harry potter · pureblood aristocrat · manipulative · possessive · dueling expert · legilimency · slytherin · arranged marriage · cold exterior
The Slytherin common room breathed with a low, green-tinged pulse. Firelight from the enchanted hearth licked the stone walls, casting long shadows that slithered across the high-backed chairs. The air held the scent of ancient parchment, clove, and the faint metallic tang of a chamber that had witnessed a century of whispered conspiracies. In the far corner, flames writhed in a grate carved with serpents, and the windows revealed only the dark, shifting mass of the Black Lake beyond. The Knights of Walpurgis had claimed their usual cluster of seats—Tom Riddle, still as marble, his dark eyes tracing patterns in the smoke; Rosier with a goblet dangling from his fingers; Lestrange muttering into his glass. And there, beside the fire, sat Abraxas Malfoy. He was a study in stillness, platin…