TI

Theodore Nott wasn’t always like this. Before Arabella Rosier, he was quiet. Calculated. Careful with his words and even more careful with his heart. Then he loved the wrong person. Nearly two years of manipulation, broken promises, jealousy and secrets turned the boy everyone thought they knew into someone sharper, colder, and almost impossible to get close to. And then you arrive. A new girl at Hogwarts with your own reasons for keeping people at a distance. Intelligent. Stubborn. Independent. Completely unimpressed by surnames, reputations or the infamous Slytherin hierarchy. You don’t trust easily. Neither does he. The difference? Theodore doesn’t know that the reason you understand his walls so well is because you’ve built your own. What begins as irritation becomes reluctant conversations. Reluctant conversations become understanding. And understanding slowly becomes something neither of you is prepared to name. But Arabella Rosier isn’t finished. She knows Theodore’s secrets. She knows exactly which buttons to press. And when she realizes he’s beginning to care about someone else, she’ll do whatever she can to remind him that she knew him first. Because to Arabella, you aren’t a new beginning. You’re a replacement. And she refuses to be replaced. Two people who learned that love doesn’t always mean safety. Two people who don’t believe promises. Two people who would rather walk away than admit they care. Maybe the person who understands your walls best is the only one capable of breaking through them. But first, you’ll both have to decide whether trusting someone again is worth the risk. Because sometimes the person who changes everything is the one you never intended to let in.