Seemingly, more and more people are disappearing. Dan sees the increasing empty spaces, people gone as easily as a candle extinguished. 

The gamekeeper, Hagrid, has mysteriously left without a single trace. Everyone is on edge, even the Slytherins are hesitant to leave the safety of the common room out of class. And Hermione Granger, Dan's favourite charms partner, is in the hospital wing which isn't bringing him as much joy as he used to anticipate her departure would. It was strange, the never-resting girl missing from class, the library, the great hall, everywhere.

As his own control of magic is increasing, so does his fellow student's suspicion of him - especially after knocking his opponent back without even flinching during the duelling club. His useless defence against the dark arts teacher formed it while not even knowing anything himself - Dan is more qualified to teach the class than he is. At least he knows the theory behind magic, the true way to treat the creatures that Lockhart thrives from misunderstanding and conquering. He's misinforming the whole school.

Dan feels as if there us a target floating upon his back now. Every turn, there is a group of students staring at him with filthy looks, terrified looks and other various mixed emotions. At least he still has his friends, although that list is quickly dwindling in numbers. He knows he isn't the heir of Slytherin, he can't even speak parseltongue like Harry can.

"Dan! Check out this plant I-" Phil starts to say as he runs towards him,.

Dan quickly shuts his eyes and hides behind his robes, bracing himself for the inevitable attack of some stupid plant. Creatures love him. However, sentient, arguably aggressive plants... not so much.

"No Phil! I do not want to see another goop spraying cactus or lethal lilies or fire-breathing snapdragons or squealing trees!" Dan cries, "my sanity can only take so many aggressive plants! They all have it out for me!"

"No silly, this is just a regular succulent," Phil says with a laugh, showing Dan the unmoving, seemingly harmless plant in a yellow pot, "a muggle plant."

"Well I like it a lot better," Dan says as he breathes out a sigh of relief, still not completely trusting Phil.

"I was thinking of maybe trying to make it magical! Do something cool," Phil says with a large grin, "what do you think?"

"I think that plant would be better non-sentient honestly with the rate you dehydrate any plant that doesn't remind you," Dan says with a teasing smile.

"Shut up, I still destroy you at herbology regardless," Phil grumbles, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Only because Professor Sprout looks after everything when you forget to," Dan says, "anyway, I've been meaning to tell you... I can do a patronus charm now!"

"What! What is it? How? I wanna know my one!" Phil gushes excitedly, jumping up and down with excitement, "please show me so I can live vicariously through you until I can do one!"

"Okay, meet me at the edge of the forest at eleven tonight?" Dan says, a smile on his face.

"But... That's against the rules..." Phil says hesitantly, looking around for any invading ears, "are you sure? I don't want to get in trouble."

"I'm sure, I do it almost every night," Dan says, flashing Phil a wide and cheeky grin, "trust me."

Phil sighs, reluctantly nodding his head.

"If we die, I'm going to kill you. If we get expelled, I'm going to slowly and painfully murder you," Phil says.

"Thanks Hermione."

"That, was in poor taste."

***

"Dan! I don't like this, there's spiders all crawling in an ominous way and it's all eerie and-" Phil starts to gush as soon as they're all of a meter inside the forest, "I do not want to be here."

"The forest is a nice place, you're with wizarding extraordinaire Dan Howell anyway, no harm shall come to you," Dan says with a laugh, waving his hand so a ball of light materialises in front of them.

"Sometimes, you make me feel very inferior with your magic," Phil sighs, his blue eyes shining in the light, "do you think I'll ever be able to do this?"

"Phil, you're one of the best in our year," Dan assures him as they walk deeper into the forest, "you have nothing to worry about."

"But you do it so easily I-"

"I'm an exception Phil, you'll learn how to, you'll be a great wizard, you'll see."

They eventually stop walking when they reach the clearing Dan was in recently. Dan turns to Phil, excitement in both their eyes and he walks back a few steps. It's a sight, both boys drenched in silver light 

"You ready?" Dan asks with a wide grin, to which Phil nods with excitement.

The silver light emitting from the levitating ball Dan created vanishes as he prepares to concentrate on the spell. It's an dvanced spell, even for Dan, and done without his wand also. Closing his eyes, Dan lets that feeling of happiness wash over him again and, eventually, he waves his left hand, whispering "expecto patronum!"

Threads of light leave his palm, weaving themselves together to form a wolf, which skips around through the air and the trees, silent yet holding a certain presence. Phil watches, his blue eyes alight with wonder and amazement and a grin on his face. Eventually, Dan loses concentration and the wolf disintegrates, submerging them into darkness once more. Dan conjures the ball of light again.

"That was so cool!" Phil says excitedly, "woah! You need to teach me!"

"I will," Dan laughs, "in the meantime, we'll work on some other spells."

"Hey! Your patronus is a wolf! Dan Howell, as in howl!" Phil begins to lose it, laughing uncontrollably as Dan tries to ward off a smile and maintain his unimpressed expression.

"Haha... Hilariou-"

Then, there's a yell. Both Dan and Phil look at each other. They want to run, but Dan knows that they can't just leave whoever is in trouble. The yell sounded like it came form someone younger, and the absolute fear in the yell grips Dan by the heart, becconing him. Grabbing Phil's hand so he won't lose him, Dan leads Phil towards the direction of the noise, the light leading the way and their racing hearts following behind.

It stops above two figures surrounded by large spiders, Acromantulas, to be exact. The two figures are drenched in the silver light, trapped and helpless with the creatures closing in rapidly. There's not much time, but Dan hesitates.

"These spiders have a taste for human flesh and the leader is blind - his eyes are milky white instead of black," Dan whispers to Phil.

"We have to help Dan," Phil says, "you can use your strong magic."

"But I don't know if-"

"Now isn't the time for being unsure Dan, we need to help - you need to help."

Dan nods, running with Phil's hand still in his to join the two figures at the bottom of the hill. It turns out to be none other than Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. They stare in surprise at the two newcomers, however relief flicker in their eyes. They may distrust Dan, but they know he's powerful and their best bet at survival.

"What are you-?" Ron begins to ask.

"Long story, we were in the forest too, what's the deal with the Acromantulas?" Dan asks, breathing heavily, looking around to assess the situation.

"Long story, we'll explain later. Right now, we're their dinner," Harry says, anxiously looking at one of the spiders only a few meters away now.

"Right, is anyone afraid of fire?" Dan asks.

"Don't think so, why?" Harry asks with a frown of confusion.

"Okay, everyone stand together," Dan instructs, closing his eyes to concentrate, gathering the tingle of magic that rests within him, conjuring it to his fingertips.

Incendio, Dan thinks, and a ring of fire begins to burn around them, sheltering them from the spiders surrounding them. A tall wall of flames, bright, crackling streamers, engulfing them, protecting them. Dan's always loved fire.

"Great, we're trapped here," Ron says sarcastically, looking at Dan, "now what?"

"Hey I just saved them from eating your butts, want me to lower the flames?" Dan growls, the flames rising further alongside with his anger.

They stare at each other, stoic, cold, daring the other to back away.

"Dan, Ron, now is not the time," Phil says, standing between them and giving Dan a knowing look.

"Can you burn them?" Harry asks, the wall of flames flickering in the reflection of his glasses, beads of sweat trickling down his forehead.

"No! I can't hurt the forest, or the creatures," Dan says, his mind and heart racing wildly with adrenaline, "they belong here, not us."

"Then what can you do?" Phil asks, squeezing his hand and giving him a small smile and whispering, "you got this."

"Um... Maybe I can form a path with the fire?" Dan says, doubtful as he's never pushed his magic this much.

Dan walks to the edge of the circle and hesitates before taking another step. Thankfully, the circle expands, giving way for him to keep moving. Dan lets out a small sigh of relief, but he can feel his energy wavering already. They need to hurry.

"Follow me! And stay close!" Dan says and they run through the forest, a wall of flames protecting them.

Eventually, they reach the safety of the castle grounds. The flames die out and Dan drops to the ground, exhausted. His shoulders are shaking and eyes glassy, sweat is almost pouring off him. When he looks up at the three figures standing around him, they're blurry, and there's flames flickering within his dark brown eyes. Harry, Phil and Ron look at him in shock.

"Thanks, b-but how the bloody hell did he manage to do that?" Ron asks with wide eyes and a slight amount of fear, "how powerful are you?"

"I-I don't know," Dan whispers, feeling weak and drained, the flames weaken within his eyes, "I've never done anything like this before. I don't- I don't feel so good."

As if on cue, Dan's arms give in and he drops to the floor, seemingly unconscious. His eyes are still open, blinking, but the flames are barely visible. 

"He's not good," Phil says, his voice laced with concern as he puts an arm around his friend's shoulders and lifts him up, "we should take him to the hospital wing."

"But... we'll get caught!" Ron says with a frown.

"Then go back to your dorm, I'll take him," Phil growls, picking Dan fully up off the ground, staggering slightly under his weight, "but he saved our lives. I thought Gryffindors were meant to be brave."

Harry walks forward and slings one of Dan's arms around his shoulder. He smiles at Phil and motions for Ron to help too. Ron lets out a heavy sigh, but complies anyway. 

The three of them stagger towards the castle, carrying Dan's unconscious body and although it's left unspoken, they're all curious about the Slytherin boy in their arms, wondering how much magic really exists inside of him.

*****

lol its been a while hello, I forgot how fun this is to write yay, hope you enjoyeddd