You With the Red Curls, You with the Watercolor Eyes

Chapter 7~Mattheo

Green. Soft, deep green, like her eyes. Godric, she is beautiful. 

Shut up, I tell myself.

We spend all of History of Magic ignoring Professor Bins, a haggard old ghost who just drones on about boring events in wizard history. Instead, we play Tic Tac Toe at the back of the classroom and make bets on how long it'll take Bins to realize some kid wrote 'Professor Bins? More like Trash Bins!' on the blackboard behind him.

Della has this funny look she gets when she tries to stop herself from laughing. She scrunches up her nose and purses her lips, making her eyes go tight and bleary with tears of laughter.

After the bell finally releases us from Bins' room, we walk up three flights of stairs to the Charms room. We're supposed to be using the summoning spell 'Accio' to float objects gently across the room towards us, but instead I pick up pillows with my wand and drop them on people's heads. It's driving everyone nuts, because they can't figure out where it's coming from. Della sends books into windows and out the door, making loud thumps when they hit the glass or the floor outside and making Professor Flitwick jump on his stack of books.

"Della, you are a menace to society, you know that?" I laugh under my breath. 

She pokes me with her wand and says, "You want another enemy, Riddle?"

"Why do you call me that?"

"What, your name?"

"My last name. You can call me Mattheo, y'know."

"Ok... Mattheo. Ugh. It feels wrong to say that to you," she laughs. "But I'll try, if you like it better."

"I do, Della."

She smiles. And then drops a book on my head.

"Ow! What the hell?" I laugh.

She bursts out in a fit of laughter, thin streaks of tears running down her round cheeks. I throw my head back and laugh harder than think I ever have.

"Miss Malfoy! Mister Riddle! Control yourselves!" Flitwick says.

I nod, wiping tears from my eyes. She does too.

Flitwick ends up sending us to deliver some papers to another teacher, probably just to get rid of us. We talk about random stuff all the way to the classroom Flitwick said to go to.

When she opens the door, I say, "Ahh, gross! Go get a room!" Inside are Theo and some Hufflepuff girl, making out.

Theo comes up for air for a second and says, "We had one until you two came barging in." The girl pulls him back.

"You really are disgusting, Theo," Della says. 

He scowls. "Why, jealous?"

"Not in the slightest. You two can have each other," she says matter-of-factly. 

It's true, Theo is a man-slut. But I can't help but grin when Della tells him off. 

"C'mon, Della. We'll leave these two to do their business," I say, pulling Della out of the room. 

"What an idiot," she sighs. 

"Why are you so concerned?" I ask.

"He doesn't seem to really care about anything. Not truly, anyway. Aren't you a little worried that he'll end up burning himself out, and being left with nothing?" She says.

"No, not really. Guys like Theo don't get burned out. They just burn hotter. Don't bother worrying about him. Not like he'd listen anyway," I say truthfully.

"Whatever," she says. 

"C'mon, we'll just take these to the staff lounge," I say.

"Yeah..." She trails off. She has a vacant look in her eyes. But it's more like she feels peaceful, not worried.