„Oh, my dear..." (Mattheo Riddle ff)

how it expanded...

M.R.

Level two was just slightly different to level one. The only thing added: on top of the morning hugs in the great hall, Thorne and I also moved seats in a few classes that we had together. The rest of the students and our friends were fairly confused, but the most surprise was for sure to read in the teachers faces.

But that was only what I already expected. After so many years of hating, bullying and provoking each other... And suddenly, more or less out of nothing, there seemed to be nothing but laughs and funnies between Thorne and me.

Professor Flitwick almost fell from the tower of books he was always standing on, to compensate his minimal height, when he saw us sitting next to each other without literary scratching our eyes out.

Professor Snape froze in the middle of his movement, barely ten minutes into the lesson. With cold, emotionless eyes, he looked Thorne and me up and down, while we practiced our spells together.

Professor McGonagall even had to sit down with shaky hands, after she noticed the two of us studying over one shared book.

I raised an eyebrow, glancing over at our shocked teacher. ,,Thorne... I think we might have overdone it with this one." I whispered, scooting closer carefully.

The girl next to me looked up, and over at McGonagall. ,,Poor woman... We shouldn't have shared a book, Riddle. She looks like she's going  to have a stroke..."

I couldn't help but chuckle at her response. She was too good to be true.

Leaning in again, I whispered: ,,Wait until she sees level three, or four..."

Thorne wrote something on her note sheet, before she looked up at me again. ,,How many fucking levels are there, Riddle?" she asked with a giggle.

Shrugging my shoulders slightly, I leaned back in my chair. ,,About six." I answered.

Silently raising her eyebrows, she looked at me over her shoulder before going back to her homework.

Later on that week, Hagrid was almost bitten by one of his trolls. Thorne and I stood side by side, watching him explain something about his magical beasts. What Thorne didn't notice, was me standing right behind her, carefully picking straying flower seeds out of her hair at one point. Poor Hagrid must've thought he'd be hallucinating. When Thorne turned around, I quickly removed my hand before she could notice it on top of her head. She looked curious, like she was about to ask something, but luckily right in that second, one of the trolls broke free from Hagrids grip and ran towards our group of students.

And then lastly, Professor Slughorn. Potions was the very last lesson on friday afternoon. When I entered the classroom, Thorne was already there, sitting where she always sat. Slughorn greeted me friendly, as he always was, but went silent very quickly, when he saw me sit down next to her. He managed to carry on with his lesson, but as soon as he had given us the assignment for today, he walked towards our table with a happy smile.

,,Ms Thorne, Mr Riddle... It seems to me, that the two of you never run out of surprises, don't you?" He chuckled.

,,Well, I for my part hope, that this one continues for as long as possible. The two of you are so much more productive and bearable, working peacefully together instead of constantly picking on each other!" He did seem very joyful about our new behavior.

I was to busy trying not to laugh, so Thorne took over the job of answering him. ,,Well, Professor... I would say we both grew up a little. Maybe Riddle finally took me as a role modle, to be a little more mature."