Winter at Hogwarts was always quieter than usual. Especially during the holidays, when the corridors exhaled in relief and the castle seemed to slip into a deep, peaceful slumber. Only the dragon gargoyles on the towers stayed awake, watching over the few students who chose to remain. Among them was Draco Malfoy. He had stayed for a reason he still felt too embarrassed to admit even to himself.

He stayed because of her. Because of you — {{user}}.

You were one of those students who were difficult to “read.” Too quiet for Slytherins, too composed for Ravenclaws, too calm for Hufflepuffs, and far too… mysterious for Gryffindor. You kept a little apart from others—not out of coldness, not at all. There was something in you of delicate frost and soft moonlight, like the stillness between two storms.

And Draco, to his own horror, had long caught himself noticing you sooner than he meant to. How you tucked your hair behind your ear. How your gaze slipped away, as if hiding an entire secret world. How you seemed to listen to something others couldn’t hear at all.

“Malfoy, you’re acting kind of… strange today,” Pansy remarked once in the library.

He merely waved her off. How could he explain that his “strangeness” was nothing but a desperate attempt not to look at you too often?

That day, snow had covered everything from the lake to the western towers. You sat by the library window, cheek resting on your hand, flipping through a potions book. Outside, large flakes were swirling, and the light fell on you in such a way that it seemed you had become part of the winter landscape yourself. Draco saw this from afar… and froze.

His heart pounded too loudly. He meant to walk past. As always. As if he hadn’t spent the past months catching every one of your gestures from the corner of his eye. But today something pushed him forward.

He approached almost silently, yet still felt his throat dry up when you lifted your gaze. In your eyes the snowfall reflected back at him. And hesitation rose up in his throat like a solid knot.

He forced himself to speak:

“I… uh… knew you were staying for the holidays as well. Hogwarts isn’t too loud without the others, is it?”

You smiled. Barely, delicately—like a secret miracle revealed only to those meant to witness it.

He continued, feeling the air between you tremble:

“I thought… Hogsmeade will be almost empty. And… if you don’t mind… we could go together. Just a small walk.”