A few years later when their lips detached, Phil was so tired he fell asleep right there in Dan's lap, still blushing from the contact. Dan tried his best not to move so as to not disturb the beautiful creature before him and to keep him asleep.

Phil was asleep for about thirty minutes when Dan too found himself drifting off. Dan had run his hand through the other boy's dark hair so frequently that he had lost track of time. All that was important was Phil. The only person was Phil. He replayed their kisses in his mind over and over again, each better than the last. He smiled to himself as he looked down at the boy whom he loved so much and found himself feeling grateful he had let him have a seat in the same cabin. Wow, thought Dan. If I hadn't . . . Where the hell would I be right now?

Just as he was about to fall asleep, Dan saw a pair of dark red eyes staring at him from across the forest. When Dan blinked again, they were gone. They seemed faint, like they were reflecting off of something. He jumped up, suddenly awake, certainly, and racking his brain for information. What the fuck was that thing that was stalking them? He had stared right into those bloodred eyes and the eyes had stared back. They had read about reflective trees sometime during third year . . . Something about shiny moss. Professor Reedling had been so boring that year, Dan didn't even bother paying attention and had barely passed with a C. Maybe I should have paid attention . . . Whatever.

Suddenly, Phil woke up screaming. Shouting Dan's name over and over again, staring at Dan, revealing a gorgeous shade of turquoise that Dan would never quite get used to, yet had engraved in his mind. There was no word to describe Phil's eyes. They were blue, but they were also green, and there was a little bit of yellow, flecks of it, around the iris, and sometimes there would even be the thinnest line of grey around the outside of his eye. Dan thought they were like the sea, in a way. Grey-blue around the edge, green in the middle and just flecks of yellow and hazel in the middle, like "sand."

Phil was crying. He kept muttering words Dan couldn't make out, sobbing into his now tear stained shirt. "Phil! Phil. What happened?"

"I had a nightmare. It was dark a-and we were kissing and then a giant snake came and bit you and there was blood everywhere -"

"Phil. I'm here. I'm okay. You're okay. We're all okay. Okay?"

Phil sniffed and nodded.

"I just. . . I can't imagine living without you."

Dan blushed but didn't know what to say.

They silently packed the lunch and picked up after themselves like responsible wizards. When they had packed everything, Dan grabbed Phil's hand and lead them silently out of the clearing and back onto the Grounds. By the look of the sky, it was around nine or ten. Classes had definitely started, because the pupils were streaming in and out of the castle, looking like ants at the distance Dan and Phil were.

They were still holding hands, but neither really wanted to let go.

"Here," whispered Dan, although they were a good distance away from whatever had been stalking them earlier. "The Cloak." It was big enough to fit over the both of them comfortably, even though Dan was nearing 6" and Phil was catching up.

"Maybe . . . The previous owner put an Enlargement Charm on it, because they knew that the next goon to get it would be a giant?" Dan smacked Phil behind the head as Phil chortled at his own joke.

"You're just mad because you're tiny."

"I'll have you know, I am 5'6" of raw power and strength."

"Phil, you fall over putting your socks on."

"Socks . . . Are for losers."

"Explains why you have so many, then."

The bell rang and they almost hustled to their classes when they realized, this was their day off. Although it was chilly and it was snowing, they only needed each other for warmth.

Phil twitched his nose like a rabbit when a flake fell on it. Dan laughed and led them to the Castle quickly before either of them "got hypothermia."

They thanked Merlin that no one was guarding the main corridor - which, in hindsight, is probably not a good idea for the safety of the castle. At all, really. An old man and his evil magic cat are not going to be able protect a castle that has been around for centuries when, say, a Dark Lord attacks. Hogwarts needs to update their security system. This is why wizards are useless.

Dan led Phil to the second floor, then stopped. "Phil, what I'm about to show you is . . . A little weird."

"Dan, you're pretty weird as it is, and I've known you for four years. I think I can handle it," said Phil, sticking his tongue out but only half joking. He was getting worried.

"No, Phil, this is a lot weirder than I am. Just, please, promise you won't like, projectile vomit everywhere or something?"

"I can't make a promise I won't keep," giggled Phil.

God, he's so fucking cute, giggling and shit, but he needs to pay attention. PAY ATTENTION YOU ADORABLE RAT, thought Dan.

"That's not what I meant. Seriously please."

Phil realized Dan wasn't joking and stopping laughing. He nodded. Of course, he wouldn't leave Dan for something silly like a room on the second floor. What was he so worried about anyway? Well, he seems stressed enough. I can't let him know how worried I am; that will only make him even more tense.

Dan took a deep breath and reaffirmed his grip with Phil's hand and led him to a door with a sign that read, "Out of service." Dan pushed the door quickly before Phil would see the word "Ladies" engraved behind the sign.

"Um. Dan? Why are we in an abandoned girl's lavatory? This isn't the Fifty Shades stuff you've told me about, is it - "

"Phil - no. I need to show you something. It's really cool, I promise."

Phil thought about it, and came to the conclusion that, really, how odd could it be? Maybe he would see something wonderful and strange and have a good time. He was with Dan, after all.

What's the worst that could happen?

Phil nodded and followed Dan as he led him to a funky sink.

Dan then began to hiss and splutter and make strange sounds, and the sink began moving, and the floorboards floated to make stairs leading to the top of the sink.

"Wait, Dan, you're a Parselmouth?"

"I'm a what now?"

"You . . . Speak Parseltongue? Snake language, I mean."

"Actually, funny story; I had a snake when I was, like, eight and I used to have conversations with it. I always thought it was my imagination, but I suppose she was my first real friend. One day she escaped and she told me she was heading for 'Russsssssssssia.' Either way, I didn't know it was weird? It's like speaking normally to me. How does it sound to you?"

"Hissssssss chhhh spppput."

They laughed as Dan took Phil's hand again and led him up the stairs. When he reached the top, he grinned and jumped into the dark abyss. Phil could only copy, extremely curious as to where this rabbit hole ended.

It was like a slide, all the way down, and when they finally landed on each other - Phil landing on top of Dan - there were ruins before them. Dan, however, was unfazed by the rocks and grimy walls, and walked up to a magnificent wall that had a large picture engraved on it. It had twelve snakes facing the outside of the circle, much like a clock. Dan began to hiss again, only this time much shorter, and the snakes rotated until the door opened. Dan looked back, smiling and waved for Phil to follow as he stepped onto a platform.

Phil noticed immediately there was water surrounding them. He didn't know how deep it was, and found he didn't want to know. He always had a fear of deep water.

Dan noticed his boyfriend had paled, he asked "What's wrong?" Phil looked ghostly.

"I'm . . . I don't like d-deep water."

"This water isn't deep, Philly. It's just shallow enough to wade in. I've tried it before, actually. I skipped school once in second year just to discover everything about this place. I could jump in and show you, if you like - "

"That won't be necessary," said Phil quickly, obviously changing the subject.

"Okay," said Dan, relieved. He didn't actually know how deep the water surrounding them was, and he didn't want to find out.

"So, another picnic?" Giggled Phil.

"Actually, it's 10am and we had breakfast like two hours ago so, no. But, I did want to show you this . . . Close your eyes."

Phil put one of his hands over both of his eyes - "Your hands are big, holy shit," - and the other around Dan's. Dan led him blindly to seemingly, nowhere. But when Phil opened his eyes, before him was a small table, maybe hip-height, with a jewelry chest on top of it. It was red and dirty, but Dan looked at it like it was important. He let go of Phil's hand and opened the box. Inside, a was a smooth, perfectly circular stone. It was grey and looked ordinary. Dan tossed it once in his hand, and a figure rose from the dirt on the ground. It was tall - taller than Dan, at least - and rather slim. Their faces had an odd resemblance, one Phil almost couldn't place.

"Phil . . . Remember when I told you my father was dead?"

Phil gasped, covering his mouth.

"You mean - that's - that's your - ?"

"Phil, I'd like to introduce you to my father."

________