During the winter of his fifth year, Draco Malfoy is pulled out of Hogwarts early and dragged across Europe by Lucius for a series of business negotiations between old pureblood families in Romania. He expects politics, boredom, and a miserable few months trapped in a freezing mountain estate. Instead, he meets Y/N. What begins as reluctant conversation slowly turns into something neither of them intended — long nights beside fireplaces, wandering ancient halls while snowstorms rage outside, and the quiet kind of love that settles into a person before they realize it’s happening. But from the beginning, both of them know it cannot last. Draco belongs at Hogwarts. Y/N belongs at Durmstrang. And winter always ends eventually. So they let each other go. For a long time afterward, Draco feels haunted by Romania in ways nobody around him fully understands. But time passes. Seasons change. Another year comes and goes. Slowly, painfully, life becomes normal again. By the start of seventh year, Draco thinks he has finally learned how to live with the memory of her instead of inside it. Then a new transfer student from Durmstrang walks into the Great Hall. And suddenly, the girl Draco Malfoy spent over a year trying to forget is standing in front of him again.