𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭, ᵐᵃᵗᵗʰᵉᵒ ʳⁱᵈᵈˡᵉ

chapter 6- mattheo

tw: matty crush on char???😧😧🙏

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mattheo was at the top of their year in charms. it was his best subject, in fact. this, of course, meant that he did not need any help at all to do the homework Professor Flitwick had assigned, but if it got charlotte to talk to him, to sit near him, to laugh with him, he would play stupid in all 7 subjects. he had taken as far as to ask her to meet him, after class. they met at the astronomy tower, where this whole debacle began, and he spent hours admiring her up close. her eyelashes were dark and long, framing her eyes perfectly, her hair was long and soft looking, tempting him to reach out and see if it was as soft as it looked.

he wondered if it would be a problem, this feeling he had for her, whatever it was. it was growing, and rapidly. he didn't know what to do about it, or how to stop it. they sat together for hours after class, talking and listening to music. on this particular day, they sat next to eachother talking about meaningless things and doing schoolwork.
at times, he would look over at her and find her already looking at him, and he would regret rejecting her friendship. he didn't care what anyone would say or what would happen, even now, she was the best friend he's had in years.

"are we still not friends?" she'd asked him days ago, while they talked about the gryffindors and their obnoxious behavior.
"we're something." he replied, not wanting to trap her into a friendship with him, it wouldn't be right. people would see her always hanging around someone corrupted and morally depraved like him and assume she was too, when in reality she was the exact opposite. he didn't really know what to do with her, she was genuinely unlike anyone he'd ever met.
she was infuriating, of course, and aggravating, but even so, he couldn't seem to get her out of his head. she was one of the most honest people he'd ever met, definitely one of the funniest, and absolutely the prettiest. there was something about her that kept drawing her in despite of everything that's happened between them.
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mattheo had taken the last few days to think. a lot. he knew he had to keep charlotte at arms length, it was a favor to her, more than anything. being friends, or something, with him would give her the wrong reputation, and he didn't want that for her. he wanted her to be defined by the things she did, and who she was, not her "friend" who happened to be voldemorts son. he had noticed charlotte had begun spending less and less time with her friends, pansy, theo, and enzo, and more and more time with him. it brought him a sense of joy, knowing she was here, with him, instead of her friends, but it also brought him a sense of despair, knowing she would get closer and closer to him, only for him to undoubtedly blow her off in the long run. she had dug her claws into him, and mattheo was starting to suspect that it would hurt him more than her when they inevitably drifted away from one another.

he didn't really know what he was gonna do about her, what would happen between them, anything. it was deeply unsettling to him, to feel so out of control in his life, but it would be even more unbearable to not have charlotte in his life at all. he would suffer through the discontent of being out of control, and the uncertainty of the weeks to come, so long as he could have her odd friendship as a consolation. it was more meaningful to him than any gift he'd ever received.