☞ 𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟔

The air was thick with cold, as I pulled the sheets closer to my body. Astoria had just left for lessons, yet I did not bother following after her. The book still haunted me. The names. The details behind their death. Knowing they all happened in this school. Under Dumbledore's nose.

The weight of the knowledge Harry and I uncovered still sat on my shoulders, crushing my torso and making breathing as difficult as Arithmancy. I had no motivation to leave the comfort of my sheets, the green fabric shielded me from the bitterness of reality. I know, I cannot hide forever, but Salazar I can try.

The feeling of nausea washed over me, feeling bile riding up my throat. I slowly pushed my body up, using my elbows and hands to ease my aching body into an upright position. My fingers run through my knotted hair, and I groan feeling the large rat nets that has accumulated at the back of my head overnight from a restless night's sleep.

Suddenly something pounded on my door. Jumping from fright my head whips to the noise. I then groan at the sound as it continues to knock on the wood. I drag my feet to the locked door. My fingers fiddled with the harsh cold lock, and I slowly pulled down the handle. To my surprise, I see Mattheo standing there, with an annoyed expression plastered on his face.

"Why are you still in bed, Y/n? We have potions, and-" He rambled on until he saw the tired and saddened look in my eyes. "What's wrong?" His shoulders fell as his hands cupped my cheeks, making sure my eyes couldn't leave his.

My voice cracked as I tried to swallow the lump of tears that threatened to spill. "N-nothing." As I uttered that word, my mind flashed back to the room, to the book, to the names. My vision became blurry, and before I knew it, Mattheo had embraced me, pulling me deep into his chest. The comforting smell of his cologne filled my senses, making my heart skip a beat at the familiarity of it. Strange. He smells just like...

Mattheo moved us into my dorm, closing the door after us with the heel of her foot, all while still holding me tight. "What happened?" He muttered into my hair, pulling me down to sit on my messy bed.

"Nothing." I repeated, trying to steady my thoughts. He pulled away looking deep into my teary eyes. His eyes flicked back and forth between mine, deep in thought, as though he was contemplating something.

"It's not nothing. Did someone hurt you?" He asked firmly, his hands gripping my shoulders, making sure I won't turn away. I shook my head no, struggling to find the strength to answer. "If you don't tell me what's happened, I'm going to have to do something I do not want to do." He gently spoke, his hand playing with a stray strand of hair, and moving to caress my cheek.

Once again I shook my head. He can't know. If he knew he might ruin everything. He'd tell my father. He'd tell Dumbledore. People might think I've turned Harry to the dark side. People might think I'm a death eater. People are already suspicious there is a death eater amongst us.

Mattheo sighed, and suddenly all my thoughts and memories from the past 12 hours flashed in my mind. From Hermione and I studying in the library, to me sending the boys to bed after seeing their tired and distressed faces, to Astoria and I getting ready for bed. Then I saw myself sneaking out of the dorms, then waiting outside the common room for Harry. Then it was us, under the invisibility cloak, watching the boys return to the common room. Then Harry and I getting lost. Then the gate. The room. The book. The names. My sadness. My pain. The heaviness in my chest. Struggling to breathe. The restless night. Waking up. Mattheo knocking and my thoughts as I tried to lie to him.

Suddenly I was pulled out of my head, and I heavily gasped. In shock I fell off the bed, staring up at Mattheo in shock as my heart ached. He read my mind. He used Legilimens on me. "Y/n..." he whispered, equally as shocked as I, although for a different reason.

"How dare you!" I spat, my emotions were uncontrollable, the pain bubbling inside of me directing the feeling of anger onto him. "Get out!" I yelled at him as I tried to pull him up, to no avail.

"No- please. I'm sorry, I didn't- I should've trusted you, please." Mattheo didn't move an inch as he desperately pleaded with my anger not to push him away. I didn't listen.

"Get out! That was a complete invasion of my privacy! You had no right-" Mattheo managed to pull me into him, he held me and I wriggled, trying to escape. I felt betrayed. Did he not trust me? Was he just using me to get to the room? No... he couldn't have known I'd find it... right?

"I know. I messed up. I thought someone had hurt you, or even taken advantage of you. I needed to know. I was angry that someone could've hurt you. I'm sorry. Please." Mattheo calmly explained, his fingers running through my hair. Slowly, my movements eased, the anger that once consumed me washing away. Now panic set in.

"You can't tell anyone. It was all an accident. We were trying to find the restricted section." I rambled on, as my face once again met the warmth of his chest. The comfort of his touch and smell eased my heart, ridding it of its pain and heartache.

"I won't, darling. I know it was an accident." He muttered into my hair, his hands trailing the small of my back. I sighed in relief, feeling a bit better now than I did moments before.

Mattheo soon managed to convince me to attend lessons, and so I agreed after getting dressed and combing my hair. He and I walked side by side, towards the Great Hall. Breakfast had long passed and it was now break time, the grace period between the second lesson and third. Usually, the house elves would leave any leftover foods from breakfast for those who might've missed it in the Great Hall. Here's to hoping we get there before Crabbe and Goyle clear the place.

We silently ate the odd piece of toast and some fruit left behind, enjoying the peace of each other's company. Mattheo sat opposite me, with his elbows resting on the table, his sleeves rolled up. Has he always looked this handsome? Once in a while, we'd catch one another looking at the other, only to smile as we both looked away. It wasn't awkward. Yet the feeling deep within my heart felt... strange. Peace was kept until the annoying screech of a voice, one I have not heard for a while, called out to Mattheo.

"Oh, Matty!" She flung herself into the seat beside Mattheo, flicking her hair around. Pansy Parkinson. The she-devil herself then glared at me from the corner of her eye, as though she was testing me. "Come and hang out with me! You know I'm a far better shag than this whore." My eyes widened at her words. What. He knows she's better. How would he know? Unless...

"Pansy for the love of Merlin, leave me alone. I will not fuck you, I will never fuck you. Stop being so fucking desperate, it's pathetic!" Mattheo spat at the girl, knocking her confidence right out of her lungs, making Parkinson shrink in her seat. She scrambled to get away from him.

"How dare you, Riddle! You filthy half-breed!" She yelled, drawing the attention of the odd person dotted around the hall. Suddenly, Mattheo stood and began to charge at her, his eyes red with fury.

Luckily for Parkinson, I managed to grab his arm before he could reach the girl. Parkinson ran away with her tail between her legs, screaming like a first year. Mattheo turned to me, his anger still raging in his mind.

"Why did you stop me." His voice was low, threatening and deadly. Yet he did not scare me. I smiled up at the boy and took his hand in mine. Mattheo's tense body began to relax, as his eyes looked down at our hands. He began to play with my fingers.

I never looked away from him, smiling as he looked at our fingers in subtle shock. "She's not worth your time." His eyes flicked back up to mine, the anger in his eyes now completely gone, and now he looked at me in the way only Mattheo Riddle has ever looked at me before.

I pulled him out of the Great Hall, dropping his hand once we were walking towards Care of Magical Creatures. It would be a sin to lie and claim I did not miss his touch.

We came to the end of the bridge, and leaning against one of the large stones forming a circle stood the rest of the Slytherin boys. Theo leaned against the stone with his shoulder, with a cigarette in hand, as Blaise stood beside him, and Draco was leaning on his back against the stone. Draco was the first to notice Mattheo and I approaching the group, and so he waved us over with a smile, grabbing the attention of the other two.

"Oi, Theo! Pass me a cigarette." Mattheo clapped his hands, before holding them out ready to catch the cigarette once we were close enough to the group. Theo smirked and took out the stick, throwing it towards us.

My years of playing seeker with the Weasley's had paid off, as I managed to grab the cigarette, surprising everyone including myself. I pocketed the thing with a grin and continued to walk down to the class, as Blaise followed after me.

"Nice one, Y/n!" He grinned and held out his hand for a high-five, which I gladly accepted with a smile. From behind us, I hear Mattheo groan, making my smirk widen. He then asked Theo for another, making Theo sigh too.

"Sorry, mate. That was the lot of them." Theo answered, showing the empty box. Mattheo's eyes narrowed on me, I could feel them burning in the back of my skull.

"Snape!" He yelled, before setting off strutting down the hillside. Blaise and I were near the bottom by now, meaning he was still a few seconds away, giving me time to flee.

"Run! Save yourself! I'll hold him off!" Blaise called out dramatically, turning away from me to face the seething Riddle. I giggled at his antics and decided to play along.

"I will never forget you!" I spoke in a rather posh English accent, before running off into the woods, towards where our lesson is being held shortly. I could hear Blaise and Mattheo in the distance, arguing. One taking the argument far less seriously than the other, which only angered the other more.

I finally reached the stone walls and noticed that my Gryffindor friends were there. I strolled over to them, praying the trio wouldn't notice me. I smirked as I yelled in Ron's ear. "BOO!" The ginger yelled in fright, with his shoulders scrunching and legs bending to get away from me.

Ron stumbled forward before whipping around and standing straight. His posture let go once he saw me standing where he once was, grinning wildly. Harry and I high-fived. "Ha, ha. Very funny, Y/n." Ron tried to look annoyed, but his small smirk gave him away. I laughed at the boy.

"How are you, after last night?" Hermione put an end to the laughter, as she stepped forward with a frown and concerned face. "Harry told us everything." I glanced between the group, all of them looking at me with saddened eyes.

"I'm fine!" I replied a little too hasty for my liking. I scolded myself for that. "I'm fine." I repeated in a calmer more cool tone. Hermione and the boys did not seem convinced. Luckily, before they could press me for more answers, the angry Slytherin I had run away from before had caught up to me.

"Give it back, Snape!" I grinned as I turned to see a dishevelled Mattheo, with an out-of-breath Blaise after him. Blaise doubled over, resting his hands on his knees as he breathed heavily through his mouth.

"No. If you're that desperate go get another." I smirked, making Mattheo's face drop into disbelief and further anger. His fists clenched as his eyes never left me. I could feel fear radiating off my Gryffindor friends.

"You know damn well there's none left. And I won't be able to get another pack for two whole weeks!" Harry and Ron jumped as they stood between Hermione and I, who stood side by side. Hermione was glaring at the boy, cautiously waiting for any sudden moment. Contrastingly, I stood there with my arms crossed, a tilted head and a lopsided smile.

"Sounds like a you problem to me, Riddle." I laughed back. I could feel Hermione's glare from beside me. Soon the rest of the boys appeared, looking nervously at Mattheo and I. Theo's attention was soon pulled from the scene, as I noticed Hermione beside me. I noticed this, and smiled at the boy, not that he saw.

Just as Hermione was about to speak up, no doubt going to scold me and force me to give Mattheo his cigarette back, her being the mother-like friend she is. However, Hagrid then arrived, stopping Mattheo from getting any more agitated. The boy shot me one last glare, which I grinned at, as he walked back to the group. I decided to stay with the Gryffindors, needing to talk to Harry about...

Hargid set us a simple enough task, which was to collect lacewing flies and leeches down by the Black Lake. Hermione and Ron set off towards the bushes for flies, while Harry and I stomped around, knees deep in the water looking for leeches. "I think we should meet up soon, and go through the other books." I spoke to Harry, as he threw a slimey leech into his jar with a gag.

"I agree. Hermione mentioned that we should hold the next DA meeting this Sunday, perhaps we could meet after that?" Harry mentioned with a smile. I nodded happily, despite the dark twisted feeling in my stomach I was feeling just thinking about that book again. Merlin knows what's in the others.

"Perfect. I'll see you then." I spoke, collecting another leech and throwing it into my jar. A loud splash calls out from behind us, making Harry and I jump. We come to find that Blaise had pushed Theo into the lake, making Malfoy and himself double over in laughter. However, Mattheo wasn't laughing with us mates. He wasn't even sparing them a glance. He was looking at me. A smile on his perfect lips. What a strange boy.

𝖠/𝖭: 𝖨 𝗐𝖺𝗇𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝗊𝗎𝗂𝖼𝗄𝗅𝗒 𝖺𝗉𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗀𝗂𝗌𝖾 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗋𝗎𝗌𝗁𝖾𝖽 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗅𝖺𝗍𝖾 𝗉𝗈𝗌𝗍. 𝖨𝗍'𝗌 𝖻𝖾𝖾𝗇 𝖺 𝗋𝗎𝖻𝖻𝗂𝗌𝗁 𝗐𝖾𝖾𝗄, 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝖼𝗈𝗎𝗋𝗌𝖾𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗄 𝖽𝖾𝖺𝖽𝗅𝗂𝗇𝖾𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖶𝖺𝗍𝗍𝗉𝖺𝖽 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗄𝗂𝗇𝗀. 𝖧𝗈𝗉𝖾𝖿𝗎𝗅𝗅𝗒, 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗅𝗅 𝖾𝗇𝗃𝗈𝗒𝖺𝖻𝗅𝖾 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖺𝗅𝗅. 𝖫𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 <3