Happy release day Sunday! It's finals week for me and then I'm done with the semester yay!!!! Next week is the LAST chapter of this story, I cannot believe it! Enjoy :)
“I think I’m ready to go,” you say.
Your left side is still touching his right side and his hand is still on your knee. Somehow, you’ve sort of melted into him. You pull away and stand up, feeling the disconnect.
He stands up after you and walks up to you, grabbing both sides of your face. He uses his thumb to caress your cheeks, wiping the drying tears off.
You don't dare look away as he says, “smile”
You give him a fake toothy smile and close your eyes, his hands remaining on your face in the process.
“There she is” he smiles, “you look good”
The smile disappears, leaving you staring at him for a second before stating, “come on”
You close your fathers old office door, flicking a quick charm to lock it back up.
“You don’t have to go back with me…” you trail off.
“I want to.” He states. You knew by the look on his face that he wasn’t going anywhere, at least not yet.
You roll your eyes but don’t protest as he starts to follow you back to the Gryffindor house.
The fat lady opens when you say the password, your friends all standing in the common room. They instantly look towards the entrance and see you, walking up to you and Mattheo.
“Are you okay?” Ginny asks as she hugs you.
“I’m fine” you say, wiping your face that now had drying tears.
Mattheo stands there, not saying anything, letting you have a moment with your friends.
Harry turns toward him and says, “can we talk?”
Mattheo’s glance turns to you for a second before looking back to him, “uh, sure”
You watch them walk off, far away enough to have a private conversation without you hearing anything.
“I know we don’t get along all that much but I’ve been thinking about it for a while” Harry pauses and looks at Mattheo before continuing, “she isn’t sad just because you broke her heart, but because she lost her best friend.”
He continues, “she lost you and she never imagined losing the one person who understood her that quickly.”
“But she has you guys…” he shakes his head, rejecting Harry’s statement.
“It’s not the same.” Harry shifts his weight, “Look, I’ve known her since year one here and I’ve never seen her like she has been with you this year. There’s something different about her, she’s…it’s like her dad is back.”
Mattheo’s face contorts when Harry says this, the statement leaving a burning sensation in his heart.
“I really fucked up” he admits.
“For what it’s worth, I think you’ll find a way to make it up to her” Harry smiles pitifully before walking back to the Gryffindor house, leaving Mattheo alone.
You’re still standing outside on the stairs, staring at Mattheo. He looks at you longingly before leaving.
“What did you say?” you ask Harry as the two of you walk in.
“I just thanked him,” he shrugs, not really giving you an answer.
The next few days of class are spent looking for your necklace anywhere it could’ve possibly dropped. Nothing is found, which saddens you more and diminishes your hope by the end of the school week.
It’s Friday as you sit down in potions class next to Hermione. Mattheo is doodling in his notebook, silent and alone as always when his ravenclaw partner walks up to their shared table and starts yelling at him.
You watch closely as Mattheo stays silent with his jaw clenched, his dead eyes in full action.
“Is this why that cute little Gryffindor girl switched partners? Did you drive her away too?” Upon hearing the mention of you, Mattheo stands up, swinging his right fist at the kid's face.
The Gryffindor holds his nose, now dripping blood, “what the fuck?”
Mattheo starts on him again when you spring up from your chair, reaching him before he can hit the ravenclaw again.
You settle your hand on his chest and look up into his eyes, “Matt.”
He takes big deep breaths, full of adrenaline as he looks at you.
You grab his hand to look at it, his knuckles bruised and bloody. This isn’t the first punch he’s thrown lately.
You hold it up for him to see, “we have to clean this up”
His glance moves to the ravenclaw holding his bloody nose before it moves back to you, “fine.”
He walks out of your grasp and leaves the room, everyone around you watching.
Hermione has her eyebrows furrowed out of concern, “I’ll tell Snape, you go”
“Thank you” you smile politely before practically running out of the classroom to catch up with Mattheo.
“Matt slow down” you say as you run up to him.
“I’m sorry” he says, tears in his eyes.
Instantly, your eyebrows furrow. You had never seen Mattheo cry, you suspected it takes a lot for him to show emotions in front of anyone.
“Come on” you grab his left hand and pull him into the girls bathroom for more privacy and to clean off his hand.
You grab a cloth and wet it before you start wiping at his bloody knuckle. You look up at him, tears still in his eyes, “I’m feeling deja vu”
“We’ve been here before huh?” he says softly.
You look at him for another moment before you look away, back down at his hand, “he wasn’t worth it, you know”
“I know,” he responds, “thank you…for stopping me.”
“Always.” you respond simply. You tilt your head, concentrating on cleaning his wound but you can feel his stare on you.
“All done” you set the wet cloth down on the sink and finally reciprocate eye contact.
“No.” you respond, shaking your head.
He looks at you softly, a complete change than in the classroom, “I’m sorry”
“It’s fine, there’s nothing you can do about it so…” you trail off shrugging, deep down still hurting over it. It felt like one of the last few pieces you had left of your father.
“We should get back” you say, smiling fakely before walking out of the bathroom and back into the potions classroom, Mattheo following behind you.
The ravenclaw is gone, most likely seeing Madam Pomfrey in the infirmary, leaving Mattheo with no partner for the class.
Throughout Snape's lecture, you can feel Mattheo staring at you, you don’t dare look back.
After class finishes, you and Hermione head back to your dorm but Hermione leaves almost immediately, going to the library to scout out a new book to read.
You decide to fold a load of clean laundry that you’ve been neglecting for some time, letting it sit in the corner of your side of the room.
You grab your laundry basket and only set it on your bed before you hear a knock at your door, startling you.
You go up and open the door to Mattheo pacing in front of it, “how did you-?”
“Hermione let me in” he says as he walks into your dorm, gliding past you. You shut the door before you turn around.
“What’re you doing here?” you ask, confused as ever.
"Look, I like being alone and I like smoking and drinking and getting into fights but then you came around and I just wanted to be near you. That had never happened to me before and I pushed you away and that wasn't fair to you but I was scared"
"Mattheo-" you start, shaking your head. You couldn't hear this.
"Please let me say this." He begs, staring at you with his big brown doe eyes.
You don't respond, letting him continue.
"I didn't want to like you. I honestly thought you would be this insufferable little brat but you aren't. You're intelligent and soft spoken but you aren't afraid of putting me in my place and you care deeper about everything in your life than I ever have for just one thing..." he hesitates, "and I love that so much about you."
Tears well up in your eyes but you refuse to let them fall down your cheeks, making your vision blurry.
"I didn't want to like you but I did. And then without me even realizing it, I fell in love with you. When you told me you loved me, I panicked. Nobody has ever loved me in my entire life and-" he stops.
"and?" you question, wanting him to finish.
"and I didn't know what it felt like. I didn't believe that it could happen to me. Especially from someone like you."
"Matty" you pout breathless.
"I'm sorry" He says plainly, watching you closely, "I just-"
"stop. Please stop. I can't hear this" you plead with him, " you didn't want me, you completely shut me out" you're full on sobbing at this point.
You continue, "I don't just sleep with anyone"
"I know," he says, his voice low.
"it meant a lot to me and-"
"I know." He interrupts, "it did to me too."
The two of you stare at each other for what feels like eternity until your cries become quieter. You want to forgive him so bad but you didn't want to hurt like that again...hell you're still hurting from it.
"I want to believe you..." you trail off.
"Then believe me." he repeats in a soft voice.
"I don't know if I can" you say, shrugging, "at least not yet"
He purses his lips and slowly nods his head after you give your response, like he’s trying to accept it.
"I'm sorry." he says like he's pleading, begging for you to forgive him and fall into his arms.
You wipe the tears on your cheeks as he looks at you one last time before leaving.
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