#aaron also looks upset at the damage neil’s father had done to him

[d4rkshad0w]

could we please talk about that sleepover the Foxes had after Baltimore because i think it was so sweet.

like in tfc they two groups hated each other and couldn’t stand each other and then in tkm they all ended up sleeping in the same room after what happened to Neil (since he was also the one who united the two groups ig).

“Matt and Aaron shoved the couch out of the way” as much as Aaron says he hates Neil, even he saw the importance of being together that night and even helped and hopefully didn’t argue about them all being together which that i also find really sweet.

they all have their issues but they’re united when it matters, i also think this was a turning point where they didn’t care about their feud they just wanted Neil back after almost losing him.

[eponinemylove]

Headcanons about the Andrew( and the foxes) figuring out some of the fucked up things Neil’s mom did. Like I’ve always had a head canon that she is the reason he says he’s fine all the time

for sure! I have a lot of feelings about Mary Hartford. I want to say that if the conversation does ever manage to come up, Neil would immediately jump to his mother’s defense. We see everything she did through his memories of her, and while we can recognize it as abuse, Neil still thinks of her fondly. She was the only family he really had, and in his eyes, everything she did was out of necessity, if not love (CW: abuse)

(side note, I’ve briefly talked about aaron’s reaction before as part of a different post, and I stand by that. I’ve also brushed upon the subject of Mary and Neil being “fine” when I did a sort of sickfic hc!)

let me just start by saying how awful this news would be for the foxes. Like, it’s awful in general because what she did was fucked up, but their poor hearts… They managed the Nest. They managed Baltimore. They managed Drake (although that was Andrew’s past not Neil’s, they were still there for the murder and everything that followed). They have been through heartbreak after heartbreak for this kid who not only went through these things but thought, on some level, that he deserved them. So they really can’t take finding out that his mother—who Neil openly condones—is also one of his ghosts. They can’t take finding out that she’s partly the reason why he doesn’t swing, why he can’t trust, why he runs and hides and lies, why he doesn’t think he can have this. And if that wasn’t hard enough, to find out that Neil thinks this is okay, that this is fine—it’s too much to handle.

Andrew’s first reaction, predictably, is murder. This doesn’t quite work out for him, as Mary’s already dead, but the urge he feels to drain the life from her himself is frankly concerning. The second the words are leaving Neil’s mouth, the second all his suspicions are confirmed (because let’s be real, Andrew knew someone had hurt Neil, and his father had been too many steps behind him to cause that much damage), he sees red. Full on, knives out, burning rage. He’s shaking with it. You can tell he’s feeling an emotion, because he’s not grumbling about anything. He’s gone into quiet rage, the dangerous kind, in which he silently plots all the ways he can gruesomely arrange your departure from existence.

for a split second, the upperclassmen think that his anger is directed at Neil, and they subtly move in to block him from Andrew’s war path. This works out well for no one, because Andrew needs Neil in his line of sight right now to know he’s safe and here, and anyone who even thinks of touching this boy after what he’s just confessed to happening to him is getting stabbed. Repeatedly. It’s not their fault for assuming, though. They saw what happened with him and Aaron after this sort of thing, and they just want to shield Neil from that fallout. He’s been through enough

The only thing that manages to calm him down even somewhat is Neil himself. He holds Andrew’s gaze, doesn’t hide under it. He looks him straight in the eye. He is fine, now. He isn’t hurt. He’s with Andrew, and Andrew is going to keep him safe, and Mary is dead, and there’s nothing for them to fight anymore.

except there is, there is, because Neil is stupid. Neil is an idiot who doesn’t know the meaning of the word fine, who has never been fine a day in his life. this was never okay. he’s worse than Aaron, because at least Aaron came to his senses eventually. but Neil, even after everything, is still standing there, defending her. it makes his blood boil. 140%. 170. 200.

Later, Andrew has to physically restrain himself from pulling him into a bruising kiss. He makes a tangible effort to be as gentle with Neil as he can, because he refuses to show him that love should be rough. It shouldn’t. He holds Neil’s hand and kisses his knuckles, runs his hands softly through his hair. He shows him all the way touches should feel when coming from someone you trust. Neil thinks it isn’t necessary but he accepts it with a stuttering heart anyway. His hands shake.

Aaron is seething, but for an entirely different reason. He’s furious, because how does Neil not realize that they’re the exact same? Neil gave him so much shit when he was upset over his mother, but now he has the audacity to stand here and spout this crap? The only thing holding him back from beating the shit out of Josten himself is Andrew’s presence, radiating wrath from beside him. If he took a step in the wrong direction, his brother might genuinely kill him this time. It doesn’t matter. Neil went on and on and on about how Andrew was protecting him, how his mother was not someone who loved him but someone who hurt him, and how he should be glad she’s gone. And… and then this? No. No. Neil doesn’t get to love his mother after that. Mary hit him. She beat him to a pulp herself, nevermind what she said she was protecting him from. He wasn’t allowed to have friends, to talk to people, to go outside. He wasn’t allowed to speak. He’d had to keep his head down. Yeah, it sounds familiar. It sounds like Aaron’s quiet footsteps around the house, hoping to god he wouldn’t wake up Tilda. It sounds like him trying not to make himself seen when she came home after a night of using, like ducking his head and not meeting the eyes of her or anyone she brought home. It sounds like her fists on him when she was in one of her moods. It sounds really fucking familiar, and if Neil thinks he’s going to drop this, he is dead wrong.

Neil did not leave well enough alone when it was Aaron. He would not stop rubbing salt on the wound. And it hurt, a lot, but now Aaron is going to do the same. Not just for petty vengeance. Not just because Neil is a dick and this is payback. But because it helped. Aaron and Andrew are not on the same page about the way they feel, but they are about what to do next. Priority one is make sure Neil moves on, make sure he recognizes why Mary was wrong, and why it will never happen again, as long as any of the foxes have a say in it. 

Matt and Nicky have the exact same reaction, which to immediately have their heart shattered. They’re in tears. Matt cares about Neil so, so much, and I know the fandom recognizes this, but I don’t know if people realize how deeply Nicky cares, too. It’s more than just cracking jokes; Neil is one of Nicky’s best friends. They’re going to make damn sure that Neil knows they will love him unconditionally, and that their love does not come heavy-handed. They will support him through this, even if they hate Mary for everything she had conditioned into him. Already they’re planning what they can do to get his mind off of this and get him smiling again as soon as possible. Nicky will probably push Neil harder than Matt, and it will probably be the wrong thing to do, but he’s trying so hard. He’s done this before, with Andrew and Aaron, and as heartbreaking as it was, he continues to do it because he loves them. And he loves Neil, too. Both Matt and Nicky already have adoption papers at the ready, and at this point they’re going to forge the signatures, consequences be damned, if it means Neil gets a happy life. 

Kevin doesn’t have much to say about it when he finds out. I imagine he handles it with all of his usual finesse and sensitivity, which is none. He probably, not too gently, points out that Mary had a job to keep him safe from harm, all harm, and failed spectacularly at it. It’s not exactly helpful, but he does have a point. And when he get Neil alone, he offers to talk to him about it. He may not have been through the same thing, but he’s been through something similar enough. He had no family at the Nest, but at the same time they were the only ones he had, and they weren’t exactly gentle with him at the best of times. Riko and the Master weren’t Mary, but... they weren’t all that different, either. Like everything else, Kevin is there if he needs him. 

Dan and Allison stare him down. They sympathize, they do, because this is awful, but they are not going to give him an inch. They don’t have time to coddle his feelings about his mother, and god help him if they hear an “I’m fine” fall from his lips. They’ll hold him, if he lets them, and they’ll be as soft and gentle as he needs, but they won’t give in to this. They aren’t going to pretend that he’s right–he’s not. HIs mother wasn’t what he remembers. She’s a complicated character. They’re not calling her evil; maybe she did what she had to, and maybe it was for the best. But it wasn’t right. They are steadfast in that. It wasn’t right. Neil can accept that when he’s ready, and when he does they will be there for him, taking care of him in their unassuming way so that he doesn’t feel like they’re walking on eggshells. He’s so grateful to have them. Grateful that they don’t push, but don’t give in either. Some of the strongest people he’s known…

Renee is the one who actually talks him through it. All the others are ready with their pitchforks, about to burn Mary at the stake, but she understands. She walks with him through everything, the good and the bad, and lets him come to his own conclusion. She listens to him when he feels like talking about what is was like, and talks about her own mother when he doesn’t. She shows him, subtly, what a parental figure is supposed to look like through her own stories. Lets him realize that sometimes the people who care don’t get it right, but that there are still others who love you, and that love doesn’t have to come with pain. 

Bonus:

(Ik you didn’t ask, and this is probably too long already, but) Wymack and Abby find out about this indirectly, likely through either Andrew or Matt. Wymack had known from the beginning this would have been the case, but he’d had no idea it had come from his mother. It hurts him, that no one had ever been careful with Neil the way he needed. He doesn’t realize that he had been, though. Wymack hadn’t raised his voice, hadn’t made himself big in front of Neil. He had been careful to keep his anger far, far away and had always been there when Neil needed him. Wymack is his true father. Or mother. Or whatever. 

Abby does what she does with Aaron: she gives him space. She knows that he’s probably never seen a woman in a comforting light before, and she waits to make sure that he’s okay with her presence before she gets anywhere near close to him. She lets him come to her, and, like Wymack, makes sure Neil knows that if she ever gets frustrated, that she would never take it out on him. They start the very slow process of showing Neil what it is like to be loved and cared for by someone who wants only to see you happy. Neil loves his family so, so much. He would choose them a thousand times over. 

[gluupor]

oh my god your harry potter au!!!! would you ever consider expanding it? I love your writing so much and tge way you adapted it to the hp universe? so brilliant!!

Part 1 can be found here

Neil tripped through the hallways, tightly clutching the Sorting Hat. The stupid thing had gotten him into this mess by putting him directly in Kevin’s path and it was going to get him out of it. He needed to get it to Matt or Dan. To a true Gryffindor who could pull Gryffindor’s sword out of it so Kevin could destroy the final two horcruxes. Not that they knew what the final horcrux was, although Neil had a suspicion that made him feel vaguely ill. That couldn’t have been what Lola meant when she’d said it was in ‘the boy’ could it?

She’d been gloating, calling him stupid and weak, crowing how they’d never defeat the Dark Lord because his life was tied to the boy’s, and they could never kill the boy. Admittedly, his mind had been a little hazy at the time from all the crucios. She’d been carving into his arms with a cursed blade and not minding her words at all, believing that he’d be dead before long.

Besides, what did she know? She and Neil’s father had been Death Eaters, but they weren’t important enough to be in the Dark Lord’s confidence. They were only his American attack dogs.

The battle was raging around him. He’d only been at Hogwarts for two years before spending the past year with Kevin and Andrew hunting horcruxes, but it had become his home in that time. The sight of intruders in the castle filled him with rage that helped power his spells.

No unforgivables, of course. Kevin was adamant about that. But as much as he hated his father he’d learned from him that a lot of damage could be done with a well-placed slicing hex.

He and Kevin had been separated before Neil had reached the headmaster’s office. He hoped Kevin was okay, that he’d found Andrew and had someone watching his back. With luck, he’d made it to their agreed upon rendezvous point.

“Crucio!” The spell hit him as he rounded a corner, catching him off guard.

He fell back, screaming, as his bones seemed to catch fire. As many times as he’d been hit with this spell—and it was a lot; Lola had been a big fan—he never built up any tolerance to it. He’d heard that people could lose their minds if kept under the spell for too long; he wondered if they stopped feeling pain at the end.

The pain abruptly ceased. Neil panted, willing himself to get up and fight back. He’d dropped his wand; he needed to find it. He cracked open his eyes and found himself looking up into gleeful face of Riko Moriyama, his expression full of madness and triumph.

“Where are you going with that ratty old hat, Nathaniel?” sneered Riko. “On the way back to your hero?” The hatred that coloured the word hero was intense. Riko had always been violently jealous of Kevin’s status as the Chosen One. “He’s nothing, nobody!”

“At least he’s not the pathetic servant of a dark wizard,” said Neil.

“You know nothing,” spat Riko before hitting him with another crucio. This one seemed to last longer; he wasn’t sure how much more he could take.

When it ended, he was coughing up blood, which couldn’t be a good sign.

Riko came closer, his eyes alight with malicious joy. He kicked the Sorting Hat away from Neil’s questing fingers.

“Are you scared to die, Nathaniel?” cooed Riko. “Are you worried no one will care?”

Neil ignored him, looking past him to where Jean was standing, cowering and looking nauseated. He was even more diminished than when they’d last seen each other: when Neil, Kevin, and Andrew had been briefly captured and brought to the Moreau family estate by the Butcher’s Men. They’d barely escaped with their lives.

“Take the Hat to Kevin,” Neil rasped, locking eyes with Jean. “You said you owed him.”

Jean’s face was pained as Riko turned to him, sneering. “You’re my dog, not Kevin’s,” he said. “Stay.”

Jean’s eyes flashed but Neil barely noticed, his attention stolen by yet another crucio. This was it, he realized. His end. He’d known he was living on borrowed time since he’d escaped Lola and his father; he’d never expected to live this long. His only regret was that he hadn’t be able to say goodbye.

Sorry, Andrew.

The pain stopped unexpectedly. Neil gazed up at Riko blearily, not daring to hope—

“It’s not as fun when you don’t scream,” said Riko, offhand. “I guess you’re finished with our game.” He raised his wand again. “Avada—”

He was cut off by a sword stabbing through his chest. He looked down, confused as the bloody metal pushed through his sternum. A scream tore through his throat as his skin blackened, looking burned. Neil watched in fascinated amazement as Riko disintegrated into ash, nothing left behind except for an anguished cry from outside the castle. The eerie sound seemed to hang in the air.

Jean stared in horror, his mouth hanging open as he looked at his shaking hands as if he couldn’t believe they belonged to him. His eyes widened as he caught the script on the hilt of the sword: Godric Gryffindor.

Neil scrambled for his wand and tried to stand, before his shaking legs buckled beneath him. “Seems you were sorted wrong,” he rasped, his voice coming out sounding like gravel after screaming for so long. Only a true Gryffindor could pull that sword from the Hat.

Jean’s head snapped up. “I asked—” he said, his own voice hoarse. He licked his lips and tried again, nodding to the Sorting Hat that was crumpled in a heap by his feet. “It said I would make a fine Gryffindor. I told it I would be disowned if I was anything but a Slytherin. We argued.”

“At least it let you have what you wanted,” complained Neil, scooping the offending object off the floor. “I wanted to be a nobody Ravenclaw and look where I ended up.” The Hat seemed to smirk at him, Where you belong.

He tried to stand again; this time Jean shook himself out of his stupor to help him. “We have to get the sword to Kevin. He needs to destroy the last horcrux.” He shook his head at the pile of ash that had once been Riko. “I can’t believe Riko was a horcrux. It explains his personality, but honestly, did Lola really think I would hesitate to kill him?”

Jean didn’t answer, still too much in shock by what he’d done.

“Snap out of it,” said Neil, poking his arm.

“He had—” Jean cleared his throat. “Riko had magical protections provided by the Dark Lord. I shouldn’t have been able to—” he broke off again and stared at the sword. “It should have bounced off the protections.”

“Basilisk venom courtesy of Kevin’s second year adventure,” said Neil sagely. He hadn’t been around for that, but he’d heard about it straight from the source.

“He was supposed to stay out of the battle,” said Jean, again looking at the pile of Riko ash. “But he claimed he was invincible and he really wanted to hurt you and Kevin.”

“Speaking of Kevin…” Neil staggered as every single one of his muscles protested his movement, aching like—well, aching like he’d been tortured. Jean was unsteady on his feet as well—due to shock, not injury—and the two of them supported each other as they lurched toward the Great Hall.

Neil couldn’t help but notice that the fighting had tapered off during his confrontation with Riko. The halls of Hogwarts were almost empty, free of anything except rubble. He hoped they weren’t too late, that this break in the fighting didn’t spell failure.

There was a hushed silence hanging over the Great Hall, pregnant with grief and shock. Neil’s entrance caused a reaction, little sounds of surprise coming from those closest to him and radiating outwards. He supposed he could understand: he was looking worse for wear, spattered in Riko’s blood, and leaning heavily on a known Death Eater who was carrying Gryffindor’s blood-soaked sword. It would have been stranger if people weren’t staring at him.

Neil glanced around desperately, scanning the faces for the one he wanted to see. It was easy to find Kevin at the centre of the room. He was holding his jaw as if he’d been punched (which was strange; as a rule, Death Eaters didn’t use Muggle fighting techniques) and Neil relaxed when he caught sight of the expected blond head at his side.

The ripple caused by Neil and Jean reached him just as Neil caught sight of him. Andrew turned sharply, his face set and hard.

Neil was hit by a sinking feeling; he turned to survey the rest of the room. There were only a couple of people whose deaths could make Andrew look like that. But, no, Aaron was with Katelyn, helping the matron administer healing potions to the wounded, and Nicky was wrapped up in the arms of his Durmstrang boyfriend, Erik. Neil also caught sight of Renee, Dan, and Matt. Jeremy and Allison were also alive, although Allison was weeping bitterly over what appeared to be Seth’s body.

Neil turned back to Andrew, finding him within arm’s reach.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Why are you upset?”

“Idiot,” said Andrew harshly, fisting a hand in the front of Neil’s robes and dragging him into a kiss in front of everybody. It was a hard and desperate kiss, full of teeth, but Andrew’s hands were strangely gentle as they roamed Neil’s body, being careful of aggravating his injuries. Neil petted his shoulders carefully to reassure him.

“Where are you hurt?” asked Andrew, pulling back.

“I’m fine,” said Neil. Andrew’s eyes flashed, so he quickly corrected himself, “I took a couple crucios but the blood is Riko’s.”

Andrew flicked his eyes to Jean and the sword he was still gripping. “Found your spine, Moreau?” he asked blandly, before focusing on Neil again. “I thought you were dead.” His voice was flat and emotionless but he’d already showed his hand.

Neil took a step closer. “I didn’t think our first kiss would be with everyone looking on,” he said.

“Then you shouldn’t have disappeared during a battle.”

“Riko was the horcrux,” Neil whispered. “We can win. We can have a future.”

Andrew’s eyes were bright and shining and full of promise. “Then let’s get that sword to Kevin and finish this.”