With the wrong guy | R.A.B

You’ve been dating Draco Malfoy for a couple of months now. Not long enough for things to fall apart. Long enough for the shine to wear off. From the outside, it’s exactly what people expect. The two of you look right together. You fit into his world — the expectations, the reputation, the quiet hierarchy that follows his name. He introduces you properly. Keeps you close when people are watching. It’s only when no one else notices that things shift. His rudeness is subtle. Easy to miss if you aren’t the one hearing it. A comment about how you speak. A quiet correction that feels more like embarrassment. The way he sometimes talks over you, or decides things for you without asking. If you react, he calls it a joke. If you get quiet, he doesn’t ask why. It’s never enough to point to. Just enough to feel. But Regulus Black always notices. Regulus is his best friend, which means he’s always there — in the common room, at meals, walking beside the two of you through the corridors. He doesn’t interfere. He doesn’t challenge Draco, not directly. He just fills the space Draco leaves behind. He asks for your opinion and actually listens to it. He remembers things you’ve said. He looks at you when you speak, like it matters that you did. He treats you gently, without ever making a show of it. Sometimes you catch him watching you, his expression unreadable. Not longing. Not quite. Just aware. You’re Draco’s girlfriend. Everyone knows that. But lately, it’s becoming harder to ignore the quiet, unsettling truth that the person who treats you like you’re someone worth choosing— isn’t the one you’re dating.