in the same breath, and she's purely and wholely Jemma. If he happens to notice that she's female once in a while, so be it. But for the most part, she's his best friend and that's all that matters.

"Fitz?" Jemma frowns impatiently at him from across the table. "Were you even listening to me? I said-"

Except for maybe when she's in one of her moods. He's happy to let Skye take over in those events.

...

It's not who he expected his first crush to be.

He'd expected to like somebody on his wave-length, with a sweet personality (and possibly a love for monkeys). Instead, it's Skye.

She's pretty and stunning with a daring spirit and a cheeky smirk. He finds himself drawn to her personality like a moth to a flame. She's mischevious and sarcastic and everything he really isn't.

Fitz might be in love. He doesn't know, really. What's it like to be in love, he wonders as he smiles bashfully at Skye from over a bowl of cornflakes and nods absently at Jemma), is it like this? A pretty face and happiness? Because if it is, he's not sure what all the fuss is about.

...

It slips out when they're at the library, hunched over several books and talking in hushed voices for fear of the librarian's death glares.

(He hadn't meant to keep it from Jemma, exactly. He's just... never mentioned it.)

Several moments after the words leave his mouth, he pauses and stares at Jemma with wide eyes, suddenly wishing he'd kept his mouth shut.

To his surprise, she doesn't look particularly happy. Isn't she supposed to gush over his love life like in the books? Instead of doing that, she drops her gaze to her book and says with careful indifference, "She is pretty, isn't she?" A few moments of silence, and then, "Be careful, Fitz."

Well, he'd been expecting more of a reaction.

It's then that he wishes he'd chosen to sit across from her instead of beside her, because her hair hides her expression, and for once he can't tell what she's thinking.

"What year was the first Triwizard tournament, Fitz?" she muses, tapping the pencil against her lips and frowning at her text book.

And that promptly ends that conversation.

...

He finds out completely by accident.

It's currently a free block for them (supposedly to study, but Jemma had forced him to finish his assignments long ago), and he's just looking for her to check if she wants to come down and watch their friends practice Quidditch when he stumbles into them.

Jemma (sweet, innocent, no-shenagians Jemma) is teetering on her toes, lips pressed against a bigger bloke who's ridiculously tall and most likely a few years older. They spring apart when the door creaks open and she whirls around, with lips parted (guiltily?) and flushed features.

"Fitz?"

"Sorry." He snaps his mouth shut abruptly and turns on his heels to flee.

(He's not sure what upsets him more - that she had never thought to tell him about this bloke, or the fact that she's kissing someone in the first place.)

Everyone's waiting by the Quidditch pitch when he arrives, all dressed in bright cloaks and protective gear, brooms quivering impatiently on the pitch.

"Where's Jemma?" Grant questions, voicing everyone's thoughts.

He shrugs and nudges an upturned rock with his foot. "Busy."

"Hang on, Jemma never misses out on-" Skye protests, but Trip's already dragging her onto the field and into the locker rooms.

...

She finds him sitting there by the mirror, staring at his other happy self with longing. How, he has no idea. Same wave-length as always, he supposes. But she settles herself gently down next to him without looking at the mirror, instead facing him. Before he knows it, both mirror Jemma and real Jemma reach out to touch him on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she tells him. She's being genuine. He can tell, by the way her eyes glint and her mouth is pulled down slightly.

"You didn't tell me about him," he accuses. He's being mean, and he knows it. But he can't help it. Jemma is Fitz's best friend. He can't lose that friendship, not now, when she's practically a piece of him.

"You didn't tell me about Skye," she counters gently. Her fingers still linger on his shoulder, and she removes them hastily like she's forgotten she'd put them there.

"I wasn't kissing her," he says pointedly.

Eventually, she sighs and gives him a sympathetic look. "I don't know what you want me to say, Fitz. I'm sorry. But I'm a free person. I can do things without your permission, right?" At this she gives him a little smile and a nudge, which he returns after a moment.

"Yeah, you are," he agrees, because undoubtedly once Jemma Simmons sets her mind on something, there's no turning back. "Just.. maybe warn me before you go snogging boys in the middle of the corridor."

She laughs and sets her head on his shoulder. He can smell her hair, and for some funny reason it smells exactly as it did in second year.

"What do you see?" they say together like it's been rehearsed. Jemma gives him a sunny smile that's he's almost certain lights up the room (even though that's impossible. Right?).

Jemma makes a tiny noise in the back of her throat when she catches her reflection, but just when he thinks she's going to reveal something new and exciting she just averts her eyes and says, "Same as ever."

"Jemma-" he tries to interrupt, because something is clearly eating at her and maybe he feels slightly guilty upon stumbling into her and her - boyfriend. Is that what she has now? A boyfriend?

"What's in your mirror, Fitz?" she adds brightly.

The mirror stays the same as all the other years before it (except he and his friends are slightly older). He expects his mirror to kiss Skye's cheek or hug her or something. It's his desires, right?

Instead, mirror Skye slings her arms around Grant and Trip and pecks them both on the cheek instead.

He stops crushing on her after that.

...

At dinner, when Jemma is off revising for exams, Skye corners him at the table and grins at him in the typical way that often makes him want to run for the hills.

"So, Jemma's getting around a lot," she begins abruptly, grabbing for a piece of bread like it's nothing.

He almost chokes on his food. "What?"

"I mean, did you see her boyfriend?" He definitely has; tall, broad blokes with no intelligence seem to be her type. "It's amazing, really. I'd never expect Jemma Simmons to go for that. I thought.. well.." she blinks at him meaningfully, but he can't convey what on Earth she's trying to tell him.

Blinking suspiciously at her, he shrugs. "She's pretty and sweet," he mumbles. "I don't see why not."

Skye gives him a strange look, and when he finally asks her what she's getting at, she huffs and storms away, muttering something about being clueless.

Beside him, Trip snickers.

...

Fifth year is relatively fun. They make some new friends - a grouchy British guy called Lance, a tall girl with blonde hair named Bobbi (who Jemma seems to adore), and a dark-skinned, unfairly built bloke called Mack, who's actually pretty cool and is happy to study with Fitz whenever Jemma's too busy.

"We should go to Hogsmeade," Jemma suggests cheerily one early morning, when he's still blinking sleep from his eyes and attempting to not fall asleep right then and there in his breakfast.

Everyone looks slightly doubtful at this suggestion. It's snowing outside - winter is certainly not the time to go trudging through town.

Eventually, Bobbi shrugs and sets her fork down. "I'll go."

No one can really resist Jemma, after all.

(Although Lance does grumble and complain all the way down, until Bobbi and Skye collectively tell him to shut up).

...

They spend the rest of the day wandering through shops and hiding from the snow, until somehow it's late afternoon and he and Jemma have somehow been split from everybody else.

Jemma doesn't really seem to mind though (and if he's honest, neither does he), and they peek into windows and throw snowballs at each other.

("You're not supposed to hit a girl, Fitz," she chides as she's darting away from him with a wild smile.

"I thought you hated that saying," he retorts as he catches a ball of snow promptly in the chest with a groan.

"Yes, I do," Jemma admits, wrinkling her nose and pausing long enough for him to scoop up some snow. "Women are undoubtedly equal to-"

She doesn't get to finish her sentence. )

She barely restrains him from buying far too much chocolate, he stops her from fretting over their tests for the day and they both flush red when an older boy whistles encouragingly at them.

She laughs when he slips on a patch of ice, something that doesn't seem to quell even as he lies on his back, the snow seeping through his clothes.

"Fitz! Are you okay?" She seems concerned, but the effect is more than slightly ruined by the joyous laugh spilling from her lips.

"Just fine, thanks," he grumbles, pushing back his smile to scowl heavily. She kneels beside him and brushes flecks of frost from his shoulders as she attempts to pull him up.

"Be careful, it's slippery," she warns as he almost falls over again.

"I realized that, Jemma."

...

"It's cold," Jemma says, shivering slightly and pulling her jacket closer around her. Fitz half thinks about handing her his coat. He knows that she gets cold easier than him, that she can handle heat but if the temperature's even slightly lower then she'll catch a cold or start freezing.

(And then she'll spend the next week shivering and he'll have to look after him instead of revising like he's supposed to, and that would not do)

He's almost about to do it, to, but before he can Jemma lights up (all bright eyes and flushed features) and points to a familiar building buzzing with activity across the road.

"Let's get a butterbeer," she tells him, "It'll warm us up."

It really is difficult to resist Jemma. Besides, it's sort of cold out in the snow, so he agrees heartily and they walk in and order some drinks.

He tells her to sit at the table and wait for him as he waits for the drinks to be served up. She's sitting at a table next to the window when he returns with butterbeers in his grasp, her hair curling messily around her shoulders and her jacket still wrapped tightly around her. She's drawing something in the condensation of the window as he approaches, looking so far away and yet so focused at the same time.

"What're you drawing?" he asks as he approaches, and she suddenly snaps to attention with wide eyes.

"Hmm? Oh.. nothing." Hastily she rubs at the window and the picture is gone before he can see it.

He gives her a questioning look (she's been rather secretive lately) but before he can call her out on it she jerks her head up. "Oh, look, there's the others," she announces loudly, sounding relieved.

Skye, Trip, Mack and Grant pull up chairs to sit around the table, their own drinks in hand.

"What's up," Skye greets cheerfully, stealing one of the chips on the table.

"We lost you back there," Trip states semi-apologetically. "What happened?"

"Fitz kept getting distracted by the sweets in Honeydukes," Jemma says with a roll of her eyes.

Fitz can't help but throw his hands up defensively. "Hey! Don't pin this on me! You were all too happy to let me get you those sugar quills."

"Aw, you brought candy for her?" Skye coos teasingly,and much to his embarrassment he can feel the flush creeping up his neck (hopefully the cold will disguise it).

"Where are Bobbi and Lance?" Grant questions, cutting into the conversation with a roll of his eyes.

"We thought they were with you," Fitz answers with slightly wide eyes.

(They find out where they went when Bobbi and Lance appear just in time to head home.

"There's lip gloss on your face, Lance.")