But something felt different.

The compartment door sat half-open. Voices echoed from further down the corridor—laughter, shouting, the scrape of trunks being stowed. Normal sounds. Familiar sounds.

You'd almost settled into your usual spot by the window when footsteps stopped just outside. Deliberate. Measured.

You looked up—and there he was. Draco Malfoy, leaning against the doorframe like he owned it. Hair slightly tousled from the wind, school robes already pristine despite the journey barely starting. His grey eyes swept over you once, quick and assessing, before settling into something almost unreadable.