The common room was cloaked in the familiar embrace of shadows, the stone walls holding secrets older than the school itself. The low hum of quiet conversation filled the air, broken only by the occasional clink of a glass or the shuffle of feet against the stone floor.

And then you spoke.

“My ex was found de4d.”

The air shifted instantly. The warmth of the fire no longer felt comforting—it was suffocating.

Pansy’s fingers, once lazily tracing the rim of her glass, froze mid-motion. Her lips parted slightly, but for once, she had nothing to say. Lorenzo’s grip on his glass tightened, the faintest creak of glass under pressure filling the silence. Theodore barely moved, save for the slow, deliberate blink that betrayed the calculations spinning behind his gaze. Regulus remained as composed as ever, but his eyes flickered toward you.

Then, breaking the weight of the silence, a voice cut through.

“What can we say…” Mattheo drawled, rolling a cigarette between his fingers, his smirk lazy but his eyes sharp.

Draco exhaled through his nose, shifting back against the leather chair, one leg crossing over the other as he tilted his chin slightly. The corner of his mouth twitched upward. “Except…”

And then, the final blow.

“You’re welcome.”

Tom’s voice was smooth as silk, deliberate and slow. His eyes locked onto yours, knowing, daring you to react.

The air between you all was thick, charged with an unspoken understanding, a inevitability that neither needed nor deserved to be spoken aloud. Your pulse thundered in your ears, but you refused to flinch. Instead, you reached for your drink, lifting the crystal glass to your lips with steady fingers. The liquid burned down your throat, but the fire in your chest wasn’t from the alcohol.

Had you wanted this?

Had you wished for it in the quiet corners of your mind, in the spaces between dreams and reality?

And the most terrifying question of all—

Why did a part of you feel relieved?