Cigarettes [Mattheo Riddle]

one

I was stepping aboard the Hogwarts express with my mother carelessly behind me, with not a care in the world that she wouldn't see me for months. But then again, one less child to care for. She was a tall, slender woman with little flesh and much bone. Her facial structure was gaunt, her cheekbones slim and sharp, her eyes quick and overly analytical. Her nose was straight, with a slight ridge, her loose black curls falling down her face. She had olive skin, dry and calloused, wrinkled with stress and age.

As I entered the train, I felt the atmosphere shift tremendously. I shut the door behind me with my fingers, pulling the handle, as I turned my head around to take in the scenery. My nose was greeted with the comforting, inviting smell of chocolate frogs, vanilla scented perfumes and books. I could hear teenagers giggling, chattering away like excited schoolchildren, since they were, and the clattering of trunks being placed in the overhead storage.

It was my fifth year at Hogwarts, which inevitably meant my O.W.L.s and probably even more drama than last year. I had always been academic, but I had to put in the effort to see it reflected in my grades. For me, good grades didn't come without lifting a finger. Not like the Ravenclaws.

The year before, my life had been flipped upside down when I had been called to Dumbledore's office to be told that my boyfriend was found unresponsive in the Prefect's bathroom. He had been bullied for a while, but I had tried my best to help fend them off. His family were unloving and cruel to him, and I was the only one who showed him love. I could imagine his pasty face, pale with death, his lips wet and blue from the water. I was distraught, but knew he was in a better place, yet I still held the festering grudge that our classmates caused this. They made him chose to do what he did. I didn't even have the apparent choice to tell my mother, to confide in her like a small child once more, since she would of kicked me out of the whole family. Just because his parents were muggles. I was unprejudiced, unlike them, and I felt sympathy for the fact he was relentlessly reminded of the fact his family weren't like him. They called him the freak of his family.

Unsurprisingly, my father was never prevalent in my upbringing. As a death eater, he was either murdering , torturing or, as he preferred, ordering it.

-

And here I stand, a seventeen year old witch with an unloving family, my only escape being school. Although having my background was not uncommon, as I know Harry Potter also didn't have a family that loved him, and many others joined us. It was something that made us friends, ironically enough.
I started walking down the corridor of the train, hearing the steam letting off as the train blared its horn, signalling it was leaving. I knew I needed to find a train compartment to sit in, having to face the fact I had few friends. I would have to make new friends, even though people already knew me.

I found Fred and George Weasley in the twelfth compartment that I passed, peeking my head in and smiling in relief. I also spotted my friend Alex, from the year below.

"Hey guys, can I sit in here?" I asked, my voice sounding quiet and feeble, making me cringe at my own pathetic nature. I brushed my hair over my shoulder, seeing them all turn to face me, greeting me with warm smiles. Fred pulled a face, one of sour commodity, and stuck his tongue out. "No, I'm afraid you'll have to keep going, love." He answered wittily before laughing and patting the seat beside him.

Alex and George had their arms over each other. Alex was playing with his auburn hair, resting her head on his shoulder.

"How cute." I said jokingly. I rolled my eyes and looked out of the window, feeling like Fred and I were third and fourth wheeling.

It's funny, Alex typically would have remarked back 'you're just jealous' but regarding the whole situation I had been in last year, dead boyfriend and all, she said nothing. I felt a glimmer of relief and also fascination that even she wouldn't go there.