Mind Over Matter || Mattheo Riddle

P A R T Y

After a few moments, Riddle and Theodore walk out of the locker room together.

I step toward Riddle, and Theodore walks past me to stand with the other boys. Riddle looks down at my hands, and I quickly hide them behind my back. I hope he doesn't notice that I knew that spell off the top of my head.

"Are you okay?" I ask, just barely above a whisper. Riddle's eyes meet mine again.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay." He tells me, bringing a hand up to my face and cupping my cheek. "Are you?" He seems genuinely concerned, but I don't let myself think too hard on it. It's all for show, anyways. Right?

I nod, and Riddle puts his arm around my shoulders before starting the walk to the Slytherin common room.

Theodore, Lorenzo and Draco walk beside us.

"There's, um..." Theodore starts, but he looks as if he's questioning whether or not he should even say what he's thinking. "A Slytherin party later. For winning the Quidditch game, obviously."

Riddle's arm around me tightens.

"Would you like to join us, Jules? If Mattheo is up for it, of course." Draco adds.

I look up at Riddle, to find him already looking at me. He nods, shrugging as he does so. I look back at the three other Slytherins, and only Lorenzo is looking at me now. "Maybe, but I still have my entire paper to write." Riddle's arm tightens around me again.

I turn my head to Riddle again, and he mouths Please come to me. I reluctantly nod.

•••

I look at myself in the mirror of my bathroom, alternating between holding a green dress and a pink dress up to my body.

I groan as I put both dresses back down on the counter, and I adjust my necklace for the millionth time instead. I hear my dorm mates walk into the dorm, speaking loudly with one another, and I pick up the dresses again. I open the door of the bathroom and step out of it.

"Watcha doin'?" One of my dorm mates ask, as she sits on her bed.

I look at her as I walk to my own bed. "Deciding which dress to wear to the Slytherin party." I hold the green dress up to my body, then the pink one. "Which do you think looks better?"

My other dorm mate-the one with red hair-is the one to respond. "Pink!" She seems very excited to finally have a say on my outfit, considering she's been asking to help me with outfits since year one. "Makes your eyes pop, plus that one is more tight-fitted."

I shrug before pulling my other shirt off my body, followed by my pants, and I replace them with the pink dress.

I actually like this part about having a dorm full of girls, there's no judgment when you get changed in front of them.

•••

I stand outside of the entrance to the Hufflepuff dorms, where Riddle told me to wait for him. I adjust my dress every few seconds, and I regret wearing the pink dress.

"Hey, Pretty Girl," I hear Riddle say from in front of me, and I quickly look up at him. "All this for me?"

I watch as Riddle looks over my outfit, the same way he did earlier. I suddenly feel more self conscious.

"I was thinking about it, actually, and maybe I just won't come with you. I still have my entire essay to write and-" he cuts me off by taking my hand and softly tugging me toward him.

He smirks down at me. "The guys want me to bring you. I'm not sure what you did, but you've got them mesmerized. Come with me." I feel my cheeks go red at the way he's speaking to me.

Riddle chuckles, and he starts pulling me away from the Hufflepuff dorms. He has a small smile on his face, and I don't see it on him very often.

After a few moments of awkward small talk while walking to the Slytherin common room, I hear the blaring music from inside. I'm surprised they don't get busted during parties more often, considering how loud they really are.

I can practically feel a headache start in my head as soon as we step through the door, and Riddle's hand squeezes around mine. I look up at him, and he gestures for me to follow him.

I do.

The two of us walk into the small room connected to the main room-where all the drinks are-and Riddle's hand finally leaves mine.

He takes a cup from the table and fills it with some sort of alcohol, but I don't pay much attention to it. I don't exactly want to drink, anyways. Instead, I turn to watch the party. It's actually interesting-unlike Quidditch.

The Slytherin appears beside me again, and his hand finds my waist. I don't look up at him, and I'm 90% sure he doesn't look at me.

"I have no clue where the guys are, would you like to find them?" His voice is louder than I would expect it to be, and I don't even need to strain to hear him.

"Whatever you want," I say, still looking around at everyone in the room. "I'm not sure we'll find them, at least not easily." Riddle pulls me closer to him and he turns slightly toward me.

I suddenly wonder if his head still hurts, and I almost want to mention it. I don't, obviously. "Let's sit, they'll find us."

I walk with Riddle to the couches, and I sit beside him. He slightly pulls me to be resting on him and I don't try to counter it. His arm is draped over my shoulder, gaining looks from a few people around us. I keep forgetting he's never had a girlfriend before.

Not like that's any different now, I'm not really his girlfriend. I'm his fake girlfriend. Extremely, super fake girlfriend. Not real in any way.

"MATTHEO!" I heard Theo tell from behind us, and he suddenly jumps over the couch. He looks like he's just seen the murder of ten dogs. "Draco is trying to kill me, I don't even know why!"

Theo's out of breath. Draco jumps over the couch as well, like Theo did, and he's holding his wand out in front of him. "This asshole tried dying my hair!" Lorenzo follows by jumping over the couch, too.

"After you stole his potions homework!" The three boys are the only ones speaking now, everyone else is watching.

I look at the boy I'm sitting beside, and he taps my shoulder. Fix them, please he mouths to me.