A Gain

Draco Malfoy returns to Eighth Year to find the world has already decided what he is.

Then Varianne Flame walks into him and no longer hates him correctly.

"Following people through corridors is terribly unflattering, Malfoy."
"And yet you recognized the footsteps. I shall choose to be flattered."

What begins as irritation turns into attachment-unwanted at first, beyond undoing thereafter.

But some wounds survive long enough to become convictions.
Rumours spread, fear acquires a voice, and violence returns to the castle halls.

A story about scars that refine rather than fade, and the unsettling realization that sometimes-

a loss may be a gain.
- Jane Austen