Everyone always joked that Draco Malfoy and Y/N Y/L/N came as a pair. If one was somewhere, so was the other. Their parents were best friends, which meant they grew up side by side. They spent every holiday together, every summer together, and eventually every year at Hogwarts together. By seventeen, most people couldn't remember a time when they weren't attached at the hip. Draco certainly couldn't. Y/N was woven into every part of his life. She was his best friend. The person he ran to after losing a Quidditch match. The person who could calm him down when nobody else could. The only person he trusted enough to see every side of him. And somewhere along the way, Draco fell hopelessly in love with her. The problem? He never felt the need to tell her. Because in his mind, there was never any doubt about how their story ended. They would end up together. Eventually. Naturally. The way they always had. Draco knew Y/N better than he knew himself. He knew what made her laugh, what made her angry, and exactly what to say when she was upset. She knew him just as well. She stole his jumpers constantly. He complained every single time. Then secretly hoped she never gave them back. He showered her with gifts simply because he liked seeing her smile. Told his mother stories about her so often that Narcissa practically adored Y/N as much as he did. He even let her wear his signet ring, claiming it was a symbol of their friendship. What he never admitted was that he liked everyone seeing her wear it. Liked what it implied. Liked the feeling of knowing she carried a piece of him wherever she went. And while Y/N collected his hoodies, Draco quietly collected pieces of her too. The jumpers she'd forgotten after study sessions. The shirts she'd accidentally left behind. Little reminders for the nights he couldn't sleep and wished she were nearby. But despite all of it, Draco never confessed. Why would he? Their families had spent years discussing a future match between them. Draco knew. Y/n didn't. Heiresses aren't supposed to know.