A heart at war

The massive oak doors of the Great Hall swung open, and the entire room fell silent. Not gradually. Instantly. Hundreds of conversations died mid-sentence. Forks froze halfway to mouths. Even the enchanted ceiling above seemed forgotten as every eye turned toward the entrance.

you stood in the doorway, completely unaware of the chaos she had just caused.

Her family was one of the most powerful in the wizarding world, your name known across continents, but that wasn't why everyone was staring.

It was her.

The girl who had been on the cover of Witch Weekly five times. The girl whispered about in common rooms, discussed in newspapers, and gossiped about at Ministry galas. The rumors had painted her as beautiful.

The reality was worse.

Long, cascading curls. Soft, bright eyes. That perfect hourglass frame. and a presence that made people forget what they were saying the moment you walked into a room. She looked like a fantasy people spent years convincing themselves couldn't possibly be real.

Until now.

The strange thing was that she didn't seem to notice. Or maybe she did.

With effortless confidence, she stepped into the Great Hall as if hundreds of eyes weren't following your every movement. As if she hadn't just stolen the attention of an entire castle.

At the Slytherin table, disaster struck.

Draco Malfoy forgot how to breathe. Mattheo Riddle sat frozen. Theodore Nott looked up and didn't look away. Blaise Zabini stared, completely caught off guard. Lorenzo Berkshire went pink across the apples of his cheeks. And Coriolanus Malfoy went completely still.

For a second, even he couldn't place what he was feeling. Then she moved again, and everything snapped into focus.

The rest of the Great Hall faded. The noise, the students, the professors none of it mattered anymore. One glance. That was all it took.

Draco didn't care about anything else in the room. Mattheo didn't care who was watching him stare. Theo didn't care about pretending to be uninterested. Blaise didn't care about his usual composure. Lorenzo didn’t care about flirting. And Coriolanus didn't care about anything except keeping his eyes on her.

The girl who seemed completely untouched by the attention that followed her everywhere. And somehow, that made it worse. Much worse.

Because if there was one thing Draco Malfoy hated, it was being ignored. If there was one thing Mattheo Riddle hated, it was not getting what he wanted. If there was one thing Theo Nott hated, it was uncertainty. If there was one thing Blaise Zabini hated, it was losing control. If there was one thing Lorenzo hated, it was disinterest. And if there was one thing Coriolanus Malfoy hated, it was competition.

Around the Great Hall, whispers spread like wildfire. But none of them were listening. They were watching you. Not because they wanted to, but because they couldn't stop. None of them had heard your voice. None of them had ever spoken a word to you. Yet every one of them had the same thought, sharp and immediate:

Mine. Six boys. One girl.

And without a single word spoken between them, the war had already started.