Across any Divide

Chapter 13

The Slytherin common room was a mess that night, everyone crowding together to try to catch a glimpse of the newest addition to Slytherin.

Matteo took cover in Draco's dorm room, helping himself to the half empty bottle of firewhiskey the wizard kept under his arm chair.

When Draco arrived a few minutes later, he came to a dead stop in the doorway. He took in Riddle lounged in his arm chair, halfway into his bottle of firewhiskey and munching on the few cookies he'd managed to snag from the kitchen the night before.

"Bloody hell, mate, don't you have your own dorm room?" Draco slammed the door shut behind him, storming over to confront Riddle as he spoke.

"Yours has snacks," Matteo answered cockily, full heartedly biting into a cookie.

"Fuck off and eat your own snacks," Draco snarled, dropping his book bag on the ground near his bed and holding his hand out for the bottle of firewhiskey.

"What's got you in a mood?" Riddle asked amicably as Draco took the seat opposite of him.

Malfoy eyed the dark wizard's heir closely before shaking his head. "Nothing - just tired. Why are you in my dorm?"

"Because I bloody feel like it."

"Then get the fuck out."

"Why?"

"Because I bloody feel like it."

Riddle scowled, but conceded nonetheless. "I figured you would want to drink before we discover what the consequences are for not finding our girls at the ball."

Draco rolled his eyes, "They can hardly punish us for it. It's not our fault that they didn't invite our mirror matches to the ball. How does that reflect on us?"

"You'd think they would have thought the same way after the war when they reflected on all the horrible things our fathers forced us to do, but here we are."

Draco scowled at Riddle's flippant words, eyes narrowing as he drank deeply from the firewhiskey bottle. "I suppose it doesn't matter. Either way, we're fucked, and either way, there's nothing we can do about it."

"You positive that your girl wasn't among any of the new students that were sorted this morning?" Riddle chugged the firewhiskey bottle as he spoke, more so than he usually did in the evenings. Draco watched the amber liquid disappear down his throat as he answered, "No - I would have recognized her."

Matteo rolled his eyes. "Did you even bother to look, mate?"

Draco scowled, "No."

"Then how do you know?"

"I'm fairly certain my woman is a muggle," Draco responded evenly, "She'd be hard pressed to show up at Hogwarts. That'd be a feat."

Matteo rolled his eyes, mumbling intangibly under his breath. Draco didn't manage to catch any of the distinct words, only the tone of his voice. Malfoy rolled his eyes, lifting the firewhiskey bottle to his lips as he spoke. "If you've got a problem, Riddle, spit it out. I'm not in a mood to try to untangle your intentions."

"I'm fucking fine," Matteo snapped too quickly, snatching the alcohol from Draco's hands. "Just in a mood to drink. Is that a problem?"

Draco shrugged, choosing to not point out that the lad had been waiting for him in his dorm room to do so. That indicated a prior motive.

"Your sure your girl wasn't in the new students?"

"I'm fucking positive," Draco snapped impatiently. "I would recognize her."