"How could he ever love a Hufflepuff like me?" Dan thought to himself. He was referring to Phil, the cute Slytherin and the most beautiful person Dan had ever seen. They had been friends for a few years ever since Dan had met Phil in front of platform 9¾. Since Phil was a year above Dan, Phil taught him how to get to Hogsmeade Station, with a few confused looks of course.
Fast forward a few years, Dan and Phil are best friends. Dan had also fallen in love with Phil.
At lunch, Phil was sitting next to Dan.
"I found an invisibility cloak. Wanna try it out?" Phil whispered and looked at Dan, waiting for a response.
"Where the hell did you find an invisibility cloak?" Dan asked, trying to keep his voice down so others didn't hear.
"Meet me here after dark. I want to try it." Phil said and quietly walked off.
At night, Dan walked into the dining hall to see Phil sitting on one of the tables. He had the invisibility cloak and a lantern in his hands.
"Hello, Daniel" Phil said playfully, "are you ready to break the rules?"
"More rule breaking? I'm already out of my dorm after dark. What if they find us?" Dan replied.
"Come on, Dan. It'll be fine. Let's go." Phil motioned Dan over and draped the cloak over the both of them. Phil started to guide Dan towards Phil's secret destination. Dan had no idea where they were going.
After walking for a while, Phil told Dan to stop and took off the cloak. He started walking over to a mirror. Dan approached it after Phil and read the mirror.
"Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. What does that mean?"
"This, my young Daniel, is no regular mirror. This is The Mirror of Erised," Phil stated, "if you read it backwards, it translates to "I show not your face, but your heart's desire." When you look into this mirror, it shows you what your heart desires to be true."
Dan was curious, "what do you see, Phil?"
Phil blushed slightly at the question, "oh, that isn't important."
Dan raised an eyebrow at this, but dropped the subject. He walked over to the mirror while Phil started to look around for more unusual objects. He looked straight into the mirror. For a second, there was nothing. Then, Phil began to walk up behind him and wrapped his arms around Dan's waist. Dan blushed.
"Um... Phil?" Dan asked, but when he turned around to look at him, Phil wasn't there. Dan turned back to the mirror, and there Phil was again.
"Yeah, Dan?" Phil's voice was far away from the mirror. Dan had a sudden realization of what was going on.
"O-oh. N-nevermind," Dan stuttered.
"You sure?" Phil walked up to Dan. Mirror Phil disappeared.
"Yeah. I'm sure."
"What did you see?"
"What?"
"In the mirror. What did you see?"
"Oh. Nothing," Dan lied.
"Nothing?" Phil asked
"Yeah. Let's go back to our dorms. It's getting late and I'm starting to get tired."
Dan grabbed the invisibility cloak and draped it over both of them, and they went back to their dorms.
The next night, Dan snuck out of his dorm to visit the mirror again. He didn't care about the invisibility cloak. He needed to know what it all meant.
The mirror was the same as last time, except they were both older, mid-to-late 40's. There was a child, about 8 years old, at their feet. Mirror Phil started to plant kisses on the back of Dan's neck, his arms wrapped around Dan's waist like last time. It felt so real for Dan because he longed for it to be.
"Stop it, Phil," Dan giggled, as if the mirror could hear him.
After a while, Dan spoke the words he wanted to say since the day he met the raven-haired Slytherin boy:
"I love you, Phil."
"Dan?" A voice said from the shadows of the room. Dan turned around and Fake Phil disappeared, along with the child. Dan turned a bright red as he saw Phil emerge from the darkness into the faint light provided by the lantern Dan brought.
"Phil, I can explain-"
"You saw it too, didn't you?" Phil asked, awestruck.
"What?"
"Us. In the future. That's what I saw when I looked in the mirror, but I didn't want to scare you off by telling you that. You saw it too, didn't you?"
Dan stood silent for a minute, trying to comprehend what Phil was saying. Phil started to blush and turned to run away, assuming Dan hadn't seen the same thing he saw.
"Yes," Dan admitted, "I saw it."
Phil turned back to look Dan in the eyes and stepped closer.
"What does this mean?" Phil asked.
Dan took a step forward, "I don't know. What do you think it means?"
Phil took another step forward, "I think that means our hearts desire to be with each other."
Dan noticed how close they were and stepped closer, making them inches apart, "I think I agree with you."
"Well, in that case," Phil leaned forward so his and Dan's lips were brushing against each other as he spoke, "may I kiss you, Dan Howell?"
Dan giggled, "Of course, Phil Lester."
Phil closed the space between their lips. Phil wrapped his arms around Dan's waist, whilst Dan placed one hand at the nape of Phil's neck. It was a light kiss at first, then Phil deepened it and it ended up making both of them breathless. Dan broke the kiss for a moment just to say those same words to real Phil this time:
"I love you, Phil."
"I love you too, Dan," Phil replied, and continued to kiss Dan deeply once more.
