if one of them is dead.

chapter seven.

Lilith.

I sit with Daphne Greengrass at the quidditch game, and we both cheer our team on like crazy.

And, of course, we won. Duh.

We go our separate ways, and I go to the teachers' part of the audience to talk to Dad for a little bit. He's sitting with McGonagall, and they're talking about Dad's new teaching position. When Minnie sees me, she waves me over excitedly. I walk over and sit on the seat in front of them, turning completely around to face them.

"I'm surprised it took the two of you so long," she says, smiling.

I tilt my head and furrow my brows. "What are you talking about?"

"I thought that you and Mr. Riddle would have been all over each other by Christmas," she says.

Oh, if only she knew. I glance at Dad uncomfortably because it's not the most comfortable thing, talking about your love life around your father. He doesn't even know about the countless times that Mattheo apparated into my room so that we could— hang out.

"Oh, yeah," I say, "We got closer over holiday break, but then we drifted more, and then the end of last year happened, and now we're here."

"You do care about him, right?" she asks, raising a brow.

"This feels like a test," I laugh nervously. "But, yeah, I do. A lot more than I planned on, actually."

Someone pats my shoulder, and I turn around to see Dumbledore standing behind me.

"I need to borrow Ms. Snape before Mr. Riddle takes her again," he says, looking at Minnie and Dad. I turn to them and they nod. So I stand up and start walking with Dumbledore.

"How are your classes, Ms. Snape?" he asks. "Are they going well?"

I nod as he puts his hands behind his back. "They're going well."

"How is Mr. Riddle?"

"He's doing well. You know, same as always."

"I've noticed that you spend your nights with him in his dorms."

Shit.

I nod. "Yes, I have been."

"May I ask why that is?"

"I want to spend as much time with him as possible, Professor," I say. "You would understand why better than anyone."

"Of course," he says, nodding. "I must warn you, Ms. Snape. I know of what you are doing, and I know of what you think about. Mr. Riddle does not seem like his father, he acts different in some instances. Though, he is still his father's son. You do realize that, yes?"

"I do, Professor," I say, nodding. "Though, I don't think Mattheo is as much  like his father as some people believe."

There's a pause as we continue walking. Then he says, "You love him, yes?"

"I mean— I— Well—" I sigh. "Sadly."

"Sadly?" He stops and turns to me. "You cannot hide your feelings forever, Ms. Snape. If you are going to do what you want to, you mustn't hide those feelings, and not for long either."  He nods and grabs something from his robes. "Quibbler?"

"Please," I say, taking the magazine from his hands.

"Tonight seems like it will be a clear night, don't you think?" he asks.

I nod. "Yes. It will be one of the last nights before it gets too cold." There's another long pause.

"Bye, now," he says, waving to me before walking away.

A moment later, Mattheo walks out of the locker room with his hair wet. He has one of his long sleeve quidditch shirts on and his pants. He tries drying off his hair with a towel. He tosses it behind him into the locker room when I look over at him.

"Hey, Darling," he says, smiling a little.

"Hey," I say, walking over to him.

"If either of you kiss the other right now, I will throw a fucking bludger at you," Blaise says from inside the locker room. I flip him off. "I mean that!"

Mattheo rolls his eyes and takes my hand. "Let's go before the cold hits," he says, so we start to walk to the tree by the Black Lake.

He's right, the cold it going to hit in a little bit. It's already a little cold.

We walk over to the tree and I sit down first, pulling him down with me. "Lay down," I say. He shakes his head and I nod. "Lay down, or so help me—"

"All right, fine," he grumbles and lays down, putting his head in my lap. As soon as I start playing with his hair, his eyes close and he relaxes.

"You act so tough," I say, chuckling while curling a strand of his hair around my finger.

"I am tough," he says, not opening his eyes.

"Hmm." I run my hand through his hair gently. It's so soft.

We sit there for hours. Just sitting there. I run my hand through his hair and he lays there. I read him some parts of the Quibbler that Dumbledore gave me. It's freezing, but it doesn't phase either of us.

Soon enough, Blaise is next to us with a coat wrapped around him tightly. "Are you two fuckers crazy?" he asks. "It's colder than McGonagall's tits out here."

"I hope you don't know the temperature of my godmother's tits, Blaise," I say as Mattheo rolls over and stands up, putting his hand out. I grab his hand, and he lifts me up. "What time is it?" I ask Blaise as the three of us start towards the castle.

"Seven o'clock," he says. "You've been out here almost the whole day. I'm surprised neither of you have gotten frostbite or something."

"It's not that cold," I say.

"It's going to get colder," Mattheo says.

I wrap my arms around both of their shoulders as we continue walking. "You guys are the best, you know that, right?" They both look at me weirdly and laugh when I roll my eyes at them. "I'm serious, okay? I couldn't have made it through last year without the two of you."

"Even though you two bickered constantly?" Blaise asks, then nods. "Right because half the time the two of you were fucking."

"I hate you," I laugh.

We hear a gasp after a few corridors and we pause. "Students out of bed!"

"Shit!" we all whisper at the same time. Filch starts running towards us from the other end of the corridor. We all turn and start running away from him. We start laughing as Blaise almost trips.

Filch keeps screaming "Students out of bed!" while we keep running away form him. The portraits all yell at us and Filch as we run past them.

When we get to the Slytherin common room entrance, we start saying the password quickly, then push open the door and run inside, closing it behind us. There's banging on the door and a muffled 'students out of bed!'

We start laughing again, earning weird looks from all the other Slytherins in the common room.

Draco shakes his head. "Why am I friends with these people."