The courtyard was cool that morning, the autumn air crisp enough to lift the edge of cloaks and tug at hair. Students drifted in loose clusters toward their classes, voices mingling in the soft chatter of early day.

Near the fountain, Evan stood facing his younger brother. Harry’s expression was tight, his voice sharp — whatever the argument had started over, it had spiraled quickly, as it always did between them.

“You think it’s about you, don’t you?” Evan’s voice carried, clipped with irritation. “It always is with you.”

Harry bristled, but before he could retort, movement at the edge of his vision caught Evan’s attention. She had just stepped into the courtyard, and everything else — the fight, the noise, the cold — simply dropped away.

He didn’t excuse himself. He didn’t even glance back at Harry. One heartbeat he was standing in the middle of an argument, the next he was striding across the flagstones toward her, the confident, easy gait that seemed to belong to him alone.

Evan closed the space between them in seconds, the familiar spark of adrenaline tugging his mouth into a grin. Without hesitation, he slipped in close, leaning down just enough to catch the delicate curve of her ear between his teeth in a playful, fleeting bite.

The air between them shifted — warmer, sharper. He lingered there for a moment, close enough that the faintest brush of his breath touched her skin before he straightened.

A voice behind him — smooth, teasing — cut in. “You’re blocking the sun, Potter.”

Marius had just come up alongside them, one hand reaching forward to ruffle Evan’s hair in passing. But Evan’s reflexes were quicker; he caught Marius’s wrist mid-motion and, with a flash of his teeth, bit down gently on the back of his hand. Not hard enough to hurt — just enough to make a point.

“Mine,” Evan said, not looking at him, voice low and certain. He released Marius’s hand as casually as he’d taken it, brushing his own fingers over the spot as if smoothing away the contact.

Marius just smirked, stepping back a half pace with an exaggerated shrug. “Possessive today, aren’t we?”

From a few feet away, Caius stood with his arms folded, watching the exchange with the faintest quirk at the corner of his mouth. “Better him bite you than me,” he murmured, mostly to himself.

Evan ignored them both, turning his attention fully back to her. His hand came up, fingertips brushing over the line of her jaw in a touch so light it almost wasn’t there. His eyes held hers in a steady, deliberate way — no smirk now, no joke — before his mouth curved into that slow, knowing smile again.

He didn’t need to say anything else. The courtyard noise faded into the background, the faint rush of the fountain filling the space between them. When the others moved, he stayed where he was, the faintest graze of his knuckles lingering at her cheek before letting his hand fall away.

By the time they started walking, Marius and Caius falling into step on either side, Evan’s grin was back in full force. But every so often, his gaze flicked to her again — not for reassurance, but to make sure she was still exactly where he wanted her.