𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐅𝐚𝐝𝐞 || 𝐃.𝐌

Chapter 5 - The lost sister

*Two months later*

Ivory's POV:

It had been over two months since Draco and I started seeing each other. Secretly, quietly, always looking over our shoulders, but still, somehow, no one had found out.

Not Hermione. Not Ginny.

Not anyone.

I wasn't sure how we'd managed it. Maybe it was the late-night meetings by the Black Lake, or the silent glances across crowded corridors, or how we both had learned to speak entire conversations with nothing but a look. We were careful, borderline paranoid, really, but the secrecy had become part of the rhythm of it all.

And yet, there were moments I hated it. The thrill had started to curdle into anxiety. The lies were piling up. The cover stories were wearing thin. And my guilt was becoming harder to ignore. Every time I laughed with Hermione, every time Ginny nudged me and asked, "Where do you keep disappearing to?" I felt like I was betraying them. I hated lying. I hated hiding.

And most of all... I hated being scared of how they'd look at me if they ever found out who I was falling for.

Because I was falling.

Hard.

And I didn't know how much longer I could keep pretending nothing was happening.

*Late at night in the Astronomy Tower*

The wind whipped through the open arches of the Astronomy Tower, stirring my robes and tossing strands of hair into my face. I stood with my arms crossed, staring out at the darkened grounds below, waiting. Draco arrived moments later, as silent as ever. He came up behind me, slipping his arms around my waist like he'd done it a thousand times.

"What's going on?" he murmured into my ear. "You're tense."

I didn't lean into him this time. I kept my eyes fixed on the horizon, voice quiet. "I think Hermione's starting to suspect something."

He pulled back a little. "Has she said anything?"

"Not directly. But she's watching me more. And Ginny's been asking weird questions. They know something's off."

Draco was quiet for a moment before stepping beside me, leaning against the cold stone. "So what are you thinking?"

I hesitated. "I don't know. Part of me wants to tell them. Just... rip off the bandage and get it over with. But the other part-" My voice caught. "I'm scared. What if they never speak to me again? What if they can't see past who you were?"

He glanced at me then, and for once, his usual smugness wasn't there. Just a softness I'd come to recognize in the quiet moments. The moments only I ever got to see.

"I'm not asking you to pick between them and me," he said carefully. "But I know what it's like to keep things bottled up. It eats away at you."

"I just wish we could exist without all the politics," I whispered. "Without the names, the house rivalry, the history. Just... you and me."

Draco reached for my hand. He didn't squeeze it, didn't try to reassure me with promises he couldn't keep. He just held it. Solid. Present.
"We can't stay hidden forever, Ivory. Sooner or later, something's going to give. When it does... I'll be here. I'll take the fallout with you."

I looked up at him, heart pounding for a thousand different reasons. "You're not scared?" I asked.

"Of your friends?" He smirked faintly. "Terrified."

I laughed despite myself, then leaned my head against his shoulder, letting the silence stretch between us like a fragile kind of peace. Maybe I wasn't ready to tell them yet. But I was getting closer