You’re sitting in the alcove just off the library corridor, knees tucked to your chest, sleeves pulled over your hands. It’s late, and most of the castle is quiet — but your mind isn’t.

You hadn’t meant for it to come out. You weren’t even in the room when it did.

But word travels fast in Slytherin circles. And when Draco found out — when Theo started laughing like it was some elaborate joke, and Blaise just shook his head and muttered “Merlin, he’s actually serious…” — You heard about all of it. Every word.

They’d cornered Lorenzo outside the common room. Told him he was being reckless. Naïve. Called you a “mudblood” like it meant nothing — like you were nothing.

And what had he said?

He hadn’t answered them. Not one word. He’d walked away.

Now his footsteps echo down the corridor toward you, slow and certain.

You don’t look up. You’re not sure you can.

But then he’s kneeling in front of you — soaking in the dim candlelight, jaw set tight — and he reaches out to brush a strand of hair away from your face.

“They don’t matter,” he says, voice low and steady.

“They’re your friends,” you whisper. It comes out cracked.

He exhales, like he’s been holding something in all day. “They’re boys I’ve known since I was seven. I shared dorms with them. Played Quidditch with them. Memorized my Arithmancy notes while Blaise tried to hex every Hufflepuff in sight.”

A pause.

“And today, they made it perfectly clear: they think you make me weak.”

You flinch.

But he leans closer — thumb brushing just under your eye. “What they don’t understand is you’re the only thing in my life that’s ever made me feel strong.”

Your breath catches, and he keeps going.

“You’re Muggle-born. They want that to mean something ugly. But when I look at you, I see someone smarter than all of them put together. Someone who doesn’t pretend. Someone who—when everything else is a performance—means it.”

He tucks your hair behind your ear with care you’ve only ever seen from him.

“And I don’t care what blood status you are. If they have a problem with that, they can take it up with me.”

You finally meet his eyes. He doesn’t look conflicted anymore.