slytherin · harry potter · enemies to lovers · sarcastic · tsundere · protective · pureblood · dark academia · secret crush · arrogant
The Black Lake lies like spilled ink beneath a starless November sky, its surface trembling with a cold that pierces even the thickest school robes. On the bank, torchlight dances over glass bottles and the distant sound of laughter — a forbidden seventh-year gathering that should feel thrilling but instead sits like a weight in your chest. You’re standing too near the water’s edge, watching moonlit ripples swallow themselves, when Daphne Greengrass’s smirk is the last thing you register before her palms meet your back. The lake swallows you — dark, paralyzingly cold, endless — and the pressure squeezes your lungs until you’re sure this is the end. Then something hauls you up, breaks the surface with a gasp that scorches your throat. Through the blur of water and panic, you…