Little Birdie

Cover art by Emolise on tumblr.

Dan was not the coolest bloke in school. He didn't play Quidditch, he wasn't an active member of dueling club, he had never even joined Gobstones club. So, he didn't really have many friends, and only talked to the boys who lived in his dormitory. In fact, the only reason why he wasn't completely invisible is because of his last name; Professor Howell taught Transfiguration at Hogwarts. She was a favorite among the students, in any House, although especially among the Hufflepuffs, which made Dan's life as a Slytherin that much weirder. There were more Hufflepuffs than any other House in Dan's Advanced Transfiguration class...

Well, it wasn't exactly Dan's class. But he attended every day anyway. It was a seventh year course, but because his mother taught it, he got special permission to sit in the back. He loved Transfiguration just like she did. When he took the class in two years, he would get an O no problem. It was only early October and Dan felt like he had learned so much.

At the end of class one Friday, the other students were packing up, and Dan was going to ask his mother about Hogsmeade. This would be the first weekend of the year, after all, and Dan would like something from the shops. Once the crowd of towering seventh years had cleared Dan made his way up the center aisle towards her desk, but she wasn't alone there. There was another boy there, and Dan knew him. President of the dueling club, reigning Hufflepuff champion. Phil Lester.

Dan only ever went to dueling club meetings to see the duels. He never had the confidence to duel anyone himself. A number of times he had watched Phil send someone sliding across the dueling table, and every time it was impressive.

Dan didn't know that he had been staring until Phil looked up at him. The younger boy started to feel a blush coming on, no doubt leaving an unattractive blotchy trail all the way from his neck to his cheeks. Phil's eyes were so blue.

The eye contact only lasted a few moments before they were back down at whatever he was going over with Dan's mother. Dan paused in the center aisle, giving them space and privacy. He wasn't enrolled in this class, and actual students came first. That was one of the agreements he made with his mother before she allowed him to sit in. He watched her pick up a quill and sign something, then hand it over to Phil. He gave her a smile and started to walk away, towards Dan. He moved out of the way, trying to look as small as he could as to not attract attention.

Phil looked anyway. And on his way out, he gave Dan a little smile.

Dan's eyes were still on Phil's back when his mother called out, "Dan?"

That's when he looked back over to her. He quickly closed the space between them and leaned on the opposite side of her desk. "So, Hogsmeade is this weekend," he began hopefully.

She looked up, raising an eyebrow. "I signed the form this year, right?" she said.

"Er, yeah," Dan replied, "But I was hoping to maybe buy something, from Honeydukes, perhaps..."

That's when she caught on. She rolled her eyes and leaned on the desk directly across from Dan. "You want money, don't you?"

"Yes, that's it."

Rolling her eyes, his mother turned to her desk chair and rifled through the messenger bag hanging from it. She pulled out ten Galleons and slid them over to Dan. "You're lucky I work here, or you'd be out of luck with your procrastination," she quipped.

Dan gave her a look while he put the money in his bag. She knew his procrastination habits, even on something so small as asking for pocket money. Dan was about to say goodbye when she piped up again. "So, I hear frog choir auditions are this weekend as well."