Dusk and Desire - A Mattheo Riddle Story

Snitches and Stitches

"Hell yeah!" Mattheo screamed as Enzo dashed across the Quidditch pitch with the Quaffle in hand, flanked by Nora and Adrian Pucey.

"And that's another goal for Slytherin, which makes this game 130-60."

Mattheo and the other beater, Vincent Crabbe, high-fived from their position high above the field. While the two Gryffindor beaters were off chasing the bludgers—the sorriest Weasley twin replacements that he'd ever seen—they were watching the action from afar. Plus, Mattheo had to admit: he was sticking a little closer to Nora than he normally did. The idea of a blunger getting anywhere near her pretty head made his blood boil. As long as he was sitting on his broom, nothing would come near her.

Nora stole the ball from Gryffindor's chaser and Mattheo watched as she dashed across the field. She's bloody brilliant. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen a Chaser with her kind of skill. The way she was able to dip and dive between the opponents while remaining steady was a mystery. If she had a better broom, she would be miles ahead of everyone else. Probably even their captain.

His chest swelled with pride as he watched her. "Atta baby!" he cried out when she threw the ball with such grace into the hoops before hitting a bludger out toward the Black Lake.

Mattheo whooped and clapped for her, drawing her attention from the other side of the pitch. Her eyebrows furrowed with confusion, almost as if she wasn't expecting him to be supportive of her. Honestly, before very recently, he wouldn't have expected it either. But now, it felt so natural that he couldn't imagine not being her number-one supporter.

Nora blushed when she saw that he was being genuine before darting off to the other side of the field, flanking Enzo in the traditional Slytherin way while the three Chasers passed the Quaffle back and forth.

A shiny gold object momentarily stole Mattheo's attention away from the action. He looked up to find the golden snitch dancing not too far away from him, almost as if it were taunting him with its blinding presence.

"Malfoy!" He called out to the blond boy, pointing in the general direction of where he last saw the little ball. Draco's eyes seemed to have zeroed in on his target before he darted off in pursuit.

Mattheo grinned, knowing that the game would be over soon and turned back to the Chasers. But his grin soon dropped when he looked over and watched Nora carrying the Quaffle. One of Gryffindor's useless Chasers barreled toward her at full speed. Mattheo took off toward them but he was too late. The bright jersey slammed into her, knocking her and her broom toward the ground while the Quaffle fell back into free play.

The roaring cheer of the crowd soon sounded as the announcer signaled the end of the game, Draco Malfoy with the snitch in hand. But Mattheo's ears felt like they were underwater as they looked at Nora lying on the ground. He sped down to her and knelt by her.

"Nora! Nora, baby, are you okay?" His eyes raked over her figure and noticed the way her leg was clearly bent at an odd angle. Fucking hell. He was thankful she was conscious and not bleeding but that didn't look like an injury that Madam Pomfrey could heal in a day.

She groaned in pain before sitting up and grabbing her leg, screaming when she saw the damage. "No, no, no!" She cried out. Nora didn't seem to even notice that he was there, her mind seemingly zeroed in on her broken leg.

Mattheo brushed his hand down her long ponytail, noticing how smooth it was even after an exciting Quidditch match. "Don't worry, princess. Madam Pomfrey can fix it and you can be up and at em in no time."

As if the clouds had lifted and her trance had broken, Nora turned to look at him with an odd look in her eyes. Almost a mixture of panic, pain, and anger. "I'm not your fucking princess! Get away!"