Back to you-Mattheo Riddle x OC

Anxiety

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Anxiety. The curse placed upon Elizabeth Montague as a child. Her parents realised something was wrong when Elizabeth would never leave the house to play with other children, she would point blank refuse and at first they just thought that maybe, one of the other children was bullying her but no, as she got older, her fear of doing anything that required her to leave the safety of her home, remained.

Her first Panic attack, took place when she was 10 years old. Her mother had taken Elizabeth and her older brother, to a ball. Hosted by another Pureblood family and the second her mother left the children alone to go and mingle, Elizabeth's breathing increased, she complained of dizziness and a death like feeling. Her older brother, Graham, was so scared his sister was in fact dying that he screamed at the top of his lungs. It was safe to say, their mother never took them to another ball.

Elizabeth worked and worked on her anxiety and when it came time for her to go to Hogwarts, she was slightly less nervous and a lot calmer, which was good, seeing as she'd be living there for ninety percent of the year. It helped that Graham was already there but Elizabeth knew she had to start doing things on her own and so she did. Her confidence only grew, she found herself having less panic attacks and with her group of friends at her side, she was unstoppable.

Until, she lost them. It turns out that falling for someone you were friends with, wasn't always the best idea. Elizabeth fell head over heels for Mattheo Riddle, from the moment she first saw him. They were friends, at first but as they got older, they both developed feelings, so strong that it was obvious. Their relationship, came on quickly and it was a whirlwind, Elizabeth had never felt so free, so happy. He became her safe space, the calm to her inner storm but dependence on a person, wasn't smart. No, it was stupid because when the non stop arguing and fighting started, Elizabeth lost her anchor.

Matter of fact, she lost all of her anchors. When her friends witnessed the ever growing toxicity between her and Mattheo, of course, they chose him. They only ever saw Elizabeth complaining but what they didn't see was the ignorance and complete degradation that happened behind closed doors. The only one who did see it all, was Pansy Parkinson, Elizabeth's best friend and roommate. She was the one who soothed Elizabeth to sleep after she came back in tears every night and even though she tried to convince the boys that Mattheo was just as bad as Elizabeth had been, it didn't really work.

When Elizabeth left Hogwarts in the summer just gone, she found herself back in the place she was when she was ten. So, she spent the whole summer, re-writing herself again. With the help of her brother, she was finally back in a better place. She was independent, strong. Or so she thought, until she was stood on platform 9 and 3/4, staring at the red steam train with her lip between her teeth.

"Beth, stay calm, deep breaths" Graham placed his hand on her shoulder, trying to ease the anxiety that bubbled within.

"I'm okay" Elizabeth smiled softly.

"Come on then" Graham took off and Elizabeth followed, using her brother's tall and broad figure as a shield. As the pair got their trunks to the right place, they boarded the train. Graham casually walked through the carriages, everyone moving out of his way. Being quidditch captain really did have its perks.

With the Slytherin carriage in sight, Elizabeth came to a stand still. Her eyes watered slightly as she stared at the door. Grahams hands came straight to her shoulders as he pulled her body in front of his.

"It's okay Beth, don't worry about him" Graham's dislike for her ex boyfriend, was more than obvious. Even though at the time, they'd been good friends.

"But he's in there...they all are" Elizabeth swallowed thickly, feeling a lump in her throat.

"He won't say shit, none of them will, or I'll kill them. You're sitting with me, you'll be okay" her brother's words, eased her mind slightly. He was right, none of them would say a word, too scared to be kicked off the quidditch team.

"Okay, I'm ready" Elizabeth nodded. Graham copied her actions as he turned around, keeping her hand clasped tightly in his. Elizabeth knew she looked like a child right now, holding your brother's hand at sixteen wasn't exactly normal.

As her brother slid the door open, Elizabeth was shielded for a mere moment but as he stepped forwards, her sights landed immediately on them.

They were all sat around one of the tables, talking and laughing but almost as if they felt eyes on them. They stopped. Turning their heads to stare at Elizabeth. The girl gulped when his brown eyes flickered over her face, but as soon as they did, they were gone again, as he looked down to his hands.

"Come on" Graham sneered as he looked their way and Elizabeth found it comical how the rest of the boys, shy'd away under her brother's intense stare. However, Pansy, didn't give a fuck about Graham Montague.

"Lizzy!" Pansy clambered over blaise's lap, running down the aisle and pushing her brother aside as she wrapped her arms around Elizabeth.

"Hi" Elizabeth spoke quietly but Pansy pulled back, looking at her with a frown.

"Liz-.."

"No I'm okay" Elizabeth nodded but her voice betrayed her as tears spilled over her eyes. Her hand instantly wiped them away, not wanting any of her former friends to see her crying.

"Come on Beth" Graham wrapped his arm over his sister's shoulder. Pulling her into his side and walking towards the back of the compartment.

Had Elizabeth glanced to the side, she would have seen Mattheo Riddle, watching her with a defeated look on his face.

"You guys are honestly assholes" Pansy spat as she reclaimed her seat, making sure to apply light pressure to blaise's goods as she climbed over him.

"Ow!" Blaise exclaimed.

Pansy gave him a fake smile before glancing at the rest of the boys.

"She treated our boy like shit, what do you expect" Theo said with the roll of his eyes.

"Yet...Mattheo looks rather upset about lizzy crying" Pansy quipped tilting her head to the side as she glared at Theo.

"Riddle?" Draco asked with the raise of his eyebrows.

"Maybe you guys should lay off a bit now...it's a new year and she's obviously not doing good. Don't drive her to hurt herself, I don't want that" Mattheo dragged his hands over his face and in the corner of his eye, he could see Enzo, smiling softly at him.

"Consider it done" Draco spoke flatly.

"Yeah sure" Theo huffed, leaning back in his seat.

"Honestly, I've never said anything mean to her anyway" Blaise held his hands up in defeat.

"Me neither, I'm not a total cunt" Enzo said as he looked at Theo with furrowed eyebrows.

"Fuck off" Theo shoved Enzo by his shoulder.

"Stop talking about it now" Mattheo sighed, leaning back against the seat but he could feel Pansy's eyes burning into the side of his face.

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