The Serpent & Hawke | Mattheo Riddle | Enemies to lovers

Part 3 - Eau de Despair

The first few days of term crawled by at an agonising pace.

My timetable was peppered with more free periods than my friends', a small reward for my academic performance last term.

The relative ease of this new routine was a welcome respite from the brutal training regimen I'd endured back home at the Manor.

It didn't escape my notice that the faculty had made a concentrated effort to keep Potter and his insufferable friends far from our orbit.

Not a single shared class between us - luckily for him.

What was glaringly obvious, however, was the newfound terror some professors exhibited in my presence.

My father's face had been splashed across the Daily Prophet all summer, and now his infamy clung more to me like a second skin.

Nowhere was this more apparent than with the new Potions Master, Slughorn - a painfully apt name if ever there was one.

The man nearly had a stroke when I first uttered my surname in his class.

As Wednesday evening rolled around, I made my way to the Great Hall for dinner, sliding onto the bench beside Enzo and across from Pansy.

"R-R-Riddle? Did you say your surname w-was R-i-dd-le?"

Pansy mimicked, her impression of Slughorn's stammering painfully accurate.

Enzo clapped me on the shoulder, grinning.

"Pans, was just telling me how old Sluggy's taken quite a shine to you. Wish I could've seen his face!"

"It's because he taught Voldemort." Pansy added matter-of-factly, slurping from her spoon.

My brows furrowed. "How'd you come by that little tidbit?"

She shrugged, a sly smirk playing on her lips. "Overheard him muttering to himself in the storeroom. The old git talks to himself constantly."

"Well, if it isn't Riddle himself."

The sneering voice cut through our conversation. I turned to find Cormac McLaggen looming over me, flanked by his usual band of mouth-breathing sycophants.

"Did Daddy cast an Imperius on Fudge so you could stay in school?"

He taunted, his cronies sniggering behind him like the trained monkeys they were.

I plastered on my most sardonic smile.

"Hear that, Enzo? Looks like McLaggen missed me."

As I rose to my feet, Enzo mirrored my movement, a silent show of solidarity.

"Christ, Matty, it's only Wednesday. Sit your arse down."

Pansy called from across the table, exasperation clear in her tone.

McLaggen's beady eyes swivelled to her.

"You should listen to pug face over there. She's actually speaking some sense for once."

I felt Enzo tense beside me, ready to lunge.

"What the fuck did you just call her?" he snarled, but I pushed him back.

My own anger simmering dangerously close to the surface.

"I suggest you lumber back to the cave you crawled out of."

I said, voice low and menacing as I stepped closer to McLaggen.

"Your stench is ruining our appetite."

The Gryffindor's face twisted into an ugly sneer.

"Looks like Riddle here wants a matching scar on his left cheek." Without warning, he shoved me hard.