Dusk and Desire - A Mattheo Riddle Story

A Half-Way Decent Challenge

"Mattheo Riddle has been acting weird... too weird," Nora said, stabbing her salad with her fork as she watched him from across the Great Hall. He was at another table shifting uncomfortably in his seat while pulling on his hair. He'd been acting odd for weeks, ever since the day after Quidditch Tryouts. Their conversation at the owlery only confirmed the suspicions she'd had. 

Am I on your mind, Nora Rosier? Because you've certainly been on mine.

Oh, fuck him and his little stupid mind games. Two could play. And she could play well.

They'd had one Quidditch game already, which resulted in them screaming at each other outside of the locker room, something she had a feeling she would be doing all year. Because for some reason, Mattheo Riddle couldn't stay out of her fucking head. And she hated it.

As if sensing her gaze, Mattheo's eyes flashed over to where Nora sat with Aditi at the Ravenclaw table—her latest love interest had eaten with them earlier before leaving to study. He gave her a wry grin and a wink, which Nora responded to with a certain middle finger that she did not try to be subtle about.

"You wish, princess," he mouthed before leaning back as if he was the cockiest son of a bitch on the whole planet, which he was. 

"Go die, Riddle,"  Nora mouthed back. 

"Hey! Earth to Nora!" Aditi exclaimed, waving her hands in front of her eyes, breaking Nora's eye contact with Riddle. A look of concern flashed on her friend's face. "Umm, what the fuck was that about? You've stabbed the same piece of lettuce four times. You're a salad murderer!"

Nora scowled before glaring at Mattheo, who just blew her a kiss back. "I told you. It's fucking Riddle! He's acting odd."

Aditi raised one of her perfectly trimmed brown eyebrows. "Umm, newsflash, Nor: you always think he's acting odd. Only this time, you're acting odd too. What the fuck is up?"

What the fuck is up? Maybe what's up is the fact that Mattheo Riddle fucking cornered me at the fucking Owlery before looking at me like he wanted to sling me over his shoulder—and I almost let him! Cocky fucking bastard. Merlin, she turned into a sailor whenever he was near. Thank the heavens that Aditi finally got rid of their swear jar once the girl finally realized that neither of them was going to stick to it.

"He's just... and then he... but after that he... URGH!!" Why did her brain have to be so different? Why did it work at a million miles an hour—thinking thought after thought after thought—but then completely halt sometimes? It was so frustrating to feel like she was a prisoner to her own mind when half the time she was wrangling her shackles around her thoughts to control them and the other half of the time it felt like she didn't have any shackles at all, just letting each thought roam free. 

Aditi took a bite of her croissant and smiled sympathetically. "I think I know what it is."

The corner of her lip turned upward in a sneer. She grabbed her pumpkin juice to try and contain it—thank Merlin it was already October and it was acceptable to drink pumpkin things now. "What?"

Her friend rolled her eyes before setting down the pastry and giving her a pointed look. "You like him."

And that was how bright orange pumpkin juice landed itself all over Aditi Mondal, who just smiled through it as if it were normal for Nora to have spit all of her drink on her. "Yup," she said, wiping it off with her sleeve. "You definitely like him. If you didn't, you would have hexed me for even suggesting it."

"I'm still debating doing that."

"Debating not doing," Aditi said with a smug grin. "The Nora Rosier of last year would have done it instantly and then dragged me to Madam Pomfrey to get it undone. And the best part is: you still haven't denied it! It's like your heart wants to scream 'I'm Nora-fucking-Rosier, the hottest bitch in this school, and I want to fuck Mattheo Riddle, AKA the most fuckable guy in eighth year!'"