Rylin Riddle: After The War

chapter nine

March 27, 2000 (Sunday)

I woke up to the sound of footsteps outside my door. I had my back to Theo's chest, his arms were clung around my waist, practically squeezing the life out of me. I guess we didn't need help getting back to old times.

After Theo and I got ready, we headed downstairs. Tom was reading the daily prophet and Mattheo was laying across the couch reading. Normal behavior.

"Where'd Laura go?" I asked, yawning. "She had to run home for her cat. Don't worry she didn't sneak away." Tom said, not looking up from his paper. "I do not need to know what happens between you two." I said, walking over to the living room. "You asked." Tom retorted, moving on to talk to Theo.

"Hey, weird version of me." I said, pushing Mattheo's legs back so I had room to sit on the couch infront of him. "If anything, you're definitely the weirder one out of the two of us." Mattheo said, setting his book on the coffee table and kicking my back.

"Ow!" I yelled at him, only to receive another kick, this time in my upper rib area. "Maybe you shouldn't sit so close to me."

"You're taking up the entirety of the couch. It's practically impossible not to." I complained. Mattheo say up to face me now, giving me a annoyed look.

"There's literally a whole other part of the couch and a loveseat. Go sit there."

"Maybe I just missed you. And you act like I'm a disease." I made a dramatic sigh and moved to sit on the other couch. "You look like a disease. Stay back." Mattheo held up his hands like he was going to karate chop me.

"Hey! I am not fighting you right now." My body tensed in preparation for a hit just in case. "Fine."

I picked up his book from the table and flipped through the pages. It must be some muggle book because I have no clue what this is. It by Stephan King. It's a hefty book, damn.

Slam!

"Ow!" I shouted again, pain shooting through my upper shoulder. Mattheo laughed and put down his arms, visibly tensing in case I hit back. "I never said you had to fight me back." He reasoned, letting my put down his book.

"You're so lucky I don't feel like being beat you up right now." I said, rolling my eyes and standing up. I took the furthest path from Mattheo possible to get out of the living room.

"Love you! You love me too, remember?" Mattheo laughed, only getting flipped off in return.

~~~

March 28, 2000 (Monday)

Mattheo was sitting at the counter, shoveling a bowl of cereal into his mouth. Tom was sitting next to him, reading the Daily Prophet.

"Good morning." I said, Theo right behind me. "Marming." Mattheo replied with his mouth full. Gross.

"As Ry would say, 'that's disgusting.'" Theo commented, making his voice high pitched. I slapped his chest and smiled, making my way to Tom.

"What's new this week?" I asked, looking over his shoulder to read the page he was on. He ignored me, and continued to read. 'New wand shop opening in Diagon Alley! Major competition for sales!' Too bad I don't care about wands anymore.

"So nothing good. Cool." I responded to myself, stepping back to move on with my life. "Actually, you're going to want to see the cover story." Tom finally responded, closing the paper.

My eyes widened when I saw the huge black and white photo printed across the front page. The photo was of me holding Theo, both of us on the floor of the Ministry hallway. Theo had his Azkaban uniform and looked horrible, both of us clearly crying. Next to us we're the Ministry workers and on the edge of the photo were Mattheo and Tom, watching our interaction.