BEAUTIFUL FLOWER | MATTHEO RIDDLE

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

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T R I G G E R
W A R N I N G

DRINKING, SWEARING, MINOR ABUSE

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I NEVER pictured Hogwarts being this silent. Almost no one showed up to the Great Hall for any meals, and the only reason I went was because I couldn't stand to sit in my dorm all day. There were no announcements and as far as I knew, the students weren't given any new information about the attacks. It was almost as if it had never happened. Or, at least, that's what the staff was pretending.

        That was why I'd spent almost every day in the library, reading to myself, learning protective spells, avoiding Mattheo.

        I didn't know why I was doing it, why the constant idea of me being seen by him was embarrassing after having sex with him. He'd seen me, entirely, my entire canvas, and in that moment I didn't think about what it would do to me after the fact.

        And while that didn't occupy my thoughts, Draco and Erised did. Draco, who was now back at Hogwarts for a few days, I saw a few times sitting by the fire at night in the common room. I could tell he was trying his best not to be seen by others, and for some reason, not to be seen by me.

        I didn't know why his being cold after being gone for so long took so deeply on me. I think it was because, for some reason, I felt like it was my responsibility to help him after Pansy died, and he'd only pushed me away. I think I blamed myself.

        As far as Erised goes, why I constantly thought back about how he showed so much worry the day after the attack, how he held me and how I let him, I didn't know why. I couldn't stop thinking about it.

        I was sitting alone in the library again, listening to footsteps a few rows beside me.

        I distracted myself from my thoughts as my eye caught a glimpse of the platinum blonde hair walking past a bookcase only a few feet away from me. "Draco," I whispered. 

        He stopped and looked at me, looking around as if he had somewhere to be, but then sat down in front of me. The library was almost empty, but it was nice, there was no noise, and it was a place I could come to sit and think.

        "Is there something you need?" he stared at me, blankly. Merlin, was he cold. I mustered a laugh, watching as he grew impatient.

        "No," I stopped laughing, seeing that he wasn't smiling, making my face rather serious. "No, I just," I shrugged, smiling with my lips in a fine line. I felt stupid by the way he was talking to me, looking at me as if I was giving a lecture on something I knew absolutely nothing about. "I just wanted to see how you were doing."

        "I'm doing fine," he answered coldly. "Is that all?" he raised his eyebrows, tucking his tongue in the side of his cheek.

        "Is something wrong?" I leaned forward across the table, tilting my head.

        "You distracted me from somewhere I was supposed to be," he stood up, straightening his robes. "Mind I say I'll be going now." he dismissed my question, walking away from me.

        And that was all.

        He was probably still upset about Pansy, and I'm sure the attacks only put more stress on him. I'd have to give him more time, as much as he needed, and he seemed to need a lot of it.

        But as I watched him walk away I couldn't help but realize the faint limp he walked with. Surely he wasn't here for the attacks, or so that's what I'd heard. What else could have happened?