𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐊 ; 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐨 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞

THIRTEEN

VIENNA'S POV

Mattheo and I are lying on the stone floor of the Astronomy Tower, in silence. "That was..." I say breathlessly.

Mattheo sits up, then turns to look down at me. "If you tell anyone about this, I'll fucking kill you." He says lowly, standing up.

I follow his lead. "What?"

"You heard me." His voice is stone cold as he turns to leave.

"Mattheo-"

"Shut up, Diggory!" He yells.

I stay quiet, staring at the back of the boy I was just making love with. I'm lost for words. "..."

"All I ask is that you don't tell anyone." He pauses, "It'll ruin me." Leaving the Astronomy Tower, he doesn't turn back when I call after him.

That fucking boy. Honestly, I'm not even that mad at him. I'm more mad at myself, for trusting him again. For believing that he could actually be capable of not being an asshole. I never should've interacted with him in the first place. It was all a huge mistake.

The next morning, I'm sitting in the Great Hall, trying to enjoy my breakfast. It's hard considering we're at the Slytherin table. Kalen had taken quite a liking to Parkinson and Malfoy, and begged us to sit with them at the Slytherin table. All I could think about were my actions from last night. I was stupid to trust Riddle again. Of course he would go pull something like that.

"What's that on your neck?" Haisley asks, though by the look on her face I can tell she knows.

"I burnt myself with my curling iron." I mutter.

Louis looks up, smirking. "Well, here comes your curling iron."

"Why're they here?" Riddle sits down next to me, across from Malfoy.

Kalen gives a small wave. "I've made friends with your friends."

Riddle snorts in reply, then dishes himself a single waffle. I refuse to even look at him, so I stay focused on my cereal. I sense Riddle shift closer, so close that I can practically feel his body heat. A warm hand rests on my thigh. I side-eye Riddle, but he's pretending to be in deep conversation with Malfoy.

I clear my throat, but he doesn't react. Kalen grabs Malfoy's attention, and Riddle says something quietly. "I'm sorry."

"I'm gonna go to the library until class." I stand up abruptly. Haisley throws me a strange look, but doesn't say anything. As I leave the Great Hall, I hear footsteps behind me. "What was that all about?" I ask, turning to face him.

"I really am sorry. But I just... You're not in love with me, Diggory."

I sniff. "I know. All that shit I said last night was stupid."

Riddle taps his foot. "It's best we stay away from each other."

I nod. "I know. I'd like that too."

"Sounds good... bye then." And with that, he leaves.

"Let's go Haisley!" I yell at the top of my lungs. Louis had challenged Haisley to a race around the Quidditch stadium. Who could complete ten laps quicker? Right now, they were practically neck and neck.

Kalen comes and sits down next to me. "How's everything?"

"Fine." I say absent-mindedly, focused on the race.

"Are you still mad at Riddle?"

"Of course." A sinking feeling rises in my stomach as he mentions Riddle. "I'd rather not talk about him."

"Right, sorry." He pauses, then continues, leaning forward, "Who d'you think's gonna win?"

"Haisley, for sure. Louis doesn't even play Quidditch."

"I know, but he can fly a broom for sure." Kalen retorts.

"You don't have faith in your own sister, huh."

"I do. I just think Louis is better."

I grin. "Care to make it interesting?"

"You're on. How much you thinking?"

"Hmm... five sickles."

Kalen laughs. "Really? That worried Haisley won't win, hm?"

"Fine. Ten sickles."

He holds out his hand. "You've got a deal."

Once the two of them were on their last lap, it looked like Louis was definitely going to win. And he did. Kalen and I meet the two of them on the pitch, and Kalen hugs Louis. "You did it, man! You saved me ten sickles!"

Louis looks confused but happily hugs his friend back. I pat Haisley on the back. "Next time." Handing Kalen the money, Haisley sighs.

"Aw, man! If I knew you guys were betting I would've actually tried."

Louis shoves Haisley. "Shut up."

"Anyone up for a butter beer?" Kalen asks.

I nod, a wide grin on my face. "Sounds good!"

Arriving at Hogsmeade, we're all extremely pumped. We hadn't had a butter beer together yet, and therefore we were excited. Hogsmeade was fairly empty for a weekend, but none of us were complaining of course. Haisley desperately wanted to go to the sweet shop, even though Kalen wanted to go straight to the pub. But I also wanted to get sweets, so I sided with Haisley. We ended up getting what we wanted, and spent a full ten minutes in the shop, just looking at everything. Once we'd finally had enough of the sweets, we all ambled over to the pub.

Entering the pub, Kalen immediately orders four butter beers and we all sit down. We chat about anything, and everything. Once our drinks arrive, we all make toasts and dedications.

"I dedicate this butter beer to Haisley." Louis says, whilst Haisley looks pleasantly surprised, "Although I beat you today, you were extremely close. You flew very well. Oh, and good luck with your game this Saturday!" We all cheers with Haisley.

"I dedicate this beer to Louis, for winning the race and saving me, as well as allowing me to win, ten sickles." Kalen exclaims, and we all cheers with Louis.

"I dedicate this beer to Vienna, for being one of the strongest people I know." Haisley says, looking me in the eyes. She doesn't mention his name, but she didn't have to. They all cheers with me, then it's finally my turn.

"I dedicate this beer to all of you, for being the greatest and only friends I've ever had. Thank you all." We all cheers with each other, and take large gulps of our delicious drinks.

It was probably the best afternoon of my life. Chilling in a pub, with amazing people, talking about the most random shit. And he wasn't brought up, not even once.