A Dementor's Kiss - Phan

The Seeker

Dan has two main passions in life: flying, and his Hufflepuff boyfriend Phil Lester. Previously the idea of trying out for the Slytherin team would have been incomprehensible to Dan, but with Phil at his side perhaps anything is possible.

~

"Have you heard?"

"What?"

"Chris has been made captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team."

"Oh no."

"He's going to be unbearable."

Chris and PJ, recently back from the Bahamas, were spending the last two days of the summer with Dan and Phil at Phil's house. They were due to arrive at any minute and Dan and Phil were waiting in the garden on a pair of tire swings that hung down from the big tree.

"Do you think he'll be wearing the badge?" Dan asked.

"Oh, definitely. But he'll be pretending like he's not. Like, he'll have it on his shirt under a jacket as if he didn't want to show off, you know, only wearing it because he has to. But then he'll keep oh-so-subtly moving his jacket out of the way to make sure everyone sees." Phil said with a laugh.

"We should pretend we don't notice it." Dan sniggered.

"Oh, no," a gleeful grin spread across Phil's face. "That would be awful. Let's do it. He'd go crazy."

"Oh my god," Dan giggled. "I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep it up."

"If we do it we have to commit. All 48 hours. And then on Monday on the train someone will be like 'oh Chris what's with the badge?' and we can pretend to have only just noticed it."

"That's evil." Dan leaned back on the swing, the blue sky filling his eyes.

"It was your idea." Phil pointed out.

"I know. It's gonna be hilarious. We'll have to let PJ in though, otherwise he'll get so sick of Chris that he takes it off and pins it to your forehead."

Phil nodded. "Good point. Talking of the devils, what's that?"

He gestured up into the clouds and Dan squinted into the sun. Two black dots were silhouetted against the pastel blue sky.

Dan grinned. "Is it a bird? Is it a plane?!"

"What?" Phil frowned.

"Er, never mind. Muggle thing. I wouldn't expect you to understand anyway."

Phil snorted. "What, do muggles all have poor eyesight or something?"

"Not quite. Now shut up, I don't want to miss Chris's big entrance."

"I don't believe it," Phil said, his eyes screwed up as he stared.

"What?"

"Chris is wearing red."

"I think you mean scarlet."

"Oh god."

"How will we ever see his shiny new badge if it blends in with his jumper?!" Dan rolled his eyes.

"Wait, PJ's seen us. He's waving."

They waved back, and behind them Phil's mum shot a burst of red sparks into the air through an open window that made them both jump.

"I think they've seen us, mum," Phil shouted, turning round to crane his neck up at the window and rolling his eyes. "It's broad daylight. They know where to land."

"I was just saying hello," she called back, and Phil sighed dramatically.

Chris and PJ touched down on the grass just in front of the house, looking windswept and gloriously brown, their cheeks flushed pink from the cool winds above the clouds. Immediately, Chris pulled his red jumper off over his head to reveal a shiny scarlet badge nestled modestly on his chest. He stretched, groaning at the stiffness in his legs and, conveniently enough, expanding his chest at the same time.