Hidden Love

The Forbidden Band

Grace knew full well that she should not be attracted to Mattheo Riddle. He was older, mysterious, and his family history was steeped in darkness and danger. His father was Voldemort, a name everyone in the wizarding world shuddered at, and that made Mattheo someone people preferred to avoid. But no matter how much Grace tried to convince herself to keep that same distance, the harder she tried to impress upon herself that she should have nothing to do with him, she could not deny the inexplicable attraction she felt. Every time she saw him, every time their gazes crossed, she felt her heart beat faster. There was something in him that touched her deep inside, something she could not put into words. He was unlike anyone she had ever known.Mattheo was not only intelligent and perceptive, traits she admired, but he also carried a heavy burden, a sense of loneliness that he carried with him like an invisible cloak. And although he did not show it to the outside world, Grace could see it. She recognised that loneliness, because it was the same loneliness she felt within herself. That same isolation, the feeling of not being fully understood by those around you, had inexplicably linked them together.It was one evening, when Grace was sitting in the library as usual, that everything changed. The library was her haven, a place where she felt safe among the rows of old books and the smell of parchment and ink. She was engrossed in her studies, her eyes sliding over the intricate formulas for her potions assignment, when she suddenly felt a presence beside her. Without hearing him coming, Mattheo was sitting there, silent and calm, his dark eyes focused on the words in her book.Grace looked up, her heart skipping for a moment in surprise. But he said nothing, not a single word. Instead, he slid a little closer to her and without a word began to help her with the complicated formula for the potion she was struggling with. His long, slender fingers slid over the pages of her book, and he made small notes with a swift movement of his wand. The silence between them was not uncomfortable, but filled with a kind of mutual understanding she had never experienced before.Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Grace could no longer keep the question swirling in her head to herself. She looked up, her voice barely more than a whisper in the quiet library. 'Why are you helping me?' she asked cautiously, her eyes searching his face for an answer.Mattheo remained silent for a moment, his eyes resting on hers. His gaze, always so closed and inscrutable, now seemed softer. It was as if the walls he had built around himself crumbled for a moment. 'Maybe because I see someone who is not afraid of me,' he replied, his voice low but full of meaning.Those words resonated within her, as if they had touched an invisible cord in her heart. Grace had never really realised that she was not afraid of him, not like the others were. Where her fellow students saw him as an extension of his father's darkness, she saw something different in him. She saw a boy, like her, struggling with the heavy burden of expectations. A boy stuck between who he was and who the world thought he should be. Just like her.The weeks that followed changed their relationship in ways they could never have foreseen. Their chance encounters in the corridors of Hogwarts slowly turned into something more. More and more often they sought each other out, at first without naming it, but it was as if their souls found each other in the quiet moments they shared. Their encounters were always secret, far away from the prying eyes of their classmates and teachers. Sometimes they met in the quiet corners of the school gardens, sometimes in an abandoned classroom, and occasionally they found each other back in the library, where everything began.At first, they talked mostly about magic, about their studies and their schoolwork. But as time passed, their conversations began to get deeper. They talked about their families, about the pressure they felt to live up to the expectations of their names. Grace told Mattheo about her feelings of invisibility, about how she always felt like the outsider in the big world of Hogwarts, despite her famous surname. Mattheo listened intently, and sometimes she saw a flash of recognition in his eyes. He knew what it was like to feel trapped in a life you had not chosen for yourself.And slowly, Mattheo began to open up to her. Where at first he had been silent and reserved, he began to confide in her more and more. He told her things he dared not tell anyone else. He talked about the constant struggle he felt between his father's legacy and his desire to choose his own path. He told her about the loneliness that had haunted him since childhood, the feeling that he would always be different, always viewed through the lens of darkness left by his father.Grace listened, and with every confession he made, their bond grew. She felt more and more connected to him, not just because of their shared experiences, but because of the deep understanding they had for each other. She understood him in a way no one else seemed to, and he appreciated that. He trusted her, something he didn't do with anyone else.Time seemed to blur when they were together. Hours could pass without them even realising it, and in those moments Grace felt for the first time that she was truly seen. She knew their bond was dangerous, that it would be incomprehensible to others. Yet, she couldn't help but be carried away by the feeling Mattheo gave her. He was more than just Voldemort's son. He was a complex soul, someone who, like her, fought against the world's expectations. And maybe, she often thought as she lay alone in bed at night, that was enough.