if one of them is dead.

chapter eighteen.

Mattheo.

Mattheo fixed his tie around his neck, tilting his head in the mirror. He scoffed at himself and turned off the bathroom light. On his way to the door, he grabbed his blazer and left the dorm.

Blaise was waiting for him down in the common room, fixing his cuff links.

"Christmas parties are fucking stupid."

"Damn, Mattheo, lighten up a little," Blaise said, grabbing his own blazer from the couch before following after him. They both started putting them on as Blaise caught up in the corridor. "I get it, all right? She would have come with you, and we would have had a lot of fun."

"Would we have?" Mattheo asked, stopping in his tracks.

Blaise slowed down before turning around and slowly walking back to Mattheo. He laughed nervously. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean, she was acting weird, right? Before she left and was gone, she was acting weird. It was like she was hiding something."

"Mate, let's just talk about this later," Blaise tried. "We can talk about it in the common room. Right now isn't the best time for thi—"

"Then when is a good time, Blaise?" Mattheo snapped. "You don't want to talk about it because you're afraid that if you talk about it, you'll start crying, and you won't be able to stop. Because you fucking love her, and she's gone. She's your best friend, and you can't have her anymore."

"But I suppose I should be like you then? You can't have her anymore, so you drown yourself in alcohol? Should I do that?"

Both the their expressions dropped. Blaise sighed and put his head in one hand. He shook his head.

"I'm sorry, mate."

"It's fine," Mattheo said, starting to walk again. Blaise followed after him. "It's fine, seriously."

After a minute of silence, Mattheo sighed. "So, who are you bringing to this shit?"

"I was going to take Luna, but apparently that's Potter's job. But we're going out tomorrow, so we should be fine. But Daphne wanted to go, and her boyfriend didn't invite her, so I told her she could come with me. She should be down the next corridor or two."

Mattheo nodded. "Potter's stealing your girlfriend? Can't imagine why he would have a chance compared to you, but—" he put up his hands, "—he is the Chosen One."

Blaise scoffed. "Yeah, he also has a huge crush on the girl Weasley."

"No shit."

"Oh, yeah. God he's had a crush on her since like fourth year, but he never realized it. And the whole thing with Chang last year didn't last long. And I think after she started dating that Thomas kid he finally realized that he wanted her. But, I guess that's a theme here."

Mattheo raises his brows. "What are you implying."

Blaise shrugged. "It's just that, you saw Lil and wanted her. And then you pushed that away and as soon as her and Warrington were a thing, boom, you wanted her more and more everyday."

"Fuck off," Mattheo said, pushing Blaise's shoulder lightly.

"I'm not wrong."