phan // one-shots

Can't Help Falling In Love (2)

summary: "dan is drowning in tidal waves of essays and revision and textbooks, it seems, and the only person who's ever seemed bothered about him enough to throw him a lifering is slowly drifting out of his grasp."  continuation of my phan hogwarts au. make sure you've read part one first!

word count: 8.8k (!!!)

Dan is a mess. Merlin's left buttock, Dan is a hot, steaming wreck of a mess.
Scenarios run wild through his mind all throughout breakfast, interspersed with sharp glass shards of headaches from a regret-filled hangover and the occasional impulse to fall asleep into his porridge. He's running on pure adrenalin, regret and about twenty minutes of sleep due to things he wishes he could take back and stupid feelings he doesn't want. To make matters worse, Phil is nowhere to be seen at the Hufflepuff table, absent from giving Dan his usual reassuring smile and making it impossible for him to apologise so they can both move on with their lives. It's awkward and embarrassing and the last things he needs in his catastrophic shit-show of a life right now, and it would be a whole lot easier if Phil was here so he could just get it over with.

But he doesn't appear at all throughout breakfast and with today being a Sunday there are no designated lessons he can find him in. Dan devotes the rest of the day to traversing the seemingly endless vast castle and its grounds – the greenhouses are empty, the library is silent and Hogwarts itself seems Phil-less and lifeless by comparison. There is no familiar mop of black hair and blue eyes to be found in the Hufflepuff common room or down by the lake; it's only when sunset begins to bathe the smouldering remnants of the evening in a glazed orange hue Dan finally gives up, lying defeated on the grass with Chris & PJ.

"I just don't get it – how can he be literally nowhere? I thought it was only Dumbledore who could be invisible."
"I don't know, Dan. Maybe you just didn't look hard enough, or you must have just missed him."PJ offers, sympathetically albeit slightly weakly, drawing faint silver trails in the evening sky with his wand while a bored Chris arranges a penis (although a questionably atomically incorrect one) out of the surrounding pinecones.

"But why is he hiding from me? I mean, it was really embarrassing yeah, and I probably should have gone after him but it's not like I was kissing his sister or anything – Phil doesn't have a sister, right?"
"No, Dan."
"Good." He rolls over onto his side to stare at his two friends.

"But why did he react so weirdly then? It just doesn't make sense."
The Gryffindor and the Ravenclaw exchange a meaningful glance that makes him feel like he's missing something really noticeable before turning back to look at him again. PJ sighs slightly and puts his wand away.
"I don't know, but I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation you'll figure out soon enough."

The three sit there in brooding silence for a little while before the sky slowly starts to become an inky shade of dark blue embellished with constellations, so beautiful it makes Dan wish he actually paid any attention in Astronomy. It's another undistinguishable time period before he asks a curious question-

"Peej, do you think Phil likes anyone?"
PJ just regards him with an almost unreadable smile: half exasperated, half smartass.
"Yeah. Yeah, I think he probably does."
"Any idea who?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure he's got a thing for brunettes... "Chris pipes up, breaking his previous uncharacteristic thoughtful silence with a trademark jackass grin.

PJ has to elbow Chris forcefully in the ribs to stop him from saying anymore, which Dan presumes means he's about to make a trademark scathing sarcastic remark he really doesn't need right now. They both have knowing grins on their faces and okay, Dan's definitely missing something but he has no clue as to what it actually is. He'll figure it out soon enough. The Ravenclaw's green eyes sparkle with amusement.
"No idea at all."