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Chapter Text

Dan is a fourth year Slytherin, Phil is a fifth year Hufflepuff prefect. What could go wrong?

A lot can go wrong, as it happens, when you're two best friends in two different houses. Dan and Phil know that, they knew it before they even really met. Phil is the year above Dan so that makes everything even harder but they can deal with it because their bond is strong, stronger than any other friendship inside Hogwarts.

Despite this bond, a big problem is their houses, Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Two polar-opposites, universes apart. It shouldn't work, they know that. People have told them that, warned them that it'll end in tears. Maybe it wouldn't work if they weren't Dan and Phil. So different yet so alike, opposites yet only opposites of the same coin. Dan is the dark and Phil is the light, they complete each other in many ways other people can't even imagine.

Dan's parents like Phil. A good, loyal person that actively tries their hardest to make others around him happy. They adore him and constantly ask Dan every break whether Phil's staying over for some of the holidays. Sometimes he thinks they like Phil more then him but it doesn't bother Dan because he wouldn't blame them. Phil is amazing. Clever and witty with a glowing personality to match. Phil says his mother does the same about him as she sees him as a third son. Dan isn't surprised, Phil definitely got his kind, motherly almost, personality from his mum.

Phil's personality is most likely the reason why his nickname through his year has been AmazingPhil since he was in first year. In first year people called Dan danisnotonfire because he had accidental set fire to his desk in charms and Professor Flitwick had told him it was a miracle he hadn't burnt his eyebrows off. That branding slowly had been forgotten, to Dan's upmost relief but Phil still has fun bringing it back up every now and then. If it was anyone else, Dan would have been annoyed.

"And...Dan, are you even listening to me?"

Dan shakes his head to focus his mind back on what Phil is saying, sure enough he can't really remember anything Phil has said to him in the last five minutes.

"No, sorry," Dan answers, grinning when Phil playfully pushes his shoulder, "hey! It's not my fault you couldn't keep me interested enough to listen!"

"Nah it's not that. You just have the attention span of a gnat," Phil quips back, grinning at him, blue eyes glowing.

Dan laughs, he loves their easy, good-natured banter. That's why their relationship works so well, everything's just...easy when they're together, no front, no masks just them.

"What even are gnats?" Dan asks, sitting down cross legged on the grass next to the the Great Lake, Phil following him willingly, shortly after, "they're little flies, aren't they?"

"I don't know, they're little insects that's all I know and you have an attention span of them," Phil giggles when Dan pretends to attempt to push him into the lake, "don't push me in!"

"I was joking, you spork," Dan laughs, leaning back on his arms, straightening his legs and loosening his tie, "it's so hot today."

"So British, talking about the weather," Phil jokes, reaching out to glide his hands through the warm water.

"It's not British to say it's warm. It's never warm in Scotland," Dan replies, he opens his eyes and looks beside him at Phil, the sun's making his raven coloured hair shine, "you've put sun cream on, haven't you? You're too pale for this weather, you burn way too easily."

"I'm not stupid, I put it on before we left. You don't need to worry about me," Phil answers, flicking water at Dan, who had closed his eyes against the sun so squeaks in shock.

"Oi! You're playing a dangerous game, Lester," Dan says, playfully glaring at the older boy, "I'm a Slytherin, remember?"

Phil laughs, softly at that his tongue poking out between his teeth, "You couldn't hurt a gnat, Howell!"

"Try me," Dan answers, trying to look menacing but he can't keep his smile at bay when Phil is smiling at him like that, "stop making me smile! I've got a reputation to uphold!"

"What reputation? The fourth year boy with a fringe, who hangs out with a fifth year Hufflepuff? That'll strike the fear of Merlin into everyone." Dan bursts out laughing at that, clutching his sides breathlessly.

"When you put it like that it sounds stupid," Dan says, shaking his head, giggling again and moving his fringe further to the side of his face.

Phil laughs lightly, sitting up, "we should head back now. You've got defence half an hour before I've got potions so we should leave now, you don't want to be late."

"Do we have too!" Dan complains, sticking his bottom lip out in an over-agitated pout, Phil give him a serious look for a moment causing him to roll his eyes, "alright, alright, mr perfect prefect."

"Oi, watch it, Howell, or I'll deduct points," Phil jokes, getting up and pretty much dragging Dan with him.

"I'm so scared," Dan laughs, rolling his eyes but allowing Phil to pull him up anyway.

"Not you as well. You sound like those seventh year Slytherins," Phil complains, shaking his head at Dan with a fond smile on his face.

Dan's eyebrows knit together with annoyance, "they're not giving you a hard time again, are they? I swear if they are..."

Phil laughs softly, "Dan, calm down, it's fine. They're just a hindrance, no harm meant."

Dan nods, slowly, "okay but if they do anything..."

"It goes without saying, Dan," Phil says, seriously, "we've agreed on this."

"Sometimes I can really tell you're 16," Dan comments, with soft, fondness in his voice.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Phil laughs, grabbing Dan's arm and pulling him to make him walk faster, "if we stay at your pace we'll be lucky to get back by nightfall."

Dan's loud laughter echoes across the school grounds as Phil drags him along.

TBC

Chapter Text

Dan walks into his DADA lesson with his hands in his pockets and an excuse on the tip of his tounge. Everyone is stood in front of a closed wardrobe, looking at it in mild wonder and almost fear while listening to the Professor talk.

Professor Samson spots Dan and pauses in his explanation. He's a really good teacher, intelligent, fair, Dan likes him a lot mostly due to his blunt and straightforward nature.

"You're late...again, Daniel," Professor Samson says, annoyance evident in his voice, "loitering, I take it?

Dan catches himself before he makes a sarcastic comment.

"No, sir. We-I just lost track of time," Dan answers, putting on a fake apologetic voice.

Dan is anything but, he had enjoyed annoying Phil by dragging his feet way too much, on the way to the classroom.

"Mr Lester should know better then to allow you to be late," the Professor states, shaking his head in disappointed, "though I'm sure you're the bad influence in your friendship as I see it."

Dan smirks, stiffening a laugh, "most likely, professor."

"Right, anyway class. Caspar, can you tell Dan what we are doing this lesson seen as he conveniently missed it."

Caspar looks dismayed, obviously not having listened fully, "Ehh, yes sir. We are learning about..." Dan catches his glance over at Joe, who mouths something at him, "...Boggart and seeing what they'll turn into for us."

Dan almost laughs, good save Cas, he thinks.

"Very good," Professor Samson says, looking satisfied with the answer, "as I was saying, the bogart has no know form as it turns into the thing that the person deems the most fearful. It will turn into your worst nightmare, which causes many wizards and witches to falter in their confidence."

Tyler puts up his hand.

"Yes, Tyler."

"Then how do we get rid of it? My mum says they can make homes in dark places in house."

"Good question, Tyler, I'm glad you asked. There is a spell that can defeat it, 'riddikulus', but it's not that simple. You must use laughter to defeat a boggart so try and imagine the imagine as something funny then just laugh at it," the Professor explains, leaning against the wardrobe.

Dan bites his lip in thought, what would his biggest fear be? Disappointing his parents?Darkness? Trees at night (damn you horror movies)? A giant moth? Dan isn't too sure. Caspar shakes him out of his thoughts by pulling him into the slightly organised queue by the arm.

"Stop thinking so much, this is gonna be both fun and terrifying," Caspar says, grinning in his usual Caspar Lee way, "I'm happy we share defence with the Hufflepuffs, imagine having to do this with Gryffindors. Utterly embarrassing."

"Agreed. What do you think it'll change into for you?" Dan asks, shifting on his feet, nervously.

"Not sure. A spider, maybe?" Caspar answers, watching the first few people walk up to the bogart, saying Riddikulus and laughing a weak and fearful laugh, "something generic, probably. What about you?"

"Fuck if I know. I think that's worse than having an idea," Dan answers, wondering if he can manage to sneak out of the classroom without anyone noticing, "I'm scared of the dark and things like that but that can't be it."

"Don't know, mate. You'll find out soon though," Caspar answers, nodding to the thinned line in front of them, there is two people to go before it's Dan's turn, "Oi, Joe. What do you think yours'll be?"

"Not a clue, Cas," Joe answers, walking over to Caspar with Jack Maynard and Oli White following close behind, "Jack's will definitely be a spider."

"I'm not that scared!" Jack protests, annoyed. Joe snorts getting an elbow to the ribs from his friend.

"Keep telling yourself that, mate, and it might come true," Oli answers, putting his hand on Jack's shoulder and laughing with the other.

Dan turns away from their conversation discretely, tuning out the banter of the four friends. He's not really keen on large groups so he sticks to one or two close friends at most. Vaguely, he wishes Phil was here to keep him company and maybe even give Dan some insight into his biggest fear. Phil knows him the best after all.

"Dan, your turn," Professor Samson prompts, hand on the handle of the wardrobe read to open it.

"Alright, I'm ready," Dan answers, taking his wand out swiftly with grace he can do nothing else in.

The door is pulled open and, to Dan's surprise, Phil steps out. A buzz of talking breaks out among his fellow class mates. He's about to open his mouth to say the spell when the boggart disguised as Phil looks at him with a mixture of anger and hatred in his eyes.

"You really think I could ever want to be friends with you? A fourth year Slytherin?," Phil lets out a cold laugh that cuts through the tense air like a knife, "don't make me laugh. All you ever do is talk about nonsense that I don't care about. I was only being nice when I spoke to you the first time and I never could shake you off after that."

Dan feels tears prick his eyes like needles, " Phil, I...."

"You always do that! Talk over me, it's infuriating. You're clingy and annoying. You know when you say you feel worthlessness? Like nobody likes you? Well that's true. I hate you Da-"

The sharp, hurtful words are cut short by Professor Samson jumping in front of him, prompting the boggart to shift form into a wasp.

"Riddikulus!" The professor says, confidently, causing the wasp to turn into a balloon and fly around the room.

Time feels like it's standing still for Dan, he distantly registers that the boggart has flown back into the wardrobe. All he can think about is Phil's...no not Phil's...a boggart disguised as Phil's words. Worthless, annoying, clingy. Is that what Phil really thought of him? Dan can't breath, the air feels tainted and stale to his dry throat.

"Dan, Dan listen to me," a familiar voice breaks through the thick air that has surrounded him," You have to breath for me, okay? Come on, take a deep breath with me. In and out. Like I taught you before, remember?"

Dan blinks, clearing his previously blurry vision, and finding himself staring into ocean blue-green eyes. The world seems to come into focus at that moment allowing his mind to register the concern written in the eyes looking back at him and the dark hair that is seated and swept to the side of the head ending just above the eye. It's Phil.

"Ph-Phil," Dan says, voice quiet and broken to his own ears.

"Yeah, yeah, it's me," Phil answers, softly, "everything's okay now, just breath for me, yeah?"

Dan nods, wordlessly, copying Phil's breathing in an attempt to calm himself down. Phil takes hold of his hand and places it on his own chest to give Dan sometimes to coy easier. Dan focuses on Phil's hand on his and his own breathing until his breath has evened out again.

"I'm sorry," Dan mumbles, quietly.

Phil shakes his head, "don't apologise, Dan. You've got nothing to say sorry for. It was only a boggart, they're bad at the best of time. None of what it said was true, okay? I think your amazing, you are amazing."

"You-you should be in potions," Dan points out, lamely.

Phil laughs softly, "Caspar came to get me, said something about you reacting badly to your boggart."

Dan groans, burying his head in his arms, "everyone saw? Brilliant Slytherin I'm turning out to be, what an embarrassment."

"Hey, come on. Nobody's gonna judge you. It's your biggest fear, it meant to be scary," Phil reassures, putting his arm around Dan comfortingly, "Caspar and his mates seemed more concerned then anything else."

"Yeah, who wouldn't be terrified. Phil Lester the school renowned nice guy Hufflepuff being genuinely angry at someone," Dan jokes, weakly, "it's almost pathetic really."

Phil sighs, "you're way too hard on yourself. I'd never say any of those things to you, okay? Never. You're my best friend, Dan, and I'm confident you'll always be that to me."

"Thanks, Phil," Dan says, his voice gentle, "I wonder what my boggart would have been if we did it last year before we were really friends."

"A tree probably," Phil jokes, pushing Dan's shoulder with his own.

"It's a tree at night!"

"Still a tree. Come on, let's go to next lesson," Phil says, standing up and pulling Dan with him, "On the bright side, you got me out of clearing up in potions."

"Glad to be of service. I'll make sure to have a break down near the end of lesson next time as well," Dan jokes, letting Phil pull him to his feet.

Phil smiles, sadly, "You really scared me, Dan, please try not to do that again."

Dan nods, letting out a slow breath. In a weird way it feels nice to know that Phil was genuinely worried about him. It makes him feel safe in the knowledge that Phil does care about him, a lot.

"I won't. Come on, I'll drop you off at Ancient Runes then head to charms," Dan says, leading the way out of the DADA classroom.

Phil laughs, tongue sticking out between his teeth briefly, "I swear you know my timetable more than you know your own."

Dan laughs at that, making a joke about how he can't get a grip on spells so something has to stick. They keep walking side by side, chatting about nothing but it feels like everything to Dan.

As promised, Dan walks Phil to his class room, flashing a smile of greeting at Jim and Louise, who are stood by the door together.

"Heya, Dan. I heard there was some bother in defence, I was worried since Phil left so quickly," Louise says, smiling understandingly at him.

"I'm good now, thanks," Dan answers, smiling back at Louise, "just another one of my awkward situations I get myself into."

They all laugh at that, knowing full well it could be true. Dan and Louise both manage to cause awkward social situations either together or apart.

"You'll be late, Dan," Phil prompts, pushing Dan away lightly, "run along, child."

"Fuck off, Phil," Dan laughs, shaking his head, "I'm going. Until next time my friends."

"Try not to set yourself on fire!" Phil quips, grinning when Dan glares at him.

"Dan is not on fire, remember!" Dan calls back, smiling at Phil briefly, before turning on his heels and striding off.

"Is he okay?" Louise asks, concerned, when he's gone.

"I don't know but he will be. I'll make sure of it," Phil answers, determined.

 TBC

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

"I'm okay, Phil! Like I've said a million times," Dan answers Phil's previous question, aggravation clear in his loud voice.

"I just, I know how it would have affected me..."

"For fuck sake, Phil. I'm not you, okay? I don't need to talk to anyone," Dan snapped, Phil flinches at the anger behind it, seeing this, Dan's face softens, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap I..."

Phil shakes his head slowly, "it's fine. You go to lunch, I need to go to my dorm to get my OWL revision."

Dan nods, sighing, watching Phil walk off. They don't argue often, he doesn't even think he could count this as an argument, but it still makes Dan feel awful. He really is fine or as fine as he can be after that Boggart. Nobody made fun of him for it so he classes that as a win. He should talk to Phil, tell him that he didn't mean anything by it but he decides against it, Phil would rather let Dan calm down on his own then tackle the issue when they have time alone.

"Dan! Hiya," Louise greets, smiling brightly, "have you seen, Phil? We need to work out prefect duties for tonight. I think we should do it in pairs, you know so we don't get bored wandering corridors late at night. What do you think?"

"Yeah...yeah I guess so," Dan says, nodding, "Phil's at the common room, getting revision or something like that."

Louise rolls her eyes, "The poor lad doesn't need to revise much yet. He's convince he'll fail if he isn't thinking about exams 24-7. Can you talk to him? He won't listen to me, thinks I'm being too nice to him."

It makes Dan's heart clench painfully when Phil's (and his) friends tell him that Phil is being too hard on himself again and feeling the need to do something big for people as though they will stop being friends with him if he doesn't. Dan hates it because Phil is the kindest person he knows to everyone but himself. He would much rather do something to make someone else happy then something for himself.

Dan twirls his wand in his hand, "I'll talk to him, don't worry. I don't think he'll listen though."

Louise sighs, "maybe not but you're our best bet. He cares about you, Dan, so much. He values your opinion, more then you will ever understand. "

"We care about and value each other, Louise," Dan answers, nodding, "I know Phil and it's so hard to get him to stop being hard on himself."

"Let's go to lunch, I hear they have apple pie today," Louise says, grabbing his arm and pulling him in the direction of the Great Hall, "Phil is meeting you there I presume?"

"Yeah," Dan answers, not wanting to explain to their friend about his and Phil's 'argument'.

*******

"Imagine being able to apparate!" Caspar says, grinning, "it would be so easy to annoy someone by just apparating mid conversation."

"Petition to prevent Caspar being allowed to apparate?" Dan jokes, taking a sip of his pumpkin juice.

"I'd sign it," Joe agrees, pushing his friend with his shoulder, "he's a danger to himself and others."

Dan and the others laugh at that. It felt both comfortable and wrong of Dan. He's use to Phil's unwavering presence beside him, usually quiet but still there. It felt weird for him, even the others seem to glance at the seat Phil should be sat in as if expecting him to be there before remembering. Tyler had come over to Dan to tell him that:

"Phil says to tell you that he doesn't feel very well, head ache or something, and to not worry if he doesn't turn up for lunch."

Dan doesn't like it. Phil will never usually voluntarily miss lunch for a headache, he's very prone to them and he hates worrying Dan by complaining about it. So what's changed? Does he think Dan is out for an argument and doesn't want to put himself through that with a head ache? Dan has to talk to him.

He downs the last of his pumpkin juice and moves to stand up.

"I'm gonna go see if Phil's alright, see you lot later," Dan annonces, hitching his bag onto his shoulder and shooting Louise a quick smile.

*****

"Alright, Howell?" Conor Maynard greets him as he gets to the Hufflepuff common room, "do me a favour and don't tell my brother you've seen me? He thinks I should stop sneaking into the kitchens, not a Gryffindor's style."

"How would Jack know what a Gryffindor's style is? He's the most Slytherin guy I know," Dan jokes, with a laugh Conor nods.

"I guess you're right," Conor answers, smirking, "see you round, Howell and remember I was never here."

Dan mimics zipping his lips closed, "lips are sealed."

Dan turns back to the Hufflepuff common room entrance and tapping the barrels slowly in the rhythm that Phil had taught him at the start of the year. The door opens easily and allows Dan entrance.

"Phil?" Dan calls up the Hufflepuff fifth year boys stair case.

"Dan?" Phil answers, confusion obvious in his voice, "what are you doing here?"

"Charming, I just wanted to see you," Dan says, rolling his eyes, "Tyler said you had a head ache."

"Yeah," Phil says, descending the stairs slowly, "didn't think you'd come. I wanted to give you space, you know, I could tell I was annoying you before."

Dan shakes his head, smiling softly, "You weren't, you spork. Just me being a defensive twit. The boggart shook me up a little, granted, but I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm sorry. Am I forgiven?"

The brown haired boy puts on his best puppy dog eyes, sticking his bottom lip out in a pout. Phil grins at him, shaking his head fondly.

"Of course you're forgiven," the black haired boy confirms, pulling Dan into a tight but comforting hug, "don't push me away, Dan. I'm trying to help."

"I know and I'm sorry," Dan mutters into the other boy's shoulder.

"Daniel, what has your mother told you about mumbling," Phil jokes, mimicking Dan's mothers high pitched voice.

Dan snorts out a laugh, pushing Phil lightly away from him, "are you going to invite me to your dorm or are we gonna stand here all lunch?"

"I'm not too sure, I don't usually invite fourteen year olds into my dorm," Phil teases, smirking, mockingly suggestive.

"Not for that, you dingus," Dan says, pushing Phil's shoulder in mock horror, a slight blush decorating his cheeks.

"I was only kidding. Come on," Phil laughs, walking back up the stairs, Dan following close behind him.

TBC