𝙼𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚘 𝚁𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚕𝚎'𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝚅

☞ 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲, 4𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫, 1996

"Good. You are all here." A sigh of relief escapes my lips when I enter my dormitory to see all my friends impatiently waiting for me. I throw my bag onto the floor, and I start pacing. Oddly enough, ever since I left the library, my smile hasn't faded. I don't recall the last time something or someone made me feel like this.

"What is it, Riddle? Blaise and I had to sneak out of Ancient Runes for this!" Draco hissed, clearly annoyed at how reckless we were being.

"I know, I know. Leaving class like that could raise suspicion, but it's important. It's to do with Y/n." I smiled more when I spoke her name so effortlessly as I stood in the centre of the room. The Slytherin always seemed to capture my attention, ever since first year my eyes have always found themselves wandering to her, and I hated her for that. Although I don't think I could ever truly hate her, not now, not ever.

"Why are you smiling so much?" Nott spoke up with confusion written all over his tired face. Upon realising how pathetic I look, smiling like a schoolgirl, I wipe the grin off my face and find time to compose myself and cool my raging thoughts about her.

"When you all left me with Snape, we got to talking, and she told me how we could earn her help." Blaise groans and falls back onto his bed after hearing my words.

"Listen, mate. We already have a long fucking list of things to achieve by the end of this year. Doing whatever Y/n Snape bloody wants will not help us in any way." Blaise stresses as he begins to pace the room too, clearly feeling disheartened by everything.

"I agree with Blaise. There are more important things than Snape. Surely we can do what we need without her help?" Theo adds, clearly stressing over our unfortunate circumstances.

"No! We need her!" I protested, shutting the group right up. "And you lazy fucking lot will be happy to know, we don't have to do much to earn Y/n's help." I smirked at the boys. Hope flickered to life in their eyes, and they all got up and stood closer to me in anticipation.

Theo had a small smile as he sat on my bed. Blaise leaned against one of the wooden posts against my bed, with his hands in his pockets. Draco stood in between Blaise and me, his arms crossed.

"We need to earn her trust." I smirked, however, the boys didn't share my happiness that it wasn't another long favour we needed to add to the long ass list of things we needed to complete.

Theodore fell back on my bed, a sigh escaped his lips as he rolled his eyes. "Great." He muttered under his breath. "How do you suppose we achieve that!" He frantically waved his arms above his head.

Blaise nodded, seemingly not thrilled about having to force himself to be friendly with Snape. Understandably so, as Blaise has never been the one to have many friends regardless, in the sense that he sees little point in having many friends with no real connection over having a few friends he can entrust with his life.

Draco groaned in defeat. "We are fucked then! As if Snape will trust us! We've hated each other since first year! We'd be more likely to fuck the girl before earning her fucking trust!" He stormed across the room towards his side, where his furious eyes locked on an innocent book. He picked up the book and threw it across the room, making a loud bang as it hit the stone wall.

Theo shot up at the noise and rolled his eyes at the overdramatic blond. "Well, you are going to have to get her to trust you. All of you." I glared at the group, firmly emphasising the severity of the situation. With a sigh, I muttered.

"Our lives depend on it."

We glanced at each other, a flicker of fear on our otherwise emotionless faces. We spent the last few minutes of the lesson discussing how we could earn her trust. Together, we've decided to focus on these main things: avoid her Gryffindor friends (as it will be harder to treat them with respect just as Y/n wishes), spend as much time with her in classes as Merlin only knows the little amount of time we have outside of class to get to know her, and last but not least, protect her.

"Protect her?" Theo scoffed as we walked towards Potions, which wasn't that far of a walk as we were already in dungeons.

"Yes, Theo. Protect her. I've caught wind of some of the things certain boys plan on doing to her, if you know what I mean. Not to mention, Parkinson will be planning her revenge. We will protect her, and she will trust us. Simple." I mutter to my friends, not wanting the sea of kids rushing past us to hear our conversation.

Finally, we entered the classroom and found Astoria Greengrass and Y/n Snape, sitting on a table by themselves. Lucky for us, there were four open seats available on their square table. I smirked at the boys and nodded towards their table.

"Y/n." I smiled at the beautiful girl as she smiled back. I took a seat next to her, as Theo sat beside me. Draco sat beside Greengrass and opposite me, and Blaise sat next to him. "Greengrass." I nodded to the girl, my smile gone, and my emotionless expression returned. She nodded back and continued to frantically read through her potions book last minute.

Unfortunately for us, Parkinson and Bulstrode claimed two seats behind us. I scowled at the girl, hatred pricking at my skin as I remembered the way she spoke to Y/n this morning.

No one took the seats opposite Y/n and Greengrass, as they'd be facing away from the front of the class, and Professor Snape forbade it. So naturally, it's second nature to avoid those seats. And I'm glad no one did, less distractions.

Suddenly, the door gently swung open, and in came our new Professor. He was 10 minutes late, which didn't seem promising. Although father said he was helpful when in need of something. "Good afternoon, class. For those of you who do not know me, I am Professor Slughorn, you're new potions master. I have taught here before, so you needn't worry, your education is in good hands." The man gave a lopsided smile as he stumbled to the front of the classroom.

"As if he'll be any good." Malfoy muttered, making me and the boys chuckle under our breaths. Slughorn proceeded to babble on for a while until he asked us to gather around the centre table he had set up.

Y/n stood in front of me with Greengrass beside her, and I got a whiff of her perfume, vanilla and jasmine. The perfect blend of sweet and floral that I've always adored. Draco and Theo stood on either side of me, and Blaise stood next to Draco.

"Can anyone tell me what these potions are?" Slughorn glanced around the room when only two arms shot up. The Gryffindor mudblood and Y/n. Slughorn locked eyes with the Slytherin girl standing in front of me. "Ah, Miss Snape, if you please." He smiled as he gestured towards the brewing cauldrons.

With a nod, Y/n slowly approached the first cauldron. "This is Veritaserum. A powerful truth serum." Slughorn beamed at her answer as she stepped up to the next cauldron.

"And this one is a polyjuice potion. It allows the drinker to assume the physical appearance of another human being." Again, Slughorn praised her as she approached the last cauldron.

"And this one is..." She took a large sniff of the potion, and a small smile rose on her cheeks. "Amortentia. This is the most powerful love potion in the world. It's rumoured to smell differently to each person according to what attracts them."

My eyes never left Y/n as she took another breath of the potion. "For example, I smell, smoke, a new book, cologne, and chocolate." She gave a shy smile to the professor as she scurried back to her spot in front of me. The professor began to talk about another potion. Liquid Luck. And I felt the boys around me stiffen at his words, however, my eyes never left the girl in front of me.

As Slughorn began to give us our task for today's lesson, I wanted to congratulate Y/n myself. Slowly, I leaned forward until my mouth met her ear. "Well done, Y/n. I'm impressed." I whispered before standing up straight once more. Her body was now stiff, and her posture was less relaxed than usual, making me chuckle under my breath. I smiled to myself until my eyes locked with Harry Potter, who was glaring at me. The foul git.

Slughorn dismissed us back to our tables, and we began to draft up a Draught of the Living Dead. Many people struggled as, unlike Professor Snape, Professor Slughorn didn't write clear instructions on the chalkboard, making us rely entirely on our books, which were crammed with unnecessary information.

Beans flew across the room, and everyone desperately tried to get a drop of its juice. I nearly threw my knife at Theo when his bean hit me in the face for the sixth time. The only ones who seemed to be fairing well were Draco, myself, Y/n, Granger, and surprisingly, Potter. I glanced at the pompous Gryffindor in suspicion, as he is notorious for being bad at potions.

"How are you so good at potions?" I smile at Y/n as she effortlessly adds asphodel to her brewing concoction. She glances up at me and then back down to her brew.

"Not quite sure what you mean, Riddle." Y/n replied, her voice faking annoyance as a small smirk appeared on her face that she so desperately tried to hide. I rolled my eyes at her feeble attempt and continued to work on my potion.

"Back to last names now, Snape?" I raise a brow at the girl as I add my wormwood infusion, turning the potion a murky grey.

Y/n rolled her eyes at me as she carefully stirred her potion. "I do apologise, Mattheo." The sound of her sweet voice saying my name is sure to haunt my dreams.

In an effort to rid the horrid feeling in my heart, I cough and find something new to converse about. "How's your potion coming along?"

She sighed and stood on her toes to get a better look at her potion. "Still a tad bit murky, but it seems to be clearing up nicely." She smiled and continued to meticulously stir the pot. "How about yours?"

"Mine is the definition of murky." I sighed in defeat. I glance around the group and notice that Draco and Theo seem disheartened as they hopelessly stare into their cauldrons. Blaise, on the other hand, was staring at me with a smirk as his eyes flicked between Y/n and me. The prick started wiggling his brows suggestively. I quickly shot the boy a glare and continued to work on my potion.

Y/n gasped from beside me, causing me to look up at her in fright. "I see what you've done. You've forgotten to add asphodel!" She laughed and handed me the ingredient. I carefully added the last ingredient and noticed how my potion cleared up instantly, leaving a perfectly clear solution.

"Thank you, darling." I smile at Y/n, whose cheeks reddened at my words. I could spend an eternity with this girl, saying and doing anything in my power to fluster her. Unfortunately, time is limited. Very limited.

In the end, it was Saint Potter who claimed the prize, leaving the boys and myself in a dismal mood. No matter, we have a task to complete. Tonight, we go back to the library.