Following a surge in dangerous magical artifacts, the Ministry orders specialists into temporary protective custody. Unfortunately, the safest warded property available belongs to Draco Malfoy. For six weeks, the only thing more volatile than the cursed object hidden beneath the manor… Is the man you’re trapped there with.
The Ministry’s newest initiative pairs former Death Eaters with war heroes on long-term projects intended to rebuild public trust. Your assignment is Draco Malfoy. For the next eighteen months, you’ll share an office, a budget, and enough paperwork to make murder seem like a reasonable alternative. Unfortunately, murder is heavily discouraged by Human Resources.
There is only one way to save the person you love. Give yourself to Draco Malfoy. Everyone knows what Draco is. Cruel, calculating, and dangerously unpredictable, he has spent years building a reputation that makes even the most powerful witches and wizards wary of crossing him. He does not make charitable bargains, and he never gives something without taking something greater in return. So when he offers you a deal, you know exactly what you’re agreeing to. Your freedom in exchange for the life of someone you love. You willingly walk through the doors of Malfoy Manor knowing you may never walk back out. Draco makes no attempt to make your sacrifice comfortable. He gives you rules. Restrictions. Consequences. He reminds you, often and without sympathy, that you came here of your own accord. You hate him for it. And at first, there is very little to suggest that you shouldn’t. But the longer you remain in his world, the more you begin to see things the rest of Britain never has: the wounds beneath the cruelty, the loneliness behind the arrogance, and the strange, reluctant humanity hidden beneath the monster everyone fears. You came to Malfoy Manor intending to sacrifice yourself for someone you love. You never expected to become the one person determined to save Draco Malfoy from himself.
Draco needs to convince someone you’re his partner. You agree to pretend. He’s surprisingly good at it. He remembers your preferences. Touches your waist. Calls you pet names. Looks at you like you’re the only person in the room. And eventually you realize: You actually believe him. Then the mission ends. And Draco immediately goes back to normal. Because to him, the relationship was an act. You have to live with the humiliating realization that you fell in love with someone who was only pretending to love you. Until much later, when Draco realizes that he wasn’t pretending nearly as much as he thought.
Dhurandar After months trapped in Pakistan, separated from the only life he had ever known, Jaskirat Singh Rangi finally returns home—but home no longer feels like home. Unable to face the house where his mother and sister should have been waiting, he goes to the only place that still holds a piece of the man he used to be: you. His childhood best friend. The woman he was once meant to marry. What he expects is comfort. What he finds instead is an entirely different life. You’re now a successful lawyer, raising two children on your own—an eleven-year-old son named Jaskirat after the boy you never stopped loving, and a spirited nine-year-old daughter who has never known the man standing at your door. Faced with the life that could have been his, Jaskirat must navigate the crushing weight of survivor’s guilt, PTSD, and the scars left by his captivity, all while rediscovering his identity in a country that feels unfamiliar. As old feelings resurface and long-buried truths come to light, he is forced to confront not only the horrors of his past, but the future he thought had been stolen from him forever.
Draco Malfoy has never been kind to you. Then again, neither have you been kind to him. For years, the two of you have been locked in an endless war of insults, arguments, challenges, and carefully calculated attempts to outdo one another. Draco has always assumed you can handle him. You’re clever, powerful, stubborn, and more than capable of giving as good as you get. So he never holds back. He mocks you when you make mistakes. He deliberately provokes you when you’re irritated. He says things designed to get under your skin, certain you’ll simply throw something sharper back at him. And when you do, he smiles. Because to Draco, this is what the two of you are. Until one day, he goes too far. He says something he cannot take back. Something that doesn’t make you furious. Something that simply makes you go quiet. For the first time, Draco realizes that you’ve never actually been playing the same game he thought you were. And by the time he understands that his cruelty has genuinely hurt you, the damage is already done. Slow burn. Draco does not immediately become apologetic or suddenly understand his feelings. He initially assumes you’re simply angry and will get over it. The realization comes gradually as your behavior changes, your usual arguments disappear, and you stop giving him the reactions he secretly looks forward to. The escalation should be slow. He doesn’t go for the emotional killing blow immediately; he keeps pushing because he genuinely believes you can handle it. Only after repeated misunderstandings, increasingly personal arguments, and mounting resentment does he finally say something cruel enough to shatter the dynamic between you. And for the first time, Draco has to confront the possibility that the person he thought enjoyed fighting with him was actually being hurt by him all along.
You were supposed to be dead. Draco made certain you weren’t. He dragged you out of the hands of people who wanted you gone and brought you somewhere no one could reach you. Now you’re furious that he won’t let you leave. Draco doesn’t understand the problem. He saved you. He protected you. He claimed responsibility for you. And in Draco Malfoy’s mind, those things are indistinguishable from possession.
The Ministry collapses. The old pure-blood houses seize control. To prevent open war, each ruling family is required to exchange one member with another house. You are sent to Malfoy Manor. Draco receives one instruction. “Keep her alive.”