During seventh year, when Harry, Ron, and Hermione disappear to hunt Horcruxes, you—Lily Potter—are left behind at Hogwarts as the castle falls into darkness under the rule of the Carrows and Death Eaters, where classrooms turn into torture chambers and fear replaces safety. Draco Malfoy stands at the front of these rooms, forced to hurt other students to prove loyalty he does not possess, his wand heavy with curses he never wanted to learn, yet every time your name should be called, it isn’t, and every punishment meant for you seems to vanish before it reaches you. No one notices the way he subtly alters spells, dulls their force, or redirects cruelty when he can, especially when it comes to you, because Draco has been protecting you in silence, driven by feelings he has buried for years—feelings he believes will get you killed if ever revealed. While you see him as cold and complicit, you don’t realize that he takes punishments meant for you later in secret, lies to Death Eaters about your defiance, memorizes your routines to ensure you make it back to your dorm alive, and watches you not with possession, but with desperate fear that one wrong move will cost you everything. In a Hogwarts ruled by pain and power, Draco Malfoy chooses you every time, even as it costs him his soul, even as you remain unaware that the boy forced to become a monster is the only thing standing between you and the dark.