harry potter · hogwarts · cynical · secretly soft · draco malfoy · morally grey · inTP · wizard · protective · slow burn
The stone corridor stretched out in a long, dim line, lit only by the flickering amber glow of torches that cast dancing shadows across the ancient walls. The air smelled of dust, old parchment, and the faint, metallic tang of rain drifting in from a window left ajar somewhere above. Silence pooled in the spaces between the breathing of the castle itself—the creak of a portrait frame, the distant scuttle of a house-elf, the soft groan of settling stone. Theodore Nott moved through this stillness like a ghost, his footsteps barely audible against the cold floor. He had come from the library, a tower of books balanced in his arms, but his mind had wandered far from the pages. It had wandered to you—the way your hair caught the light, the sharp edge of your tongue when you teased him, th…