devils snare [phan]

Chapter 8

I scurried back to class, suddenly feeling much more awake and ready for class.

After potions, I was ready to go to Herbology when PJ grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me away.

"PJ I need to go to class!" I said, trying to pull away.

"We have to go do an interview for the daily prophet." PJ exclaimed.

"What?"

"Come on!"

We pushed through rushing students, a few stopping us to congratulate us or asking for autographs. I never thought anyone would want it but I obliged and gave every what they wanted, no matter how weird and no matter how late we were. The smiles the people got after I hugged them was much more important than some dumb interview, and PJ agreed.

In the end, we did make it to the interview where a girl was standing with a notepad and quill in hand. She had cat eye glass perched low on her nose and white blonde hair curled against her head.

"Oh hello, you're here finally! Get in for the photo, oh this is so exciting." The girl herded PJ , Emma and I to a chair and began to place us positions. Once we were in spots the pictures started being taken like crazy. It's what my dad had said about photoshoots on muggle magazines, flashing lights every three seconds. Finally, photos were done and the blonde girl smiled devilishly.

"Hello, I'm Rita Skeeter!" she buzzed over to Emma and Peej and I, shaking our hands enthusiasm. "I write for the Daily Prophet. But enough about me, we want to know you. What makes you special? What made the goblet of fire pick you? What is your plan? What are your goals, in the tournament or in life in general? Me, myself, and I want to know. Oh that was good, maybe I should make that my slogan." Peej, Emma, and I glanced between each other. "Alright who will go first? How about the host! Fredrick? Filbert? Filippus?"

"Uh... Phil?" I raised my hand timidly.

"Ah yes, Phil, come lets go!" she started to walked towards me.

Peej leaned to my ear and whispered quickly, "Don't tell her you didn't enter."

I nodded just as she grabbed my wrist and yanked me away. I stumbled behind her, barely walking steadily as is. She came upon a broom closet and pushed me inside.

"Why are we in here?" I asked.

"Privacy." She giggled.

I swallowed and sat down on a crate. She sat across from me and pulled out her quill and notepad.

"Now Filbert—"

"Phil."

"Phil, why did you join the Tri-Wizard Tournament?"

I paused and looked at my tie.

"I guess my friends thought it was a good idea," I chuckled under my breath.

"How so?"

"Uh, my friend Dan said I'm really strong. I guess I am." I shrugged, my cheeks heating up.

"How would you say you're strong?" rita continued to look up over her glasses before scribbling things down.

"Well... Dan and I will play fight and I will usually like pick him and like carry him around and he is a little taller than me. Also Dan couldn't carry these text books and he said they were like a ton and they weren't that heavy for me. I don't know, I'm not like some superhero but he tells me I'm really strong."

"You talk about Dan quite a lot, what is your relationship with Dan?"

I froze, I had never talked about being bisexual to myself much less to another person. Maybe I did have a tiny crush on Dan but he probably didn't feel the same.

My stomach twisted into knots and a lump formed in my throat. I coughed into my hand and fiddled a little with my tie.

"Do I uh... do I have to answer that?"

"Well,—" a small alarm clock went off in her pocket and she sighed. "sadly no, our time is up. But I will be back to ask you questions."

I scrambled from the cupboard and back to Peej. I leaned against him, panting heavily.

"How bad was it?" PJ asked glancing at me warily.

"Really bad." I mumbled, suddenly aware of my actions. I straightened up and scooted away from PJ , pushing my shoulders back to seem bigger. "she asked pretty invasive questions."

"You know, Dan came in a few minutes looking for you." PJ smiled softly when I perked up, relaxing immediately.

"Where did he go?" I asked, already gathering my things.

"Down the right." PJ smiled and I sent one back.

"Thank you!" I waved at him and ran off.

Everyone else was going to their next class but I now had a free period and I planned to spending it with Dan.

❀❁✿◈✿❁❀

I found Dan sitting in the library, his nose stuffed in a book. He glanced towards me and smiled but didn't move his face.

"Are you okay, Dan?" I asked, plopping down next to him.

"The book is holding onto my nose." Dan whimpered.

I leaned over and began to stroke the book along the edge of the cover, whispering comforting words in the hopes the book would release Dan. It did, making grumbling noises as it so, before flying back onto a shelf.

Dan glanced from the floating book to me with wide eyes.

"You are like a ray of sunshine, you brighten everything you touch." Dan said in an awe struck tone.

I looked away bashfully and my cheeks went hot.

"Well, I— no— I mean I guess— sorta..." I said, my tongue and heart in a jumble of knots.

Dan just laughed and shook his head. He leaned in towards me before pausing, his eyes flickering to my lips, and placed a kiss on my cheek. His lips lingered a little longer than necessary and my face heated up even more. He slowly leaned back, his cheeks bright pink, before wrapping an arm around me.

"So, how was your interview?" Dan asked.

I groaned and slumped into the table.

"Not good." I groaned

"What'd they ask about?" Dan dropped his chin into his hands and leaned forward.

"You." Dan went white and leaned away. "I love talking about you but I didn't want to have our friendship some juicy gossip, it's ours and putting it for public consumption will taint it."

Dan seemed to relax slightly, nodding slowly.

"Yeah, and they would probably make the worst puns or make so crude combination of our names. Something like... 'are you a phan?'"

I snorted and Dan laughed.

"That is the worst pun I have ever heard in my entire life." I continued to chuckle along with Dan.

"Aren't you proud, I came up with it on the spot." Dan flipped his imaginary hair over his shoulder.

"I am, that is impressive."

"I'm just trash."

We both burst into giggles, my head leaning over and into his chest. His heart was beating rapidly against my ear and his chest felt firm yet warm, I leaned in closer. I closed my eyes and inhaled the familiar warming smell of honey. Dan's hand rest along my jawline and I looked up, his brown eyes meeting mine. I sat up slowly and scooted closer to him, my eyes trained on his pink lips. His breath was hot and shaky and knots were tightening in my stomach.

"Excuse me but if you are going to have a make out session please my library." Madame Prince snapped as she walked by. we jumped back and blushed. we looked at each other and burst into giggles, his head resting on my shoulder blade

I smiled. "Sorry madame but we're comfortable here."