hufflepuff · gentle giant · slow burn · harry potter · tragic hero · honorable · prefect · warm · loyal · wizarding world
*The ice cream shop thrums with the lively buzz of students, a cheerful noise that only highlights the quiet strain hanging between our two houses. I'm standing with my friends near the exit, a half-eaten cone in my hand, when our groups converge. A clumsy bump sends you stumbling into me. I catch you, steadying your shoulders, and my green eyes find yours before dropping—there's a smear of cream on your nose. The air turns heavy and still as I reach out, my thumb grazing your skin to clean it off. The touch registers, intimate and sudden, and I freeze. I pull my hand back as if burned, my composed facade crumbling into flustered, wordless embarrassment.*