Two Worlds Apart - Fancast Slytherin Boys

Chapter 12: Silver

The whispering had gotten worse. Every time Mattheo walked down a corridor, or sat by himself in class, he could hear them whispering about him. They didn't even try to hide it. It's like they wanted him to know that they despised him, despite him not having any choice. It's not like he chose to be his fathers son.

It was raining heavily, and the wind was picking up. The sound of wind screeching through the hollow halls and the heavy rain against the glass windows made it impossible to sit in peace and quiet at the library. Mattheo shut his book with a loud thud. A few other students shot him a glare but none of them said anything.

He was trying to focus on his Potions homework, but his thoughts were elsewhere. He hadn't spoken to Lorenzo in a couple of days and every time he saw one of the other boys, they would turn their head or walk away. Blaise was the only exception.

Mattheo grabbed his things and tossed them into his bag before exiting the library in a hurry. He made his way towards the dungeons where he hoped his dorm-mates would be sprawled out on a few couches, but to his dismay, they were nowhere in sight. Mattheo took a deep breath before entering their shared dorm. It was exactly like he had expected, all of them were in there. Theodore was sitting at his desk, head in a notebook with a quill in his hand. Draco and Blaise were discussing quidditch maneuvers, most likely because Draco insisted that they had to, now that they couldn't practice due to the weather. Lorenzo was laying on his bed, the back of his head resting on his hands.

The room got eerily quiet when Mattheo slowly closed the door behind him. He didn't even look up as he passed Draco and Blaise on his way to his bed. He threw his bag by the bottom of his bed, sliding it underneath with his foot before slowly laying himself down on his side.

Draco looked at Blaise in disgust before shaking his head and grabbing his robe. Mattheo felt his heartbeat speed up and suddenly he was standing up next to his bed. "Wait!" He called out, catching Draco off guard. He glanced back before turning around with a sigh.

"I can't go on like this," Mattheo said slowly, his eyes meeting Lorenzo's who gave him a reassuring nod. Theo let go of his quill, letting it fall down onto an empty page, ink splattering everywhere. Mattheo's voice was laced with desperation and the hurt was easily shown in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lied to you."

"I was just so scared that if you knew who I was, you would have never even spoken to me in the first place," Mattheo explained, trying to get through to Draco and Theo. "And I don't know. I guess it doesn't help that I don't really know how to do the whole best friends thing," he added and looked down, hoping someone would interject something to drown him out of the absolute embarrassment he felt. It's not like the boys couldn't have guessed that Mattheo hadn't tried the whole friendship thing before, but it still hurt to say it out loud.

"I'm sorry too." Theo stood up from his chair, looking at Mattheo with a sad smile. "I shouldn't have done that to you. I was just so angry and confused. I felt like I had to get back at you and I didn't realize how much it would hurt you."

Mattheo froze and looked at him.

Theo took a deep and shaky breath. "This is all my fault," he added, "all the things that have happened to you here, are because of me."

Mattheo had been willing to forgive Theo for some time now. He'd thought about it for hours on end but inevitably couldn't even force himself to stay mad about it. Sure it had hurt him, and a lot at that, but Theo had his reasons. He wasn't raised to face his mistakes. He was raised to ignore them.

"Theo," Mattheo whispered, stopping himself from reaching out and placing his hand on Theodore's shoulder.

"No. Don't." Theo closed his eyes in mere frustration. When he opened them again, he continued speaking. "The bullying. The rumors. They were all because of me. No one would have known if I hadn't said anything."