The Badger And The Snake; Phan/Harry Potter AU

Eleven: Fairy Lights.

Later that day after Dan had gone to Madam Pomfrey (rather unwillingly) - "I'm fine, Phil, you don't need to drag me to the nurse," - Dan met up with PJ and Chris, who he introduced to Phil.

The three shook hands and easily slid into conversation. Dan was slightly jealous of Chris' cleverness and PJ's people skills. Dan had neither. But hey, Phil liked him, so he assumed he, himself, was alright.

"Hey, we're having a party tonight," said Chris. "Because of our Quidditch win." Dan hadn't even known there would have been a match, because of the snow (he supposed maybe they built a magical barrier over the pitch? Wizards are crazy,) and glancing at Phil, realized he hadn't either. Phil had admitted he was most likely the clumbsiest person on planet Earth before. Dan couldn't imagine him on a broom. He laughed into his hand at the thought, then faked a cough.

"I'd love to go!" said Phil, who looked at Dan expectantly. "Sure," said the Slytherin. He thought to himself, What the hell? Why am I agreeing? I do realize I'm the most awkward person to ever grace the earth - or rather stumble, right? Why am I agreeing to this? Oh. Right. Phil.

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Later that day, Dan tried to straighten his hair for at least an hour. He decided after that it looked nice enough. He washed his face, put on nice Muggle clothes - a black undershirt, a green sweater, black skinny jeans and black shoes. (His closet was mostly black or dark clothes.) He put in his new black earrings - he had just gotten his ears pierced during summer break. He looked at himself in the mirror countless times, trying to make his fringe look perfect. When he decided he looked decent, he headed out, already fifteen minutes late. Off to a good start, he thought to himself sarcastically.

Chris had told him the password to Gryffindor common room. "Fairy lights," he whispered to the painting of the Fat Lady, who moved grudgingly, as though this wasn't the first time she let an invitee in - and she knew it wouldn't be the last. As soon as he stepped in, he heard wizard music and dancing. Someone had enchanted a bowling ball to reflect light and shine like a disco ball. He looked around the room, and when he finally spotted Phil, he walked over to where his friend was quickly.

He regretted his decision immediately.

There, he saw his best friend snogging a brunette Hufflepuff girl. Dan remembered her from first year, when she said that no one was afraid of Voldemort's name anymore. Zoella, was it? A pretty name. For a beautiful girl. She definitely deserved to be kissing Phil more than Dan did.

Why was he jealous? They were just friends. Just friends. Just friends.

Tears swelled up in his eyes, his hands became slick with sweat and clammy, and suddenly he felt like someone was punching him in the stomach, over and over. They wouldn't stop until Zoe stopped kissing Phil.

It was obvious Zoe had initiated it, but Phil wasn't stopping. He was kissing her back. In one hand he was holding a bottle of Firewhiskey and the other was on Zoe's back. Dan couldn't handle it. He wanted to make Zoe feel as terrible as he did right now. He grabbed three bottles of Firewhiskey and drank them all in less than five minutes. He felt the liquid intoxicating him quickly. He felt dizzy. Maybe he shouldn't have done that . . . No matter. The love of your life is snogging another girl. What do you do? Dan grabbed another bottle and stormed towards the pair.

He opened the bottle quickly and poured the whole of it onto Zoe's hair. Serves her right, for kissing my Phil. Zoe gasped and broke away from Phil, looking behind her to see who the culprit was. "Who are you, and what the hell?" Phil looked surprised and blushed when he saw Dan. Dan had to take a moment to admire how handsome Phil looked, even though he wasn't even trying. Zoe screamed and ran away. She realized she had a boyfriend. "I suppose we were both drunk," said Phil almost lazily. Dan was steaming. That's all the explanation he had?

Dan was so angry he grabbed Phil's face with both of his hands and kissed him. It was sloppy, quick and harsh, but he didn't care. It was the best 30 seconds of his life, and he wanted Phil to know. To know that he had been in love with him since first year. Phil was shocked. Maybe he hadn't had as many bottles of whiskey as Dan had, maybe he had more. But he didn't stop, and he didn't want to. This felt so much better than kissing that girl - Stella, was her name? In reality, Phil wasn't drunk when she came onto him. He was just too nice to let her down. And then Dan came along, looking drop dead handsome and sucked his face off. Why?

Maybe it's because he loves you, too.

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A/N: I'm not sorry. xx