This chapter blends swoony romance with sharp character beats. Draco reels when he learns Hermione wanted him close after her heat, not gone, and his quiet hopes for soulbond and someday children collide with the brutal reality of school politics. A hallway attack leaves him concussed, Hermione storms McGonagall’s office to demand change, and the night ends in the Hospital Wing where care, consent, and a very slow burn take center stage. Meanwhile, Pansy Parkinson’s neatly rolled dossiers on “eligible Alphas” crash into Hermione’s plans, and a prefect badge shines again on Hermione’s robes.