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."
Dan sighed. Every year she tried to push him to audition for the choir, and every year he couldn't bring himself to do it. He thought his shower singing was all he needed in the vocal department, but some reason his mother seemed to think he was destined for greatness.
"I won't be able to make it," Dan told her as he turned to leave.
"You don't even know when they are!" she argued.
"Bye mum!" he called over his shoulder.
---
In Hogsmeade was the first time he saw the bird. Dan was sitting outside Honeydukes reading the back of a chocolate frog card when it landed beside him. At first, he didn't even notice it was there. Then it chirped.
Dan jumped in surprise, almost chucking the card in his hand. He stared down the bird, confused as to why it was so close. Usually small songbirds like the one beside him were scared of people. But it looked totally unaffected.
Leaning back over from his surprised state, he gave the bird another confused look. It was a little blue songbird, although the kind of songbird he didn't know. It was a very pretty color though. Dan tilted his head. "Alright, what is it you want?" he asked it, not really expecting any sort of response and half hoping it would just fly away like a normal bird.
But of course it didn't. Instead is hopped right up to Dan's thigh then fluttered up to sit on it. Dan was speechless as he watched the bird settle itself on his leg. He didn't want to move, in fear of startling it or sending it flying under the shoes of passing witches and wizards. So, he resigned, and let the bird do its thing while he inspected the rest of his candy and the joke book he bought from Zonko's. And it turns out, all the little blue bird did was sit there and sleep.
---
The second time Dan saw the bird was at a Quidditch match. He didn't particularly enjoy sports, but he usually went anyway. He sat on the top bleacher in the Slytherin section and clapped whenever his team scored, but he was nowhere near as into it as some of the others. One of his roommates, Chris, had his face painted silver and green. That was being a little too into it.
Ravenclaw currently had the Quaffle when Dan heard a fluttering next to his ear. He almost batted it away like a bug, but he caught sight of the blue feathers just in time. Were all blue birds this unafraid? Was it just him? No, it had to be the same bird, and after a few moments of staring at it he could confirm it was. He was sure. This time, the bird didn't just ruffle its feathers and sleep. This time it sat on the very edge of Dan's shoulder and started to sing.
It was a short, sweet melody. It repeated the set of notes several times before it stopped. Dan just stared at it. The bird just sang to him.
Then it hopped closer to Dan's face, gently nipped his earlobe with its beak, and was gone by the time Slytherin had regained the Quaffle.
---
One time is an accident, twice is a coincidence, and three times is on purpose. Dan kept repeating this mantra to himself while he walked to Advanced Transfiguration. He had seen the bird twice in two weeks, so it could have been just an abnormally friendly one. Still, he wished he knew what the hell kind of bird it really was so he could look it up and see if that was normal.
Dan sat in the back of the class and paid close attention while his mother taught the class how to transfigure things without a wand. She said it was difficult and not many were gifted at wandless magic, but everyone should give it a try. She turned one of her quills into a butterfly with a wave of her hand, and had it fly around the room before it landed neatly back in her hand once again a quill. The students seemed fascinated, and as soon as she let them all loose to try Dan sagged a little. No matter how hard he tried, he never seemed to be able to do any of the spellwork the seventh years could do. His mother said it would come as he went through his own Transfiguration levels, but he still felt defeated.
He was absently flipping through his Intermediate Transfiguration book when a shadow fell on his page. He looked up and met the eyes of Phil Lester.
"Er, hi," Dan said.
Phil smiled a little brighter. He always seemed to be smiling. "Hi. You're Dan Howell, right, the professor's son?" he said.
Dan nodded. "That'd be me," he replied and closed the book. Phil pulled out a chair from the table beside him and sat on the opposite side of Dan's desk. "Shouldn't you be practicing?" said Dan, peering over the other boy's shoulder at the other practicing students.
"I came here to practice with you. And maybe help you do it too," Phil replied.
Dan just looked confused. "Well, okay, but... you know I'm a fifth year, right?" he said, leaning a little closer.
"Yes, I do know. Doesn't mean you have any less talent, you just need some extra help," he chirped and placed one of his quills on the desk between them, "And my name is Phil, by the way."
"I know," Dan said sagely, without thinking. Once he realized how creepy that sounded, he felt a blush creeping up his neck. But Phil just looked confused.
"You do?"
Dan stuttered for a moment, thinking of a very un-creepy reason to know Phil other than idolizing him in dueling club. "Um, I've caught on from listening in. And you're the president of dueling club," he said.
"Oh, I can't believe I haven't noticed you before," Phil said, "Anyway, let's get started." Dan nodded and just waited, expecting Phil to try first, however, they both were sitting there. "Are you going to try?" prompted Phil.
"Oh," Dan muttered, unaware that he was supposed to go first. This was Phil's class after all, he expected it was more important to him considering it was for a grade. But Dan tried first anyway, closing his eyes and thinking really hard about turning the white feather quill into a flower. He waved his hand at it, and the feather shivered a bit as if there was a breeze, but didn't move or change otherwise. He looked up at Phil, giving him an I-told-you-so expression.
"Try again," Phil said, nodding encouragingly.
Grumbling quietly, Dan tried again and nothing happened. He tried again and nothing happened. Just when he was becoming very frustrated, his mother appeared to check on their progress. Well, Phil's progress. "How's it going back here?" she asked, looking a tad over-interested in the situation.
"Great, Professor Howell, Dan is catching on," Phil responded excitedly.
Dan gave him a look. He wasn't at all.
But she nodded anyway. "And how're you doing?" she directed at the older boy.
Phil simply waved his hand and the quill was a small twig with a leaf on it the next second. Dan's mouth fell open. Phil hadn't even practiced and it just happened. The professor just smiled, like that was exactly what she was expecting, and then turned to Dan. "How were auditions?"
"Mum!" Dan hissed, looking worriedly at Phil. She just shook her head and moved on.
Phil was quiet for a few moments. "Frog choir?"
"She keeps wanting to me join!"
"You know, I know the girl who helps run the choir. You did miss auditions, but I can probably get you one," he continued.
Dan shook his head. "I don't want to be in it," he muttered unconvincingly.
Shrugging, Phil turned the twig back into his quill. "Whatever you say," he said.
---
And then the third time he saw the bird, he was standing on the bridge overlooking the ravine. He was engrossed in his Potions book, trying to cram before an exam, before a flash of blue caught his eye. The bird had once again landed beside him.
"Hello," Dan sighed, "Should I learn to expect you whenever I'm outside now?" The bird chirped shortly and bounced over, standing right on Dan's book. "Can't believe I'm talking to a bird," he muttered. The bird chirped once more, then started to sing. It was repeating the same song it sang at the Quidditch match. Dan just stood there, listening silently, until the bird had repeated its melody three times.
Then it flew down the bridge and into the castle. Dan shook his head. Hopefully Peeves didn't get to it before someone could let it out the window. He had just turned back to his cramming when the bird returned, flapping incessantly next to his ear. Dan leaned away a bit, but then the bird swooped in a bit his ear.
"Ow! What the hell?" he hissed, waving his hand to try to shoo it away. It simply just dodged and bit Dan's ear again, this time tugging on it a bit. Dan swore again, pressing his hand over his ear to see if it was bleeding. It wasn't, but it sure was smarting. The bird started to fly back towards the castle, then paused, seemingly waiting for Dan. Sighing, Dan packed up his book and jogged to catch up with the bird, ignoring the strange looks passing students gave him in the process.
Dan followed the bird down a couple corridors and even down the stairs until he found himself outside the library. His eyes were trained on the bird, so when it pulled up out of his visage he didn't see the girl in front of him until he smacked right into her.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Dan spluttered, his face and neck burning.
The girl looked ruffled, but that might have just been her extremely curly hair. "It's okay, no harm done," she said, straightening her robes. He noted she was a Hufflepuff. Dan gave her a small smile and meant to keep walking buy to find that damned bird, but right then Phil appeared around the corner. Dan froze.
"Hey," he said brightly, "Funny you should be here, Dan, this is Carrie. She was my connection to the frog choir I was telling you about." Carrie smiled at Dan, but he must have just looked horrified because Phil continued. "He doesn't want to join this year. But apparently he's got talent he's too shy to share."
"Oh, good to know! Listen, if you want to join, it's not too late until around December. No one will pressure you, but think about it. We can always use more male voices," Carrie explained, giving Dan another smile.
He just nodded dumbly. Phil gave Dan a charming smile and headed into the library with Carrie. It should be impossible, but Dan couldn't help but feel like the bird knew. After all, it had sung to him the last two times he had seen it. Plus it led him right to Carrie. Shaking his head, Dan continued on, away from the library. There were just too many distractions there at the moment.
---
It became kind of like a schedule after that. Even as the weather grew colder by the end of the month, whenever Dan was outside or in an open space, the bird was there. And every time, it sang that same medley to him over and over. So much, in fact, that Dan found himself humming it to himself without thinking about it.
At the same time, Advanced Transfiguration started to become his favorite class. Every lesson when they had time to practice a new spell, Phil would work with Dan. That's when he discovered that the older boy was not in Advanced Transfiguration, nor was he his mother's favorite student, for no reason. Phil was very gifted at Transfiguration. He hardly ever had to think about new spells or wand movements, and Dan was mesmerized. He decided at some point before Halloween that he definitely had a crush on Phil.
One day he invited Dan to study with him. Heart racing, Dan joined him in an alcove by the courtyard. Wind whipped through the open window while the two boys tried to stay warm by the torch on the wall. Phil was writing diligently on a Potions essay while Dan tried to stay focused on star charts. Besides feeling hopelessly self-conscious around Phil, his attention often drifted up to the gray sky. He kept expecting the blue songbird to appear, but every time it wasn't there. It was odd, Dan thought, getting so used to it being around that he was surprised when it wasn't. Perhaps it got smart and migrated for the winter.
Dan hadn't noticed that Phil was looking at him. "Dan?"
He jumped slightly, turning his head from the window. "Did you say something?" he asked, worried that he had unknowingly ignored something important.
Phil shook his head. "No. You just seem distracted," he remarked.
Swallowing, Dan nodded. He considered telling Phil about the bird, but decided that it was too weird to tell him at this point. "I've... just got a lot of work to do. And my brain seems to not be able to handle it at this very moment," he replied.
Phil tilted his head and smiled. "How about this. I give you the password to the Prefect's bathroom on the fifth floor, and you take a bath in the tub there and de-stress a bit," he suggested.
Dan's eyes widened considerably. He hadn't even noticed the Prefect's badge on Phil's lapel until that moment. "A-are you sure?" he said.
"No doubt. It's behind a painting of a mermaid, she'll tell you if someone is in there, and no one will walk in on you. It's the perfect place," Phil said and ripped a slip of paper from his notebook. He scrawled something on it, perpendicular to the lines, and handed it to Dan. "I recommend going tonight, so you can focus on getting your work done," he added and winked playfully.
Dan stuttered out a thanks and looked down at his charts to hide his pink cheeks.
---
So like Phil suggested, that evening Dan went to the fifth floor and found the mermaid painting. He pulled the crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and told the blonde mermaid the password. All she did was smile and wave her hand, then her frame swung in to let him inside the bathroom. Dan climbed in and immediately froze. There wasn't just a nice tub in the room, oh no, it was the size of a small swimming pool. There were also quite a few taps to choose from, and it looked like he would have to experiment for a while to find the ones he likes.
Finally Dan had filled up the tub, and it took a surprisingly less amount of time than he had originally thought. The water was warm and frothy and smelled strongly of vanilla, which he appreciated. Phil was right, this was extremely relaxing. Dan closed his eyes and leaned back, taking a deep breath.
Without really realizing it, he was singing again. The notes the bird had been singing to him automatically came out in gentle "la's" as he laid back in the water. They echoed sweetly throughout the large room, and even as Dan climbed out when his skin was all pruny, he still sang softly just to hear the acoustics. Shower singing without the shower has become the new shower singing.
When Dan left the bathroom, his hair still damp, the last thing he expected was to run into Carrie again. This time he stopped himself before he smacked right into her. "Hi," he greeted slowly.
"You can sing!" she chirped happily.
Dan's mouth fell open. He pointed back towards the bathroom. "Y-you heard that? I wasn't, I mean, I'm not trying to-"
"Dan, stop," said Carrie with a bright smile, "I did hear you, it's not a big deal. And I will tell you that you have a spot in the choir if you want it."
It was hard to process all this information at once. "How did you know I was in there?" he decided to ask her.
Carrie's expression turned mischievous. "A little birdie told me," she said and brushed past him, "Rehearsals are Tuesdays in the Great Hall at nine o'clock!"
She was gone before Dan could say anything else. Wait. 'A little birdie' was just a popular expression, it didn't mean anything, he told himself firmly. Still a little overwhelmed, Dan continued down the corridor towards the staircase. He just needed some alone time in his bed. Around the next corner, however, Phil was leaning against the wall. To be fair, he did know Dan was going to be in the bathroom. Now that he thought about it, it was probably Phil who told Carrie about it.
"You told her, didn't you?" Dan accused right away.
Phil looked a little sheepish as he shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, I did. But you're in the frog choir now! Aren't you excited?" he said as he fell into step next to Dan.
The brunette shook his head. "I mean, I guess I've skipped the undeniable embarrassment of going to a public audition, but... she heard me singing in the bath! That's a little strange," he muttered.
"But now you're in. That's really all that matters," Phil said, smiling at him. Dan had to admit he was a little excited about it, and Phil's smile just made him feel fuzzy inside. "And what was that you were singing?" Phil continued, and then started to hum the exact melody the bird had been singing to Dan for weeks.
Dan's eyes went wide as saucers. "The bird's been seeing you too? A blue one, with little yellow tufts on its wings?" he said, more enthusiastic than he intended to be.
Phil shook his head, his expression becoming a little devious. "No."
"Then how do you know that tune?" said Dan confusedly.
"A little birdie told me," the other said slowly.
Dan thought quickly. The only place he had ever heard those exact notes in that exact succession was from the blue songbird. There was that one time that it led Dan right to Carrie, and Phil followed shortly afterwards. Whenever he was outside, the bird was there singing to him, but it was never there while he was outside with Phil. The bird's feathers were blue... Phil's eyes were the same shade. Phil knew the bird's song. A little birdie told Carrie where Dan was.
"You're good at Transfiguration, you're my mother's favorite student," Dan thought aloud and he turned sharply to Phil, "You're an animagus! The songbird is you!"
"A warbler, actually. And yes, it was me all along. I wanted to help you get the courage to do something I know you wanted to do," he said.
Dan just blinked and shook his head, pursing his lips. "Wow," he murmured, no other words coming to mind in that moment, "You classically conditioned that song into my head so I would sing it for Carrie to hear to get me into the choir."
Phil looked over and gave him a smile, then boldly put his arm around Dan's shoulders. "Don't worry, I'm just here to help," he said and ended up walking with Dan all the way back to Slytherin Dungeon.