where green meets yellow » mattheo riddle

06 | nervous to speak

WHERE GREEN MEETS YELLOW
mattheo riddle - hp universe
act one - chapter six
" nervous to speak "

"alright, alright. settle down." snape said, his usual annoyed tone shinning through. the class got quiet as he started to speak again. "i know you're all excited for the yule ball coming up, but that does not need to take time from my class, understood?"

the potions teacher went on to explain how he was going to assign a project. "you're going to be paired up, and, with your partner, you will create an amortenia potion from scratch. you will gather the ingredients in their natural habitats or otherwise on your own. you will brew the potion yourselves. you will also need to write an essay based on how it went, you process for gathering materials, and any mistakes made, as well as how they were resolved."

the class groaned in agony, while some exchanged glances, saying they would be partners. "i see that look on some of your faces. no, you will not get to choose you partners, i will." the class groaned again. "oh, shush."

"alright. miss lovegood and mister berkshire. mister weasley and miss granger. mister potter and miss greengrass. mister nott and miss parkinson. mister zabini and mister malfoy. mister riddle and miss scamader. mister longbottom and..." the professor's voice faded once she'd heard her name. charlotte turned around, looking at the back right of the classroom, where the group of slytherin boys always sat.

mattheo sat staring at the girl as she looked at him. as she looked at him, she noticed a small smirk on his face. once snape had instructed them to spend the rest of their class time wherever they needed, charlotte awkwardly stood and went over to mattheo.

"hi." she said softly, sitting next to him.

"hi." he said. "again." he chuckled, making her laugh as well at their joke from before.

"so, i'd say let's start in the library. we need to do our research to find out where each of the ingredients are found." she explained, making him nod.

"library it is."

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i don't normally do these halfway through the chapter bc i find them annoying, but for this next section, can u please please please listen to nervous by the neighborhood. i feel like it fits so absolutely perfectly ok anyways back to the chapter.

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and now, that's where the two were at. the two were sat in two big, comfy chairs by a fireplace, mattheo's request, with books piling all around them, charlotte's demand. "i'll be back, i think i need to find one for pearl dust." said charlotte. mattheo hummed in response, reading another book to figure out the full ingredient list and write it down.

charlotte wandered through the endless aisles of shelves for a few minutes before finally catching a glimpse of the book she needed. standing on her toes, she realized she was still too short, her finger tips only reaching the bottom of the shelf below the one she needed.

her first thought was accio. however, she realized she'd left her wand back with mattheo, and since it'd taken her long enough to find this section in the first place, and because all the shelves looked the same anyways, she didn't want to try and find her way back. she looked around, making sure no one was watching, before placing her foot on a low shelf. she stepped up, reaching with her fingertips, barely grazing the cover of the book she needed.

maybe it was the approaching footsteps, or maybe the already unstable stance she had, but with shriek, charlotte slipped and fell from the shelf. two strong arms caught her frame before she could hit the ground, holding her the way a groom would a bride. she looked at the face of her savior, once again meeting eyes with the riddle.

"i can't always be here to catch you, y'know." he chuckled, gently setting her feet on the solid ground.

"thank you." she said, stutter a bit. she paused before questioning his presence. "h-how—"

"you were gone for a while, and i got bored of sitting alone. when i heard, like, struggling, i came around the corner to see you monkey-climbing this shelf." he chuckled to himself.

"oh." she said softly, looking at her feet. slowly, she allowed her eyes to trace up, landing on the book that had led them here. mattheo, who had been subconsciously staring at her since he'd set her down, followed her gaze, seeing the dark green book that she'd been reaching for.

"th-that one?" he asked, pointing to the book. she nodded, far too nervous and awkward to notice his stutter, as he easily extended his arm and grasped the book.

as he turned his head down, he realized how close he'd stepped towards her in order to be in better reach of the book. as he looked down at the girl, he got a sense of deja vu, his mind remembering their time in the astronomy tower.

he took in a shaky breath as he gazed into her eyes. he slowly lowered his hand, bringing it to his side, but neither made any motion to grab or handoff the book.

"mattheo..." she said softly, casing him to draw in another shaky breath.

"charlotte..." this time, she breathed nervously.

his hands shook a bit as he raised his free hand to her face. mattheo gently brushed his fingers against her cheek, tucking a loose blonde strand of hair behind her ear. his fingers seemed to suddenly get very cold as heat rose and stuck to her cheeks like a quick-blossoming flower.

the red rising to her pale complexion made his lips party subtly. mattheo, hesitantly, yet gently, leaned forward. his efforts, however, were too slow, and he'd only moved his head forward by few centimeters when they heard approaching footsteps.

charlotte gasped softly as she was torn from the moment, peaking around the boy as he turned his head, both watching as two ravenclaws passed the end of the aisle of books. as the boy turned back towards the hufflepuff, he suddenly though their close proximity was inappropriate after being torn from the heat of the moment, and awkwardly stepped back and cleared his throat.

"h-heres your book." he said, not looking up from the ground as he held out the leather-bound literature.

"thanks." she said, taking it from him. she gently trailed her eyes from his hand to his face. they stayed silent as she started at him for almost two minutes, but sighed quietly as he refused to raise his gaze.

charlotte turned, her hair whipping around her as she walked back towards their seats, clutching the book tightly to her chest, mattheo following far behind.

1,178 words

THEY HAVE SEXUAL TENSION YOUR HONOR!!!! omlllllllllllll...this chapter is...something else. i love it tho. likeeeeeeeeee...AHHHHHHHHHH. thx Percabeths1reader for the idea with the book thing. i kinda took it in my own direction, but i love it. slayyyyyyy ok byeeeeeeeee.