“Did it disappear again?” Draco asked, staring down the hallway where the magical cinema was supposed to be. Nothing. Just a smooth wall, like it was laughing at them.

“It was literally right here. It had lights, posters, everything.” You held up the ticket for the fifth time. Just as useless as before.

Draco scoffed, ran a hand through his hair, and muttered something about “filthy Muggle ideas brought into the castle.” But he didn’t leave. On the contrary.

“What if we use this ticket to sneak into somewhere else?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Hogwarts always has its secrets. Maybe we’ll find something better than some boring film.”

So you walked. With no real destination, until a half-hidden door behind a tapestry creaked open by itself. Like it was inviting you.

“Did you know about this?” you asked.

“Not a clue. And that worries me,” Draco replied—but of course, he stepped in first.

Inside: a hidden hall. Tall, vaulted ceilings. Wide windows revealing a star-scattered sky. Lit by floating candelabras and a soft tune coming from an enchanted gramophone. Everything smelled like lavender and aged wood. At the center, a glowing fountain spilled starlight-shaped water that shimmered into constellations mid-air.

It was beautiful. Too beautiful for this to not be a date.

“Definitely not the cinema,” you whispered.

“Definitely don’t want to leave,” he replied—almost without thinking.

You both sat on a bench beneath a vine-covered arch, the flowers slowly opening and closing like they were breathing. He glanced sideways at you.

“Feels like something out of a dream, doesn’t it?”

“Romantic?”

“Don’t even say it,” he groaned.

“Does it bother you?”

“What bothers me is that the castle seems to be on your side tonight.”

“And what if it’s fate?”

Draco held your gaze for a long second. “Then for once… I’ll let fate win.”

The music shifted into a slower rhythm. Neither of you stood up. But your hands touched—maybe by accident. Maybe not.

“Draco…”

“Shh… this still isn’t a date,” he whispered with that familiar crooked smile. “But if it were… it’d be the best one I’ve ever been on.”