The Badger And The Snake; Phan/Harry Potter AU

Twelve: Christmas

Two awkward moment filled weeks later, it was nearing the 25th of December. There wasn't a person in Hogwarts who wasn't excited about this long-awaited event. Even the Castle itself seemed to be shivering with anticipation. It decorated itself with fairy lights that changed colour every time a different student walked past, great evergreen tress that sang Christmas hymns and of course, amazing feasts. The house elves outdid themselves, with piles and piles of extravagant entrees and deserts.

Perhaps the most excited in all of Hogwarts for Christmas was Phil Lester. He skipped to every class, sung along with the trees - even if he didn't know the words, he hummed along, bless his heart - and wore a different Christmas jumper every day of the chilly month.

"Happy Christmas Eve, Dan!" Phil greeted his friend, hugging him. Dan smiled wearily, as he had just woken up. He wondered how someone could be smiling so radiantly at 8:45 am, but didn't mind as the person in question had a great smile.

They chatted all the way to the Great Hall where Chris and PJ called them over.

"Oi, Phan!" greeted Chris.

"What?" said Dan and Phil in unison.

"Oh, it's only a little name I came up with -" PJ punched his arm "- ouch, Peej and I came up with. You see, you two are together every possible waking moment. And maybe some while asleep, if you catch my drift -" Dan blushed and looked at their interlocked fingers "- And it's tiring of hearing people say 'Dan and Phil' all the time, or, god forbid, 'Phil and Dan.' So I'm just going to call you Phan until you two are universally known as Phan. We chose Phan because it just sounded right. Like, Dil? Dilip? Phaniel? PHAN! It just rolls off the tongue."

"Stop trying to make 'phan' happen, Chris. I came up with it anyway. It's your ship name."

"What the heck is a ship name?" said Phil, the only pureblood in the four.

Dan, PJ and Chris looked at each other knowingly, then at Phil with sympathy. As Chris began to explain, Dan cut him off.

"Stop. He is too pure. Too precious for the world of fandom."

They burst out in laughter, Phil sticking out his lower lip in a fake pout. Dan legitimately thought that was the single cutest thing he had ever seen in his entire life.

His thoughts were interrupted as PJ said, "Oh! I almost forgot. There's a Christmas Eve party in Ravenclaw tonight. Password's a riddle. There's a different one every time you walk in, so I'll just meet up with the three of you 'round nine and I'll help you in with my mighty Ravenclaw brain powers. Assuming you're going?" he asked 'Phan.' Phil's eyes lit up at the C-word and he bounced in his seat.

"Yes! Dan, you're coming, right?" Dan blushed at the adorable boy and nodded.

"Yeah, I'll be there," he smirked.

_______

Phil almost immediately regretted his spur of the moment decision while walking to first period with Louise and Dan. He didn't want to kiss someone he would regret again. Not two weeks ago, he had done that twice within the time span of ten minutes.

He liked Dan. He really, really, really liked Dan, he decided. He smiled and touched his lips at the memory, still fresh in his mind, blushing.

Why did Dan kiss him?

Obviously he was drunk. Wizard drinks aren't as strong as Muggle ones but they're only fourteen. That doesn't explain why Dan had decided to waltz up to Phil and kiss him, then forget about it the next day. Phil was sort of glad Dan had forgetten, because then what would have happened? Phil just couldn't come up with a reason that Dan would kiss him for 15 seconds of bliss.