You With the Red Curls, You with the Watercolor Eyes

Chapter 19~Mattheo

I feel a little shift, and open my eyes. Della is curled up against my chest, my arms wrapped around her.

She scowls in her sleep. I gently get out of the bed and pull the blankets up to keep her warm. The sheets are stained with dried blood. So am I.

I find Theo and Pansy in our dorm. "Hey. Can you watch Della? I need a shower," I say, grabbing some clothes.

"Yeah, of course," Theo says.

But Della walks in then, rubbing her eyes. "Hey," she mumbles. I walk to her fast and hug her. "What is this?"

I frown. "Affection?" I ask.

"Disgusting," she says. I step back. I can see her smiling. "Do it again." I hug her again. "Merlin, you are a mess, let's go clean you up."

"We'll get your bedding. We checked on you guys a couple times last night, and those sheets are gonna need to be washed," Pansy says.

I nod, and let Della lead me to the bathroom. I pull off my shirt and let her scrub the dried blood off of me. 

"Are you ok?" I say, wincing as she pours rubbing alcohol on my cuts.

"Yeah," she says.

"Ok," I say. "How did it happen?"

"Well, I was drunk, and I lost Theo in the crowd. Then some Gryffindors cornered me, and Mclaggen... It didn't go very far. I punched him in the gut, and I finally got away, and ran back here. Then you guys found me. So," she says.

"I'm so sorry. It's my fault, I should've been with you guys, and looked for you and Theo sooner, and-" I say.

Then she cuts me off by swinging her arms around my neck and burying her face in my chest. "Just shut up. I'm fine."

I just stand there for a minute. Then I hug her back. "Ok."

After a few minutes she draws back and keeps scrubbing my chest. 

"How long was it after you lost Theo?" I ask.

She starts wrapping gauze around my torso. "Maybe five minutes."

"And then how long until we found you?"

"Maybe fifteen minutes? I don't know, it was all a sort of blur."

"What the hell was he doing?"

"I dunno. We'll ask," she says, sticking a bandaid across the bridge of my nose. She kisses it. 

She goes to change, and I pull on my clean clothes. I meet her back up in the girl's dorm, with the others.

"Hey, Theo?" I say.

"Hmm?" He says.

"Where were you when Della was getting cornered by the Gryffindors?"

He goes pale and looks away. He hesitates a second and then says, "Looking for her."

"No, you weren't. When we found you, you were all surprised we weren't with her. Where were you? Do not lie to me, Nott," I say, pulling his arm so he looks at me.

"Piss off, Riddle," he snarls.

"This is your fault, Nott!" I shout. "If you were keeping track of her, it would have never happened!"

"Guys!" Della says, shoving us apart. "Stop," she commands.

I scowl at Theo and he glares right back. 

"Can we go eat? I'm starving," Della says, tugging my arm.

"Yeah," I say. We go up to the great hall. The Slytherin common room doesn't have almost any windows, so I didn't realize how late it is. The sun is high and lunch is on the tables.

I scan the crowds of people, looking for bruises and blood. It isn't hard to spot. 

In the dark of last night, I didn't realize how much damage I had done. I spot Mclaggen at the Gryffindor table. His face is puffy and more purple than flesh toned. 

Some of the others look this way, too. I grin. It's what they deserve.

The Slytherin table is mostly empty, since many of them sleep really late or don't eat breakfast. I sit next to Della and glare across the hall at Mclaggen. At one point, he looks up and a mark of terror crosses his face before being replaced by anger.

I just smile back. Undoubtedly the teachers are concerned about so many students being banged up, but no one will let a word slip.

It's Saturday, so we have all weekend to recover from the party. After we're done eating, we go hide in the library. 

We talk, trying to forget last night. We both have wretched headaches, so I find a dark corner of the library, which is deserted except for us. We sit on the floor and I let her lean on my shoulder. I close my eyes, and let her in my mind. We don't talk. Just listen to each others minds. Soon I can feel sleep tugging at our consciousnesses, and give in, letting myself slip into dreams.

A loud bang jolts me awake, and I can see Della standing on a ladder, with a heavy textbook on the floor nearby.

"Sorry," she whispers.

"It's ok," I say, stretching and grabbing the book.

She climbs down and sits next to me on the floor. She pull up my wrist to check the time. It reads 4:26.

"How long did I sleep?" I ask.

"Not sure. I woke up a few minutes ago and started looking through the books. I haven't been in this section yet," she says.

"It's just textbooks, I think," I yawn.

"Yeah, nothing interesting," she says, curling up next to me and laying her head on my lap. I brush her thick hair out of her face and inhale the smell always following her. Vanilla.

"We should probably go find the others," I say.

"Yeah."

I stand up, pulling her along with me. On a whim, I scoop her up onto my back and curl her arms around my shoulders

She laughs and buries her head in my neck. "You still smell like blood."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, actually, not at all. It's comforting, in a way."

I smile softly, and set her back down.

"Let's go," I say. She nods, and grabs my hand.