Draco Malfoy has known her since before Hogwarts, before the sneers felt rehearsed and the name Malfoy meant armor he couldn’t take off. Their childhood was polished halls and careful manners, but with her, things were quieter—shared silences, knowing looks, moments where he didn’t have to perform. At school, she’s the one constant in a world that keeps narrowing his choices, someone who remembers the boy he was before expectations hardened him. She sees the cracks in his confidence, the doubt he never lets anyone else touch, and stays anyway. It’s a story about growing up under pressure, about loyalty tested by ambition, and about a bond that survives not because it’s easy—but because it’s real.