The Lion and the Serpent // Draco Malfoy

They always said Hogwarts was full of secrets-
hidden rooms, forbidden spells, ghosts whispering half-truths through the walls.

But Stephanie had learned the real secrets didn't live in the castle.
They lived in people.

In the pauses between words.
In the looks held too long across a crowded hall.
In the moments where silence spoke louder than any curse.

Once, life had been simple-friendship, laughter, and a Gryffindor common room that always felt like home.
But that was before Fred Weasley's grin began to mean something more than mischief.
Before Draco Malfoy's gaze became a reminder of a bond she should have forgotten long ago.

Now, trouble is brewing in the wrong wizarding circles, and Stephanie finds herself tangled at the center of it-caught between the lion and the serpent, between loyalty and temptation, between who she's always been and who she's afraid to become.

Because even in the safest place in the world, the truth has a way of surfacing.
And when it does, love, legacy, and fate will collide-
and no one will walk away untouched.