You are my weakness in a world where weakness means death

Chapter 1 When Darkness first Noticed her light..

Hogwarts was never truly quiet.
Even at night, the castle breathed-soft footsteps of ghosts, distant echoes of laughter that once filled its halls, the wind slipping through stone corridors like a memory that refused to fade.
And in that silence, Draco Malfoy moved like a shadow that didn't belong to the world.
He kept to the edges of everything.
Always.
Dark corners. Empty corridors. Place where light didn't linger long enough to see what he really was.
A vampire.
A secret buried under pale skin, perfect posture, and a that meant control .
Draco had learned early how to act human.
How to smile without showing teeth. How to stand too close to danger and pretend it didn't call his name.
But hanger was never silent.
It lived under his ribs like a second heartbeat.
Tonight was worse.
The full moon pressed against the high windows of a Hogwarts ,silver spling through the glass like spilled truth. Draco could feel in his veins- the pull , the sharp edge of instinct he spent every day fighting.
He should have gone back to the dungeons.
He should have locked himself away.
Instead, he walked.
And that was how he found her.

Aurora Vale was sitting by the Black Lake.
Alone.

Which was strange- because Aurora was never alone.
She was a Gryffindor' s light. The girl everyone knew, everyone liked, everyone followed without even realizing it. Laughter seemed to belong to her. Warmth followed her like a spell.
But tonight... she was quite.
Her knees were pulled to her chest, hair falling loosely over her shoulders as she started at the water. The lake reflected the moon above her,trembling like it couldn't decide which light to believe in.
Draco stopped walking.
Something in him did not like this .
Not because she was there.
Because she shouldn't be seen like this.
Vulnerable.
Human.
Real.
He turned away immediately.
He should leave.
He always left.
That was what monsters did- they didn't stay near light long enough to burn.
" Malfoy?"
Her voice cut through the night like a spell he hadn't learned how to block.
He froze.
Slowly, against every instinct he had built over years of survival, he turned back.
Aurora was looking at him now.
Not afraid.
Never afraid.
That alone was dangerous.
" You ' re out late " she said softly,as if they were talking in a classroom and not in the middle of forbidden darkness.
Draco 's expression hardened automatically. It was easier that way.
" I could say the same about you ", he replied coldly.
A small smile touched her lips. " I couldn't sleep "
A pause.
He should have ended the conversation.
He didn't.
The wind moved between them,carrying something unspoken.
" You shouldn't be here ", Draco said finally.
Aurora tilted her head slightly,." Neither should you. "
That was a problem.
She was right.
He took a step back without realizing it. Too close, and she would notice. Too close, and everything inside him would betray what he was trying to hide.
But Aurora stood up.
And stepped closer.
" Why do you always look like you're about to disappear?"she asked.
His jaw tightened.
" Watch your words, Vale "
But there was no threat in it.
Not really.
Only fear.
Not for him.
For her.
She stopped right in front of him.
Too close.
Too bright.
Too alive.
Draco could hear her heartbeat.
Slow .Calm. Trusting.
It made something in him crack.
" I think, " Aurora said quietly, " you're not as cruel as everyone thinks "
A sharp, humorless breath left him,.
" You don't know anything about me. "
For the first time, her smile faded.
" Then show me."
Silence.
The world narrowed to the space between them.
Draco felt it- the hunger, rising like a tide he could barely hold back. The urge he had spent years burying under control and blood and lies.
His eyes flickered.
Just for a second.
Too fast for most to notice.
But Aurora did.
Her gaze didn't move away.
It only softened.
" Draco...." she said, like she was speaking to something broken instead of dangerous.
And that worse.
Because no one was supposed to say his name like that.
Not like it mattered.
Not like he mattered.
He stepped back sharply, breaking the distance like it was burning him.
" Stay away from me," he said, voice low. Controlled. Wrong. Aurora didn't move.
And for the first time in a very long time, Draco Malfoy realized something terrifying:
He was not the one deciding how close she could get.
And darkness- real darkness- had just noticed it wanted the light.