Let Me Feel || Mattheo Riddle x OC

one

"Taylor!" Iris turned and scowled as the door was pushed open. 

"Get out of my compartment, Higgins." 

He plopped down on the bench across from her. "Or what? You gonna hex me? You think you're so smart, kissing your teachers' asses, you think you know everything, you-" 

"Unlike you, Gregory, I do actually think. Sometimes I wonder how you got sorted into Ravenclaw in the first place," Iris said, barely looking up as his little entourage crowded around the door. 

"Oh, piss off!" 

"This is my seat?"

"Mine now, so get out." 

"Oh, gladly. See you later, Higgins. Hey boys, could you please let me through?" Iris waved as she took her belongings down the aisle and shook her head. Gregory Higgins was a right pain in her ass, concerningly popular, and extremely lacking in braincells. She laughed to herself. 

I wonder what goes on in that little blonde head of his, maybe his brain's smooth like a koala's is. 

Coming across a mostly empty compartment, Iris paused for a moment, then knocked softly. An unfamiliar face looked back at her through the glass, brown curls framing captivating eyes. Strange, she was usually good with faces. He must be new, she decided. He slid the door open. "Hello?" 

"Hi. Can I sit with you?" Iris jerked her head back at her old compartment. "Higgins over there – a little blond kid – he stole my seat." 

"Oh- uh, sure. Come on in," he said, opening the door wider. She moved her things in and shut the door firmly, peering back at Gregory. Deciding he wouldn't bother her anymore (at least for the moment), she turned to the stranger. 

"I don't believe we've met before, are you new?" Seeing his nod and hesitant nature, she continued. "I'm Iris Taylor, Ravenclaw. Third year," she added. 

"Mattheo. Third year as well. Obviously I don't know my house yet, because, you know, I'm new and all so I haven't gone through the sorting process– sorry. I'm rambling. I tend to do that," he said. 

While he was talking, a worried crease had been developing on Iris's forehead. "What's your last name?" she asked, curious and definitely not forming theories in her head. 

"Ah, it's..." After a long pause, he spoke again. "It's Riddle," he said, looking towards the window. "Mattheo Riddle." 

"Nice to meet you, Mattheo... what's wrong?" 

"You're going to leave, aren't you?" 

"Why would I leave?" Iris asked. Little did she know, this would be the first of many times Mattheo Riddle confused her, the perfect Ravenclaw, the perfect student, rumoured to be able to solve any problem. 

"I'm a Riddle. No one sticks with us." He said this so simply, like it was a fact of life, that she wanted to cry and hold him and tell him he was more than that. But instead, she kept the smile on her face and kept talking. 

"So? 'The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,'" she recited. 

He raised an eyebrow. "You really believe that?"

"Sure, I don't see why not," Iris shrugged. 

"Really?" 

"Yeah." 

There's a pause for a moment, the two of them regarding each other; one with caution, the other with... decidedly less care. "So you're not going to leave?" She met his eyes, midnight blue meeting coffee brown. 

"Of course not." 

Mattheo smiled, crooked and bright and so genuine that she had to sit there, completely and utterly stunned, for a moment before she smiled back. "Thank you." 

---

"Everyone, students, please take your seats. This year we have quite a few first years, as well as someone joining us in their third year. We'll start with the first years, of course." 

Everyone clapped politely as a group of small children filed into the Great Hall. Few students were sorted into Ravenclaw this year, mostly going into Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. Iris watched the door as the last of the first years stood nervously. "I know who the new kid is," she whispered to her friend next to her. 

"Who is it?" Sara Lovegood whispered back, just as the doors opened. Iris smiled and turned away towards the door. "Who is it? Come on, tell me!"

She shushed her friend. "Hold on, just watch." Melody shrugged and followed her example. "Look, there he is." 

"Everyone, please welcome Mattheo Riddle!" Again, polite (if not cautious) clapping filled the room. "Come on up, boy." 

He sat on the stool like everyone else before him, and the hat paused for a moment before calling out, "Slytherin!" A round of cheers went up from the table as he walked over. Iris waved and surprisingly, he caught her eye and waved back. 

"Dang, you know him?" Sara said. "He's kinda cute-"

"Sara!"

"What?" 

"You always have to go there, oh goodness," Iris shook her head, laughing. The two of them jumped slightly, having been brought out of their conversation by the food appearing on the table. They'd talked straight through the opening speech. 

"We can wait a day before getting into this, alright?" Iris asked, shaking her head. Sara sighed. 

"Fine, I guess so." 

They stayed a while after they'd finished eating, chatting with the other Ravenclaws. Blair Hollis, a slender, fair-haired girl, had gone on and on about her three-week stay in France. By the end of it, Iris was thoroughly sick with the intricacies of the French language. "No more Lyon, confiture framboise, or any talk of French within the week," she muttered to herself as she got up. 

"Come on, Sara, I'm tired. You wanna head up?" 

"Yeah, sure. Goodnight, everyone!" Sara called a general goodbye over the rest of the people still at the table. Out of the corner of her eye, Iris saw Mattheo stand up as well, and again she turned and waved. He smiled back at her as they turned to go.