Boundless

𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐞 (𝟔)

Olympia Malfoy

Monday morning came too soon.

The castle seemed colder than usual, the stone floors biting through my shoes as I trudged toward the Great Hall. I didn't even pretend I was heading toward the usual table where Enzo, Theo, Sebastian, and the others were undoubtedly waiting. I didn't think I could stand sitting next to Sebastian right now, not after everything that had happened Saturday night.

Not after Mattheo.

Instead, I veered toward the far side of the hall — the spot Pansy Parkinson always claimed for herself when she wasn't in the mood for the Slytherin circus.

She spotted me immediately.

Pansy's eyes, sharp as always, softened when she saw me. Without a word, she shifted her books to make room beside her.

I slid into the seat, dropping my bag onto the floor with a heavy thud. I didn't even know where to start.

"You look like hell," Pansy said casually, plucking a piece of toast from a nearby tray and offering it to me. "Eat something before you pass out."

I took the toast mechanically, tearing off a corner without tasting it. The comforting clatter of breakfast filled the background — the hum of conversations, the scrape of cutlery — but all of it felt miles away.

Pansy waited. She always did.

She wasn't the type to press. She just... knew when someone needed space to unravel first.

I glanced sideways at her, heart twisting. Pansy wasn't just a friend. She was my older sister in every way that mattered.

Back in first year, when I'd stumbled into Hogwarts wide-eyed and lost, it was Pansy who had taken one look at me and decided I was hers to protect. When she started dating Draco, it only got worse — she got fiercer, like having him made her twice as defensive of me.

I don't think I would have survived those early years without her.

And now...

I clutched the toast tighter, staring down at my hands. "He's back," I whispered.

Pansy sipped her tea, unimpressed. "Mattheo?"

I nodded, throat tight. The tears I hadn't allowed myself last night burned fresh behind my eyes.

Pansy sighed — not in annoyance, but in that way she did when she was mentally rolling up her sleeves, ready to fix something.

"You need to talk to me, Ollie," she said gently. "Or you're going to eat yourself alive."

I dropped the toast onto my plate and buried my face in my hands. "I don't know what to do, Pans."

There it was — cracked open, raw and real.

Pansy leaned back in her chair, studying me with that calculating gaze that had terrified half of Hogwarts at one point.

"You're still in love with him," she said simply. Not a question. A fact.

"I—" I tried to deny it. I really, really tried. But the words wouldn't come. Because it was true.

Pansy reached across the table, placing her hand lightly over mine. "You never stopped," she said softly.

The dam broke.

"I worshipped him," I said, voice trembling. "I was all in, Pans. I would've followed him anywhere — and he just... he disappeared."

"I know," she said, and there was a sadness in her eyes, too. "I watched it happen, Ollie. I watched you fall for him, and I watched him fall just as hard before..." She trailed off, grimacing. "Before everything fell apart."

Before he was taken away.

Before he left without a goodbye.

I wiped at my eyes angrily. "And now he's back. Acting like no time has passed. Like I'm supposed to just... forget everything?"

Pansy squeezed my hand. "No. You're not."

I slumped in my seat, exhausted.

"And then there's Sebastian," I mumbled. "He's been good to me, Pans. Safe. Easy. He deserves better than... than whatever this is."

Pansy wrinkled her nose. "Sebastian's a cocky little shit, and you know it."

I laughed wetly. God, trust Pansy to say exactly what I couldn't.

"Still," I said. "He doesn't deserve to be someone's second choice."

"True," Pansy agreed, shrugging elegantly. "But he's not the point."

I stared at her, confused.

"You're the point," Pansy said firmly. "What do you want. What you need. Not what Sebastian wants. Not even what Mattheo wants. You."

I chewed my lip, heart pounding painfully in my chest.

"What if I don't know what I want?" I whispered.

"You do," Pansy said immediately.

"No, I—"

"You do," she insisted, leaning closer. "You're just too scared to admit it because it might hurt."

I swallowed hard. Because it would. It already did.

I thought about Mattheo's eyes Saturday night — the raw honesty, the desperation he hadn't even tried to hide.

I thought about the years I spent aching for someone who wasn't coming back.

And now he was here.

Real. Tangible. Standing right in front of me.

"I hate him for leaving," I said brokenly. "I hate him... and I still love him."

Pansy smiled, sad but proud. "There she is," she said. "The brave little lion hiding in a snake's skin."

I huffed a wet laugh, blinking fast. "You always did talk too much, Parkinson."

"And you always did need someone to kick your arse when you started doubting yourself," she shot back.

The bell rang in the distance, signalling the start of the first period.

Students began shuffling out of the Great Hall, gathering their things. The real world is waiting beyond the heavy doors.

I stayed sitting, frozen between two futures.

Pansy stood gracefully, brushing crumbs off her skirt. She looked down at me, her expression softening.

"Talk to him," she said, voice low so only I could hear. "Not for him. Not for Sebastian. For you. Get the answers you deserve."

And then, with a wink and a toss of her dark hair, she sauntered off, leaving me alone at the table, heart thundering against my ribs.

Talk to him.

Find out if the boy I loved still existed beneath the man he had become.

And maybe... maybe find out if he still loved me, too.