SHE WILL BE LOVED
MATTHEO RIDDLE
pairing - Mattheo Riddle x fem!gryffindor!reader
summary - You and Mattheo fell slowly and without noticing it. And once you did, well, there was no way back
a/n - inspired by the song “she will be loved” by maroon 5 and it’s lyrics
masterlist request guidelines
beaty queen of only 18
When you and Mattheo first met, you were still gryffindor’s golden girl. Quidditch team captain, prefect, gorgeous, student often used as an example “if you studied as hard as she does, you’d get better grades ”, and oh, did i mention gorgeous?
And he was still slytherin’s casanova, charming, mysterious and cocky. The guys wanted the be him and the gals wanted to be with him.
They met at a slytherin party, you swinging and singing along with the music on the dancefloor and him on one of the common room couches, surrounded by girls, all fighting for his attention. But when he saw you he just knew, deep down, that you were going to fuck up his little macho act and throw his life around.
Mattheo approached you, introducing himself and sticking out his hand, waiting for the inevitable flash of fear in your eyes or the reluctance to shake his hand. To his surprise, he found neither. You talked for a bit, danced together and talked even more. For some reason, conversation flowed fluently and there was never akward silence or hesitation to say anything.
That was when his view of you was definitive and complete.
You were a fucking angel sent down from whatever god there was to make him repent, make him see the good in the world and others. And he was going to let you and enjoy every last second of it.
she had some trouble with herself
The second time you talked was right before christmas break in sixth year. The only reason he even saw you was because you were in his usual smoking spot, a small balcony not many knew about.
He contemplated walking away but something drew him towards you once again. Mattheo slowly crept forward and when he was close enough, he heard you. You were crying. Not loud, i-need-attention-crying, no. You were sobbing, shoulders shaking.
He could hear your uneven breath and quiet tears, and, for the first time in his life, he wanted to do something about it. He wanted to kill whichever fucker had you crying like that, he wanted you to stop crying and he craved to see your dazzling smile again.
And, most of all, he wanted to comfort you, hold you tight untill you stopped sobbing and you looked at him with a slight, watery smile. And, as was well known around hogwarts, Mattheo was never one to stop himself from having what he wanted, when he wanted it.
he was always there to help
Mattheo stepped toward the balcony, making his footsteps loud enough for you to hear, but not loud enough to disturb the quiet hanging around the moment like a thick, fuzzy blanket. He approached you and sat on the bench next to you, not saying anything.
After stealing a glance at him and determining he was looking straight ahead as to not startle you, you leaned into him, slowly laying you head against his shoulder. He didn’t move, not for a few minutes at least. Then he lifted his arm and frames it around your shoulders, still not looking at you.
You told him why you were crying, your asshole boyfriend had said something stupid, and, as usual, didn’t back down from it untill you were in tears. You and Mattheo talked for what felt like a few minutes but in reality, you were talking for hours.
You talked about your futures. About how you wanted to become an auror or a professor at hogwarts and he opened up to you, about his father and mother, what was expected of him and the other slytherin youth. And you stayed, heard him out and comforted him like no one had done before.
It was only when the sun started to rise and your eyes were no longer swollen and red, that you decided to leave. You both slowly stood up and, after a quick hug goodbye, you were gone. And Mattheo was left standing there like an idiot. As usual.
she always belonged to someone else
The next time you saw eachother was at a party in the room of requirement. Gryffindor had just won a match against hufflepuf and you were exstatic. Your team had claimed victory, with you scoring the last goal and deciding the score.
You and the rest of the team came storming in, smiles wider than ever, cheeks red from the cold and hair windswept. You still felt the rush of adrenaline in your limbs, hollering along with the squad, god you loved this.
Mattheo was in the corner of the room with his friends, Enzo and Theo laughing at some stupid joke Blaise had made and Draco and Pansy a bit further away from the group, talking. Pansy had dragged them there because of some girl she liked being in gryffindor.
He was laughing along with them untill you came in. You face was still flushed from the january cold and your braid slighty undone, he thought you were the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. You walked around the room for a bit, recieving praise and claps on the back for your prestation on the pitch. After a while, you finally settled on one of the red couches, lounging like you were the queen of the world. He was trying to make his way through the room to talk to you, when all of a sudden, Cormac Mclaggen slid onto the same couch, giving you a quick peck on the lips.
Right. Mattheo had forgotten about the reason you were crying that night. Or rather, had assumed you’d break up with him. So, standing there, in the middle of the lion’s den, Mattheo finally realised what poets meant when they said love was one’s best strenght and worst weakness.
i drove for miles and miles and wound up at your door
Mattheo didn’t know what the fuck hé was doing. The war had now started, leaving the wizzarding world in distress and disarray. The ministry was close to falling and many students were being pulled from hogwarts by concerned parents and guardians.
Your parents had tried, ofcourse they had, but you protested, you weren’t any safer at home than at school and at least you had the professors to protect you at hogwarts. This, ofcourse, didn’t stop them from making you come home for fall break. You weren’t protesting, the days at hogwarts had started getting shorter and the halls were gloomier than you’d ever seen.
You were surprised when the doorbell rang, it was late at night and your parents would be out till morning, father working at St. Mungo’s and mother a part of the Order and an auror. You stood up from the couch, grabbing your wand from the table, book long forgotten on the floor.
You looked through the peephole in the door and saw Mattheo Riddle there, face bloodied and bruised and clothes ripped. His expression was grim and, somehow, vunerable. You swung the door open and grabbed his hand, dragging him in.
“What the hell Mattheo?”
“Don’t wanna talk about it, sweetheart.”
“Oh for Merlin’s sake…”
You dragged him along to your bathroom, opening the cabinet and pulling out a first aid kit.
“Sit” you said, pointing at the closed lid of the toilet. He sat down on the lid and immedeatly sagged like he hadn’t sat down for the past few days. You cleaned his wounds, a cut on the side of his face and one on his lip and tried to put ice on all of his bruises.
After a quick trip to you father’s room, you handed him a clean t shirt and pants and then left the bathroom, waiting for him to change. When he finally emerged, you hugged him tightly and when you pulled back, about to ask him what happened, he leaned in and kissed you, just like he’d wanted to do for ages.
i've had you so many times but somehow, i want more
You kissed back, feverently and desperate, like you’d been waiting for this for a while. But there was also a certain sweetness and softness to it that Mattheo had never experienced. Mattheo didn’t pretend to be holy virgin mary, in fact quite the opposite.
His reputation was famed and there were more than enough girls willing to overlook the fact that he was the Dark Lord’s son to see if he was as good as the rumors said he was. Every last one of them would go to say that he was, in fact, better
Mattheo was never one for ego boosts or twisting the thruth about himself. He was a liar, a cheat and a criminal and he’d made peace with that a while ago. But somehow, when he was kissing you, it felt as if he wasn’t. That, even for just that moment, he was more then Voldemort’s kid or a decietfull slytherin. He was just Mattheo, and for you, that was enough.
You pulled back first, gasping for air and Mattheo thought you’d never looked more beautiful. You were peering up at him through your lashes, a slight smile playing on you lips, now swollen from the kiss.
“So, what does this mean?” You asked, an uncertainty in your eyes.
“This means,” he stroked your cheek, his cold hands a great contrast agains your warm skin, “that I’m never gonna let you go again.”
And in that moment, Mattheo swore that he would keep his promise, no matter what.
i don't mind spending every day, out on your corner in the pouring rain
But alas, things never did work out for the dark haired slytherin. The war broke loose just weeks after, hogwarts became a battlefield and he was seperated from you. Not by something tangible, but by an immaginary line, on one side, there was you, the gryffindors, professors and the order of the Phoenix. On the other, there were his friends, his father and mother and his duty, and, ofcourse, him.
You had stopped talking to him after an argument you’d had about him joining his father. You, ever the optimist, were determined to make him see that he could still switch sides, that he could still make it right. As much as he loved you, he also knew you were naïve and had a very strong moral compass.
Which is why you’d stormed out. And now, weeks later, the war still raging on and the final battle inching closer daily, you still refused to talk to him. When he approached you, you walked away. When he tried to talk to you in class, you turned and started a conversation with the nearest person.
And when he was waiting on the quidditch pitch in the pouring rain, bouquet in hand, you still ignored him. But he saw a flicker of something familiar in your eyes, something he’d longed to see since the day you walked out. So he kept trying, kept showing up untill one day, you accepted his peace offering.
“This doesn’t mean that i changed my mind, okay? I still want you on our side. I just don’t want to fight anymore.”
“Fine by me.”
look for the girl with the broken smile and ask her if she wants to stay a while
You’d won. After years of fighting and fear, you had won. Voldemort was gone and this time, he couldn’t come back. Mattheo always thought that he would feel some kind of remorse for turning on his father in the heat of the battle, but, as he now realised, he only felt relief.
Hogwarts was shattered, there was debris from fallen statues or walls littering the ground and aurors everywhere, coming to arrest his father’s followers. Mattheo slowly walked into the great hall, made into a makeshift infirmary, and saw more pain and grief than he ever had in his eighteen years of life.
The survivors were scattered across the hall and his eyes quickly scanned the room for your familiar face. He found it amongst the gryffindors, sitting quietly on a bench with a mug of tea clutched between your hands. You weren’t crying, oddly enough. Your checks were stained with dirt and streaks of blood but no tears. You looked like you’d been through hell and back but, somehow, you were smiling.
Parvati Patil was telling you a story about her brother who had passed last month, fighting for the wizzarding world. Parvati was dealing with her loss in the way that so many do, drowning out the sad memories with the good ones and trying to make her brother proud by telling his stories.
Mattheo walked up to you, nervous about what you would say regarding his late switch of sides. When you took a look around the great hall, looking to see if there were any new faces you recognized, you saw him. Exclusief yourself from Parvati, you ran to him, jumping into his arms and hugging him tighter than you ever had.
If Mattheo had to tell anyone when he knew he was in love with you and would forever be, he would describe that moment, you in his arms, clutching onto him like the world might end. And for him, that was enough.
and she will be loved
