Phan at Hogwarts

#2 || Dans Not-So-Smart Mouth

It had been a week since the night time encounter and Phil couldn't stop thinking about it. He doodled through class, his quill swirling through every detail he could remember. The way Dans dark hair was curled at the ends, and how his blanket had seemed to have fallen off his shoulders, landing like a regal kings robe, and exposing half his chest (Phil tried not to blush), and the way he had glided out of the room like his feet couldn't even touch the floor.
"Ooooooh who's thaaaat?" Tyler dropped on one side of his desk. "Ooooh Philly, who ya drawing?" Louise landed on the other side of him.
Phil blushed and shoved the parchment into his desk. "No one! He's no one!"
"Your blushiiing!"
Phil blushed harder. "No I'm not!"
"Quiet, quiet!" Bustled Slughorn at the front of the room. "Professor Snape will be coming around to examine you soon! So, for your own sakes be on your best behavior!"All of the students shrunk back in their seats at the sound of his name. Only seven days into the year and half a dozen horrible detentions had been dished out from him alone. Many children had come back bleeding or incapacitated from pain. The older students claimed that Hogwarts had been so happy once, but now there was a permanent fog of gloom gripping the students.
Phil loved his classes, and rejoiced in his magic, but the air around the castle was miserable, at best. Everyday was a restless one, like the gusts of spite and clouds of fear where beginning to swirl into a hurricane around the castle. He liked to lean out the window and imagine a sunny day with kids laughing and running down the lakeside, trying to picture how they all said it had once been, but as the Carrows grew stricter and the students sadder it was hard.
Phil took his chair, the one he always had, in the very back of the room. Seats had been assigned, landing Phil in the back away from Tyler and Louise, and more importantly, Dan. Phil wasn't even sure if the boy realized they where in the same class. Dan drifted in and out with out a word to anyone, although Phil had noticed a stellar outcome of all of his projects, no matter the class.
He had often daydreamed about approaching him while staring at the back of his head. Just dumb fantasies that could never happen. Why would he want them to happen? He wasn't even sure what he wanted to happen!
The classes hustle and bustle had turned grimly silent as they pulled out their caldrons and books.
Two liters of water... a cup of balbouroos blood... powdered kelpie liver...
The list went on and Phil followed it accordingly, trying to focus in the quiet dungeon, but the air of foreboding made it hard. He knew what they where all anticipating. A huge bang from the front of the room jolted Phil's eyes to the door, and to impending doom. Oops, he meant Professor Snape.
The headmaster strutted to the front row before opening his mouth. Phil half expected to see fangs in the place of teeth, from all the stories he had heard. "First years..." he drawled. "I am your headmaster....Professor Snape...and I am here... to... warn you..."
What? Warn you? This is already going down hill-"Meow"
The professor stopped short, snapping his greasy head to the source of the noise. "You should know better.... than to interrupt... your headmaster..." The students stayed silent. He glared at them each in turn, before continuing. "To warn you-" "Meow." Whelp, someone's dead.
Phil's eyes widened when he saw Dans back straighten in the chair. It's him.
"Who... has brought a cat to class?" His eyes skimmed the front and second rows. "I know where I heard it..." he said softly. He stopped in between Dan and another Slytherin. "Howell... Blackthorn... is there anything you would like to tell me?" They each opened their mouths before- "Meow." Phil face palmed. Dan was so dead.
The tension was growing. Someone was going to get punished, no doubt, even for this seemingly small infraction. That seemed to be the way Snape did things. He has a blossoming red temper and the desire to instill fear.
The man pulled out his wand menacingly. "Tell me now... and you will... bleed... less..."
And then Dan muttered something. "What... was that... mister... Howell?"
"I said my ears are already bleeding from your-" smack!
The sound resounded across the dungeon, and Phil sucked in a breath. "Move... your bags Mr. Howell... I want... to see you... in the back of the class... and in my office... for your detention... for the next... four months..." And with that he swept out of the room with out another word.
Wow, Phil thought, he got off easy! Just a slap... I can't believe he smarted off to a teacher like that- The Headmaster, no less!
And then Dan was sitting next to him, refusing to make eye contact. Phil glanced at the red welt on the side of his cheek.
Maybe he was just imagining it, but he thought he could see a red glow on his cheeks on top of the hand mark as he set his books on the counter. Does he remember that night?
"H- hi." Phil said nervously. The boy looked down. "I'm Phil." for a moment he thought he wouldn't answer.
"I'm Dan."
Phil smiled, relieved. "I know." His faced reddened,as he realized what he had said. "I- I mean-"
He was interrupted by another small meow.
Dan glanced around guiltily.
"Can you keep a secret?"
Phil nodded hastily.
"Well," Dan whispered, reaching get into the pocket of his robes. "This is what that cow was having a cow over. Really," he muttered, almost to himself. "that wasn't worth a slap!"
A tiny gray kitten was curled in his cupped palms, its luminous orange eyes blinking fondly up at them. "Meow." He said simply.
"Aww! Whats it's name? Where'd you get it? Why'd you bring it to class anyway?"
Dan chuckled at the slew of questions. "I don't know who's it is, I just found it..." Phil ignored the guilty look on his face. "Have you named it yet?" He asked excitedly."
Dan shook his head. "Well I wasn't really planning on keeping it-" "Awww!" Dan couldn't resist Phil's pouty face. "-But you can name it." "We should call it Mocha!" The boy practically glowed with glee.
"Perfect!"
Dan brought his eyes up from the cat to Phil. Do I finally have a friend?
As if Phil could feel the tug of Dans gaze he brought his ocean eyes to meet Dans charcoal ones.
"Hey Phil?"
"Yah?"
"Do you wanna go to the kitchens with me tonight?"

Hey guys thanks for reading! Sorry the updates are so slow but I can promise a plethora of new chapters v soon. Anyway, please feel free to grammar nazi or suggest head canons for me to use! 😁😘