A/N: I really have no good excuse for why it took me so long to get this chapter up so all I can say is sorry! I actually was waiting until the last chapter got 10 reviews to post this chapter like I have for the rest, but I still should have written this a lot sooner. So, thank you to anyone who is still reading! That being said, I need your guys' help! I feel like I am running out of YouTubers to use as characters so if you have any suggestions for whom to use and what house they should be in, let me know and I will try to work it in to the story. Also if there are any relevant Harry Potter characters from this time period and you would like to remind me of them, please do! I promise I'll post the next chapter after I get 10 reviews on this one!
Even though it was only two days later, our Friday potions session could not come soon enough. When I walked into the dungeon, the other three were already there.
"Hey, Phil," said Lily brightly when I joined them at the table.
"Hey," I smiled back. "Dan. Snape," I said politely, acknowledging the other two.
I got a half nod of recognition from Snape but Dan responded with, "Hey."
We immediately began discussing what could be improved from the previous time we brewed the potion. Suggestions were tossed around, ideas discussed, and a method established. We then got to work actually making the potion.
The conversation among us was more comfortable than last time. Lily was her bright and cheery self. She talked happily with us, though she was noticeably cold toward Snape, who remained for the most part silently supercilious. When he did speak, it was to tell someone that his or her idea was wrong, earning him a glare from Lily every time. I looked at Dan inquisitively to ask if he knew anything about what was going on between them.
"Later," he mouthed to me.
I would see him later. That was a promise I was going to hold him to.
The electric energy that had been between Dan and I during the previous potions session was just as strong if not stronger than before. But it was different. Less unnerving. Less strange. More familiar. More exciting. If that were even possible. The looks we exchanged were even more full of meaning. Every smile was sweeter. Every touch was more purposeful. It was almost thrilling to try to flirt with my boyfriend as much as possible without being discovered by the other two.
We ended our session fairly early that day, having blown up the potion about half way through. But Snape assured Slughorn that it was much better up until that point and after explaining in detail exactly what we had done and what we believed made it go wrong, we were free to go.
I began to put my things away slowly so that Lily and Snape would leave first. Glancing at Dan, I saw that he was doing the same.
When the dungeon door had swung shut behind the other two, I felt Dan's hand cup my chin and he tilted my face up. "Wanna go for a walk tonight?" he asked me, giving me a brief kiss.
"I would love to," I said, allowing a smile to stretch across my face.
Counting on the fact that most students were enjoying their Friday evenings by avoiding the snow by staying inside by their common room fires, we walked together out of the castle and onto the grounds.
I groaned inwardly at the sight of the ankle deep snow on the ground. I imagined it would be rather difficult to keep a steady conversation with Dan while trying hard not to trip and fall.
"Lets walk in the forest so we don't have to walk through all this snow," Dan suggested, apparently having similar objections. "It should be clear in there."
I agreed and we made our way toward the trees.
We walked in silence for a few steps, marveling at the beauty of the forest at this time of day. The sun was close to setting and the rays were streaming through the leaves, causing golden patches of light to dance across the ground. The sound of the wind that had been stinging our faces moments before was replaced by the song of the sound of thousands of birds mixed with the humming of millions of other tiny creatures.
As I looked around at everything the forest had to offer, I felt a large, soft hand slip into mine. Tearing my eyes away from the beauty of the trees, I looked up at Dan and realized that the most beautiful thing in the forest was standing right beside me. He was perfectly silhouetted against the trees, the light making his hair turn golden and his skin glow.
"Your eyes are stunning in this light," he said, reaching up and brushing my fringe gently out of my face.
I closed my eyes briefly at his touch then moved in and gently brushed my lips against his.
"So, tell me about Lily and Snape," I said, beginning to walk along the winding path through the trees pulling Dan along by the hand.
"Oh, right," said Dan. "How much do you know?"
"Well, it looks like they hate each other. Or at least Lily hates Snape."
"You don't know anything about them being friends though? I don't want to go on about stuff you already know," said Dan.
"They were friends?" I asked, shocked. "I had no idea."
"Yeah, like best friends."
"Wow, that's hard to believe," I said, genuinely surprised. When I thought about it though, I realized that Lily had seemed personally insulted every time Snape spoke and it seemed unlikely that someone could bear such animosity toward someone else without knowing them well. (Though when I remembered Caspar, I realized that this was not altogether impossible.)
"Keep in mind I've never actually talked to Severus about this so everything I know is things I have overheard from his friends or from talking to friends of friends."
I nodded in response.
"So, Lily and Severus were best friends when they came to Hogwarts. I think they lived near each other or something like that so they met before they started school here. When they were sorted though, Severus was put in Slytherin obviously and Lily ended up in Gryffindor."
"That must have made things difficult." Being in two different houses was a big part of the reason Dan and I did not want anyone knowing about our relationship. But as Slytherin and Gryffindor were archrivals, I imagined that it would make things even worse.
"Yeah, it didn't help that Lily is muggleborn either. No offence."
I held up my unoccupied hand as if to wave away the issue. I knew Dan himself had no problem with muggleborns and there was nothing either of us could do to change the fact that most Slytherins looked down on them with disgust.
"All of Severus's friends hated Lily and they got upset with him for hanging around her," Dan continued. "And of course Lily's friends hated Severus because he was a Slytherin. They stuck together for a few years but I guess their friendship fell apart because it was too difficult to have their own friends from their own houses and each other. And I don't think it helped that James Potter was all over Lily either. I'm pretty sure that somewhere down the line Severus fell in love with her—don't tell anyone I said that, I don't know if anyone else suspects it—and James's arrogance was too much for him."
As Dan talked I tried to find a good balance between looking at him so as to absorb all I could of his perfect features and looking at the ground so I would not trip. I tried to listen but found that I was more interested in the way Dan's lips moved than the story of Lily and Snape that was coming out of them. I realized I was listening more to the melodic sound of his voice than the inevitably sad story he was using it to tell. But I was curious so I gave my head a tiny shake and forced myself to take in what he was saying.
"There was a pretty public incident a few years ago," he was saying, "where James and Severus got in a fight and it ended in Severus calling Lily a mudblood. I thought that that combined with the fact that Severus's friends were—are—not the, er, nicest people was pretty much the end of whatever their relationship was. Now Lily and James are dating so everyone pretty much just believes that she and Severus hate each other now."
"But?" I asked, hearing the doubt in his voice.
"But remember those two voices we heard that first night we found that room?" Dan said, turning to me. His eyes were alight with excitement, like he had been waiting to talk to someone about this for a while.
I struggled to pull the memory into my mind. What had happened afterward had effectively dominated what I remembered of that night. "The guy and the girl?" I asked, a vague memory swimming to the surface.
"Yup. I'm pretty sure that was Severus and Lily. Do you remember what they said?"
"Not precisely. I was kind of more worried about not getting caught than listening to them."
"You're just a little goodie-two-shoes, aren't you?" Dan laughed jokingly. He grinned down at me and I blushed a little. "Anyway, Severus said something about how Lily loved him and couldn't deny it anymore after something they had done that night."
"Do you think they hooked up or something?"
"I wouldn't doubt it."
"But what about James?"
"Well it sucks for him, but its not like he's ever going to find out about it. Lily would obviously never tell him unless she was going to leave him—which she won't. And Severus would never risk telling anyone and losing his status with his friends."
"So Lily hates him because she loves him…."
"Tragic, isn't it?" said Dan with a sigh.
"Kinda, yeah." I released his hand and instead wrapped my arm around his waist, wanting him to be closer to me. "I hope they all get a happy ending," I said, feeling genuinely bad for all three of them.
We continued walking, discussing various other failed and successful relationships at Hogwarts.
Eventually, we entered a small clearing. We both stopped in our tracks and fell silent, momentarily stunned by the little Elysian field we had found. There was a pond in the center that was a deep emerald, colored by the faint light of dusk and it sparkled like a gem with the last feeble rays of light softly reflecting off of the surface. The soft moss and large trees that surrounded the pond looked inviting.
After a minute of staring, Dan and I looked at each other. "Want to sit?" I suggested.
Dan just nodded.
I grabbed his hand again and pulled him over to the nearest tree.
Plopping down on the soft ground beneath the branches and leaning back against the wide trunk, I patted the ground next to me and looked up at Dan.
"Scoot forward a bit," he said.
I did as he said and he sat down behind me, one leg on either side of mine. Wrapping his arms around me, he pulled me back against his chest as he reclined against the trunk and rested his chin on my shoulder. I smiled a little to myself; it seemed almost too perfect to be true. Turning my head, I placed a kiss on his cheek then closed my eyes and reclined my head onto his shoulder, reveling in the feeling of being in his arms in such a sacred little grove.
"I used to love going out and exploring nature," Dan said quietly, trying to not disturb the peace.
"Really?"
"Yeah. There are these hills behind my house. When I was little I would spend hours walking through the trees and discovering new little places in them to hide."
"That's cute," I said. I smiled as I pictured little Dan running around through the trees.
"Sometimes I would even bring a sketchbook and draw things that I found."
"You can draw?"
"No," he said, letting out a low chuckle. "Not well at least. But I know how to hold a pencil and make a few scratches on paper so that's what I did. Sometimes I would even get my parents to cast a spell on the drawings to make them move like the portraits. I would love drawing beetles. They would scamper all over the paper and I would give the drawing to my cat. He would spend hours bouncing around attacking the drawing until it was shredded." I felt his arms tighten around me, pulling me closer. His lips pressed against my neck as he nuzzled his face into the little niche above my shoulder, his warm breath tickling my skin. "I've never told anyone that before," he whispered.
"Well, thank you for sharing," I said, pulling one of his hands to my lips.
When I released it, he began to slowly untuck my shirt. I gasped a little as his cold hands found my stomach.
"Sorry," he said.
"'S fine," I responded, already over the initial shock.
I closed my eyes again as his fingers drifted lightly over my skin. His feather-light touch ran up and down my chest, circled my stomach, caressed my sides. He found a spot that was especially ticklish and despite my efforts not to squirm, Dan noticed my reaction.
"Looks like I'm not the only one who is ticklish," he laughed.
"Mmmm…" was all I managed to respond.
He ran his fingers over the particular spot a few more times, eliciting a few more squirms from me, then continued to let his hands roam under my shirt.
I found that his soft, simple touch was just as, if not more intimate that having sex with him, and definitely at least as pleasurable. Dan managed to find a few more ticklish spots and I noticed that he seemed to like it when I squirmed. The more intense of a reaction I gave him, the more he let his hands glide over that particular spot. Though it tickled, it was surprisingly pleasant. Maybe it was because it was so much more stimulating than normal touching. Maybe it was because letting Dan touch me where I would usually push people's hands away from felt more intimate. Maybe it was because I liked that it was Dan tickling me instead of my brother like when we used to get in tickle fights with the end goal of making the other person wet their pants.
We talked lazily for hours until night fell and I remembered that I needed sleep because I had a Quidditch match the next day. As we walked slowly back to the castle, I could not form a coherent thought. Instead it was a cloud of happiness, peace, and ecstasy that filled my brain. I could not even muster fear of being caught out after hours as we opened the doors to the castle.
"Good luck tomorrow," Dan whispered when we reached the point where we had to part ways to get to our respective dormitories. "I'll be rooting for you. I know you will be fantastic." He wrapped his arms around me. "Good night, Phil," he whispered.
He gave me one last long, deep kiss then turned to go.
"Good night, Dan," I whispered after his retreating figure.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The smile I awoke with the following morning quickly slid off my face like stinksap when I remembered that I had a Quidditch match. The sickening feeling of nervousness exploded in my stomach like a bomb. My throat began to constrict and I felt cold dread spread through my veins to the very tips of my fingers.
Though I was deathly nervous, it was a familiar feeling. I felt like this before every match and I found solace in the fact that the feeling would go away as soon as I got on my broom and my feet left the ground. Slowly, I dragged my feet out of bed and began to get dressed, wishing time would pass more slowly.
With my robes on, I dragged myself down to the Great Hall for breakfast. As I walked down the canary-yellow clad Hufflepuff table toward my team, I heard Caspar yell something at me followed by the sound of jeering and laughter. It was not the yelling itself that bothered me; it was all part of the sport. Instead it was the fact that it caused another wave of nerves to crash through my stomach as I was reminded yet again of the match.
The rest of the team was already there and I took a seat between Tom and Carrie.
"Phil, how are you feeling?" Carrie asked.
"Fine," I managed to respond.
"Come on. You need to eat something," she encouraged, noticing that I had not touched the piece of toast I had put on my plate.
The idea of eating right then made me want to throw up but I picked up the toast and took a bite. My mouth was dry so it tasted like cardboard so I chased it with a bit of orange juice.
"There you go," Carrie smiled. "You're an amazing keeper, Phil. You're going to do great."
"Yeah, Phil," Tom chimed in. "You're probably the best one in the school." He ran his hand through his long, poofy blue hair, which just flopped back down in front of his eyes. "I don't know why you get so nervous before these things. Quidditch is such an amazing sport and I just get so excited to get the opportunity to go out and play it! Just think of all the things that have to exist for us to play. Enchanted broom sticks, for one. How weird of an idea is that? But thanks to whoever invented them, we can fly without having to even cast our own spells! I'm just so excited to be here right now! Like, look up! Look up at the ceiling and tell me it doesn't look like a fantastic day outside!"
I did as he said and saw that the sun was indeed shining and there was barely a cloud in the sky. I could not help but smile a little; Tom's enthusiasm was infectious. He would often get excited like this about random little things. People often thought he was taking "special" potions but he always insisted that life was the only special potion he needed.
Despite Tom's excitement, I still could not shake the nerves. It did not help that whenever I looked up, I saw Dan's face across the Great Hall, reminding me that he would be watching me. I knew he could not act differently toward Caspar just because he was mean to me, but I still felt slightly betrayed when I saw them sitting next to each other.
I decided that it would be a better idea to refrain from looking at Dan for the remainder of the morning so I instead let my eyes drift over to the end of the Ravencalw table where the Quidditch team was sitting. I watched as PJ sat in silence eating his breakfast, eyes never leaving his place. He never spoke before a Quidditch match, but I never got the impression that this was from nerves. Instead, I thought it was his way of psyching himself up for the match. I wished I could be as calm as he was as another pang of nervousness hit my stomach, making me want to spit out the bite of toast I was chewing.
Looking to PJ's left, I saw Bryarly in a deep conversation with the captain, Michael Aranda. Like the other three teams, their main concern was the seeker. Since we were not professional players, the team that caught the snitch was usually the team that won.
I saw Zoe walk by and heard her say, "Good luck today, PJ."
He looked up at her, smiled, nodded his thanks, and she made her way out of the Great Hall to the Quidditch pitch.
Looking around, I noticed that many people were doing the same and had left already. I suffered another intense pang of nerves to the point where I became light headed when I realized the match was going to begin soon.
"Come on, Phil," said Tom, tugging at my sleeve. "We need to go to the locker room."
My knees were shaking as I stood up but I managed to follow Tom and the rest of the team out of the great hall. As we were leaving, I allowed myself one last glance at the Slytherin table. My blues eyes immediately found Dan's brown ones.
He mouthed, "Good luck," and winked discreetly.
A small voice in the back of my head cracked through my nerves and said, "That's your boyfriend."
I could not help but smile a little as I felt slightly less nervous.
"Tom, your hair," said Marcus, one of the beaters on our team.
"Oh shit," said Tom. "Phil, why didn't you say anything?" he reprimanded jokingly, hitting me on the arm. "If I had left it blue, everyone would think I was turning against my own team!"
He screwed his eyes shut and, being a metamorphmagus, was able to turn it black and yellow within seconds.
"That's better," he said, looking in the mirror as we entered the locker room. Despite being a Hufflepuff, Tom wore his hair blue 95 percent of the time. He only ever bothered to change it for special events and Quidditch matches.
By eleven o'clock I could have sworn that the entire school was out in the stands, many with binoculars. I knew Carrie would be standing among the rest of the Hufflepuffs holding her traditional hand-made sign. She would make one before every Hufflepuff match. They would have anything from a dancing beaver to portraits of each member of the team. Alex had recently figured out a tricky little charm to make it play music he had written when it was waved. I knew I probably would not see it during the game, but I hoped that it would be hanging in the common room when we returned like it always was when we won.
"Okay, best friends!" said our captain Jim Chapman enthusiastically when we had taken seats on the benches in the locker room.
Alfie and Marcus glanced at each other and rolled their eyes in unison. Jim really was one of the nicest people on the planet but sometimes it seemed excessive, especially when we were about to go out and play a game as potentially violent as Quidditch. However, we were all thankful to have him when was pouring rain and he decided that team bonding over warm butterbeers was a better option than continuing practice.
"You guys have been training so hard and I am so proud of how far you have come! As long as we all put in our best efforts, I am confident we will all be successful. But remember, it doesn't matter whether we win or lose."
I saw Marcus mumble the last line of Jim's speech along with him. That was how he always ended his pre-game speech.
"Now lets get out there and play some Quidditch!" Jim said enthusiastically, leading the way out of the locker room. I followed behind Tom, hoping my knees would not give out beneath me.
As we stepped out onto the field, the roar of the crowd drowned out the sound of my teeth chattering. The referee was waiting for us in the middle of the pitch, broom in one hand, whistle in the other.
"Captains, shake hands please," he said when the teams had taken their places on their respective sides.
Jim stepped forward with a huge smile on his face to shake hands with Michael, who looked calm, collected, and determined.
"Good. Now, I want a nice fair game from all of you. Merlin knows it makes my job a lot easier."
I looked up into the stands and took a deep, steadying breath, waiting for the command that would allow me to escape from this overwhelming feeling of nervousness.
"Right, mount your brooms," the referee called.
He blew a long whistle and we were off. As I flew as fast as I could toward the goal posts, I felt as though I were leaving my nerves on the ground. I imagined that the wind was washing them off of me and I let myself be absorbed in the game itself.
By the time I got up to my position, the game was already being played at full force. Tom and Bryarly were hovering high above opposite ends of the field, waiting for a glimpse of the golden snitch. I saw Marcus hit a bludger with furious effort at PJ who avoided it with grace. Alfie had the Quaffle and was speeding toward the goal posts, the other two chasers in formation.
At the last second, Alfie passed the Quaffle to Jim who made a magnificent shot, sending the Quaffle over the Ravenclaw keeper's head and through the hoop.
"HUFFLEPUFFS SCORE!" I heard the announcer yell over the cacophony of cheers and boos from the stands. "That has to be the fastest first goal in Hogwarts history! It looks like Hufflepuff captain Jim made an excellent choice with his new chaser Alfie Deyes."
I had to agree. Alfie was very good, especially for a third year and he had quickly learned how to work well with the other chasers.
Hovering in front of the goal post, I watched the match continue to unfold. Michael made a neat pass to PJ who dodged a Hufflepuff chaser and immediately passed it back. But Jim was able to intercept the pass and he effectively reversed the direction of play. He zoomed down the pitch, Ravenclaw chasers slamming into him from either side. A roar erupted from the stands as his shot was blocked by the keeper and the Quaffle returned to the fourth year Ravenclaw chaser, Ryan Higa.
Ryan had barely flown 20 meters when he was hit in the back of the head by a bludger sent from Marcus, which caused him to drop the Quaffle into the awaiting hands of Alfie who quickly passed it to Jim. A bludger came screaming toward Jim, forcing him to do a roll in midair and consequently dropping the Quaffle as well. I had to admit, it was a nice play by the Ravenclaw beater but now Michael had the Quaffle and was streaking towards me with the other two chasers.
By now, it was instinct which direction to move in reference to the position of the Quaffle. I was hoping one of their chasers would be taken out by a bludger or one of our chasers but I was ready to defend the goals should one of them take a shot. As they drew closer, PJ passed the Quaffle back to Michael who immediately sent the ball hurdling in my direction.
I reacted intuitively, lunging out toward the red ball. Managing to catch it in the tips of my fingers, I threw it out to Jim. Only after the Quaffle left my hands did I hear the cheering coming from the Hufflepuffs and, to my surprise, the Slytherins. Realizing that the entire Slytherin house would be cheering for Hufflepuff because Ravenclaw was currently beating them in the standings, I felt new a surge of confidence. I pictured Dan down in the stands, screaming for me with the rest of them. It would be one time when he would not have to hide from his friends.
Before the cheers had died down, Hufflepuff had scored again. And in mere minutes, the Ravenclaw chasers were streaming down toward my end again, but I managed to make the save.
The game continued much in this manner: fast paced and with a lot of "ohh"s, "ahh"s, cheers, and boos from the crowd. Our chasers were doing extraordinarily well, scoring almost every chance they had. And I had saved every goal except for three—two spectacular shots from PJ and one from Michael. An hour later the score stood at 180 to 30 Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw needed to catch the snitch now to even tie the game.
Just then, Ravenclaw called for a time out. All 15 brooms soared back down to the ground.
"You guys are doing incredibly!" said Jim, almost laughing from happiness. "Alfie, I don't think I have ever seen you play any better! And Phil, you made some spectacular saves up there! And the rest of you, my goodness! I know I said to do your best, but I had no idea your best was this good!"
As Jim beamed around at us, the excitement was tangible. Marcus and Alfie did not even roll their eyes at Jim's enthusiasm; instead, they smiled right back.
"Right now, I'm sure Michael is telling Bryarly to catch the snitch as soon as she sees it even if they will lose, because they can't afford for the score to get any worse. Now, that means we have a limited amount of time to score one more goal to ensure that we win. And Phil, you just have to keep doing what you are doing and not let anyone score. Got it? You guys have been doing so well, I'm sure we will win!"
Just then, the referee blew his whistle to signal a warning that the time out was over. We all mounted our brooms and took our positions. And just like that, we were off again.
I watched Bryarly as she circled overhead, clearly in a desperate search for the snitch. At the other end of the pitch, Michael had regained control of the Quaffle and was making his way toward me.
Several things happened at once. Alfie slammed into Michael and punched the Quaffle from his hand, sending it soaring into Jim's arms. Also, Bryarly made a sudden hawk-like dive, turning her into a streak of blue, Tom, a streak of yellow, following right behind her.
It was a race to see who would complete their task first. If our chasers could score before Bryarly could catch the snitch, we would win. If Bryarly caught it first, the match would end in a tie.
I held my breath as our chasers weaved their way through the Ravenclaw defense, dodging bludger after bludger and avoiding being derailed by the chasers. Bryarly and Tom pushed themselves into an even steeper dive then both made a sharp turn around one of the goalposts.
Everyone in the stands was holding their breath. Even the announcer fell silent, probably unsure which part of the match to narrate.
The next few seconds unfolded in slow motion. Jim, dodging a bludger, passed the Quaffle to Alfie who faked out the Ravenclaw seeker and scored. Moments later, Bryarly shot back up into the air, snitch in her hand but a look of crushing disappointment on her face.
The crowd erupted. I soared down to the ground with the rest of my team quickly, all of us colliding in a massive group hug. I felt my back being clapped in congratulations as the rest of our house streamed onto the field and surrounded us. A few seventh years had picked up Alfie, who had the biggest, most excited smile on his face, and were carrying him around on their shoulders.
Suddenly I felt a pair of hands come from behind and rest on my hips and an unmistakable voice say, "Great job, Phil," in my ear. But before I could even turn around to say thanks, Dan had disappeared into the crowd.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
When the rest of the team and I entered the common room, we were greeted with thunderous cheers and applause. Countless hands reached for us and pulled us into the middle of the festivities.
The common room was already fully decorated in appropriately colored streamers, ribbons, and banners. The tables were laden with food that I assumed had been taken from the kitchen, which was literally down the corridor from our dormitory. And sure enough, Carrie's banner was hanging over the fireplace. It depicted a badger in Quidditch robes, soaring around on a broomstick.
After a few drinks, Alex and Tom had begun to serenade the common room with covers of popular songs and some of songs their own creation and the celebration continued until well past midnight.
It was only after Alex mentioned Chris's name when we were finally getting ready for bed that I remembered the prediction he had made during the last Hogsmead weekend about the match. I went to sleep making a mental note never to bet against Chris on Quidditch outcomes.