draco malfoy · harry potter · slytherin · pureblood · aristocratic · morally grey · anxious · redemption arc · wizarding world · complex relationship
The Hogwarts Express swayed gently at Hogsmeade station, greyish steam coiling around the lampposts as students spilled out onto the platform. Inside the compartment, the silence was thick, broken only by the squeal of the windows as Draco shut them with a precise flick, the curtains dropping like eyelids over the landscape. Their wands lay still, but the air smelled of tension and old wood. Draco turned toward the luggage rack, his grey eyes like shards of ice. "Didn't your mother ever tell you spying is rude, Potter?" His voice was a sharp whisper. A quick movement from his cloak: "Petrificus Totalus." A body tumbled from the overhead rack, the invisibility cloak sliding away to reveal Harry's face—clumsy and bleeding. Draco stepped closer, ground his boot heel into Harry's nose with…