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It was an unusual friendship for sure. No one expected it. None of the professors who saw them walking the halls, no one in the common rooms, not even the ghosts. And not much surprised the ghosts anymore, they’ve pretty much seen it all. However, no one expected a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin to be the best of friends. Mainly because of the vast amount of differences that were between the students who resided in these houses.
Those in Ravenclaw are said to be intelligent and only those with the sharpest minds can be seen walking their halls. Phil Lester was just this. He was at the top of all his classes, getting the highest marks on all of his exams. If he wasn’t roaming the halls of the school he could be found up inside of the Ravenclaw tower watching the scenery as much as he could before the year was over and they all had to go back home.
Those who would be placed in Slytherin had great ambitions and sometimes were destined for greatness. Those in Slytherin have a darker sense of humor about them, which Dan Howell most certainly did. Dan was the prankster and the one to cause trouble in Slytherin. He was also the one to cause their house to lose points during the school year. Most memorable was when he broke into Professor Snape’s office and unleashed hundreds of rats for him to come into. Which was easy considering where his office was located in the castle. Slytherin came in last that year.
So it was, once again, quite the surprise when he and Phil Lester were seen getting along so well. It just wasn’t usual for those houses to connect as those two did. It was noticeable that once Dan connected with Phil, the trouble Dan found himself in decreased immensely. Not to say that he still didn’t cause problems, he most certainly did. But not as often.
The two met in their second year at Hogwarts in one of their classes. They got paired together for a project and hit things off. Now, in their seventh year, the two took almost all the same classes that they could. Phil had plans to try and become a professor of muggle studies, although back home no one thought that was a good idea. But Dan cheered him on and Phil did the same to Dan. Dan was captain of the Quidditch team now and looking to go professional. He was extremely talented when it came to the sport. Phil wasn’t much of a quidditch fan, but he still went to every game that he could to be there for Dan. In the first year Dan played after befriending Phil, he came to Phil covered in bruises many times because he managed to injure himself.
Phil was in the library, sat at a table between two tall bookshelves. Thousands of books surrounded him if he had to guess. He was taking an advanced muggle studies course and just trying to get all the names of inventions and names of inventors down. Usually studying never bothered him this much. Their final exams were coming up and Phil just wanted them to be over, even though they didn’t officially start until next week.
Dan was wandering the halls and figured he would go spend some time with Phil. The two had seen each other hours ago that same day but Dan just missed Phil when he wasn’t there. He couldn’t describe it. Was it a crush? Most likely but Dan didn’t know how Phil felt about him and he didn’t want to ask and ruin their friendship. Despite the fact that he swears Phil cuddled him in his sleep once when Phil snuck into the Slytherin commons and spent the night with him.
He headed through the corridor and made his way to the library. Assuming Phil was still there since that’s where he said he was going earlier. Students were heading there as well, many Dan recognized but never interacted with really. Mostly faces he saw in classes and that was it. Heading in through the entrance Dan made his way to the section where books on the muggle world were. When he got there he found Phil nose deep in a book, frantically writing notes as he read.
“Hey you,” Dan said, coming and sitting across from Phil. Phil mumbled “hey” in response but didn’t look up from his book. “Struggling?”
Phil put his quill down and rubbed his eyes and sighed. “Yeah. Just a bit.”
Dan had the same class as Phil but it was a breeze for him. Dan came from the muggle world, Phil didn’t. So he already had outside knowledge to help him and use it to his advantage, but Phil didn’t. Although he wished he did sometimes. Dan sat and watched Phil and bit his lip. The sun was setting and the light from the sun was shining in on Phil and casting a shadow across his forehead from his hair. Dan could see the marks embedded into his nose where his glasses usually sit. Ever since Dan introduced Phil to contacts, he was able to get his hands on some and it was a lifesaver when he didn’t feel like wearing glasses. Dan found Phil cute with his glasses so sometimes it was sad seeing him without.
“You need a break.”
“I can’t afford to get a bad mark.”
“You won’t. You’re smart.”
Phil looked at Dan. “I can’t really take the chance of getting any questions wrong Dan.”
“You can miss a few questions and still be one of the top in the class.”
Phil rubbed his eyes and looked out the window. There was snow falling now, covering the grounds in a beautiful white blanket that he adored. Snow was his favorite in the winter. Last year Dan managed to sneak them into a room in the castle and transform it to look like the winter ball that is held. The two danced for hours until they were caught. It was moments like that one that made Dan wish he would take his chance.
Dan smiled and got an idea. “Come on,” He said, standing up and holding his hand out for Phil.
“Why?”
“Shut up and come on. I have an idea.” Dan knew that there were no classes being held tonight in the Astronomy tower, so he could sneak them up there to watch the sunset and the snowfall.
Phil sighed and reluctantly put his notes and book away and tucked them safely away where he could come back either later or tomorrow to find them. He grabbed Dan’s hand only to make a mental note of how sweaty his hand got so quickly.
Dan led the two in silence through the halls and to the entrance of the Astronomy Tower and Phil stopped in his tracks. “Damn it, Dan, we’re going to get caught.”
“No, we won’t. There’s no class tonight and no one comes this way anyways.”
“You don’t know that.”
Dan just gave him a sly grin and shook his head. “You know I hate being wrong. Why would I take the risk?”
“When wouldn’t you?” Phil stared at him, “Bloody hell just last week you let a bunch of owls loose in the dining hall.”
Dan couldn’t help but laugh. It was a funny trick he did, it did cost Slytherin some points though, and a few detentions where Professor Snape just gave him a lecture over and over about needing to stop this foolish behavior. But as Dan saw it, it was his final year, he had to go out with a bang somehow.
Phil just glared and sighed. “Fine. But if we get caught, I’m hurting you.” Dan nodded in agreement and carefully picked the lock and the two headed up to the top of the tower. It was quite the journey up since there were a lot of stairs. Phil was out of breath but trying to hide the fact. Dan noticed but didn’t say anything. At the top the two went and stood by the ledge, Dan laid his hands on the railing that was rather cold.
“I love the snow so much,” Phil said and stared out. Dan looked at him and just smiled. Phil’s eyes lit up as he watched the snowfall. It was like a child on Christmas, except Phil was just watching it snow. Snow held a deep meaning to him and Dan adored how he looked at it. But he wished that he saw Phil looking at him that same way sometimes.
“Are you going home for Christmas?” Dan asked.
“No,” Phil shook his head, “Mum and dad never answered my letters about if they wanted me home.”
“I’m sorry, Phil.”
Phil just shrugged. “It’s okay. It happens every year.”
“I can stay back if you’d like so you’re not alone.”
“Go see your family, don’t stay here because of me.”
The two looked at each other, and Phil offered a small smile that was full of sadness.
As the night went on, the two turned some objects into blankets and pillows and laid on the ground. Dan used a spell to make the roof invisible so they could watch the stars as the clouds went away. It was absolute silence and bliss between the two. Dan’s heart however skipped a beat when he noticed that Phil’s hand was so close to his. Dan sighed and sat up. Phil tiredly looked at him and raised his eyebrow. “What’s wrong?” he asked and sat up.
Dan didn’t answer. He just stared out into the world and Phil was left staring at him. The chance of Phil having feelings for him back was slim and Dan didn’t want to take that chance of ruining their friendship. Usually, he wouldn’t care but Phil was special to him.
“Dan.”
“Phil.”
“Not funny. What’s wrong?” Phil turned and sat facing him now. Dan was still facing forward but turned slightly to face him. “Come on, you can tell me.”
Dan bit his lip and rubbed his eyes. “It’s embarrassing.”
“It can’t be that embarrassing. Come on. I’ll even close my eyes.” Before Dan could answer Phil closed his eyes and sat, waiting patiently.
Dan froze for about ten seconds until he saw the puzzled look on Phil’s face and he decided it was now or never. He wouldn’t get this chance again most likely and he never let stuff stop him from getting what he wanted before.
Swiftly, Dan placed his hand gently on Phil’s jaw, cupping it and his fingers resting behind his ear. Phil’s eyes opened and before Dan could change his mind, he shut his own eyes and leaned forward and kissed Phil. It was quick and full of nervousness and uncertainty that Phil knew the feeling all too well. Butterflies erupted inside of Dan and he couldn’t help but smile, even though Phil didn’t kiss him back. His happy world was cut short as he realized Phil didn’t kiss him back. He ruined things, didn’t he?
Dan pulled back quickly and faced forward and muttered sorry and awkwardly played with his hands. His heart was pounding, he could hear it in his ears. Phil couldn’t help but laugh and Dan looked at him, a bit hurt.
“Sorry... Sorry.” Phil said and gave Dan a smile, “I wondered when that was going to happen.”
Dan wasn’t sure if he heard Phil right or not and all he could say was, “Huh?”
“I know how you are, so I had been waiting for you to make the first move.”
“I hate you. Do you know how terrified I was of being wrong? And ruining our friendship?”
“You hate being wrong.”
“I know,” Dan said loudly, “This was the worst thing to be wrong about.”
“But you’re not wrong.”
“I know that now you bloody fool.”
The two sat for a few minutes before Dan started to talk. They talked about this for a couple of hours and what could possibly happen going forwards. The two somehow ended up falling asleep, not realizing that when they would wake up a professor would be staring at them, ready to take points from both Slytherin and Ravenclaw for breaking into the tower.