The rain had just started to fall when you stepped out onto the narrow street, the soft patter against the cobblestones carrying that familiar scent of autumn. You pulled your cloak tighter, thinking you could disappear into the crowd..until a figure stopped just ahead, as though the world itself had drawn him into your path.

Draco Malfoy.

He looked different now , older, sharper, his hair a little longer, the aristocratic angles of his face no longer belonging to the boy you once knew, yet impossibly the same. The sight of him unraveled something in your chest you thought you’d buried years ago.

His pale eyes found yours instantly, and for a moment, the noise of the street faded. The smirk that once cut like a blade was nowhere to be seen; instead, there was something unreadable, something almost fragile.

“I never thought…” his voice broke the silence, softer than you remembered, “…that fate would have the nerve to throw you back in my way.”

He didn’t move closer , not yet , but the way he looked at you carried all the weight of years unspoken, the ache of what was lost, and the quiet, dangerous possibility of what might be found again.