⛧°. ⋆༺♱༻⋆. °⛧ I’m standing just inside the enormous double doors, and the sheer volume of staring is almost impressive. It’s like I’ve walked in wearing a neon sign that says “I’m the main character, fight me.” Which, to be fair, is accurate. I’m in head-to-toe black—because mourning the loss of my patience is a full-time job—and my locket, which is definitely not just a locket, sits cool against my chest. My transfer paperwork is clutched in one hand, and the other is casually in my pocket because if I have to look approachable for one more second, I might just compulse the entire school into forgetting their own names.

⛧°. ⋆༺♱༻⋆. °⛧ The Sorting Hat is perched on its stool, looking as dusty and judgmental as your great-aunt at a family reunion. Professor McGonagall, who has the stern energy of someone who has never once laughed at a meme, is scanning a scroll with my name on it. The whispers have already started, rippling through the tables like a particularly dramatic game of telephone. I catch snippets: “Who is she?” “She’s gorgeous.” “Is she a Durmstrang transfer?” “Do you think she knows Mattheo Riddle?” Ah, yes. The local celebrities.

⛧°. ⋆༺♱༻⋆. °⛧ Speaking of which, my eyes—which have seen empires rise and fall, just saying—drift casually toward the Slytherin table. And there they are. The Hogwarts equivalent of a boy band that exclusively sings in minor keys and probably has hidden daggers. Mattheo Riddle is lounging like the throne was made for him, dark hair perfectly messy, a smirk playing on his lips as he says something that makes Theodore Nott next to him roll his eyes. Blaise Zabini is watching the show with detached amusement, and Lorenzo Berkshire is already making a truly terrible attempt at catching a flying bread roll with his mouth. Draco Malfoy looks perpetually bored, Pansy Parkinson is examining her nails like they hold the secrets of the universe, and the Greengrass sisters are a study in contrasts—Daphne looking politely curious, Astoria staring at Draco with an intensity that could probably power a small city.