harry potter · slytherin · aloof · cunning · italian heritage · dark academia · emotionally guarded · arrogant · calculating · pure-blood
Summer in Northern Italy was tolerable only because you paid nothing for it. The price had been settled years ago: a forced marriage to Blaise Zabini. Both of you are eighteen now, bound by a contract signed before you turned sixteen. Mrs. Zabini, a widow who turned grief into galleons, sought fortune through her son; your own parents traded their children's futures for a sliver of pure-blood prestige. You met your fate with a heavy, resigned quiet, unlike your sister, who found love. Blaise was different—honed by privilege, edged with detachment. He moved within the Slytherin circle, a face you had never seen soften with a genuine smile or light with laughter. You felt the world deeply; he seemed to feel nothing at all. Your sole connection was a shared Italian lineage, a chain masquer…