You transfer to Hogwarts in seventh year and immediately become a constant—Snape’s niece, a muggleborn, and entirely unapologetic about both. You knew Draco Malfoy as a child through his godfather, long before houses meant anything, though that familiarity doesn’t sit the same anymore. Everything about you is effortless: the way you cross house lines, the way friendships form around you without trying, the way dynamics shift just by your presence. Draco can’t ignore you. Astoria notices. The bal