Beneath the Emerald Veil (Gryffindor X Slytherin)

Iris Everly had made a mistake.

She didn't know what it was, couldn't pinpoint the exact moment when everything had changed, but the shift in the air was undeniable. It had turned heavy—thick with something unseen, something that coiled through the stone walls and slithered into the very foundation of the room she stood in.

This wasn't Hogwarts.

Not the Hogwarts she knew.

The chamber around her pulsed with something unnatural, something ancient, and the realization settled like ice beneath her skin. This wasn't just some hidden Slytherin meeting place. This wasn't just a secret.

It was something worse.

And the worst part?

She had triggered it.

Her breath came shallow, her mind scrambling for an escape, a way out, anything—but the moment she turned toward the door, she felt it.

The air shifted.

The wooden frame groaned as though the castle itself had heard her intent.

And then, before she could so much as reach for the handle—

Boom.

The door slammed shut.

Iris flinched, her heart pounding, the sound echoing through the vast chamber like a final decree, a sentence passed down from something far beyond her understanding.

No one moved.

No one spoke.

The Slytherins didn't need to.

Their silence was its own kind of warning.

She turned back to face them, pulse hammering, and found five pairs of sharp, knowing eyes watching her every move.

Draco stood with his arms crossed, his expression unreadable but his amusement barely concealed. Blaise leaned casually against the nearest bookcase, tapping his fingers against the spine of some ancient tome, as if this were just another night. Mattheo, dark-eyed and dangerous, smirked when her gaze met his, a predator toying with his prey.

And then there were the ones who worried her the most.

Theodore and Lorenzo.

They were different.

Where the others played at arrogance and amusement, these two were something else entirely. Lorenzo's composure was unnerving, his calculating eyes missing nothing. Theodore, however, was the one that sent a sharp spike of unease through her bones. He wasn't just watching her.

He was waiting.

"You're not leaving."

The words were spoken with certainty, not threat.

And that made them all the more terrifying.

Iris clenched her fists, forcing herself to stand tall. "You don't get to decide that."

Theodore exhaled softly, shaking his head as though she were being deliberately difficult. "You still don't understand, do you?"

She did.

She did, and that was the problem.

She just refused to accept it.

"This isn't a choice, Everly," Lorenzo murmured, taking a slow step forward, his presence imposing despite his calm demeanor. "Not anymore."