Phil shuffled towards the library inches behind Dan. The Hogwarts hallway was dark and cold, and honestly Phil had no idea why Professor Green had chosen him as a prefect. He was nerdy, and awkward, and in no way physically nor emotionally capable of stopping any wrong-doers. Phil couldn't kill a spider, much less give his classmate a detention. Who or what could be making that music? He tried to keep his eyes glued to the back of Dan's head, hoping it'd make him feel braver. For some reason, it did.

Dan had his wand drawn and ready, but paused before entering the library. He glanced at Phil, who was already looking at him. Crap. Dan's eyes darted forward and decided that whatever was inside would be easier than standing in the dark with Phil for another second longer.

"Hello?" Dan jumped into the library, different self-defense spells flicking through his mind.

"Put your hands in the air!" Phil exclaimed, before realizing his wand was still in his robe pocket, and quickly shuffling to get it out. Dan blinked, before trying not to crack up.

Sitting on a library table was a red headed Gryffindor and a tall, strong looking Hufflepuff.

"Shit," the red headed pushed the boy back, and began rebuttoning her collared shirt.

"Flula?!" Phil stood flabbergasted, but amused.

"No, the name's Mamrie," she hastily began smoothing down her hair, and hopped off the table.

"He vas talking to me," said the boy, who looked very embarrassed, "I'm Flula."

Mamrie closed her eyes, "Oh right, right, right- hey guys, listen, this has been great. I'm just going to head back to my room-"

"We can't let you leave," Dan stated, bemused, "Flula, could you cut the music?"

"Of course, my good man," Flula reached over to the record player he had brought along and stopped it quick.

"This is all a big misunderstanding," Mamrie stumbled forward, clearly drunk out of her mind. Dan pocketed his wand, and took out his official prefect papers.

"Both of you are getting detention." He said, "for a week."

Mamrie and Flula's eyes widened in horror, and they were about to protest until Phil uncertainly spoke up.

"Um, wait."

Dan, Mamrie, and Flula all turned towards him.

"Wait for what?" Dan asked, tersely.

"I just mean. . . this is there first offence, and . . . it's the first week of school. Maybe they didn't know?"

"They didn't . . . know." Dan narrowed his eyes, and folded his arms. Phil began to squirm.

Mamrie went with it. "Yeah. Ye-ah. The cute one is right, we didn't know the library was 'sposed to be off limits. We were merely tryin' ta do some studying."

Flula quickly nodded. "You can not give us the detention for that- I promise to never, ever break the rules again ever, forever."

Dan's mouth opened, but not before Phil blurted out.

"Great! You're both free to go, have a great night."

Mamrie gave a peace sign and ran out of the room, with Flula on her heels, record player in hand.

Dan was pissed. "What the heck just happened here?!"

"Everybody wins," Phil said, trying to give a smile.

"No," Dan glared, "We, the prefects who are supposed to keep the rules, do not win! I can't believe you just screwed everything up! This is so like you-"

"Like a what," Phil's tone was soft, but sharp. It stopped Dan dead in his tracks.

He pursed his lips, "I mean, it's immature and stupid. Like you."

Phil laughed, humorlessly, "Yeah. Well, sorry for getting my mud-blood all over your detention slips. Pleasure working with you." With that, he spun around and stormed out of the library. Dan watched him go for as long as he could.

It all happened during Christmas break their first year.

The moment that Dan watched Phil be claimed Hufflepuff from the Slytherin table, he knew that their friendship was going to be hard. Yet, friends they were from September to December. Best friends. They'd spend countless afternoons by the lake, throwing stones and laughing and talking about everything from classes to the universe. They'd study together in a secluded table at the library; Phil was a master at potions, and a whiz at herbology, and Dan could practically recite the History of Magic textbook thanks to his nearly ancient and extremely prideful family. There was even one magical night, December first, when both boys snuck out of their dorms and met each other in the astronomy tower, so they could finish their last conversation. They had ended up hanging out until the sun came up.

Phil's family couldn't afford for him to fly back home, and he couldn't exactly reach them with magic, so he had convinced them that spending Christmas break at Hogwarts would be fun. The second Phil told him the news, Dan had sent an owl to his family claiming he had the desire to get ahead on classes over break and telling them that he'd see them over summer. At first Phil protested, but secretly, he was thrilled. This might just be the best holiday ever.

Until December 15th, when Tyler bribed the Hogsmead barkeeper to let the students have a Christmas party in his establishment. Dan and Phil had arrived together, to nobody's surprise.

"I'm going to grab a drink," Dan said confidently. Phil laughed, and Dan pouted, "I'm being serious. I'm going to do it."

Phil rolled his eyes with a smile, "No, Tyler's going to do it and you're going to watch and think, 'did I leave my straightener on, again?'"

Dan gave him a gentle shove, "Are you suggesting that I don't know how to party? Because I do."

"I'm sure," Phil smiled in the way that made Dan feel like hot chocolate inside. "I'll go grab us some Butterbeers."

Only Phil never came back with Butterbeers. Dan was just standing by the door, looking around like a stupid 12 year old, and feeling like a stupid 12 year old in a sea full of kids who all seemed to be having the time of their lives. Where was Phil?

"Daniel!" Joe Sugg appeared, huge grin on his face, "Come play with us! You have to play with us."

"What?" Dan tried to hear over the music that began pumping through the air. People cheered and began dancing, which made Dan feel a million times more uncomfortable.

"Just come on!" Joe yanked him by the arm and led him to the side of the building, through a doorway that opened to a little patio area outside. Sitting around a table was Caspar, Louise, Tyler, Shane, and Zoe. It was so cold, you could see your own breath as it swirled into the crisp air.

"I brought Dan," Joe announced happily taking the seat next to his sister. Dan felt himself straighten. Gryffindor's made him nervous. Luckily he recognized Shane as a Slytherin from his herbology class. Phil had it with them, as well. Where was Phil? God, he probably stopped to talk to every single person he saw, or maybe he got attacked by a wandering mountain lion. Knowing Phil it could be anything.

"Just in time to start Truth or Dare," Caspar said with a wicked grin. Louise squealed.

"I start," Tyler announced, a gleam in his eye. "Shane."

Shane grinned, "Dare."

"You know Joey?"

"Graceffa?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah, in Gryffindor," said Tyler, "you know, super buff and super hot?"

Shane leaned forward, "Yes?"

"Well," Tyler couldn't stop his grin, "He's somewhere inside, and I dare you to kiss him the next time you see him."

Dan felt his stomach drop. Kissing?! He did not sign up for this game. As the table laughed, he felt panicky. Shane quickly agreed, and then started examining everybody's faces to find his victim.

"Dan," he smiled like a snake, "truth or dare?"

Dan began freaking out. He didn't want his first kiss to be because of a stupid game! But knowing the creative, admittedly brilliant but still mildly disturbing contents of Shane's brain, what truth would he be forced to reveal?

Oh well.

"Truth," said Dan, trying to ignore Louise and Zoe's giggles.

Shane looked like he had won, "When was the first time you and Phil hooked up? On the Hogwarts train, or after Herbology?"

It was like time stopped and his insides exploded. Everyone took the question good naturedly, Joe wiggling his eyebrows with a smile, but to Dan it was like someone had just dropped an atomic bomb on top of him. How dare- he had no right- they weren't even- he never even thought- Suddenly Dan's chair screetched back and he stood up, furious.

"Phil and I are nothing at all like that! In fact, we're not even friends! The only reason I even talk to him is because I feel sorry for that stupid, mud-blood, loser!"

Crash.

Practically shaking with fury, Dan spun around, only to have all the anger sucked out of him as he saw Phil standing in the doorway, the light of the restaurant illuminating the two dropped butterbeers shattered on the concrete.

It was silent.

Phil wordlessly ran back inside, and Dan slowly sat back at the table. He took a deep breath.

"Don't ever say that word again." Shane spoke dangerously. His father was as muggle as they came.

"I'm. . . sorry." Dan croaked out.

Louise glanced from the door to Dan, "I don't think you should apologize to us."

But the thing was, he never apologized. Dan grabbed a late train ticket home, and spent Christmas Eve with his parents. Every time they said the m-word, which was often (usually preceded by 'I hate') Dan felt like he was being stabbed in the face. He was just like them.

Phil deserved better.

And here they were now. Prefects, together again. Four years later, yet for some reason looking at Phil made Dan feel like the same stupid 12 year old idiot. 12 year old jerk. He'd been hoping Phil had forgotten the whole thing, but he should've known better.

Dan was never going to be able to fix this.