The Badger And The Snake; Phan/Harry Potter AU

Twenty-Øne: Ghøsts.

Phil turned an even paler shade of white than usual.

"You mean . . . That's your father? I thought . . . You told me he died when you were three. In an accident." His voice was shaky and nervous.

"He did. But I was wandering around in the forest sometime during second year and I tripped over this rock. Someone had thrown it there, like it was nothing. Weird, huh? I almost missed it, too. I thought about my father when I tossed it and, like you, I nearly had an attack. But," he smiled at the ghost of his father, "we've gotten to know each other a lot better since then. Anyway, Dad, this is my boyfriend Phil."

"So nice to finally meet you!" Said the tall ghost. The resemblance he and Dan shared was almost scary, like he was just an upper-case version of Dan. "I'm Thomas Marvolo Howell. So you're Phil! He talks so much about you . . ." (Dan reddened at this.) "I would shake your hand, but . . . Circumstances."

Phil almost chuckled, but he was frozen to the spot. He shoved his clammy hands into both of his pockets, staring at the ghost. Where had he heard that name before?

"Dan, I'm sorry but . . . I'm afraid of ghosts."

"Oh," said Dan. "Oh! I'm so sorry. Fuck. I'm sorry. I didn't know! God, if I had known I would have warned you, but I mean, you know how much I hate spoilers. God, Phil, I'm sorry. Oh wow, sorry."

Phil gave a weak smile. "It's okay, I just . . . I've always had a thing about ghosts. I'm sorry. It was nice meeting you, though, Mr. Howell!" He stammered, avoiding the dead man's glare.

"Do . . . Do you want to leave so soon?" Asked Dan. "We just got here."

"Dan, I . . . Mr. Howell, you seem like a f-friendly ghost, I just," Stuttered Phil. His breath had swallowed enormously, and he was blinking rapidly. He racked his brain, but could not place the name.

"Phil, are you okay? Please, calm down. Deep breaths. Dad, I'll talk to you later."

Dan held Phil's hand as he led him out of the secret room and walked him to the platform.

"Phil. Deep breaths. It's okay. You're okay. My dad wouldn't hurt you. I think he likes you, actually, which is an accomplishment on your part. Just by being yourself, I guess. He wasn't lying when he mentioned I talk about you a lot. When we were on friend-hiatus I would just rant and rant about how much I missed you and wanted to be your friend again. And he's not even homophobic. My dad's pretty cool, Phil."

Phil loved hearing Dan rant, and the jumble of the words helped his breathing slow and gradually, he calmed. He giggled and squeezed Dan's hand.

"Hey, Philly, let's sit."

They sat on the edge of the platform, feet dangling, threatening to fall into the black water.

"Phil . . . I really like you. And I'm sorry I didn't know you had a fear of ghosts. I wish this meeting had worked out better. It sounded better in my head, I swear. I just wanted you to . . . Be more involved in my life, I suppose. If that's possible," he laughed. "But really, I'm sorry."

"Hey, don't overdo the apology, you're starting to sound like me. And for the millionth time, it's okay. You didn't know and I didn't either."

"Sort of a sucky end to your birthday, huh?"

"No day spent with you could be sucky."

Dan blushed and looked into their reflection in the water.

He noticed a pair of large, red eyes staring at him from the water.

"What the fu - "

He turned around suddenly and shut his eyes. He felt excruciating pain in his leg and screamed.

"Dan! What? Oh my god," Phil shouted. This is just like what happened in my nightmare.

Dan lay on his back, still screaming himself hoarse as the basilisk chomped down on his bleeding leg.

Phil panicked. What do I do? How the heck do you kill a giant snake?

He took out his wand and took a deep breath, rubbing his sweaty, shaking hands on his jeans.

"Avada kedavra," he shouted, pointing his wand at the beast.

The snake let out a screech of what Phil perceived to be pain. He found this a victory, as the snake released it's death bite on Dan's leg, and Dan groaned in relief. The beast turned to look at Phil, the source of the spell. He himself could still not believe he had conjured the Unforgivable Curse. Although he hadn't killed the beast, he worried about what would have happened if he had missed . . .

As the 15 foot long beast slithered toward Phil, hissing, Dan jumped on the beast's back and jabbed his wand in it's eye. The basilisk roared and flailed it's giant head around, trying to shake Dan off. He jabbed it in the other eye, completely blinding the animal but not making it less dangerous. Blood streamed from both of it's eye sockets, and Phil gagged.

Phil took a breath and tried again. He understood how perfect this aim needed to be. He couldn't risk a head shot, the way the basilisk shook it's head was extremely discouraging. He wished Dan would let go and fall off, even if it meant landing on his bad leg. Phil would prefer it to the alternative.

"Dan!" Phil screamed. "Let go!"

Dan released his grip on the sides of the snake's head without hesitation, and exactly as Phil hoped wouldn't happen, he landed on his injured leg. He shouted in pain as Phil heard a crack. He winced but focused on keeping his hand steady and how much he wanted this damn snake dead.

"Avada kedavra!" He said again, and the flash of green light went right in the beast's mouth. The snake suddenly froze and fell over, landing on Dan.

"Fuck," he whispered. "Phil! Please, oh god, fuck this hurts so much."

"Dan I'm sorry! I had to. I'd rather you hurt your leg than miss and hit you. I'm so sorry. I can't leave you alone, but I have to get the Headmistress. Ugh. Dan, do you think if I half-carried you . . . ?"

"Anything to numb this pain."

"I'm sorry Dan," whispered Phil as he put Dan's arms around both of his shoulders. Dan winced with every step but didn't complain out loud, other than a wide variety of loud swears.

After about ten minutes, they climbed up the stairs that were hidden inside a large statue to the second floor bathroom.

They eventually reached McGonagall's office. Phil knocked on the large brown doors and waited. They heard a shuffling of papers and they waited for thirty seconds before the door opened, revealing the aged witch, who looked at Dan's injured leg and grimaced, then noticed the trail of blood they had tracked as they had hobbled throughout the castle.

"Daniel! Philip! What happened? Come in," she said hurriedly, and ushered the two boys into her office.