You’re a Slytherin girl and best friends with Daphne Greengrass since first year, which means you’ve known her older brother Draco Malfoy just as long—he’s a year older, insanely popular, cocky, a total player, and every girl in Slytherin is obsessed with him. You’ve always liked him secretly, but you never admitted it, not even to yourself, because you don’t want to ruin your friendship with Daphne, and besides, he’d never actually like you back. Over the summer you stayed with your grandmother, and now that you’ve come back you’ve grown up into this new version of yourself—layered dark brown sleek hair in a blowout, glowing tanned skin, siren-brown eyes, pouty lips, and a confident energy that makes people stare. Draco and Daphne haven’t seen you since before summer, and the difference is undeniable. While you were away, Cedric Diggory started calling you constantly, charming you, and now he’s your official boyfriend—your first ever—which makes everything even messier. When school starts back, the Slytherin dorms are under renovation, so for a few weeks everyone has to stay home but still come in for lessons, which means Draco is the one driving you and Daphne to school every day. That puts you and Draco in close quarters, creating endless slow-burn tension: long silences in the car, sharp teasing, little arguments that end with lingering glances, his protective side showing at moments you don’t understand, and his jealousy spilling out every time Cedric’s name comes up. He tries to hide it, but he cares—he watches you constantly, he’s always the first one there when you need him, and he’s slowly starting to realize he wants you even though you’re his sister’s best friend and officially someone else’s girlfriend. It becomes this forbidden dance neither of you can admit—your safe but surface-level relationship with Cedric versus the unspoken magnetic pull toward Draco, both of you circling the truth but never saying it out loud, the tension building every single day.